Hero

by Jennifer Li Shotz

  Jack started to walk away, but turned back to Ben.

  “I’m sorry,” Jack said. “About before.”

  “It’s okay,” Ben replied. “Me too.”

  Jack looked at Scout in Ben’s arms and gave a faint half smile. “What’s his name again?”

  “Scout,” Ben said. “Want to pet him?”

  Jack nodded and ran a hand over Scout’s soft coat. Scout sniffed at Jack’s hand. The puppy jumped up and, while Ben held him around the belly, put his front paws on Jack’s chest. Wagging his tail, Scout reached his nose forward and licked the salty tears from Jack’s cheeks.

  “He’s sweet,” Jack said with a strangled laugh.

  “Yeah, thanks,” Ben said.

  “Come on, honey,” Jack’s mom said to her son. “Let’s get you home.”

  “See you later, Scout. Bye, Ben.” Jack turned and walked out with his mom.

  Ben’s parents and sister came running through the door, their faces strained with worry. Ben fell into his mother’s arms, and his dad hugged them both.

  “He’s okay,” Ben said, his voice muffled.

  “Oh, thank goodness!” his mom cried, sniffling a little.

  “Yay, Hero!” Erin shouted.

  Woof! Scout barked from Ben’s arms inside the huddle. Everyone laughed, and Ben’s parents broke free to talk to the doctor. While Erin and Noah played with Scout, Ben looked out the front windows and saw Jack getting into his mom’s car in the parking lot. His shoulders were slumped, and his head hung low. He looked so sad and . . . something else.

  Lonely.

  It occurred to Ben that he’d never really seen Jack hanging out with any other kids—and Jack had said he had nothing else to do the other night but walk around town, alone. It was hard to move to a new place and start a new school in the middle of the semester. Maybe Jack hadn’t handled it perfectly—he’d been a little aggressive, that was for sure. But he was probably just scared. Something Ben could relate to now, better than ever before.

  It was late by the time Ben’s dad carried a groggy Hero to the truck and got him settled in the backseat. Noah’s dad had long since picked him up. Erin and Ben’s mom were falling asleep sitting up in the truck. Ben climbed into the back and, careful not to bump Hero’s bandaged leg, wrapped both arms around his dog’s neck, and buried his face in Hero’s fur.

  Hero had saved his life again. And Ben would never forget it.

  22

  THE NEXT MORNING, BEN DIDN’T THINK it would be physically possible for him to make it through an entire day of school. He had never been so tired in his entire life—and he hoped he’d never be that tired again.

  He stumbled downstairs for breakfast. His mom and Erin were already at the table.

  “Morning, Benny,” Erin said between slurps of cereal.

  “Morning, Sis.”

  “Morning, honey,” his mom said.

  “Hey, Mom.” He grabbed a bowl and dumped a mountain of cereal into it.

  “Your dad’s been at the station since before dawn. He just called. They raided the barn overnight and found all the dogs.”

  “Just the dogs?” Ben asked nervously.

  “Just the dogs, honey. All thanks to the statement you gave last night. Why?”

  “Oh, no reason.” Ben tried to look happy. He didn’t want his mom to think there was any more to the story than what he’d already told his parents. After they’d gotten Hero settled and Scout in his crate, Ben had just wanted to go to sleep. But, understandably, his parents had lots of questions. Ben hadn’t lied, exactly. He’d told his parents the truth—just not all of the truth. He’d mentioned that there were a bunch of guys there, and he’d given them a description of Mitch. But he’d held back the fact that he and Mitch had interacted as much as they had. He didn’t tell them that he’d met Mitch before . . . or that Mitch had held a knife on him.

  He hadn’t wanted to freak out his parents any further. But now Ben was realizing that he’d been counting on the fact that Mitch would get caught when the cops went to bust up the dogfighting ring. Except that hadn’t happened, which meant Mitch was still out there—and he knew exactly who had sent the cops. Ben.

  Ben swallowed hard.

  “Ben?” His mom was staring at him. “You okay?”

  “Huh?” He plastered a smile on his face. “Oh yeah, of course. Just tired. That’s great news that they saved all those dogs.”

