Margaret Mizushima
Stalking Ground
To my husband, Charlie, with gratitude for his never-ending support
Chapter 1
Thursday, Mid-October
A bead of sweat rolled down Deputy Mattie Cobb’s face beneath the plastic guard on her helmet. She tilted her head to keep the sweat from going into her eyes and caught a glimpse of the sky. Not a cloud in sight. It was unseasonably warm for October in Denver—much warmer than in Timber Creek, where forest and meadow soaked up the sun’s rays. Here, the rays hit pavement and bent back upon themselves.
She’d been assigned the lead on a mission at an industrial park south of Denver. A jewelry store had been robbed at Cherry Creek Mall, and patrol officers had followed the suspects to this location. Reports indicated at least two armed suspects, possibly three, had escaped and then abandoned their Dodge Intrepid in this parking lot. Mattie and her K-9 partner, Robo, were expected to track and apprehend the fugitives.
Three unfamiliar officers—called by code names Red, Blue, and Green—fanned out behind her as backup. The officers carried AR-15 rifles and Mattie a Glock 17 handgun.
Mattie signaled for them to gather around. “The park is laid out in a rectangle. There are four rows of three buildings each. Starting on the left, we’ll call that row one, then two, three, and four. We’ll number the buildings, starting with one, two, and three in the first row.” Mattie counted off the buildings one through twelve, pointing out each row. “We’ll go where Robo takes us. Any questions?”
She waited a beat. When there were no questions, she keyed on the transmitter she wore on her shoulder and spoke to the sergeant in charge. “K-9 One reporting. In place and ready.”
“Copy, K-9 One. It’s a go.”
She rolled her shoulders inside her Kevlar vest to loosen the knots that had formed. Sweat rolled down her spine.
Stay focused. Don’t get distracted. And listen to your dog.
Robo, a ninety-pound male German shepherd, stood at her side. He wore a Kevlar dog vest and his blue nylon tracking harness. “Are you ready to work?” she asked, using excitement in her voice to increase his prey drive. Robo jumped on his hind feet, careful not to paw at her.
She unsnapped the leash from his collar and fixed it to her utility belt. Today, she would let him search off lead. She’d grown to trust her partner’s obedience, and she knew she should allow him to follow his own instincts. Robo’s instincts were sometimes all that stood between Mattie and a life-or-death situation—not just today, but every day they were on duty.
She raised her hand to signal the start of the mission. “Okay, Robo. Let’s go to work.”
He trotted beside her as she went to the passenger side of the Dodge. After opening the front door, she gestured toward the seat. “Scent this.”
He whiffed briefly, his delicate lips fluttering, and then headed away from the car, nose to the ground. Mattie signaled the others to follow as she jogged behind Robo, matching his pace. He led her down the asphalt alley between rows one and two. Mattie scanned the tops of the warehouses and spotted a vent that might hide a sniper. She crouched, pointing at it. Officer Green studied it through his riflescope while the other officers followed, staying in a tight group.
Robo led them to the end of the building, his ears moving forward and back as he monitored the sounds in front and checked on Mattie behind. He seemed to be remembering his training to keep only a short distance between them and not to run off too fast, so she could act as backup for him. His Kevlar vest looked heavy and hot, and his paws left damp prints. She hated that, but it couldn’t be helped. He needed the protective equipment as much as she did.
At the end of building one, Robo paused and sniffed in two different directions. Mattie noted the position. If she was reading Robo’s signals correctly, the fugitives had probably split up at this point. Robo headed down one of the scent trails, tracking the scent he picked up on the passenger seat.
“They split up here,” she said to the other officers. “Red and Blue, you go that way. Green, come with me.”
She hurried after Robo. He headed into a narrow passageway between two buildings. It was filled with air-conditioning systems, ductwork, and vents. “Robo, wait,” she said, and he stopped.
She scanned the area, the back of her neck tingling. She checked Robo and noticed the fur at his neck lay flat, no hackles raised. The fugitive had come this way, but he wasn’t close now.
“Go on,” she told him. “Search.”
Her dog slipped into the area with Mattie close behind. She looked back over her shoulder to check on Green. He was scanning all directions: forward, upward, and back. Doing his job. No need to instruct him.
Robo dodged behind a heat vent. His tail splayed on the ground behind the vent, and Mattie knew that he’d sat, indicating he’d found something. She moved forward to where she could see him. He was sitting beside a bundle, and when she came around, he touched it with his nose.
He’d found a leather purse wedged into a crack between the ductwork, not quite out of sight but not readily apparent. If an officer gave the spot a cursory glance, he might miss it.
“Good boy.” Mattie picked up the purse. Opening it, she found it filled with jewelry. She showed it to Green. He nodded, taking it from her and slipping the strap over his shoulder to carry.
Mattie had thought the passenger might be the one to carry the stash. Pleased that she’d asked Robo to sniff the right seat, she waved a hand back toward the scent trail.
“Robo, search.”
Robo backtracked out of the narrow space and headed on beyond the next building. He’d successfully followed the fugitive into the passageway to find the stash and then picked up the trail to follow him back out. This was a significant improvement in his skill level for tracking. Her dog never failed to amaze her.
At the end of the building, Robo paused and circled the area for a thorough sniffing. Mattie read his movements to mean that one or more scent trails had merged with the one they’d been following. She conjured an image of two fugitives splitting off behind while the one went to hide the stash and then joining together at this point.
“Wait, Robo,” she said. She keyed on her transmitter. “Officer Blue, do you read me?”
“Affirmative, K-9 One.”
“Do you have a visual on our suspects?”
“Negative.”
“Come to the southwest end of building six to rejoin for backup.”
“Copy that, K-9 One. Over.”
Mattie waited until she spotted the other two officers rounding the end of the first row of buildings. She turned back to Robo. “Okay, Robo. Search.”
With his nose to the ground, he headed toward the end of the third row of warehouses, across a wide, open space dotted with several parked vehicles. As Mattie ran after him, she scanned the area, finding too many places where a fugitive could set up an ambush. She started to pull back, but Robo was hot on the trail. He darted ahead, hackles raised. Mattie reacted at once. “Robo, here. Come!”
Robo whirled and headed toward her. A shot fired. The bullet hit the pavement, missing him by mere feet.
Mattie shouted at Robo to heel, and she ran in a zigzag pattern to take cover behind a white industrial van. Green stayed with her while Red and Blue hunkered down behind a delivery truck on the other side of the parking lot. She assessed the situation. No one had been injured, and Robo stood safely beside her.