From Down Here Chapter 2
Kojo watches as Nolan waves to a car that pulls up close to Tim's house. He's seen the two women who get out, before. Tim called them Lopez and Harper. Nolan seems to know them too and starts talking to them right away. They both have their phones in their paws but don't seem to be talking to anyone, just poking at them as Nolan talks. After a few minutes, they get back in their car and drive off.
"I guess we're done here, Boy," Nolan says to Kojo and starts leading the way back to the house. As soon as Nolan takes the leash off his collar, Kojo decides to show Nolan what he wants, running toward the kitchen. He sits on the floor and looks up at the little wooden door where Tim keeps the rawhide bones, and barks.
To Kojo, it seems to take Nolan a while to figure out what to do, but the man doesn't have to climb on something, like Lucy. He just reaches up like Tim, opens the little door and gives Kojo the wonderful-smelling treat to get his mouth around. Wagging his tail in thanks, Kojo gets down to some serious chewing.
Kojo can immediately tell from the scent that Nolan started the thing that makes what Tim and Lucy call "coffee." Nolan looks happy as the smell fills the kitchen and even happier when he pours the "coffee" into something humans drink from. "I'm going to watch a game," he tells Kojo. "Tim usually records them to watch when he's not on duty or with Lucy. Want to keep me company?"
Kojo knows the word, "game." Tim uses it all the time. And Nolan looks like he's inviting Kojo along to the big thing that shows stuff moving. Tim won't let Kojo on what he calls the couch. But Kojo likes sitting near Tim's feet. And sitting near Nolan's feet will be nice too. He does like having someone around.
As far as Kojo can tell, not much is happening with what Nolan calls a game. There aren't any happy sounds coming from the big thing. But Kojo's nose picks up some different human smells from across the street and then his ears hear a sound that usually makes humans say loud words. He nudges Nolan's knee and barks.
"What is it, Boy?" Nolan asks.
Kojo barks again and goes to the door, hoping Nolan will follow. Making the noise humans make sometimes when they get up, Nolan goes to look out a window. He says what are usually loud words but doesn't say them loud, then reaches for his phone. "Lopez, Nolan. They're breaking in right across the street. What's your ETA? All right, it should take them that long to find whatever valuables are in there, but I'll keep them under surveillance in case they try to take off before you get here." Nolan looks down at Kojo. "Good boy. Stay." He wraps his paw around what Tim and Lucy call a gun. "I don't want you to get hurt."
Kojo listens and smells. Suddenly the new smells are getting closer, but Nolan doesn't move. From what Kojo's noticed, humans can't smell as well as he or the other dogs he's met can. He barks again trying to get Nolan's attention, but Nolan presses part of his paw to his mouth. "Ssh, Kojo. We don't want to spook them."
Kojo knows Nolan told him to stay, and Tim taught him that he's not supposed to move when someone tells him that, but he has to let Nolan know about the smells. He runs to the door and whimpers. "Are they coming, Boy?" Nolan asks. Kojo whimpers again. Nolan raises his gun. "Stay," he says again, his voice not nearly so loud. He opens the door just a little and looks out. The smells grow more intense. "Stay," Nolan says one more time before leaving Tim's house.
Kojo listens as hard as he can, hearing Nolan moving away from Tim's house and another door opening, and someone moving toward Nolan. "Police!" Nolan says very loudly. "Put the TV down. On your knees, hands behind your head." Another car comes making a sound that hurts Kojo's ears and a smell Kojo recognizes from cars that stop very fast.
Female human voices reach Kojo's ears. "Police. On the ground! Now!" Kojo can hear more cars and more voices. He smells more smells. It seems like a long time before Nolan returns, but finally, Kojo can hear and smell him coming. Suddenly there is a very loud sound and a smell that Kojo knows. It's the red stuff that comes out when someone hurts themself. Then all the humans are saying things at once, and more sounds assault Kojo's ears.
Kojo's legs are quivering when the female human he recognizes as Lopez comes in. She gets down so her head is near Kojo's. "Nolan can't come back right now. He got hurt. But the doctors are going to make him better. Everything is going to be OK. Thorsen is going to stay with you for a while and Genny should be able to come later."
Kojo doesn't understand a lot of what Lopez says, but he understands hurt and OK. He remembers Thorson and will be glad to see Genny.
It takes what seems to Kojo to be a long time, but by sitting in front of the little door with his chew bones and barking, Kojo finally makes Thorsen realize what he wants. He's about halfway through one when a female human shows up. He doesn't recognize her but Thorsen does and calls her Celina. She calls him Aaron. Kojo doesn't understand a lot of what they say to each other, but he catches, "Nolan" and "hospital." He remembers "hospital" as where Genny told him Tim was when his back hurt him. But Tim came back better, so Kojo thinks Nolan should be better too. He hopes so.
Celina stays for a while and she and Thorsen talk about something they call "D&D." Kojo's never heard Tim or Lucy talk about it, but it seems to make Celina and Thorsen happy. They look like they'd wag their tails if they had any. Kojo doesn't understand why humans don't. Almost everything else that is warm and moves around does. They don't seem to miss them, but Tim seems to like where a tail would be on Lucy, very much. He touches it a lot while they do their mouth-pressing before they mate.
Finally, Celina leaves and Thorsen uses the big thing to do what Nolan was doing until all the smells and the noise. Kojo wonders if whoever smelled like that and hurt Nolan were what Tim and Lucy call "bad guys." If they were, he hopes that Tim and Lucy don't get hurt as Nolan did. Not wanting to think about that, he curls up next to Thorsen's feet and goes to sleep.
The familiar scents of Genny and the little ones wake Kojo up. They'll feed him and maybe take him for his promised walk. He's really happy to see them but wishes that Nolan would come back so he'd know he was OK. And he really wants to know that Tim and Lucy are OK, too. Maybe if he barks enough at the door of the room where Tim and Lucy mate, Genny will say something about them. But she and the little ones don't understand. Tyler gets the leash. At least Kojo will get his walk.