TWO OFFICERS IN BLUE UNIFORMS STAND IN THE LIVING ROOM.

The sight of the blue uniforms makes me angry, and I’m not even sure why. I stay hidden at the top of the stairs, watching as they talk to Chance and four older kids who live in the house.

“Why are the cops here?” one of the boys asks.

“Because Chance’s farts are a lethal weapon,” Bash says, and the kids laugh.

The larger of the officers clears his throat. “We’re not the police. We’re Animal Control officers.”

“Since when does Animal Control make house calls?” Bash says, and the housemother shushes him sternly.

“A family lost their dog,” the large officer says. “So we’re checking all the houses in the neighborhood.”

“Must be an important family, since you guys are working on Sunday,” Bash says. “Maybe there’s a reward?”

The housemother is intrigued, and the Animal Control officers trade looks.

“Of course there’s a reward,” the small officer says.

“Ten thousand dollars,” the large one says.

Who would pay ten thousand dollars to get me back?

“Ten grand for telling you about a stupid dog?” Bash asks.

The officer smiles. “That’s all you have to do, son. Tell us about the dog.”

Chance bites his lip, and his eyes dart from Bash to the housemother and back.

“The dog’s upstairs,” Bash blurts out.

“He’s lying!” Chance says.

“Sorry, dude. They offered me ten K.”

“You suck,” Chance says.

The officers look up and catch me watching them from the top of the stairs.

“There she is!” They start toward the stairs.

“Why is there a dog in here?!” the housemother shouts and falls in behind them.

I leap up, torn between my desire to run and my instinct to protect Chance.

“Leave her alone!” Chance darts in front of the officers and blocks the staircase.

“Whoa there, son. How would you feel if you lost your dog?” the small officer asks.

“B-Bad, I mean—” Chance stutters.

“Wouldn’t you want someone to bring her home?”

He looks up at me and our eyes meet. I read the silent question on his face. Should I trust them?

I wish I knew the answer.

The large officer smiles up at me. “I can see you two have a bond. But her family really misses her, and they want her back.”

My heart beats faster. Someone wants me back.

Myron said I came into PetStar with a little redheaded girl and a bodyguard. Could this be the family the Animal Control officers are talking about?

“Enough,” the small officer says. “We have a job to do.”

He reaches for Chance—

“Just a moment,” the housemother says. “I can’t have the boys harmed in any way.”

The housemother steps forward and puts her arms around Chance.

“We have to let these men do their jobs,” she says to him, and she guides a reluctant Chance off the steps.

With the path clear, the officers start toward me. I growl a low rumble in my throat, warning them.

“Easy, dog,” the small officer says.

“No need to be afraid,” the large one says. “Don’t you want to go home?”

“Do you know where my home is?” I ask.

I stand at the top of the stairs, frozen in place as I watch them move toward me.

“Thatta girl. Just stay where you are and we’ll come to you.”

Chance shouts, “Run, Wild!!!”

I follow Chance’s line of sight to the large officer’s hand. The man is holding something behind his back, a black dowel of some kind that looks like a little telescope. I don’t know what it is, but my instinct tells me I’ve seen it before and I should be afraid.

“Liars!” I bark, and I dart away down the hall.

“Get her!” the officer screams, and I hear the thud of boots coming up the stairs fast behind me.

I race into the nearest room and hide behind the door. The Animal Control officers run past, panting hard.

A moment later, the door opens and Bash jogs in. He does a double take when he sees me, and then he shouts, “She’s in my bedroom!”

He reaches for me, and I evade his grasp. The door flies open, and the Animal Control officers rush in.

“Stand back. We’ll take care of this,” the large officer says.

The small officer steps in behind him and closes the door.

“Enough talk. Let’s kill her and get out of here.”

“Kill her?” Bash says. “I thought you were taking her home.”

I thought so, too. I look at these men now, and I feel rage.

The small officer nudges his partner. “The kid heard you, genius. Now what are we gonna do?”

He watches me closely, one hand on the black dowel in his belt.

“He’s a kid. He won’t say anything.”

“I swear I won’t say a word,” Bash says. “I hate that stupid dog anyway. Just let me go, and you can do whatever you want.”

The officer motions, and Bash makes a break for it, running out the bedroom door and slamming it behind him.

Now I’m alone with the two officers in the room. Whoever they really are, it’s clear they mean to do me harm.

The large officer snaps his dowel toward the ground, and it extends into a foot-long baton weapon, the end crackling with electricity.

“I’m guessing that’s the zapper Myron was telling me about,” I say.

“Don’t growl at me, mutt.” The small officer lifts his zapper as I prepare to leap at him.

A piercing tone explodes in my head, scrambling my brain so I can barely think. I scream, frozen in pain and unable to attack or defend myself.

“Do you hear anything?” the small officer asks.

“Sound of silence,” the other says with a grin. Then he looks at me. “Don’t worry, girl. The sound only stuns you, but the beam—that’s gonna leave a mark.”

He raises the weapon to fire—

“Wild!”

It’s Chance’s voice, calling to me from outside the house.

It breaks the spell of the sound, and I whirl around and dive for the closed window.

“NO!” the large officer shouts, but I’m already gone, smashing through the glass before he can fire his weapon.

I land on the roof above the porch. It’s raining outside, and the cold drops hit my back, steaming as they come in contact with my overheated body.

“Come on!” Chance shouts.

He’s in the driveway below, pulling out a bike with a large basket attached to the front.

I scurry across wet roof shingles, looking for a place to jump down.

I pass by a window and see a glint of silver. It’s Chance’s cell phone, sitting on his bedside table, forgotten. I can’t let him leave without it.

“We have to get out of here!” Chance shouts, climbing onto the bike.

“Your phone—” I start to say, but then I remember he can’t understand me. “Be right back!”

I smash through Chance’s bedroom window and go into the house one last time.

I dive for the phone and charger, scooping them up in my mouth and gripping them carefully between my teeth.

The door flies open, and the large officer rushes into the room. I turn to the window to escape, but the small officer is already there, climbing inside.

I’m trapped between the two of them. I growl, looking for a way out of this mess.

Both officers flick open their zappers and sparks fly.

I smell the ozone in the room from the electrical field being generated by the weapons. The smell haunts my memory, sending a shiver up my back that makes my hair stand up.

The piercing tone screams in my head, and I growl from deep in my throat, warning these men to get away from me.

The small officer points his zapper in my direction, and an arc of electricity shoots out like a lightning bolt. I duck at the last second, and the bolt flies past, striking the table next to the large officer, leaving behind a smoking, blackened hole in the wood.

The large officer screams and jumps away, cursing his partner.

“My bad,” the small officer says.

“I’ve had enough of this dog,” the large officer says, and he starts to bring up his zapper.

I spin and kick him in the chest with my hind legs, hard enough to knock him backward into the small officer and send the two of them crashing to the ground.

“See you, boys.”

I leap back through the window, jumping from the roof to the driveway below, and I drop the phone into Chance’s hands. He looks at it, astonished.

“How did you know—”

There are shouts from inside the house.

“We have to go,” I say.

I jump into the bike basket and Chance stands on the pedals, grunting with effort as he fights to get the bike moving out of the driveway and down the street.

Back at the house, I hear the Animal Control officers fighting their way through the broken door while the large officer screams into his radio: “She’s escaped. We need emergency backup!”