Lawfully Challenged

by Ginny Sterling

  “Exactly! Study your folder carefully. Smith? Head’s up – you’d best pay attention. Your dog, Duke, is allergic to dairy and wheat. He has a special diet. Keep him on it or else you’ll have crap all in the back of your squad car and one miserable partner.”

  Glancing down, she saw her dog was staring up at her. A pink tongue was hanging out and it looked almost like she was smiling at her. Her Malinois was a stunning fawn color with black tips to her snout, ears and tail. Dark, intelligent eyes watched her carefully. Opening the folder, she smiled at the scrawled notes inside. Almost as if on cue, she saw a set of military-grade boots just over the folder edge and felt a tug on her arm by the leash.

  “Her name is Duchess. Take good care of her,” Wesson ordered quietly, staring at her with hard eyes. His black eyes burned into hers as if he were still judging whether or not she was up to the job.

  “It’s my honor to do so,” Cindy replied truthfully and snapped the folder shut. “Come on, Duchess. Let’s test your legs a bit, shall we?” This time, it was Cindy who turned and walked away from Wesson before he could do anything else or yell at her again. Squaring her shoulders, she held the leash tautly until she got to the path and began to jog. Duchess fell into pace beside her, her dark muzzle practically curled up and eyes alight with excitement. Oh yes, her Malinois was a perfect choice for her. If Wesson wasn’t such an ornery toad, she might thank him someday for the selection!

  Two

  Being away from patrolling the streets and working directly under Enoch Wesson had to be the hardest thing she had ever done. Long days in the sun, doing vigorous routines over and over again, were tough. Having Duchess was wonderful… but hearing repeatedly at how she’d screwed up was eating at her psyche and destroying her confidence in being able to handle the responsibilities of a K-9 unit.

  “Lance! Don’t play with her, we are training!”

  “Princess! Your animal is thirsty. Get some water!”

  “Are you even paying attention?”

  “Focus on your tone! Command! Don’t ask!”

  “Get the baggies and clear the yard, Lance.”

  That particular phrase was the one she hated the most. There was nothing worse than getting assigned poo-duty for a team of dogs. It was bad enough to clean up after one or two dogs. But a kennel full? Wesson had apparently taken a severe dislike to her. She’d been assigned poo-duty three times in the last two weeks. More than her fair share!

  It was miserably hot outside and today she’d been assigned her favorite chore yet again. Cindy had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes when it was called out. Wesson was extremely handsome, but it was a true shame that his personality didn’t match the outside packaging he was born with! He was what you’d call a typical bad boy persona.

  She realized that the second day when a tall, thin, blond woman showed up at the kennel to speak with him. It was glaringly obvious they were a couple. She was doing her best to plaster herself on him closer than his black cotton t-shirt. His dark hair, scruffy beard and tanned skin stood out against her shocking red outfit. She was dressed in something that resembled an overgrown tube sock hiked up around her chest. It was practically shameful how snug the material was. She was fawning all over Wesson and he looked like he wasn’t impressed. It was an act, she was sure of it.

  As Cindy bent over to pick up another handful of “punishment” left in the grass by an unknown dog, she happened to glance up. She saw the woman was glaring directly at her as she was walking to her car. Straightening up, she stared right back. She wasn’t afraid of a challenge, even an unknown one.

  Kill ’em with kindness, her mother always said. Smiling widely, she waved her filthy, gloved hand at the woman in a mock salute and began to laugh. The look of disgust from the woman as she jumped in her vehicle was priceless. Squealing her tires, she threw her car into reverse and peeled out. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Wesson watching the scene. His face was expressionless as he turned and walked off.

  Thankfully, today was Friday and she would have the weekend to relax at home with Duchess. In the evenings, Cindy had been so exhausted from training that they would just spend time together on the couch or in her bed laying there. Duchess seemed to like re-runs on television just as much as she did. It made her smile to see her pretty, little head cock to the side as she stared at the screen.

