Page 1 of K-9 Prime Target

Chapter One

“Look at that dog!”

“Aww, she’s so cute!”

SkyCrest Resort Ski Patroller Nina Rose smiled down at her golden retriever, Sky, who grinned back at her. A ski school class of excited eight- and nine-year-olds gathered around them, the children’s faces ruddy from the cold.

“All right, Sky, let’s show the boys and girls what to do when they come to a trail intersection.” At Nina’s signal, the dog turned her head to look to her right.

“That’s correct,” Nina said. “Whenever you come to an intersection, you should look uphill to check that your way is clear.”

She directed her attention to the dog once more. “Now, Sky, show the class what can happen if you don’t check before you ski into the intersection.”

At another hand signal, the dog flopped onto her side in the snow.

The children erupted in giggles. “Can we pet her please, Miss Nina?” a little girl with long brown pigtails pleaded.

“You can pet her, but take turns and be gentle.”

The children surrounded the dog, who popped to her feet, plumed tail wagging as they gave her gentle pats.

“That was clever of you to teach Sky those tricks.” The ski instructor, Tabitha, a compact forty-something with deep smile lines at the corners of bright green eyes, joined Nina. “I can tell the kids to look where they’re going ten times a day, but when Sky teaches them, they actually remember it.”

“Teaching her new tricks keeps her engaged and challenged,” Nina said.

“I guess she doesn’t get that many opportunities to rescue someone from an avalanche,” Tabitha said. “Good thing, too.” She clapped her hands together. “All right, kids. Time to say goodbye to Sky and Nina and put your skis back on.”

The children reluctantly left the dog and hurried to where they had abandoned their skis on the side of the run. One little girl, dimples on either side of her mouth, detoured to approach Nina. “I saw you at the Olympics when you won your medal,” she said. “I mean, I watched it on TV. You were so amazing.”

“It was pretty amazing,” Nina agreed. Those moments of standing on the podium, being presented with a silver medal for giant slalom seemed like a dream now.

“Could I see the medal?” the girl asked. She stared at Nina’s chest, as if she expected the ski patroller to pull it from beneath her shirt.

“I don’t usually wear it,” Nina said. This wasn’t the first time a child—or even someone older—had assumed she must wear the medal all the time, like a necklace.

“Oh.” The dimples disappeared.

“Would you like one of Sky’s trading cards?” Nina asked.

The girl brightened. “Yes!”

Nina handed out cards to all the children. Each card had a picture of Sky, posed on the snow in her red ski patrol harness. The back of the card had information about the two-year-old red golden retriever and SkyCrest Resort’s avalanche dog program.

“All right, everybody,” Tabitha called. “Let’s line up. It’s time to ski.”

Nina, Sky sitting at her side, waved as the children followed Tabitha down the slope in a train of colorful bibs and helmets.

“Come on, Sky,” Nina said. “Let’s get some lunch.”

Sky ran alongside as Nina skied to the base area. Several people stopped to take photos of the handsome dog, and several turned their cameras to the tall, lithe patroller with the blond ponytail streaming from beneath her helmet. Nina tensed, but reminded herself that this was part of her job, too, to be a representative of SkyCrest.

At the bottom of Lift Four, she stowed her skis in the rack outside ski patrol headquarters, then unlocked the door and went inside.

Sky trotted to the large water bowl just inside the door and drank noisily, then obediently entered her crate, turned around twice and settled on the foam mattress. “Good girl.” Nina patted the dog, then secured the door of the crate and left again, locking the door behind her.

She set off across the ski village toward a food truck that sold excellent gyros. She had to detour around a hydraulic lift and looked up to see a workman hanging a banner from one of the light poles that ringed the shopping area. A breeze straightened the banner as he unfurled it, and she gaped at her own smiling image.

Welcome to SkyCrest, the banner proclaimed. Home of Olympic Silver Medalist Nina Rose.