He didn’t blame her. Anesthesia wasn’t something to do lightly. He’d never seen Medicci do it, wasn’t sure she could on an on-site visit like this.
Medicci shook her head. “Normally, it’d be something I’d recommend an office visit for. These chips are intended to be permanent and even though they’re inserted to sit below the skin, they can sort of migrate over time. If they do, I’d need to make a bigger incision and maybe even tease apart the tissues to get a good hold of it. ”
She spread the fur to expose the bump David had pointed out. “This one is easy to locate, obviously. It’ll be a pinch. Just enough of an incision to retrieve the chip. Should be fine to restrain and muzzle him. But you two should probably leave the room so he doesn’t associate any negative experience with either of you.”
Chapter Ten
Come in.” David closed out a few spreadsheets and directed his attention to Medicci as she walked into his office.
“All done. Lyn is with Atlas now, fussing over him.” Medicci smiled. “Good to see a softer touch for these dogs sometimes. You all do a great job with them; don’t get me wrong. But the battle weary deserve a dose of spoiling here and there.”
David didn’t plan to argue since he agreed. “Small doses. Anything I should know about aside from what we talked about before?”
The amusement fled from Medicci’s face, her gaze darkening and the corners of her mouth turning downward. “A couple of things. First, once I shaved away the fur around the area, it looked to me as if the chip had been placed fairly recently. The skin had newly healed from an incision. It definitely hadn’t been there for several years. Which was odd because I thought the size of the bump was indicative of scar tissue forming around the chip. There should’ve been more scar tissue around it under the skin, developing a sort of sheathe. That wasn’t the case.”
Medicci placed a wax-covered object on his desk. Her expression was completely blank. “This is not the microchip any vet anywhere implanted. Military or otherwise.”
David touched the wax. The right length, but flat and rectangular instead of cylindrical. It was a micro SD card, for shit’s sake. What was it doing in Atlas?
Of course, he’d seen something like this before in animals and in humans. Hell, people had been known to bury the damn things in open sores on their own bodies, letting the wound scab over. It was scary what a person would do in the face of necessity…or desperation.
He had no idea what to say but Medicci definitely didn’t need to know everything. “This is—”
Medicci held up her hands. “It’s out. As long as there is no threat to any animal’s health under my care, I don’t need to know. It’s best if I don’t, isn’t it?”
David nodded, grateful. He’d lie if he had to. But the best lie was one he didn’t have to tell. Or truth. That worked well, too, in the proper dosage.
“Keep the incision clean and he’ll heal just as fast if not faster than the other injury. If you think there’s more, we could do an X-ray at my office to locate any other potential implants. I didn’t detect any more bumps under his skin, though.” Medicci headed for the door but paused. “He’s a good dog.”
“He is,” David agreed.
And all this time, he’d really been carrying the weight of Calhoun’s last message on his shoulders.
He pocketed the micro SD and headed down the hall, finding Lyn with Atlas in the examination room. “How’s our guy?”
“Acting like nothing happened.” Lyn laughed, giving Atlas a hearty rub around the shoulders.
Atlas deigned to give David a doggie grin, tongue lolling out. When Lyn’s rubbing migrated over his back to his rump, the dog’s eyes practically rolled back into his head as if to say, Oh yeah, that was the spot.
Atlas had to really trust Lyn to allow her behind him that way and in a dominant position. Even for butt rubs. Usually military work dogs were too dominant and aggressive to let anyone but their handlers such privilege. In Lyn’s hands, Atlas could almost be a normal dog.
“Let’s keep things easy for him today. You feel comfortable going for a walk around the property? Forte’s still on watch this morning and he’s got your mobile in case he sees anything on the perimeter cameras.”
Lyn straightened, her expression momentarily somber. “Didn’t realize you had video surveillance all around the property.”
“Had it on the entrances before and added more to cover the entire perimeter since last week.” David and the others had considered it previously and cursed themselves for not already having it installed. No matter how quiet the town was where they were located, forewarned was forearmed and they’d corrected the mistake immediately, each of them contributing to the cost from their own private funds. “We’ll all have notice if anyone is even snooping around the fences, much less tries to step onto the property again.”