we've had a rough night-"

"That's putting it lightly."

"But luckily for us, the dogs that got hurt were the only ones who were. Everyone else is safe and accounted for," he continued.

"How do you know? What if the attacker is still in town?" a scruffy looking husky-cross asked. "No one knew where it went."

"That's because it was running on the rooftops, not the streets," Sonya replied. "Balto saw it up there, and when it ran, it was running towards the edge of town, right?" she asked, and Balto nodded. He'd been only a block away from the outskirts when he jumped down and accidentally landed on Steele.

"That's right, and you can also rest easy, because everything indicates that it was only one attacker, acting alone," Balto continued. "Any rumours of a whole pack of wolves charging in have been greatly exaggerated."

"I can vouch for that too. Trust me, we've seen what a whole pack can do, and what's happening here is nowhere near as bad as that," Kaltag continued, remembering the time when he and Balto had to defend Nome from a pack of wolves after a sled team had unwittingly violated their territorial boundaries.

"I heard Balto caught someone!" a younger Chinook piped in, and the room was soon filled with excited muttering.

"Yeah Steele, what do you have to say about that?" Kaltag continued, eager to see his old boss put under the microscope.

"Hey, I was at the wrong place at the wrong time!" the larger husky replied. "I was trying to chase down the culprit like everyone else, and I would've succeeded had some dumb mutt not jumped on my head."

"I told you before, I'm sorry. It was dark, and I didn't have time to judge whether or not it was you or someone else," Balto shot back.

"But what if it is Steele?" the husky-cross piped in. "What if he's doing this to cheat!"

An uproar started to form as the thought of a former champion cheating started to spread like wildfire. Not everyone knew the full story of what happened with the serum run, or some only knew bits and pieces, and the different stories started flying around, crashing into each other on the way. Balto knew if he didn't restore order soon, things could get ugly very fast. "QUIET!" he howled, regaining their attention. "I know it looks bad, but we can't start laying blame unless someone actually saw Steele do something," he urged. "So, does anyone want to speak up, because I'm all ears." The silence that followed only proved his point further. Satisfied he'd calmed things down, he decided to continue with his speech. Kaltag on the other hand was a little disappointed – he wanted to see Steele put on trial not just for this, but for everything he'd done in the past.

"Now then, we know it's one attacker, and it probably isn't one of us," he said, making a quick glance towards Kaltag. "The chain of events during the race is also making me think that they're all related," he continued. "The first attack, the destroyed harnesses, and now this – one or two incidents can be brushed off as random, but not three. These are connected – the same wolf or whatever it is was behind all of them."

"Are you saying that something's targeting us?" the young Chinook asked. "Why?"

"I don't know," Balto sombrely admitted. "I haven't heard of anything like this before. The pattern suggests it's a lone wolf, acting without a pack, but to do this would require them to follow us for a hundred miles each day just to make a quick strike. While wolves are certainly capable of running that distance, it's very unusual for them to do so. Even lone wolves prefer to stay within a home range because that's where their food is; they'd only leave if they needed more prey to hunt."

"How could one wolf do all this, without anyone noticing until it's too late?" Jake asked.

"Well, they'd have to be strong, fast and smart, all of which are qualities you'd need if you had to survive alone," Balto replied. "This wolf is certainly able to take down sled dogs quickly and easily - which I've seen before - and it's certainly clever enough to know how to move quietly and even get onto rooftops."

"So you're absolutely sure it's a wolf, then?" the older dog queried.

"It's the best explanation I've got. I couldn't see much either, but what I saw was definitely a large canine. If anyone has a better idea, I'm open," the room was silent, meaning that for now the wolf theory was going to stay. "Look, I know we're all rattled, but we're going to need our sleep to continue the race," he urged. All present agreed, and started to mill out one by one. As if reading each other's minds, Kaltag and Balto both stayed behind, waiting until everyone else was out of earshot.

"I know you have your doubts, and I'll admit I have mine too," Balto started. "But inciting a riot is not the best way to deal with this."

"Well how else do you think we should deal with it?" Kaltag shot back. "So far all you've done is dance around when everything's pointing towards Steele. I mean, he's always missing when the attacks happen, and something like this is right up his alley. Don't you remember what he did to us on the serum run?"

"I do, but that doesn't mean I'm going to just look the other way while you try to satisfy some personal vendetta," he said.

"But this is Steele we're talking about! You said yourself that he hasn't changed much," Kaltag said, starting to pace around the room. "And then - and then there was everything he said about us yesterday. He said we were nothing because of how we lost last year."

"Kal, you can't let a little trash talk from him rattle your nerves-"

"Easy for you to say - you weren't the one with everyone's hopes on your shoulders," he retorted. By now his breathing was rapid, and Balto could tell that there was much more behind this than just the attacks.

"No, but what happened last year has nothing to do with what's going on today. I'm not disputing that it could be Steele, but we can't do anything until we have proof," Balto said. "We shouldn't act rashly before we know for sure."

"Really? What will it take for you to be sure?"

"The only sure way is to either have more than one dog see him doing something fishy, or to catch him in the act ourselves," Balto explained, maintaining his calm.

"But at what cost?" Kaltag countered. "How many more dogs will have to suffer before we finally do catch him? You've seen how sneaky the attacks have been. Even if we wanted to catch him, he could go through a dozen teams before we finally do. We can stop a repeat of the serum run, here and now."

"I understand you want to protect everyone else, because that's what I want too-"

"Then why don't we just do it? We grab Steele, and hammer what he knows out of him."

"Are you listening to yourself? If we did that, we'd be no better than common thugs!"

"The moral high ground isn't going to win this against Steele - it never did!"

"But what if you're wrong?" he countered, catching Kaltag off guard. "What if we do what you say, take Steele down, but it turns out it isn't him? What then? The attacker would still be out there, and it'd still be able to hurt other dogs." That rendered Kaltag speechless, and Balto knew that now he was finally getting through to him. Now he could try a much gentler approach to win him back over. "Kal, c'mon, it's me; your best friend. Do you trust me?" he asked, his voice soft, but easy to understand in the silence.

"I do… but I don't want anyone else to get hurt," Kaltag replied, his voice low while he looked down at the ground. "I don't want what happened to us to be repeated. I don't want any other dogs to suffer because of some sleazy, cheating, low-life scumbag."

"I don't either, but laying blame won't solve it," Balto continued. "It never has, and I know because I've been on the receiving end of it. Don't you remember what Steele used to do to me? He always blamed me for every little trouble in Nome, and that left me so bitter and frustrated I almost lost it. Doing the same to him could actually make him more dangerous than he already is. I know you want closure, but persecuting him could just end up repeating another mistake from the past instead of avoiding it."

There was a pause, as Kaltag screwed up his face as he thought it over. It looked like he might finally turn, but his muzzle soon curled into a frown, as he glared at Balto. "Is that how you see me? Just using him as a scapegoat, like I'm no better than him!"

"No, I-"

"Save it! I thought I'd earned your trust, that'd you actually listen to me, but I guess I was wrong!" he snapped. While his voice was trying to convey mostly anger, his slight waver told Balto he was just using that to hide the pain and hurt underneath. "Maybe Steele was right - I don't matter because you're the lead now. You get what you want, no matter what… but when Steele comes after you next, don't come crying to me!" Without another word, he stormed off, leaving behind