For several minutes, they waited.
Ranger became increasingly agitated.
Then Caleb noticed something else.
The dog wasn’t sniffing around the door seam anymore.
He was staring upward.
At the ventilation grille.
Caleb stepped closer.
There was a faint sound inside.
A mechanical hum.
“Sir.”
Ford listened.
“What?”
“You hear that?”
The lieutenant leaned toward the door.
His expression changed.
The maintenance supervisor whispered, “There shouldn’t be anything running.”
Ranger began pulling backward now.
Hard.
Caleb knew that behavior too.
Whatever the dog smelled, he wanted distance from it.
“Everybody back,” Caleb said.
Ford looked at him.
“You don’t give that order.”
Ranger suddenly whined.
Caleb had heard that sound only once before.
During training with hazardous materials.
He didn’t wait.
“MOVE!”
People stepped away instinctively.
Ford grabbed Caleb’s vest.
