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Luke continued to wait around in the breakfast nook. The manager, any guests, any housekeeping services or maintenance people never showed up. There was another hallway behind the check in counter with doors closed, light off, and it appeared to be management. Luke just wanted to test how long he could linger around without anyone coming out.
The person in the business center never came out either.
After a while, it was clear there was a lot of dead time in the front office, and unless you were willing to make some noise, no one would notice you.
Good to know.
On his way out, Luke took a couple of oatmeal packets, and combined them with some creamer and water to make a goopy concoction that resembled milky oatmeal, at least maybe to a dog.
They were probably already drawing some attention just hanging around, especially in the middle of the day. Luke tried to not look in North’s direction as he headed back to the abandoned restaurant building.
He found the loose section of plywood again.
This time, he wedged himself inside, careful not to spill the oatmeal in the paper coffee cup.
The dog had moved since he left, but the space was still dark and smelled horribly.
Luke waited, unsure if someone else might be in here. “Where’d you go, puppy?”
There was a skittering noise in the back.
Luke tiptoed and then crouched, holding out the oatmeal, ready.
He waited for the dog to come to him.
The dog peered at him from behind a table left on its side. It looked at him, its big brown eyes wide. Its tail tucked again. It lowered its head.
“Come on,” Luke whispered, holding the oatmeal concoction out. He breathed out slowly, trying to relax his face, his body and appear calm.
The dog still hesitated for a moment, but the lure of some food won over eventually and it came closer to sniff.
It was a girl dog, from what Luke could tell. She sniffed the cup in his hand, licked at the surface of the oatmeal and then glanced back up at him, unsure.
“Have some,” he breathed. “I have nothing else for you.”
The dog licked at the cold oatmeal, trying to get more at the liquid than the oats, but eventually picked up bits and ate them.
Now what, Luke wondered, trying to figure out what to do with the dog. He searched the debris surrounding them, but nothing appeared useful.
Suddenly a deep voice reverberated and shook him nearly out of his shoes.
“Luke!” It was North, attempting to whisper, but his deep voice carried over. “What are you doing in here?”
The dog became spooked and backed up.
Luke whispered harshly at North. “Don’t scare her!”
North materialized next to Luke, crouching how Luke was and peering into the darkness. His eyes likely still needed adjusting.
When he spotted the dog, he frowned. “We don’t have time for this.”
“It’s trapped in here,” Luke said. “Help me get her out.”
“And then what?” North asked, his voice grumbling. “I swear, you never think far enough ahead. We’re supposed to be looking for... whoever.”
“I found him. Her. Them...” Luke repositioned himself so he was crawling on his knees closer to the dog, offering the half-eaten oatmeal again. “At least I think I did. We need Victor.”
“Why can’t we do it?”
“Because they’re smart, very smart, whoever it is.” The dog got closer, drawn to the oatmeal, and ate it again. “The smart ones are usually the most...skittery. More likely to get scared off or get the wrong idea. Paranoid and cautious. But we should probably see what they’re doing at the office computers at the motel’s business center. There’s coding of some sort. I’m sure Victor will know. That’ll be a quick way to assess character and possibilities.”
North fell silent, waiting and watching. It was likely North agreed with Luke, but North never just agreed outright. He just moved on to the next step. “Victor just left.”
“We’d have to do it later, anyway,” Luke said. “But we need to monitor the main office doors and then we can get a peek at whoever it is and see which room they’re staying in. There are supposedly some cameras around, too. There was a notice on the door.”
North frowned. “Someone is going to have to rent a room here for a couple of days. We can’t keep showing up and looking around and then just leaving. It’ll go noticed.”
“Help me find a bit of rope,” Luke said, motioning to the dog. “She’s almost done with this oatmeal.”
North left him, followed by the sound of the loose board clattering against the wall.
When she finished, the dog still licked at the cup.
Luke offered her his hand to sniff. She did, licked it, and then waited.
He reached over, carefully scratching at the ears, the wiry coarse hairs. She was cute.
It was several minutes before North returned with some paracord and a packet of beef jerky. “Here,” he said, tossing the jerky at Luke.
Luke caught it, ripping it open and offering a little to the dog. The dog nearly swallowed the first piece whole.
“Don’t feed it the whole thing,” North said. “Just use it as a lure.” He knotted the paracord to make a leash. “Put this around the neck.”
Luke did the work, as the dog seemed to trust him more. He carefully put the leash around his neck, made sure it fit properly. North had to show him how to do it so he wouldn’t end up choking the dog if she decided to bolt.
North led the way out of the abandoned restaurant. On the sidewalk outside, the day had shifted to late afternoon. Luke yawned, already exhausted.
“Now we have to find a place for it to go.”
“It’s a girl,” Luke said. “And why can’t we keep her?”
“Because, if you don’t remember, we’re starting school soon...”
“People who go to school have dogs.”
“And we’re on a job here...”
“People who have jobs have dogs.”
North grumbled again. “And we’re short on people at the Academy as it is.”
“Kota has a dog.”
North narrowed his eyes at Luke. “Kota has family to help with Max. You and I have Uncle taking the last bit of our time—what little we have—on starting up his,” he paused and his tone filled with annoyance, “diner.”
“You told him it was a good idea,” Luke said.
“For him, and later, when we wouldn’t have to be so involved,” he said.
Luke and North crossed the road with the dog in tow. Silas was still sitting in the Jeep across the way.
He stepped out, giving at them with a strange look. “Don’t tell me the Academy was looking for a real dog this time,” he said with a chuckle at the end.
“No,” Luke said. “She was just caught in the dilapidated building.”
“We need to find a place for her to go,” North said.
“Not a shelter!” Luke adamantly waved a hand through the air. “They might put her to sleep. She needs an actual home.”
“There are no-kill shelters,” North said. “You’d think I’d take a dog to any sort of kill shelter?”
Luke quieted, relieved. “I think we can take an extra step and find her a good home.”
North rolled his eyes. “We don’t have the time. It could take weeks.”
“I know someone,” Silas said quietly.
North shot him a look. “You can’t keep a dog at your apartment.”
“No,” he said. “But my dad was talking about someone at work having lost his dog a few weeks ago. I can take her with me, for now, and take her over to his house in the morning. I know the guy. I think he’d appreciate it.”
North considered this. “Well, if he’ll take her...”
Luke was a little disappointed. He was sort of hoping he’d get to keep her for at least a few days, enough to convince North that he could keep up with a dog and could keep her forever.
Luke resolved himself, however, to trust Silas. As long as the dog was happy in his new owner, he would be happy to let her go.