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PoP Preface by lightwolf21
PROJECTILES OF PROTECTION
First post of series @ Housepetscomic.com forums on Sat Aug 28, 2010 6:24 pm
Story by Lightwolf21
Cover Art by Lightwolf21
Keith and Light © Lightwolf21
Housepets! and characters © Rick Griffin
Some characters © Valerio and used with permission
Collaboration with Valerio, since I've used the settings of his stories for the most part.
If you have not read Valerio's fanfics ... Spoiler Warning
This story series I’m planning on doing is militaristic in nature focusing on sniping and therefore WILL include weapons use mainly for training purposes(yeah, OK, I lied initially), a little blood (upped the rating, ended up with more blood than initially planned, but still not too graphic), and semi-harsh language (I’ve kept the language censored or PG, darn, heck, etc.). Reader discretion is advised.
Prologue
The man snuck through the doorway to the living room, quietly closing the door. The white wolf stirred in its sleep beside the living room armchair. The wolf awoke as the man leapt on him, grabbed him and restrained him, causing the wolf to start yelping, “Hey, let me go!”
“It’s time to get what’s coming to you,” the man said in a sinister voice.
“No! Not that … NOOOO!” screamed the wolf as the man carried him into the other room and dropped him with a splash.
Some of the tub’s water was sent over the edge and onto the floor.
“Aaaack! Let me out, Keith!” the wolf called out while being attacked by fingertips and shampoo.
“Light! You’re getting a bath, whether you like it or not,” Keith replied while washing the wolf.
Keith didn’t know why getting a bath was such a big deal. He, himself, bathed once a day. He also didn’t know why he’d taken such a liking to what many considered a very dangerous creature. On one of his missions, he’d come across the wolf, near its end, suffering from a bullet wound. It was amazing he was able to see it at all, the pure white wolf against the pure white snow. Ironic, he thought. The only reason he’d seen it was because of the blood. Using his basic military knowledge of first aid he’d miraculously managed to save its life. He would only find out later, the implications of such an action.
A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts.
“Just a minute!” he called out towards the front door.
“Light, you’re going to finish washing yourself, understand.”
Light looked at Keith with a pouting face. “Fine, but I don’t have to like it.”
“Good boy.” Keith said while closing the bathroom door. He walked to the front door and looking through the peephole saw a man in a military police uniform.
Oh great.
“Can I help you sir?!” Keith shouted through the door.
“Lt. Greyfield?!”
“Yeah?!”
“I’ve been sent to give you a message!”
He sighed. He’d retired … before, and it seemed to be getting more and more difficult to stay that way. He unbolted the door and opened it, staring at the uniformed man’s eyes. For some reason the man couldn’t return the stare.
“Here is the paperwork I’m supposed to deliver, Sir.” he smirked, handing over the envelope.
“What’s wrong?”
“You have a little something…” he said indicating to his face.
Keith felt around his face and found the lathered shampoo on his cheek.
“Oh.” he replied looking at it.
The MP gave a salute, and was lazily returned one by Keith, after which he turned quickly and walked down the stairs of the apartment complex.
Keith closed the door behind him and walked into the living room looking at the envelope.
Just then, Light walked in picking at his ear with the tip of a bath towel. “Who was that?” he asked.
“Looks like we’re going to be moving somewhere else for a while.”
“What do you mean?”
“I just got another assignment.”
“Well, how do you know we’ll have to move? It looks like you haven’t even opened the envelope yet.”
“I haven’t, but c’mon. You know how these things go.”
Light took the envelope and opened it.
“You know … opening someone else’s mail is a tickleable offense.”
“What do you mean, by th-“ but by the time he realized it, it was too late and Keith had begun tickling him and he continued until he was barely able to breathe.
“Ahahaha … ha … I wish …heehee … I wish, you’d …. hah … take this … heh … more seriously.” He said between breaths.
“Oh, lighten up, Light.”
