No Mercy (18 page)

she’d worked two jobs at a time, each one a busy diner, just to get by.

Dylan took her into a large conference room. A big rectangular table was at the center of the

room with padded office chairs surrounding it, slate gray industrial carpet, and a bank of monitors on

the wall. He had her sit in one of the chairs.

After she was seated, he brought out the postcards. He spread the five out on the conference

table, side-by-side, print side up.

They remained silent for a long moment as they studied the cards.

Belle broke the silence. “Why did Nate mail them on different days?” She looked at Dylan.

“Maybe we’re meant to read them in the order they’re postmarked.”

“Good idea.” He arranged them by postmarked date.

They studied the cards a little longer.

Belle gestured to her own card from Nate. “What is he trying to say when he wrote
‘I’l never

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long, but Nate would have remembered he was white.”

Dylan’s brow furrowed as he looked at her. “That’s right. After Flipper bit Nate, your stepfather

made you get rid of him.”

Belle’s expression clouded. “That was just an excuse because Flipper didn’t even hurt Nate. It

was a play bite. Harvey just never wanted me to have a dog and Mom was too wrapped up in getting

his approval for everything that she caved in to him on that.”

“Maybe that’s it.” Dylan ran his gaze over her postcard. “There are clues in the
wrong
details.”

Belle thought about it. “You could be right. Everyone said his or her card had something wrong

on it, but we didn’t talk about what that was.” She looked from the cards to Dylan. “We never had a

chance to discuss them.”

“On my card, he refers to his Army days.” Dylan looked away, like his mind was searching

through option after option. “He served in Afghanistan and received a purple heart and an honorable

discharge when he was injured. But he referred to it on the card as Iraq. He didn’t serve in Iraq. It

didn’t make sense to me why he would do that, but there’s got to be something to this.”

Belle shook her head. “What in the world was Nate up to?”

After Dylan had copied the fronts and backs of the postcards, he left the originals on Sofia’s

desk in individual evidence bags. He knew that it would take the CoS to figure out the meaning of

the cards, but his RAC wouldn’t understand that until she had a chance to look at them herself.

His cell phone rang and he pul ed it out of its holster. He didn’t recognize the number on the

screen.

He connected the call and brought the phone to his ear. “Curtis here.”

“It’s Leon.” He had a roughness to his voice that indicated a lack of sleep. “We are probably in

the crappiest motel in Sierra Vista.” A dog barked in the background. “G.I. Joe likes it here about as

much as we do.”

“The Oasis?” Dylan gave the name of what he knew was the crappiest motel in Sierra Vista.

“Yes, that’s the one. Room twelve.” Leon sounded disgusted. “We should have brought a black

light to check for bodily fluids. Or maybe it was better not to know. None of us slept. We didn’t want

to touch anything.”

“A team and I will meet you there, and we’l get you to someplace decent to stay.” Dylan looked

out the window at the chain-link fence that had been added after a bomb attack from the Jimenez

cartel over a year ago. “I’l pick up Joe and we can board him at the vet’s until this is over with.”

“Good idea,” Leon said. “Safer for him and easier for us to get around.”

Dylan arranged for DHS agents to accompany him and Belle to Sierra Vista. The drive was

longer this time as they were traveling from the Douglas area, near the Mexico border. As they drove,

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doing the same.

Belle fell asleep on the way, her head resting on the window her chest rising and falling, her

breathing slow and even. They’d been running on close to thirty hours with no sleep and he was

going to have to get them both someplace safe. He needed sleep, too, if he was going to be worth

a shit.

When they reached the motel, Dylan found a parking space near room twelve. Belle blinked,

looking disoriented for a moment before straightening in her seat. She shoved her hair out of her

face, her cheek red from having been pressed against the window.

“Lock the doors.” He gestured to the black SUV that had pul ed up beside them. “They’l stay on

watch.”

She nodded.

He left the truck running and heard the locks click as he ran to the door and knocked at the door

with the brass 12 on the door. The curtains at the window beside the door moved slightly, as if

someone was peering out. A chain rattled and then the bolt lock shot back before the door was

opened.

Leon stood in the doorway looking as haggard as Dylan felt. G.I. Joe moved to Leon’s side,

looked at Dylan, and wagged his tail. He looked warily at the two agents near the SUV.

“Agents Johnson and Ortega wil accompany you to a safe house.” He gestured to the agents.

“Let’s get you and your family out of here.”

The two sons and one daughter went first, and then his wife, Jane, followed. Dylan stopped

Leon before he climbed in. “I’l be by to go over your card with you.”

Leon nodded. “I’l see you then.”

The agents in the SUV waited for Belle to unlock the truck’s doors and for Joe to jump in. Dylan

followed and slammed the driver’s side door closed before he signaled to the agents and both

vehicles left the motel.

Dylan took circuitous routes to ensure they weren’t being followed as he made his way to a

nearby veterinary clinic they’d looked up on Belle’s phone. She called ahead and made sure the

clinic also boarded dogs.

When they arrived, Dylan made sure all was clear around them and together he and Belle took

Joe into the clinic. Thankfully the clinic was empty of furry patients and their owners when they

arrived.

After Dylan checked in with the receptionist, a male tech with a nametag that read Rod Cornwell

came out and greeted Joe as well as Dylan and Belle.

Rod crouched in front of Joe and let the dog get to know him before petting him. “Joe will have

to be examined by the vet before we can take him back with the other animals we’re boarding. But

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Dylan told Rod what he could and explained that Joe had belonged to a war veteran who had

recently passed away. They also did not know his shot records, but he did have a current rabies tag.

