Chapter 2 - The Button in Travis's Hand
Travis ran.
He made it six steps.
Robert's head of ranch security caught him near the gate and drove him against the rail hard enough to knock his hat into the dirt.
The crowd stopped behaving like spectators.
Phones rose everywhere.
Robert dropped the microphone.
"Open his hand."
Travis clenched his fist.
June stayed beside Titan.
"Don't scare the horse."
Robert looked at her.
She was right.
He lowered his voice.
"Take him outside the arena."
Security dragged Travis through the gate.
A small black remote fell from his hand.
Robert picked it up.
One button.
No label.
A red light at the top.
June pointed to the saddle.
"It's not the saddle. It's under it."
Robert walked to the rail.
His son Grant reached the saddle first.
Thirty-one. Ranch operations director. Robert's only child.
"Dad, stop. We have two thousand people filming this."
"Lift the pad."
Grant stared at him.
"We don't know what that remote does."
"Lift the pad."
Grant did.
Nothing obvious.
June came closer.
Robert blocked her.
"No."
"Look at the left girth strap."
Robert bent.
A black wire had been sewn inside the leather.
At the end, hidden beneath a fleece patch, were two metal contacts.
His stomach turned.
"What is this?"
Grant answered too quickly.
"A tracking sensor."
June shook her head.
"No."
Robert looked at her.
She pointed toward Titan's side.
Beneath his dark coat, just behind the girth line, two narrow red marks crossed the skin.
"Those are from this morning," June said.
Robert's ranch veterinarian, Dr. Lena Park, stepped into the arena.
She examined the contacts.
Then Titan.
Her expression changed.
"Robert. This is not a tracker."
Grant swore under his breath.
Robert heard him.
"What is it?"
Lena looked toward the cameras.
Then back at Robert.
"A low-voltage aversive device. It would deliver a shock through pressure contact."
The crowd erupted.
Robert felt heat rise into his face.
"How long has that been on my horse?"
Nobody answered.
June did.
"Long enough to make him look crazy every time somebody gets on."
Robert turned toward her.
"How do you know?"
She reached into the pocket of her jeans.
Pulled out an old photograph.
Caleb Mercer stood beside Titan when the stallion was barely two.
Young horse.
Young trainer.
No fear in either face.
On the back Caleb had written:
A horse remembers pain longer than people remember causing it.
Robert had seen the photograph before.
It had been evidence at Caleb's trial.
But the sentence on the back had never been shown in court.
June said, "My dad kept copies of everything."
"Where is he?"
Her confidence disappeared for the first time.
"Working."
"He was released?"
"Six days ago."
Robert stared.
He had not known.
June's mother came running from the food tents.
"June!"
Emily Mercer climbed through the rail, face white with panic.
She grabbed her daughter.
"What are you doing?"
June pointed at Titan.
"Mom, they were hurting him again."
Emily looked at Robert.
The fear in her face became anger.
"You people still haven't stopped?"
Robert held up the remote.
"I didn't know."
Emily laughed once.
"You said that six years ago too."
Grant stepped forward.
"This event is over. Everybody needs to clear out."
June looked at him.
"Why?"
Grant's jaw tightened.
"Because you're a child."
"No."
She pointed at the million-dollar screen.
"Because if Titan lets me ride him, everybody will know he was never the problem."
Robert looked at the stallion.
Titan stood quietly with his head near June's shoulder.
Then June said something Robert had not expected.
"I don't want to ride him yet."
"Good," Emily snapped.
June continued.
"Not until Mr. Hayes watches what happened the night my dad got arrested."
Robert frowned.
"I saw the security video."
Emily's face went cold.
"No."
"Yes, I did."
"You saw forty-three seconds."
Robert stared.
Emily reached into her catering apron and pulled out a small memory card wrapped in tape.
"The camera recorded four minutes and twelve seconds."
Grant went pale.
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