Eyes of the Emperor by Graham Salisbury

Author:Graham Salisbury [Salisbury, Graham]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-52315-0
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2005-08-28T04:00:00+00:00

Major Parrish turned and motioned to the white-haired man behind him. The guy wore a uniform with no insignias, brass, or stripes. He was red in the cheeks and had wild blue eyes.

“This is Franz,” Major Parrish said. “He's Swiss.”

Franz nodded.

We mumbled hello, standing in a semicircle, half of us ankle-deep in the water.

Somebody's got to explain something soon, I thought. This is getting crazy.

“I apologize for all the secrecy,” Major Parrish said, as if he'd read my mind. “But it had to be that way. What you'll be doing here is experimental, and secret.”

He looked down at his boots.

Buying time, I thought.

He rubbed his chin and looked up. “A few months ago a German sub popped up off Long Island, New York. A small platoon of highly trained spies and saboteurs with explosives and detonators came ashore in an inflatable boat. It was foggy, and they were well hidden.

“Several days later it happened again off the coast of Florida. Four more enemy agents came ashore. Fortunately, the FBI captured all of these men before they could do the damage they had in mind.

“We have thousands of miles of coastline, and to protect all of it is just about impossible. But we must. And to do this we need the most alert sentries we can find. We also need them where we're fighting in the jungles of the Pacific.”

Major Parrish paused. “That's why you're here, men.”

Sentries? That's why we're here?

Why not? I thought. We know about the coast, and the ocean. But why here? We could have done this at Camp McCoy. And why only us? They need way more than twenty-five guys; twenty-six if you count Lieutenant Kondo.

Cobra stared at the sand, his hands on his hips. I could almost hear his bad thoughts.

Major Parrish went on. “This might be called Cat Island, but there are no cats here. There are, however, dogs—U.S. Army war dogs—and these dogs are going to fill that need.”

Now I was really confused.

“The dogs are here under the direction of the Quartermaster Corps. Your particular mission will be to help prepare them for use in warfare. They will be trained as messenger dogs, scout dogs, sentry dogs, suicide dogs, and attack dogs. Franz is in charge of the program,” he said, turning toward the Swiss guy.

This is great, I thought. I liked dogs.

“Major,” Ricky Kondo said. “I hope you understand that none of us ever trained dogs before.”

Major Parrish shook his head. “No, no, Lieutenant, the trainers are from the Quartermaster Corps. They're called handlers, and they're already at work here. You're going to… help them.”

Shig said, “Sir, how come you didn't set us up on this island, then? Would be easier.”

Major Parrish nodded. “Franz thought it best to keep you separated from the dogs. You see, each handler has been developing a relationship with his dogs, taking them through a sort of dog boot camp. Now the training gets more serious. Now they need you, and your part is very important, so important that they can't proceed without you.

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