Chapter 3 - Condemned Without a Trial
I slammed my foot onto the accelerator, sending the squad car flying through a red light at seventy miles per hour, siren screaming into the wet afternoon air.
"Disregarding direct order, Captain," I said into the mic, my voice dead calm. "I’m saving my partner."
I ripped the radio microphone from the dashboard, tore the wiring out of the housing, and threw it onto the passenger floorboard.
Ten minutes later, the tires of my cruiser screeched to a halt in the ambulance bay of the Northwest Animal Trauma Center. I leapt out of the vehicle, yanked the rear door open, and gathered Titan into my arms. His tongue was blue, his body completely limp.
"I need help!" I yelled, bursting through the double glass sliding doors into the emergency lobby. "K9 down! Venomous bite!"
A team of veterinary nurses rushed into the hallway with a gurney. Dr. Sarah Lin—a sharp, experienced vet who had handled our precinct's working dogs for half a decade—met me in the corridor.
"What hit him, Marcus?" she asked rapidly, lifting Titan’s eyelid to inspect his pupils while the nurses rolled him toward the surgical suite.
"Timber Rattlesnake. Right under the jaw," I panted, wiping blood and rain from my eyes. "He’s been down for about twenty minutes. Airway is closing."
"We need broad-spectrum crotalid antivenom, two vials, stat!" Dr. Lin barked at her team, snapping on latex gloves. "Marcus, wait in the lobby. Let us work."
I stood in the sterile, fluorescent-lit hallway, watching through the small glass window as they hooked Titan up to oxygen, IV lines, and heart monitors. The flatline pulse tone was ringing softly, erratic and weak.
Twenty minutes passed like twenty years. I paced the floor, my wet boots squeaking against the linoleum. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Titan’s fierce, unwavering gaze right before he launched himself over that little girl. He knew the danger. He had smelled the venom. He had made the choice to take the hit.
The front doors of the clinic swung open with a bang.
Four men stepped into the lobby. Two were armed officers from Seattle Animal Control carrying steel transport cages and catching poles. Behind them stepped Captain Harrison and Thomas Sterling.
Harrison walked up to me, his expression unreadable. He held out his hand.
"Your gun, badge, and base keys, Marcus," Harrison said quietly. "You’re suspended without pay, effective immediately, pending criminal investigation for reckless endangerment and destruction of city property."
I stared at my commander. "He’s in surgery fighting for his life, Captain. You brought animal control to execute a hero?"
"He's a hazard!" Sterling interjected, stepping out from behind Harrison, his hands thrust into his coat pockets. "That dog is a liability to this city. The video of him tackling my daughter is already on the local news! The public is outraged. Animal Control has issued an emergency destruction order for a biters-quarantine violation."
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"He bit a snake, you ignorant coward!" I stepped into Sterling’s space, my chest pressed against his shoulder. "He saved your daughter's life while you were looking at your phone!"
"Officer Vance!" Harrison grabbed my vest, pulling me back. "Step down! You hand over your badge right now, or I will have these officers arrest you for obstructing justice and place you in county jail!"