“I see what you did there.” He retorted, looking down at the contents. On the paper there appeared to be several yellow and blue rectangles of on top of one another. “Oh great, they used that animal proof inking, darn this color deficiency we have.”
“Haha, who’s high and mighty now.” Keith responded from the kitchen, making a couple of PB&J sandwiches for the two of them. He was actually a little jealous of the wolf’s ability to see very well at night. When he returned to the living room, the wolf was sitting on the armchair.
“C’mon Light, no eating on the furniture.”
The wolf hesitantly got to the floor and sat on the rug, munching the sandwich his master had handed him. Master was the correct term, wasn’t it? Light knew about humans and the pets they usually adopted; but their situation was … different.
When he’d first met the dying wolf, Keith approached cautiously, knowing that the wolf would not be very trusting to someone dressed very strangely with a rifle slung over their shoulder considering it had just been shot. “Do you need help?” Keith asked.
“Yeah,” the wolf replied.
Keith was surprised at the directness of his answer. “Do you want me to help you?”
“Are you the one that shot me?”
“No. I don’t shoot animals.” he said with a sincere face.
“Then what’s that for?” he asked weakly, gesturing towards the rifle.
“Shooting things other than animals.”
“Heh, is that so?” he paused a moment, trying to think of what this man could have meant by that. He didn’t like the idea of being indebted to a human, but it seemed like he didn’t have much of a choice at this point.
“Alright, help me.” the wolf said in a soft voice, wincing.
Keith cautiously approached the wolf, the snow crunching beneath his feet. He knelt beside him, being careful not to get any blood on his clothing, got out a first aid kit and went to work. He didn’t know it at the time, but in saving the wolf’s life, the wolf was obligated to return the favor. It was a law growing up in his pack, to owe one’s life to someone that saved yours. After he’d patched the wolf up, as best as he could, he carefully lifted the wolf off the ground; he seemed so light.
“My name’s Keith.” The man said carrying the wolf towards his initial destination. “What’s yours?”
“I haven’t picked it yet.” the wolf replied.
“Well, that’s a strange name.” the man said smiling.
“Are you serious?!” the wolf gasped. Wincing from the pain.
“Haha. I was just kidding. What were you thinking of picking for a name?”
“That’s what I was doing out here; trying to decide.” The wolf was finding it strange to be able to have such a casual conversation with this human for some reason. “…until this happened” he pointed to the freshly bandaged bullet wound “Nice job, by the way; with the bandages.”
“That’s it!” the man exclaimed. “What about, ‘Bandages’?”
The wolf rolled his eyes.
“No good, huh? Well, how does ‘Light,’ sound?” the man asked, thinking back to the moment he picked up the wolf off the snow.
The wolf didn’t say anything. Keith looked down. His eyes were closed.
Keith was worried for a second but calmed down when he felt the wolf breathing on his hand. “Alright, get some rest, Light.” he whispered.
Light tried to speak through the sticky peanut butter on his sandwich. “Mwhad isth thmis?”
“Sorry, we were out of the grape jelly. I could only find strawberry.” He handed Light a glass of water, then picked up the envelope’s contents and read them out loud, for Light’s sake.
“Lt. Grayfield,
A letter has been received by the Marines regional office located near Babylon Gardens. -
" "Hey that's nearby!" Light interrupted.
Keith cleared his throat and continued.
"- The contents of which read:
'To the Babylon Gardens Marines Regional Office:
My name is Martin Foster, but please, call me Martin. I am in need of military services. I am the new manager and owner of the Lucky Charm Grove for the Abandoned and the Ferals located in Babylon Gardens and I feel the police forces are inadequate to ensure the safety of the wonderful pets that reside here, and future abandoned animals that may need to reside at my shelter. Please send your top sniper to meet with me so that we may discuss business. I have requested that this letter be unreadable to a house pets eyes, because I wish this information not be known to them as to prevent inciting fear and/or possible breaches of security.
