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“That was only the beginning,” I reply. Must stay calm. He’s trying to rile me up to see if I react. I’ve read about this before. I just have to do my job and prove the value. “Next, I’ll show you how Ranger and I work together to overcome rugged and uneven terrain.”
“I’d like to see that,” the young investor says with dripping irony.
“What’s his problem?” Alli whispers in my ear, but I motion for her to stand down.
Ranger appears back where he started and drops the doll at my feet. The investors applaud, except one.
“So we should expect the dog to drop a baby?” he sneers. “Great rescuing skills.”
Where did Miss Chardonnay find this guy?
“Ranger knows this isn’t a human. I just thought it would be more meaningful for the demonstration to use a doll rather than a squeaky toy.”
An investor at the table chuckles. “I love watching a dog with a squeaky toy. One of life’s simple pleasures.”
I fit Ranger’s harness on. “This next demonstration would have been best in the snow, but given that we’re not in the right season, you’ll have to use your imagination.”
“This is a fraud,” the young investor mutters under his breath. “Why didn’t you just ask us to put money on a silver platter?” he says at full volume. “You dragged us all the way out here for games.”
I step closer to him. “Careful, sir, you’re very near the edge.”
“What of it? We’re in a parking lot. You didn’t even pick a dangerous part of the park.”
“You’re very close there.” My breath quickens, and I glance at Ranger. “Perimeter,” I say to him quietly, and Ranger automatically walks to the edge. He has no fear of heights or steep drops, and I need him to prevent this guy from doing something crazy.
“You set your dog on me? Because a grown man is getting toward the edge? Chardonnay, I’m out. You promised that there was an opportunity to do something totally different, something no one in the region was doing. You didn’t tell me we’d be watching dogs play with dolls.”
He steps forward, but the heel of his patent-leather Oxford shoe catches on a rock, and even though Ranger and I rush to prevent what we could see coming a mile off…
It’s too late.
He stumbles over the edge. The investors gasp.
“Ranger! Target!” I cry without thinking, and Ranger takes off down the switchback paths.
“I’ll set up the security line!” Alli calls out. “You do first response!”
“On it!” I call, already heading down the switchback, albeit at barely a third of Ranger’s speed, and he’s out of sight.
The investors cry and mumble, but I can’t worry about them now.
What was supposed to be a demonstration has turned into a full-on rescue mission.
Ranger barks, the sound of it reverberating throughout the mountains. I try to zone in on the sound’s origins.
“South of you!” Alli calls from above. “Watch yourself. There are overhangs.”
“Roger that!” I shout, my feet carrying me as swiftly as I can safely move southbound, toward Ranger.
The trail narrows, a fifty-foot drop to the next plateau. Not my favorite kind of maneuver. I inch forward, Alli’s voice reaching down the mountain.
“Watch your step, Ter-Ter,” she says. “Watch your–”
The dirt falls out from underneath me and I’m in a free fall, rushing down the dirt, the angle too steep for me to stop, but I grab a root at only about ten feet down. Voices above gasp and cry out.
“I’m safe!” I call up. For now, I think to myself.
“More roots to your left,” Alli calls down, her voice calm. She must have pulled out the binoculars, because I have no idea how she could see roots from her height otherwise.
