Chapter 2 - The Dog Came Back With a Secret
Atlas barked until the stitches in his side began pulling.
Lena rushed into the recovery room.
“Easy. Easy.”
The German Shepherd struggled to stand.
His legs trembled beneath him.
“Atlas.”
He ignored her.
His eyes were fixed on the rear service entrance.
Mateo appeared beside her.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know.”
The dog growled.
Lena had heard frightened animals growl.
She had heard territorial dogs growl.
This was different.
Atlas recognized something.
Or someone.
Adrian entered seconds later.
Atlas’s ears flicked toward him but immediately returned to the door.
Adrian moved beside the cage.
“Down.”
The dog obeyed.
Barely.
“What’s outside that door?” Lena asked.
“Parking area. Delivery alley.”
“I know what’s physically there.”
Adrian glanced at her.
She crossed her arms.
“I’m asking why your dog suddenly thinks somebody’s coming through it.”
He turned to one guard.
“Check it.”
The man disappeared.
Two minutes later, he returned carrying a small padded envelope.
“It was against the door.”
Adrian took it.
No address.
No stamp.
Nothing written on the outside.
Lena watched him open it.
Inside was a photograph.
Adrian went still.
“What is it?” she asked.
He turned the photograph over before she could see it.
“Nothing.”
“You’re terrible at lying.”
“I’ve been told the opposite.”
“Then whoever told you that wanted a raise.”
Mateo coughed to hide a laugh.
Adrian looked at him.
Mateo suddenly found Atlas’s IV line fascinating.
Lena held out her hand.
“The photo.”
“No.”
“Someone left it outside my workplace while your injured dog was trying to tear through a cage to get at them.”
Adrian stared at her.
She didn’t lower her hand.
Eventually, he gave her the photograph.
It showed a man outside a suburban house.
Late thirties.
Dark hair.
Thin face.
He was holding Atlas’s leash.
On the back, someone had written three words:
ASK YOUR BROTHER.
“Who is he?” Lena asked.
Adrian took the picture back.
“My younger brother.”
“Name?”
“Elliot.”
“And you don’t like him.”
“That’s an impressive diagnosis from one photograph.”
“I’m a veterinarian. Reading body language keeps me from getting bitten.”
His mouth twitched.
Then the humor vanished.
“Elliot and I don’t speak.”
Sophie’s voice came from the doorway.
“That’s because you’re both stupid.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
Lena looked over.
Sophie stood there with her stuffed rabbit.
Behind her was a woman in her sixties with silver hair and a tired expression.
“I tried to stop her,” the woman said.
“No, you didn’t,” Sophie replied.
The woman sighed.
“No. I didn’t.”
Sophie walked directly to Atlas.
“Can I see him now?”
Lena hesitated.
Adrian started to object.
“Two minutes,” Lena said.
Sophie’s face brightened.
Adrian gave Lena a look.
“What?”
“You just overruled me.”
“She’s my visitor right now.”
“She’s my niece.”
“And Atlas is my patient.”
Sophie smiled.
“I like her.”
Adrian looked toward the ceiling.
Lena opened the kennel carefully.
Atlas tried to rise.
Sophie knelt beside him.
“No, buddy. Stay.”
The huge dog immediately lowered his head onto her lap.
Lena watched.
There was no mistaking the bond.
“How long has Atlas been hers?” Lena asked quietly.
Adrian’s answer surprised her.
“He isn’t.”
Sophie stroked the dog’s ear.
“He was Dad’s.”
Lena looked at Adrian.
“Elliot’s dog?”
“No.”
The silver-haired woman answered.
“Daniel’s.”
Adrian’s face hardened.
“Marisol.”
“What? She’s already standing in the middle of this.”
Lena looked between them.
“Who’s Daniel?”
Sophie’s fingers stopped moving.
“My dad.”
Something in her small voice made Lena regret the question instantly.
Marisol touched the girl’s shoulder.
“Daniel was Adrian’s older brother.”
“Was?”
Adrian answered.
“He died.”
“How?”
“Car accident.”
Sophie looked up.
“That’s what everybody says.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“Sophie.”
“You said I’m old enough not to be lied to.”
Lena pretended to examine Atlas’s IV.
The room had suddenly become too intimate.
Too complicated.
Sophie whispered into the dog’s fur.
“Atlas disappeared the night Dad died.”
Lena froze.
“How long ago?”
“Two years.”
She looked at Adrian.
He seemed carved from stone.
“And the dog just came back?”
“Three nights ago,” Adrian said.
“After being missing for two years?”
“Yes.”
“Near Elliot’s old house.”
“Yes.”
“And somebody shot him with a tracking dart.”
“Yes.”
Lena stared at him.
“You realize how insane this sounds?”
Adrian’s expression barely changed.
“Welcome to my week.”
Atlas remained at the clinic for another day.
That should have been the end of Lena’s involvement.
Treat the patient.
Send him home.
Forget the owner.
Instead, Adrian kept appearing.
Sometimes alone.
Sometimes with Sophie.
Always late.
He never brought flowers.
Never tried to impress Lena with expensive gifts.
He brought coffee once.
Black.
No sugar.
