Chapter 16 - Ash, Look at Me
Roman read the message once.
Then he said,
"No."
I looked at him.
"I didn't say anything."
"You were about to."
"You don't know that."
"I know your face."
"You've known my face for five hours."
"It's a very argumentative face."
Under any other circumstances, I might have laughed.
Instead I held up the phone.
"Damian asked for me."
"Which is exactly why you aren't going."
"He wants the case and Gabriel."
"The message says me."
"Because he thinks you'll carry something in for him."
"Probably Titan's token or Gabriel's tag."
"Then we use that."
Roman stepped closer.
"No."
"Stop saying that like it ends the conversation."
"This one is ended."
Reeves's voice came through the officer's radio before I could answer.
"Hold position."
"We have visual on two suspects but not the dog."
Roman grabbed the radio.
"Damian just started a twenty-minute countdown."
"He wants Claire inside."
Reeves cursed.
"Send me the video."
Roman did.
We waited less than a minute.
Then Reeves called back.
"The room in the video is vault access three."
Gabriel knows it."
"There is a public corridor leading near it."
Roman's eyes hardened.
"You're not considering this."
Reeves ignored him.
"Claire, can Titan recognize your voice from a distance?"
"Yes."
"Can you calm him if you can't see him?"
"Maybe."
"That's not good enough," Roman said.
Reeves replied,
"Neither is charging a room with a frightened 130-pound dog and armed kidnappers."
I looked at Roman.
"You said yourself I'm the person he chose when he was scared."
"That doesn't make you bulletproof."
"Neither does being a billionaire."
Roman glared at me.
The radio crackled again.
Gabriel's voice came through.
"Roman."
"She's right."
Roman closed his eyes.
"You have been alive for six hours in my life again and you're already irritating me."
Gabriel almost sounded amused.
"Nice to know some things survived."
Then his tone became serious.
"We can put Claire in the outer corridor without sending her into Damian's room."
"He'll hear her."
"If Damian moves toward her, Reeves's team intercepts."
Roman looked at me.
"You follow every instruction."
"I will follow Reeves's instructions."
"Claire."
"He's the police officer."
"You're the man whose security director put electrodes in a dog harness."
The officer beside us looked at the floor.
Roman stared at me.
"That was unnecessarily effective."
"Good."
Reeves's team moved us through a service passage into the old warehouse.
The concrete walls narrowed as we descended.
Water dripped somewhere behind the pipes.
The smell of rust and old oil grew stronger.
Gabriel met us at a junction wearing a borrowed police vest over his rain jacket.
Roman looked at it.
"You look ridiculous."
Gabriel looked at Roman's expensive black suit.
"You look like you're attending a funeral."
The brothers stared at each other.
I stepped between them.
"Could we postpone six years of sibling therapy until after we get the dog?"
Gabriel nodded.
"Fair."
Roman looked offended.
"Stop saying that."
For one second, Gabriel smiled.
Then Reeves appeared.
His face was all business.
"Damian is in vault access three with at least one other person."
"We have another heat signature in the adjoining office."
"Could be Lucian."
"Could be another suspect."
"We do not know."
He looked at me.
"You go as far as the marked corner."
"You do not cross it."
"You speak to Titan."
"If anyone tells you to step forward, you do not."
"If anything sounds wrong, you come back."
I nodded.
Roman said,
"Repeat it."
I looked at him.
"I'm not six."
"Repeat it."
There was enough fear in his face that I stopped fighting.
"I stop at the corner."
"I talk to Titan."
"I don't cross the line."
"I come back if Reeves tells me."
Roman held my gaze.
"Thank you."
That was worse than an order.
I walked with Reeves down the corridor.
The digital countdown from Damian's video showed eleven minutes remaining on my phone.
At the marked corner, Reeves stopped.
Beyond it, the hall bent toward vault access three.
A steel door blocked my view.
I could hear nothing.
Reeves whispered,
"Whenever you're ready."
My mouth was dry.
I called the name I had used seven years ago.
"Ash."
Silence.
"Ash, it's Claire."
A faint scrape came from beyond the steel door.
Then a whine.
My eyes burned.
"Good boy."
"You know my voice."
"You don't have to do anything."
"Just listen."
A man's voice came through a speaker above the door.
Damian.
"Come closer, Claire."
Reeves shook his head.
I stayed where I was.
"Open the door and let Titan out."
Damian laughed.
"That's not how negotiations work."
"Then you don't know dogs or negotiations."
"The case."
"Where is it?"
"Safe."
"Bring it."
"No."
The speaker clicked off.
Three notes sounded behind the door.
Titan barked frantically.
I forced my voice to stay calm.
"Ash."
"Look at me."
He could not actually see me.
But it was an old phrase.
At the rescue, I had used it every time the frightened puppy started staring at a closing kennel door.
"Ash, look at me."
The barking changed.
One bark.
Pause.
Another.
"Good."
"Stay with me."
The three notes played again.
Titan whined.
"Ash, look at me."
