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  As usual, hindsight informed her that harassing the lieutenant hadn’t been an optimal strategy. A hindsight that had served her equally poorly with regular Army commanders before she’d finally hooked up with the Rangers—kowtowing to officers had never been one of her strengths.

  Thankfully, the Special Operations Forces hadn’t given a damn about anything except performance and that she could always deliver, since the day she’d been named the team captain for both soccer and volleyball. She was never popular, but both teams had made all-state her last two years in school.

  The canine training course at James J. Rowley was a two-acre lot. A hard-packed path of tramped-down dirt led through the brown grass. It followed a predictable pattern from the gate to a junker car, over to tool shed, then a truck, and so on into a compressed version of an intersection in a small town. Beyond it ran an urban street of gray clapboard two- and three-story buildings and an eight-story office tower, all without windows. Clearly a playground for Secret Service training teams.

  Her target was the town, so she blocked the city street out of her mind. Focus on the problem: two roads, twenty storefronts, six houses, vehicles, pedestrians.

  It might look normal…normalish with its missing windows and no movement. It would be anything but. Stocked with fake IEDs, a bombmaker’s stash, suicide cars, weapons caches, and dozens of other traps, all waiting for her and Thor to find. He had to be sensitive to hundreds of scents and it was her job to guide him so that he didn’t miss the opportunity to find and evaluate each one.

  There would be easy scents, from fertilizer and diesel fuel used so destructively in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, to almost as obvious TNT to the very difficult to detect C-4 plastic explosive.

  Mannequins on the street carried grocery bags and briefcases. Some held fresh meat, a powerful smell demanding any dog’s attention, but would count as a false lead if they went for it. On the job, an explosives detection dog wasn’t supposed to care about anything except explosives. Other mannequins were wrapped in suicide vests loaded with Semtex or wearing knapsacks filled with package bombs made from Russian PVV-5A.

  She spotted Jurgen stepping into a glassed-in observer turret atop the corner drugstore. Someone else was already there and watching.

  She looked down once more at the ridiculous little dog and could only hope for the best.

  “Thor?”

  He looked up at her.

  She pointed to the left, away from the beaten path.

  “Such!” Find.

  Thor sniffed left, then right. Then he headed forward quickly in the direction she pointed.

  Clive Andrews sat in the second-story window at the corner of Main and First, the only two streets in town. Downstairs was a drugstore all rigged to explode, except there were no triggers and there was barely enough explosive to blow up a candy box.

  Not that he’d know, but that’s what Lieutenant Jurgen had promised him.

  It didn’t really matter if it was rigged to blow for real, because when Miss Watson—never Ms. or Mrs.—asked for a “favor,” you did it. At least he did. Actually, he had yet to meet anyone else who knew her. Not that he’d asked around. She wasn’t the sort of person one talked about with strangers, or even close friends. He’d bet even if they did, it would be in whispers. That’s just what she was like.

  So he’d traveled across town from the White House and into Maryland on a cold winter’s morning, barely past a sunrise that did nothing to warm the day. Now he sat in an unheated glass icebox and watched a new officer run a test course he didn’t begin to understand.

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  Off the Leash

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  About the Author

  M.L. Buchman started the first of over 60 novels, 100 short stories, and a fast-growing pile of audiobooks while flying from South Korea to ride his bicycle across the Australian Outback. Part of a solo around the world trip that ultimately launched his writing career in: thrillers, military romantic suspense, contemporary romance, and SF/F.

  PW says his thrillers will make “Tom Clancy fans open to a strong female lead clamor for more.” His titles have been named Barnes & Noble and NPR “Top 5 of the year” and 3-time Booklist “Top 10 of the Year” as well as being a “Top 20 Modern Masterpiece” in romantic suspense.

  As a 30-year project manager with a geophysics degree who has: designed and built houses, flown and jumped out of planes, and solo-sailed a 50’ ketch—he is awed by what's possible. More at: www.mlbuchman.com.

  Also by M. L. Buchman

  * also in audio

  Thrillers

  Dead Chef

  Swap Out!

  One Chef!

  Two Chef!

  Miranda Chase NTSB

  Drone*

  Thunderbolt*

  Condor*

  Ghostrider*

  Romantic Suspense

  Delta Force

  Target Engaged*

  Heart Strike*

  Wild Justice*

  Midnight Trust*

  Firehawks

  Main Flight

  Pure Heat

  Full Blaze

  Hot Point*

  Flash of Fire*

  Wild Fire

  Smokejumpers

  Wildfire at Dawn

  Wildfire at Larch Creek

  Wildfire on the Skagit

  The Night Stalkers

  Main Flight

  The Night Is Mine

  I Own the Dawn

  Wait Until Dark

  Take Over at Midnight

  Light Up the Night

  Bring On the Dusk

  By Break of Day

  and the Navy

  Christmas at Steel Beach

  Christmas at Peleliu Cove

  White House Holiday

  Daniel’s Christmas*

  Frank’s Independence Day*

  Peter’s Christmas*

  Zachary’s Christmas*

  Roy’s Independence Day*

  Damien’s Christmas*

  5E

  Target of the Heart

  Target Lock on Love

  Target of Mine

  Target of One’s Own

  Shadow Force: Psi

  At the Slightest Sound*

  At the Quietest Word*

  White House Protection Force

  Off the Leash*

  On Your Mark*

  In the Weeds*

  Contemporary Romance

  Eagle Cove

  Return to Eagle Cove

  Recipe for Eagle Cove

  Longing for Eagle Cove

  Keepsake for Eagle Cove

  Henderson’s Ranch

  Nathan’s Big Sky*

  Big Sky, Loyal Heart*

  Love Abroad B&B

  Heart of the Cotswolds: England

  Path of Love: Cinque Terre, Italy

  Where Dreams

  Where Dreams are Born

  Where Dreams Reside

  Where Dreams Are of Christmas*

  Where Dreams Unfold

  Where Dreams Are Written

  Science Fiction / Fantasy

  Deities Anonymous

  Cookbook from Hell: Reheated

  Saviors 101

  SF/F Titles

  The Nara Reaction

  Monk’s Maze

  The Me and Elsie Chronicles

  Non-Fiction

  Strategies for Success

  Managing Your Inner Artist / Writer

  Estate Planning for Authors*

  Character Voice

  Narrate and Record Your Own Audiobook*

  * * *

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  www.mlbuchman.com

  Copyright 2020 Matthew Lieber Buchman

  Published by Buchman Bookworks, Inc.

  All rights reserved.

  This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the author
.

  Receive a free book and discover more by this author at: www.mlbuchman.com

  Cover images:

  Shore Acres Park in Coos Country, OR © Rick Obst

  S14 AMW (514 Air Mobility Wing) © USAF Master Sgt. Mark C. Olsen

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