Exactly how she drank it.
“How did you know?”
“You complain about Mateo putting cream in yours.”
“That happened once.”
“I remember things.”
“That sounds mildly threatening.”
“It probably is.”
She laughed before she could stop herself.
Adrian looked almost startled.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“No. What?”
“You’re different when you laugh.”
She stopped.
“That was dangerously close to flirting.”
“Was it?”
“You’re the billionaire. Aren’t you supposed to know?”
“I know casinos.”
“Same thing, basically.”
He actually smiled.
A real one.
It transformed him.
And Lena immediately disliked how much she noticed.
The attraction was inconvenient.
The mystery was worse.
She researched the tracker after her shift.
Not online.
There was almost nothing useful there.
She called a former veterinary school classmate who now worked with wildlife law enforcement.
She sent photographs without identifying Adrian.
His response came twenty minutes later.
Where did you get this?
Lena called him.
“What is it?”
“Prototype telemetry dart. Military-grade frequency hopping. Wildlife agencies tested similar tech, but this thing is custom.”
“Can it store information?”
“Maybe.”
Her heart accelerated.
“What kind?”
“Location history. Environmental data. Depends on the design.”
“Could somebody use an animal to transport data?”
Silence.
“Lena, what have you gotten yourself into?”
She stared at Atlas sleeping behind glass.
“I don’t know.”
Later that night, she checked the wound again.
Atlas tolerated her hands patiently.
“Your family is exhausting,” she murmured.
His ears twitched.
She felt along his shoulder.
Something was wrong.
Not medically.
The fur.
There was a shaved patch under the collar.
Small.
Hidden.
Lena lifted the collar.
A fresh scar sat beneath it.
Not the dart wound.
A surgical incision.
She called Mateo.
They scanned the area.
The image revealed a second foreign object.
Smaller.
Rectangular.
Perfectly positioned beneath the skin.
Lena stared at the screen.
“No way.”
Mateo whispered, “Microchip?”
“Too big.”
They sedated Atlas lightly.
Minutes later, Lena removed the object.
This one was sealed in clear polymer.
Inside it was a tiny memory card.
Mateo backed away.
“I officially want no part of this.”
“Smartest thing you’ve said all week.”
“Thanks.”
“That wasn’t a compliment.”
Adrian arrived twenty-seven minutes later.
He walked into the procedure room without his coat.
“Sophie?”
“With Marisol.”
Lena held up the container.
“We found this.”
He stared.
“Where?”
“Under Atlas’s collar.”
His face changed.
“An old surgical incision.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
Adrian took one slow breath.
“What’s on it?”
“I haven’t checked.”
“Good.”
“That wasn’t restraint. I don’t own an adapter.”
He almost smiled.
Then his phone rang.
He looked at the caller.
Declined it.
Lena noticed the name.
ELLIOT.
“Your brother?”
Adrian pocketed the phone.
“Forget you saw that.”
“Seems healthy.”
“You don’t know him.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because you keep acting like you do.”
Lena leaned against the counter.
“What happened between you?”
Adrian stared at Atlas through the glass.
“Daniel died. Elliot disappeared six days later.”
“Why?”
“He stole money.”
“How much?”
“Enough.”
“That’s vague.”
“It’s deliberate.”
“And you think he had something to do with Daniel’s death?”
Adrian looked at her.
He didn’t answer.
He didn’t need to.
Lena’s stomach tightened.
“What if you’re wrong?”
“I’m not.”
“You sound very confident for someone whose dead brother’s dog just returned carrying a hidden memory card.”
That hit him.
Hard.
He turned away.
Lena lowered her voice.
“Adrian.”
“What?”
“Maybe Atlas wasn’t trying to come back to you.”
His eyes narrowed.
“What does that mean?”
“He showed up near Elliot’s old house.”
“Yes.”
“He had a tracker in his wound and something hidden beneath his collar.”
“Yes.”
“And he survived long enough to reach the city.”
Adrian’s expression changed.
Lena continued.
“What if he was trying to deliver this to your brother?”
Silence.
Adrian looked at the memory card.
Then at Atlas.
His phone buzzed again.
ELLIOT.
This time, Adrian answered.
He said nothing.
Lena couldn’t hear the voice on the other side clearly.
Only five words.
But they were enough.
“Ask the veterinarian about Daniel.”
Adrian slowly turned toward Lena.
The call ended.
“What did he say?” she asked.
Adrian’s face had gone pale.
Before he could answer, Mateo’s computer chimed.
A window appeared.
The memory card had finally mounted.
One video file.
Dated two years earlier.
The night Daniel Vale died.
Adrian stared at the timestamp.
Then Lena clicked play.
The screen remained black for three seconds.
A man’s frightened voice whispered through the speakers.
“If Adrian sees this, I failed.”
Adrian stopped breathing.
Lena looked at him.
“That’s Daniel, isn’t it?”
Adrian didn’t answer.
The recording continued.
“They’re going to kill me tonight.”
Then another voice spoke in the background.
A voice Adrian clearly recognized.
He reached forward and slammed the laptop shut.
Too late.
Lena had heard it.
May you like
And from the look on Adrian’s face, so had he.
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