  She eyed him quizzically for a moment.

  “Yeah,” she said. “It is great news. They’re out looking for the guys behind it, but that might take some time.”

  “I’d better get to school,” Ben said, standing up suddenly.

  “Benny, you didn’t eat your breakfast!” Erin said.

  “I’m not hungry. But thanks, Sis,” Ben said. He snatched up his backpack and headed out.

  As soon as he set foot in school, though, Mitch was far from his mind. Ben and Noah were instantly swarmed by what seemed like every student there. The kids shouted out their names and high-fived them. Ben and Noah jostled their way down the hall to their lockers, but every couple of feet, someone else stopped them.

  “Dude! I heard you busted, like, seventeen seriously bad guys!”

  “No, that wasn’t wha—” Ben tried to say.

  “Noah, did you really save all those dogs all by yourself?”

  “No, I didn’t d—” he started before someone else cut him off.

  “My mom said you let a hundred dogs loose.”

  “There weren’t a hund—”

  “How did you even know where to find them?”

  “Actually, Hero, my dog—”

  “Are you like a detective or something, Noah?”

  “Landry for president!”

  “Man,” Ben said to Noah as soon as they broke free from the crowd, “if only they knew what really happened.”

  “No kidding.” Noah peered back down the hallway at the sea of students. “They’d be so disappointed.”

  “It wasn’t half as cool as they’re making it sound,” Ben said.

  “And Hero and Scout should get all the credit,” Noah replied.

  “And you,” Ben said, punching Noah on the shoulder. “You were amazing.”

  “Thanks, Ben.” Noah shrugged. “You were too.”

  “How are we going to convince everyone that we’re actually not that impressive?” Ben asked.

  “I don’t think they really care about the facts.” Noah laughed. “Their version is way more dramatic.”

  “Maybe I like their story better than the truth anyway.” Ben sighed. “I mean, it ended well, but it was kind of awful while it was happening, wasn’t it?”

  “You can say that again,” Noah said.

  “Uh, Noah, they still haven’t caught Mitch.” Ben hated even saying the words out loud.

  “Seriously?” Noah grimaced. “That’s terrible.”

  “I’m sure they’ll get him soon,” Ben said, trying to sound convincing.

  “I hope so,” Noah said. “But for now, whether we’re heroes or not, we’d better get to English.”

  Ben tried to focus in class, but he couldn’t stop replaying the events of the night before in his mind: Scout locked up and scared. The fear of not knowing where Noah was for so long. Hero putting himself in danger again and again, just to save Ben, Noah, and Scout. The anger in Mitch’s voice as he yelled for Ben, and the sound of Mitch’s footsteps coming closer. The sight of the knife, hovering in the air right in front of his face. The certainty that Mitch was about to hurt him.

  Mitch. Ben suddenly remembered that he was still out there. He had to physically shake his head to get the image of that cold, cruel man out of it.

  During his free period, Ben found a quiet bench outside and tried to distract himself with the novel he had to finish for English.

  “Hey, Ben.” Ben looked up to find Jack standing there.

  “Hey, Jack.” In the weirdness of the day, Ben had forgotten about Jack’s dog. “How’re you doin
g? I mean—never mind. That’s a dumb question.”

  “It’s okay. I’m okay. I mean, I will be. Thanks.”

  “I’m glad.”

  “I heard about the dogfighting ring,” Jack said. “I didn’t realize when I saw you last night, that you’d just been . . . you know. Dealing with that. Nice work.”

  “Thanks. Honestly, Noah, Hero, and Scout are the real heroes.”

  “Is that how Hero got hurt?” Jack asked. “Is he okay?”

  Ben pictured Hero looking so scared and out of it as they rushed him to the vet.

  “Yeah,” he said. “He’s going to be okay. He’s home now.”

  “That’s good,” Jack said. “So I heard he’s, like, some kind of Superdog or something.”

  Ben grinned. “Something like that. He’s a police dog. He’s trained for search and rescue and other, you know, police stuff.”

  “That’s really cool.” Jack looked impressed.

  “I’m trying to train Scout too,” Ben said. “Not to be a police dog, just to be a dog dog. But it’s harder than I thought it would be.”

