— "What have you done now, Carlos?!" — shouted Marta, with one hand on her hip and the other holding an overflowing backpack of cables.
— "I told you it would work!" — replied Carlos, covered in soot, while a small metal box smoked at his feet —. "It just… needed better calibration of the tracking frequency."
Alex looked at them with his eyes wide open. He was still trying to process that Marta, the genius of the science class, and Carlos, the most eccentric amateur inventor in the neighborhood, were his best hope for finding Max.
It had all started just a few hours after his dog's disappearance. Desperate and not knowing what to do, Alex had called Marta, his classmate known for knowing everything, from algebra to picking locks with paperclips.
Marta, without hesitation, said to him: "I know someone who can help."
That someone, of course, turned out to be Carlos. Nobody really knew what Carlos was working on exactly. Some said he was a misunderstood genius. Others said he was one accident away from becoming a supervillain. Alex still wasn't sure what the truth was, but right now, he was willing to do anything.
— "And how is that supposed to find Max?" — asked Alex, distrustfully pointing at the freshly scorched device.
— "It's a smart multispectral pet locator," — said Carlos proudly —. "It detects your dog's unique thermal signature, scent, and heartbeat and triangulates it with improvised signal towers. It also has Bluetooth!"
Marta rolled her eyes.
— "That last part is useless, Carlos."
Carlos shrugged.
— "But it sounds cool."
Alex let out a nervous laugh. They were in Carlos's garage, a place that looked like a cross between a science fiction lab and a junkyard. There were lit screens, blueprints scattered on the floor, and what appeared to be a drone disguised as a squirrel.
— "And how do you know what my dog smells like?"
Carlos smiled from ear to ear, and with an exaggerated bow, pulled an object from a metal box.
— Your shoe! I found it outside your house. We analyzed it, extracted the scent signature, and now it is loaded in the system.
— He said all that as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Alex looked at his shoe, then at Marta.
— Don't ask me — she said —. I just came for the popcorn.
The locator, a box the size of a school lunchbox, emitted a high-pitched beep and showed a green light.
— Eureka! — shouted Carlos —. I have it. Max is… — he paused dramatically while looking at a small screen with graphs that only he understood — in the central park.
— Are you sure? — Ninety-two percent sure. Well, sixty. Okay, forty-eight. But that's almost half! — he laughed.
Alex snorted, but his heart skipped a beat. A lead! Even if it was of dubious reliability.
— What are we waiting for? Let's go!
Marta sighed.
— I knew this was going to happen. That's why I brought this.
She opened her backpack and took out a folder with laminated sheets, a map of the neighborhood, and a portable battery bigger than Carlos's head.
— What is that? — asked Alex.
— The plan B. I mean, what we will use when Carlos's "invention" turns into a flamethrower, a bomb, or a giant vibrator — she said without flinching.
Carlos raised an indignant finger.
— That was ONCE!
— Let's go! — shouted Alex before they started to fight —. Max needs me!
The walk to the park was anything but calm. Carlos insisted on following the beeps of the locator, which led them through back roads, alleys, and at least once, to a taco stand where the device confused a dog with a giant burrito.
— Do you have any idea how many animals are in this city? — grumbled Marta while writing things in her notebook.
— Of course — replied Carlos —. But none like Max. He has a slightly irregular heart rate and a smell of croquettes with coconut soap. Unique in his species!
Alex didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Upon arriving at the park, Carlos's device began to emit a constant buzzing.
— He's here! — he shouted, running among the trees as if he were hunting ghosts.
— Carlos, wait! — shouted Alex, running behind him.
Marta walked behind, calmly. — This is going to end with someone in the hospital
— she murmured.
The park was full of families, children running, cyclists, and at least seven different dogs. The locator went crazy.
— Too many signatures! Too many signals! It's overloaded! — Carlos was trying to adjust knobs that did nothing.
Alex looked desperately among the dogs. None was Max.
— And now what?
Marta, who had not been upset at all, took a whistle out of her pocket.
— This is what professional dog trainers use — she said, blowing a high note.
One of the dogs barked and approached, but it wasn't Max. It was a bulldog wearing a Superman t-shirt.
— Oh, how cute! — shouted Carlos —. Can I keep him if we don't find Max?
— No! — said Marta and Alex in unison.
Suddenly, something beeped on the locator. A red light flashed.
— Alert of suspicious activity! — shouted Carlos.
— What does that mean? — asked Alex.
Carlos checked the data on his screen.
— Someone else has a device similar to mine. They are tracking something... or someone.
The three looked at each other.
— Max?
— Or something worse — said Marta, frowning.
The afternoon turned into night. Although they did not find Max, they discovered that someone else was also looking for him. Carlos, with his locator adjusted, had detected a second signal that seemed to move intelligently through the city.
— It's not an animal signature — he said —. It's a human pattern. And it's following the same trajectory as Max.
— A dog kidnapper? — asked Alex, feeling a chill.
— Or someone who wants something that your dog has — said Marta seriously.
— But what could Max have?
Carlos shrugged.
— Very valuable kibble. Or a secret microchip. Do you remember if your dog swallowed something he shouldn't have?
Alex thought about it. He remembered a time when Max ate half a joystick from his console. Another time when he swallowed a coin. But lately… nothing strange.
— Not that I know of.
— Then — said Marta —. There's only one way to find out.
Alex looked at her, confused.
— We have to find that guy. And follow him.
Carlos raised the locator with determination.
— This is just beginning, friends. It's time to use Secret Exploration Mode.
— What is that?
Carlos smiled.
— A button that turns on colored lights and sounds like a radar. It is useless, but it looks great.
And so, as the night fell over the city, the group prepared for something bigger than they expected: a mysterious conspiracy, an urban chase, and, hopefully, the reunion of a boy with his dog.
But for now… they only had a blinking device, a map full of scribbles, and a strong desire to run after the impossible.