Chapter 4 - THE THING SOPHIE SAWSophie refused to talk in front of everyone.
She kept looking toward the windows.
Every time a uniformed officer passed, she became silent.
We moved her to a secure interview room.
Her mother sat beside her.
I stayed near the door.
Titan lay outside.
Sophie pointed toward him.
“Can he come in?”
I looked at Cole.
He nodded.
Titan entered.
The second he lay beside her chair, Sophie relaxed.
That was when she finally spoke.
“I was playing hide-and-seek.”
Her mother closed her eyes.
“I told you not to go near the tree.”
“I know.”
Sophie twisted the edge of her blanket.
“I saw a man climbing.”
“What did he look like?”
“He had a hat.”
“Anything else?”
“He had a white scar here.”
She touched her cheek.
Cole wrote it down.
“Then what happened?”
“He was cutting something.”
“What?”
“I don't know.”
“Did he see you?”
“Yes.”
Sophie began shaking.
“He came down and told me not to tell.”
“What did you do?”
“I ran.”
“And then?”
“I heard him say a name.”
“What name?”
Sophie looked at me.
“Marcus.”
My heart stopped.
Cole looked at me.
“Who is Marcus?”
“My old partner.”
Sophie nodded.
“He said, ‘Marcus would have known better.’”
No one spoke.
Then she added something that made the room colder.
“He knew Titan.”
I stared at her.
“How?”
“He called him by his name.”
Cole leaned forward.
“Anything else?”
Sophie nodded.
“He said Titan had already failed once.”
I felt my jaw tighten.
Titan had never failed a civilian rescue.
Not once.
But Marcus had been my partner.
And during his final operation, Titan had been there.
Maybe Sophie had overheard something without understanding it.
Maybe the man in the tree had been trying to tell her something.
Cole stopped the interview.
“We need to know what happened to Marcus.”
“I know what happened.”
“Officially.”
He handed me a thin case file.
I hadn't seen it since the funeral.
Marcus's death had been blamed on a hostage-taker named Elias Voss.
Voss had died at the scene.
The case had been closed.
But there was one strange detail.
Marcus's tactical radio had disappeared.
Never recovered.
Neither had the suspect's second weapon.
Cole tapped the file.
“Look at the date.”
Three years ago.
Then he showed me the park access logs.
A name appeared.
Elias Voss.
Not the dead suspect.
His brother.
He had entered the park four days ago.
My skin prickled.
“Why?”
Cole shook his head.
“We're still finding that out.”
Titan suddenly stood.
His ears turned toward the hallway.
We both heard footsteps.
A nurse entered.
“Excuse me.”
Titan growled.
The nurse stopped.
Cole stepped between them.
“What's wrong?”
The nurse looked confused.
“I just came to check on Sophie.”
Titan refused to move.
Then he sniffed the air.
He walked toward her.
One step.
Two.
He stopped inches away.
The nurse's face turned pale.
“What is he doing?”
Titan looked up at me.
Then he nudged her medical cart.
It rolled sideways.
Something fell from underneath.
A tiny recording device.
The nurse screamed.
Cole grabbed her.
“Who gave you this?”
“I don't know!”
“You're lying.”
“No!”
Titan stared at the device.
I picked it up.
The recorder contained one audio file.
We played it.
At first, static.
Then a man's voice.
Low.
Calm.
Familiar.
“I told you, the dog would find the child.”
A second voice answered.
“What if he didn't?”
“He would.”
The first voice laughed softly.
“Because that's what he was trained to do.”
Then came the line that froze every person in the room.
“The real target was never the girl.”
Silence.
May you like
Then:
“It was Titan.”
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