The dog closed its eyes, just for a moment, as if those words had unlocked a place it had been searching for without knowing.
Then the stillness shattered.
The sound ripped through the fog, sharp and sudden. Heavy boots struck wet wood. Radios crackled. Voices overlapped.
“Back there—by the benches!” someone shouted.
Don Ernesto looked up, startled.
Through the mist emerged figures—municipal police officers forming a wide arc, two patrol cars idling at the pier entrance. At the front stood a woman in a gray suit, hair pulled tight, eyes focused and unblinking.
Commander Valeria Robles, head of the K9 unit.
She stopped several meters away, her gaze locked not on the man—but on the dog.
“There he is…” she said quietly, almost to herself.
The officers spread out. Hands hovered near holsters. One of them, Mateo Ríos, stepped forward carefully.
Don Ernesto didn’t move.
Not out of defiance—but confusion.
Why were they aiming weapons?
Why were their voices sharp with fear?
The German Shepherd lifted its head. Its ears flicked—but it didn’t growl.
Didn’t bare teeth. Instead, it pressed closer to Don Ernesto’s leg, placing its body between him and the approaching danger, as if instinctively choosing a side.
Valeria’s jaw tightened.
“That dog is active K9,” she said. “His name is Delta. He disappeared during training an hour ago. If he’s here with you, sir, protocol says we treat this as a potential incident.”
“I—I didn’t take him,” Don Ernesto stammered. “I came to watch the sunrise. He ran to me. Straight to me… like he recognized me.”
Continue reading…
