The Protectors

Troy walked down a dark street and heard a man shouting. He streaked toward the sound and saw three me beating a man in a commuter train station parking lot. He ran toward them, changed to wolf form. He attacked one of the muggers and killed him instantly, then went after another. The third ran away and, after killing the second mugger, Troy chased the one trying to escape.

A police siren wailed, and the lights atop the squad car swirled. It stopped and two policemen got out and fired at Troy, but missed. The intended victim stood and shouted, “No! Don’t shoot! It saved me.”

The policemen looked at each other quizzically and holstered their weapons.

•   •   •   •   •

Watch Commander Alan Sloan, heavy set with a partially bald head, looked at two police officers.

“This is quite a report. You say a big dog or wolf attacked three men who were mugging someone. It killed two and was chasing a third when you shot at it.”

“That’s correct, sir,” one of the officers said.

“But the victim yelled at you to stop because the dog, or wolf, or whatever, had saved him.”

The other policeman nodded. “That’s right. We both saw it.”

“This isn’t the first time, but we’ve never had officers at the scene. Odd, but it seems to only kill bad guys. I’ll see what the Commissioner wants to do.”

He dismissed the officers and called Police Commissioner Ken Thatcher, husky with a dark complexion and thick brown eyebrows.

“We’ve got another one of those canine-kills-criminal occurrences.”

“When?”

“Last night. Three guys were beating a man when the animal showed up.”

“Yeah. Well, this has got to stop. But we can’t start shooting dogs and wolves willy-nilly all over the place.”

Thatcher paused and drummed his fingers. “There is something we could try.”

“What’s that?”

“We set up decoy incidents, stage muggings or rapes. If the animal shows, we hit it with a tranquilizer and have it examined.”

“Maybe. But I wonder if we should. It’s not hurting anyone but criminals. Why don’t we just leave it alone?”

“What! Forget it! I’m surprised you’d say that. I don’t care if it kills criminals. It kills people. Period! And I won’t have it. Understood?”

“Understood. But I don’t get your outburst.” “Well, you hit a nerve. You’re a sworn peace officer, dammit! How can you justify what you said? Don’t suggest that again. Clear?”

“Crystal.”