Chapter 5 - The Name Hidden in the K9 File
“Don’t move.”
Frank Miller’s voice was different now.
At the auction, he had seemed tired.
Gentle.
Almost protective of Bravo.
Now his hand was perfectly steady.
Daniel slowly raised both hands.
Bravo stood.
A growl began deep in his chest.
Frank aimed at the dog.
“Call him off.”
“Bravo. Stay.”
The Shepherd froze.
Frank entered the cabin.
“You found Marcus’s package.”
Daniel glanced at the metal case.
“Were you following us?”
“I’ve been following the dog for months.”
Daniel felt rage rising.
“You knew he could find this.”
“I suspected.”
“Why didn’t you take him yourself at the auction?”
Frank laughed.
“Too obvious.”
“So you let him go to animal services?”
“I needed someone connected to Marcus to activate his memory.”
Daniel stared.
“Me.”
“Yes.”
Bravo’s ears remained forward.
“Why threaten me?”
“To push you.”
“The photograph?”
“Yes.”
“The man at my house?”
“Cole’s people. Not mine.”
Daniel studied him.
“You’re not working with Cole?”
“Not anymore.”
Daniel said nothing.
Frank glanced toward the evidence case.
“Marcus trusted the wrong people.”
“He warned me about you.”
“That was before he understood.”
“Understood what?”
Frank lowered the gun slightly.
“I was internal affairs.”
Daniel froze.
“Undercover?”
Frank nodded.
“Cole’s organization was bigger than Marcus knew. I infiltrated it three years ago.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
Frank reached slowly into his jacket.
He tossed an identification card onto the table.
State Bureau of Investigation.
Special Agent Franklin Miller.
Daniel stared.
“Marcus discovered me moving evidence,” Frank said. “He thought I was stealing it.”
“So he listed you as corrupt.”
“He died before I could explain.”
Daniel’s anger shifted into confusion.
“Then why point a gun at me?”
“Because Cole has people everywhere, and I needed to know if you were alone.”
“You could have asked.”
“Your phone may be compromised.”
Daniel thought about the messages.
Frank lowered the gun fully.
“Cole knows the evidence exists. He doesn’t know where.”
Daniel looked at the case.
“He will now.”
Frank nodded.
“We need to move.”
Bravo suddenly turned toward the window.
Daniel saw headlights between the trees.
Frank cursed.
“Too late.”
Two vehicles stopped outside.
Doors slammed.
Daniel grabbed the case.
Frank killed the lights.
“Back exit?”
“Kitchen.”
They moved.
Gunfire shattered the front window.
Bravo remained close.
Daniel, Frank, and Bravo escaped through the rear and ran into the woods.
Rain had returned.
Branches tore at Daniel’s uniform.
Behind them came flashlights.
Voices.
“Spread out!”
Frank whispered, “Cole’s men.”
“How many?”
“Too many.”
Bravo moved confidently.
Daniel trusted him.
“Bravo, home.”
The dog changed direction.
Not toward Daniel’s house.
Deeper into the forest.
Frank frowned.
“Where’s he going?”
“I don’t know.”
Bravo led them down a steep embankment.
At the bottom was a creek swollen by rain.
They crossed.
Bravo struggled once.
Daniel grabbed his harness.
“I got you.”
Bravo regained footing.
For the first time, he allowed Daniel to help.
They reached an old service road.
Frank looked behind them.
“No lights.”
Bravo had led them away from the pursuit.
Daniel whispered, “Good boy.”
Frank smiled faintly.
“Marcus used to say that dog knew the county better than dispatch.”
They reached Daniel’s house from the opposite side forty minutes later.
Elena was already waiting.
Daniel had sent her one coded message.
Bring the blue file.
It was a phrase Marcus had once used to mean emergency.
Elena saw Frank and drew her weapon.
“Daniel, get away from him.”
“It’s complicated.”
“Marcus didn’t trust him.”
“I know.”
Frank showed his state credentials.
Elena didn’t lower the gun.
“Could be fake.”
“They’re real,” Frank said.
“You pointed a weapon at Daniel.”
“Also real.”
She glared.
Daniel stepped between them.
“We don’t have time.”
They spread Marcus’s evidence across the kitchen table.
Bank transfers connected Cole to shell companies.
Evidence logs showed missing cash.
Weapon serial numbers had been altered.
Several officers had received unexplained payments.
But one document mattered most.
A list.
Names.
Twenty-three law-enforcement employees.
