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Now, wouldn’t that just all kinds of suck?
Chapter Two
Ethan
Monday
Ethan Osbourne parked his truck at the back corner of the parking lot down by Iniquus’s Cerberus Tactical K9 training field.
Full house, he thought, shifting into park and releasing his seatbelt.
K9 Team Charlie and tactical team Strike Force were just getting back from protecting a mixed group of medical providers and researchers in some of the most remote places on Earth.
On far-off islands, scientists collected unique plant materials for pharmaceutical studies, and doctors did everything from blood tests to eye surgery.
They’d invited Ethan along as a volunteer. And while it would have been one hell of an adventure, it was a month-long commitment, and Ethan had already accepted close protection assignments with an overlapping timeline.
Tango, Ethan’s Malinois, got to go, though, handled by Creed Duchamp.
This deployment was the first time Ethan and Tango had been apart for more than a day since she was born.
The separation had been tough.
Real tough.
But this assignment gave Tango the tactical hours and on-site experience she needed to wrap up her Cerberus certification, cutting about six months off her training schedule.
From the reports Creed sent Ethan, Tango had been getting gold stars, and she’d have her credentialing ceremony the week after next.
As hard as it had been on him, the month was done and dusted. Tonight, the separation was over.
Ethan was invited to join the teams for their after-deployment party.
This reunion cookout was all about transitions.
The more Ethan saw of Iniquus, the more he appreciated Command’s attention to detail, especially when it came to supporting the emotional well-being of their people—and this care extended to their families. After all, low-stress family life kept the operators’ brains sharp and focused, limited mistakes that put life and limb at risk, and kept outcomes optimal. It was win-win.
One procedure they had in place was that after a long stretch of deployment, instead of having operators get off a plane, hug their families, and drive home as folks did in the military, Iniquus built in transition time.
Operators came in, the family arrived, and on neutral ground there was food, music, fun, and games. With their teammates beside them, the operators could transition from their field role to a family role.
The families, in turn, could readjust to their loved one being around again.
Yeah, the more Ethan thought about it, the more it made sense.
Genius policy.
Climbing down from his cab and shutting the door, Ethan rounded the front of his vehicle and let his gaze slide along the group standing at the fence.
He spotted Creed right away, but Tango wasn’t with him.
Creed stood shoulder to shoulder with Gator, a Strike Force operator.
Ethan had sweated and bled on the battlefield alongside those two.
And to Ethan’s great good fortune, that brotherhood turned into the ticket that Ethan needed to get Tango in front of the Cerberus trainers to assess her abilities and see if she was good enough to enter their prestigious working K9 training program.
A certification signed by Cerberus was like graduating from an Ivy League college: everyone knew the name on the paperwork and the quality of instruction.
