His smile faded as he sat behind his desk.She was mad at him, and rightfully so.He could justify his actions, he still believed that, but hiding them from her was something he couldn’t justify.She wasn’t really mad; she was scared.
He sighed and rubbed his eyes.Time to go home and sleep, then maybe consider just letting the experts handle this.
Sure.You keep telling yourself that.
And sure enough, he still sat in front of his computer staring at the desktop screen.He couldn’t stop himself.Sierra’s forlorn face, the fear she showed in front of Whitaker, the despair.He couldn’t just let that go.
He would try one more time to find information on the 93rdTesting Brigade’s testing protocols.If he didn’t come up with anything, he’d shut it down and go home.
He logged into his alternate profile and opened the Marine Corps K9 records page again.As a vet certified to work with military working dogs, he had access to most of these records, although things like unit assignments and missions were usually redacted.
He entered his login information, and the page returned an error message: ACCESS DENIED.
He frowned.This had worked for him a few minutes ago.He tried again.ACCESS DENIED,
A chill ran down his spine.Were they tracking his username now?How could they do that?It was an FBI username.They shouldn’t have access to it.
He logged out and logged back into his FBI page.His credentials worked, and when he opened records of several working dogs, each opened with complete information, just like before.He tried the Army website and had no trouble getting in.Same with the Air Force.
So, it was just the Marine Corps.Sometime in the past ten minutes, they had shut down his access to their working dog records.
His heart thumped.His throat went dry, clicking when he swallowed.Stop inserting yourself into Marine Corps business, or we’ll take steps to ensure that you no longer can.
Maybe this was what they meant.Maybe that email wasn’t a death threat at all.Maybe they were just threatening to shut him out, and now they had.
He checked his email.Nothing from Colonel Chastain, the man who had emailed him before about this.No pictures of his home or images of Faith at work.They might not even know that he had been snooping today.Chastain might have already put in the request to have David’s access cut off, and they’d only just now gotten around to it.
That’s probably what it was.Nothing to worry about.
As his fear receded, anger took its place.They couldn’t stop him.He wasn’t going to give up.He was going to find out what was happening to those dogs, and he was going to put a stop to it, no matter what it took.
Even if they threaten Faith?Even if they explicitly tell you they will kill her if you don’t stop?
“Well, if they do that, I’ll just send that to the authorities, and then I’ll have proof that they’re up to no good.”
He said that softly, but his voice still seemed to echo throughout his office.And it was a weak excuse, anyway.They weren’t stupid enough to incriminate themselves like that.If they were going to put a hit on him or Faith, they wouldn’t warn him first.No more than they already had.They’d just kill him.Or her.Or both of them.
And you really want that on your conscience?
David’s lips thinned.It wasn’t fair.Damn it, it wasn’t fair.He was just trying to make sure those dogs were okay.
And he was making progress.He had to be.They wouldn’t be deleting these records if they weren’t afraid of what would happen if someone found them.
He couldn’t stop.Stopping meant giving them time to cover their tracks.If they did that, then stopping them would be far more difficult.
Well, you’ve done enough for today.Can we agree on that, at least?
He got reluctantly to his feet and headed for the door.By the time he reached the lobby where Rogers and Hammerton were polishing off the last of their sub sandwiches, he was smiling again, but underneath that smile was a cold rage amplified by fear rather than quelled by it.
You won’t stop me, he promised.I’m going to get to the bottom of this.I’m going to stopyou.
A cold, insidious voice deep inside his mind offered the obvious rebuttal.Or you’ll die trying.
CHAPTER NINE
Faith read the message from Director Smythe several times.Each time, she tried to calm herself and think about the situation logically.Each time, she failed.
Jessica had stepped out to get dinner from a nearby Chinese food place.They’d spent the day scouring social media, calling coworkers and friends, and digging for leads everywhere they could think of and come up empty.With nowhere else to go, and her mind frayed from their wasted day, Faith decided to follow up on the situation with David.
