Cat walked down the rows of dog kennels, admiring each canine as she passed them. She had arrived before Rory had gotten off of work and decided there was no harm in looking. Bane had no idea, but Cerberus had recently sired a litter that would be born soon. It wouldn't hurt to have an extra guard dog around. Cat stopped by a litter of poodle mix puppies. She knew Rory would love the fluffy white babies.

"You're Cat, Cerberus's owner, right?" A voice spoke up behind her. Cat turned around to see the shelter director, Eva Gill, returning a hyper yellow lab to his kennel. The lab took a long, sloppy drink from his water bowl. Water dripped down his chin as he quickly buried his face in a bowl of kibble.

"Yes, I was just about to ask if the litter had been born yet," Cat said, watching the lab gulp down his food and sniff the ground for more. Eva opened the door and tossed him a Bully Stick. He caught it in midair and laid down on the old couch in his kennel to enjoy his treat. A few months ago, the shelter had asked for donations of used furniture to put in the dog kennels. People had donated couches and chairs for the dogs to have a comfy place to lie on.

"They're due any day now," Eva replied. "The latest ultrasound shows at least six puppies, and the mother is doing very well."

"I might be interested in taking one." Cat smiled. She knew that training another puppy required a lot of time, but Cerberus was a highly intelligent dog and he would help guide the puppy in the right direction. Rose probably wouldn't be happy with another dog in the house, but she'd get over it.

"Of course, you will get first pick when the puppies are born," Eva insisted, checking on a kennel with two yapping chihuahuas inside. The smaller brown one kept chasing the larger white dog and trying to steal her squeaky toy. "Anything else I can help you with today, Cat?"

Cat knelt down to pet one of the poodle puppies that was standing by the kennel door wagging its tail happily. It barked softly and tried to lick her hand. "Actually, I have a friend who wants a small dog and I think one of these poodles would be perfect for her."

Eva joined her by the kennel and read the pet information taped to the door. "These little guys are twelve weeks old, the perfect age for adoption. They are very friendly and sweet from what we've observed so far. Their mother is a miniature poodle, and the father a Maltese, so they are hypoallergenic if you're worried about allergies. There are two males and three females."

"Cat?" Rory walked down the row of kennels toward them. "The girl at the front desk told me you were back here. Sorry if I'm late, I had a long day at work." She ran a hand through her long tangled curls and Cat noticed her face was white as a sheet.

"Did your meeting go okay?" Cat wondered as Eva opened the kennel and lifted out the nearest puppy. She gently placed the puppy in Cat's arms. Cat knew that whatever was bothering Rory, one of these cute puppies would definitely cheer her up.

"It was...fine," Rory insisted, not wanting to discuss what happened at Chinatown. She had never experienced anything like that during a low blood sugar before. There were no warning signs before it occurred, no shakiness, nothing. She had tested before eating, and it was normal. Her pump would have stopped delivering insulin if her levels fell too low. Unless something had interfered with the transmitter. The screams and images of destruction had seemed so real...it just didn't make any sense!

"What were you thinking, boy or girl?" Cat asked, snuggling the sweet little fuzzball in her arms. Eva grabbed another puppy out, and it wiggled and squirmed, trying to escape her grasp. As she handed the little girl over to Rory, it almost immediately began nibbling her fingers and tugging on her sleeve.

"A girl." Rory smiled, stroking the puppy's soft white fur. The puppy gazed around the large room with bright, expressive dark eyes, but never once moved from its comfortable position in Rory's arms.

"This one seems to like you a lot," Eva observed. "She couldn't get away from me fast enough. If she's the one you want, I'll write up the paperwork and you can take her home today. She's had her first puppy shots but will need more, so I'll send her vaccine schedule with you. We offer free vet care here for the first year, or you can go to Happy Tail's Animal Hospital. They're also very good."

"I'll take her," Rory said, knowing that Matt wouldn't care what puppy she brought home. She nuzzled the puppy against her cheek. "I have the perfect name in mind."

* * *
Allie approached the run-down cabin on the edge of town. She knew that Bo was busy in town today, so it gave her the perfect chance to check out his house. She was convinced that Bo was involved with Cat's plans. Cat respected the old man far more than most of the other people in town, and there was no way his piece of garbage house would be allowed in this subdivision without a powerful person vouching for him.

