A tracking dog attacked a 16-year-old student and began barking furiously: when the police took the girl’s fingerprints, they uncovered something horrifying.
At High School No. 17 in the city, it was decided to hold an “open lesson” on safety. In the auditorium, senior students, teachers, and parents gathered. A police officer from the canine unit had been invited, along with his service dog—a German Shepherd named Ted.
The officer, in uniform, strode confidently onto the stage with Ted at his side. The dog appeared calm, almost a little lazy—walking slowly beside his handler, though his eyes scanned the room without pause. The students exchanged curious glances and whispered to one another.
“This isn’t just a dog,” the officer said with a smile. “He’s my partner. And he never makes a mistake.”
He gave a short demonstration: Ted found a fake weapon hidden in a backpack and even lay down beside a student who had a special marker in his pocket. The children applauded.
But then, everything changed.
Just as the officer was about to wrap up the presentation, Ted suddenly became alert. His ears shot up, the fur on his neck bristled. He froze, staring at the crowd of students. And then… he lunged forward with a growl.
“Ted! Stop!” the handler shouted, but the dog didn’t listen.
The German Shepherd charged, barking loudly, toward a girl sitting in the third row. She was a quiet, reserved student named May—usually she sat at the back of the class.
That day she had chosen to sit with her friends, clutching a notebook to her chest. At first glance, she seemed like a shy, ordinary teenager.
But Ted was completely fixated on her. He growled, bared his teeth, and leapt at her, knocking her to the ground. The girl screamed, her notebook flew into the air, and panic spread through the auditorium. Teachers rushed to pull the dog away.
“Pfou, Ted! Down!” the officer yelled, gripping the collar and barely managing to restrain the German Shepherd. Still, the dog would not take his eyes off May.
The officer was stunned.
“He never behaves like this without a reason… never.”
The student trembled, tears filling her eyes. Everyone thought the dog had simply mistaken one scent for another. But the officer insisted:
“Young lady, I’m asking you and your parents to come with me to the station. Something needs to be checked.”
Her parents protested, shouting about the “humiliation in front of the whole class.” But Ted kept growling, and no one could argue with his instincts.
At the station, the girl’s fingerprints were taken. And then—the officers froze in disbelief. The computer pulled up a match. The prints belonged to a woman already listed in the federal database of wanted criminals.
The policeman slowly turned to the trembling “schoolgirl.”
“Do you want to tell us yourself… or should I read the file?”
The girl let out a deep sigh, and suddenly her entire expression changed. The frightened teenager vanished. In her place appeared a cold, hardened woman—eyes that had clearly seen too much.
“Well… enough playing,” she said in a low, steady voice.
Her real name was Anna. She was not 16, but 30. Because of a rare genetic condition, she still looked like a teenager: short stature, childlike features, a thin voice.
Anna had been on the run for years, hiding in different cities. Her record included armed robberies, fraud, and jewel heists. Her fingerprints had been found on safes, door handles, apartments… but every time she escaped capture. Nobody could believe that an “adolescent” was behind such crimes.
She had enrolled in different schools, lived with families under the pretense of being an orphan, and constantly changed names. No one ever suspected that an adult woman was hiding among children.
“No one would have ever recognized me,” she smirked. “If it weren’t for your damned dog.”
“You see, Anna,” the officer said coldly, “people can be fooled. But my partner—never.”