The Time of The Cat 10
TEN
NO HELP
Liz struck off at a quick pace down the street as if she knew where she was going.
I looked over my shoulder a couple of times, trying to make sure I knew where we were, and then ran to catch her arm.
“Hey, wait a minute! I’ve got a secure office a couple of blocks away from here,” I said. “Let’s go there and regroup.”
She nodded and in a few minutes we were back in my mid-town office. When I put the duffle down, the cat jumped out and began to explore the room.
Liz asked, “Do you have any way for me to communicate with my boss in this place?”
I waved toward the computer. “Use that, but be sure to encrypt your conversation. I feel pretty vulnerable as it is and we don’t need them walking down our throats before you get halfway through.”
“I’m already on it,” she said. “It’s protocol for my people to use a private system with full encryption.”
She was, too. It was only a few seconds before the screen showed an office background, and then a gray-haired, distinguished-looking man leaned forward with surprise on his face. “Elizabeth! Is that really you? I thought that you were gone for sure! Where are you?”
“Right here in town, boss,” she answered. “I’ve got a friend, and we need help. I’ve located the source of the fake Federal Reserve Notes, but the situation is going to require some pretty heavy force to even begin to slow it down.”
He looked over his shoulder and then back. “You need to report in immediately. Come on into the office now!”
“I don’t think I’ve been followed, but I don’t know for sure,” she said, a frown on her face.
He frowned in return, then looked up as if he were looking at something behind his computer screen.
“No, come on in,” he insisted, momentarily glancing again at something out of the corner of his eyes. “We’ll discuss a plan while I raise a response force. I’ll have Peggy send out for some food since it’s almost time to eat. When can I expect you?”
“In about thirty minutes,” she answered, hanging up.
She turned to me with a serious expression. “He didn’t ask about you when I mentioned that I had a friend. That’s not like him. He’s usually extremely proactive, and he likes to control all aspects of a situation.”
She looked puzzled for a moment and then said, “Well, maybe he’s just waiting until we get there, but he is acting a little strange.”
“I don’t like this very much,” I said. “I’m already worried about the situation, and going to meet people I don’t know in a location that I’m not familiar with isn’t really what I want to be doing right at the moment.”
“Just trust me. The boss is the real stuff, and he’ll be able to help, you’ll see,” she smiled and stepped towards me.
My arms opened, and she snuggled close with her head under my chin. “It’s about time we caught a bit of a break in this situation,” she said. “The Pugs won’t know what hit them when we get into their transporter system with reinforcements. Especially now that we know their vulnerabilities.”
“OK,” I sighed. “Where do we have to go?”
“Back downtown, near Battery Park.”
The cat made a “meep” noise, and we turned to see that he was already standing at the door waiting for us. Liz laughed, “I think he must understand us!”
I responded, “He’s more on top of things than some professionals I’ve worked with.”
The traffic had eased somewhat, and after only three insanely close calls, we were there and parked. Must have been my lucky day because a parking space opened as if I’d called ahead for it.
Our orange cat seemed bored. He was busy cleaning a hind foot and pulling at his claws with his teeth. I opened the rear windows a few inches and left him in the car. It was in the shade, so I figured he’d be OK for a few minutes. He didn’t pay much attention to us as we walked off.
We left most of our weapons in the trunk, although I retrieved the second laser from my bag. Then we walked to a hardware store adjacent to a Chinese restaurant. There was a door between the two, and we walked in, and Liz started up some stairs that opened onto the foyer. I followed her up three flights and then into a hallway. As we headed up the stairs, my danger sense began going off like crazy.
As we stepped into the hallway, we were in time to see a wall panel slide shut over what might have been a transporter door, leaving the wall looking as if it were seamless. We halted and looked at each other with an uneasy surmise. I was pleased to see that her splinter gun was already out and in her hand. She was as fast a draw as I was. My gun was also out, and we moved carefully down the hall towards the door at the end.
She placed her hand on a scanner plate beside the door. It clicked, and the door swung open. We’d moved where we could cover the opening, and it was a good thing we were ready. There were about twenty Pugs waiting inside for us.
There was no sign of Liz’s boss, but I briefly glimpsed what looked like some bodies lying against the wall behind the Pugs.
Our guns made soft thump-thump noises, and we ducked back. The Pugs weren’t too anxious to come around the corner, but shortly two of them tried it. They didn’t live to regret their hurry.
We retreated down the hall, but then I had my sixth sense warning go off again. It had proved to be a useful indicator of danger in the past, and it was right on track now. I swung around and started shooting just as the hidden transporter door snapped open, and four more Pugs came out. They were all down, dead or dying. I heard Liz’s gun continue to “thump-poof” several times more behind me.
We fought our way out of that building as quickly as we could. I lagged back on the stairs and got two more on the landings as they tried to come around the corners. It didn’t seem as if their idea of tactics was too good. Perhaps they were so used to beating up on unarmed humans that they didn’t really expect too much out of us. I’m proud to say that they were surprised, or at least the ones that we didn’t shoot were probably surprised.
We were on the street and nearly in our car when some Pug fired off an RPG or something similar from the building’s roof. The front of our car jumped about five feet in the air with the explosion. The windows in the car broke, and our cat came flying out of the rear like his tail was on fire. It wasn’t really, but the front seat was.
We bypassed the car and ducked around the corner before the shooter could reload and try for a second score. The cat was right with us and hissing mad. He raced ahead and then stopped at an alley, looked down it, and bristled his tail. He let out a full-throated battle cry, took a few running steps, and leaped right up to the face of a Pug as it came running out of the alley, looking for us.
Mr. Cat proceeded to give the Pug a severe beating around the head and shoulders. It didn’t slow the creature down. He quickly brushed the cat off, but now there was yellow fluid leaking out of numerous cuts and scratches in his body suit. That didn’t bother him nearly as much as the laser did when I flashed it in his eyes. He dropped slowly to his knees and then expired, exactly like the others.
The cat looked startled and then sniffed carefully at the body. He hadn’t heard the laser; it was soundless. I don’t know if he’d seen it. He probably thought he’d killed the creature himself. It did seem like he had even more of a swagger as we moved down the street.
Around the next corner, I was able to steal another car from a naive individual who thought it was safe to walk off and leave his door unlocked. The car did not have an electronic ignition, so I fiddled with the wires for a moment before getting it started. Then we headed back uptown.
As we drove, we discussed the ambush. I was of the opinion that Liz’s boss was helping the Pugs, but she insisted that he must have been trying to get us there under duress. She was sure that he was too decent a guy to be on their side. After a few blocks, we’d exhausted the topic. She seemed to think that she’d convinced me, but I simply wanted to keep an open mind and resolve it whenever I had the opportunity.