The chain-link fence was surrounded by barbed wire. She crossed her fingers that one of his moron sons had left the gate unlocked. They were both working at the gas station today, so they wouldn't be back for a while. She just had to make sure she finished up before Bo got home. She walked up to the gate and heaved a sigh of relief—the paddle lock lay on the ground by the fence.

As she went to open the gate, a huge black dog charged her, white teeth snapping at her through the holes in the fence. Backing away, she looked around for a distraction. Nothing stood out. This was going to be a lot harder than she'd expected. She had never seen the dog before, so perhaps it was new, or maybe it was usually not loose in his yard. The dog tracked every step she took, licking its lips.
Allie realized she couldn't do this without help. Her fingers quickly located Jesse's phone number. She was shocked when it sent her to voicemail. That wasn't like Jesse at all. She decided that her next best option was Josh Kramer. Surprisingly, it took very little convincing, as he had the day off and was extremely bored.

She cautiously watched the dog as it ran the fence line, looking for a way to get to her. It felt like hours before she heard the backfire of Josh's red pickup rumbling down the private road. The truck stopped, and a man dressed in an unwashed wife-beater and faded blue jeans climbed out.

"Thank you so much for coming!" Allie exclaimed, moving to hug him before the black dog once again lunged at her movement. "If you do me a huge favor, I'll buy you pizza tonight."

"What's going on? Why are you all the way on Gibb's property?" Josh questioned, running a hand nervously through his greasy brown hair. He had a bad feeling he knew what Allie wanted. Bo's dog was clearly set on making a snack out of her.

"It's a long story, but I need to get my jacket out of Bo's house," Allie lied, not wanting her friend to risk trouble by helping her. What he didn't know wouldn't hurt him...unless the dog figured out its escape route. "He said I could stop by, but I think he forgot and left his dog out. Fido here isn't exactly happy to see me."

"So what do I need to do?" Josh asked. Allie had never done something to intentionally get him into trouble, so he had no reason to doubt her now.

"I need you to run the fence line and keep Cujo's attention," Allie said casually, not taking her eyes off the angry dog.
Josh eyed Bo's snarling dog uneasily. He couldn't remember if this was the dog called Ripper or not. The Gibbs' had owned a lot of dogs over the years, especially Rottweilers and Dobermans. Judging by how the chain-link fence was shaking as the dog lunged at it repeatedly, the odds of his name being Ripper were very high.

"Um, sure Allie, whatever helps." Josh gulped, hoping that the fence wouldn't break. He whistled and then ran off in the opposite direction. Bo's dog barked and sprang after him, jumping and trying to bite the fence. "Holy shit! Allie, you better hurry up!" Josh shouted.
Allie flung open the gate and bolted toward the house, nearly tripping over a rusted tire rim on the crumbling brick walkway. She prayed that the house was unlocked. She reached the porch, pausing only a minute to catch her breath before she turned the doorknob. It was locked.

"Damn it!" Allie cursed and looked around desperately. She saw a rickety lawn chair with a filthy rug beneath it. Lifting a corner of the rug, she didn't see a spare key.

There was an old, rusted mailbox nailed to the house that looked like it was from the 1930s or something. Daring to peek inside, she raised the lid. Nothing but cobwebs and...spiders!

"Eww!" Allie shrieked and jumped back. Still no key. Where the hell could it be? She knew for a fact that Cole was always losing his house key, so they kept a spare somewhere on the porch.

She glanced at the fence where Josh was running laps. The hot, late July sun beat down mercilessly. Sweat dripped off his body and soaked through his shirt. He took a water bottle out of a pocket on his cargo jeans and poured it over his head. The dog continued to chase him, back and forth across the fence line. It showed no sign of letting up.

Allie turned around and saw a clay pot with a cactus inside sitting on a card table beside the lawn chair. Allie picked up the clay pot, but there was nothing under it. She stuck her hand into the moist potting mix, careful not to stab herself on the prickly cactus. Her fingers brushed against something metal, and she pulled out...the key!

"Yes!" Allie cheered and shoved the key into the lock. The door creaked open, and she stepped inside.