  “If you need any help, maybe I could learn how to train too,” Jack said with a shrug. “My mom and I might get a new puppy. Well, not right away, but soon.”

  Ben knew how scared he’d felt when Hero and Scout were missing and he was afraid he might lose them. He couldn’t imagine how sad Jack felt right now.

  “That’d be great. I can use all the help I can get,” Ben said. “You could come over after school this week and I’ll show you the basics. Maybe you can help me build a better obstacle course.”

  Jack’s face brightened.

  “Sounds cool.”

  “Great,” Ben said. With a wave, Jack headed off.

  Ben stumbled through the rest of the day. As soon as sixth period was over, he headed straight home. He couldn’t wait to collapse onto the living room floor and spend the rest of the afternoon hanging out with Hero and Scout.

  23

  “ANYBODY HOME?” BEN SWUNG THE DOOR shut behind him.

  “In here,” his dad called from the kitchen.

  Ben found his parents seated at the kitchen table, worried expressions on their faces. Hero struggled to his feet and hobbled over to greet Ben. Scout ran frantic little circles around Hero, yapping at his heels as if to tell him to sit down and take it easy. Ben patted them both.

  “Sit, Hero,” Ben said. “You need to rest.” Hero seemed more than happy to drop to the floor and put his head down on his paws. “Hey, Mom. Hey, Dad. What’s up—is everything okay?”

  His dad ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “They’ve rounded up a bunch of the guys who were at the barn last night.”

  “That’s great!” Ben said. He exhaled a huge sigh of relief. “But you guys don’t look happy . . . what’s wrong?”

  “Well,” his dad went on, “they got this Mitch character’s second-in-command.”

  Ben pictured the large goon who had fallen on top of Hero. He had a few choice words for him, that was for sure.

  “But they can’t find Mitch,” his dad finished. “He’s just disappeared. And we don’t have anything to go on.”

  Ben’s stomach churned. The thought of Mitch still out there made him feel nauseous.

  “Sit down, honey,” Ben’s mom said.

  Ben sat between his parents.

  “Son,” his dad said, looking him directly in the eye, “is there anything you haven’t told us? Anything you might know that could help us find this guy?”

  No one said a word for a moment. Ben’s mom took his hand in hers. Tears in his eyes, Ben inhaled and held his breath for a few seconds. When he exhaled, he began talking. This time, he told his parents everything.

  He told them that Scout was Mitch’s dog. That Mitch had seen him with Scout at the used car lot. Mitch must have followed them to the police station and snatched Scout after the siren scared the puppy and he ran off. Ben told them about how he and Hero followed Scout to Mitch’s house—and that Mitch was the one who had taken Hero and Scout from the Landrys’ house. And finally, he confessed that Mitch had pulled a knife on him at the barn.

  Ben left nothing out. When he was done, he felt an overwhelming sense of relief—for not having to keep secrets anymore, and because he felt so much less alone. His mom gave his hand a squeeze.

  “I know you’re going to be mad at me for all this, guys,” he said. “And that’s okay—I deserve it. But right now, all I care about is catching this guy. He’s . . . awful. And it’s all my fault that he’s gone. I should have told you this sooner.”

  His dad pulled Ben in for a hug. “It’s not your fault, son. It’s his. Every time we start to close in on his dogfighting ring, he shuts things down for a while. But thanks to you and Noah, we’re closer to getting him than we’ve ever been.” He gently pulled back so he could look his son in the eye. “You put yourself—and your friend—in some serious danger, Ben,” his dad said quietly but seriously. “And we’re going to have to deal with the choices you made.”

  “I know.”

  “But first, let’s find Mitch. I’ll call this new information in to the station.”

  He stepped away and talked on his cell for a few minutes, then came back.

  “The entire department is out there looking,” his dad said. “And now they have more information to help them. That’s going to make this go a lot faster.”

  “That’s great, Dad.”

  “Go on up to do your homework, Ben,” his dad said.

  “What? No!” Ben cried out. “But I can help—I’m the only person who’s been to his house!”

