Chapter 6 - THE CABIN BY THE LAKEThe camp looked abandoned.
That meant nothing.
Places designed to appear empty usually weren’t.
I parked near the entrance.
Titan stayed low in the back seat.
My phone rang.
“Leave your weapon in the vehicle,” Crane said.
“You can watch me?”
“I can watch everything.”
I looked toward the trees.
Cameras.
Probably several.
“Where’s Lucy?”
“You’ll see her when you follow instructions.”
I removed my pistol and placed it on the dashboard.
“Now walk.”
“With Titan.”
“No.”
“That wasn’t negotiable.”
Silence.
Crane knew Titan was injured.
He also knew I wouldn’t leave him.
“Fine,” he said. “Bring the dog.”
We walked.
Titan limped slightly.
I hated asking this of him.
But when I considered leaving him behind, he had looked at me with the deeply offended expression only a working dog can produce.
Cabin Seven stood near the water.
The door opened.
Curtis Vane stepped outside holding a rifle.
So he was alive.
And armed.
“Hands up.”
I complied.
Titan growled.
“Control your dog.”
“Don’t threaten him.”
Vane laughed nervously.
“He doesn’t look so heroic now.”
Titan stared at him.
Vane searched me.
Then he removed Titan’s leash.
“Bad idea,” I said.
“He’s injured.”
“That wasn’t what I meant.”
He pointed the rifle toward the cabin.
“Inside.”
Lucy sat on a chair.
Her hands were tied.
She wasn’t crying.
That surprised me.
Then I saw why.
She was staring at Titan.
Her face changed the moment she saw him.
Hope.
Wesley Crane stood behind her.
Older than I remembered.
Thinner.
The scar across his cheek deeper.
“You brought my storage device?”
“No.”
His smile disappeared.
“You misunderstood.”
“No. I understood perfectly.”
He pressed a handgun against the back of Lucy’s chair.
Titan’s muscles tightened.
“Easy,” I whispered.
Crane noticed.
“That animal ruined everything.”
“He ruined your trafficking operation.”
“He cost me twelve years.”
“You spent those years running.”
“And rebuilding.”
Crane stepped closer.
“Do you know what was on that drive?”
“Yes.”
“Enough information to imprison men who own judges.”
“Sounds like their problem.”
“You’re remarkably calm.”
“I’m not.”
I looked at Lucy.
“I’m just better at hiding it.”
Crane smiled.
“Where are the copies?”
“Federal custody.”
“Then you’re useless.”
“Maybe.”
I glanced toward Titan.
“But you didn’t bring me here because you thought you could erase every copy.”
Crane’s eyes narrowed.
“You need something else.”
For the first time, uncertainty crossed his face.
I continued.
“The drive is encrypted in layers. You can’t open part of it.”
His expression confirmed it.
“You need a key.”
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
He struck me.
Hard.
My lip split.
Lucy screamed.
Titan lunged forward.
“STAY!”
He froze.
Crane looked impressed.
“At least he listens sometimes.”
I wiped blood from my mouth.
“The key was never on Titan.”
Crane frowned.
Then I understood.
The storage device had been planted during surgery.
The encryption key had to be somewhere else from that night.
Something transferred separately.
I remembered Titan’s old collar.
Evidence returned after the raid.
A leather collar I had kept in a box at home after he switched to a tactical harness.
Crane saw realization on my face.
“You know.”
“No.”
He struck me again.
Titan growled.
Vane raised the rifle toward him.
“Don’t.”
“Then control him.”
Lucy suddenly spoke.
“Titan.”
Everyone looked at her.
She swallowed.
“Good boy.”
His ears tilted toward her.
Crane laughed.
“Touching.”
That was his second mistake.
He thought Lucy was comforting Titan.
She wasn’t.
During her days at the farm, she had watched me work basic commands with him.
Including one I used only during demonstrations.
“Watch.”
Titan’s eyes locked onto Crane.
Lucy remembered.
Crane didn’t understand the word.
I did.
Titan did.
And when Vane became distracted looking toward Lucy—
I moved.
I drove my shoulder into Crane.
The gun fired.
The bullet hit the ceiling.
Titan launched at Vane.
Not a full bite.
A controlled strike against the rifle arm.
Vane screamed.
The weapon fell.
I hit Crane twice.
He slammed me against the wall.
Lucy tipped her chair sideways.
Titan released Vane and positioned himself between Lucy and the gun.
Crane grabbed a knife.
“Dawson!”
He charged.
I caught his wrist.
We crashed into a table.
The knife dropped.
Vane reached for the rifle.
Titan hit him again.
Outside, engines roared.
Federal teams.
Crane heard them.
His face changed.
He grabbed Lucy.
Pulled her upright.
Placed the handgun against her neck.
“BACK!”
Everyone froze.
Titan snarled.
“Back!”
Crane dragged Lucy toward the rear door.
“You follow me, she dies.”
I looked at her.
She was terrified now.
But she kept staring at Titan.
Crane backed outside.
Toward the lake.
A small motorboat waited at the dock.
He had planned an escape.
Of course he had.
He forced Lucy down the dock.
I followed at a distance.
“Crane!”
“Stay there!”
“Take me instead.”
“I already have you.”
His smile returned.
“You’ll spend the rest of your life remembering this.”
He stepped into the boat.
Lucy stumbled.
The handgun moved away from her neck for less than one second.
Titan saw it.
So did I.
“GO!”
Titan ran.
Injured paw.
Fresh stitches.
Nothing slowed him.
Crane fired.
The bullet struck the dock.
Titan leaped.
He hit Crane square in the chest.
Both went overboard.
Lucy screamed.
I sprinted forward and grabbed her before she fell.
Agents rushed onto the dock.
The water churned.
Crane surfaced.
Then Titan.
Crane tried to grab the dog.
Titan clamped onto his jacket.
Not his throat.
Not his arm.
His jacket.
Holding.
Exactly as trained.
Agents dragged Crane from the water.
I pulled Titan onto the dock.
He collapsed against me.
Blood appeared near his shoulder.
For one terrible second I thought he had been shot.
Then I realized his stitches had torn.
Lucy wrapped both arms around his neck.
“Titan!”
He licked her face.
She laughed and cried simultaneously.
Sirens filled the camp.
Vane was arrested.
Crane was arrested.
Lucy was safe.
It should have ended there.
It didn’t.
Because while agents searched Crane’s cabin, they discovered a laptop running a countdown.
Twenty-eight minutes remained.
On the screen was a live camera feed.
A crowded building.
Children.
Parents.
Police officers.
Rachel Bennett stood near the entrance.
I recognized the location immediately.
The emergency shelter where families from the canceled Halloween festival had been invited for an indoor event.
And beneath the video feed were four words.
VENTILATION RELEASE SYSTEM ARMED.
Crane began laughing from the back of the federal SUV.
“You thought the snakes were dangerous?”
May you like
He looked directly at me.
“They were only the rehearsal.”