He stopped barking.
Reeves looked at me.
His eyes widened slightly.
The countdown showed eight minutes.
Damian's voice returned.
"Interesting."
"He remembers."
"Better than you do," I said.
"I remember plenty."
"Do you remember Isabella?"
Silence.
Reeves glanced at me.
I continued.
"Titan does."
"He remembered your scent after her crash."
"He remembered Lucian."
"He remembered me."
"How much do you think he remembers about you?"
Damian's voice lost some of its confidence.
"He's an animal."
"That's what everyone keeps saying right before he ruins their plan."
Behind the door, Titan scratched once against metal.
Then again.
I looked at Reeves.
He touched his radio silently.
Movement was happening somewhere I could not see.
Damian spoke again.
"Claire, do you know why Isabella chose that puppy?"
"Because he needed her."
"Wrong."
"She chose him because Gabriel told her which dog carried the chip."
That was new.
My chest tightened.
"Isabella knew about the token before the adoption?"
"Of course."
"Your touching little rescue story was a cover."
I thought of Isabella sitting on the concrete floor for two hours.
No.
A person could have a reason for choosing a dog and still love him.
Damian wanted me angry.
Or hurt.
Or uncertain.
I did not give him any of them.
"She still sat with him until he chose her."
"You don't understand this family."
"Neither do you."
A pause.
"You think because your last name is Calder, everything is ownership."
"People."
"Companies."
"Animals."
"But Isabella knew the difference between being chosen and taking possession."
The speaker went silent.
Then the steel door clicked.
Reeves pulled me backward.
The door opened six inches.
A hand shoved Titan into the corridor.
He stumbled.
The door slammed shut again.
"Ash!"
Titan's head jerked toward me.
A black restraint loop still hung around his neck.
His coat was wet.
His eyes were huge.
But he was standing.
He saw me.
For one second, the entire world narrowed to the dog at the end of the corridor.
Then three notes blasted from a hidden speaker.
Titan's body locked.
A cedar odor rushed through the ventilation grille above us.
Reeves grabbed my arm.
"Back."
Titan looked toward the side corridor where Roman waited out of view.
His lips lifted.
I understood what Damian was doing.
He had released Titan because he wanted the final conditioning test.
He wanted to see whether the dog would follow scent and tone straight to Roman.
"Ash."
Titan took one step toward the side corridor.
"Look at me."
His ears flicked.
Three notes sounded again.
Titan trembled.
"Look at me."
He turned his head.
Our eyes met.
"You don't have to do it."
His breathing came fast.
"Nobody gets to make you."
The tone played again.
Titan lowered his head.
Then he did something I had not taught him.
He turned away from the cedar vent.
He walked toward me.
One step.
Then another.
Then faster.
He crossed the corridor and slammed his entire body against my legs.
I dropped to my knees and wrapped my arms around his neck.
"Good boy."
My voice broke.
"Good boy."
Roman appeared at the corner.
Titan saw him.
His body tensed.
The three notes played again.
Roman stopped immediately.
He did not call Titan.
He did not move closer.
He simply crouched.
Exactly as he had in my store.
Titan looked at me.
Then at Roman.
Then back at me.
I loosened my arms.
"Your choice."
Titan stepped away from me.
He walked toward Roman.
The tone sounded again.
He kept walking.
Roman's eyes filled, though no tears fell.
Titan reached him.
Then he pushed his enormous head against Roman's chest.
Roman put both hands into the dog's fur.
For the first time all night, his control broke.
He lowered his forehead against Titan's head and closed his eyes.
"I'm sorry."
The words were almost silent.
"I'm so sorry."
A crash came from behind the steel door.
Reeves moved.
Police voices filled the hall.
The door opened.
Officers disappeared inside.
There was shouting.
Then silence.
Reeves returned less than a minute later.
His face was furious.
"Damian is gone."
Roman stood.
"How?"
"Maintenance shaft behind the office wall."
Gabriel swore.
"Old cargo conduit."
"It reaches the harbor side."
Reeves looked at him.
"Would have been useful five minutes ago."
"It was sealed twenty years ago."
"Apparently not."
An officer called from the adjoining room.
"Sergeant, we found someone."
We entered after Reeves cleared it.
A man lay tied to a chair behind the office partition.
Bruised.
Exhausted.
Alive.
Lucian Reed lifted his head.
Titan froze.
A growl started in his chest.
Lucian closed his eyes.
"Yeah."
His voice was raw.
"I deserve that."
Roman stepped toward him.
"You have thirty seconds to give me a reason not to leave you here for the police."
Reeves looked at Roman.
"He's staying for the police either way."
Lucian laughed painfully.
"Good."
"Because by sunrise, Damian won't be your biggest problem."
Roman's eyes narrowed.
"What happens at sunrise?"
Lucian looked at Gabriel.
Then at Roman.
"Your board removes you from Calder Group."
Roman's expression did not change.
Lucian continued.
May you like
"And Matteo comes home from Switzerland to take your chair."
