Rare Find (18 page)

With this reasonable explanation, the tension in his shoulders relaxed. Someone was seeing exactly what they were supposed to see if Jacob was undercover. He was supposed to look like he was involved in shady deals. When Ronin got a moment, he'd explain go over that with Geoff.

First, he called Jacob again, and this time he actually got through. He explained his problem.

A long whistle sounded through the phone. "Animal trafficking is big. But a tiger is usually by special order. They are available domestically so the order would be for something unique. Think about it; it's not exactly something you could keep in the basement until the market improves. There are some companies that do special orders of that thing, but they've been skirting the law for so long we've had a hell of a time trying to pin anything on them."

"Names, please."

"I might be able to come up with a couple." He listed off several that Ronin didn't recognize. "Keep in mind, this is a supply-demand chain thing. They don't bring in a product on spec and even if you could catch the supplier, you'd have a hard time connecting it to the buyer."

"What's the chance of seizing the animal?"

"If you're lucky, it’s possible. It would be easier with a tiger than, say, a monkey or something even smaller – like snakes. Huge market trafficking snakes."

"Why?" Ronin shook his head. "I just can't see that many people wanting dangerous snakes."

"People will always want what they can't have. And will go to great lengths to get it." He coughed and cleared his throat. "I presume you have a reason for asking about this tiger thing?"

"Yeah, a big one. And time is an issue. Keep an eye out, will you? Let me know if you hear any whispers anywhere along the road."

A second long whistle slipped through the phone. "Will do. Just think a fully grown tiger can jump...what...thirteen to sixteen feet with prey in its mouth."

"I'm expecting it to have been drugged and kept in a cage the whole time." Taking a chance, he added, "And I'm looking for a more or less old warehouse in a deserted part of town."

"It would have to be. Transport and delivery would have to happen fast to avoid detection, so an empty warehouse makes sense. I'll think about those, and write up a few possible leads I can think up to off hand." Ronin could hear him scratching down some notes. "I can check on a few around here." Silence again. "Another angle to pull on is the documentation required to pass it off to the authorities, too."

Ronin responded drily, "In this day and age, anyone can get the required documents for anything." He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Send me an email with names of people who do that kind of forged paperwork too if you have them. I'll add them to my list and follow up."

"I'll let you know if I find anything." Jacob hung up.

Ronin's brain circled and ran with possibilities. Leaning back, he stared at the now-unresponsive woman who had become so important in his world. "Damn it, Tabitha, I wish you could at least figure out where you are physically located at least."

***

Stefan had run out of ideas on how to find the tiger with such a dominant energy that it could suck Tabitha into its own space.

He'd dumped it on Ronin and hoped the detective could do his thing.

Animals were not up his alley.

They were Tabitha's thing.

Or at least, until now, they hadn't been his thing. He wasn't sure he had the luxury of excluding them any longer. He'd never had pets. He did know that because of his different energy, most animals reacted to him, one way or another.

Sometimes positively and sometimes negatively.

He was sure that Tango and Tripod accepted him because Tabitha was so well blended with his energy. The animals would sense that. But that didn't mean this strange tiger would be as accepting.

Should he try to connect? He sensed a blockage down that path, but that didn't mean connecting was impossible…

Or would he end up in the same condition as Tabitha? If so, how would that help anyone? Could he walk the ethers, a theoretical halfway point, and call Tabitha? Would she hear him? Would she be able to use him as a guide to bring her home?

Still, if she had anything to add that would help them locate the tiger, then maybe...

He stared around at his open living room where the sun shone so innocently in through the myriad of stained glass panes and had to wonder.

Nothing lost, nothing gained.

Except your soul,
snapped a testy voice – a testy astral voice.

Stefan glanced over.
Lissa.
Of course it would be her. Stefan had many ghosts in his life, but none as persistent or as caring as this one. She was the deceased sister of another good friend and since a terribly nasty case he’d helped resolve, she'd been a regular in his life. She claimed it was because he needed someone to watch over him.

And you do.

He laughed. Young and full of life, Lissa was the antithesis of most ghosts.
What could you possibly do if something does go wrong?
he asked her.

Marshal the troops,
Lissa said with a laugh. She'd started calling his group of friends a team or a troop, as if they were psychic crime fighters.

That was a joke.

No joke. You can't defy fate. If it's going to happen...

So not.

She laughed
. Look at what you're trying to do now.

Tabitha needs help.

There is always someone in your world that needs help. There always will be.

He frowned. Even though he knew that, he liked to maintain the fantasy that he had a choice in this regard.

You made that choice a long time ago.

He glared at his wispy visitor.
And I can change it too.

You can try!
She laughed and started to fade away.

Wait,
Stefan called out.
Do you have any idea how to find this tiger?

Tiger?
She brightened.
There's a tiger involved? Awesome
.

Her response reminded him that she was still a teenager.
There could be all kinds of animals involved.

Then why not use another animal to track it?

As quickly as she appeared, she disappeared.

Stefan stared after her in shock. 'Out of the mouth of babes…'

So simple.

