Chapter 5 - THE MAN IN THE DARK JACKETI chased him for three blocks.
Every instinct told me to keep going.
Training told me something else.
I had no vest.
No backup directly beside me.
And I had no idea whether Caleb Voss was armed.
I stopped at the intersection and radioed his direction of travel.
Patrol units flooded the neighborhood.
They found nothing.
Caleb had disappeared.
Again.
When I returned to the veterinary hospital, Detective Kim was waiting.
“You shouldn’t have chased him alone.”
“I didn’t catch him, so apparently that problem solved itself.”
She wasn’t amused.
“Cole, this man isn’t improvising. He studied you.”
“I know.”
“No, I don’t think you do.”
She held up the photograph he had dropped.
“He knew where Titan was being treated. He knew Rachel and Lily came here. He got close enough to photograph the treatment room.”
“How?”
“We’re checking.”
I looked toward the hospital.
“Move Lily.”
“Already arranged.”
Rachel and her daughter were taken to a secure location while investigators worked.
I hated that.
Not because it was unnecessary.
Because Lily had already been dragged into something that had never been about her.
The snakebite should have been the end of her involvement.
Instead, Caleb had made her part of his revenge.
The department placed an officer outside Titan’s room.
That felt absurd until it didn’t.
By noon, detectives had identified Caleb from security footage near the veterinary hospital.
He wore a baseball cap and surgical mask, but his height, clothing, vehicle movements, and facial recognition from unobscured frames gave investigators enough confidence to treat him as the man I’d seen.
His motive became clearer too.
Derek Voss had received a twenty-eight-year federal sentence two weeks earlier.
Caleb blamed Titan.
Not the prosecutors.
Not Derek.
Not the trafficking organization.
A dog.
Because Titan had found the drugs that destroyed his brother’s defense.
That afternoon, the veterinarian finally gave me good news.
“The swelling has stabilized.”
I stared at her.
“Say that again.”
She smiled.
“The antivenom appears to be controlling the progression.”
“His leg?”
“Too early to promise anything. But surgery is less likely than it was last night.”
I closed my eyes.
“Thank you.”
“Thank Titan. He’s stubborn.”
“That I can confirm.”
I was allowed inside.
Titan was awake.
He looked terrible.
But awake was beautiful.
I sat beside him.
“You know you’re famous now?”
His eyes shifted toward me.
“Apparently the internet loves you.”
Nothing.
“Lily says you’re getting steak.”
His ears lifted slightly.
“There he is.”
I scratched behind them.
“You nearly get yourself killed, ignore a direct command, create a citywide media disaster, and steak is your reward.”
His tail moved.
“Terrible discipline.”
For five minutes, the world felt normal.
Then Marcus entered.
“Cole.”
I looked up.
His face ruined the moment.
“What?”
“Kim needs us downstairs.”
Detectives had found Caleb’s temporary apartment.
Inside, they discovered maps.
Photos.
News clippings.
And a laptop.
The search history included veterinary hospitals.
K9 antivenom treatment.
Police memorial procedures.
That last one made my jaw tighten.
But another file mattered more.
A document titled SECOND CHANCE.
It contained a photograph of Centennial Park.
Another of the veterinary hospital.
And a third location.
Lily’s elementary school.
Rachel went pale when Kim told her.
“He knows where my daughter goes to school?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“We don’t know.”
Rachel stood so quickly her chair fell backward.
“You said she was safe.”
“She is safe. She’s with officers.”
“He photographed my child.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
Rachel’s voice broke.
“You don’t know what it feels like to put your daughter to bed and wonder whether some stranger is outside waiting because she happened to chase a frisbee.”
Kim let her anger land.
Then she said quietly, “You’re right.”
Rachel covered her face.
I felt responsible even though logic told me I wasn’t.
Caleb had targeted me.
Titan.
My world.
Lily had simply crossed into it.
“We’ll protect her,” I said.
Rachel looked at me.
“You couldn’t protect Titan.”
That hurt.
She realized it immediately.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
“No. That was cruel.”
