“After I got to Lackland and settled in, I went to my boss, the head of the dog-breeding program. I told him what happened and he was intrigued, to say the least. We’d only bred Belgian Mals so far and he was considering another breed. Once we got Koa’s sample he became the sire of the first American military-bred German shepherds.”
“Artificial insemination? Kai is Koa’s… son?” Jake couldn’t believe it, but then he supposed this was nothing compared to what those bastards had done to Koa.
Beth nodded. “A GSD breeder in the Czech Republic agreed to help. Mother was a Schutzhund champion in obedience and tracking. She had a healthy litter of six pups, but there was something special about this little guy.”
Smiling, she bent down and began playing with the pup. Kai pawed and gnawed at her fingers and fell over. He sat up whacking his skinny black tail, then tilted his head at Jake and yapped. You gonna play with me or what?
Beth looked up with a fading smile. There was a yearning look in her eye. For what? Forgiveness? Something felt wrong about all this.
“Jake?” Beth stood, looking at him hesitantly.
“You think you can just show up and hand me a puppy—from my dead dog’s DNA—and I can just forget what happened? Is that what you think?”
Beth shook her head, but her eyes betrayed her. He imagined she still had her own regrets and this was her way to make amends.
“No, Jake. I’m sorry if this brings back painful memories. Believe me, it’s something I’ll never forget either. How can I when Hawaii’s all over the news?”
Jake had no answer for that. Not long after Koa’s memorial, a state of emergency was declared for Hawaii. The entire island of Oahu was quarantined by the federal government and the military was authorized to use deadly force to keep it locked down.
The unprecedented action was necessary, the feds said, to prevent the Z9/11 virus from spreading to other islands and abroad. So far, it had worked. But despite the information released to the public—there was a media blackout, too—Jake suspected the truth was far worse.
Rumors had spread about desperate survivors being hunted by the infected and eaten alive. Even the rich and powerful elite were on their own if they didn’t escape in time. A lot of good their money did them now. Jake stopped following the news over a year ago. It was too depressing.
“I’m sorry,” Beth said. “I shouldn’t have come here.” She reached down and scooped Kai off the ground. The pup squirmed and whimpered in her arms. She began to leave then turned, wearing a pained look on her face.
“There was no one else who should have put Koa down, Jake. No one. If you haven’t forgiven yourself, there’s nothing to forgive. It was the right thing to do. The only thing you could do.”
He glared at her. “Is that what you told yourself every time you put a dog down, Beth?”
“—Fuck you, Jake.”
Beth stormed off, Kai’s floppy ears bouncing with every stomp of her hiking boots. Jet followed them to the car, whining. Jake looked down at Dutch, who remained at his side. At least someone’s still loyal. Dutch gave him a sad look and looked away. Likely smelling the stress pheromones in the air, Dutch left to say goodbye.
Jake looked up at the sky. Great, everyone hates me now. He sighed and followed Dutch. Beth put Kai in the back seat, but Jake reached her before she shut the door. Kai escaped and charged after Jet and Dutch to play.
“Beth,” he said, “I’m sorry. That was a shitty thing to say.”
She stiffened, as if ready to slap him.
“Yeah. It was.”
“I know you were just trying to help, maybe make up for things, but yeah, it does bring back painful memories. I appreciate the gesture. Kai… I’m just blown away. Like, wow.”
Jake watched Kai playing in the grass and saw little Koa. He let his gaze follow the gravel driveway to where it disappeared behind a grove of Poplar trees. The silence between them stretched.
“So many times,” he said, “I wished I never took Koa down that road in Afghanistan. There were other roads in that village, but I chose that one. It was up to me, and I blamed myself more times than I can remember. Koa found that IED because of me. He ended up in Hawaii because of me. He died—twice—because of me. I damn near lost my mind and even thought about…”
Jake shook his head and looked up. A hawk was drawing a lazy circle in the blue sky, hunting for prey in the green fields below.
“On a clear night, I come out here and the stars are so bright. Millions of them. Makes me realize how small I am, that my problems don’t mean shit in the grand scheme of things, you know?”
Kai chased after Jet and Dutch who were fighting over a stick. Jake watched them play and turned to Beth. She stood there studying him with a knowing smile.
“There’s a good breakfast place in town,” he said.
Her eyebrows perked up. “Sounds good. I’m starving.”
“Good. You’re buying.”
“What!”
“Consider it a donation—after you give me a hand feeding these guys.”
Jake led Beth around back to the kennels. Jet and Dutch fell in next to Jake, jostling and growling for position. Kai hopped after them through the tall grass. Jake realized he hadn’t seen Raven for a while, but there she was, hobbling from the woods with the tennis ball in her mouth.
Jake laughed, pointing Raven out to Beth.
“Now that one you have to—”
His cell phone rang. Jake fished it from his pocket and looked at the display. The caller was UNKNOWN. He thought of letting the call go to voicemail, but it could be someone needing a foster home for an MWD—or, even better, a police K9 department looking to adopt one.
“This is Jake.”
There was no answer. Jake looked at the display again.
“Hello?”
“Jake. This is Brock Tillman.”
Holy shit. The ex-Green Beret’s voice was as hard and punchy as ever. The last Jake had heard, Brock was now doing contract work for the highest bidder, no matter how dangerous. Or shady.
“You got my fucking Ding Dongs, Corporal?”
Jake smirked at their old joke. If Beth weren’t there, he would have grabbed his nuts.
“Got ‘em right here, Master Sergeant. What’s up, my man?”
There was a pause on the other end. Then Brock said, “I need a dog.”
Thank You
Dear Reader—
Thank you for reading Landshark!
I hope you enjoyed this book as much as I did writing it. If you have a moment, please consider leaving a review at your retailer of choice. Reviews are vitally important to the success of independently published books such as Landshark.
Thank you for your support.
Respectfully,
Brian Tormanen
About the Author
Brian Tormanen is a writer and author of the military influenced suspense thriller, Landshark. He writes in the speculative fiction genres of suspense horror, dark fantasy, and sci-fi.
He enjoys writing and reading about tough anti-heroes who do the right thing; smart, badass women, and themes such as redemption, societal collapse, and technology gone wrong.
After 15 years in the IT industry, he now writes full time and lives in Hawaii.
You can connect with me on:
https://www.briantormanen.com/
email: [email protected]
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