Black Cat Crossing

by Fitz Molly

  “Of course. We’ve been through a lot together. If Ava said your friend is in danger, I believe her,” he said, giving Ava a warm smile.

  It was a good thing I had such a do-gooder cousin. Even the local law enforcement liked her.

  “Promise you’ll call me as soon as you find anything out?” Ava asked him.

  “Promise. Now go and get into some dry clothes before you both get sick. It’s dark and very cold out here,” he said. “I can’t do my job if I’m worried about the two of you.”

  As much as I wanted to keep looking, he was right. Visibility deteriorated to nothing with the rain and I was freezing. I went with Ava back to her place, took a nice hot shower and borrowed some clean clothes. Adopted or not, we both wore the same exact size.

  One look in the mirror and I screamed.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Ava, rushing to the bathroom door with a bat. “Is the killer here?”

  “No. It’s my hair. It’s all wavy,” I said.

  Ava dropped the bat and let out a huge sigh of relief.

  “Oh, it looks great,” she said, running her hands through it.

  “I thought I had straight hair. It was straight when I woke up with amnesia. Do you think my hair forgot it was supposed to be straight?” I asked. “It was straight in all those childhood photos you had.”

  “Hormones can change your hair when you get older,” she said.

  “I’m only twenty-seven,” I said.

  I sucked in a huge gulp of air. “Ohmigosh, do you think I got a perm?”

  “I think those were outlawed after the 1980s. I have a blow dryer and straightener you can use,” she said, pulling some foreign looking objects out of a drawer and handing them to me.

  “I don’t remember how to use--” I stopped short of whining because as soon as I touched Ava, I knew how to use them. I somehow managed to absorb her knowledge into my brain.

  “I can show you how,” said Ava.

  “Actually, I think I’m good. It just came back to me,” I said.

  She gave me a weird look and shrugged her shoulders. “I’ll be downstairs in the kitchen feeding Werewolf. I can’t speak cat language but he made it pretty obvious by opening the fridge over and over again that he was hungry. Take your time.”

  Twenty minutes later, my hair was back to normal, or at least, to the normal that I remembered from this afternoon. I pulled out some warm, fuzzy socks from Ava’s drawer. They were lined with faux fur and felt heavenly.

  It took me a while to get from her bedroom to the kitchen. I guessed I wasn’t the only rich Decker. Ava’s house was hidden behind a private security gate and rather huge. Not as large as mine but pretty darn close.

  I found her in the kitchen on the main floor, cleaning up Werewolf’s late night feast.

  “How many bedrooms did you say this place has?” I asked, walking down the floating staircase into her massively roomy living room.

  “Something like five or ten. I’m not really sure. I inherited it from my old boss,” she said.

  “Were you two really close?” I asked, running my hands along the gold-plated staircase railing.

  “Not at all. It’s kind of a long story but I totally lucked out with this house,” she said, handing me a warm beverage. “Do you like jasmine tea?”

  “I have no idea,” I said.

  Ava hit her head with her hand. “I’m so sorry. I keep forgetting. Amnesia.”

  It smelled rich and sweet all at the same time. I took a sip. Jasmine was a definite yes. I gave her a thumbs-up and pulled out a coaster to set the tea down on the side table next to the couch. Ava handed me a fuzzy blanket that I draped across my legs while she started up the fireplace.

  Lucky instantly curled up on my lap. “Are you going to live with us? Please, please, please! We have plenty of room. Shall I call you Cousin Sakara?” he asked.

  Those were a lot of questions. In kitty years, he was still a toddler, so it fit.

  “I have my own house, which isn’t very far from here, but I’ll visit you all the time and you can both come over to visit me. And yes, you can call me Cousin Sakara,” I said.

  Werewolf made a fake barfing sound. “He is so not coming over to our house.”

  “You can ignore him. He’s just grumpy from being outside in the rain,” I explained. “He doesn’t like water.”

