Chapter Eight

Levi

Metz Winery, Namibia

Enrico turned the corner and climbed the stairs to the breakfast veranda with a hand in the air as his greeting.

“Good morning,” Iris sang out. “Have you had coffee yet? Had breakfast?”

“I could do with both.” He smiled.

As Levi rounded the table to greet his friend, Enrico wrapped Iris in a hug, speaking over her shoulder. “I see you met my buddy, Levi. It always shocks me what a small world it truly is.”

When Iris stepped out of the way, Levi was grinning ear to ear as he and Enrico wrapped each other in a bear hug. “Aw man, it’s been entirely too long. I had no idea how old you were getting.”

Enrico released his grasp and clapped a hand on Levi’s shoulder. “Who did you bring with you?” He scanned the table.

“Enrico, this is Reaper, our head trainer.”

Reaper rose, reaching across the table for a shake.

With a bladed hand, Levi indicated the other end of the table. “Goose, the Cerberus vet for Team Alpha.”

Goose raised a hand, then swiped a napkin over his mouth.

“Glad to meet you both.” Enrico turned to find Levi looking expectantly toward the door.

“Mojo’s here?”

“I thought it would be best if you meet him on the playing field with a bite suit on.” Enrico checked his watch. “We don’t need to be out there quite yet.”

“Sit yourself down,” Iris pulled a chair for him. “Craig and I were just getting to know these fine men from Iniquus.” She turned her head and called, “Channelle, we have one more for breakfast. It’s Enrico, and he’s brought his big appetite.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the voice floated back into the dining room.

Levi held the chair for Iris, then took his own seat.

“We enjoy learning about how people find themselves on the path to our vineyard.” Iris pulled her napkin across her lap. “It’s never a simple story. To catch you up, Enrico, we just learned that Levi needs a K9 partner because he was hired for the new Team Charlie.”

“I’m assuming an Alpha and Bravo,” Craig said. “What made Iniquus think to start building a new team?”

“Storm activity,” Reaper said. “Alpha and Bravo were getting spread thin, and that runs against Iniquus policies. Our teams need to have time to recover both physically and mentally. That’s true for human and K9 alike. We need time to train between events. Our clients deserve top-notch care.”

“What kind of clients?” Craig asked.

“It runs the gamut,” Reaper said. “We do close protection assignments as well as search and rescue. The earthquake in Morrocco, the flash flood in Spain, the Cat five hurricanes that took a surprise turn in the Caribbean, whenever there’s an event that puts our clients in harm’s way, we’re the boots on the ground that gets them to safety.”

“But Mojo is a tactical dog, right, Enrico?” Iris asked. “You’ve trained him to chase down the bad guys?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Iris swung her gaze to Levi. “And you need that for search and rescue?”

“There are times we need to pull groups out of zones that suddenly turned hot when there’s an incursion or terror event,” Levi said. “In those cases, the dogs help to guard our group, find munitions if necessary, track a missing person.”

“Or let’s say that we have our group together with enough food, water, and supplies to get our people out,” Reaper added. “That’s our contracted duty. These are desperate circumstances, and others might want to take those supplies. A K9 is an extra set of eyes and ears to help us keep track of our surroundings, force multipliers.”

“Of course, the people would try to get to those supplies.” Iris’s mouth pulled into a frown. “They’re desperate. Looking back, when I was a young mother, there was nothing that I wouldn’t do to keep my child safe.”

“Exactly, ma’am,” Reaper said. “At Iniquus, we understand that. And we want to help. We’re there first to protect our clients. Once they’re out and safe, we work with the emergency services to do what we can. With a trained K9 team, we’re proud of the lives we save.”

“That’s not just a humane move,” Craig said. “It’s pragmatic.”

“How do you mean, dear?” Iris asked, taking a nibble of toast.

“These guys work with emergency management all over the world. They get to know the folks in charge, build relationships. Those relationships serve a good purpose. They can pat each other’s backs. You help me, and I help you.”

Iris spread more butter onto the toast. “That sounded cynical.”

“What I mean is that Iniquus teams are recognized helpers with skills. They’d be welcomed into a hazardous area.” Craig pointed toward his wife. “You know this from your sister getting stuck on the side of the mountain.”

“My sister lives in western North Carolina,” Iris explained. “After the rain made the whole mountain into a mudslide, they had the devil of a time getting food and water up to people. They had rescue teams with mule trains and pack goats. But they were having a time of it, trying to keep the do-gooders at bay.”

“Rightly so,” Reaper said. “There are things to be done at base camp—cooking, cleaning, supporting. But to get someone untrained out in a disaster multiplies the number of people that need to be rescued. It stretches the resources further.”

“Pack goats,” Goose lifted his juice glass and took a sip, “now, that’s something I’d like to see.”

