He held her for a beat longer than necessary, the air between them charged. For a fraction of a second she thought maybe—hopedmaybe—he was going to kiss her. Then slowly, regretfully, he loosened his grip, letting her find her feet and took a long step in retreat.
“Thanks.” She smoothed her shirt, her heart hammering against her ribs.
“Anytime.” His voice was low and rough and made her skin tingle.
It took a moment for her to fall into step beside Josh and Raider; this time, she kept her eyes on the ground. She wasn’t sure she’d survive another rescue if she tripped again.
They’d just reached the back porch when Josh’s phone rang. “I bet that’s Kade checking up on how it went.” Instead of answering, his gaze narrowed on the phone.
“What’s wrong?”
He shook his head. “Odd. It’s not Kade, it’s Alice.” Tapping the phone and hitting speaker, he took the call. “Hey, Ms. Sweet. What’s up?”
Chapter Fifteen
“We have a situation. I need your help. ASAP.” Alice Sweet’s voice came through the phone’s speaker loud and clear and laced with panic.
Instinctively, Josh picked up his pace. Katie had to hasten her step to keep up. He’d never heard that tone in Alice’s voice before.
“It’s Luke.”
The little boy from yesterday. Could it be another meltdown? Did they need Raider? His mind raced ahead to gathering the dog, finding the keys to the other truck as he hurried toward the back porch.
“He’s gone.” Alice’s words came through hard and cold.
Josh jolted to a stop, staring down at the phone. “Gone, how?”
In front of him, Katie paused, her hand coming to rest on his forearm holding the phone, worry painted on her face and in her eyes.
“They never found his lovie. His mom and dad thought it was fine after Raider calmed him down, but last night Luke kept asking for his baseball bear lovie. When he drifted off to sleep without it, they thought all was well. Until this morning.”
Katie squeezed her eyes shut. Her thoughts probably going to the same place his had. This morning. Last night. There were a lot of hours in between and Luke was so… defenseless.
“The whole town has been alerted, but Luke is noise sensitive. People roaming around screaming his name is only going to make him hide, not come out.”
Already on the porch, in two long strides, he yanked at the screen door so hard, he almost pulled the hinges out. This entire time, Katie was to one side of him, Raider on the other. His gaze dropped to the dog. Once a military dog, always a military dog. Raider could sense trouble just the same as everyone else.
“We need Brady.” Only the slight crack in her voice told Josh just how frantic Ms. Alice was over the little boy. “He can find him. Get him here as fast as you can.”
Of course. Like Raider, Brady was trained to track and find weapons, ammunition, bombs. Give him a scent of a boy and he’d probably find him the same way he’d uncovered Cassie in training the other day.
“We don’t have search and rescue teams here and it will take too long for help to arrive from any of the big cities. Brady’s our best bet.”
“Agreed.” What Josh didn’t know was who the heck was going to handle the animal? He had observed enough of the search part of the K9 team but he didn’t have a clue about the rescue part.
Inside, Katie had already gone to where the leads were hanging in the back hall.
“Does he still have a work halter? A vest?” Josh knew that Brady would understand he was being put to work, but the vest would signal this wasn’t training, this was the real deal.
“Of course,” Alice sighed. “I should have thought of that. There’s a cabinet next to where we keep the leashes and collars. His old vest is hanging inside.”
Bless Katie. She’d have made a great soldier. No waiting for instructions, she was already opening the cabinet and pulling out the vest. Without being told, she’d pulled out her own phone and was calling Benny, the head ranch hand. As Alice explained where to bring Brady, he could hear Katie telling Benny to get Brady back to the ranch faster than the speed of light.
“And Josh?”
“Yes?”
“Hurry. His mom is inconsolable.” Alice didn’t have to state the obvious. Depending on where the child had gone, there were too many places, too many ways for the kid to be in serious danger. The late night cold snaps this time of year was their first hurdle. He didn’t want to think about predators, and prayed the kid hadn’t been out alone all night.