  “I like water. My mommy gives me baths all the time. But they’re nice and warm. That rain was cold,” said Lucky, crawling under the blanket and burrowing himself deeper. “I’m going to take a nap now. I’m tired.”

  “Where is your house?” she asked.

  I might have preferred to retract that home visit invitation until I had a chance to renovate and gut the entire interior. Or possibly have it demolished. Just thinking about the blaring red walls and shiny, black patent leather everything made me cringe. I much preferred the soft cream, beige and earthy tones inside Ava’s home.

  “I don’t know, but GPS says it’s about thirty minutes north of here, closer to Bangor,” I said.

  “You’re welcome to stay with me for as long as you want. There’re plenty of rooms here and I can easily up my grocery list to include whatever foods Werewolf prefers eating,” she said.

  “Wow, that’s so nice of you. I don’t even know how to thank you for everything you’ve already done for me today,” I said to Ava once she sat down. “I’m so lucky to have a cousin like you. I feel terrible for cutting you out of my life for the last decade. It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “I’m just really glad you’re here now. That’s all that matters,” said Ava, squeezing my hand. I could sense her fear and worry that I would disappear again. She didn’t want to let me out of her sight. That was because she only had good memories of me.

  “I have to tell you something,” I said, straightening up.

  “Did you recall something?” she asked.

  “Kind of, but not really. Werewolf said I was a bad person. Like criminally bad,” I said, holding my breath and waiting for her response.

  “Like, you go around as a cat and cat-mom duo, stealing anything made with sugar?” she asked.

  “I wish it were that trivial. Remember how I told you my witchy powers let me read people’s minds?” I asked.

  She nodded, leaning forward and listening intently.

  “Well, I do awful things with that information,” I said before I relayed every single despicable detail that Werewolf told me.

  And then, Ava being Ava did the one thing I never expected: she hugged me and told me she loved me no matter what.

  “I’ve known you since we were both babies and you, Sakara Decker, are a good person, through and through. I have no idea what happened during the last ten years but if you did all of those things, I bet you had a good reason. And if not, then I know you’ll find a way to make it right,” she said.

  “How? According to Werewolf, not only do I have amnesia but so do the people I hurt. I whammied it out of their brains somehow,” I said.

  “You’ll figure it out. You were always the smart one and if you dropped out of the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, I’m sure it was on purpose,” she said.

  Wow. I said expel but I liked how she reframed that into my leaving them versus the other way around. I wish I could have that much faith in my supposed good side and Mensa level intelligence.

  “But what if I am bad, like the original Wicked Witch of the West?” I asked.

  “First of all, you’re from Clover Creek which is on the East coast. Second, between the two of us, I’m the naughty one. You were always the moral compass, stopping us from doing anything bad,” she said.

  “Ha! I seriously doubt that,” I replied.

  “One summer, when we were thirteen, there was this really mean bully, Sandra Clay. Sandra totally had it out for me. She thought I stole her boyfriend and threatened to beat me up after school. You intervened and set them back up together but gave me all the credit. Sandra was so happy, she never bothered me a
gain.”

  Before I could ask Ava for more stories, my phone rang. It was Alistair!

  “Where are you?” I asked.

  “I don’t know how you knew my plans but your precious little Alistair has one hour to live unless you deliver one million dollars in cash to me within the hour,” she said.

  “Ulyanna?” I asked, stalling for time. I held the phone sideways and leaned into Ava so she could hear, too.

  “Of course it’s me, you idiot giraffe,” she said. Jeez, talking to her was like talking to Werewolf. Maybe she’d like to adopt a cat.

  “I don’t have a million dollars,” I said.

  “Don’t play stupid with me. I looked you up. You’re loaded. My original client is only paying me a quarter of a million so I’m willing to trade up for a higher payout. Get me my million before midnight or Alistair dies. I’ll call you back in the hour with further instructions.”

  “You’re rich?” asked Ava.

  “I knew I had money but I didn’t think I had that much money. If you saw my closet or garage, you’d figure I spent it all on retail stores or at car dealerships,” I said.

