by Dale Mayer
Then opened them. What was that? He caught his breath as he heard something over by the tiger's cage. Voices.
Quietly Fez regained his feet and tiptoed toward the cage, his head cocked in the direction of the sound. He stopped and waited breathlessly. Then he took another step and thought he heard it again. He took several more steps toward the tiger's cage and waited. The warehouse seemed alive with weird sounds. Air whistled from the blowing wind. Timber creaked with age. And he swore there were sounds of people moving.
What the hell was going on? He hopped to his feet and walked over to the tiger, peering into the cage. The tiger lay sleeping on her side. Calm. Quiet. Peaceful.
He turned around to face the empty warehouse. Shadows seemed to shift even as he watched. Now he knew his imagination was working overtime, and that pissed him off as much as it scared him.
Seeing nothing to justify the sounds, he slowly retraced his steps back to his spot. Then he heard something that sent shivers down his spine. Breathing. As in human breathing. As in a person. So loud he imagined the hairs on the back of his neck lifting.
He willed himself to turn and see who it was. Wishing he had a gun, he spun around.
The blow came out of nowhere. It smashed into the side of his head.
And he dropped like the heavy weight he was – to the ground.
Chapter 15
Monday early morning
Now that she had some inkling that Trinity had come from the wild with this coloring, she suspected Trinity to be a Maltese tiger. Tabitha dredged through her memory for all the information she could find about them. And there was damn little. Maltese tigers hadn't been seen in decades in the wild. She knew of none in captivity, but that didn't mean there weren't any. It was an endangered species and the whole world would celebrate if they knew Trinity existed.
If they knew.
Which, considering Trinity was being smuggled, they weren't likely to ever learn. And she was old. By any medical standards, being pregnant at her age was rare. Not that Mother Nature cared what humans deduced. She was forever throwing up new and wondrous things. But did the smugglers truly understand what they had?
Understanding the problem and the precious cargo helped, but not enough. So what if there were buyers and sellers and good guys and bad guys out there? If she couldn't see any to identify them or find a way for others to find her, none of that mattered. Somehow she had to get Ronin the information she'd found. But what was that? Just a name. And a vague face.
She needed more.
She wondered if she could create enough energy disturbances to upset the asshole standing guard. She’d learned his name was Fez and she’d managed to stretch her energy out enough to raise the hairs on the back of the guy's neck. But he'd gone back to sitting down. She'd been trying to get a good look at his face, but there were so many shadows she couldn't see it clearly enough. She'd tried, but unfortunately didn’t have a photographic memory.
But Stefan did. She'd been trying to tell Ronin the details earlier but she'd been yanked away before she could say anything. Now maybe she had a better idea.
She closed her eyes and sent out a strong message. Stefan. Stefan? Stefan!
Taking a chance, she told her subconscious to transmit the images to Stefan. They could be the answer to saving Trinity. And for good measure, she told herself to send anything else that might be useful.
What the hell? Where are you and why? Stefan's voice growled in her head. Faint and odd sounding but still identifiable. The diction was off, but it was clear enough to hear.
I need you to see some images. Pictures I can see but can't remember.
Silence.
Not sure that will work.
You can often connect in such a way that you just see into my mind and save me from trying to explain. Why can't you do that now?
Because you aren't here in front of me. You're in someone else's mind.
Damn it. I've seen one of the men that's holding the tiger. His name is Fez. I can see his and Timothy's face, but I'm no artist.
You know every step away from the original blurs the details. You'll have to try and grab the details.
He was right, but she didn't like it. Suggestions?
Clear your mind and use the energy. Try to remember and come home. I'll tell Ronin.
Crap.
Stefan disappeared and the fog moved in again.
She needed another look. She stared through the tiger's eyes out at the warehouse. It drained a lot of her energy to do this but the rewards could be worth it.
She closed her eyes and stretched a bit of her energy away from the tiger's cage toward where she'd sensed the asshole the last time.
The idiot appeared to be sleeping. She stretched out a little more, trying to get a look at his face, but there was something wrong. There was blood around his head. Lots of it.
He'd been attacked.
And she hadn't heard it.
That terrified her. Had she been so focused on contacting Stefan that she'd missed it? Or had the attackers been so quiet, she'd not have heard them?
The shock zapped her back to the tiger where she curled up into a ball. A new fear took over, blending with that of the tiger's.
Who the hell had hurt Fez? Were they still here?
In the background, she heard a door rattle.
***
Ronin had walked a lot of seedy streets in his time, but these slums were pretty bad. He'd already seen several drug deals go down. Life here was a whole new world. The hookers strolled the sidewalks, looking ready to call it a night. Businesses thrived down here, but at this hour of the morning it appeared only the underbelly was alive. During the day, it teemed with people from all walks of life. Many were visiting. When this was your life, escape was damn near an impossibility – so many never did.
