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When we reached base operations, I was taken to the hospital. I’d been right about the bullet being a through and through, but the car broke both bones in my lower leg. Luckily it was a clean break that didn’t require surgery—thank fuck since this country didn’t exactly have the best medical care. They splinted my leg so I could make it to the nearest base and have a military doctor do the actual setting of the break.
“You’ll need a cast for the next six to eight weeks,” the doctor said as she wrote in my chart. “But then you should be alright with a movable brace. Make an appointment with your primary physician when you get home, and they’ll make the final decision.”
I mentally crossed my fingers that they’d put me in the brace rather than on a walker. The boys would give me endless shit over it.
1
Annalise
Igave my metal whistle a blow, then let it drop to my chest, where it hung from a chain around my neck as I watched Tucker, the German shepherd I was training. He was doing a great job on the obstacle course, and I was so proud of him when he didn’t balk before bounding up the back of the slide and hurtling down the other side on his stomach.
“Still can’t believe you have them playing on a slide.”
I glanced over my shoulder at the familiar, masculine voice and rolled my eyes. “Only because you’d figure out how to talk your way into the pilot’s seat to land the plane yourself in an emergency, so you think nobody would ever need to use the inflatable slide while traveling with their psychiatric service dog.”
I added the slide to the obstacle course at the training facility where I’d worked for the past year after reading an article about a woman in that exact situation. Her service dog had to be blindfolded and placed on her lap after an emergency landing because he wasn’t willing to go down the inflatable slide otherwise. All of which my brother knew since I’d told him the story already.
That didn’t stop him from teasing me about it, though. Like any big brother would do. “Of course, I would. I was a damn good pilot.”
I mentally cringed at his use of the past tense, but my dad didn’t keep his thoughts on the subject to himself. “One of the best and you still are, son.”
“Sure.” I blew my whistle again to let Tucker know his training was done, and Andrew stalked across the yard with his dog, Charlie, keeping pace with him at his side. When my brother neared Tucker, he gave Charlie the command to sit before crouching down to scratch Tucker behind his ear.
My dad wrapped his arm around my shoulders and murmured, “I’m proud of what you’ve accomplished here, kiddo.”
“Even though I didn’t follow in your footsteps, too?” I whispered, my throat scratchy as I stared at my brother.
My dad never expected me to join the Air Force, but the same couldn’t be said for Andrew. He was eight years older than me, but I’d heard all of the stories about how he’d dressed up as a fighter pilot for pretty much every Halloween, going back to before I was born. My dad loved that his son wanted to honor the family tradition, but I knew that he would have been more than happy for Andrew to have done anything else if it meant that he hadn’t been broken by his time overseas.
But then I probably would have never found my calling. The way Charlie brought my brother back to us was nothing short of a miracle. One I had been determined to offer to others suffering like he’d been before he was paired with Charlie by the same facility we stood in today.
“The work you do here touches so many lives, Annalise.”
Desperate to lighten the mood, I quipped, “And you don’t even mind that most of the dogs I train go to sailors instead of airmen?”
“I suppose that’s what I get for moving so close to Coronado.” He heaved a deep sigh, shaking his head. “I’m surrounded by squids.”
I giggled. “Mm-hmm, you sure are.”
“Working with them and seeing them around town is one thing.” He tightened his hold on me with a playful growl. “Just do me a favor and don’t ever date one.”
My dad had moved us three hours south from Lancaster to San Diego after he retired from the Air Force, right before I started high school. He loved his job at a local aerospace company, testing new airplane designs for their flight worthiness. Andrew made the same move during my senior year when his Air Force career abruptly ended after his PTSD diagnosis.
Almost as though my brother had a built-in radar for any discussion of my dating life, he walked back over to us. “Who is Annalise dating? Why haven’t we met him yet? When did they meet?”
“Nobody,” I huffed, rolling my eyes.
Andrew ignored me and waited for our dad—who found his displeasure hilarious, judging by how hard he was laughing—to answer his questions. When he finally managed to pull himself together, he explained, “Nobody, as far as I know. I was just reminding your sister that she better not bring home a squid. If she’s going to date military, it should be an airman.”
My brother crossed his arms over his broad chest. “Nah, she’d be better off with a successful businessman who can help finance this place. Or a veterinarian who can give all the dogs free medical care.”
“It’s really too bad that I didn’t decide to train K9 dogs for the police or military,” I muttered, glaring at him. “Then I could test their attack command on you.”
I felt a burst of happiness as he chuckled at my taunt. “We both know you’d never do something like that, sis. You love me too much.”
Planting a fist on my hip, I tilted my head. “Or maybe it’s just because I’d never misuse an animal like that.”
“Uh-huh, sure.” He tugged at the end of my ponytail. “Whatever you have to tell yourself to make you feel better about being a softie when it comes to me.”
