Page 35 of Surge

“Surge, ready to work?” When he jumped up, she held the baggie open for him. “Check.”

He thrust his snout into the baggie, hauling in heavy scents. His whole body shivered with excitement.

“Surge, seek!”

He immediately diverted toward the nearest weight bench.

Garrett deliberately shifted his position, testing her. Seeing if he could pull her attention off the dog.

But her eyes did not leave Surge. The Malinois followed her hand when she signaled him to check the shelf piled with towels and weight belts. He stopped, going stock still halfway there, his nose sucking in air, then continued.

Tugging out his phone, Garrett eyed the two working the training room that ran the entire length of the building. He hit the volume to full and played a hard rock song. Bounced his gaze to the duo as the screaming guitars rent the silence of the test. Surge stuck his snout along a rack of weights but never faltered. Thompson hesitated, her head angling toward him, but she never took her focus off working the room with Surge.

Surge finally moved on past the weight rack and drove toward the squat stations near the cable exercise area. At the anchor for the pull station, he circled in, his draughts of air deep and focused. Then he sat, ears pointed forward, staring at the base.

Delaney crouched and retrieved the dirty sock. Her brow rippled as she felt the toe and then grinned. “Good boy, Surge.” Holding the sock, she pulled out the KONG and tossed it.

Okay, they’d done it. “Good job.” With all his attempts at distraction, Garrett hadn’t been able to distract them. Or her. Why did that bug him? Surge had found the tin with the chems. But in a controlled environment was one thing. Out there, risks were high . . .

Delaney turned to him and proffered the sock. “Yours?”

He smirked. “Thankfully, no.” He took the baggie and sock back. “So . . . you satisfied?”

“Areyou?” She squinted at him as he put the vials from the sock into the baggie.

Garrett shook his head. “I’m . . . not convinced.”

Delaney sucked in a breath. “We met the exercise, Garrett.”

“In a controlled environment. But out there . . . it didn’t work.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “We’re too close to the deadline to find another dog team, or I would. I think it’s best we develop a plan without a dog.”

She froze in place. “I’m glad you’ve never failed.”

He stabbed her with a glare.

“I mean, clearly you haven’t, because you’re here. What would that be like, to never?—”

“Enough snark.” He squared his shoulders, taking her point quite sharply. “This isn’t a game, Rogue. This is lives we’re messing with. Lives we determine by our actions if they live or die.”

Her brow rippled and she eased up. “Garrett, I’m well aware of that. My saying we can do it is not arrogance or me being cavalier. I know what’s at stake. But I also know that he”?—she stabbed her finger at Surge—“is the best chance of locating this stash and protecting the very lives you just mentioned.”

He knew, as much as it grated, she was right. And he needed the dog . . . “Okay. I’ll concede. We’ll give it one last shot—but understand this: it truly is the last shot. And if things go south again, it’s not just your ego and position here on the line. It’s the lives of thousands of Americans. So out there, you have to do what I say, when I say it. I will not have time to explain why—it just needs to be done. Surge needs us both to be on the same team to make this happen.”

“I hear you, but he can only have one trainer.”

She was the trainer on the team. A good one too. He wouldn’t let anything happen to Delaney or Surge . . . “True. But if something happens to you, I will need to be able to take control of him.”

“Nothing’s going to happen to me with this SEAL God sent with me.” She scratched behind the Mal’s ears. Then she tapped Garrett’s chest. “Or this SEAL.”

Her finger lingered. His heart skipped a beat. What a confident, determined woman.

Wait. Did he have feelings for her?

She lit up like a lightbulb. “I have an idea. Why don’t you lead him to find the scent tins still out there?” She pulled out a birch scent tin from her hoodie pocket and handed it to him with the KONG. “He’s a SEAL. You’re a team leader. You’ve seen it done.”

He tapped his finger on his chin. “Well, that will help Surge get used to following my lead.”

She handed him a birch scent tin, stepped back. “Take it away.”