  I pulled up my phone and logged into the bank account app using facial recognition. The balance showed ten million plus.

  “Whoa,” said Ava, “and that’s only your savings account.”

  She reached over and hit the checking account tab, which read another ten million.

  We both gasped this time.

  “All right, the good news is that I don’t need my witch powers to save Alistair. I can just make an ATM withdrawal.”

  It would be a good cause for spending the blackmail money if it went to saving someone’s life.

  Ava shook her head no. “I don't know what your ATM limit is but I don’t think they stock any ATMs with that much cash.”

  Right. Very good point. Ulyanna must realize that, too. The banks are closed. The ATMs won’t allow that great a cash withdrawal. I’ll just have to wire her the money. This was fast becoming the worst bad movie plot ever.

  Ava called Wesley and relayed the Ulyanna conversation to him. The police and Interpol arrived at Ava’s place within minutes. They attached wires and tons of gadgets onto my phone in anticipation of when Ulyanna called back.

  An hour later, after non-stop back and forth pacing, she texted: Town Square Fountain at eleven PM. Wiring instructions attached.

  “It’s an offshore account in the Caymans,” said one of the Interpol officers. “Tell her you won’t wire the money until you can visually see Alistair in person.”

  “But what if she gets angry and kills him?” I asked. What did I care about the money? If I could save Alistair’s life, that was all that mattered.

  “She’s a professional. She doesn’t get emotional. This is simply a business transaction for her,” he said, already texting her back without my permission.

  “Hey!” I shouted. “I didn’t tell you it was okay to send that.”

  “We know what we’re doing. You have to trust us,” he said, touching my arm. Not only did I sense that he had no idea what he was doing but he’d been chasing this woman for over a decade without any success. His job and reputation were on the line if he didn’t bring her in. This was his last chance before getting canned at work.

  I was about to yell at him some more when Ulyanna texted back: I will bring your precious little Alistair to the fountain, but come alone or you’ll be sorry.

  “I’m guessing that going solo is out of the question?” I asked. Turning to Werewolf, I whispered, “Are you sure I can’t teleport?”

  Werewolf laughed. “Don’t you think if you were able to teleport or fly around on broomsticks, you wouldn’t have wasted so much money on buying so many cars?”

  Chapter Nine

  It was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop. We left Werewolf and Lucky alone in the party room at Ava’s bakery. I was worried, not for Werewolf but for innocent, adorable, little Lucky. Ava reassured me there were plenty of reserve cupcakes to occupy Werewolf and put Paw Patrol on the main overhead screen in her party room for him. I threatened Werewolf with everything I could think of before we left them to ensure Lucky’s continued blissful existence.

  The Town Square was pretty small and Ava’s bakery was right down the street so Ava and the rest of the team stayed behind and watched from the shop. To describe myself as nervous was the world’s greatest understatement. This could be the single most important thing I’d ever done (that I could remember), and also the scariest.

  Like a ninja, Ulyanna materialized out of nowhere. Alistair was nowhere in sight. She held a gun up and pointed it straight at my head.

  “What agency are you from? FBI? CIA?” she demanded.

  Now that blackmail was off the table, I had no idea what kind of career I’d choose to pursue but working for the government didn’t sound very appealing. “No,” I said, shaking my head.

  “So you’re international. Mossad? MI6? Russian FSB?” she persisted, stepping closer. Or rather, her gun kept coming closer.

  “Perhaps you missed that part earlier when I told you I suffered from amnesia, as officially diagnosed at the hospital?” I said, showing her my ER bracelet again that I still hadn’t bothered to remove.

  “Excellent cover. Pretending to be dumb and saying you know nothing,” she said, like she figured it all out.

  I threw my hands up in the air. “But I don’t know anything.”

  “Stop playing stupid. Wire the money now or you die, too” she warned me icily.

  “You can’t kill me. I'm the only one who can wire the money to you. My phone is locked,” I said.

