Cat Scratch Fever (12 page)

‘Don’t be ridiculous, and don’t treat me like some simpering weakling,’ she said. ‘This was my idea, and I’m not going to be any help if I hide in here.’

He muttered under his breath in his native tongue.

‘Yes, I’m stubborn, but I’m offended by that last part,’ Felicia said, smirking as his jaw dropped and his dark skin flushed. In fluent Spanish, she told him not to be a chauvinistic pig.

Ignoring Felicia, José gave Mel a quick kiss, then reached for the door.

‘Oh, fine, she gets a kiss, and all I get is an insult,’ Felicia muttered, not really angry.

A small hand grabbed her forearm and tugged. She turned. Mel stood on tiptoes and planted a big wet one on her lips. ‘Better?’ Mel asked, fighting off a grin.

‘Definitely,’ Felicia said.

‘Lock the door behind us,’ José said.

Outside was a curious mix of silence and noise. They were far enough outside of town that they didn’t catch the usual traffic noises; but the restless cats were drowning out the normal subtle desert noises, such as the scurry of small animals as they bedded down for the night.

It was a typical clear desert night, the stars shimmering in the clear air. Predictably, the temperature had dropped when the sun disappeared, and Felicia was glad she’d worn a long-sleeved shirt.

Felicia leant in close to José. He smelt of cat and antiseptic and sewer. Not exactly an erotic combination, although being near him still sent a sexual shiver through her. She
still
wasn’t satisfied, dammit, despite the recent boost to her sex life. Sex with José and Mel had been full of orgasmic fun, but…

Dear lord, were Gabe’s pheromones throwing her off whack? It would be just her luck that she’d be responding to the one man who stood to ruin her livelihood.

Her mouth a hair’s breadth away from José’s ear, Felicia whispered, ‘You take the tiger enclosure; I’ll loop past the main building and head towards the fishing cats.’

He nodded and moved away, blending into the darkness.

Felicia held the flashlight loosely in her hand. She kept it turned off, but ready to flick on at a moment’s notice if she came upon anything suspicious. She knew the Sanctuary well enough to get around by the dim light of the three-quarter moon.

Something moved in the new plants, rustling the leaves, and her heart leapt. Cautiously, she directed her flashlight in that direction, suddenly aware of how feeble and ineffectual the beam of light seemed.

She smothered the laugh that threatened to burble forth out of the misplaced nervousness. One of the Sanctuary’s three peacocks glared at her from the underbrush. After giving her one last haughty look, it stalked away, its sweeping tail trailing behind it.

She continued along, turning on the flashlight every so often to check for signs that someone had been there. Their primary goal was to catch the perpetrator(s) in the act, although scaring them away for good was a fine secondary goal.

She just prayed they did find out who was responsible, and that that person didn’t turn out to be Gabe.

*   *   *

Lance huddled against the wall behind the cougar enclosure. He drew his hoodie farther over his head. Shit, it was cold. He’d declined going out to dinner with everyone, saying he had to get home. He’d helped Alan out with some last-minute clean-up of shovels and buckets, and then told him he was leaving just as the security guard was headed to the bathroom for his evening constitutional. Alan had said he’d lock up after Lance left.

Lance had simply unlocked the door, then circled back around and hidden in the narrow space between the main building and the supply shed until darkness fell.

He was still wearing the low-rider long jean shorts that had made a lot of sense when he was working out in the hot sun all day. Now, his bare legs pimpled with gooseflesh.

He hated sitting around. He hated waiting.

If Just and Dog didn’t show up, he was going to kill them.

*   *   *

Gabe saw light streaming from the vet clinic window. Cautiously, he peered inside, expecting to see José. To his surprise, the petite Asian animal handler, Mel, was pacing the room, tapping her fingers on the metal examining table as she went by it.

He waited, feeling uncomfortably like a Peeping Tom, but José didn’t emerge from the back room or the small bathroom. He frowned. If José had left Mel in charge of the newborn cubs for the whole night, he was in serious breach of protocol.

It was possible José was checking on the cubs himself, though, and Mel was hanging around for another reason. And of course she was probably the most knowledgeable person to leave in charge of the cubs if José had to step away for a short while. Gabe eased away from the window and continued his own surreptitious circuit of the Sanctuary.

*   *   *

Felicia crept behind the row of cages that housed the North American cats. Her stomach clenched and churned. Maybe Mexican food with a side order of nerves hadn’t been the best choice.

A noise. She froze, heart in her throat. This one wasn’t random – it was rhythmic. Someone walking.

She made a low noise like a night hawk, the pre-arranged signal.

No response.

Damn. She slid her flashlight on, masking the beam with her palm. Then, in one move, she turned the corner and started to raise the light. But before she could bring it all the way up, she slammed – hard – into someone.

