Like most dogs, Chip’s sense of smell was so finely tuned that he smelled individual components rather than just the thing. He didn’t smell the device itself, he smelled everything that made up the device—wires, individual chemicals, plastics, metals, rubber, all the pieces.
They texted King on the drive to town and met the others in the snow-covered field beyond the market square. Jack, Lucky, and Mason took the snowmobiles and searched ahead. Red came prepared with his medical bag, and the rest of the guys all had backpacks. King handed one to Gio.
“What’s this?” Gio asked, taking the military-style bag.
“Hope for the best, prepare for the worst,” King replied. “Never know what we’re going to encounter, and this isn’t the kind of terrain we’re used to. I want everyone equipped.”
Gio noticed a couple of the boyfriends weren’t present. “Where are Fitz and Leo?”
“Leo is at the Ice Castle with Santa, helping him with who knows what, and Jack told Fitz to hang out at the coffee shop in case anyone needed anything. As much as Fitz wanted to help, we didn’t want him out here in this cold for hours. It’d be too much for him.”
King wasn’t wrong. Gio was surprised at how much time Fitz had spent outdoors as it was, though he was certainmanylayers were involved.
Gio slipped his arms into the backpack and turned to see Sacha talking to Luz. He was clearly reassuring her. The poor girl was on the verge of bursting into tears. She handed Sacha a pink blanket with hearts and paw prints on it. He called Colton over, and Colton wrapped an arm around Luz’s shoulders, murmuring to her as they walked toward the market square.
With Cookie at his side, Gio walked over to Sacha, who held the blanket out to Chip.
“Such und Gib Laut,” Sacha ordered, and Chip took off, running at full speed until he was a black and red speck in a sea of white. They’d decided to dress both dogs in their red winter coats and boots so they could be seen more easily in the snow. Cookie was in work mode, so he remained beside Gio, watching his brother off in the distance.
“What did you say?” Gio asked, knowing Sacha had given some kind of German command.
“Search and bark. When he finds whatever this scent belongs to, he’ll bark to let us know he’s found it.” Sacha turned to his brothers. “Let’s move out. Someone text Jack, Lucky, and Mason, and tell them to keep an eye out for Chip.”
“I’m on it,” Ace replied.
They headed into the woods in the direction Chip had disappeared. Searching also meant tracking, something the Kings and the Wild Cards were very good at, though, as King had said earlier, the snowy terrain made everything more challenging. Thankfully, they were all bundled up from head to toe and wearing heavy winter boots.
As they followed the trail Chip made in the snow, some of them called for Juniper. Much of the ground in the woods was untouched, with inches of pristine white snow, while other parts had tracks from various animals. The woods were thick with trees, and littered with fallen logs, tree stumps, branches, and snow-covered boulders. It was damned cold, but the bright sun in the sky helped, especially when it shone through the trees.
Gio had no idea how long they’d been searching, and he was starting to worry. So far, they hadn’t heard anything from Chip or the others on the snowmobiles. Just when Gio was about to ask if maybe they should split up and spread out, Cookie whined. At hearing Cookie, Sacha stilled.
“Stop.”
They all stopped and listened. Gio could hear it!
“It’s Chip,” Gio said excitedly. The barking was faint, but they could hear it up ahead. They all hurried, the barks growing louder as they approached a densely wooded area. When they got close enough, they could see Chip next to a fallen tree, tail wagging as he barked and dug in the snow. As they approached, they heard more whining, but this time it wasn’t Cookie.
“It’s Juniper,” Ace said, hurrying over. He bent over, looked in the tree, then straightened. “She’s stuck.”
“She probably chased a squirrel in there,” Sacha said, praising Chip for a job well done. He ran over excitedly to get his reward, and Sacha gave Chip a lot of love and then treats from the baggie in his coat pocket.
“How are we going to get her out?” Gio asked.
King removed his backpack and took out what looked like a small cordless handsaw. Had he brought that with him for this particular situation, or did he always just have a handsaw at the ready? One never knew with the Kings.
“Is that safe?” Gio murmured to Sacha.
“Oh yeah. King will carefully cut into the log until it’s as close to Juniper as possible without actually going through the log. Then he’ll use a chisel to start breaking the thing open. Eventually, we’ll be able to pull it apart enough for her to back out.”
“It sounds like you’ve all done this before.”
Sacha glanced at him. “We have experience with search and rescue.”
When his boyfriend didn’t elaborate, Gio knew it was related to their time in the military, so he didn’t ask. Sacha told him as much as he could. A lot of what he and his unit had done while they served was still classified.
Gio hydrated while King and Ace carefully cut Juniper free from the log. When she was finally out, she was excited and happy, her mouth open and her tail wagging so hard her entire butt moved. She made her way to each one of them, finally stopping beside Sacha who held her blanket.
“Let’s head back and return Juniper to her person,” King said when his phone rang. He removed it from his pocket and answered. “Hey, Jack. We found Juniper. She—What?”
