EMMET FELT WEAK. HIS DAD CAME STAGGERING OUT OF the house at the sound of his shouts, still half-asleep. Emmet yelled for him to get the truck and try to follow the boat by road, but his dad first stumbled around the yard, making sure there wasn’t a hole in the fence that Apollo had dug under somewhere.

By the time they were in the truck and speeding along the streets paralleling the canal, there was no sign of the boat.

As they drove back toward their house, Dr. Doyle called the police on his cell phone. He put it on speaker so he could call hands-free.

“This is 9-1-1. What is the nature of your emergency?” the operator said.

“I need to report a stolen dog,” Dr. Doyle said.

“Sir, this is an emergency line,” the voice on the other end of the phone said. “Do you have an actual emergency?”

“Yes, it’s an actual emergency! Dr. Catalyst stole our dog! Now get the police to put out an APB on —” Emmet shouted.

“Who is speaking?” the operator asked. “This is a line for emergencies only. If you need to contact the police department for nonemergencies, that number is —”

“Shut up!” Emmet yelled. Apollo being gone was starting to make him feel stunned and helpless, and he didn’t like it. Not one bit. “Dr. Catalyst stole our dog. His name is Apollo. He’s a black —”

The operator cut him off. “Young man, if you’re playing a prank, there are very serious consequences for that.”

Dr. Doyle clicked off the phone.

“Dad!” Emmet yelled at him.

“Hold on, son,” Dr. Doyle said. He punched another button on the phone. It rang twice, and then a very sleepy Dr. Geaux answered.

“Hello?” Except to Emmet it sounded like “Smello.”

“Rosalita? It’s Benton. Sorry to bother you, but we might have a problem.”

“Dr. Geaux! Dr. Catalyst took Apollo!” Emmet shouted.

Dr. Geaux was awake now. And her voice came through the cell phone loud and clear.

“Tell me what happened,” she said.

Emmet repeated the details of the last few minutes.

“All right. Go home. I’m going to get the task force on this. I’ll get the Coast Guard to bottle up the river so no boat can get through from the canals to the bay. Emmet, I’m going to need you to think about the boat. I realize it was dark, but how big was it? How many lights did it have? Was anything about the size or shape unusual? I know it’s hard, but try to remember anything that might help. I need to hang up now. I’ll be at your house in twenty minutes.”

The truck bounced through the streets. Emmet begged his dad into following the canal one more time, but they didn’t see anything. After fifteen minutes more of fruitless searching, Dr. Doyle turned the truck around and they sped home.

Emmet didn’t know what to do. Part of him felt like crying. Another part of him felt like punching something. When they finally reached their street, there were two police cars in front of their house. Dr. Geaux arrived almost simultaneously with them. One of the police officers was Stuke’s dad, who had gotten himself assigned to the task force. Dr. Geaux huddled with them for a minute or two, then one of the cars sped off. The other remained behind to keep watch while the three adults and Emmet went inside.

“Emmet,” Dr. Geaux, said, “I understand how worried you must be. You know how much I love Apollo. But I’ve got to ask you again, so Officer Stukaczowski hears it as well. Please tell us exactly what happened.”

Emmet did, telling them about doing his homework, letting Apollo outside, and the strange yelp he made.

“Did he sound hurt?” Lieutenant Stukaczowski asked.

Emmet thought for a minute. “No. Once he got his paw caught in the screen door at our old house, and he squealed. He makes a different sound if something hurts him. This was like he was … surprised. I didn’t … I should have … If I’d gone outside right then …” Emmet couldn’t help it. Tears were starting to form in his eyes. Stukaczowski put his hand on Emmet’s shoulder.

“Emmet, you listen to me. You didn’t do anything wrong. If it was this creep claiming to be Dr. Catalyst, and I’m betting it was, we’re dealing with a nut job. What you’re describing sounds like your dog was sedated. Our Animal Control officers use tranquilizer guns, and when a dog is shot with one it often startles them. They make a little yelp, and they go to sleep. This is good news. It means whoever took Apollo, your dog’s probably okay. You didn’t hear a gunshot, so my guess is he’s keeping him to force us to do something.”

“Like what?” Emmet asked.

“I don’t know yet,” Lieutenant Stukaczowski said. “But I’m pretty sure we’ll know soon. In the meantime, I want you to look at something.” Using his phone, he pulled up a screen that showed the silhouettes of several different types of boats. Handing it to Emmet, he said, “Can you scroll through these and tell which one most closely resembles the boat you saw?”

Emmet looked through the images and found one matching the shape of the boat he’d seen in the canal.

Lieutenant Stukaczowski took it back from him, a puzzled expression on his face. “A fishing boat? Why would he be using a fishing boat?”

“Maybe to blend in,” Dr. Geaux said. “Think about it. He’s not in the Everglades. His airboat was a lot easier to hide out there. If he uses a really fast or fancy boat right now, it might call unwanted attention. One of the smaller commercial fishing craft … it might be slower, but nobody is going to pay attention to it. And he’s probably modified it, boosted the engine with all his high-tech gizmos.

“Whoever this is —” Dr. Geaux went on.

“It’s him,” Emmet interrupted her.

“Emmet, I know your opinion, but we’ve talked about this. The blood we found at the accident site … it’s likely the real Dr. Catalyst had an accomplice, or someone who’s taking up his cause. A fanatic who went to that much trouble, dealing with such dangerous creatures, would have someone to take over in case something happened —”

“It’s him!” Emmet shouted.

The adults in the room went silent. Dr. Geaux looked down at the floor.

“Emmet,” his dad said, “I know you’re upset. And I want Apollo back, too. But you don’t need to speak —”

“Why doesn’t anyone believe me?” he shouted. “I was there! I looked into his eyes! So did Calvin! If it were me running around like this loon, doing all this crazy stuff, I’d have a plan in place to make it look like I’d died if I needed to get away. Haven’t any of you ever been to the movies? The criminal always fakes his death!”

“Emmet, I’m sorry, hon,” Dr. Geaux said. “But …”

Emmet would hear no more of it. Without another word he stormed away to his room and slammed the door. Inside he threw himself onto his bed. He couldn’t stop the tears. It felt like he was losing everything. First his mom, then Montana, and now Apollo.

When he had finally cried himself out, he sat at his desk and plugged in his laptop. He went to his school website and looked at the staff listings. After all this time, he didn’t even know Dr. Newton’s first name. Everyone just called him Dr. Newton or the Newt. In the staff directory he discovered it was Peter. A few more minutes searching Florida City and Dr. Peter Newton in a search engine gave him an address.

He could hear the adults talking in the room outside his door. They were giving him space. Emmet dug through his backpack and found some spare change and his city-bus pass. He stuffed them into the pockets of his cargo shorts, along with his cell phone and charger.

As quietly as possible, he lifted up his bedroom window, removed the screen, and slipped out into the night. He cut through the backyard of his next-door neighbors to avoid the police car in front of the house. Then, when he made it out onto the sidewalk, he started running.

He was going to pay a visit to Dr. Newton. Or should he call him Dr. Catalyst? Emmet wasn’t sure, but he knew one thing.

He was getting his dog back.