A hand clapped over her mouth before she could draw the breath to scream. An arm wrapped around her, pinning her own arms to her sides, and her flashlight fell, thudding into the dirt beside the pathway.

Before full terror took hold, she saw her attacker’s face in the moon’s dim glow. It was Gabe.

She didn’t know whether to be relieved or distraught. He shouldn’t be here. But at least he wasn’t a mad axe murderer.

She relaxed, just slightly, but enough that he took his hand from her mouth (and it was a good thing he did, too, because otherwise she would have bitten him), but he didn’t let her go.

‘Jesus, you nearly gave me a heart attack!’ he growled.

‘What the hell are you doing here?’ she demanded.

‘I could ask you the same thing. Development coordinators’ job descriptions don’t include skulking.’

‘You’d be surprised at the lengths we have to go to,’ Felicia muttered.

He didn’t respond and, in the space of a heartbeat that pulsed deep in her groin, she realised why. She was pressed full-length against him: breasts to chest, thighs to thighs…and soft belly to hard cock.

‘Fuck,’ he said.

She was entirely prepared to say ‘OK’ when his mouth came down on hers.

‘Lance, my man! Wasn’t sure you’d be here.’ Just clapped Lance on the shoulder.

‘How’d you get in?’ Lance asked. ‘This place is usually locked up tighter than a drum.’ He knew, because he’d done the rounds with Alan before – plus now, they were being extra careful.

Both of his friends were dressed in all black, with black knit caps pulled low on their heads, Dog’s also covered by a hoodie. Still, they walked and talked as if they owned the place; Lance wouldn’t have been surprised if someone heard or saw them.

‘That service gate, the one for machinery,’ Dog said. ‘We complained about not bein’ able to get in last night, and the guy who hired us said he’d get us in. He called and told us where to go.’

Lance knew the gate in question. It was rarely used, but they’d opened it this morning for the backhoe to get through. He would swear Alan had locked it back up afterwards, though. But Dog seemed to be implying that whoever hired them had made sure the gate would be unlocked. Who had access? Who would hire them? Alan? José? Gabe?

‘Who is this guy?’ he asked.

‘Like we’re going to tell you,’ Just said. ‘Are you in or out?’

‘He’s in,’ Dog said. ‘Why else would he be here?’

‘Yeah, why else?’ Lance felt both relieved and guilty that Dog put such faith in him. Now he didn’t have to answer the question. ‘So, what’s it gonna be? Tagging? Breaking stuff?’

A pair of cat eyes glittered as the pale moonlight caught them, giving Lance the sense that they were being watched, not just by those eyes, but by many, many more that they couldn’t see.

‘I dunno,’ Just said thoughtfully, looking around. ‘I’m bored. I’m thinkin’ maybe we’ll do something more fun.’

*   *   *

Pure bliss. Sensory overload. Like the finest chocolate in the world melting on her tongue while silk caressed her naked body and the sweetest symphony serenaded her ears.

She wanted more. Wanted – and needed. Felicia’s breasts peaked, begging to be touched, squeezed, suckled. As if in response to her silent plea, Gabe skimmed his hands along her waist up her ribcage, to rest tantalisingly beneath her breasts. Slowly, maddeningly, he slid up and brushed his thumbs across her nipples. Even through a layer of shirt and another of bra, the sensation flashed through her, from nipples to groin. She gasped and instinctively pressed harder against him, and the movement of her hips ignited him.

The exquisite kisses, the sharp probe of his tongue, made her crave the feel of his mouth elsewhere, everywhere. Brushing across bare skin. Nibbling at her breasts. Licking insistently between her legs, where she was already wet and aching. Spreading her lower lips and flicking across her swollen clit.

She cupped her hands around his firm ass and pulled him even closer. He pulled back, then ducked his head to put his mouth where his fingers had been. Through her clothes, she felt the warm pull, the scrape of teeth, and then an aching chill as the moisture that wet the cloth hit the cool night air.

He tugged the hem of her shirt out of her trousers. Yes! Warm, strong hands on bare flesh, finally. She didn’t care where they were. She only knew that she needed him. She reached for his belt buckle.

And froze.

‘What was that?’ she asked.

‘What was what?’ His voice sounded thick, distant.

She thought she’d heard something through the throbbing in her ears. Reluctantly, she swam up through the drugging layers of lust. As she neared the surface, a thought struck her so hard that she sobered, suddenly and immediately.

‘Stop it,’ she said, stepping back. Even though she knew it was for the best, her body felt bereft as his hands left her.

‘I thought you wanted –’

‘Are you just trying to distract me?’ she asked, tugging her shirt down.

‘What are you talking about?’

