Chapter 3

Katie was awakened by the ringing of her phone. She quickly looked at the clock next to her bed and then hurried to answer the phone.

"Hello."

"Who is this?" a male voiced asked.

Katie was shocked. She'd expected the call to be from her brother given the time. She didn't know how to respond when she heard her father's voice.

"I'll ask the question again. Who is this?" John said angrily.

"I'll answer that as soon as you tell me how you got this number." Katie replied.

"I found it on my son's phone." John replied. "Now who are you?"

"Is Dean alright?" Katie asked worriedly.

"Last time, who the hell are you and how do you know my son?" John demanded.

"I used to be your daughter." Katie snapped back. "Now where's my brother?"

"Katie?" John said surprised.

"You don't get to call me that, ever." Katie yelled. "Where's Dean?"

"He, he's fine. Just doing some training with Sam." John replied. "I…."
"You what?" Katie yelled. "Decided to take advantage of the situation and see who your son was talking to at four in the morning? Or were you just jealous because he stopped talking to you? Tell Dean to call me the next time you leave."

Katie hung up the phone before John could say anything else and threw it across the room. It shattered into a couple dozen pieces.

"What the hell was that all about?" Racheal asked.

"I'd really like to shoot that man." Katie replied. "Just once."

"John called you?" Racheal said not hiding her shock.

"Yeah, but he didn't know who he was calling." Katie replied. "You ready to go?"

"Go where?" Racheal asked.

"Uh, Jim's" Katie replied.

"Oh, right." Racheal said as she climbed out of bed. "I guess twenty hours is a long enough nap."

"Why'd you let me sleep that long?" Katie asked.

"Because you needed it." Racheal replied.
"First time in a long time I didn't dream." Katie said as she got up and started getting dressed.

"Yeah, I helped with that too." Racheal said sheepishly.

"Thanks." Katie said.

"And I thought you were gonna get all mad at me." Racheal said as she turned on the light.
"Ow, warn me before you do that." Katie said as she tossed a pillow.

"Sorry, I keep forgetting you can actually see in the dark." Racheal replied.

"I think you just like torturing people." Katie said.

"That too." Racheal replied with a smile. "You gonna stop on the way to get a new phone?"
"Don't have to. I've got a spare in the jeep, I just gotta program it." Katie replied as she headed for the door. "You coming or what dude?"

"Right behind you." Racheal replied.

The girls dropped their bags in the kitchen so they could grab a quick breakfast. Katie was standing by the coffee pot in front of the kitchen window making coffee when she saw a small shadow move through the yard. She watched it move around for several seconds and then signaled Racheal that some one was outside. Katie watched Racheal slip out the front door and then followed suit and went out the back.

Katie stayed close to the house until it met with a line of junk cars that led away from the house. She heard soft steps coming from the other side of the cars and the occasional odd crunching noise. As she began to follow the line of cars away from the house, she bumped the mirror of one of the cars. A piece of glass fell out and shattered on the ground before she could catch it. The crunching noise coming from the other side of the cars suddenly stopped.

Katie began to run up the line of cars. She wanted to catch whatever was running around Bobby's yard before it could escape. She rounded the corner and before she could draw her gun she was knocked off her feet. She hit the ground hard and a cloud of dust rose up around her blocking her vision. It took her a second to realize she had extra weight on her chest.

Racheal's laughter suddenly filled the air and when the dust settled Katie saw why her friend was laughing so hard. Sitting on Katie's chest was a large black and tan puppy.

"What the hell?" Katie said as the dog began to lick her face.

"I-I'm s-so so-sorry, Grace." Racheal said between chuckles. "I-I forgot a-all about him. Dad got him yes-yesterday."

"Well, get him off of me." Katie said as she turned her face away from the sloppy kisses.

"Rumsfeld." Racheal called. "Come here baby."

Katie let out a loud "oof" as the dog turned onto her stomach and bounded over to Racheal. Katie got up, dusted her self off, and then sent her still laughing friend a nasty glare.

"What kind of a name is "Rumsfeld" anyway?" Katie grumbled.

"I-I don't know." Racheal replied as she tried to control her laughter. "Dad named him."

"Do we need to take him to Jim's with us?" Katie asked as she walked over to where her friend stood with the dog.

"Nope" Racheal replied. "Dad's got him all set up out here. He'll be fine."

"Good. Let's get out of here." Katie said.

"No breakfast?" Racheal said with a pout.

"We'll stop on the way." Katie replied. "I've lost my appetite."
"Because of Rumsfeld?" Racheal said.

"He kind of squashed my stomach just now, so yeah." Katie said.

"Ok, let's go." Racheal said.

Katie watched Racheal give the dog a pat on his head and then the two girls headed back to the house. After checking the house to make sure everything was off and locking the doors, the two girls were on the road and headed for Blue Earth, Minnesota.