  Looking around, she noticed that she was the last officer to leave yet again. Sighing, she gave a whistle bringing Duchess to her side. “C’mon, girl. Let’s go home.” As she walked to the kennel, she deposited the baggies in the trash receptacle and opened the door. The cool breeze of the air-conditioned interior gave her goosebumps at the temperature change.

  “You done?” Wesson’s deep voice asked her from the office. She couldn’t see him, but the lights indicated that he was there. Had he waited for her? No, surely not. Especially when he had such a gorgeous wife or girlfriend waiting on him.

  “Yes, sir.” As done as I plan on being for tonight! she thought to herself. She was positive that there would be plenty more for her when he decided to reprimand her again. It would probably be sooner, rather than later, too… if today’s harsh look was any indication. Why did the man have a bone to pick with her? What had she done?

  “Thank you for your help,” he said quietly, appearing in the doorway. His dark eyes held hers for a moment before she looked away. Beauty was skin deep with this winner. He was breathtaking – but only to look at. She saw that he almost looked sincere but the fact that he was thanking her for assigning her to poo-duty rubbed her the wrong way.

  “You’re welcome. You told me to clean up and I listened. Just like the dogs, right? Command and obey?” She knew that she had a nasty tone to her voice, but she was hot and stunk something fierce. They all wore full uniforms to create a routine for the dogs. Wesson did not. He actually had the good graces to flinch at the truth in her words, surprising her. He held out a bottle of water towards her as an unspoken peace token. Cindy stared between him and the bottle for several moments. She was thirsty, but she wasn’t sure she was ready to forgive. She was really upset about being assigned poo-duty again. For nothing, too! Several officers made a face at having to run laps in the heat, so why did he pick her?

  “Sorry about that, but I do appreciate the help.”

  “I really need to wash my hands,” she admitted finally, nodding. “If you don’t mind hanging on to that bottle of water for a few minutes?”

  “Certainly. Go ahead.”

  Cindy stepped back and ran to the ladies’ room. Her hair was completely disheveled. Several wisps had slipped from her bun atop her head, making her look like she had a crown of blond feathers circling her face. Her cheeks were pink from the heat of the day and her polyester uniform. “Ugh, you look like a real catch,” she muttered to herself, staring in the mirror. Washing her hands thoroughly, she splashed water on her face in an effort to calm the redness down.

  Stepping out, she saw that they were no longer alone. The tall, blond woman had shown up yet again at the kennel. It had only been a few moments since she’d left. Cindy figured that she had probably gotten down the road and made a U-turn. She’d repeatedly come by, but only a moment at a time. She never stayed long at all. Today, she wore a black dress suit with a set of heels that had to be four inches tall. She was never dressed shabbily, and it was always in something that would make her mother blush. She never understood how women walked around in shoes like that. Cindy could trip over linoleum and look klutzy.

  “Putting in a little overtime tonight?” Cool green eyes focused on her with an acidic smile as she pushed her thick, blond hair back from her face. The amount of hairspray in her hair had to be staggering because when her hand attempted to move the curly cloud, it lifted in a great big poof and fell back into the same exact spot.

  “Just finishing up. Thanks for asking.”

  “Your water?” Wesson asked her politely, extending the bottle towards her. The woman’s hand lay on his a
rm, as if to push his arm back down away from Cindy. He brushed her hand away like it was a fly bugging him. Yep, bad boy attitude all right and she was not a fan in the slightest.

  “Actually, I think I am good. Have a nice evening, you two,” Cindy said quickly and darted out the door with Duchess hot on her heels. She felt the urge to get away from there was fast as possible.

  Cindy drove home absent-mindedly. She barely saw anything on her drive other than Wesson’s dark eyes. She felt like an idiot. Something in her kept saying that he was trying to apologize or make amends. But each time she thought about him, she felt like a fool all over again. The man was probably trying to be nice to avoid a lawsuit or something. She was the only girl on the team and could claim that he was picking on her. But she wasn’t like that. And honestly, if she would listen and pay attention, she might not be in trouble so often.

