Chapter 15 - TITAN KNEW FIRSTThe man on the boat wasn't Marcus.
I knew that now.
But whoever he was had spent years studying him.
Studying me.
Studying Titan.
And they had one final piece of the puzzle.
The encrypted microdrive.
Federal agents arrived before sunrise.
Shaw was arrested.
Mercer was charged.
The paramedic confessed to sabotaging the oak.
Kane survived his gunshot.
Sophie's mother recovered.
And Sophie stayed with Titan whenever she could.
But the case wasn't over.
Because the fake Marcus had escaped.
The investigators decrypted part of the drive.
It contained hundreds of names.
Some were known.
Some were dead.
Some were still in positions of authority.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Not Shaw.
Not Mercer.
Not Voss.
A person listed only as:
DIRECTOR 04:17
We traced payments to shell companies.
The trail crossed countries.
Banks.
Private security firms.
Government contractors.
Then it stopped at a military research facility that officially didn't exist.
My father recognized the coordinates.
He looked at me.
“That's where Titan was created.”
We went there with federal agents.
The facility was abandoned.
Except for one room.
One kennel.
Titan stopped at the doorway.
He refused to enter.
I crouched beside him.
“It's okay.”
He didn't move.
Then Sophie stepped forward.
She took his leash.
“Come on, Titan.”
He looked at her.
Then followed.
Inside the kennel was a wall covered in photographs.
Titan as a puppy.
Marcus holding him.
Me holding him.
Sophie.
The park.
The fallen oak.
Every event had been photographed.
Someone had been watching us for years.
At the bottom of the wall was one final photograph.
It showed Titan standing beside Marcus.
On the back:
HE CHOSE THE CHILD.
I turned the picture over.
There was another line.
AND HE WILL CHOOSE AGAIN.
A hidden speaker crackled.
A man's voice filled the room.
“Hello, Mason.”
I looked around.
“Who are you?”
“My name doesn't matter.”
“What do you want?”
“You already know.”
The room lights came on.
A screen lowered from the ceiling.
It showed live footage.
Sophie.
Standing outside her mother's house.
Alone.
My heart stopped.
“TITAN!”
He pulled hard.
I released the leash.
Titan sprinted through the facility.
We ran after him.
The screen continued broadcasting.
The voice laughed.
“You finally understand.”
“What?”
“Titan wasn't the experiment.”
I stopped.
“What?”
“He was the witness.”
The screen changed.
Marcus appeared.
Alive.
Again.
But older.
Scarred.
Standing beside the same man from the boat.
Then the man removed his hat.
It was someone I knew.
Someone who had hugged me at Marcus's funeral.
Someone who had cried beside me.
Someone Titan had never once trusted.
The director of the original K9 program.
My father's former commander.
Dr. Elias Vane.
Except Vane had supposedly died twenty years ago.
I stared at the screen.
Vane smiled.
“The dog remembers everything.”
Titan barked from somewhere deep inside the facility.
Then came a loud metallic crash.
The screen went black.
Sophie screamed through the speakers.
And Titan stopped barking.
Silence.
Complete silence.
I ran toward the sound.
“Titan!”
Nothing.
“Sophie!”
Nothing.
I turned the corner.
A metal door stood open.
Inside was a single wooden table.
The same kind as the picnic table.
And beneath it lay Sophie's pink sneaker.
Fresh blood stained the dirt.
I froze.
Then I heard breathing.
Not Sophie's.
Not mine.
Titan stepped out of the darkness.
His fur was wet.
His eyes were locked on me.
Behind him stood the girl.
Alive.
Unharmed.
And beside her was a man holding a gun.
He lowered it slowly.
Then removed his mask.
I stopped breathing.
It was Marcus.
Real Marcus.
Alive.
But his first words weren't a greeting.
They were a warning.
“Mason, whatever you do…”
He looked at Titan.
“Do not give him the dog.”
Behind us, the metal doors slammed shut.
May you like
The lights died.
And somewhere in the darkness, a second dog began to growl.
