From Down Here Chapter 3
So many smells are still in the air that Kojo expects to see more humans, but they all seem to be gone. Still, as he looks around, a piece of yellow something moving with the air catches his attention. It doesn't have much scent on it, so Kojo keeps going. Holding the leash, Tyler follows, along with Genny and the other little one. Kojo can hear them talking.
Most of the words don't mean anything to Kojo, but his ears go up at Nolan's name. "Mom, can Officer Nolan still come and help me finish my treehouse?"
"Not right now, but he should be better soon." Kojo hears Genny assure her son. He only understands "better," but likes the sound of it.
Kojo would have loved to ask the little one's next question, himself. "What happened, anyway?"
"He was shot," Genny answers. Kojo thinks her voice sounds a little shaky.
"Like Uncle Tim was?" her little one keeps going.
Kojo doesn't understand all of Genny's answer. But he's heard some of it before. "Not as bad as Uncle Tim. From what I heard from Detective Harper, the bullet went through and didn't leave any fragments like what messed up your uncle's back. As far as Harper knew, it didn't do that much damage either. Nolan was lucky."
Just then, Kojo spies one of the things with the furry tails. He hears Tyler grunt as he tries to run after it.
Happily tired after pulling Tyler along to go after the furry-tailed things, Kojo digs into his dinner. It's from the big bag, not one of the nice things that Tim cooks for him, but the little one filled the dish very full. Genny made noises about it being too full when some of the food fell on the floor. But Kojo ate that right away so the little one didn't have to worry about it.
When Genny and her little ones leave, Kojo is ready to curl up and go to sleep on the bed Lucy bought for him. Some of her scent, mixed with Tim's, clings to it, comforting him as he drifts off. Maybe they'll be home tomorrow.
Lucy's scent reaches Kojo's nose even before she's through the door and into the house. He happily barks a greeting, hopeful that Tim will be with her. But he isn't. As she gets down near him, he rolls over, hoping for a belly rub. Lucy gets the message, her fingers and her words soothing. But as soon as she mentions Tim, Kojo's on his feet, his tail wagging hard at the sound. "He's still on a job with Metro," she explains. "We found the bad guys, a lot of them. But there were more coming and Tim had to stay with his unit to get them all. But he should be here tonight."
Kojo doesn't understand everything Lucy tells him, but he gets enough of it to keep his tail wagging. Lucy looks over at his dish and water bowl. He finished everything in his dish the night before and drank a lot of his water. Looks like I'll have to fill you up again," she says. "Tim gave me the recipe for what he cooks you for breakfast. You want me to try to make it for you?"
The words "Tim, cook," and "breakfast" are more than enough to get Kojo's tail wagging even harder and he barks his joy.
Lucy's mouth turns up at the corners the way humans look when they're happy. "OK, Buddy, I'll give it a shot."
What Lucy puts in Kojo's bowl smells different from what Tim makes, kind of like when they make food in the backyard. It has some dark stuff on it too. But it tastes pretty good, still better than the food from the big bag. He finishes it while Lucy's doing something at what she and Tim call a "sink." He trots over to where Tim keeps his leash by the door. "OK," Lucy says. "I can take you for a walk, but you'll have to do your thing fast. I need to get to work. With Nolan hurt, Sergeant Grey is short a shop on patrol."
Kojo barks as soon as he hears Lucy say "Nolan," hoping she'll say more about him being OK. But she doesn't and just attaches Kojo's leash for his walk.
Even in the midst of a dream, Kojo can smell Tim coming, and he's at the door by the time the tired cop opens it. Tail going at high speed, he pushes his solid head beneath Tim's paw. Tim pats him before sinking down on the couch. Kojo sits in front of him waiting expectantly. "You want to know where I was, right, Boy? There were some bad guys, I mean the real bad kind, with big guns. They sent people out to sell stuff to kids that makes them sick and worse. I went with Metro to stop them and take them where they couldn't hurt anyone but a few of them got away and we had to chase them. But they were in very fast cars, and there were a lot of other cars on the road. So we had to stop chasing them to keep anyone from getting hurt."
Kojo barks a question at the word "hurt."
"It's all right. I'm OK. Everyone in Metro is OK. We sent helicopters as air support to look for them."
Kojo recognizes "helicopters." That's what Tim calls the things that make so much noise over the house sometimes.
Tim reaches out to give Kojo another pet and goes on. "The helicopters finally spotted the vehicles that escaped, but we had a hard time getting to them and surrounding them without putting any civilians in the line of fire. We had to call in cops from three divisions to keep people back. But we finally got them. We had to shoot one, but he's still alive and in the hospital."
At the word "hospital," Kojo starts barking again, hoping Tim will say something about Nolan.
Tim gazes down at Kojo with a look that usually means he doesn't understand. Kojo runs to the window and barks some more, but Tim still doesn't say anything about Nolan. Finally, Kojo sees the phone Tim laid beside him on the couch. Sometimes the voices on the phone tell humans things. He uses his nose to push the phone toward Tim. "You want me to call someone?" Tim asks.
Kojo barks and pushes the phone again. As Tim picks it up, Kojo can see light. Tim looks at it. "Oh, missed calls. I answered Lucy, but I was too tired to check the rest. There's one from Lopez."
Kojo yips his excitement.
"You want me to call Lopez?" Tim asks.
Kojo yips louder. Tim shrugs and waits for Lopez to pick up. Kojo can hear her voice. "Bradford, this better be good. I almost had Jackson asleep and now he's wide awake."
"This is going to sound stupid but I think Kojo wanted me to call you." Kojo wags his agreement.
"What? Oh. Maybe he wants to hear about Nolan. He was very upset when John was hit."
Kojo can hear the surprise in Tim's voice. "What? Nolan got shot?"
"Right in front of your house. There was a break-in across the street."
Kojo sees a strange look on Tim's face. "When I talked to Lucy, she didn't say anything about it."
"Did you give her a chance?" Lopez asks.
Kojo doesn't understand what Lopez says, but she doesn't sound happy with Tim.
"Guess not. I just told her Metro was done and I was going home. She should be here soon. How is Nolan?"
"He'll be sore for a while but he'll be fine. You can tell Kojo that."
Kojo barks at his name and Tim strokes his head. "Yeah, Lopez, I'll do that. Thanks."
"Yeah. Tell Kojo I said hi."
The last part of what Lopez says, Kojo understands.