“Maybe Iniquus should consider adding that to your mission capabilities.” Enrico grinned.

“Let’s get Charlie and Delta up and rolling before we start talking about pack goats,” Reaper chuckled.

“Like I was saying,” Craig leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest, “you know the authorities at a location, and they know you. You’re taking numbers off their search count. You’re available to assist if you come across something. The more support you can be to each other is a net positive. Look, that’s how you even knew to come and give Mojo a trial. Since Levi and Enrico were SEALs together, Levi can vouch for Enrico’s capabilities.”

“We’ve known Enrico since he moved to Namibia,” Iris said. “He stayed with us here at the vineyard as part of his first assignment. It was fixing a problem with scent training, if I’m remembering correctly. One of the military dogs had just had a litter. We host the puppies here at the vineyard to expose them to family life. Eleven puppies in that litter, if you can imagine.”

Craig nodded. “Yep, and Mojo was one of them. So we’ve known Mojo all his life. Enrico picked out three of the pups he thought could do the work in Etosha. I think most of the rest went to various groups that assist people with disabilities, leading the blind and the like.”

“Well, yes, but four ended up being pet quality,” Enrico said. “They went to families in Windhoek. We need every tactical dog who can do the work to help us. Right now, we have a tiny budget. Most of the money is going to feed the military who work at the park. We’re praying for rain. The dry season should be over in a few more weeks. I’m hoping we can hold on that long. Animals and people alike are suffering.”

Iris fixed her gaze on Levi. “I know that here in Namibia, the hungrier the population gets, the more conflict we see between humans and the animals. That’s the same everywhere, don’t you think?” Iris lifted her hands and let them flop back in her lap, “I’m not even sure what I’m asking here.”

Levi looked up as Chanelle brought Enrico’s breakfast in. “Iniquus believes that the environmental challenges ahead of us are going to be the biggest national security threats of our time. It used to be that we were fighting over the resources of gas and oil so that we had that available to build our economies. But now, all around the world, there is deep insecurity about the drastic changes on the horizon. Water and food are the next pressure points.”

“That just sent a shiver down my spine.” Iris gripped the edge of the table. “Our Gwen says that her job used to be much more straightforward. Weather patterns are becoming unpredictable, and that makes WorldCares’ struggle to be in the right place ahead of the crisis.”

“We're really experiencing the unusual weather here in Namibia.” Craig picked up his fork, laid it across his plate, and shoved the plate away from him, signaling the staff that he was done. “Our wet season wasn't as wet as it needed to be. There's no food for the wild animals. Then, the wild ones want to come and eat our domestic ones before we do. It’s getting prohibitively expensive to feed the domesticated ones.”

“Except for Betty.” Iris raised an emphatic brow. “Betty gets fed.”

“Despite the bounty of this meal—it’s delicious, thank you—there's certainly little food available for us humans.” Enrico loaded up his fork and let it hover in the air. “Without enough food in the stores or people’s gardens, the government had to release some of the emergency food supplies. We’ve burned through about seventy-five percent of the emergency storage.”

“When Gwen gets here, Enrico,” Iris said, “she’s taking the rest of the week for vacation. But after that, she can sit down and look at the models. I’ll bet she can come up with helpful insights for y’all over at Etosha.”

Craig turned to Reaper. “So WorldCares developed their models to steer their humanitarian efforts. What do Iniquus models say?”

Reaper’s gaze hardened. “To be honest, sir, in our lifetimes, we’re going to see increasing global instability. Weather extremes are changing the intensity of worsening water supplies and food supplies. In the United States right now, people are talking about how expensive the food is getting. But as you all know from Iris’s sister’s experience, we just had storms whip through Florida and up the East Coast. A lot of the groves were destroyed. That’s our citrus and peach supply. It’ll impact the price of food for years to come. Those financial pressures will be hardest on families with lower incomes, like our disabled communities.

Levi reached for the water carafe and poured himself a glass. “When I was over in Iraq, and some up in Syria, we saw the Syrian civil war had a lot to do with drought. The people from rural areas had to move to the cities. The cities’ infrastructures weren’t set up to support that many people.” He told Craig. “For sure, it’s not the only reason why there was conflict. I've just found that when there are existing tensions, a spark can light a fire.”

And as he said that, Levi’s stomach lurched. He remembered clearly how Tess shivered against his body one night after waking up from one of her night terrors. She whispered her survival story that all started when a fight erupted over a Guinea hen.

The human suffering that followed was incomprehensible.

For Tess, it had been a wound that would probably never heal.

While he was away at war and saw the atrocities, he always thought about how Tess had to navigate that as an orphaned child, and his compassion was immense.

It reminded Levi that at any minute of any day, something as small as standing next to the wrong hen can change your life on a dime.