Episode 35: Looking for the truth
The house felt eerie without Jerony and Hershell, a constant reminder of the gaping hole their absence had left in their lives.
"Go to the control room," Anna barked, her eyes filled with a newfound purpose "we need to know what happened."
The Pups Gang filed into the room, each taking their place at the high-tech consoles.
Luna jumped onto the chair, her paws dancing over the keyboard as she tried to hacked into the jet's black box.
The room was filled with the clacking of keys and the hum of computers.
"Come on, come on," Luna murmured to herself, her eyes darting back and forth across the screens.
The tension was thick enough to cut with a knife as the other pups watched her work.
Suddenly, a series of beeps filled the room.
Luna's tail wagged in excitement as she pulled up the data from the black box. The holographic screens flickered to life, displaying the jet's final moments.
"It's a... a bomb!" she exclaimed, her voice filled with horror "someone planted a bomb on the jet!"
"It wasn't a bomb... It's missile... Controlled missile," Maxtone's voice was calm but firm as he studied the data "and look at this... It was launched from an abandoned military base... This wasn't an accident, it was an assassination attempt."
"Luna, can you tracking the source of that missile?" Anna's voice was sharp, her eyes gleaming with determination.
Luna nodded, her paws flying across the keyboard.
The holographic screens flickered again, and a map of the city appeared with a red line leading to an abandoned military base on the outskirts of Rome.
"It's definitely from there," she said, her voice trembling with anger.
"Rome?!?? So that is actually a intercontinental missile!" Svara's eyes widened with disbelief "who could be capable of doing this?"
Luna still couldn't believe it.
"But why would anyone want to kill Master and Hershell?" she asked, her voice trembling.
"We can't be sure," Anna said, her eyes dark with anger "but we know one thing for certain... This isn't the work of a random enemy... This was personal... And it's connected to Elena Rose."
"Who?!??" The puppies all barked in unison, their tails straightening.
"Cooper... Elena's fox pet," Anna growled, her teeth bared "he's the only one who could control all various types of missile systems."
Maxtone's ears perked up, "but why would Cooper do this to us?"
"We can't rule anyone out," Anna said, her voice hard "we're too close to catching Elena... Maybe she sent Cooper to take us out of the equation."
The pups looked at each other, their expressions a mix of anger and fear. They had to be careful; they were in the lion's den now.
But they had each other, and that was all that mattered.
But suddenly, they found the emergence of a mysterious signal from the forest area but it was very weak.
"What is that?" Svara's curiosity piqued as she tapped the screen.
"I know the signal... It's from Hershell's pup-tag!" Luna exclaimed, her paws shaking with excitement as she pointed at the flickering dot on the holographic map "it's faint, but it's definitely there!"
"Could it be... Hershell still alive?" Svara's eyes sparkled with hope, and she dashed towards Luna.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Anna cautioned, though her heart was racing "it could be a trap or just a glitch."
But the hope was too strong to ignore. They had to investigate.
"Maxtone, gear up... We're going to the forest," Anna ordered, her voice firm.
"I'll prepare my fighter jet," Maxtone said, his tail wagging slightly "we need to be ready for anything."
He dashed out of the room, eager to get into action.
Anna nodded and turned to the others, "Seca, gather medical supplies... We don't know what state Hershell might be in if he's alive."
Seca's eyes widened at the thought of his friend, and he clumsily rushed to the storage room, his paws fumbling through the medical kit.