  What was it about him that distracted her to no end? Perhaps if she paid attention more then maybe he would ease up on her. She was three weeks into the program. This meant she had another four to six weeks under his tutelage. That was a long time to have to clean the yard of doggie excrement. Sighing, she sat there in her driveway waiting for some sign that she hadn’t made a mistake taking on the K-9 program. This was by far harder than she’d ever imagined. It was tough work training a dog, but tougher still was the puzzle of her instructor.

  Mad-dog Wesson was a myriad of things. Gorgeous, ornery, angry, smiling and simply sexy as could be. The man could sell popsicles to an Eskimos in January – if he put his mind to it. All he had to do was offer her a cool bottle of water and she was considering accepting the olive branch he was extending. If that blond floozy hadn’t been there, she might have tried to talk to him and find out what his deal was.

  How could he marry or date a woman like that? She was so far opposite of what he was personality-wise. Now, if you took a photo of the two of them, she was perfect for him with her model-esque physique and his rugged good looks. But the second he went to order someone around on the field, he snapped like a dog barking. The woman reminded her of a calculating animal. Potentially a rabid one.

  Maybe a pit viper?

  “I just need to know I’m not making a mistake trying to be a part of the K-9 program,” she prayed aloud. “I could use a sign or some sort of direction.”

  As if in response, Duchess lay her head down on her arm that hung on the base of the steering wheel at that very moment. Deep, soulful eyes watched her and gave a slight whine. Smiling sadly, she said, “You are never a mistake, girl. I just wonder if I am cut out to be your puppy-mommy sometimes.”

  Duchess barked several times quickly, as if she understood. Smiling, she affectionately petted her long, silky ears. “All right, all right. Let’s go inside and watch some TV together. I think I have some baby carrots for you and a pint of Ben & Jerry’s for me. Maybe I could try just a bit harder in the training class, so you and I can be besties… as well as partners.”

  Three

  Determined to turn over a new leaf, Cindy was on her best behavior on Monday morning. She had felt like a brown-noser when she ordered two cups of coffee at Starbucks during her usual stop. But instead of giving Wesson one, she chickened out and guzzled down both before exiting the squad car. That only resulted in her being miserable all day from caffeine overload, the diuretic and the swampy black uniforms in the sun. The good news was that she was getting a heck of a tan. The bad news was that it was from the neck up. Maybe this next weekend, she’d lay out in the back yard and try to even things up a bit. Not that anyone would ever see her tan lines.

  Paying attention and focusing on the drills they were running, she realized that Wesson really knew the animals and the people there. She realized that Smith responded best by feeling important. Wesson would ask him to demonstrate and the expression on Smith’s face was priceless. Garner’s dog liked to play, which was funny because their personalities matched. He was a goofball and acted up each time Wesson wasn’t looking. It went on and on. Each person had a trait that he’d narrowed down and focused on in order to exploit it. So, what was the deal with her? Was she the “Bounty-the poo-picker-upper-extraordinaire”?

  Not hardly.

  Friday, after a week of actually doing well and trying to be on her best behavior, she arrived early at the kennel with the extra cup of coffee. Her heart thumped nervously as she saw another squad car arrive for the morning drills. She wanted to get into the office, drop it off and say hello – then get on the field before anyone saw her.

  “What’cha got there, Lance? You bring me a coffee, too?”

  “Perkins, your coffee is waiting at the store. I’m just cleaning out some trash from my car,” she sassed and stuck out her tongue. Sighing, Cindy pitched the full cup of coffee and her half-empty one in the trash. Well, there goes five bucks wasted! she thought. She could have given it to Perkins if he wasn’t such a snitch. He was the one that tattled on her constantly. The man watched her more than Wesson did, if that was even possible!

  “Lance! Perkins! If you two are done chit-chatting, I could use some help setting up. We are going to do something different today,” Wesson interrupted. Cindy tugged on Duchess’ leash, but it looked like she didn’t need much encouragement. The Malinois was practically running down the small, grassy hill that was near the parking lot to the kennel. Little traitor, she thought affectionately and wondered if Duchess preferred the grumpy man to herself.

