Chapter 10

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1941

8:14 A.M.

Skipper barked at the door, but no one answered on the other side. She growled and looked to the other masters to give her a hand, but they were already running off into the ship, splashing through the water.

Joe was gone! She’d lost her pup! What could she do? How would he survive without her?

Skipper knew that Joe was a good pup. He was strong and kind and smart enough to put her in the straw box to get her on board. But he was still a pup. Even the toughest ones needed to be looked after.

Now Joe was gone, leaving her surrounded by booming sounds and burning smells. It wasn’t right. She couldn’t just leave him.

What could she do? She didn’t even know where she was, and everything was strange and unfamiliar. The ground was shifting under her, shaking and leaning to one side. There was water where there wasn’t supposed to be, and it was rising quickly. Somewhere in the distance, she could hear it rushing into the ship, moving closer.

Skipper whined. She felt angry, but she also felt helpless. It made her want to run away, like she’d always done. Like she should have done the minute she noticed Joe . . .

No. Skipper put her head down and turned her growl into a bark of determination. She’d been strong enough to survive on the beaches and in the alleyways. And she’d been smart enough to find Joe, the one human who’d been really kind to her.

She would find a way back to him. There was always a way.

She ran through the halls of the ship. She did her best to block out the sounds and smells that weren’t important right now—smoke and seawater, clanging metal and whooping alarms—and tried to catch a hint of Joe or Danny. She knew if she could just get a whiff of them on the air, or could hear their voices somewhere in the distance, she could follow them. She was smart like that, able to catch a little sound or smell and follow its trail to whatever she wanted.

She’d find him, she just had to work at it.

She held up her nose, sniffed the air . . .

There! On a gust of wind, she caught it—Joe’s smell, straight ahead!

She charged in the direction of the smell, but a human cry made her stop in her tracks. Through a doorway, she could see one of the humans now, not still a pup but not yet a master. He was trapped under a fallen piece of pipe and couldn’t get free . . . and the water was rising around him.

Skipper paused. If she helped this human, she might not find Joe.

But if it were Joe under that pipe, and another dog didn’t help him, she’d hate that dog forever. She’d find him down under the docks and bite him. Each of these pups, even the ones that were almost masters, was another dog’s Joe.

Skipper darted into the room and quickly saw the problem—the human’s bottom coverings were caught. It didn’t help that he was panicking, yelling and thrashing and waving his arms at her. She barked at him to be quiet, then ducked her head down under the water and ripped at his coverings with her teeth. Instantly the human was free, and he scrambled to his feet and ran out of the room without so much as a “good girl” to Skipper.

In the hallway, there was just a shred of Joe smell left in the air, and she focused on it. She followed it up one staircase, then another, then another, until she was out in the open again. All around her was noise and burning, screams and flying machine roars, but Skipper stayed focused, letting Joe’s smell guide her around the side of the ship. It went past the door and up some stairs into one of the towers. Could Joe have gone so far up?

At the top of the tower, Skipper stopped. It wasn’t Joe there, it was Joe’s father!

Joe’s father stood with the man in the shiny coat, holding him up with a big arm looped under his shoulders. The man in the shiny coat was talking in a calm voice, but he was doing a poor job of hiding that he was hurt. Even if Skipper couldn’t smell the blood on him or hear his slowed-down heartbeat, she could see the dark patches on his coat.

The man in the shiny coat caught sight of her and smiled. Then he looked to Joe’s father and said something. It was a lot of human talk, but Skipper understood two words: “Skipper” and “Joe.”

Joe’s father looked down at her, his eyes wide. Skipper saw how strong he was, but she could also smell his fear and hear his heart pounding. To try to put him at ease, she sat up straight and gave him a single bark.

Joe’s father seemed hesitant, unsure what to make of her. Then he reached out and patted her head. Good, she’d won him over.

Now back to business! Skipper barked at Joe’s father and swung her head and shoulders toward the door. They needed to get going! Joe, their pup, was out there in the noise and burning, along with a lot of other pups and masters who needed their help!

The man in the shiny coat slapped Joe’s father on the arm and said something to him. Joe’s father slowly lowered him into a chair and spoke to him in a soft voice. The man in the shiny coat pointed toward the door, said a bunch of human words, and then, “Joe!”

Finally, someone who gets it! barked Skipper.

Joe’s father nodded and turned back to Skipper. She barked one more time to keep his attention—these humans could get so easily distracted, even the masters—and then ran out the door and down the stairs of the tower. Then they were on the deck, Skipper leading the way to the opening she’d come out of, retracing the smells and sounds that she’d passed.

She found the hatch—but it was blocked by a big piece of ship. And there was a human under it!

Skipper skidded to a halt, unsure what to do. Even if they could find another hatch, she didn’t want to leave this master here hurt. She looked up at Joe’s father, wondering what his plan was.

Joe’s father looked back at Skipper. Then he put his fingers in his mouth, and—

FWEET!

Whoa! Skipper had never heard a whistle like that before! It made her heart race and her head rush. It was like she instantly knew what to do!

Joe’s father lifted the big piece of ship. He strained and grunted, but he finally got it up high enough that Skipper could fit under it. She grabbed the hurt human by the leather strap around his waist and dragged him out of the way of the piece of ship. Then Joe’s father put down the ship piece, knelt down, picked up the human, and went into the hatch.

Inside the ship, Joe’s father put down the human and turned back to Skipper. He smiled down at her, and Skipper felt the same kindness and strength in him that she’d felt in Joe. They worked together perfectly. He was a good master, and she was a smart girl.

The ship shook under them, and Joe’s father’s smile went away as he steadied himself. He put his fingers in his mouth and whistled again, and Skipper barked in agreement.

Skipper led him down the corridor, deeper into the ship. They had other masters and pups to save, including Joe. But maybe—just maybe—they had a chance of doing it, so long as they did it together.