Chapter 2 - The Device Sewn Into Titan's Harness)
Roman wanted Titan moved immediately.
Emma refused.
The argument lasted less than a minute.
"My veterinary clinic isn't equipped for a dog this size tonight," Roman said.
"Then he stays here."
"This building isn't secure."
"It was secure until four armed men walked into it."
Roman glanced at Elias.
Elias looked away.
Emma crouched beside Titan again.
The Cane Corso's breathing had begun to slow, but he still watched every doorway.
Roman took a step closer.
Titan stiffened.
Roman stopped.
The reaction hurt him more than he allowed his face to show.
Emma saw it anyway.
"Sit down."
Roman looked at her.
"What?"
"You're tall. You're tense. You're staring directly at him. Sit."
Nobody spoke to Roman Calder that way.
At least nobody in that room had.
Elias almost smiled.
Roman removed his coat, folded it once, and lowered himself onto the floor eight feet from Titan.
His expensive black trousers touched rainwater tracked across the tile.
He did not seem to notice.
Emma placed the black remote on the counter.
"Don't touch that again."
Elias nodded.
"What exactly is it?"
"I won't know until I open the harness."
Roman watched Titan.
"He never used to be afraid of me."
Emma looked at him.
"Then don't make this about you."
Roman's eyes lifted.
She continued.
"Right now he doesn't know which people are safe. Every time you rush him, you make him choose while he's frightened."
Roman leaned his back against a shelf filled with bags of premium dog food.
"What should I do?"
"Nothing."
He frowned.
"Nothing?"
"Sit there."
Roman almost laughed.
Emma didn't.
So he stayed.
Ten minutes later Titan moved his front paw.
Then another.
He did not go to Roman.
He shifted closer to Emma.
Roman said nothing.
Emma opened a cabinet behind the counter and pulled out a compact veterinary first aid kit.
Before buying the pet store four years earlier, she had worked six years as a veterinary technician.
She had seen neglected animals.
She had seen frightened animals.
She had seen animals whose bodies remembered things their owners claimed had never happened.
Titan reminded her of all three.
She cut one seam of the harness.
Roman's voice sharpened.
"Careful."
Emma looked at him.
"If you want to do this, come over here."
He remained where he was.
"That's what I thought."
Elias turned away to hide another smile.
Inside the leather harness Emma found two small metal contact points, a flat battery, a thin receiver, and a second device wrapped in waterproof film.
She placed each piece on a white towel.
Roman stared.
"I've never seen any of that."
"These are custom."
"For what?"
"Remote stimulation. Sound conditioning. Tracking. Maybe recording."
Roman's jaw clenched.
"Stimulation?"
Emma chose her words carefully.
"Someone could use this to create discomfort when they wanted a behavioral response."
"Pain."
"Potentially."
Roman stood.
Titan flinched.
Roman froze, then slowly sat back down.
His voice changed.
"Who had access to him?"
"That's your question."
Roman looked toward Elias.
Elias answered reluctantly.
"Mr. Calder's household staff. Security team. Kennel contractor. Veterinary staff."
"Victor?"
"Victor supervised all security animals."
Emma looked at Roman.
"Security animals?"
Roman rubbed one hand across his face.
"Calder Global owns logistics facilities, residential properties, private aviation terminals. We use trained dogs at some locations. After my sister died, I funded a canine rehabilitation program through our foundation."
Emma glanced at Titan.
"And Titan?"
"He wasn't supposed to be a security dog."
"What was he?"
Roman's expression softened.
"My sister's."
That silenced the room.
Roman stared at Titan.
"Nora found him behind a condemned warehouse in Chelsea when he was eight weeks old. He was the only puppy alive in the litter."
Emma said nothing.
"She brought him home inside a grocery box. I told her we weren't keeping him."
A faint smile touched Roman's mouth.
"Three days later he was sleeping in my office."
"What happened to your sister?"
The smile disappeared.
"Car accident. Three years ago."
Titan's ears moved at the sound of Nora's name.
Roman noticed.
"So he became yours."
Roman nodded.
"He slept outside my bedroom for two years. Followed me everywhere."
Emma studied him.
"When did his behavior change?"
"About eight months ago."
"Who became more involved with him eight months ago?"
Roman knew the answer before he spoke it.
"Victor."
Elias shifted.
"Sir, Victor took over the foundation's contractor review around then."
Roman looked at him sharply.
"You never told me that."
"I didn't think it mattered."
"It matters now."
Emma inserted the tiny memory card into an adapter from her office.
Her old laptop took almost a minute to recognize it.
A folder appeared.
No photographs.
No video.
Only numbered audio files and logs.
Roman moved closer to the counter.
Titan did not retreat this time.
Emma clicked the most recent file.
Static filled the store.
Then a man's voice.
Victor.
"Again."
A faint electronic chirp sounded.
Titan whined through the laptop speakers.
Another man's voice answered.
"He's fighting it."
Victor said, "Increase it."
Roman's hands curled into fists.
Emma let the recording continue.
There was another chirp.
Titan barked.
Then Victor spoke again.
"He doesn't have to like me. He only has to fear the signal."
Roman reached for the laptop.
Emma stopped him.
"There's more."
Victor's voice came through the speaker.
"At the gala, Calder will be standing less than twenty feet away. When Titan hears the tone, we need him moving in the right direction."
Roman went completely still.
Elias whispered a curse.
Emma stared at the screen.
The recording ended.
For several seconds rain was the only sound in the store.
Roman looked at Titan.
Then at the empty doorway where Victor had disappeared.
"What gala?"
Elias answered.
"The Calder Foundation gala."
"When?"
Elias swallowed.
"Three nights from now."
Emma looked at Roman.
Roman's face had become cold again.
But this time the coldness was not aimed at her.
"Play every file."
They listened for two hours.
Most were training sessions.
Victor's voice appeared repeatedly.
Sometimes another man spoke, but the recordings were too distorted to identify him.
At 2:13 in the morning, Emma opened the oldest log on the card.
A location field appeared.
Northbridge Canine Behavioral Center.
Roman frowned.
"I know that name."
Emma waited.
Roman stared at the screen.
Then his expression changed.
"My sister investigated them."
"When?"
"The week before she died."
Emma looked at Titan.
The dog had finally fallen asleep with his head resting on her shoe.
Roman continued staring at the location.
"Nora told me something was wrong with the foundation."
"What did you do?"
His silence answered before his words did.
"I told her accounting would handle it."
Emma looked at him.
May you like
Roman did not defend himself.
"Three days later," he said, "she was dead."
