by Dixie Lyle
Navarro blinked. “Some people babble when they are afraid. You are obviously one—no, two or three—of them.”
“No, I’m quite serious. We’re probably safe in here, but that cart of yours is history by now. Ever see a hippo stomp on something? It stays stomped.”
“If you’re trying to distract me, it won’t work. I can keep an eye on you and my rearview mirror at the same time; no one is going to sneak up on me.”
“Hippos don’t sneak. But like I said, we’re safe in here. Your men, though, are probably running for their lives.”
“From the hippo.”
“No, hippos aren’t much for chasing. That, they leave up to the shape-shifting dog.”
His look of puzzlement became a grin. “Ah. I see. You are stalling for time by telling me a story. Since I need to wait until my men arrive with their cargo, our plans dovetail neatly. Please proceed; I can’t wait to hear more about this dog.”
“Well, I’m not allowed to tell you very much. You think a white liger is the most exotic creature we’ve ever played host to? Please. This is where the government dumps their secret genetic experiments when they don’t pan out.”
“I see. Such as shape-shifting dogs.”
“Yeah. The one we have is pretty much insane—”
[I heard that.]
Shut up, I’m on a roll. “—and due to his genetomorphic abilities, almost impossible to keep locked up. He can squeeze through the tiniest crack, like his whole body was made of, of toothpaste.”
“And I suppose this toothpaste dog is going to rescue you? Or will he just want to examine our teeth?”
“No, right now he’s busy running down your men and disarming them. You know, knocking them over, grabbing their guns, running away. Repeat as neccessary. I figure he’s probably using a sequence of greyhound, Saint Bernard, pit bull, and then greyhound again.”
[Greyhound, Great Dane, rottweiler, actually. Few unarmed men will chase a rottweiler.]
“Ah,” Navarro said, nodding. “Then with my cart destroyed and my men disabled, I suppose I am at your mercy. Except, of course, I have you at gunpoint.”
“So you do. At least until the police arrive.”
Navarro’s glances at the rearview mirror were getting more frequent. His men should have shown up by now.
His eyes widened. From the look on his face, what he saw was not what he was expecting.
Three of his men ran up to the truck, talking rapidly in Spanish. None of them was armed, but all of them were upset; they were also wet and muddy and their clothes were ripped. Navarro wasn’t looking too happy, either.
“Take your men, take your truck, and leave,” I said. “This is your only chance.”
Navarro studied me for a second, his brow furrowed. He looked like someone with a royal flush who’d just discovered he was playing Go Fish.
Then his face cleared. He nodded graciously. “Thank you for your generous offer. I accept. You may disembark.”
He didn’t have to tell me twice. I yanked the door open and climbed out, my foot sinking into a cold, ankle-deep puddle. Navarro barked a few orders at his men, who climbed into the back of the dump truck. From all the splashing and cursing, it must have been like jumping into a very cold, very full wading pool.
Shondra ran around the corner as Navarro drove away. She had a few choice curse words of her own to add, but hers weren’t in Spanish.
“It’s okay,” I said to her. “They’re gone. And they didn’t get Augustus.”
“They didn’t? What happened?”
“I’m not sure. Go check on ZZ and the others in the wine cellar. I’ll make sure the body’s still here.”
* * *
What I found, just at the border of the zoo’s grounds, was the remains of the heavy-duty trolley Navarro’s men had brought with them, smashed into a pile of wood and metal and crushed into the ground. Right beside it was Augustus’s body, its white fur matted and drenched and muddy. Standing a few steps away was Rajiv Gunturu, with a large, bloody hacksaw in one hand; he was just as wet and muddy, and his face was bleeding from a dozen different scratches, three of them running across an eye that was now swollen shut. He was waving the saw in the air and cursing in some Indian dialect.
Between him and the body stood my cat.