  “You mean, the phone that only unlocks with facial recognition?” she asked. “I’m pretty sure that feature works whether you're dead or alive. But thank you for the reminder. I’ll make sure to shoot you below the neck.” She lowered her gun and aimed it towards my heart.

  So much for outsmarting the assassin. I guessed I could cross joining the Mensa club off the list. I couldn’t die now. I hadn’t even been alive for an entire day yet. I didn’t know if I preferred spaghetti to fettuccine or not. Maybe I liked ziti noodles. I never dated. I never even kissed anyone. It was too soon to die.

  “Show me Alistair first,” I said, squashing that annoying, wimpy voice in my head.

  “After I get the money,” she said.

  What if he was already dead?

  “Ulyanna Yerkovich, or whatever alias you go by these days, this is Interpol, and you are surrounded. Put down your weapon. You are under arrest,” announced a loud voice on his megaphone. So much for any help in saving Alistair’s life. They only cared about taking her down.

  Werewolf said I could manipulate people’s minds and make them do what I wanted. Just three inches separated us before I could make skin-to-skin contact with Ulyanna. Suddenly, two of the Interpol officers attacked and managed to wrestle the gun out of her hands, which fell into the fountain. But she easily took both of them down with a single blow.

  Three more followed. Three more dropped like anchors.

  Ava’s friend, Wesley, and another officer flanked her sides. Apparently, she was expecting them, and took them both out before they had a chance to lay a hand on her.

  “Looks like it’s just you and me for some girl time,” said Ulyanna.

  “You didn’t kill anyone?” I asked, confused. They were all unconscious but still breathing.

  “Do you do wet work pro bono? Because I don’t. If I just go around willy-nilly killing people, right and left, there goes my reputation. I’m a professional. If you’re not paying, I’m not killing,” she said.

  “I wasn’t expecting that answer,” I said, stalling for time and because she spoke the truth. “Is there a union of bylaws for hitwomen that spells out a code of conduct statement somewhere?”

  I reached out to grab her and closed my eyes, silently hoping for a miracle. I may have been taller but she was a good deal stronger than me and flipped me up in the air and body slammed me
onto the ground. So much for my theory about working out. I made a mental note to find a gym membership first thing tomorrow, if I were still alive.

  There was the familiar wind swoosh and the white lightning flash to my brain as the images appeared all over again; but this time, something was different. I could preview all of Ulyanna’s movements as soon as she thought of them.

  Upper strike to the chin, and a side lean to miss it. I was still holding onto her arm with a death grip so I could also read her thoughts.

  Chest thrust to knock the wind out of me, and I side-stepped to avoid it.

  Leg sweep to knock me on the ground, and I did a high jump to bypass it.

  Back elbow to the head, but I ducked to avoid it.

  “What the...?” asked Ulyanna, completely confused on how I easily evaded her every move. I could hear her thinking how impossible it was for me to successfully dodge her elite covert operative training moves.

  Not only could I skirt her offensive strikes but I also saw and felt her previous training, like I was learning all those moves, too. If I could absorb another witch’s powers, there was no reason I couldn’t absorb some fighting techniques as well.

  I did a back spin kick to her head, followed by a gut punch to her center and a lower leg sweep, causing her to faceplant on the ground. Stepping on her spine between her C4 and C5 vertebra, I beamed in on the nerve that immobilized her upper body. Grabbing the unconscious Wesley’s handcuffs from his belt, I pulled Ulyanna’s hands behind her back and cuffed her. Then for good measure, I grabbed a second pair of cuffs from one of the unconscious Interpol agents and cuffed her ankles together.

  “That was amazing! You’re like one of those martial arts action stars! You were so fast, there were just arms and legs in super-fast blurs,” Ava gushed, running over and hugging me as soon as I stood up. “Where did you learn all of that?”

  I hugged her back Decker style, swaying left and right.

  “Ulyanna taught me. When I touched her, I guess I absorbed all of her training inside my head,” I said.

  “I know who to call whenever I need a bodyguard,” Ava laughed.