  “If this Mitch guy knows what you look like—” his dad started to say. He shook his head, as if he couldn’t even finish the sentence. “I know it’s hard, Ben, but we just need to let my guys do their jobs.”

  “Come on, honey,” his mom said. “It’s been a long couple of days.”

  “I can’t just sit around and do nothing!” Ben jammed his hands into his sweatshirt pockets in frustration.

  “Ben.” His dad folded his arms across his chest and leaned back in his chair. He looked at the ceiling, like he was thinking about something very carefully. Then he reached out and put a hand on Ben’s shoulder.

  “I never said we’d do nothing,” his dad said. “But you’re not going to find him.” Ben was crushed. “We’re going out to find him. Together.” Ben’s dad looked at his wife. “Honey, I’ll send a uniformed officer to stay outside the house until I get back.”

  She didn’t look happy about it, but she nodded.

  “Keep him safe,” she said to her husband.

  “Always.”

  She turned to Ben and gave him a kiss.

  “Keep him safe,” she said, nodding in the direction of his dad.

  “I promise, Mom,” Ben said.

  “We’ll start by trying to find our way back to Mitch’s house,” Ben’s dad said to him. “Let’s go.”

  “Hey, Dad—I’m actually not the one who can get us back to Mitch’s house,” Ben said quietly.

  “Ben, what do you mean? You just asked—” His dad gave him a confused took.

  “Hero.” Ben said. “Hero’s the one who led me there the first time. We have to take him with us.” At the sound of his name, Hero got to his feet and limped over to them. He sat down next to Ben, his front legs perfectly aligned, his ears up and at attention.

  “Ben, Hero’s under doctor’s orders to rest.”

  “I know. But he’s our best hope.”

  Ben’s dad opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again. He threw his hands up in the air.

  “You’re right, son. Hero is our only chance of finding this guy. But he needs a scent item to track Mitch. Last time Hero had Scout’s scent, remember?”

  Ben’s face lit up. “Will this do?” he asked, pulling a torn scrap of denim from his sweatshirt pocket. He’d forgotten all about it until just a moment ago. It was the piece of Mitch’s jeans that Hero had ripped off when he bit
him. Ben had pulled it from Hero’s mouth when he and Noah had picked up the injured dog. Ben must have stuffed it in his pocket without realizing it.

  “Is that from Mitch?” his dad asked, astonished.

  Ben nodded.

  “Wait here,” his dad said. He ran upstairs and came back down with a black nylon dog vest, marked with K-9 UNIT in neon yellow. Ben’s dad gently placed it over Hero’s back and buckled it around his chest. Ben and his parents beamed at Hero. He looked so distinguished in his uniform—like the courageous police dog he had been for so many years. “He’s your dog now,” Ben’s dad said to Ben. “He’s under your command.”

  “Hero, let’s go,” Ben said, speaking with authority, like Officer Perillo had taught him. Hero stood at attention by Ben’s left side. Ben started walking toward the door. Hero limped along with him, but as soon as he got close to Scout, he sat down again. “Hero—let’s go,” Ben repeated. “I swear, I’ve been working with him a lot, Dad, and he’s never done this before.”

  “It’s not you,” Ben’s dad said, shaking his head in disbelief. “It’s Scout. He won’t come without him.”

  At the sound of Scout’s name, Hero barked once.

  “Hang on,” Ben’s dad said. He ran upstairs again and came back down with a smaller vest. “This was Hero’s when he first started out.” It was big on Scout as Ben’s dad strapped it onto the puppy, but it would work.

  “Hero, Scout,” Ben said, “let’s go!”

  24

  SCOUT JUMPED AROUND EXCITEDLY ON BEN’S lap while Hero rested on the backseat of Ben’s dad’s police cruiser. Ben told his dad to drive to the outskirts of town, off Highway 49, to the last spot Ben remembered from that day.

  They pulled over at a rural intersection where, just ahead of them, three narrow roads came together. Ben looked down each of the roads and willed himself to remember which way he and Hero had gone. Nothing.

  They climbed out of the car. Ben opened the back door for Hero, who got out with a little pained wince. Ben put Scout down on the ground. He looked at his dad, who nodded.