“You’re here because of the dog?” Joe asked.

  “I am, and now Rebecca,” Delta shared, “but I guess, for you guys, that doesn’t make any sense, does it?”

  “Doesn’t matter whether it does or not,” Joe stated amicably. “We can appreciate an animal lover, particularly when we know how much Rebecca loved that dog.”

  “She didn’t say anything to me about the dog being missing, but she did look really sad,” Mike noted thoughtfully.

  “You shared earlier that she looked a little bit more …” Delta hesitated. “Something about being more upset, more unnerved, something of that nature.”

  “Yeah.”

  Joe looked over at Mike and added, “I haven’t seen her in a few weeks, so I can’t really comment on that, but I do know she loved that dog. Every now and then she would mention how she was trying to get approval to keep her. But Gracie was like a company dog or something. Of course they had millions of dogs going through that place, so I can’t imagine why they would allow Rebecca to keep one versus any other, but she told me that this one was special.”

  Delta smiled and nodded. Anybody who wasn’t a dog lover wouldn’t understand how different their personalities were and how one could be special to somebody versus another one. However, if you were an animal lover, you got it right off the bat.

  Mike immediately shared, “She would have done anything for that dog, but I can’t see that it has anything to do with this,” He motioned at the video in front of them.

  “No, I hear what you’re saying there,” Delta agreed, “but you do recognize that both Rebecca and the dog came from the company, so that can’t be a coincidence. I have to follow up regardless.”

  “Are you skilled enough to do that follow-up?” Mike asked. “I’m not trying to insult you, man, but you’ve got a bum leg.”

  “Yep, and I got that bum leg doing what I do best.”

  Chapter 3

  Rebecca gently scratched Gracie once again. Rebecca couldn’t imagine being held like this without having her constant companion and best friend with her. However, her captor also wouldn’t hesitate to hurt Gracie if deemed necessary to make Rebecca cooperate, and she was such a marshmallow for pets that she absolutely would comply.

  She understood that was a weakness as far as most of the world was concerned, but she was an animal lover through and through, and that just meant she could never do anything to hurt Gracie. The reality that other people could just blew her away. Where was the humanity? How could people even do something like that when Gracie was such a sweet girl?

  But sitting here whining about it wouldn’t change her circumstances, and, boy, did Rebecca need something to change. She was coming to in the darkness of her first night of captivity, awake this time, and she wasn’t looking forward to it. When she heard a door bang, she stiffened. Immediately Gracie’s head popped up, and she growled.

  “It’s okay, sweetheart,” Rebecca murmured. “We can’t have you attacking them, as much as I’d might like you to. We need a little more information first.” She patted her. “No point in dealing with one guy only to go downstairs to find ten others with guns.”

  Then she considered Gracie in that light. She was military trained and had done a hell of a job on her missions, but she had also been badly injured, and that was an ongoing concern. Rebecca didn’t want Gracie to do anything that would end up ruining her mobility.

  She gave Gracie a reassuring hug and kiss. “We’re okay. We’re fine. Just stay put.”

  When her door banged open a few minutes later, she jolted and once again wondered how this guy could move so quietly that she didn’t hear him approach before the door opened. A bag of fast food was dropped in front of her.

  She smiled. “Thank you.”

  He just looked at her, shook his head, and turned to leave.

  “Gracie needs more food too.”

  His footsteps stilled.

  “And,” she pushed home the advantage that he might be listening to her, “she needs to go out again.”

  She heard him mumbling, but it was true. A dog needed to go to the bathroom more than just once a day. She didn’t think they could use puppy pads or anything like that for a full-grown dog, particularly not one Gracie’s size.

  But what did they expect? They had her locked up. It wasn’t exactly something they could expect her to hold in all day long. Within a few minutes he was back with a bag of dog food.

  He flung it off to the side and said, “You can dish it out as she needs it.”

  “That’s a good idea,” she replied warmly. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t starve.”

  He rolled his eyes at that, and she frowned, wondering what end he could be anticipating for them if he was already so sour and cranky. Not knowing what else she could do, she added, “If you don’t mind, she would probably be good to go out now before we sleep.”

  “Eat your dinner,” he barked, as he shut the door.

  Not sure how long he would give her, she quickly ate. It wasn’t a whole lot of food, but it was enough to keep her alive, particularly when she didn’t have any appetite to begin with. When he came back a few minutes later, Gracie had also finished eating.

  He looked at them and nodded. “You can go out now.” And, with that, he led her downstairs and out to the same back garden area.

  She tried to glance around to see where she was, but it was too dark. Then it dawned on her. Of course it was dark. That’s how he was arranging these outings and why he’d made them wait. On the other hand, it was kind of a who cares thing, since she couldn’t escape with him around anyway. Yet he had no weapon, not as far as she could tell. Was she being foolish by not trying to escape? That was the one thing that worried her. Was she supposed to try? Is that what they wanted, so they could shoot her or something, or was it something completely different? She also didn’t understand why they were holding Gracie.

  She asked him quietly, “Have you ever spent time with K9 dogs like Gracie?”

  “Don’t like dogs.”

