THE POLICE DOG PINNED A CRYING 7-YEAR-OLD GIRL TO THE GROUND—THEN SHE WHISPERED SIX WORDS THAT MADE HIS OFFICER TURN PALE…

The sound of the gunshots tore through the freezing night.

Ava screamed, burying her face deeper into my neck. I held her tight, pressing us against the back wall of the shed.

“Shadow, stay,” I commanded. The dog held his ground at the door, a low, menacing growl vibrating in his chest.

I peeked through the cracked window. The red flare was still burning, casting eerie, dancing shadows across the rusted metal of the train cars. But I couldn't see Marcus, and I couldn't see Elias.

“Ava, listen to me,” I said softly, crouching down so I was at eye level with her. “I need you to stay right here with Shadow. Do not move unless I call for you. Understand?”

She nodded, tears mixing with the rain on her cheeks. She reached out and grabbed Shadow’s thick fur. The dog leaned into her, offering a silent promise of protection.

I slipped out of the shed, merging into the darkness.

I moved from boxcar to boxcar, my gun raised, my breathing shallow. The rain masked my footsteps.

“Thorne!” Marcus’s voice echoed through the yard, frantic and angry. “You’re bleeding out, Elias! Just give me the ledger and I'll let it be quick!”

I crept around the edge of a flatbed car.

Twenty yards away, Marcus was walking slowly, his gun pointed at the ground where a trail of dark blood led behind a pile of wooden railroad ties. Elias was hit.

“It’s over, Marcus,” I yelled, stepping out into the open, my weapon trained dead center on his chest.

Marcus spun around, aiming at me. We were locked in a standoff.

“Brooks,” Marcus laughed, though his eyes were wide with panic. “You always were a Boy Scout. Where’s the Captain? Did he send you to clean up his mess?”

“Reynolds is in cuffs. I have the ledger, Marcus. It’s over. Put the gun down.”

Marcus’s face contorted in rage. “You have no idea what you’ve stepped into! This goes higher than Reynolds! You think giving that book to Internal Affairs is going to fix this? They’ll kill you, and they’ll kill the kid just to tie up loose ends!”

“Drop the weapon, Marcus!”

“I’m not going to prison, Daniel,” he snarled, raising his gun to fire.

He never pulled the trigger.

From the shadows above him, a heavy, bloodied figure dropped from the roof of the train car. It was Elias. He landed squarely on Marcus’s shoulders, driving them both into the gravel.

The gun went off, the bullet firing wildly into the sky.

I sprinted forward, but Marcus was younger and desperate. He threw Elias off him, striking the injured man in the face with the butt of his pistol. Elias collapsed in the mud, unconscious.

Marcus scrambled to his feet, aiming his gun directly at Elias’s head.

“No!” I shouted.

Before Marcus could fire, a black and tan blur shot out from the darkness.

Shadow hadn’t stayed in the shed. He had followed me.

With a terrifying roar, the dog hit Marcus full force in the chest. Marcus fired, but the shot went wide as Shadow's momentum carried them both backward into the deep, muddy trench beside the tracks.

Marcus screamed as Shadow pinned his gun arm down, the dog’s powerful jaws locking tight.

I slid into the trench, kicking the weapon out of Marcus’s hand. I slammed my knee into his spine, yanking his arms back and slapping the cuffs on him.

“Good boy, Shadow! Release!”

Shadow let go, backing up but keeping his eyes locked on the disgraced detective.

I hauled Marcus up by his collar, throwing him face-first against the train car. “That’s for Sarah,” I whispered.

I ran over to Elias. He was breathing, but he was losing blood fast from a gunshot wound to his shoulder.

Suddenly, small footsteps splashed through the puddles.

Ava ran out of the darkness, throwing herself onto Elias’s uninjured side. “Uncle Elias!” she cried.

Elias slowly opened his eyes, coughing weakly. He looked at the little girl, a painful smile crossing his face. “Hey there, kiddo. I told you... I’d come back.”