  Following the dog, she saw that Wesson’s hair was wet and looked almost slicked back. For a brief moment, she pictured him in the shower, water cascading down a chiseled, tan torso and promptly tripped over her own feet. Cindy landed face down in the grass, knocking the air out of her. Duchess ran back and began licking her face to comfort her. Thankfully, it was clean grass she landed in!

  “You okay?”

  “I’m fine,” she mumbled, embarrassed. Wesson stood there with his hand extended to help her up. She ignored the hand and instead jumped up on her own, nervously looking anywhere but at him.

  Mercy me, he was beautiful! she thought, flushing. Perhaps she could wear sunglasses today and get an eyeful without him noticing that she was staring at him. He pulled his hand back and shoved it in the pocket of his khaki pants. She could have sworn he looked offended at the refusal of aid. But then again, that would imply that he’d cared if she was hurt. She knew better than that.

  “Let’s go then,” he barked and walked off from where she stood dusting off the grass clippings from her knees.

  Rolling her eyes, she followed Perkins and Wesson inside. Opening a side door, she watched him flip on the light to a basement. “There’s a range down here and we are going to see how the dogs do around loud noises. We’ll fire off a few rounds and see how they go. As to prevent a complete meltdown, especially since this is the first time the dogs have been introduced to anything this loud, we’ll go one or two at a time. We don’t need seven traumatized animals in a narrow room. Someone will get bit. Perkins, as the others show up, have them take a seat. Lance, head on down and I will be right there.”

  Walking down the steep stairs, Duchess nearly bowled her over as she darted between her legs to head down first. It wasn’t like she was tiny, no! It was a large mass of fur, muscles and enthusiasm shoving past her with all the force and fury of a doggy-tornado. Grabbing the handrail, she heard Wesson sigh loudly behind her. She knew exactly why, too – she didn’t have a tight enough hold on the leash.

  “I know, I know! You don’t have to sigh like that. Tighten up on the leash, right?” Cindy snapped. She felt shame and embarrassment heat her cheeks at her rookie mistake. It was one thing to act like you had everything under control. It was completely another to be shown up in front of the instructor. That exaggerated sigh felt like her nose was being rubbed in it.

  “Yes. You know why, too, right?”

  “She is endangering me or others when not in control.” Don’t get defensive, she thought. Wesson was right, and she was still learning,
obviously. Luckily, she wasn’t injured at the bottom of the stairs to boot!

  “That’s my response word for word, yes.” She refused to look over her shoulder at him, hearing the surprised and smug tone of his words. There was something about his cocky, arrogant ways that really got under her skin.

  “I do listen, you know.”

  “I never said you didn’t. I would just prefer not to have you fall down the stairs and break your leg, or your neck.” She’d just been thinking that very thing and had to agree wholeheartedly. The idea of tumbling down stairs for the sake of an excited puppy that was the size of a small horse was not her idea of fun. Duchess sat just ahead of her looking like she was ready to play. Her dark eyes watched Cindy, and her tail thumped excitedly.

  “Me, too.” Cindy admitted aloud and got to the bottom of the stairs and saw the small, three-lane range. No wonder he didn’t want all of them down there! It was just the two of them, well three with Duchess, and it felt snug. The room was barely ten feet wide, yet the length of the range resembled a bowling alley as it went on for quite some ways. Guides at the top near the ceiling were used to drag targets downrange for practice. It was still used, evident by the shells on the floor swept into a corner next to a nearly full bucket of casings.

  “Go ahead and fire off a round or two,” he ordered. But there was something in his voice that made the hair on the back of her neck stand.

  “Already? You aren’t going to prep me for what to expect from her?” Cindy asked skeptically. Was he trying to set her up to fail? Did he give everyone a hard time or was it just her? She knew that she wasn’t a favorite student, but it sure felt like a set up by him.

  “I think you’ll be surprised like I was. She is a really sweet little lady and does well under pressure. She’s a bit headstrong and sometimes flighty. But when a job needs to be done, she’s the best out there.”