She felt along the wall, but couldn't find the light switch. Pulling out her cell phone, she flipped on the flashlight, slowly shining it around the room. Dark curtains hung on the windows, and wooden furniture circled an ancient wood stove. The pine plank flooring was in surprisingly good condition, considering the outside of the house. On the right, she spotted a dusty bookcase filled with leather-bound books and spider webs.

Allie crept over to the bookshelf for a closer look. She saw familiar titles like Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm, The Hobbit, Of Mice and Men, and Gone with the Wind. However, many more were unrecognizable. The writing on the spines seemed to be symbols from another language.

Photographs lined the walls. Several pictures had the year written almost illegibly in the corner. A photo dated 1915 showed three men, one of whom looked exactly like Bo Gibbs. The man in the middle could have been his twin, other than the obvious scar on his face. The third man stared into the camera with a bone-chilling grin.

She noticed Bo's look-alike was in every picture. Maybe he was Bo's grandfather, and the other man was Bo's great-uncle. After 1930, the pictures just seemed to stop. Not a single picture of Bo's sons, nor his late wife, were anywhere to be seen. Allie snapped a couple of photos with her smartphone to compare to old newspaper articles later. Maybe knowing more about his grandfather would explain how Bo knew Cat.

A crash came from a nearby room. Allie jumped and dropped her phone. She watched helplessly as it skittered under Bo's couch. She crouched down and could faintly see the phone's flashlight glowing against the wood flooring. Before she grabbed it, something else caught her eye. She reached for her phone and pointed it at the object...another book.

Allie pulled the book out and studied it. The cover appeared to be some kind of leather or animal skin. As she skimmed through the pages, she noticed they were made of a material she hadn't seen before. The paper was thick and unbending.
Symbols covered the pages along with the occasional picture. Allie had no idea why there were drawings of a forest on nearly every page. Some of the drawings depicted a shadowy figure standing in a clearing with an older man. Their position was never the same in any two drawings. Whether or not that meant anything was unclear. After a moment of internal hesitation, she slipped the book into her purse. If it was under the couch covered in dust, what was the chance Bo would miss it?

Allie hurried down the hallway. After glancing into the kitchen to find a raccoon scavenging through their dishes, and looking into the two bedrooms that obviously belonged to Bo's sons, she opened the final door, hoping she was correct in assuming it was the master bedroom. She knew she was running out of time, but with the dog outside, she also knew she would only get one chance at this.

Bo's bedroom was very tidy. The bed was crafted from old pine logs and covered with a hand-sewn bed set. It also seemed to be the only room with carpet in the entire house. A large, expensive-looking rug with an elaborate pattern covered the middle of the room.
A desk with a lamp and mountains of paper sat against the back wall, beside a set of beautiful glass doors that led onto a small deck. The rest of the walls contained old paintings and framed letters written in the same language she saw on the books in the living room. Allie wondered if Bo was actually a spy in the war, and this was his secret code language. She glanced over the papers on his desk. Most were bills, business accounting books, and tax information. She opened one of the drawers and realized she had hit the jackpot...it was filled with tons of pictures.

There were current pictures of him at a fancy dinner with Bane Morningstar, Bo at the grand opening of his gas station, and his baby boys. However, Allie's breath caught in her chest as she got to the older pictures. There was a blurry picture of Bo's grandfather standing next to a man in formal 1930s wear. The man was identical to Bane and had his arm wrapped around a woman who looked like a frail and malnourished version of Cat. There must have been a problem with the exposure because their eyes were completely black.
The sound of the front door opening pulled her from her thoughts. Voices rang out, and two sets of footsteps echoed through the house. There was no mistaking that Bo's sons were home.

Allie quickly shoved all of the pictures back into the drawer and bolted out the glass door, praying that the black dog from earlier was busy greeting its owners. She sprinted to the fence, thanking her lucky stars as she threw the gate open and closed it behind her. She took note that Josh was already gone. He must have seen them coming and took off. Her text tone alerted her to a new message.

Josh 5:15: I hope you got what you needed. Cole and Kaine got home and caught me. I told them I was looking for my cat and they bought it!

Allie stuffed her phone into the pocket of her Bermuda shorts and ran home, trying to sort out the information she'd just learned. The faces that smiled in the photos upon Bo's wall resembled people she had known nearly all her life. But the dates flashed through her mind like a complicated math problem. Something didn't add up.