Chapter 8 - WHAT TITAN REMEMBERED
We didn’t go to a hospital.
We went to a veterinary clinic Roman owned without apparently remembering he owned it.
Rich people are exhausting.
Dr. Leah Morgan met us at a private entrance.
She examined Titan while Roman paced.
I watched the monitors.
Heart rate.
Oxygen.
Temperature.
Normal enough.
Not good enough.
Finally Leah removed her gloves.
“He’s going to wake up.”
Roman stopped moving.
I exhaled.
“What was it?”
“Dexmedetomidine mixture. Strong dose, but not lethal.”
“Why use it?” Roman asked.
“To immobilize him quickly.”
Leah pointed toward the burns beneath Titan’s harness.
“This dog has been conditioned.”
I frowned.
“Conditioned how?”
“Pain linked to certain commands, locations, maybe people.”
Roman’s face darkened.
“Explain.”
“Someone could teach a dog that approaching a certain person after a command leads to pain. Eventually the dog avoids the person or freezes.”
My stomach dropped.
I looked at Roman.
“Titan wasn’t disobeying you.”
Roman understood.
“He was afraid that obeying would hurt.”
Leah nodded.
Silence.
Roman sat beside the unconscious dog.
For once he had nothing to say.
I remembered Titan sitting on my foot.
Not stubborn.
Not confused.
Choosing the only person in the room who had never hurt him.
I touched his paw.
“He trusted you once.”
Roman looked at me.
“I failed him.”
“You didn’t do this.”
“I employed the men who did.”
“That’s different.”
“Not when you’re responsible.”
I hadn’t expected that answer.
Neither, apparently, had he.
Leah scanned Titan’s shoulder.
Then she frowned.
“What?”
I asked.
“There’s something under the skin.”
Roman stood.
“A tracker?”
“No.”
Leah brought up the image.
A tiny cylinder.
She removed it fifteen minutes later.
Not a tracker.
A recording device.
Luca arrived and connected it to his laptop.
The audio was damaged.
Static.
Footsteps.
A garage echo.
Then Adrian Vale’s voice.
“Again.”
A click.
Titan whimpered.
I clenched my fists.
Another voice said, “You’re going too hard.”
Vale answered.
“He needs to associate Calder with pain.”
Roman went perfectly still.
The second man spoke again.
“What if the dog attacks him?”
“That’s the point.”
My chest tightened.
Roman whispered, “They wanted Titan to kill me.”
Luca kept listening.
Vale laughed on the recording.
“If the dog tears out Roman’s throat, nobody asks why a sniper was waiting outside.”
I looked at Roman.
The gala.
Friday.
Tomorrow.
It wasn’t just an assassination.
It was a story.
Titan attacks his owner.
Security kills Titan.
A sniper or backup shooter finishes Roman during the chaos.
Then everyone blames an “unstable dog.”
Roman slowly stood.
“We cancel the gala.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
Everyone looked at me.
Roman’s eyes narrowed.
“You want me to attend the event where people intend to murder me?”
“Yes.”
“That may be the worst advice I’ve received this week.”
“If you cancel, they run.”
“They’re already running.”
“No. Vale ran. Whoever gives him orders still thinks the plan can survive.”
Roman stared at me.
I pointed at Titan.
“They tortured your dog to create the perfect accident.”
“So?”
“So give them their accident.”
Roman’s expression changed.
“You want to set a trap.”
“Yes.”
He looked at me for a long moment.
May you like
Then he said, “You’re more dangerous than you look, Nora Hayes.”
Behind us, Titan opened his eyes.