According to the tech, Dylan would have to stay with Joe while the veterinarian performed the

examination.

Joe was weighed on a large scale and then they were all shown to a small room before the door

was closed behind them. The room had a long examination table along with two blue plastic chairs

with wisps of white cat hair clinging to the backs and seat.

Belle sat but Dylan remained standing as they waited. The tech returned and used an anal

thermometer to check Joe’s temperature. The well-trained German shepherd did not move as the

tech performed his duty.

When the vet came into the room, she introduced herself as Dr. Nicholson. The vet’s focus went

immediately to Joe and she greeted him. “Such a beautiful boy.”

Joe jumped onto the table when instructed to, and the vet started her examination.

Halfway through, she hesitated. She frowned and went over a spot on Joe’s thigh with her

fingers. She parted the hair at the location she was touching.

She looked at Dylan. “A small rectangular object, about an inch long, has been inserted beneath

Joe’s skin.”

Dylan’s heart picked up a beat and he walked up to the vet and Joe.

She showed him the part in the hair where there was a small scar that had not yet healed. She

met Dylan’s gaze. “The incision is recent and you can see there’s something beneath it.”

“I need that X-rayed, Dr. Nicholson.” Dylan studied the location and saw the slight bulge beneath

the skin. “I need to know what it is as soon as possible.”

She tilted her head. “Can you explain what is going on?”

Dylan hadn’t planned on showing his credentials, just needing to get Joe examined and boarded.

But things had changed.

He pulled out his creds and showed them to the vet. “I’m Special Agent Dylan Curtis with DHS,

and this dog just became part of an investigation.”

Dr. Nicholson didn’t press him. “We’l take care of it right away.”

“I can’t let Joe out of my sight.” His jaw tightened. “I need to see for myself.” The vet hesitated

and looked at Belle. “She stays with me.” Dylan added, “And everything wil have to be performed

by you and Rod. No one else is to be involved.”

The vet clearly grasped the gravity of the situation. “Right this way.” Joe went with the vet and

the tech through a door in the back of the room, Dylan and Belle following.

Belle looked a little more alert now. “What was that all about?” She spoke in a low whisper. “Do

you think there’s some kind of information inside whatever was inserted beneath the skin on Joe’s

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“It’s a possibility.” Dylan didn’t elaborate as they came to a stop in front of an X-ray machine.

The machine was large enough to get a full side view of Joe. Rod was thorough, making sure

all angles were covered.

It didn’t take long for the X-rays to be developed and the vet took them into a private room to

examine them. She clipped the X-rays to a light board.

“There are two foreign objects, one of which is his microchip.” She pointed to a tiny rectangular

chip. “It appears to be perfectly normal with his registration number on it.”

She then gestured to a square that looked to be an inch in width and length. “I’m not sure what

that is.”

Dylan’s blood seemed to flow faster through his veins. He looked from the X-rays to the vet. “I

need that removed now.”

Dr. Nicholson frowned. “I have a surgery to perform in fifteen minutes, Agent Curtis.”

“This is important.” Dylan eyed the vet squarely. “It’s a matter of national security.” He didn’t

know if it was, but he had to know what that implant was.

Dr. Nicholson studied Dylan, as if determining if he was being honest. She gave a slight nod to

the tech. “Go ahead and prep him.” The vet looked back to Dylan. “If you’l just take a seat in the

waiting room—”

Dylan shook his head. “As I told you before, Joe doesn’t leave my sight.”

“Very well.” She inclined her head toward a door down the hal . “We wil perform the surgery to

remove the implant now.”

Within fifteen minutes, everything was prepared. The German shepherd lay quietly on the

surgery table. He was a highly trained animal that did as he was instructed and didn’t move. Belle

stood beside Dylan as they watched.

After a small area around the scar was shaved, Dr. Nicholson applied a local anesthetic to Joe’s

thigh. The vet waited for the anesthetic to do its job before beginning.

The surgery took moments. The vet made the incision in the skin and withdrew a small, coated

device with a pair of forceps. She set the blood-covered item on the metal tray beside the surgery

table. She examined it, turning it over with the forceps, before looking at Dylan.

“It’s in a silicone sleeve, likely to keep any sharp edges from irritating Joe’s skin.” The vet

frowned as she looked back to the incision. “This was done much like individuals who are into body

modification, of course in their cases for decorative purposes.”

Belle frowned. “Body modification for decorative purposes?”

The vet nodded. “The implants can be subdermal or transdermal and can be quite large beneath

the skin without harming the individual.” She looked at Joe. “Of course that’s not likely to be what’s

going on here. But the silicone should have protected Joe from sharp edges.” The doctor examined

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The tech cleansed and sterilized the wound before stitching it up. Joe remained still.

Dylan nodded toward the thing that had been removed from Joe’s thigh. “Let’s see what’s in

there.”

Dr. Nicholson used surgical tools to carefully remove the silicone sleeve from the device. When

the bloody coating was removed, a small high tech device that looked similar to an SD card was left.

It was slender and less than an inch long and an inch wide.

“I need to bag and tag these.” Dylan gestured to the device and the sleeve. “What do you have

that I can use?”

The vet reached into a drawer and brought out two small clear bags, two labels, and a pen.

Dylan scrawled the information on the labels before putting them on the bags. He used a clean

pair of forceps to deposit the device into one bag then sealed it. He again used the forceps, this time

to pick up the silicone and drop it into the other bag before making sure it too was sealed.

“No one is to know about this.” Dylan looked from the vet to the tech. “Make sure your staff is

clear on that.”