His mouth turned down into a hint of a frown as he stood. “I’ll take you wherever you want to go, so long as you promise not to charge into floodwaters before I assess the situation.”

Assess the situation? That wasn’t the first thing he’d said that had her thinking he acted more like a cop or an EMT than a vet. Maybe he watched a lot of Law & Order. Feeling a bit like his gentle yet assertive command called for a “Yes, sir,” she settled on “Thanks. I’m a strong swimmer, but I won’t get into anything I’m not positive I can handle. I’ll run up to the store and see if they have a pair of cutters and meet you at your truck. I know the road dead-ends at the river, but see if you can get an address.”

“Yeah, okay. And if they don’t have any, I’ve got an ax in my truck.”

Olivia jogged toward the main building, her wet shoes sloshing. It was a steeper incline than she’d have guessed. By the time she made it up there and borrowed a pair of rusty bolt cutters one of the workers had in his truck, Gabe was pulling up. She climbed into his passenger seat still breathless from the jog and in jeans that had become soaked and muddy from the knee down. Even though it would be hours from now, she promised herself she’d end this day with a soak in a warm tub.

“Thanks again.” She did her best not to sound like jogging uphill an eighth of a mile hadn’t just sucked the breath from her lungs and made a mental reminder to up her home cardio routine.

Samson’s head was sandwiched between the seats. His long, pink tongue swept across her jaw and ear as if he was happy she was joining them again.

“No problem, but honestly, in good conscience, I couldn’t have left you to head out on this alone.” Pausing at the parking lot’s entrance, Gabe asked, “Left or right?”

She pointed left. “It’s not that far down the highway. Did you get an address?”

“No, but they said it’s a ranch on the left less than a quarter mile from where the road’s flooded out. They’re in a Camaro out front. I guess the dog’s in back in a kennel next to a shed.”

Olivia’s heart lurched, and she clamped a hand over her mouth. What if they didn’t make it in time? “Did they say if the owners are home?”

“No, but I’m guessing not. The call was from a couple teens who were driving down to check out the flooding and spotted the dog. They’re the ones who called for help.”