  She just nodded and didn’t say anything. Of course he didn’t like dogs. Liking a pet would be way-too-much niceness in his heart. Whatever. She wouldn’t waste time considering his loss.

  As she walked Gracie around, he turned and snapped at her, “Come on. Hurry up.”

  “I can hurry up,” she said, “but Gracie needs to find the right smell in order to release her bladder and bowels.”

  “Well, she needs to find that right smell sooner.” He glared. “It’s not as if I can stand out here the whole time.”

  She looked around at the small fenced-in corner and asked, “Does it matter if we’re out here for a few minutes? It’s not as if I could leave, and then you wouldn’t have to wait on us.”

  He stared at her, glanced around, and shrugged. “If my boss found out, I would be in trouble.”

  “It’s not as if I would tell him,” she replied, with a note of humor, “and Gracie is in no position to tattle.”

  He studied her for a moment and then shrugged. “Doesn’t matter if she could or not. They sure as hell won’t listen to her or to you.”

  “So just leave us out here and go do your thing, and, when Gracie is done, I’ll let you know.” Then she added, “I don’t have any way to contact you. So you can just come back and check on us, I guess?” she asked hesitantly.

  He shook his head and shrugged. “Maybe,” he muttered. “I do have other shit to do.”

  “I appreciate your looking after us,” she said.

  He rolled his eyes. “Being nice to your guard doesn’t get you any brownie points.”

  She nodded, yet still smiled. “But it doesn’t hurt to be human either.”

  “Your loss. Nobody’ll be nice to you in this deal.”

  She winced and nodded. “You could be right, but I still can’t change who I am.”

  He snorted at that. “Whatever.” Then he went back inside, leaving her and Gracie outside.

  Happily the two of them wandered in the fresh air amid the small space, loving the few moments of freedom while they had it. Who knew how long before he came back, yelling and looking for them again. After Gracie was done with her business, the two of them lay down and stretched out in the grass. Rebecca took several deep breaths, enjoying the fresh air before she lost her access to it. Then she heard someone and realized it was Benjamin again. She sat up and smiled at him. “How are you holding up?” she asked gently.

  He crouched beside her and shrugged. “I’m doing fine.” He looked around the fenced-in area. “It looks like you’re doing okay too.”

  “I’m … holding up. It’s all just very strange.”

  “Yeah, very strange.” He nodded. “On the other hand, we’re alive, and we’re doing okay.”

  She smiled at his positive response. “I won’t argue with that. It does feel a little on the strange side though.”

  “Oh? What does?” he asked.

  “Just everything. There’s no rhyme or reason to it.”

  “Oh, there’ll be a rhyme or reason,” he muttered. “We just don’t know it yet. We aren’t in on the secrets of it.”

  “Possibly,” she agreed. “Still, it would be lovely if we had a way to communicate with each other and not just here. I presume you got dinner.”

  “I did,” he replied, with a half laugh. “And you?”

  “Yes,” she murmured. “I did. Now we’re just trying to enjoy some fresh air. Do they let you out here very often?”

  “No, they really don’t. In fact, this is the first time I’ve been out here,” he shared, looking at her. “I figured it was because of you.”

  She shrugged. “Well, if it is, you’re welcome.” He laughed and nodded. Just then their captor returned. She looked over at him and asked, “Which one first?”

  He glared at her. “Don’t be so damned friendly.”

  She shrugged. “I can’t stop you from doing whatever it is you’re doing,” she murmured. “So, no harm, no foul.”

  He pointed over at Benjamin. “Him first.”

  She nodded and waved goodbye to Benjamin and called out, “Have a good night.”

  “You too.” He got up and walked amiably back toward the door. She wasn’t sure if he was even checking out the surroundings, but she certainly was. Could the two of them overpower her captor? Supposedly he did have a handgun. She may not have seen it, but Benjamin had, so she had to consider that deterrent, but still, there were two of them. And honestly, she would cheerfully take a bullet, if it meant getting out of this place. However, she had to stay healthy enough to care for Gracie, even to carry her out of here if needed.

  Surely, between the two of them, they could go over the fence. But, just like that, the opportunity was gone, and Benjamin was inside. Her captor returned a few minutes later—a very quick few minutes—so she wasn’t sure where he had dropped off Benjamin.

  Her captor motioned for her to get up.

  She got up, walked over to him, and asked, “Bedtime?”

  “Yeah,” he muttered. “Bedtime.” He led her up to her room and locked her in very quickly.

  As she turned around to speak to him, the door slammed in her face, and she winced. “Okay, so I don’t have any more questions,” she muttered.

  She gave Gracie a big hug and whispered, “We’ll be fine, girl. We’ll be just fine.”

  With a small woof Gracie snuggled against her, and the two settled into an uneasy sleep.

  Showered, changed, and now crashed on the bed—his stump airing out, after being irritated from the joint all day—Delta stretched out with his laptop and quickly called Kat. He brought her and Badger up-to-date on the news, hearing a whistle at the oddness of the situation.

  “Really? I wasn’t expecting that,” Kat noted.

  “No, I wasn’t either,” Badger replied. “And yet it’s an odd coincidence. You know how I feel about coincidences.”

