Framing Felipe (33 page)

“Perhaps
it’s
more
comfortable
to
be
captured
than
to
be
out
there
waging
the
war.”

“Some
mercenary.”

Mr.
Tolvaj
bobbed
his
head
in
agreement.
“And
some
bear.”

“When
is
Gene
expecting
you
back?”
Sarah
asked
Chauncey.

He
shrugged.
“I
don’t
think
he
thought
I’d
actually
succeed.
I
reckon
he
thought
it’d
be
a

suicide
mission.”

Sarah
sighed.
“Why
do
people
think
we’re
so
blood-‐thirsty?”

Felipe
raised
both
eyebrows
and
rubbed
his
jaw.

She
narrowed
her
eyes.
“Don’t
you
start,
Castillo.”

“Y’all
ain’t
sending
me
back,
is
you?
I
ain’t
going
back.
I’ll
run
before
I
go
back.”

Chauncey
sniffed
and
pulled
his
blanket
a
bit
tighter
around
his
shoulders.

She
hated
having
to
do
it,
but
it
made
perfect
sense.
If
the
bears
were
going
to
continue

waging
war
on
the
cats
for
acts
of
war
they
actually
hadn’t
committed,
their
best
option

was
to
call
a
meeting
between
the
two
groups.
Gene
wouldn’t
go
for
that,
though,
so
the

next
best
thing
they
could
do
was
send
their
little
spy
back
with
a
gift.
A
sort
of
Trojan

horse—Trojan
were-bear
,
anyway.

“I
see
the
gears
turning
in
your
head,
querida.
Whatever
you’re
thinking,
no
.”
Felipe

crossed
his
arms
over
his
chest
and
leaned
against
the
old
hot
water
heater,
scowling.

She
rolled
her
eyes.
“Believe
it
or
not,
this
is
my
job.”
She
pried
her
phone
out
of
her

pocket
and
said
a
prayer
of
thanks
when
seeing
it
had
a
signal
down
in
the
basement.
She

dialed
Dana.
“Hey,
Billy
nearby?
I
have
an
idea
and
need
a
couple
of
cats.
Smart
ones
if
you

can
manage
it.”

Mr.
Tolvaj
snorted.

Felipe
leaned
in
closer,
resting
a
hand
on
Sarah’s
forearm
in
warning.

FRAMING FELIPE
–
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–
Holley Trent

She
narrowed
her
eyes
at
him
and
listened
to
Dana,
who
was
shouting
directions
to

someone
in
the
background.

“A
couple
of
cats?”
Dana
asked
with
a
huff.
“That
may
be
a
bit
of
a
problem,
my
love.

Billy
has
bailed.”

Sarah
held
her
phone
back
from
her
ear
and
checked
the
speaker
for
clogs.
Surely
there

had
to
be
one
there.
Nope.
Perfectly
clean.
“I’m
sorry.
Say
what
now?”

“You
heard
me
right.
I
don’t
know
when,
specifically,
but
sometime
in
the
past
couple

of
days
he,
his
wife,
and
his
granddaughters
up
and
left.”

“They
left
?”

When
Felipe
tapped
her
shoulder
with
a
question,
she
mouthed,
“Billy’s
gone,”
to
him.

His
jaw
slackened.

Sarah
rubbed
her
eyes
and
walked
some
distance
away
from
the
boys
to
pace.
“And
by

gone,
you
mean
kidnapped?”

“No.
That’s
wishful
thinking.
By
gone
I
mean
they
packed
up
their
shitty
little
shack
and

hit
the
road.
Took
everything
that
wasn’t
nailed
down
from
the
house
and
bolted.
A
lot
of

the
problems
the
cats
are
experiencing
right
now
are
starting
to
make
sense.
Looks
like

he’s
been
mismanaging
the
group
for
his
own
gain
for
a
very
long
time.”

“Are
you
saying
he
sold
them
out
to
the
Visas?”

Mr.
Tolvaj,
obviously
overhearing,
swallowed
a
lump
of
his
sandwich
and
said,
“Nope.”

“No,
Sarah,”
Dana
continued.
“He’s
just
a
slimy,
slack-‐assed,
lazy
motherfucker
who

took
a
lot
of
shortcuts
and
made
promises
he
never
intended
to
follow
up
on.
When
Patrick

contacted
the
werewolves
and
the
goats,
it
took
him
twenty
minutes
in
both
calls
to
get

them
to
calm
down
enough
to
listen
to
what
he
was
saying.
The
cats
have
a
bit
of
a

reputation
for
being
flaky.
Not
following
up
on
their
bargains.
They
left
a
lot
of
folks

dangling
on
several
occasions.
That’s
why
the
wolves
have
an
alliance
with
the
bears.”

Sarah
righted
an
overturned
chair
and
slumped
into
it,
feeling
a
very
sudden
wave
of

exhaustion
ripple
over
her.
She
blew
out
a
breath
and
cringed.
Great.
And
the
Shrews
are

associated
with
the
cats.
Guess
that
must
make
us
flakes,
too
.

“So,
here’s
the
deal,”
Dana
said.
“Obviously
I
can’t
separate
myself
from
the
cats

completely
because
I’m
partnered
with
one
who
has,
I
guess,
just
become
the
group’s

FRAMING FELIPE
–
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–
Holley Trent

leader.
Until
we
untangle
the
mess
Billy
made,
I
don’t
want
to
attach
my
girls
to
anything
to

do
with
the
cats.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah,
that.
So,
what
was
your
plan?
Can
we
re-‐work
it?”

“I
don’t
know.
I
wanted
to
send
Chauncey
in
with
a
trophy
of
sorts,
you
know?
That

would
get
Gene’s
guard
down
long
enough
to
get
one
of
our
people
in
there
and
make
Gene

see
reason.
Now
with
this
shit,
he
really
does
have
good
reason
to
distrust
the
cats.”