Your immediate response is appreciated,
Martin'
As we cannot offer military services to a civilian or private company, we have responded to his letter with the proposal of registering through Retired Marine Mercenary Services (RMMS), which have instructed us to forward Mr. Foster’s letter to you. Please contact Mr. Foster with your response at M.Foster@LCG.com as per RMMS’ instructions.
Thank you,
Carwin Croffie Haster
Chief Warrant Officer, US Marines”
“They really wrote a novel there, didn’t they?” Light said, after swallowing the last of his sandwich.
“I’ve read shorter,” Keith agreed. “This Martin guy intrigues me. He’s going to all this trouble asking for the improbable, and with animal color coding protection, no less. He either really cares about animals, or is trying to hide something.”
Light looked at him quizzically. “Wait, why would he protect the letter from animals’ eyes, but not humans’. And what kind of animal shelter needs military trained personnel guarding it?”
Keith shrugged.
“Well, what do you want to do?” Light continued.
“I want to meet him. Get your collar; we’re going for a ride.”
“Didn’t the letter say to contact him by email?”
“Haven’t I taught you better than that?”
Light reflected on the training he went through as a military dog under Keith’s care. He had learned nearly every element of sniping from him, apart from actually firing the weapons, and much of it under the radar of the higher-ups, when they were still in the marines. Since their team had proven effective many times, Keith was finally able to get him a military working dog position, as a spotter, in a human/canine sniper team, the first of its kind. Light remembered something he’d heard Keith say.
“The best way to get to know someone is to see how they act when no one is watching them, or when they think no one’s watching them.”
“Well, it isn’t exactly sniping101, but true, nonetheless. Let’s go.”
As soon as they’d left the apartment, Keith noticed a letter in his mailbox. “Light?”
“Yeah?”
“You picked up the mail today, right?”
“Yeah, I just noticed that, too. The letter?”
Keith picked it up and looked at it. It wasn’t in an envelope or anything, it was just a handwritten note that read
“Don’t even think about it. – Martin.”
“Well, looks like Martin’s done his homework,” Light said with a smile.
“RMMS must have sent him my address. Well if he knows me as well as I think he does, even after leaving me this note, he should still be expecting me, whether I respond or not. But, what he won’t be expecting … is you” He said, patting Light on the shoulder.
They continued through the apartment complex to the parking lot and got into Keith’s Honda Civic. (What? You were expecting a Ferrari?) Certainly, if you wanted to hide a needle in a needle stack, such a simple car would do the trick. Light instinctively scanned the interior, taking notice of the locations of the vehicle’s vital components.
Keith noticed. “Light, you’re doing it again.”
“Oh, sorry.”
“Nah, don’t worry about it. It’s only natural. But please, try to relax for now.” He started up the car and began the drive towards Babylon Gardens.
Chapter 1
“The following takes place between 3 pm and 4 pm.” The white wolf sighed, he was watching an old episode of 24 on the screen of the Smartphone he was holding, wondering if they would ever try to get the facts straight in ‘Hollywood’ productions. He closed the media player and started up the browser, and searched for his favorite web comic. He typed in T, and ‘The Adventures of Spot (Superdog)’, appeared in the search field.
Driving the car and sitting beside the wolf, was a six-foot tall man in his early 30s, with short slightly curly dark brown hair and dark-brown eyes. He was talking to someone on his hands-free set. “Hello, RMMS? This is Lieutenant Keith Greyfield, password: bravo delta echo echo charlie zero two one. I’d like to request the address of a potential client.”
A voice responded from the other end, “Yes lieutenant. We’re showing you were referred to a Martin Foster, please stay on the line.”
Light was trying not to laugh at the web comic. He always got a kick out of reading it. As they got off the interstate and approached Babylon Gardens he looked up and his eyes widened. It was a beautiful, seemingly quiet neighborhood. For Light, who had never been in such a pet friendly neighborhood, there seemed to be dogs and cats everywhere. His eyes were drawn to a particularly strange-colored cat with a fish shaped tag walking beside a dog with a bone shaped one. They seemed closer than he had heard cats and dogs usually were around one another.