If I hadn’t known it was her, I’m not sure I would have recognized her. Tango was just as wet as Gunturu, but she was doing that puffed-up back-arched angry-cat thing, and the combination made her look like some kind of feral giant rat. Her mouth was wide open, she was hissing like a snake, and her eyes were no more than slits. I couldn’t hear her in my mind at all; it was as if she’d reverted to some sort of primitive feline ancestor.
Tango! Calm down—I’m here, now. He’s not going anywhere.
Tango slowly relaxed, her back going down and her mouth closing.
Gunturu stopped swearing and stared at me, breathing heavily. I glanced at the bloodied hacksaw in his hand, then down at Augustus’s body. It looked like he’d been sawing away at the mouth.
“Doing a little postmortem dentistry?” I asked.
That you did, kitty. Good job. “The body doesn’t hold information on where the gem is hidden,” I said. “The body holds the gem itself, doesn’t it?”
“Yes,” Gunturu said. “One of the liger’s fangs was replaced with a hollow titanium replica. The gem is inside. I can have the tooth out within another minute, if you will let me work.”
“And why should I do that?”
“I will split the proceeds of the sale with you. There will be enough to make both of us immensely wealthy.”
I shook my head. “Even if I agreed to that—which I won’t—I think Tango here has her own opinion on the matter. One that’s decidedly negative.”
Gunturu shook the hacksaw in Tango’s direction. “No! I will not let a woman and her cat stand between me and a fortune! I’ll kill both of you!”
“How about a woman, her cat, her dog, and her boyfriend?” said a voice behind him. Ben walked up, holding one of the automatic weapons Whiskey had relieved Navarro’s men of. Whiskey trotted beside him. Oddly enough, both of them seemed to be bone-dry.
Gunturu glared at them, then tossed the hacksaw into the mud. “Very well,” he said. “Do your worst. You will never prove I killed Augustus—and even if you do, he was still only an animal.”
“You keep telling yourself that,” I said. “That gem was the property of a drug dealer, and you were trying to steal it. Pretty sure a good prosecutor can link you to Branco Gamboa, and that means federal conspiracy charges. You’re going to jail for a long, long time.” I paused and studied the deep scratches on his face. “But don’t worry. With all those facial scars and the eye patch, you’ll look scary enough to get by. Unless Gamboa’s men learn you were the one who ratted them out and got their boss killed, of course.”
I could hear sirens in the distance. I guess Zhen had made it to Cooper’s and called them, or maybe Shondra did once Navarro’s jammer left. Either way, I was glad to hear them.
Good job, guys.
[Toothpaste? You had to compare me to toothpaste? You couldn’t come up with something a little more dignified?]
I was under some pressure at the time.
[So? That’s when you’re at your best. Also, I don’t think genetomorphic is a real word.]
“Foxtrot?” Ben asked. He sounded a little worried. “Um … why are you laughing?”
“No reason,” I said. “No reason at all.”
“Oh. I thought it might be because of … that.” He gestured to one side, and I finally noticed the large, glowing sea turtle hovering patiently in the air.
augustus has made his decision, Ambrose said.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
W
e couldn’t just leave, of course. We had to wait for the police to arrive and turn Gunturu over to them, make our official statements, and then someone had to orchestrate all the various details involved in cleaning up the mess—namely, yours truly.
I didn’t tell anyone else where the diamond was—dealing with that would be a whole other level of chaos I didn’t want to contemplate right then. Only Ben, Rajiv Gunturu, and I knew about it at the moment, and I didn’t think Gunturu was going to tell anyone.
The very first thing I did while Ben guarded our prisoner was find a big tarp and cover Augustus with it. With the liger’s mouth closed, the damage Gunturu had done wasn’t obvious. I got rid of the hacksaw, too.
Caroline showed up and used a forklift to move Augustus’s body back into cold storage. If she noticed the damage to his mouth, she didn’t say anything.
Shondra, at ZZ’s orders, ejected Karst from the grounds. Rajiv Gunturu was in police custody, and Zhen Yao was going to stay with us until appropriate arrangements could be made to properly transport Augustus’s body. I’d have to figure out what to do about the diamond before then.
