Chapter 14 - The Second Dog
Daniel pulled onto the shoulder so sharply that Cole’s vehicle nearly struck him from behind.
Rex braced in the rear compartment.
Emily caught the dashboard.
“What are you doing?”
Daniel turned toward Jonah.
“Explain.”
“Vale kept Ares alive.”
“That dog would be thirteen.”
“So is Rex.”
“Unrecovered means missing.”
“It means Voss failed to control him.”
Daniel looked at the photograph again.
Rex and Ares had been littermates, trained in parallel. Daniel remembered another young shepherd at Fort Axton, but handlers were discouraged from interacting with dogs outside their assignments.
Ares belonged to a contractor.
Or so Daniel had been told.
“Why keep him?” Emily asked.
“Voss wanted a comparison,” Jonah said. “One dog bonded to a handler. One dog repeatedly reassigned.”
Daniel looked back at Rex.
Stable.
Unrecovered.
The words described loyalty as if it were a laboratory outcome.
“Vale had black-and-tan fur in the clinic cage,” Emily said.
“Ares,” Jonah replied. “Voss intended to use him in the final test.”
“Use him how?”
“Put both dogs near the same threat and see which bond wins.”
Daniel’s anger sharpened into fear.
“What threat?”
Jonah did not answer.
Cole approached the driver’s window.
“Why did we stop?”
Daniel handed him the photograph.
The sheriff studied it.
“We continue. State team is twelve minutes behind.”
“No sirens,” Jonah said.
Cole looked at him.
“You don’t give orders.”
“Then let Voss hear you coming.”
They drove without emergency lights.
Fort Axton’s abandoned research sector stood behind two rusted gates and a concrete wall overgrown with vines. The active base lay three miles east, but this section had been sealed after environmental damage.
Jonah directed them to a service entrance hidden behind a collapsed storage building.
The steel door stood open.
Cold air emerged from below.
Rex descended first beside Daniel.
Emily followed with Cole.
Jonah remained between two deputies.
The underground corridor smelled of mold, metal, and old disinfectant. Faded blue triangles marked several doors.
Rex stopped at the first junction.
He sniffed left.
Then right.
His body stiffened.
A bark answered from deep within the facility.
Low.
Rough.
Not aggressive.
Calling.
Rex pulled forward.
“Ares,” Jonah whispered.
Daniel gave the search command.
Rex followed the sound through two corridors and down a ramp lined with empty cages.
The old control room lay behind cracked glass.
Computer monitors glowed inside.
Someone had restored power recently.
Nora sat on the floor beside a console, her wrists free but bruised. A seven-year-old boy huddled beneath a desk.
Dr. Vale lay unconscious against the wall.
Two technicians were gone.
Cole entered first and cleared the room.
Emily ran to Nora.
The girl wore the yellow sweater from the hidden room.
“You found Lily?” Nora asked.
“She’s safe.”
Nora began to cry.
Not loudly.
Her shoulders simply folded inward as Emily held her.
Daniel searched the adjoining kennel.
A second German Shepherd stood behind a steel gate.
Ares.
Older.
Thinner than Rex.
A pale scar crossed his left brow.
He did not bark when Daniel approached.
He stared beyond him at Rex.
The two dogs stood ten feet apart.
Rex’s breathing changed.
Ares lowered his head.
For one moment, neither moved.
Then Rex stepped forward.
Ares mirrored him.
Their noses met through the steel bars.
No growling.
No tension.
Only recognition so quiet it hurt to witness.
Daniel looked at Jonah.
“You said Voss took the wrong dog.”
“He expected Vale to transport Ares from the clinic before the stadium test. Vale switched the cages.”
“Why?”
Jonah glanced toward the unconscious veterinarian.
“I don’t know.”
Vale groaned.
Cole knelt beside him.
The doctor’s eyes opened slowly.
When he saw Daniel, panic crossed his face.
“You brought Rex.”
“You put a tracker in his collar.”
Vale tried to sit up.
“I had no choice.”
“Everyone says that.”
“Voss has my daughter.”
The room fell silent.
“How old?” Emily asked.
“Sixteen.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel crouched in front of him.
“What was the final test?”
Vale’s eyes moved toward Ares.
“Voss believes the dogs can transfer attachment if the original handler experiences enough guilt.”
“That is nonsense.”
“So were half his theories. Until they worked.”
“What choice is he creating?”
Vale swallowed.
“He took a child connected to every original Cohort A subject.”
Emily went still.
“Connected how?”
“Family.”
Daniel thought of Lily.
Nora.
Caleb.
Vale’s daughter.
Children linked to witnesses, researchers, or test subjects.
“Who did he take from us?” Daniel asked.
Vale looked at Emily.
“No one.”
Jonah stepped closer.
Vale’s fear deepened.
“You weren’t supposed to survive.”
Jonah grabbed him by the jacket before deputies pulled him back.
“Who did Voss take?”
Vale pressed himself against the wall.
“The youngest Mercer.”
Daniel’s voice lowered.
“There is no youngest Mercer.”
Vale stared at him.
“Yes, there is.”
Emily shook her head.
“Our mother died.”
“She gave birth while in protective custody.”
Daniel felt the air leave his lungs.
“What?”
“Voss hid the records. The child was raised under another name.”
Jonah’s face had gone white.
“A boy or girl?”
Vale looked toward the monitors.
“A daughter.”
One screen activated.
Live video appeared.
A teenage girl sat inside a concrete room beside a black medical case. Her dark hair covered part of her face.
Silas Voss stood behind her.
Older.
Calm.
Alive.
He looked directly into the camera.
“Daniel,” he said, “you rescued the wrong children.”
May you like
The girl raised her face.
She had Emily’s eyes.