He walked around the corner to find Land's End Cafe. From the outside it had that tired, worn down look – the same as so many of the other local businesses. Open twenty-four hours, there were likely more cockroaches eating at the restaurant than clients. Still, he ordered two coffees and watched the grizzled waiter pour them. As he accepted the steaming cups from him, he was surprised to see the rich color. He wasn't sure what he'd expected. He'd taken his chances on the coffee here – it could've been anything from sludge to a tea-looking brew.
The diner was empty, but the traffic outside was steady. From a table in the corner, he watched the world walk by. His eye caught on an old couple holding hands. His smile warmed. He'd planned on having a wife and a family to grow old together. The growing old together was what he was looking at. The comfortable reassurance that they knew each other inside and out. That their love had been the light they'd walked with for every day of their lives.
He had to admit, he wanted some of that for himself – with Tabitha.
But that girl seemed to thrive on trouble. He didn't feel in sync with her world. As much as he wanted to be, that didn't guarantee he'd find his place in it. And he hadn't been able to help her. Yet.
"Ronin?"
Ronin glanced up. A scraggly looking man in oversized pants and jacket, with a full and unkempt beard and an old flattened hat stood in front of him. Just a middle-aged man down on his luck. Nice disguise, except the man's eyes were clear and direct. And faintly familiar.
Ronin nodded and motioned to the seat across from him and the waiting cup of coffee. "Take a seat."
"Thanks." The man sat in the chair.
Trying not to stare, Ronin studied the coffee swirling in his mug. "What do you know?"
The man took a sip of his hot drink first. "There's some talk about a rare cat. Doing poorly."
Now they were talking. Ronin leaned forward. "Where?" he asked in low undertones. He didn't know if it was a rare cat Tabitha had hooked up with, but that made sense. He should have asked her. The various states had different laws regarding owning and breeding large cats, but he’d also learned that anything was available for the right price.
&n
bsp; The other man shrugged. "Can't be sure."
"What can you be sure of?"
"It's rare. It's hurting, and there is some in-fighting going on between buyer and seller." The older man inhaled the caffeine fumes, then lifted his cup and took another sip, then sighed happily.
"Names?" Was he an informant or an undercover cop? That Ronin couldn't tell said much for his disguise.
The other man took his time then shook his head. "That I can't do." He put down the empty cup and stood up. "Thanks for helping an old man out. Appreciate it."
He shuffled passed Ronin and went out the door.
With a snort, Ronin stood, pissed at not having more. As he turned to leave, he saw a crumpled piece of paper on the table. He could've sworn it hadn't been there before. He snatched it up and raced out the front door so he could see which direction the old man had gone.
There was no sign of him. He'd disappeared.
Ronin glanced down at the paper in his hand. He smoothed it out. And found what appeared to be a phone number scribbled across the sheet.
***
Stefan woke from a deep sleep, silently, stealthily. Alert. As if he was under attack – or preparing to attack. Only there was no sign of anything. Or anyone. He shifted his vision to search the energy in the room. It all appeared normal. His guards were still in place. The house remained safe. His security system untouched.
So where was the danger?
Faint images of a collapsed man filled his mind. He sorted through the images, trying to figure out who the man was. And why was Stefan receiving the images?
He grabbed his pencil and sketchbook and went to work. The picture came together relatively quickly.
After a few moments, he closed his eyes to bring the image up again. And caught that same scent of wrongness he'd felt on waking.
He sent out a probe, searching the ether for what had disturbed him. Nothing. He lay quiet for a few moments, listening. Nothing obvious, but still…something was wrong. He couldn't identify it. But that didn't mean it wasn't there.
Tabitha? He wished he knew for certain. Too often he dealt with multiple cases at once. There could be any number of things wrong. Restless, he set the sketchbook aside and stepped out onto his deck as the early morning light was cresting the horizon.
He took a deep breath of the crisp air. There was still a bite in the cool morning, but not enough to ease the rising temperature of worry. If only he could figure out what was wrong. He stared across the property. He was far enough out of town that he was often visited by wildlife. No animals moved.
He cocked his head to the side, turned to glance back into his bedroom, then walked through to his front door. He threw it open. Then stared. There was the merest whisper through the large bushes in front of him. He shifted his vision to search for energy. Blues and greens swirled in the early morning dawn. He used colors to help his plants grow. Those not native to the country utilized the energy to adapt. The colors helped stabilize, helped them to adjust. In part, that was why they'd done so well here.
Tabitha's face rose from the colors, letting him know he was between realities. She opened her mouth, but the words flew from his lips. "My grandfather's box."