“It was also true.”
Titan had protected Lily.
I hadn’t protected him.
That truth would stay with me for a long time.
That evening, police received a tip.
A convenience-store clerk recognized Caleb from a news bulletin.
He had purchased food, bottled water, gloves, and prepaid phones.
The store camera caught his vehicle.
Not the truck.
A stolen sedan.
Patrol located it forty minutes later near an abandoned industrial district.
Empty.
But warm.
He was close.
SWAT teams searched warehouses.
Nothing.
At 9:40 p.m., my phone rang.
Unknown number.
Kim motioned for everyone to stay silent.
I answered.
“Cole.”
Breathing.
Then a voice.
“You ruined my family.”
Caleb.
Kim immediately signaled technicians to trace the call.
“No,” I said. “Your brother did.”
“He’d be home if it wasn’t for that dog.”
“Your brother moved enough fentanyl to kill thousands of people.”
“You think you’re better than us?”
“This isn’t about me.”
“It’s always about you.”
I kept him talking.
“Then why the snake?”
Silence.
“You wanted Titan to suffer?”
“I wanted you to watch.”
There it was.
Exactly what the note said.
“You failed.”
His breathing changed.
“Did I?”
I looked toward Kim.
She shook her head.
Not enough for location yet.
“Titan’s alive.”
“For now.”
My grip tightened.
“You go near him again and—”
“And what?”
I stopped.
He wanted anger.
Wanted me reckless.
“Turn yourself in.”
Caleb laughed.
“You still don’t understand.”
“Understand what?”
“The park was practice.”
Kim’s eyes sharpened.
“For what?”
“The thing about dogs, Officer Cole…”
He paused.
“They always run toward danger.”
The call disconnected.
Kim shouted for the trace.
A technician answered.
“Cell tower near downtown. Burner phone shut off.”
Then an officer entered quickly.
“Detective.”
“What?”
“We have an incident.”
He looked at me.
“Bomb squad just received an anonymous report.”
“Where?”
He hesitated.
“Centennial Park.”
My stomach tightened.
“The same location?”
“No.”
He turned his phone around.
The screen showed a photograph uploaded to police dispatch.
A backpack sat beneath a park bench.
Attached to it was a handwritten note.
FOR TITAN.
Kim looked at me.
“He’s trying to pull us somewhere.”
“No.”
I stared at the photograph.
Something about it bothered me.
Then I saw it.
In the background was a playground sign.
That playground wasn’t Centennial Park.
I knew Seattle parks.
“That’s not Centennial.”
Kim zoomed in.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“Where is it?”
My blood went cold.
“Greenwood.”
Marcus looked confused.
Then remembered.
Rachel and Lily lived two blocks from Greenwood Park.
Kim grabbed her radio.
“Get units to the Bennett residence now.”
We ran.
Rachel was already calling the officer assigned to Lily.
Nobody answered.
Again.
Nothing.
Her face went white.
“Where is she?”
Kim demanded an update.
Dispatch responded.
The protection team had been reassigned twenty minutes earlier after receiving what appeared to be an authenticated command message.
Kim stared at me.
“Caleb hacked the assignment system?”
“Or someone helped him.”
Rachel was shaking.
“My daughter…”
Her phone rang.
Unknown number.
Everyone froze.
Rachel answered on speaker.
“Hello?”
No voice.
Then Lily spoke.
“Mom?”
Rachel nearly collapsed.
“Lily! Baby, where are you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
A man’s voice entered the call.
“Bring the dog.”
Rachel covered her mouth.
I stepped closer.
“Caleb.”
“Officer Cole.”
“You want me.”
“I want Titan.”
“He’s hospitalized.”
“Then you’d better hope he can walk.”
The line went dead.
Rachel looked at me with pure terror.
“What does he want?”
I already knew.
The park had never been the final plan.
The snake had been a test.
Caleb wanted to prove something.
That Titan would run toward danger.
May you like
And now he had Lily.
He was counting on Titan doing it again.
Related Stories