  “Yeah, the same way we all feel about them,” Delta said. “Anybody in espionage or investigative work knows that coincidences really aren’t a thing.”

  Badger asked, “But the dog went missing? How long ago?”

  “I need to check the file to confirm the date,” Delta replied. “On top of that, now Rebecca’s gone missing too. I spent some hours with Deputy Halvorson today, chasing down leads, then found a neighbor’s security video which I have just sent you,” he noted, as he hit the Send button. “It seems she had been picked up and carried outside in a sleeping bag, then tossed into the back of a Toyota. I’m wondering if you guys can get a close-up on the model of the Toyota, and preferably a license plate, so we could figure out who owns it and where it’s gone from there. Do you have access to city cameras? I would really like to track down that vehicle ASAP.”

  “Hang on,” Badger said. “I can do that. Just give me a few minutes to get it set up.”

  “The other thing,” Delta added, his tone brisk, “any chance these War Dogs are chipped?”

  “Most of them are chipped,” Badger shared, “but just for ID purposes, not location-wise.”

  “So, they don’t have trackers on them?”

  “No, but they’re chipped, so, if they go to a vet or a shelter, they pop up,” he explained. “That’s how we find out about War Dogs that get moved or end up in different situations.”

  “Right. So, it’s not something we can use to see where Gracie may have ended up.”

  “No, that’s not how it works.”

  “Damn,” he muttered, frowning, “So, I know it’s an odd question, but, if Gracie has got some kind of chip, is there any way to reverse engineer something in that chip to maybe get some communication going with her?”

  Badger was hesitant when he asked, “Communication? What do you mean by that?”

  “Yes, what do you mean by that?” Kat asked curiously. “I really like the idea.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t know that it’s possible. It would depend on the software and the chip. It could possibly work if it was a tracker.”

  “But it’s not a tracker,” Badger stated. “It’s more of a RFID chip… You get them from a vet. It’s got where she’s from, her number, the owner, that sort of thing.”

  “Right. But the war department and maybe this place where Rebecca works were doing very convoluted surgeries on these animals now, weren’t they?”

  “Yes,” Kat agreed, “the military sure are.” Then her voice rose with excitement. “And now that you mention it, they’re also using a different kind of chip. They’re testing out software that will allow them to check blood pressure, pulse rates, and things like that on the War Dogs while they sleep, so the military gets better health-related data into the computer database.”

  “Then the question is, does Gracie have any of that advanced software? Did she ever have surgery with this local company that we know of? Did they ever use her as a test subject for something like that?”

  “I don’t know,” Kat admitted, “but that is one hell of a good point. I can’t very well contact her employer and ask them, so we’ll go around them. I’ll get on that and research that company and see what we can come up with. We also have a few contacts of people who work in this particular high-tech field with specific applications for animals. We might tap that resource to see if they’ve got any kind of software that is more advanced.”

  “What I would really like to do, if we have compatible software in Gracie, is to ping a communication signal through that chip.”

  Kat started to laugh, softly at first and then louder. “Oh, I do like that. It’s late, but these techies work all hours. So I’ll see if I can get some answers tonight, and then I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  Before Kat took off, Delta had a horrid thought. “Uh-oh.”

  Both Kat and Badger simultaneously asked, “What is it?”

  “I’m getting a scary thought, what with this massive technology-based company squatting in this tiny little backwoods town,” Delta began.

  “Uh-oh,” Badger echoed.

  “Exactly,” Delta agreed. “Is this company creating Frankenstein monsters out of these retired War Dogs in the lab or in the surgical suite? Or is it stealing intellectual property or patented ideas from its vendors or owners or just selling off these devices or what? This could be far-reaching too. So don’t think Silicon Valley, but instead think China.”

  “Oh my God,” Kat gasped. “Okay, I’ll check out my American business contacts, along with some military ones I know too, while you guys do your worldwide secret agent stuff.” And, with that, she was gone.

  Badger and Delta shared ideas and suggestions, and each knew who would take responsibility for tackling these various items. It was all conjecture at this point, but it rang true in Delta’s gut. Badger agreed. Then he went silent, staying on the line for a few more minutes, and Delta knew right away what to expect.

  “How are you holding up?” Badger asked.

  “Outside of the damn stump swelling up on me and the ankle joint in the prosthetic giving out at the most inopportune times,” he muttered, glaring down at the leg in question, “I’m doing fine.”

  “That’s because what you really want is your ankle back, and we can’t give that to you, not 100 percent anyway,” he shared, his tone matter of fact. “Now my wife is fixing your problem, so the next iteration should be better. Still, what you must learn to do is make peace with it. As soon as you do that, you will find out the kinks ease up.”

  “And how is that?” he asked curiously. “Is that what happened to you?”

  “Yep, it sure is. We come into these situations with the same expectations that we put on our body, and these injured limbs can’t always keep up. But the minute we ease up and relax, we can do a whole lot more because we’re not putting the injury under constant pressure. Instead we allow the muscles and nerves to heal in a very different way.”

  “I like the sound of that, but I’m not convinced it’s just more of that mumbo-jumbo bullshit.”

  Badger started to laugh. “As if I would do that.”