Abazu Chukwukadibia was nowhere to be found.
I sent Whiskey, Tango, and Ben to the Crossroads to talk to Augustus, but he refused to reveal his decision to any of them. He wanted to tell both Apedemek and Waghai Devi at the same time, face-to-face.
The rest of the evening was a frenzied blur. I ate on my feet, collapsed for a ten-minute nap at one point, and woke up an hour later crying my eyes out. Stress can do weird things to you.
But the day finally ended, as days always do. The cops went home, Augustus’s body was locked up with round-the-clock guards, everyone had been debriefed and fed and patched up and put to bed. The thug Navarro left behind wouldn’t say a thing to the police, and ZZ ultimately decided not to press charges. She thought Navarro’s boss would leave us alone once Augustus was gone, and letting his henchman go sent the right message. “We beat him,” ZZ told me. “He won’t be happy about that, but rubbing his nose in it will make it worse. If we let it go, he’s much more likely to. He’s not going to be stupid enough to come back—and I highly doubt he’s going to mount an assault on a zoo in China.”
It wasn’t the Wuhan Zoo that I was currently concerned about. My worries were a lot closer to home—in fact, they were right next door.
Ben and I met at the graveyard gate. We both had flashlights, though I didn’t think we’d need them; the moon was full and bright in the sky. Whiskey was next to me and Tango was already inside, with Augustus.
“You ready for this?” Ben said.
“After the day we just had? Definitely not. I’m ready for a crappy romcom on DVD, a bowl of popcorn, and a soft couch to fall asleep on.”
“Sounds nice. Got room on that couch for company?”
I smiled. “I think I could find some.”
[Ahem. The couch in question is where I sleep.]
“Oh,” said Ben. “Well, you don’t take up much space, right? You can just turn into something compact and snuggle up on our laps.”
Whiskey stared at him seriously. [I hardly know you, sir. “Snuggling up,” as you put it, would not be appropriate.]
Ben glanced at me and raised his eyebrows.
I shrugged. “Hey, his couch, his rules,” I said.
[Indeed.]
“Maybe I’ll just head straight to bed,” I said. “It’ll definitely fit two, but the other spot’s reserved.”
“For who, your cat?” Ben said.
I put my hands on his shoulders, leaned forward, and kissed him. “No. For my boyfriend. Which, according to unconfirmed sources, is something I have now.”
“Oh. I just sort of blurted that out. You know, in the heat of the moment.”
“Uh-huh. Well, that’s something we should discuss. Afterward.”
“Afterward?”
[She means after the impending local apocalypse, Casanova.]
“Oh. Right. I guess we should go in, then.”
We entered the Crossroads.
Augustus and Tango were waiting for us, not surprisingly, at the statue of Piotr, the circus bear. Piotr himself wasn’t there, but Eli was, perched on the head of the statue. The usual flow of glowing, illuminated spirits was missing; the only light came from the moon and stars overhead.
“So glad you could tear yourself away,” Eli said.
I put up a hand. “Don’t even. In the last twelve hours I’ve been held hostage, set one person on fire, and sicced a hippo on somebody else. I am not in the mood for criticism, sarcasm, or insults, veiled or otherwise. Understand?”
Eli glowered at me. You haven’t really been glowered at until you’ve been glowered at by a ghost crow in a moonlit graveyard. “We’ll talk about it later,” he rasped. “Let’s get this over with. Thunderbird, will you go and tell the parties involved that their presence is requested?”
His voice had the intonation and formality of ritual, and Ben responded in kind: “I will.”
Eli fixed one baleful eye on me. “Not you, Foxtrot. You stay here.”
I was a little surprised by that, but I stepped away from Ben without arguing. He looked apprehensive, but I just shook my head and smiled. “A bird’s got to fly solo sometime, right? You’ll do great.”