“Thank you, I’ve got it,” Keith said, ending the call. A few moments later he pulled up to a house, well, it might have been a house, but it was bigger than any house Light had seen.
“Here we are,” Keith said to Light.
“Man, this place is huge!” Light exclaimed.
“This is Martin Foster’s place, apparently.” Keith could tell this Mr. Foster, seemed to have a lot of money. He could hire anyone he wants, so why hire someone from RMMS? He suddenly became conscious of what he was wearing, jeans and an untucked short-sleeve button down shirt with sneakers. He started to feel he wasn’t dressed nice enough.
“Ok, so what did you want me to do?” Light asked.
Keith, returning to his senses, turned to the wolf. “Well, it’s a bit hot out for you to stay in the car without AC. And I’m not leaving the car running. Did you want to come inside with me?
Light looked skeptical. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea, you know how I am around strangers.”
Keith nodded. It was true. Light did not usually get along well with most humans, but he also had a natural ability when it came to judging character. And since, if he accepted Mr. Foster’s offer, they’d both be working for him, Keith wanted Light to meet with him as well. He smiled. “Come on, let’s go, it’ll be fine.”
“But, what if someone sees me? We’re in suburbia and I’m a wolf. There’s bound to be some trouble.” A pack of gray colored wolves walked by the car, smiling and waving to some of the neighborhood pets.
“You were saying?” Keith responded.
“Ok, fine. I’ll go.”
They walked up the path, Light being careful not to make eye contact with anyone. Light felt like everyone on the street in front of the house was staring at them, and they were. They’d never seen a human with a pet wolf before. Keith gave a knock on the door and anxiously looked around.
“Yes?” came a voice on the intercom beside it.
“Who sends a message with animal proof inking?” the Lieutenant responded.
“Ah, Lieutenant Greyfield. Good afternoon. Please come in.”
Keith tried the door and found it was unlocked. He looked at the wolf and the wolf just shrugged. “They must not worry much about security.” He said, entering the building followed by Keith.
As they entered the house they were greeted by a male cat and a female German shepherd wearing black collars that sharply contrasted with their pure white fur. From each of the collars hung a white sphere that glistened in the sunlight coming from the windows that adorned the room.
“Hello,” Keith said. Light was standing behind Keith and peering around his legs looking at the pets. “Light, don’t be rude.” He continued stepping aside.
“Um … hi,” Light finally said.
“Don’t worry about him; he just hasn’t spent a lot of time around other pets.”
“Welcome,” the white cat greeted them. He looked at them suspiciously. “My name is Alcor and this is Mizar,” he said gesturing to the female dog beside him. “Our dad will be with you in a moment.”
“Wait a minute,” the wolf said, “you call him your dad?” Light had never considered Keith to be a dad to him.
“Well, not in the biological sense, of course…” the female answered. “It’s just something us pets usually do, since they raise us as family.”
“Sorry, about that,” Keith said glaring at Light. “My name is Keith Greyfield and this is my wolf, Light... I take it it’s not common for a human to have a pet wolf?” Keith asked, pretty sure that was the cause of the stares from the streets outside the door."
“Well, we do have wolves in the neighborhood, but they’re a special case,” came the voice of a man from the staircase. He walked down the staircase with his left arm in a sling, wearing a smile, a plain long sleeve button down shirt, jeans, and cross trainers. Keith felt a little more relaxed about the way he was dressed. Light, however, was less relaxed. “Thank you, Alcor, Mizar,” Martin said as he kissed them on the foreheads, “you can go back to what you were doing.”
Alcor and Mizar left the room after they’d said their goodbyes.
“Mr. Foster,” Keith said, offering his hand.
Martin grasped it with his, “It’s good to meet you, Lieutenant. But please, call me Martin.”
“Is that an order sir?” Keith asked with a sarcastic grin.
Martin chuckled. “So, is this the famous Light?” he asked, indicating the wolf.
“Yes, but I wouldn’t try to pet him right away. He’s very shy around other humans.”
