Chapter 11 - THE HOUSE WAS ALREADY OPENWe reached my house under armed escort.
The front door was open.
Nothing looked disturbed.
That was the problem.
Titan sniffed the air.
He immediately became tense.
He walked toward the kitchen.
Stopped.
Looked at me.
Then the basement door.
I opened it.
Empty.
Except for the old wooden box where I kept Marcus's personal belongings.
The box was open.
Inside, everything was untouched.
Except one photograph.
It had been turned face down.
I picked it up.
Marcus and I stood beside Titan.
Behind us was Colonel Shaw.
On the photograph, someone had drawn a red circle around Shaw.
Underneath were two words.
HE LIED.
A noise came from upstairs.
Titan sprinted.
I followed.
The back door slammed.
Someone was escaping through the yard.
Titan chased him into the darkness.
We found a jacket caught on the fence.
Inside was a business card.
No name.
Only a number.
I called it.
A voice answered.
“Hello, Mason.”
I knew the voice.
Not from memory.
From the recordings.
From the old cases.
Colonel Shaw.
“Where is Sophie?” I demanded.
Silence.
Then:
“Safe.”
I looked at Cole.
“How?”
“She was never the target.”
“You said that before.”
“I was wrong.”
“What do you want?”
“Titan.”
I tightened my grip on the phone.
“You're not getting him.”
“You already gave him to me.”
“What?”
“The tree.”
I froze.
Shaw continued.
“Every action that dog took was predictable.”
“No.”
“He was trained to protect children.”
“You used that.”
“Yes.”
“You manipulated the situation.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I needed to know whether he still remembered me.”
I looked at Titan.
He was staring at the darkness beyond the fence.
Shaw laughed.
“And now I know.”
The call ended.
Cole's phone rang immediately.
He answered.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He listened.
Then looked at me.
“Sophie is missing.”
I felt the world tilt.
“Where?”
“The secure facility.”
“How?”
“The cameras went down for ninety seconds.”
Ninety seconds.
Exactly enough.
Then Titan barked.
He had found something.
A small silver tag in the grass.
Not Sophie's.
It had a name engraved on it.
TITAN K9-04.
I turned it over.
A number was scratched into the back.
04:17
Cole stared.
“What is that?”
I didn't know.
Until I remembered.
Marcus's final radio transmission.
Three years ago.
04:17.
The last time anyone heard his voice.
Titan whined.
Then walked toward the road.
May you like
He wasn't tracking Sophie.
He was tracking the memory we had buried.
