Chapter 12 - Rex’s Tracker Moved Offshore
Rex stood directly in front of me.
Yet the tracker registered him moving west across the Pacific at forty knots.
The impossible signal appeared on Harper’s phone as a blurred map marker, updated every few seconds.
“A duplicate chip,” the handler said.
“Or a cloned identity,” Harper replied.
The offshore marker accelerated.
Doc pulled himself from the utility conduit with our help. Blood ran along his temple, but his voice regained its clinical steadiness.
“Forty knots is consistent with a patrol craft.”
“Can we identify it?” I asked.
“Not without reconnecting to the base network,” Harper said.
The network was exactly what the attacker wanted us to use.
A sharp mechanical sound came from Rex’s kennel.
The outer latch closed by itself.
Then the interior ventilation fan activated.
The handler rushed toward it, though Rex was outside.
A small nozzle descended from the ceiling of the empty cage.
Clear vapor hissed through it.
Doc’s expression changed. “Sedative delivery system.”
“They planned to drug Rex,” I said.
“And remove him during the confusion,” the handler added.
The tracker at sea was a cover. Anyone checking the system would believe Rex had already been transferred offshore.
Harper entered a manual code into the wall panel. The vapor stopped.
“How do you know that override?” the handler demanded.
“My brother served in base security.”
“Two years ago.”
“The infrastructure hasn’t changed.”
Rex moved toward Harper and sniffed her uniform. He did not recoil.
Then he pressed his muzzle against her left pocket.
She stiffened.
“What’s in there?” I asked.
“Nothing.”
Rex pawed once.
Harper slowly removed a small metal token.
It carried the split-circle symbol.
“You demanded my tag while carrying one yourself.”
“My brother’s,” she said.
“Prove it.”
“I can’t.”
“Then put it on the ground.”
She obeyed.
Rex sniffed the token and sat.
The handler exhaled. “Recognition response.”
Harper had a genuine unit object.
That did not prove loyalty, but it proved connection.
Doc studied the offshore tracker. “The cloned chip may be attached to something else from Ben’s equipment.”
“The missing half of the photograph?” I asked.
“No. A tracker needs power.”
The aircraft.
I remembered the crew seat, the hidden phone, and the antiseptic-scented patch.
“What if the tracker is attached to a medical transport case?”
Harper looked at Doc.
He nodded slowly. “Portable life-support units have independent power and can maintain temperature.”
For blood. Tissue.
Or a person.
The thought made my chest tighten.
“Could someone be alive inside one?”
“Not a standard case.”
“Nothing about this is standard.”
The real drive pulsed in Harper’s hand.
A file opened automatically.
This one contained no video.
Only audio.
Ben’s voice emerged, weak but clear.
“Rex’s identity is the route. Follow where the dead dog travels.”
The handler looked offended despite the danger. “He’s not dead.”
“On paper, he may be,” Doc said.
The system had registered Rex under Ben’s identity. Perhaps the cloned offshore tracker was not pretending to be Rex.
It was using Ben’s medical record to move something classified.
The audio continued.
“If the route ends at Point Loma, Vale still controls the transfer. If it turns south, the breach is inside Coronado command.”
The offshore marker changed direction.
South.
Toward the international boundary.
Harper whispered, “The breach is here.”
The hangar doors unlocked with a heavy metallic clank.
Bright daylight appeared along the seam.
No one celebrated.
Someone had chosen to let us out.
A base security convoy waited outside.
At its center stood Chief Donovan, hands raised, surrounded by armed personnel.
Beside him was a senior officer I recognized from Ben’s memorial.
Rear Admiral Thomas Kessler.
Kessler stepped into the hangar and looked directly at me.
“Mrs. Fletcher,” he said, “put down the stolen evidence and surrender the dog.”
May you like
Rex growled at the admiral’s old unit ring.
📖 See why Rex rejected Admiral Kessler—and discover how the officer used Ben’s memorial record to turn the base against Emily in CHAPTER 13. 👇
