Chapter 14 - The Order to Seize Atlas
"Seized by whom?" I asked.
"Base police. And they've notified county animal control that he has a history of dangerous behavior."
I looked at Atlas. He was asleep with one paw resting across my boot.
"He hasn't bitten anybody."
"I know. I'm getting the paperwork suspended, but until then don't let anyone take him without verifying a warrant."
That night Ortega arrived in his old pickup carrying a folder thick with veterinary records. Every incident involving Atlas had followed the same pattern: he reacted to a particular high-pitched signal from a Cinderline maintenance truck. "They wrote 'unpredictable aggression,'" Ortega said. "But he was trying to alert us."
He showed Maya a recorded kennel video. A truck backed toward a gate. Its electronic reversing alarm chirped four times. Atlas threw himself between the gate and a young kennel worker, barking until the truck stopped. The following report omitted the truck entirely.
"The sound resembles the warning tone from Kharif," Nina said.
A knock sounded at the clinic's side entrance. Through the frosted glass I saw a uniform and a paper held at shoulder height.
"Animal control," a man called. "We have an order to collect a dangerous dog."
Maya stepped out to speak with him. Behind the man's van, however, another vehicle waited with its lights off. The driver wore a Cinderline jacket.
"That's not right," Ortega said.
Atlas rose. His ears flattened. The four-note reversing alarm chirped from the second vehicle, and his body went rigid.
I knelt in front of him. "Eyes, buddy. Here."
His gaze locked onto mine. He shook with the effort to stay still.
Outside, Maya's voice sharpened. "This order has already been stayed. Turn off that alarm."
The driver's door slammed. The jacketed man ran toward the fence, leaving the vehicle behind. Officers caught him near the road. A search revealed a tranquilizer dart launcher and forged kennel transfer papers.
Ortega made a furious sound. "They weren't coming to collect him."
"No," Maya said, reading the documents. "They wanted him gone before a veterinarian could examine the old harness scars."
The captured driver identified the man who paid him.
May you like
Not Sloane.
Miles Voss had ordered Atlas killed that night.
