Pretty Broken Dolls by Jennifer Chase

Chapter Twenty-One

Saturday 1145 hours

Shooting wasn’t a part of the K9 training exercise.

Katie instinctively lunged forward, grabbing Cisco’s collar and guiding him down—they hid in a small ravine, hopefully out of sight as a potential target. She stayed still—listening. There were no footsteps or crunching noises that would indicate someone walking. Who was shooting? A hunter? She didn’t think so. She waited for the next round of gunfire.

Luckily, she had her cell phone in her pocket and she had turned it to vibrate. She called Lizzy. It rang twice before her friend answered.

“Lizzy,” whispered Katie.

“Katie, are you alright? What’s going on? Everyone heard the shots and are responding.” Her voice was winded and concerned.

Katie could hear voices yelling back and forth.

“We’re fine. We tucked down in a small ravine… but…”

“But what?”

“It’s unclear if the shots were meant for us or not. They seemed to be aimed high.”

“Did you see anyone?”

“No, but the shots came from the west.”

“I’ll tell them. About how far are you?”

“We’re about a quarter of a mile down.”

“Okay. Stay there until they tell you it’s safe.”

“Okay.”

The phone call ended.

Katie waited.

Cisco’s rhythmic panting reminded her of all the stressful situations they had encountered together. She and Cisco usually took point to get through rough terrain infested with insurgents and heavily set explosive traps. She thought back to the tiny spaces they had to hide from the enemy fire as bullets pummeled too close for comfort. The battle-torn towns that had once been thriving little communities, where the enemy could be hiding around every corner, waiting to attack.

Her heart pounded, making her feel dizzy. In an instant, her arms and legs felt weakened. She perspired underneath her jacket even though it was cool and comfortable outside. She thought that she caught a whiff of ejected gunfire, but knew that it wasn’t real. Consciously slowing her breath helped lessen her symptoms. She was concentrating so hard on listening for signs that someone was sneaking up to ambush her that she wasn’t sure if her mind was playing tricks on her.

But then Katie heard real voices coming. The sound of cops communicating and clearing areas as they slowly made their way to her. She breathed a sigh of relief. Of everything that she had been anticipating today, an active shooter in the forest wasn’t one of them.

She waited another fifteen minutes—which felt more like an hour—until she heard the word.

“Scott, it’s clear!” yelled one of the officers.

Katie slowly crawled up to the makeshift trail with Cisco beside her. She stood up and saw three officers approach.

“You okay?” said one of them.

“Yes, we’re fine.”

“Go ahead and walk back to the parking lot. It’s been cleared for your safety.”

“Thank you,” she said as she hiked back.

After Katie returned to the main area, Lizzy and John met up with her.

“Are you okay?” they both asked in unison.

“Yes. We’re fine. A bit unnerving.” She was shaky but held strong.

Sergeant Hardy approached. “Detective Scott, we’re going to need your statement before you go.”

“Of course.” She looked at Lizzy and John. “I’ll be right back.”

Katie followed the sergeant.

“I’m afraid that I’m not going to be much help. I didn’t see or hear anything except the shots.”

“You said the shots came from the west.”

“Yes, but they seemed to be high in the trees.”

“Anything else?” he said. She could tell that he was annoyed that she couldn’t help or provide any other information.

“It’s just… it seems to me that they were just trying to scare me—not kill me. Otherwise, I would be dead.”