Chapter 8 - THE BETRAYALI trusted Captain Samuel Ellis for eleven years.
He attended my wedding.
He stood beside me at my father’s funeral.
He recommended me for the K9 unit.
He selected Titan from the training program.
When my marriage ended, Ellis was the man who told me not to let loneliness swallow me.
He knew nearly everything about me.
Which explained why betraying me had been so easy.
We raced toward the Bennett farm.
I called the federal agents protecting Lucy.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then one agent finally responded.
Gunfire in the background.
“We have an officer down!”
My heart stopped.
“Lucy?”
“We can’t locate her!”
I drove faster.
Titan stood in the back despite his injuries.
“No.”
He stared forward.
“Don’t even think about it.”
His ears didn’t move.
By the time we reached the farm, two agents were wounded.
One had been shot in the shoulder.
The other had been hit in his vest.
Ellis had arrived using his police credentials, claiming Crane’s people were approaching.
They let him inside.
Then he attacked.
Lucy was gone.
But Titan immediately found her scent.
Toward the barn.
Inside, we found a hidden cellar door.
David didn’t know it existed.
The farm had been built in 1912.
Old properties collect secrets.
Titan descended.
The tunnel beneath the barn led toward the woods.
Ellis had planned ahead.
We followed.
Half a mile later, the tunnel ended near an abandoned road.
Tire tracks.
Lucy’s hair ribbon lay in the dirt.
I picked it up.
Pink.
The same color as the coat she wore the day Titan saved her.
My phone rang.
Ellis.
“Sam.”
“Mark.”
His voice sounded exhausted.
Not angry.
That somehow made it worse.
“Why?”
“You saw the drive.”
“Your name wasn’t on it.”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“Because some debts don’t appear in ledgers.”
He told me.
Years earlier, before I knew him, Ellis’s younger brother had been arrested transporting drugs for Crane’s organization.
Crane made the charges disappear.
In return, Ellis became useful.
Information.
Schedules.
Personnel assignments.
Nothing dramatic at first.
Then the favors grew.
Eventually he couldn’t leave.
“That’s the excuse?” I asked.
“No.”
His voice broke slightly.
“It’s the explanation.”
“Where’s Lucy?”
“Safe.”
“You shot federal agents.”
“I didn’t want to.”
“But you did.”
Silence.
“What do you want?”
“The original drive.”
“Federal evidence.”
“I know.”
“You can’t possibly think I can get it.”
“I think you can get close enough.”
“You’re wrong.”
“Then Lucy dies.”
Titan growled beside me.
Ellis heard.
“Is he there?”
“Yes.”
A bitter laugh.
“Of course he is.”
“Sam, don’t do this.”
“It’s already done.”
“No. It isn’t.”
He gave me a meeting place.
Old municipal water plant.
Midnight.
Bring the original device.
I had three hours.
The FBI refused.
Obviously.
So we built a replica.
Identical casing.
Identical weight.
Inside, a tracker.
They wanted tactical teams positioned nearby.
I agreed.
Then quietly changed the plan.
Because Ellis knew police tactics.
He had taught me many of them.
If he saw one surveillance vehicle, one misplaced agent, one radio signal where it shouldn’t be—
Lucy would pay.
So Titan and I went in first.
Alone.
The water plant smelled like rust and river mud.
Ellis stood on an upper catwalk.
Lucy beside him.
No gun against her head this time.
That gave me hope.
“Device,” he said.
I held it up.
“Lucy first.”
“Throw it.”
“Send her down.”
“Mark.”
“Sam.”
For several seconds, neither moved.
Then Lucy whispered something.
Ellis looked at her.
“What?”
She repeated it.
I couldn’t hear.
His expression changed.
He looked almost hurt.
Then he released her arm.
“Go.”
Lucy ran.
Toward me.
Halfway across the floor, a gunshot exploded.
Not Ellis.
A second shooter.
The bullet hit the railing beside Lucy.
“DOWN!” Ellis shouted.
He pushed her behind machinery.
A man appeared across the catwalk.
Curtis Vane.
Impossible.
We had arrested him.
Then I remembered.
He had been transported after the camp raid.
There had been confusion during the ventilation emergency.
Someone had freed him.
Ellis.
But now Vane’s gun was pointed at Ellis.
“You were supposed to finish this.”
Ellis raised his weapon.
“I’m finished.”
Vane fired.
Ellis fell.
Titan launched up the metal stairs.
Vane fired twice at him.
Missed.
I fired.
Vane disappeared behind the machinery.
Lucy crawled toward me.
“Stay down!”
Titan chased Vane across the catwalk.
I reached Ellis.
Blood covered his side.
“Why did you free him?”
Ellis coughed.
“Crane ordered it.”
“You’re an idiot.”
“I know.”
“Where’s Vane going?”
Ellis looked toward a control panel.
Then fear filled his face.
“The floodgates.”
Vane wasn’t escaping.
He was going to open the emergency reservoir release.
The old water plant sat above a low residential valley.
Including the Bennett farm.
If those gates opened fully, a wall of stored water would tear through homes below.
I ran.
Titan was already ahead.
Sirens approached outside.
Vane reached the control platform.
His hand closed around the emergency lever.
Titan jumped.
Vane kicked him.
Titan fell against the railing.
Something inside me snapped.
I hit Vane before he could pull the lever.
We crashed onto the floor.
He fought like a desperate man.
Elbows.
Fists.
A wrench.
He swung it.
I ducked.
Titan grabbed his sleeve.
Vane screamed.
I knocked the wrench away.
Then federal agents stormed the platform.
It was over.
Finally.
Or almost.
As paramedics carried Ellis away, Lucy stood beside him.
She asked the question I hadn’t heard before.
“Why did you become bad?”
Ellis looked at her.
Tears filled his eyes.
“I kept telling myself I’d fix it tomorrow.”
Lucy considered that.
Then said something I never forgot.
“Tomorrow gets smaller every time you do something bad today.”
Ellis closed his eyes.
The ambulance doors shut.
Lucy turned toward Titan.
Then gasped.
Blood dripped onto the floor beneath him.
His old snakebite wound had reopened.
His shoulder stitches were torn.
May you like
And when he tried to take one step toward her—
his legs collapsed.