Light was nervous beyond reproach, but he didn’t want to disappoint Keith so he hesitantly walked towards Martin and offered him his head. Martin must have been a genius to find his favorite spot to be scratched on the first try. The wolf was in heaven.
“Thank you for coming on such short notice.” Martin said, ending the petting, much to the chagrin of Light, “I wouldn’t have wanted to wait for an exchange of emails, anyway. Now, for why I have asked for you two …”
Keith and Light looked surprised. “You asked for the two of us? Personally?”
Martin smiled. “I love seeing the look of surprise on people’s and pets' faces. I told RMMS to keep that part a secret.”
“If you asked for us, personally … then … but how did you hear about us?” Light asked.
“Please, we have much to discuss and little time.” He gestured for them to follow him. They all felt the house shaking and heard loud footsteps running.
Chapter 2
“What’s that?” Light asked, with a surprised look on his face.
“Ah those would be my puppies.” Martin barely finished the sentence when they came storming into the kitchen. Two giants, of short black fur, a hint of red in the chest areas, with wolf shaped muzzles, pointed ears and bobtails, came to a screeching halt in front of Martin. “This is Antares and Aldebaran.” He indicated first to the huge black dog with a sparkling red sphere hanging from his collar and then the one with the orange sphere. The dogs were effortlessly holding huge luggage bags over their shoulders.
Keith and Light were astounded.
“They look like deer in headlights, brother.”
“Indeed, brother, but not as scrawny.”
Regaining their composure, Keith and Light shook hands with Aldebaran and Antares. After which, the two behemoths continued through the house back towards the garage, at a breakneck speed. “It looks like you’re going somewhere,” Keith said, pointing his thumb over his shoulder, indicating the luggage.
“Yes, but I’m glad you got here when you did.” They sat at the dining room table. “I will be happy to answer any questions you might have … after I return from vacation. In the meantime, let’s just call this a job interview, is that alright with you?”
“I’m not really dressed for a job interview.” Keith responded looking at Light, Light returned the look and turned back towards Martin.
“Well, it’s less a job interview he said, and more of a –“
Suddenly the fridge door shut in the kitchen and a German shepherd walked in carrying a tray full of food, but this one was different from the pure white Mizar. The brown muzzle and ears of the cream colored dog was complimented by bright pink eyes and a matching pink collar from which a heart shaped tag was hanging. “Hello there,” she said in an unnaturally cheerful voice.
“Sasha.” Martin said, “Keith and Light, this is Sasha. Isn’t she a cutie? She lives with Ryan Byron, Fido’s owner. If you stick around I’m sure you’ll meet up with them sooner or later.”
“Pleased to meet you Sasha,” Keith said scratching her head gently.
“Awww. Thanks!”
Sasha set down the tray and took a seat near Light looking straight at him, causing him to fidget. With a nervous smile Light extended a paw to Sasha for a handshake … but she grasped it with both of her paws. “You’re kind of cute,” she said.
No amount of military training could have prepared Light for this moment. He was at a loss for words. He didn’t know how to handle this situation, something he never thought possible. In desperation, he scooted the chair a bit down the table closer to Keith and Martin. Sasha followed suit.
Martin and Keith were amused, smiling as Light squirmed.
Finally, Light asked Sasha, “Don’t you have a boyfriend?”
“Sasha?” called a voice from the other room. In walked a dog, he was wearing a green collar, a blue lightweight Kevlar vest with K-9 embroidered on it, and sunglasses that covered the darker colored patch of fur over his right eye. “There you are.” he said, stopping as he noticed Light holding her paws.
Sasha’s face beamed when he walked in the room. “Fido!”
“Perfect timing,” Martin said. “This is the dog I was just telling you about. Keith and Light, I present to you with great pleasure, Fido; a perfect sample of Babylon Gardens’ finest.”
Light noticed Sasha still gripping his paw. “Look, Fido, I wasn’t trying anything,” he said pulling his paw away from Sasha’s. She went to hug Fido, which Fido returned.
