raptor facility after she let him know she was going to take Valkyrie inside. Cari had just placed a large rubber tub, about four inches high, filled with water, into the hawk’s home, when he arrived at the cages. Once Cari left the cage, Valkyrie instantly leaped off one of her many perches, landed in the middle of the tub, and began giving herself a bath, water splashing in every direction. Cari smiled, watching the hawk. Chase came to her side.
“She’s a hundred percent in whatever she does,” he murmured, watching her dip her head into the water, rivulets streaming down her neck and across her back, her wings scattering hundreds of droplets all over the place.
“As I heard my father say, ‘throttles to the firewall,’ with her.”
“That’s a military term, for sure.”
“Well, he was in the air force as a young man. I guess I grew up with a lot of his military slang in the household.”
“Hmmm, I’m not gonna test you on that one. Our military slang and acronyms are infamous, so I’ll stay away from some of the more embarrassing ones.”
She snorted. “Oh, like FUBAR?”
Now it was his turn for his eyes to widen. “He told you that one? You were a small child.”
“I was about eight when that came flying, pardon the pun, out of his mouth. My mother, Nalani, about came unglued when it happened. My father had been making a rocking horse for me and I was standing there, watching him. He slammed the hammer down on his thumb instead of the nail. That’s when the acronym came flying out of his mouth.”
Rubbing his chin, Chase nodded. “Yeah, well, I do a little cursing under my breath when I nail my fingers with a hammer, too.”
“Did you pick that up from your father, too?” Cari prodded.
“My father put in four years in the Marine Corps. Believe me, I heard a whole bunch of salty language, but he was always careful not to say it when Mary was around. She would wash my mouth out with soap when I mimicked my father in front of her. I had no idea what they meant, of course. And then she’d go after my father and threaten to wash his mouth out with soap, too.”
“That must have been a sight.” Cari laughed. Valkyrie was done with her bath and flew up to a perch near where her favorite humans stood, and began to fluff and ruffle her feathers, preening with her beak and drying them. Opening the cage, Cari picked up what was left of the water in the tub. Chase kept the door closed until Cari was about to leave. Some hawks would take any opportunity to escape and fly out. Valkyrie seemed content to preen, not even lifting her head to see Cari remove the bathtub out of her home. Chase closed and locked the cage after Cari had cleared the doorway.
“That was a lot of fun,” he said, washing the tub out with soap and water, rinsing it well and drying it with a nearby towel. He set it up on a wide shelf with several others.
“You don’t get out here that often, do you?” Cari asked, drying off her hands.
“Not as much as I’d like. Before you came, I was sort of the stand-in volunteer to help Valkyrie back to flight status. But I’m glad you’re here. You can tell she really loves you. Not all hawks get close to their handler in that way. It’s a real compliment to you.”
“She didn’t exactly ignore you,” Cari said, walking out of the premises and back into the sunlight. Settling her baseball cap on her head, she added, “Time for me to get back to work.” Looking at her watch, she said, “Theresa and I are checking the Flow Hives today. Everything seems to be fine, but weekly checks are a must, just in case.”
“And with all the clover and alfalfa fields in bloom, I imagine those bees are busier than a one-armed paper hanger.”
“Better believe it!” She reached out, placing her hand lightly on his forearm. “Thanks for a wonderful day. I learned so much!”
Chapter Eight
June 15
Dirk Bannock waited outside a warehouse in Silver Creek, Wyoming. The sky was cloudy, like it was going to rain at some point. He wore a black hoodie, hands tucked into the front pockets, shifting from one booted foot to another. This warehouse, old and dilapidated, obviously not in use any longer, sat three blocks off the main drag.