Chapter 3 - TEN MINUTES
The veterinary ambulance arrived eleven minutes later.
It felt like an hour.
Titan’s face was beginning to swell.
His breathing sounded wrong.
I climbed into the back with him.
Lucy appeared at the door.
Her mother held her shoulders.
“Officer?”
I looked down.
Lucy took off a small purple friendship bracelet.
“Can Titan have this?”
I swallowed.
“He’d like that.”
She handed it to me.
“Tell him he has to wake up.”
I wrapped it around a strap on his vest.
“I’ll tell him.”
The doors closed.
As the ambulance pulled away, I heard Lucy screaming after us.
“YOU’RE A GOOD DOG, TITAN!”
I kept one hand against Titan’s ribs the entire drive.
“Did you hear that?”
His ear twitched.
“That kid thinks you’re a hero.”
His breathing weakened.
“You don’t get to make her a liar.”
At the emergency veterinary hospital, a team was waiting.
They rolled him away immediately.
I tried following.
A doctor stopped me.
“We need space.”
“He’s my partner.”
“I know.”
“He was bitten on the face.”
“We know.”
“Can you save him?”
She looked straight at me.
“We’re going to try.”
Then the doors shut.
I stood alone in the hallway with dried dirt on my knees and blood on my glove.
My phone began vibrating.
Once.
Twice.
Then nonstop.
Messages.
Calls.
News alerts.
My lieutenant called.
“Mercer.”
“Sir.”
“What the hell happened?”
“Titan detected a rattlesnake.”
“I’ve already got six videos showing your dog taking down a kid.”
“He protected her.”
“Then why does every clip online look like a K9 mauling a seven-year-old?”
Because cameras had caught the first ten seconds.
Not the next thirty.
I opened social media.
There it was.
A video titled:
SEATTLE POLICE DOG ATTACKS CHILD IN PARK.
Hundreds of thousands of views.
Comments pouring in.
PUT THE DOG DOWN.
FIRE THE OFFICER.
THAT ANIMAL IS DANGEROUS.
I felt sick.
“Sir, there was a snake.”
“I believe you.”
“That doesn’t sound comforting.”
“It isn’t.”
Silence.
Then my lieutenant sighed.
“Until this is reviewed, Titan is suspended from active duty.”
“He may not survive the night.”
“I know.”
Another call appeared.
Unknown number.
I almost ignored it.
Then answered.
“Officer Mercer?”
“Yes.”
“This is Dr. Patel from King County Animal Control.”
“The snake?”
“Yes.”
“What about it?”
“We searched the area where Titan found it.”
Her voice changed.
“We found a plastic transport crate behind the bushes.”
My grip tightened around the phone.
“Empty?”
“No.”
I stood.
“What was inside?”
“Three compartments.”
She paused.
“One dead snake.”
My pulse jumped.
“And the others?”
“Two compartments were open.”
She took a breath.
“We have one rattlesnake accounted for.”
My mouth went dry.
May you like
“And the other?”
“We don’t know where it is.”