“It’s
still
a
good
idea,
and
it
would
give
us
some
slack
if
Gene
thought—”

“Hey—”
Mr.
Tolvaj
nodded
at
his
friend
and
both
stood,
striding
over
to
Sarah
and

shifting
as
they
walked.

“Hold
on
a
sec,”
Sarah
said
to
Dana.

Although
Felipe
put
his
body
in
front
of
hers,
and
thus
Chauncey’s,
Sarah
felt
no
fear
of

their
approach.
She’d
be
tending
to
the
Visas
for
weeks
and
had
grown
fond
of
them,
and

them
her.
They
didn’t
mean
them
any
harm,
and
by
the
time
they
arrived
at
their
corner
of

the
room,
their
plan
was
clear.

Mr.
Tolvaj
made
a
pretty
convincing
Billy.
His
friend,
minus
the
ever-‐present
tube
top,

frosted
lipstick,
and
Lucite
heels,
was
spitting
image
of
one
of
his
granddaughters.

“What
you
need?”
Mr.
Tolvaj
asked.
“We
go
in
with
the
sorry
bear—”

“Hey!”
Chauncey
balked.

“—tie
us
up
in
silver.
It
won’t
hurt.
We’ll
call
off
the
Visas
there.
See
what
they
know

about
Jacques’
itinerary.
Get
them
comfortable
thinking
they’ve
made
some
coup,
and
then

we’ll
take
them
off-‐guard.”

“Why
would
you
do
that?”
Felipe
asked.

Sarah
was
a
bit
annoyed
he
was
inserting
himself
into
what
was,
for
all
intents
and

purposes,
her
investigation,
but
maybe
it
was
as
much
his
fight
as
hers.
They
were

partners,
in
a
way.
Maybe
hashing
things
out
professionally
would
be
wise,
even
if
she

reserved
the
right
to
be
pissed
about
more
personal
issues.

It
was
just
sex.
He
was
just
a
sweet-‐talking
acrobat.
That’s
all.
Didn’t
mean
they

couldn’t
be
civil.

Mr.
Tolvaj
and
his
friend
shared
a
look.

“Spill
it,”
Sarah
barked.

FRAMING FELIPE
–
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–
Holley Trent

“Look,
I’m
a
spiritual
man.
My
hope
was
to
one
day
go
into
the
seminary,
yes?”

Feliped
scoffed.

“What?”
Mr.
Tolvaj
asked.

“I’ve
seen
the
way
you
look
at
my
woman.”

Now
Sarah
scoffed.

Mr.
Tolvaj
performed
a
Sue
me
shrug
.
“I’m
not
perfect.
I
can
appreciate
the
fruits
of
the

flesh
and
seek
out
The
Spirit
at
the
same
time,
yes?
Look,
when
I
die,
which
may
be
sooner

than
later
with
the
lifestyle
I
maintain
at
current,
I
want
to
see
Heaven,
not
Hell.”
He
cast

his
eyes
heavenward,
which
at
the
moment
gave
him
a
view
of
the
basement
rafters.

“Perhaps
this
is
my
sign
it’s
time
to
make
a
change.
Maybe
God
will
forgive
me
if
I
try.”

Sarah
felt
the
truth
in
what
he
said.
She
was
the
closest
thing
the
Shrews
could
get
to
a

human
lie
detector
test,
but
still,
his
words
felt
like
a
brick
in
her
gut.

Felipe
looked
at
her
for
counsel.
He
didn’t
have
her
gut—her
gifts.
But
he
trusted
hers.

Somehow,
that
made
her
trust
him
.

She
sighed.
“Mr.
Tolvaj,
we
don’t
like
collateral
damage.
We
don’t
get
civilians
involved

in
our
schemes.”
She
turned
her
gaze
back
to
Felipe
and
he
narrowed
his
eyes
at
her
in
a

dare.
He
was
saying,
go
ahead
and
try
to
cut
me
out
of
the
loop
.
She
wouldn’t.

“We’ll
only
fail
if
we
don’t
try,”
Mr.
Tolvaj
said.
“Please
let
us
try.
If
they
can
get
their

bears
back,
perhaps
it’ll
help
patch
up
some
of
the
damage
we’ve
obviously
escalated.”

“Okay…”
Sarah
turned
slowly
to
Chauncey,
and
already
he
was
doing
that
rapid

headshake
again.

“I
don’t
want
to
go
back.
They
may
be
nice
to
me
at
first,
but
they’re
gonna
hurt
me

when
they
get
in
that
mood
again.”

He
was
probably
right,
so
she
wasn’t
going
to
try
to
tell
him
otherwise.
Truth
was

sometimes
a
harder
pill
to
swallow
than
a
lie,
but
trust
was
predicated
on
it.
She
needed
his

trust,
so
she
did
what
she
did
to
all
those
girls
back
at
the
strip
club.
She
put
a
hand
on
his

shoulder
and
rubbed,
making
good
eye
contact.
Calming
him
with
her
touch.
With
her

smile.
And
in
a
near-‐whisper,
she
told
him,
“I
know
you
don’t
want
to
go
back.
Maybe
you

thought
you’d
find
a
home
there
when
they
took
you
from
foster
care,
and
you
didn’t,
huh?

I
know
you
want
to
be
safe
and
stable.
But,
listen.
I
wouldn’t
ask
you
to
do
this
if
it
wasn’t

important,
Chauncey.
I
need
you
to
hold
on.
To
help
us.
I
wouldn’t
ask
if
we
weren’t
going

FRAMING FELIPE
–
133
–
Holley Trent