***
Fez sat quietly in the corner of the warehouse. His head was killing him – and his boss looked like he wanted to finish the job. When he'd first arrived, he'd had a genial smile on his face that made Fez's blood run cold.
Now he was talking to the buyer. Only Fez didn't understand the conversation. And yeah, that might be from the knock on his noggin. He reached up a tentative hand to touch the wound. Blood was still dripping down the side of his neck.
He needed medical attention but had no money. He was also damn sure the boss would toss him in the river rather than help him. The longer he listened, the more he realized the boss was dousing his chances of ever getting away.
"No," the boss said into the phone, "I'm sorry to say, she's definitely not improving. I don't think she's even going to make a week even. I should be able to refund this transaction by the weekend."
This time Fez couldn't hear the buyer's half of the conversation, but the glint in the boss's eye said he wasn't backing down. None of this made any sense. He groaned and leaned back to rest his head.
For whatever reason, the boss wanted to back out of this tiger deal. And that was seriously bad news.
His boss continued. "No. There's no option at this point. I'll make the arrangements."
When he hung up the phone and stared at Fez, Fez said querulously, "We did everything we could to make this deal happen. Now you cancelled it?"
The boss snorted. "Damn right I did. She's pregnant. That changes everything. There is no way in hell I'm going to sell short the best deal of my life." He smiled, a cold, hard smile. "She's worth so much more now."
Fez didn't know what to say and couldn't think straight either. Money...he needed money. "But…my paycheck?"
"Oh you'll get paid. No worries there." His boss pulled out a small notepad and dropped it on the floor in front of Fez. "We're going to run a private auction – contact a few more people. Some high-end collectors."
"I need money now," Fez protested. "And this buyer… What about when he finds out?"
The boss opened his wallet and pulled out some bills. He threw them at Fez. "This will tide you over for a week. It won't be longer than that and you'll get your full pay."
Fez leaned forward, shuddered at the pain, and picked up the money. "And the buyer?"
"This buyer can go to hell," the boss said calmly. "Once I give him the money back, he’s got nothing to do with this anymore. If he wants her after that, he can bid in the auction. If he asks, I'll tell him she's made a miraculous recovery and is pregnant to boot." He smiled. A twitch of his lips that made Fez's heart quake with dread.
"And if he doesn't like it, too damn bad." The cold smile turned to ice. "I have solutions for assholes like him too."
Chapter 16
Monday morning
Tabitha had to get home again. It was early, she'd heard something out in the warehouse a while ago, but it had calmed down.
In fact, outside of trying to grab something useful for Ronin to help her and the tiger, she'd had no real reason for staying as long as she had. Except to provide comfort. Trinity was calm and peaceful when Tabitha was there beside her.
But once she left her, Trinity's energy would thin and she'd feel the fear and panic that much stronger – even with Tabitha’s suppression energy.
Tabitha understood Trinity was sick. In a way that was beyond healing. Heartsick. And maybe soul-sick. There was only so much she could do to make Trinity's remaining time as easy as possible. Given the situation, that wasn't much. If they could get her to the reserve, she'd do better but any measure would be only temporary. As for the cub inside...
If it could survive this nastiness, then there could be a decent life for it. Tabitha already felt the same warm maternal feelings the tiger did, as if the cub were her own. It would be brutal if something happened to it, but she also knew the dangers of getting this attached. The cub most likely wouldn't be able to stay with her, although it could live at Exotic Landscape quite nicely. She'd have to fight for it. Better these assholes had left her in the wild.
Tabitha sent a warm, loving energy jolt to the tiger's energy chakra and then to the baby. She poured protective energy around them both as she backed up and away before finally turning and sweeping into the ether to find Tango.
As her energy had never left Tango's, he only gave her a surprised greeting as if to say, 'What is your problem, I was sleeping here?'
She laughed with joy at the familiar surroundings and gave the big cat a warm hug. His energy rolled through her, around her, warming her and bringing tears to her eyes. She felt so sorry for all the lonely people in the world who never had a chance to connect on this level. She'd been truly blessed. Her father was one of those who'd never connected, and as such had missed out on one of life
's truly great experiences.
She shifted back to check on Tripod, who barked a warm greeting, before she dashed back to her physical body. This time she slid back inside effortlessly.
She opened her eyes. And saw she was back in the hospital.
This trip had been much easier on her body and on her soul. Her room was empty. She had no idea where Ronin was, but he couldn't be expected to stay here forever. Knowing that, she wanted to return to her house. Even connected as she was and knowing that the tiger could pull her back at any time, Tabitha would be better off at home. She could only hope that the protective healing energy she'd left behind had the power to keep Trinity calm for a day or two at least. That would hopefully free Tabitha long enough to sort out her life here. She did not want to get tugged backwards like she'd been twice, but that appeared to be the only thing the tiger knew to do to make herself feel better.