“Well,” Joe mused, “normally I wouldn’t believe a dog could text, but look at the time.” Joe pointed at the time and date of the text. “This note was created about five minutes ago. When the dog came into the shack, that was well over ten minutes ago. Nobody else has touched the phone, and she had it in her mouth before she dropped it and then she put her paw on it. I know it doesn’t make sense, but she’s the only one that could’ve done it.”

Joe set the phone down on the console between them. “Here’s what makes sense to me. The note is saying that somehow if we help the Tomato and the Cornstalk, we’ll save ourselves.”

“But you weren’t even supposed to be here,” Chief said.

“I know,” Joe replied quickly. “I know that I didn’t earn my way onto your team and my father paid for me to—” 

“No, Joe. I mean the Boss wanted only me to be on this mission, nobody else. His plan was to eliminate you and the rest of the team. My guess is, Dr. Yang took the Foozle from my pocket to protect me from disintegrating.” 

Joe stared at the Foozle. “Woah. We’re lucky that the invisi-wrap worked or we would have been fried chicken, Chief.”

Chief nodded. Now he understood what Dr. Yang meant when she said she was saving his life, but what did she mean by “you must save theirs”?

“I think we have to go back to that junkyard,” Joe said, interrupting Chief’s thoughts. “I’m worried about that dog.” Chief looked down at the note on the phone’s screen. It was staring back at him. He laughed.

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