Caleb (The K9 Files Book 11) by Dale Mayer (sneezy the snowman read aloud TXT) 📕

and quiet, just the dry ground and debris crunching underneath their feet. Mostly this land was a lot of dirt, rocks, and a little bit of underbrush, not a whole lot of anything else.

“It’s been dry for a while,” she said, looking around. “I’m surprised we don’t get more fires here, but I guess there’s not a whole lot to burn.”

“Nope, there isn’t,” he said, as he looked around, noting how little brush was out here.

“You don’t think of it as this dry and deserted here.”

“Well, this pocket is obviously one of the worst areas,” he said. “Or it’s been deliberately cleared.”

“Why would somebody do that?” she asked.

He looked at her slowly. “Better visibility.”

She stopped in her tracks. “You think we’re being watched?”

“It’s always been a possibility,” he said, “and one of the reasons I wanted to come in this direction.”

“Why is that?” she asked, looking around nervously.

“Just in case they had better access than I thought out here,” he said. “Whether it’s boots on the ground or birds in the air.”

“Are we likely to get shot at again?”

“I sure hope not,” he said, “but it is a possibility.”

“Do you think they have a lookout atop that hill?” she asked.

“Why don’t we head into the trees and stay as clear of the open land as we can,” he said. “Then we’ll have a better idea.”

She followed his lead, fear choking her throat. “I wouldn’t be terribly happy if we got shot,” she muttered.

“I wouldn’t be happy at all if we got shot,” he said. “Never fear. I wouldn’t have brought you here if I thought that was a high possibility of occurring.”

“And why do you say that?”

“I checked the topographical maps Badger sent me,” he said, “and the bad guys are down on the other side of the hill, not at the top of the hill.”

“Ah, so they can’t see us approaching. Got it.” And she picked up her pace.

Caleb glanced at Laysha, marching strong at his side. She wasn’t one to complain and had always been somebody who could keep up. He still didn’t understand how he never saw her as a potential partner, when they’d spent so much time together. Maybe it was a case of too much time where they hadn’t seen the possible benefits, not looking beyond the great friendship they had. He didn’t know.

At the same time, he had had other things to focus on: his divorce, his injury, his rehab. This morning he’d survived his brother’s wedding, and, although that had been a pain in the ass, it was over, and he could move on now. He wished his brother well, but Caleb had his own doubts that anybody who could play the games that Sarah did would have Jackson’s best interests at heart.

But Caleb knew for a fact that Laysha wouldn’t tolerate this negative thinking, so he was prepared to put it aside. Besides, it was his brother’s choice, not Caleb’s. He had already made his own damn mistakes, and he didn’t want to repeat any of those again either. He marched steadily beside her, enjoying just being out in the fresh air, the dogs moving quietly at their sides, enjoying the freedom found in Mother Nature. “Do you get the dogs out much?”

“All the time at home,” she said. “We like to traipse the five acres regularly. It just makes me happy to know that it’s mine.”

“With good reason,” he said with feeling.

“Another ten-acre piece is beside me,” she said enviously. “No house or anything is on it, and I can’t afford it, but it would be nice to add that to the portfolio.”

“What would you do with another ten acres?”

She laughed. “No clue,” she said, “but, since I can’t afford it, it’s really not an issue.”

“Well, it is kind of,” he said, “just because you are always trying to expand. Do you see a purpose behind it, or is it you just want more space between you and the world?”

“Well, I think more space between me and the world is part of it,” she said, “and I just like to know that nobody can be there beside me. No condo, no suburban development, no nothing will go up there.”

“God, that would be awful,” he said, staring at her. “Is there any talk about it?”

“You know what a new development is like,” she said. “It comes in before you’ve had a chance to even do much in the way of arguing. They’ve already got all their permits and plans down, and it’s just going through the motions to see if any of the neighbors complain.”

“Have you met any of your neighbors?”

“Not really,” she said, “not many, and I don’t know their names. We smile in passing, but that’s about it. I honestly think that’s the way everybody there likes it.”

He smiled. “They’re all there for the same reason you are,” he said. “Peace and quiet.”

“Who can blame them?” she said. “We go to work, come home from a pretty crazy world out there. I’m dealing with all the headaches but need the job to get that paycheck, so I can go back home again and rehab my house.”

He laughed. “But having your own five acres and the peace and quiet make it all worthwhile, doesn’t it?”

“Yep,” she said. “Wouldn’t have it any other way.” She looked at him. “What kind of work were you doing for your boss?”

“Everything from security to building porches,” he said with a smile. “There’s a whole group of us. Titanium Corp is employing veterans coming out of rehab, so—depending on our health, physical abilities, strength, things like that—we’re all involved to a certain extent in all avenues. They have some guys doing more security because that’s what they like, and some of us would rather swing a hammer than do security,” he said, “but we all pitch in wherever we need to.”

“So are they builders, like constructing developments and stuff?”

“No, not yet, although I think there’s talk of it. Just not sure they’re all that