Fluorescent lamps in Terminal D of Boryspil Airport flooded the polished floor with cold light. Passengers on the last flight from Istanbul trudged wearily through customs, their suitcases rattling on the tiles. Officer Taras Kovalenko, a man with dark eyes and a slight limp, watched as his partner, a German shepherd named Zorya, carefully sniffed the line.
Zorya, with her shiny black and red fur and sharp eyes, was the star of the customs service. In her three years of service, she had never disobeyed an order—until that night. It all started with a sudden movement.
Zorya, usually calm and methodical, suddenly jerked her head to the woman pushing the baby stroller. Her ears stood up, her body tensed, and before Taras could pull on the leash, she rushed forward. “Zorya, come to me!” shouted Taras, but the dog did not listen.
She jumped to the stroller, her front paws struck the edge, and the woman screamed and recoiled. The stroller swayed, the blue blanket slid to the floor, exposing a crying baby. And something else.
The metallic sheen under the child made Taras freeze, the woman turned pale, her eyes widened. “Weapons! Everyone on the floor!” shouted an officer nearby, and the terminal exploded in panic. Passengers ran away, phones fell, voices merged into a hum.
What began as a routine check turned into chaos, uncovering a mystery that would change the lives of many.
Taras Kovalenko did not plan a career in the customs service. A veteran of military service, he suffered a knee injury during an exercise, which put an end to his military career. With a titanium pin in his leg and a sense of being lost, he was looking for a new vocation until he found it at the Boryspil Airport Border and Customs Department.
His partner, Zorya, was also not one to be chosen at first sight. Found abandoned on the side of the road near Kyiv, she was skinny, with a wary look. Other cynologists avoided her, but Taras saw a spark in her. “She has a flair,” he said to his superior, officer Shevchenko, when he asked to take Zorya. Three years of their joint work proved him right.
Zorya did not just find contraband, she felt a lie…