Daniel recognized nine.
Elena recognized thirteen.
Frank recognized all of them.
At the bottom was one final name.
Sheriff Thomas Redmond.
Daniel stared.
“The sheriff?”
Frank nodded.
“Cole never ran the organization.”
Elena whispered, “Redmond did.”
Daniel felt sick.
Sheriff Redmond had presented Marcus’s family with a folded flag at the memorial.
He had called Marcus “a son of this department.”
Daniel clenched his fists.
“Where is Cole now?”
Frank hesitated.
“Missing.”
“What?”
“We believe Redmond decided he was a liability.”
Elena looked at the evidence.
“If Cole is alive, he can testify.”
“Exactly.”
Daniel looked at Bravo.
The dog was staring at one photograph.
Cole standing beside a warehouse.
Bravo sniffed it.
Then became agitated.
“What?” Daniel asked.
Bravo pawed the photo.
Frank leaned closer.
“That warehouse isn’t the one where Marcus was injured.”
“Where is it?”
“Old freight depot east of town.”
Daniel looked at the date.
Taken two weeks earlier.
Marcus had marked a circle around a loading-bay number.
Bay 6.
Under it:
Vehicle transfers.
Frank’s face changed.
“Redmond moves stolen evidence through there.”
Elena said, “You think Cole is there?”
Frank nodded.
“If Redmond is cleaning this up, that’s where he’d take him.”
Daniel reached for his jacket.
Elena stopped him.
“You are not going.”
“Yes, I am.”
“We send state police.”
“We don’t know who’s compromised.”
“Frank?”
“He has three agents he trusts.”
Frank was already dialing.
No answer.
Then another.
No answer.
His face hardened.
“My team was supposed to check in twenty minutes ago.”
Daniel knew what that meant.
Something had happened.
They left immediately.
Bravo came too.
“No,” Elena said.
Daniel looked at the Shepherd.
Bravo stared toward the door.
“He started this with Marcus.”
“That doesn’t mean he has to finish it.”
Daniel crouched.
Bravo met his eyes.
“He deserves to.”
Forty minutes later, they approached the freight depot without lights.
Rain hammered the roof.
Inside Bay 6, they found blood.
A broken phone.
Handcuffs.
And Cole.
Alive.
Barely.
He was tied to a chair.
When he saw Bravo, he began crying.
“Get that dog away.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Marcus Hayes.”
Cole looked at him.
“I’m sorry.”
“You triggered the bomb.”
Cole closed his eyes.
“Redmond ordered it.”
“You still pushed the button.”
“Yes.”
Daniel wanted to hit him.
Instead he cut the restraints.
“Where is Redmond?”
Cole panicked.
“He knows you found the files.”
“How?”
“Frank.”
Everyone turned.
Frank’s face went white.
“What?”
Cole shook his head.
“Not you. Your office.”
Frank understood.
A mole.
Cole looked toward Daniel.
“He’s going to your house.”
Daniel froze.
“Why?”
Cole whispered, “Because Marcus hid one last piece of evidence.”
“What?”
“A recording Redmond made himself.”
“Where?”
Cole looked at Bravo.
“Marcus said the dog would protect it.”
Daniel felt his chest tighten.
His house.
Marcus’s room.
The sweatshirt.
Maybe there was more.
Then Daniel’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Sheriff Redmond’s voice.
“Officer Hayes.”
Daniel went still.
“Where are you?”
Redmond laughed.
“Standing in your brother’s room.”
Daniel felt rage explode through him.
“If you touch anything—”
“I already found what Marcus left.”
Daniel looked at Bravo.
Redmond continued.
“But there’s a problem.”
“What?”
“The recording is encrypted.”
Daniel said nothing.
“And apparently,” Redmond said, “your brother was sentimental.”
Daniel’s pulse raced.
“The password is Bravo’s original K9 registration number.”
Daniel looked at the dog.
Redmond’s voice became cold.
“So bring me Bravo.”
Daniel stared into the darkness of the freight depot.
“Or?”
Redmond paused.
Then a woman screamed through the phone.
Elena went pale.
Daniel recognized the voice.
His mother.
Redmond said, “Bring me the dog, or your mother doesn’t leave this house alive.”
The call ended.
Daniel looked at Bravo.
For seven years, the Shepherd had entered danger because humans asked him to.
May you like
Now the choice belonged to Daniel.
And to save the only family he had left, he would have to take Bravo straight into the hands of the man who had destroyed Marcus.
