Togo (Goes) on Assignment (Familiar Surroundings)
Chapter 1: Return to Duty, Scene 1
Things hadn’t changed much in the old neighborhood. The area around the Naval Observatory and the official residence of the Vice President of the United States lent itself to stability and sameness. Plus the fact that the Observatory was framed between the Russian Embassy to the west and the British Embassy to the southeast made this location in the District of Columbia one of the most watched stretches within the Greenbelt.
Togo ambled along Massachusetts Avenue NW at an even pace. No one would take notice of him as the evening traffic pushed its way out of downtown Washington on its way past the National Cathedral. He was just another dog.
Togo wasn’t just another dog, of course. At 80 pounds, Togo was built low to the ground and his easy gait belied his powerful physique. Back in the day, he could run down a fugitive with little effort. Since his retirement, most of his run-downs were unsuccessful episodes involving squirrels. The truth be known, he didn’t really want to catch a squirrel. They were just fun to chase down the fence line.
“Retirement. What a strange arrangement,” Togo thought as he searched for his entry point somewhere ahead of him. After a life of intrigue and action, he now spent his days entertaining his adopted family back in Abilene, Texas. Most days were routine. Regular meals. A morning walk. Good conversation. And naps. Lots of naps.
And yet, here he was back in familiar surroundings and he felt the old excitement of a new assignment beginning to warm inside him.
The call came in on a secure cell phone Togo kept buried in the hay that covers the floor of his dog igloo.
“Top Dog?” the electronic voice whispered.
Emerging from a nap, Togo almost messed up his verification response but recovered quickly.
“You have the wrong number. You want Tom Cruise,” Togo barked.
“Report at 2100 next Tuesday,” the voice continued. “Code Assignment, Red Alpha.”
Togo started to ask for a second verification code, but the line went dead. It wasn’t surprising. A Red Alpha code was not to be ignored or questioned.
“But why me? And why now?” Togo asked himself.
As he pondered that thought for the hundredth time, he saw what he was looking for. A fire hydrant set a little farther back from the street than normal.
Following his training, Togo circled the hydrant several times and pretended to sniff along the base. It had been a long time since he had sniffed a fire hydrant that smelled of disinfectant. The agency maintenance people had a thing about disinfectant.
As he circled, Togo checked the area to see if anyone was watching. The coast was clear. Even though he knew that there was a button connected to a buzzer that would alert the agent on duty to his presence, he couldn’t help himself. The agent would be watching via the tiny camera affixed to the top of the hydrant and Togo wanted to see how quickly he would react.
Following one final sniff, Togo ignored the button and lifted his leg. There was the hiss of an opening door in the tree right behind the hydrant and the same electronic voice whispered, “At ease, Top Dog. Enter.”
And with that, Togo stepped quickly into the dark staircase that led down to the headquarters of S.H.E.D.
Tune in next week for the next exciting episode!