I didn’t stop to look at the monitor.

I clamped the steel handles tight against my ribs and walked straight back out into the rain.

The mud along the garden path pulled at my boots with every step.

Benji was crouched against the wire mesh of the run, his forehead pressed to the cold chain links.

“I’ve got them, sweet boy,” I said.

I dropped to my knees in the wet grass and opened the steel jaws as wide as they’d go.

The rusty blades slid around the thick shackle of the heavy padlock hanging off the iron latch.