After pacing each other a while, Orph veered abruptly and disappeared into the woods. He did that, catching a scent that intrigued him. He would course a rabbit or flush a covey of quail, tree a coon. Now and then he'd be gone for a few hours, and once he hadn't returned until the following morning, but usually he'd be back five or ten minutes after Bauer began to call.
The walk relaxed Bauer and gave him an appetite. He lit the oven and put in a big potato. He fed Orph. He poured Scotch over ice cubes and sat down to dial Ursula.
"Hello," she answered.
"Hi," he said. "It's me."
"Hello," she said, and waited.
"How's everything?"
"All right."
Depression creeped around him. Recently, she sounded as if he were stealing valuable time. "Good," he said.
There was silence.
"Are the kids there?" he asked.
"They're playing in the backyard."
He was disappointed. "Okay. Tell them I'll see them tomorrow morning then.
We're still clear for tomorrow, right?"
"Yes. But they'll be next door at Janie's. I'm going away for the weekend and I have to leave early."
"You'll be back when I bring them home?"
"Yes. Sunday, five thirty."
"Would you like to have dinner some time next week, Wednesday or Thursday?"
She paused. "All right. Wednesday."
"You're on."
"But I'd like to eat in town."
When they saw each other, it was usually at his cabin. She never invited him to dinner at her house. She said it wasn't good for the children.
"Town?"
"I'd prefer it."
Reluctantly, he agreed.
He poured another Scotch after he hung up, and a little later another one.
When the potato was softening, he put two pork chops in a frying pan and opened a can of corn and spilled it into a pot to heat. After dinner he poured another drink.
Chapter 2
A GUARD rounded the warehouse with a German shepherd at his side. The animal's leash bowed up to the guard's hand, the excess was taken up in coils and the stitched loop encircled his wrist. The warehouse was to their right, a parking lot to their left. Ahead, where the parking lot ended, woods began, separated from the warehouse by a lane of mowed grass.
They came abreast of the trees. The man stopped. The dog sat promptly, without command, and glanced up at its handler. The man reached beneath his jacket for his cigarettes. The dog looked about, unconcerned. The guard put a cigarette in his mouth and bent to a match.
A pair of men stepped from behind a truck in the parking lot. They wore bulky jackets and floppy pants and they carried clubs. The guard shook out the match. The dog sprang suddenly to its feet and whirled about rumbling deep in its chest. The guard spun. The men came rushing.
"Fars!" the guard said.
The dog lunged, hit the end of the leash and went up on its hind legs.
Its broad leather collar dissipated the shock and restrained it without choking off its wind. The dog barked furiously; drops of spittle sprayed from its mouth. The men pulled up out of reach. The dog dropped to all fours and dragged the guard before he could brace, snapping at the intruders.
They broke to either side. The dog swung from one to the other through a ravening arc. The men feinted, but the dog was faster. The one nearest the warehouse swung his club. The dog went under it, then up for his arm. The man checked and jerked back. The dog caught his sleeve and ripped it from armpit to elbow, then released and bolted to meet the second man, who was rushing. The dog pince red him above the knee. He screamed and beat the animal's head and shoulders with his club. The dog snarled around its bite.
It jerked hard and toppled the man. He shrieked and rolled into a ball covering his head with his arms. The dog let loose, slashed at his back, then reversed to attack the first man again.
The man turned and ran. The dog heaved on the leash and barked after him.
The guard climbed the leash hand over hand, thumbed the release clasp and said, "Fans!"
The dog shot forward, flattening out. The man glanced over his shoulder, saw there was no escape, stumbled to an awkward halt and turned, pulling a handgun from his belt.
Boooml The thunderclap of a heavy caliber.
The dog didn't break stride.
The man fired twice more in quick succession. Boooml Booom!
The dog left the ground. Its jaws closed about the man's forearm. Its hind paws barely touched the ground and most of its ninety-five pounds hung from the studs of its teeth. It wrenched violently and brought the man crashing down. It ragged his arm, shaking its head like a hooked fish, rolling the screaming man across the grass.
The guard called: "Panzer, aus!"
The dog let go and backed a short step away. It remained focused on the man and emitted deep barks.
"Panzer, watch!" the guard ordered. Then he shouted to the man, "If you even blink hard, he'll climb all over you again."
He handcuffed the first man and marched him over to the dog. Panzer was growling but holding his distance. The guard retrieved the handgun and shoved it in his waistband. "Panzer. Sit, stay." He had the second man stand and put his arms behind his back. "Watch," he told the dog, and to the man, "You don't want to move."
"I'm a statue."
The guard handcuffed him and blew a whistle. An engine turned over in the parking lot. An open-topped jeep roared up and lurched to a stop.
The driver wore a green windbreaker monogrammed BDI-Behavior Development Incorporated-over the heart, and a holstered sidearm. In the rider's seat was an older man with a peppery full beard, dressed in faded slim-cut corduroys and a pullover sweater. They hopped out.
The guard put Panzer in a down-stay.
One of the handcuffed men said to the bearded man, "I'm not going to work this mother without full padding anymore. He damn near broke my arm." A three-ply leather gauntlet was visible beneath his torn sleeve. It was part of a tunic whose collar extended up to armor throat and back of the neck.
Beneath his pants, his legs were similarly protected, down to the tops of heavy boots.
His partner said, "He cut through to my thigh, I can feel blood there."
"Check in to the infirmary," the bearded man said. "Tell Dr. McGill to get me a report this afternoon."
The driver loaded the two men into the jeep under Panzer's watchful eye and drove them away. The dog would not have believed in the legitimacy of the exercise if the agitators had simply sauntered off.
The bearded man said, "He stayed too long on Harry's leg. Roy could have got to you if he'd been serious."
The guard shook his head. "No way. I worked him on a protest setup yesterday. He held eight guys at bay. You can check that with Dr.
Tilson."
"If I'd been Roy, I'd have had you. There's no margin, none. And what about the gunk He's supposed to be retrieving them by now."
The guard shifted. "Well… we need a little more time on that."
"Why?" the bearded man demanded.
"He, he seems to, uh, be having some trouble with the feel of metal against his teeth."
"Is he rejecting it?"
"Not exactly."
"I'll give you three days. If he won't take it, and like a piece of steak, then I want to know. Three days."
"Christ," the guard said in frustration. "He's only twenty months.
Already he's like a machine on the attack. He scores mid-nineties on obstacles and runs a maze like a computer. You can't beat him on an area search. What do you want, Superdog?"
"Exactly. Three days. Take him back to the kennel and settle him down now."
The bearded man left.
The guard looked after him. Panzer read his trainer's emotions and growled.
His hackles lifted. The guard dropped his hand affectionately on the dog's head. "I'd love to, boy, but we'd both be up the creek if I let you."