Fido ended the hug and said to Sasha, “Dad needs us home soon, ok?” Sasha nodded and walked out of the room with an enthusiastic wave goodbye.
Fido offered his paw to the wolf. “Don’t worry -.”
As soon as Light took his paw, there came a loud voice from the top of Fido’s head. “Who’s the new guy?” A mouse popped out of Fido’s hair. At this point nothing could surprise Light anymore.
Fido turned his eyes upward and said, “Spo, keep it down.” and then to Light, “Sorry about that. This is Spo. I’m watching over him at the request of my girlfriend.” Fido was taking a gamble. If Light had asked too many questions about his girlfriend, he might be forced to answer them truthfully. At this point, the wolf seemed harmless enough, and there weren’t many other believable explanations as to why a dog would have a mouse on the top of their head.
“You seem a reasonable guy. I’m sorry if it seemed I was putting the moves on your girlfriend. She came onto me, I swear.”
“Who? Sasha? She’s not my girlfriend.” He’d realized his mistake too late; he could have ended the conversation at that. Fortunately, it seemed the wolf was just relieved he hadn’t caused any trouble.
“Ok, well … at least I dodged a bullet there.” Light said rubbing the back of his neck.
Keith and Martin were still staring and smiling. “Is he always this entertaining?” Martin asked.
“You should see him at work; he’s a completely different kind of animal,” Keith responded. “Is it always like this? Pets coming and going? I noticed you don’t lock your doors.”
“Martin has an open door policy towards all the pets in the neighborhood, and the ferals as well, despite the police department’s warnings.” Fido said, hoping to carry the conversation farther from the subject of his girlfriend that might have still been lingering in Light’s mind.
It was Martin’s open door policy to ferals that had caused the series of events...well, sort of. Three terrible dogs, the last living remnants of the memory of the Whiteman house, had murdered the two feral raccoons, Zen and Silver, which usually went to Martin’s house early in the morning to get the garbage, as per their agreement. Using Zachary’s new felt responsibility as ‘The Opener of Ways,’ the dogs caused him to leave his house during the lockdown in search of their kits. This lead to Zach becoming a hostage in an attempt to access and attack the animals at the shelter, and ultimately causing the insanity that he was now experiencing from the trauma of the ordeal. The Sandwich household was attacked causing widespread trauma and Peanut being put into a coma. The third dog had lured their ultimate prey, Martin, into a one on one, causing the near loss of his left arm, which thankfully now rested bandaged in a sling across his chest. They had used the series of events in an attempt to attack Martin where it counted most. But now, they were dead. They had failed, but the neighborhood did not come out unscathed. Martin kept his open door policy, hoping to ease the fears of others in the neighborhood. The Whiteman house’s legacy had ended with that last dog and with it so did the danger… at least for the time being.
Martin used his only free hand to pat Keith on his shoulder heavily. “So … let us go to see where you will be working.”
Keith and Light looked at each other. “The shelter, you mean?” Keith asked casually, turning to Martin.
“Yes, would you mind driving? I’m afraid my arm isn’t up to it yet.”
“What about the job interview?” Light asked.
“We can continue that on the way, or during the tour at the shelter.” Martin responded.
“Sure, no problem,” Keith said, nodding in agreement.
“Ah, Fido, one more thing,” Martin said, turning to the policedog. While I’m gone, are you going to be watching the house with Bino; I understand he also invited Fox, Rex and, Sasha.” Fido nodded. “Would you mind telling him I will be having King stay here as well?” Martin continued.
“Not at all. I’ll be sure he knows.”
“Excellent.” Martin said getting up from the table. Keith and Light got up as well and followed Martin who had walked out the front door and towards the car.
Fido waved after them as they left. He didn’t want to scare Light and Keith with the harrowing tale of the neighborhood’s nightmare, but he also had the feeling they’d been in similar situations. He decided it would be best not to take any more of Mr. Foster’s time, either. He knew that Martin was leaving the next morning with the Sandwiches and that they’d have little time to tour the shelter.