When hunting humans, they used humans.

When hunting animals, maybe they should use animals?

He wasn't much of an animal lover, he knew many who were, such as Kali, another psychic friend, and her search and rescue dog. Or Shay and her ghost cat Morris. Stefan still didn't understand how that worked.

Maybe Tango could go after the tiger. Stefan had been considering that, but it wasn't something he could do easily.

And if he couldn't – who could?

***

Keeper walked over, a worried frown on his face. Fez shook his head and said in exasperation, "Now what?"

"The tiger is acting funny."

Fez hunched his shoulders. No, not again. He said ominously, "What do you mean by funny?"

"I mean she's acting funny…" He shrugged. "Weird like."

Fez rolled his eyes. "Is she eating? Drinking? Is she hurting herself in any way?"

"No. She's lying down relaxed and calm. Almost asleep. If I didn't know better, I'd have said she'd been tranq'd with a different kind of drug. She seems almost content. Happy. But we didn't give her anything."

"That's supposed to be a good thing – right?" At the other man's shrug, Fez added, "Keep an eye on her. Just in case."

The other man sauntered back to the cages. Fez didn't know what to think about the tiger's condition. Maybe the tiger had finally calmed down enough, after she'd had several good meals and water. Maybe she'd finally decided that everything was going to be okay.

Then he remembered the look in the big cat’s eye. He tugged at his collar again and swallowed hard.

Yeah, that wasn't likely.

The last time he'd looked into her eyes, he'd seen into the heart of her. She might look relaxed and calm, but there was no way he'd trust that look. She'd had a look in her eyes that he'd never forget.

She had murder on her mind.

And he was the prime candidate.

Sunday mid afternoon

T
abitha studied Ronin as he worked. How long had he been sitting there? Shoulders back and sitting straight in his chair, his fingers clicking away on the keyboard. Every once in awhile he'd frown, then shift and carry on. A man on a mission.

How, when she could only communicate via cats, could she communicate with Ronin?

She could use Stefan, and that worked – somewhat. It didn't stop this gnawing need to be held in his arms and be told it would all be okay. There was only so much she'd share through Stefan.

She glanced over at her body and shuddered. So close and yet so far. Then she frowned. But was it?

If she could communicate through Tango, why couldn't she get back into her body the same way? With all the times she'd traveled into his space and home, she'd damn near created an energy highway.

Why the hell hadn't she thought of that? She'd been so focused on reaching Tango, she'd forgotten to use him to extend her travels. Excited, she closed her eyes and thought her way back into Tango.

He slept heavily, as if he hadn't had a good sleep in forever. And he probably hadn't – at least for several nights.

With a slight release of her nonexistent breath, she sank back into his mind. And smiled. He was racing across open fields in joy. Not chasing anything, just stretching out and using his muscles like they used to work when he was younger. He'd gotten old on her.

Very old.

She'd done all she could but had yet to find a way to stop death from taking those she loved. And she'd tried.

With a wiggle, she realigned her energies with his, gave him a mental hug as she always did, and then traveled back the way she'd always gone before – when her life had been normal. Only always before her actions had been instinctive. There'd been no doubts. No questioning of how. She'd taken one road in and the same road out. Without thinking about it.

Only now she couldn't do that.

Energy wasn't a highway, in that it had no definite directions of travel. Energy floated all around and crossed dimensions and time. To find the same pathway back would be almost impossible. She should be able to close her eyes and think herself back home, but having tried that, she knew it wasn't working. Something was stopping her.

Most likely the connections to the tigers.

Maybe they were keeping her contained? Could she use them to get home instead? She was at the origin. Tango. So what if she could get Tango to find her? She could travel with him back into her body.

God, how bizarre.

Was it even possible? It was because she'd experienced Tango in her space already, but how could she get Tango to actually do the traveling? Prodding a sleeping tiger was never a good idea.

She almost laughed.

Then sighed. He was sleeping so soundly.

She grinned. How about directing his dreams? She whispered gently into his mind,
Tango, come to me. Tango, please come. I need you.

Tango's paws jerked, but outside of a slight shimmer, his energy remained still and quiet. She didn't want to scare him or have him thinking she was desperately in trouble. That could backfire in a big way.

She smoothed his energy as she planted images of how she'd seen her body the last time in the hospital. Then she placed overlaid images of the two of them playing, of walking through his acres of space. Together.

You'd like that again, wouldn't you, boy?

His feet jerked and his legs shifted as if he were already running.
Just go and get me. Tell me it's time to get out and play our game.
She kept murmuring the same suggestions over and over again. Tango slept on, completely oblivious.
Damn it, Tango. Why won't you come to me?

She sat back, and if she'd had arms and knees she'd have crossed them over each other. Instead she sat in a whirly ball of energy. Unsure of how and where to go.

As she pondered her quandary, she almost missed seeing the solution. Some of Tango's beautiful dark blue energy lifted and drifted lazily away. Other strands had been doing the same thing with every thought and every action he took in his dreams. But this strand of energy seemed to have purpose and was thick enough to be out there and do something useful.