She found her flashlight, picked it up (aware all the time that he watched her bend over) and pointed it at him. ‘You’re not supposed to be on site,’ she said. ‘Are you distracting me while someone else tears things up? Or just trying to make me forget you shouldn’t be here?’

‘I could ask you the same thing,’ he said. ‘I saw you plotting with José and Mel.’

Felicia sputtered. ‘What the hell would we be doing? We love this place! That’s why we’re here.’

He didn’t have time to answer her. Shouts punctuated the night air, one sounding panicked.

They both took off at a run.

*   *   *

Lance tried to talk Just out of it, to no avail. Just swore he wasn’t going to hurt the cheetah, just mess up the cage a little. For the high. To show that he couldn’t just get in the facility, but he could also get into one of the cages.

Dog, being taller, gave Just a leg up. Just grabbed the chain link wall and hauled himself up further.

This was bad. Very bad. Lance didn’t stop to think. He jumped and started to climb the wall himself, with the half-formed intent of pulling Just back down. The chain link rattled, and Caramel snarled.

He didn’t have the boost Just had had, and Just’s climbing motion made the cage wall shake, forcing Lance to hold on tighter and consider his moves carefully. So Just made it to the top first and swung a leg over.

Either Just’s plans were less formed than Lance’s, or Just simply hadn’t realised that the covering at the top of the cage was just an open-weave mesh stretched loosely across. The cats couldn’t climb or jump that high, so there was no need for a solid top, just something to keep the birds and debris out. The Sanctuary’s peacocks enjoyed perching up there and taunting the cats into a frenzy.

Just, of course, ripped the mesh away from the wall. His leg plunged through the opening, and he shouted in shock and fear. Dog yelled something incomprehensible, either a useless suggestion or belated warning.

Lance redoubled his efforts, catching Just’s ankle before his friend toppled into the cage. Cheetahs might be some of the most human accepting of the big cats, relatively speaking, but that didn’t mean Caramel wouldn’t lash out in fear and anger if Just landed in her private space.

Just’s foot was tangled in the mesh and, now that Lance had caught and steadied him, Lance hauled himself the rest of the way up and fumbled around until Just’s Doc Marten was freed.

Shouts, and the bobbing beams of flashlights. From all directions. It looked like the cavalry had arrived.

Just dropped to the ground ungracefully, but managed not to fall over. He and Dog took off towards the back of the facility, where the service gate was. They didn’t give Lance a second glance – leaving Lance, his hoodie snagged on an exposed piece of metal, literally hoisted by his own petard. At least, he thought that was what that phrase meant.

*   *   *

Gabe was taller, but Felicia had the benefit of frequent gym visits, and she kept pace with him. She saw José approaching from a different direction. Behind them, she heard still more pounding footsteps. Felicia swung her flashlight in an arc, trying to find the source.

‘North wall!’ It was Alan, shouting and pointing. He’d been running, too, and was half-doubled over, gasping for air.

Gabe took off in the direction Alan indicated.

The cheetah enclosure rattled. Felicia swung around, pointing her flashlight. To her shock and dismay, Lance dropped to the ground from near the top of the wall.

*   *   *

Gabe ran into the night after one of the vandals. There was more than one of them – he could hear at least two other sets of running feet in the darkness near by, all headed in the same direction. He didn’t take the time to look around, though. He was focused on the guy ahead of him.

The kid he was chasing had to be six three, six four, and most of that was leg. But that kid had been trying to hurt one of the cheetahs. Anger surged through Gabe, giving him a boost of added speed. Gradually, inexorably, he closed the gap.

Then the kid was stupid enough to look behind him. It slowed him, just barely, but just enough. Gabe gathered his strength and leapt. He caught the tall kid around the waist, and they both went down, hard.

Gabe pulled on the waistband of the boy’s jeans, trying to haul himself farther up the body. Unfortunately, the kid favoured the truly unpleasant fashion of low-rider jeans. Instead of giving Gabe the traction he needed, they slipped further down. A strip of white underwear flashed in the pale moonlight. Thank goodness he was wearing underwear, or it would have been a very different kind of moon.

The kid used the motion to his advantage, scrabbling in the dirt, squirming to evade Gabe’s grasp. He twisted, and his knee caught Gabe squarely under the chin.

Stars replaced the moon as Gabe’s head snapped back. He tasted the coppery scrape of blood and felt the flash of pain in his tongue. Dazed, he lost what little grip he had. The kid scrambled to his feet, hitched up his jeans and pelted away.

Gabe managed to get his hands beneath him and hauled himself up into a kneeling position, then upright on his knees. To his left, a flash of movement: the second boy, tailed by someone slight but lightning quick. The pursuer grabbed the boy’s jacket. He stumbled and turned. The pursuer got the boy’s arm twisted behind his back, but was too small to get an arm fully around his throat.

