Home > Tucker(The K9 Files #13)(4)

Tucker(The K9 Files #13)(4)
Author: Dale Mayer

Apparently asking for that was akin to asking for a full-on tux. But thankfully that wasn’t the requirement for this wedding. His sister, although she wanted a nice wedding, hadn’t required all the stops being pulled out for it.

By then the manager came out and said, “Let’s see if we have something in stock for you.”

Sure enough, they did. And what could have been a horribly painful and difficult exercise was settled within an hour. They arranged to send the suit to his hotel, which was also good because then he didn’t have to pick it up and bring it back. With that taken care of, he carried on back to the hotel, where he asked for directions to a pet store and the pound holding the dog. With directions programed into his phone, he headed out to the rental car area, picked up his truck, and drove to the pet store, just for food and treats. He didn’t take long, as he wanted to get to the pound as soon as possible.

It had a large parking lot and was one of those depressing cement buildings. He stared and frowned. “Talk about a lousy place for a War Dog to end up.”

He walked inside and approached the woman at the front desk. She looked up at him with a frown. He smiled nicely and said that he was inquiring after the War Dog.

“Ah,” she said, “you mean, that shepherd cross.”

“Yeah, that shepherd cross, who’s won several awards for her bravery in defending our heroes and saving military lives,” he said quietly.

She flushed ever-so-slightly.

He realized he was taking his ire out on the wrong person. “Where is she?”

“She’s in the back,” she said, but she hesitated.

“I’d like to see her,” he said firmly.

Again she hesitated.

“Are you telling me that she’s not allowed to have visitors? Even prisoners on death row are allowed visitors.”

“I just know that this case is being put to sleep,” she said.

“Which is exactly why she should be allowed visitors and exactly why we are working hard to get a stay order on her being killed.”

“That just extends our expenses to keep her alive,” she muttered.

“Meaning?”

“The bill to release her will be high.”

He stared at her. “Are you telling me that a dog who risked her life and saved several soldiers many times over isn’t entitled to a fair deal?”

She didn’t know what to say to that. She got up and hurried into the back office. She returned, following a big strapping male with a huge beer gut on him. He looped his thumbs on his belt loops and said, “What do you want with the dog?”

“First I must positively identify that she’s who we think she is,” he said, “and then I’ll pull a DNA swab from her and get it matched to the bite,” he said.

“The victim already has refused that,” he said.

“Good, I’m glad to hear that,” he said. “We’ll see what she says to me when I talk to her.”

Immediately the man frowned. “I can’t have you harassing her.”

“I’m sorry. Did you imply that I would harass somebody?” he asked sharply. “Did I, at any point, say that this woman would deal with something like that?”

“Hey, now, let’s just get along here,” he said. “We’re just following orders here.”

“Good,” he said. “Then you’ll follow US Navy Commander Cross’s order right now, which will allow me to see the dog and to confirm identity,” he said.

“Do you have something in writing?”

“Do I need it?” he asked in astonishment. “Are you seriously telling me that I can’t get in there and confirm who she is? Abuse of animals is a federal crime. Are you not aware of this?”

He just looked from him to the receptionist and back again, and then the manager shrugged. “I guess there’s no problem in letting him see her.”

“Thank you,” he said with exaggerated politeness. He followed the man through a double door to the back of a long hallway, where cages were stacked upon each other. Just seeing the animals caged like this made his heart hurt. He knew most of them would be put to sleep within the week. He just couldn’t imagine how a country that was so great and so huge and so wealthy hadn’t found a way to solve the lost and abandoned animal problem without trying to kill every single one of them.

As he stepped down the hallway to the second-to-last cage, he saw a large Malinois-shepherd cross curled into the corner, but her eyes were bright and glistening, and her ears were up. She watched every movement the manager made. She stopped, looked at Tucker for a brief second, and then dismissed him, before narrowing her gaze back on the gatekeeper.

Tucker almost felt insulted by that and then realized that she didn’t consider him a threat, whereas the gatekeeper was a known threat. “So how badly have you treated her?” he asked quietly.

The manager flushed with anger. “I haven’t treated her badly at all,” he said. “Why would you even say that?”

“Because of the way she’s watching you. She knows you as a threat, somebody who’s already caused her a lot of pain.” Tucker texted Badger. Need K9 military trainer ASAP here at the pound. Got anybody local? “You will see my navy rep soon on this matter. No more mistreatment of animals will be allowed here by you. And I’ll alert the other animal shelters, your local government, including the mayor and the governor.” Tucker tilted his head. “Naming you specifically.”

He flushed again. “She wasn’t cooperative,” he blustered. “We had trouble getting her in the cage.”

“And you wonder why?” Tucker said, shaking his head. “I need to find out how she ended up at this woman’s house in the first place.”

“The family adopted her, but they didn’t have any idea that she would be a danger to the daughter.”

“I want to see your file and the daughter’s statement.”

The beer-belly guy looked shock. “She told me. Verbally.”

“Are you a profit or nonprofit organization here?”

The manager’s eyes went wide.

“Do you have no idea about the records you are required by law to keep in relation to each and every animal that comes through this shelter?”

“Well, uh, …”

“Obviously not. I’ll be reporting you on that issue as well.”

He stammered about and then finally found his voice. “But her parents took off and left the dog with the daughter.”

Tucker stared at the sad excuse of a human being and said, “There are strict rules and restrictions for adopting War Dogs.”

“You take that up with them,” he said. “They left the dog with the daughter, but the daughter couldn’t handle her.”

“There’s no handling required of a well-trained War Dog, other than food, water, shelter, and love,” he said. “Unless the daughter did something to hurt the dog. In which case it doesn’t matter if it’s a War Dog or any dog, dogs under attack will defend themselves.”

“Anyway,” the gatekeeper took a step back and said, “there she is.”

“I’d like to inspect her, please.”

“What good will that do?”

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