He raised his hands to summon the whirlwind. “Yeah, sure. Focus on the ‘bird’ part when I’m going to see a couple of disgruntled cats. Hope they’ve already eaten.”
Then the wind surged, the lightning flashed, and he was gone.
“Where is everyone?” I asked Eli.
“Safe in their respective afterlives. I don’t want anyone getting caught in a potential battle.”
Augustus lay at the foot of the statue, with Tango sitting beside him. Next to Augustus’s massive head she looked tiny, a toy kitten you could put on a keychain. He gazed at me curiously and said, {Hello, Foxtrot. Have you come to say good-bye?}
“I guess I have. Don’t suppose you’re going to tell me where it is you’re going?”
{Oh, I will. As soon as Mother and Father get here.}
Mother and Father? Well, that was going to put a crimp in Waghai Devi’s plans. “Augustus, I’m not so sure those are actually your parents.”
The wind had barely died down when it picked up again. I’d forgotten time was different in the after realms; Ben was already done his errands. The sense of relief I felt when he reappeared was almost enough to overcome my creeping dread. Almost.
“How’d it go?” I asked him.
He looked a little shaken. “Let’s just say neither of them is in a good mood and leave it at that.”
Before I could reply, the air to the right of the bear statue tore apart like a present being opened from the inside. The light of a Serengeti summer spilled out, along with the smell of dusty plains and gnawed bones. Apedemek was here.
A split second later another portal opened on the opposite side of the statue, emitting the lush aroma of the tropics. Waghai Devi had arrived as well.
The lion god bounded through the portal like he was pouncing on an antelope. WHERE IS HE? he roared.
Waghai Devi’s entrance was much quieter, if no less menacing. She stalked out, a snarl on her lips, every muscle tensed to spring. <<
{I’m right here, Mother.}
WHAT?
<<< … What?>>>
{It’s all right, both of you. I know.}
Apedemek and Waghai Devi both sat down simultaneously, staring at Augustus. I suddenly felt really, really out of place—but I wouldn’t have left for anything.
{You’re both too proud to admit having made a mistake. And that’s what happened, right?}
Waghai Devi glanced at Apedemek, who looked away. <<
FORGET MY OWN SON? IT MAY HAVE HAPPENED CENTURIES AGO, BUT I NEVER FORGOT.
{Tango told me the story. How the Great Lion and the Great Tiger fought, then had cubs together, and those cubs knocked a star out of the sky. But that’s not exactly right, is it?}
Who knew a lion god could look embarrassed? NOT EXACTLY, NO.
<<
WHAT DO I KNOW ABOUT WATCHING CUBS? I JUST WENT OUT FOR A LITTLE SNACK.
<<
YES, YES. HIS SOUL FELL TO EARTH. BUT WE BOTH KNEW IT WOULD RETURN ONE DAY—SOULS ARE ETERNAL, AFTER ALL. AND NOW IT HAS!
“The diamond,” I whispered. “It really was a lion god. And after a few hundred years, it found its way back to a body.”
“Yes,” said a voice from the darkness. “You see at last.”
Abazu Chukwukadibia lurched out from behind the tomb he’d been lurking beside. His clothes were wet and muddy, and he seemed a little unsteady on his feet. He must have been hiding there all day.
“My God,” he said. It wasn’t an expression of shock; it was one of reverence, and meant quite literally. Somehow, he could see the supernatural entities in front of him as clearly as I could.
Neither Apedemek or Waghai Devi paid any attention to him. SO, MY SON. YOU KNOW AT LAST WHO YOU ARE. ARE YOU READY TO TAKE YOUR RIGHTFUL PLACE AT YOUR FATHER’S SIDE?
<<
HAH! A LION DOES NOT LIVE WITH HIS MOTHER LIKE HE IS A CUB! CERTAINLY NO SON OF MINE EVER WOULD!
<<
HOW DARE YOU IMPUGN MY MOTIVES—
Which is when, for the first time, I heard a liger roar.