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“Why do I get the feeling something horrible happened to her?”
“Because what would be the point of telling you this story if it didn’t?” The memory struck me in the gut and brought back pain I’d tried so hard to bury. “Short of it, she saved my life. More than once, but the last one cost her her life.”
Blossom gasped, one hand going to my shirt, her fingers bunching in the fabric. Her eyes were wide, her mouth open in an “O” of surprise. “Oh, no!”
“Fuck,” I breathed. “Why do you have to be so Goddamned compassionate?” My arms tightened around her, and I rested my chin on the top of her head as I tried to get my roiling emotions under control. “They’re just fuckin’ dogs.” I muttered the mantra to myself that had helped keep me sane those first few months. “Just a fuckin’ dog.”
“No, they’re not. At least, she wasn’t. She was your partner. You had each other’s backs.”
“Yeah, honey. We did. She tried to warn me. We were walkin’ down this dirt street in the middle of a small town. Routine patrol. Wasn’t really expecting a threat, though there had been rumors.
“There was a young man approaching us. Smile on his face. Waved at us just as friendly as could be. I grinned and waved back. Cherry sat down and growled at the kid. That was all. Just sat down. It was what she was trained to do and I just…” I shook my head. “Shoulda known then. It was a textbook find. But I’d just gotten the kiss-off from my fiancée, and my head wasn’t in the game. It was a recipe for disaster all the way around. In Kabul at the time, it was never a good time to not pay attention.”
“What?” She sat up straighter, drawing a startled yelp from the pup. She put a hand on the dog and stroked her absently.
“Different story, but yeah. The woman I was supposed to marry broke things off with me while I was overseas.”
“Seems like a pretty shitty thing to do.”
“She had her reasons, so I don’t really hold it against her. Fucked with my head though. I should never have been out. Just didn’t tell my C.O. because I didn’t want to look like a fuckin’ pussy.”
“No matter what happened, it still doesn’t make it right.”
I cleared my throat. “Anyway. I ignored Cherry. Gave her the command to continue. The closer we got the guy, the more insistent she became. I got angry. Tugged her along. Somehow, she slipped her leash and attacked the man. The second she did, the vest I didn’t know he was wearing, the one she’d tried to warn me about, exploded. Killed the guy and Cherry.” I felt my throat closing up, the memory still fresh in my mind even after the intervening years. “Her actions saved the people in the market where the guy had been headed. We learned later that a terrorist cell had targeted that market, and that young man had been the attacker. Intel was more than a little sketchy back then, and we didn’t always get information in a timely manner. The suicide bomber tasked with detonating that bomb in the center of the market had been pegged, but the information hadn’t been given to my team. If he’d managed to make it to that market, dozens -- if not hundreds -- of people would have been killed.”
“She was a hero,” Blossom murmured, lifting the puppy to snuggle the thing’s head like she was comforting the dog. Maybe she was comforting herself. I saw a tear track down her cheek, but she didn’t turn her face to me. “She saved you and everyone else.”
“That she did, sweetheart.”
Blossom looked up at me then, tears swimming in her eyes. “You don’t want to get close to Dog because she reminds you of Cherry.”
“And because I could just as easily let her down like I did Cherry. She gave her life to save mine. In my heart, I know it. It wasn’t about the market or the people in it or even her fuckin’ job. She tried to warn me, and when I didn’t listen, she did what she had to do to save me.”
“I’m so sorry, Walker.”
“Don’t feel sorry for me, baby. I don’t deserve it. Not about this. I killed that dog same as that fuckin’ bomber did.” I closed my eyes and took a breath. “Anyway, I never worked with dogs again. Not in the service. I did my time and got out. Joined Iron Tzars at Warlock’s invitation. He knew my C.O. and they both agreed I could use the distraction. Maybe even find some meaning in my life after that incident and Rebecca cuttin’ out on me. I got here, chose my road name in honor of Cherry, then proceeded to cut myself off from everyone who wasn’t stubborn enough to put up with me.
