Page 8 of K-9 Prime Target

She nodded. “It’s just a shock, to be told I can’t do my job.”

“This is your job, too, isn’t it?”

She pressed her lips together. “Right. And I guess the sooner we get this over with, the better. Where do you want to start?”

“Do you want to change clothes?” Liam asked. “In her text, Marlena suggested something blue and white—SkyCrest’s colors.”

“I’m wearing my ski patrol uniform today, and I’m not going back to my house to change. You’ll have to film me like this.”

“Fine by me. Why don’t we ride up the lift and get some long shots of you skiing.”

“Sky needs to come with us. I don’t want to interrupt the meeting to put her in her kennel.”

“Sure. She and Angel are getting along great.” The two dogs were currently rolling in the snow together.

“Then let’s go.” She grabbed her skis from the rack.

He retrieved his own skis and joined her at the lift. “Hey, Nina.” The lift tech unhooked the rope blocking the entrance to the lift.

“Good morning, Cerise. This is Liam and Angel.”

“Hi, Liam. And hello, sweetie.” Cerise, a brunette with big brown eyes, beamed at Angel. “Does she need help on the lift?”

“I’ll take care of her.” Liam bent and scooped up the little dog and skied to the loading line. He sat on the lift chair as it came up behind them, the dog in his lap. Nina sat next to him, Sky between them. Below spread a sea of white corduroy, unmarred by even a single set of ski tracks. The long shadows of the lift towers stretched across the runs, obstacles he would have to account for in his filming.

“I’m not blaming you,” Nina said. “If anything, this is my fault for not better defining my duties as an ambassador.”

“I’ll try to make this as painless as possible,” he said.

She nodded. “I hate feeling like I’m letting down my fellow patrollers. I was hoping we could manage the filming outside of my work hours.”

“Hard to do, since we need the good daylight hours for the best shots.”

She buried her gloved fingers in the thick fur at the back of Sky’s neck. “I always worried the other patrollers wouldn’t take me seriously because of my background.”

“As a silver-medal-winning skier?”

She frowned. “As a celebrity and fashion model.”

“Did they give you any trouble about that?”

“No. Everyone has been wonderful. Getting to be part of the avalanche dog program was a real privilege. I never take that for granted.”

“From what I’ve seen, you’ve worked hard at anything you’ve ever committed yourself to. It takes a lot of dedication and labor to get to stand on that podium. And I’ve photographed my share of models. It takes a lot of effort to look that good in front of the camera.”

She said nothing, merely straightened and took a firmer grip on her ski poles. “Tell me how you want to handle these first shots.”

So that’s how she wanted to approach this—all business. He hid his disappointment. “Let me set up halfway down this run, then you ski down past me,” he said. “We’ll try that first, and move on from there.”

* * *

Nina tried to push thoughts of everything she couldn’t control out of her mind and focus on skiing—on the release flying over the snow had always given her. In this moment she had nothing else she needed to do but ski, and ski well. Sky loped along beside her, long legs outstretched, snow flying up from around the dog’s paws with each stride. They had the run to themselves, and Nina picked up speed, icy wind stinging her cheeks, muscles tensing and relaxing in a call and response that was second nature to her.

She spotted Liam bent over a tripod to the side of the run, Angel seated by his side, and executed a series of graceful curves to slow slightly as she approached man and dog. He raised his hand in salute as she sped by. “Let’s do it again!” he shouted.

At the bottom of the mountain, she skied straight to the lift and rode to the top again. She paused to offer Sky a drink of water before they skied past Liam once more. This time he had positioned himself on the opposite side of the run, and slightly higher. “Again!” he shouted, and she waved to indicate she had heard.

She skied past him a third time. This time he joined her at the bottom of the run and they rode the lift up together. “That was great footage,” he said. “I’ll ski with you some and try to get some close-ups.”