Chapter 3 - The Wrong Kind of Training
The explosives team took twelve minutes to inspect the truck. Marcus spent every one of them holding Viper's collar while Brooks watched, trying to decide whether the man on crutches was a hero or a liar.
Then a technician stepped backward from the cargo bed. "Captain, we've got a problem."
Inside a supposedly harmless training vehicle was a live hazardous component that didn't belong anywhere near the exercise. The technician wouldn't touch it until his team secured the area.
Ortiz cleared the range. Forty soldiers and civilian role players moved behind barriers. One of them, a teenager acting as an evacuee, looked terrified. He had been scheduled to ride inside the demonstration vehicle.
"If that dog hadn't stopped us..." Brooks began.
"Don't finish that sentence," Ortiz said.
A black SUV arrived before the technicians finished. Colonel Adrian Rusk stepped out, tall, silver-haired, and furious. Marcus recognized the clipped walk immediately. Four years ago, Rusk had walked past a field hospital bed without looking at him.
"This exercise was signed off," Rusk said. "Why is my range empty?"
Ortiz explained the finding. Rusk listened with narrowed eyes, then pointed at Viper.
"That animal broke restraint and endangered personnel. I want an incident report and an immediate behavioral review."
"The dog identified the danger," Brooks protested.
"Sergeant, I didn't ask for an argument."
Marcus leaned on his crutches. "You didn't ask for the truth last time, either."
Rusk turned. For a fraction of a second, his expression cracked. "Vance. You were not invited onto this project."
"Funny. Somebody mailed me a visitor pass."
"Then somebody made a mistake."
Rusk ordered a security escort. Ortiz stepped between them. "Sir, he's a material witness to a range-safety incident. I'll get his statement first."
The colonel's jaw tightened. "Do what you need to. But that dog is off duty."
As Rusk walked away, Marcus heard him tell the man in the pressed shirt, "I want the animal's old records gone before tonight."
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Brooks heard it too. He looked down at Viper, then back at Marcus.
"What old records?" he asked.