“Do you need help, getting into the car Mr. Fos-“ Keith was trying to ask.
“Please, there’s no need to be so formal all the time.” Martin interrupted opening the door and getting into the passenger seat.
“Sorry, it’s a force of habit.” Keith said, and then turning to Light, “would you mind driving?”
To which Light nodded, and took the keys offered to him.
Martin chuckled, “Well, you two keep getting more and more interesting.”
“In my line of work, it helps to be prepared for any situation,” Keith responded. “…even one in which I’m incapacitated and Light’s the only one that can drive. So I let him practice from time to time. If you’re worried about your safety, I’m fine with driving.”
“No, not at all. This should be interesting.” Martin responded, with his usual infectious smile.
Keith got into the car and sat in the seat behind Light. Light strapped in, along with the passengers, and adjusted the seat forward and the mirrors accordingly. Starting up the car, he looked over his shoulder to make sure no traffic was coming, pulled away from the curb, and started towards the shelter following the directions Martin gave from the passenger seat.
Chapter 3
He hadn’t even been driving a minute, before Light had his paws on the steering wheel and his face planted into it. With teeth bared and eyes closed, he was hoping he would vanish. If he had wanted to make a great first impression, he had certainly made an epic fail of it. Officer Bill had pulled him over and was now talking with Martin and Keith beside the police motorcycle.
“Great, Light … just … great,” he whispered to himself through clenched teeth. “Why’d you have to try showing your collar tag when he asked for license and registration?” Of course, that was the only license and registration he had. What else could he have shown?
Outside the car, Keith, Martin and Bill were standing beside the motorcycle. “I don’t care if you have permission from the President!, dogs are not allowed to drive cars,” Bill shouted, shoving the military documents back at Keith. Keith folded them and put them back in his pocket, looking at Martin.
“Technically, he’s a wolf,” Keith said, trying not to make it sound disrespectful.
“I don’t care,” Bill continued, pointing a threatening finger at Keith. “Since you didn’t know the rules, I’ll let you off with a warning this time. But I definitely don’t want to see that canine driving in the neighborhood, for the other pets to see. They might start getting funny ideas, and we don’t want any vehicle related deaths around here. Got it?”
“Yes sir,” Keith replied calmly. “I completely agree with you. I wasn’t thinking about that.” Martin nodded.
“Good.” Bill said, putting on his aviators. He got on the motorcycle and started it up. “Have a nice day,” he said with a stern insincere, manner. Then he made a U-turn with his bike and drove down the street. By this time the residents of the houses within eyesight of the incident had gathered on their lawns. As Martin and Keith walked back to the car, Martin raised his one good hand, and waved them off with his usual smile. “It’s ok everyone, there’s nothing more to see.”
Keith opened the driver’s door and smiled at Light. Light looked like he’d been defeated, and Keith wanted to try cheering him up. “Don’t worry about it, buddy. C’mon.” he motioned for him to step out. Light looked at Keith dejectedly. “Now! That’s an order soldier.” Light smiled. “Yessir,” he said and stepped out. Light took Keith’s spot behind the driver and Martin reclaimed his seat. They resumed their trip to the shelter.
Having witnessed the events that had unfolded in the streets, a head popped back in from behind the curtains. “Can you believe the nerve of that guy?” Bino asked the black cat reading in the chair beside him. Maxwell sighed and placed the novel on the table next to him, pages down, ‘The Red Badge of Courage’ written on its cover. “Bino … You can’t see every new dog that comes into this neighborhood as a threat.”
“I’m serious,” Bino said. “This guy’s asking for trouble. Where does he get off, acting all high and mighty? Just because he’s tall enough to drive.”
“Sounds to me like you’re jealous,” Maxwell responded, with a toothy grin.
“What do I have to be jealous of when I have you?” Bino said with a wink. “Rawr.”
Maxwell looked at Bino, dumbfounded. “Shippers…“ he muttered as he picked up his book and continued reading.