A moment later, the result was the same: a boy pounding away into the night and his pursuer bent at the waist, breathing heavily. And he heard a string of expletives in what sounded like…Chinese?

‘I got his hat, at least.’ Waving the black knit cap, Mel straightened and flashed a wry pixie-grin.

*   *   *

‘Are you two OK?’ Felicia asked as Gabe and Mel approached out of the shadows.

‘Nothing a hot soak with Epsom salts won’t cure,’ Mel answered.

‘I told you to stay inside,’ José said, a scowl creasing his handsome face.

‘You did,’ Mel agreed. ‘But I saw what was happening, and came out to help. Don’t worry, I locked the door, and Noelle is fine.’

‘She was a firecracker!’ Gabe said admiringly. ‘She almost took him down – my money was on her.’

Felicia felt a tiny wave of jealousy. She comforted herself with the knowledge that she’d already had the opportunity to have sex with Mel, so there.

‘You didn’t tell me you knew self-defence,’ José accused.

She shrugged. ‘I did ROTC to pay for college,’ she said. ‘It was on my résumé. Don’t tell me you hired me just for my looks?’

‘It obviously didn’t teach you to take orders,’ José said.

Mel bristled but, before she could show José just what she thought of his orders, Felicia intervened. ‘We have more important things to worry about,’ she said. ‘One of the cats could have been seriously hurt tonight – or one of the trespassers.’

‘How did they get in?’ Mel asked.

‘The gate on the back fence, the one for service vehicles,’ Alan said, returning to the group. He’d followed Gabe at a slower pace, and explained that he’d secured the gate after the boys had got away. ‘I
know
I locked it after the city guy drove the backhoe in.’

‘Someone else opened it again for them,’ Lance said. He leant on the fence, rubbing his shoulder. He sounded resigned.

‘You?’ José asked. ‘
You
opened it for them?’

Lance shook his head. ‘It wasn’t me, man. I didn’t know how they planned to get in.’

‘But you knew they were coming.’ Felicia pounced on his wording.

Lance sighed. In the flashlights’ glow, he looked younger and yet somehow older, too, a world-weariness weighing on him.

‘They came by earlier today and asked me if I wanted in on a job that paid really well,’ he said. ‘It was the stupid shit we used to pull – just busting things up, trashing stuff.’

‘Someone was paying them?’ Alan said. ‘Who?’

‘They wouldn’t spill. I told them…I said I’d think about it. It was stupid, and I didn’t want to, but, fuck, man, the money! I coulda really used that much cash.’

Felicia let his bad language slide – there were more important things to worry about. ‘What did you need the money for?’

He ducked his head, but not fast enough for her to miss the fact that his eyes slid towards Mel. ‘Just…stuff.’

‘Drugs?’ Gabe asked.

‘No way! I don’t do that shit any more.’

‘I believe you,’ Mel said, obviously having seen his shy look, too. ‘Just start from the beginning and tell us what happened.’

He relayed the conversation he’d had with his friends earlier that day, and then tonight, explaining that, before they’d even arrived, he knew he needed to stop them, talk them out of it somehow, or at least try to minimise the damage they did. When they’d gone for the cheetah enclosure, his decision had been solidified.

‘Just is an idiot,’ he said. ‘I should’ve let Caramel chew on him.’

Gabe rubbed his aching chin. ‘I’m with you on that one,’ he said.

‘Are you OK?’ Felicia asked.

‘Insofar as the kid’s knee and my chin have been intimate.’

She directed her flashlight beam at his face, and saw the spreading bruise. ‘I’ll get you something for that.’

‘We’ll meet you in the clinic,’ José said. ‘No sense standing out here in the cold.’

There was a First Aid kit in the main building, and ice packs in the fridge, but the café was closer. Felicia unlocked it and stepped inside, intending to grab a steak from the walk-in fridge. But, as she opened the door, she remembered the ice maker.

The fridge didn’t seem as cold as usual, but she chalked it up to the desert night air that held a hint of chill even now at the height of summer. Wrapping some ice in a dish towel, she hurried back across to the clinic, pausing briefly at Caramel’s cage, where the cheetah was sulking on top of her plywood ‘cave’. Most of the cats had fallen silent, apart from the occasional grumble. The immediate danger was over.

She handed the ice to Gabe and hopped up on the examining table next to Mel. Someone had turned on the small coffee maker, and the smell itself warmed her.

‘Why didn’t you tell anyone what your friends were planning?’ Alan was asking Lance.

Lance shrugged. ‘I dunno. I guess I didn’t want them to get into trouble. We go way back, you know? I thought maybe I could talk them out of being too stupid.’