“Grrrr. I hate that wolf so much.” Bino said, getting back on topic and shaking his fist.
Achoo Light sneezed and rubbed a finger under his nose. They were still driving past houses in The Gardens. Martin was telling Keith about the position he wanted him to fill at the shelter.
“You would be head of security; in charge of the security offices, personnel. Including operations, training, and supervision, what do you think?”
“It sounds doable,” Keith responded. “How about the pay?” Keith had accepted several jobs since retiring from the military, some of them shady. However, there was one rule he always personally followed, ‘Don’t harm innocent animals.’ From those dealings, Keith had become shrewd and to the point when it came to money.
“The pay is more than standard rate for a Special Forces trainer, but you’ll be paid overtime and benefits are included, healthcare, and life insurance.” Martin responded.
“Sounds good,” Keith nodded in agreement “but I hate commuting. It took me nearly an hour to get to Babylon Gardens. If I do end up working for you, I’m going to need to take up residence locally. I’ve lived in an apartment ever since I’d moved out of my parents’ house, God bless their souls, and I’d like a change of scenery. Are there any decent houses on the market around here.”
“I think I have just the place,” Martin said with a sly smile. He hired only the most trustworthy employees, and he paid them well. He had, in fact, already begun preparing the paperwork for a house on the outskirts of Babylon Gardens for the head of security position he had in mind for Keith. But, it wouldn’t be completed for another two weeks, since the local Greenbank Savings & Loan hadn’t received a down payment yet. Martin had made sure that the bank knew that a well payed employee of the shelter would be moving in, to expedite the house purchasing process. “Ah, here it is now,” he said indicating a house on a 2.5 acre lot.
Keith pulled the car over. The house was yellow in color, that’ll be the first thing to go, Keith thought, and it had seen better days. As it was, it didn’t appear bad for a starter home, but it would need a few things done. Keith saw it as a perfect distance to both the shelter and the farthest end of the neighborhood in case of needed response; neither was further than 8 minutes away. (I hope that’s correct.) “The two and a half acres looks good, right, Light?”
Light’s eyes were sparkling in agreement. Despite spending a lot of time in the wilderness on missions, he’d never really had a wide-open yard at his home to play around on.
“What’s the asking price?” Keith asked.
“Just under $170,000; but as an employee of the shelter you would have the good word put in with the bank and shouldn’t have any problems with moving in within two or three weeks, and with what I’m paying, mortgage shouldn’t be a problem either.”
Keith thought about it for a moment before offering his hand to Martin. “You always know just what to say don’t you?”
“It’s a curse,” Martin replied with a smile. He took Keith’s hand and gave it a shake.
“Ok, sounds like a plan,” Keith said putting the car in drive and continuing down the road toward the shelter.
As they pulled away Light smiled, staring at what was soon to be their new home.
Chapter 4
Note about the formatting: Spanish dialogue followed by words in [ ] is an English translation and words in [ ] is just Spanish dialogue but written in English. Hopefully it isn't too confusing. :? Anyway without further adieu, here's the next chapter. Enjoy :D
Soon after they’d left the property, it was silent among the three. Keith couldn’t take it anymore. He had wanted to be polite and wait for Martin to explain what happened to his arm, but it seemed like he wasn’t going to. So he decided to ask. “So …” he whispered. “If you don’t mind, could you tell me what happened to your arm?”
Martin wondered why Keith was whispering, but happened to look over his shoulder, and saw Light sleeping.
“Light gets tired after riding in a vehicle for a while,” Keith quietly answered Martin’s unasked question, while still watching the road.
Martin shook his head, his smile disappeared. He quietly proceeded to tell Keith about the sinister events that transpired during the assassin-pack crisis. (Valerio’s Story Series Season 1 – Episode 10) He didn't leave out any grisly detail, as the ex-marine listened with increasing interest ...
Eventually, Martin came to the climax of the story. "The last of the dogs had come for me, threatening to kill more innocents if I tried to avoid the confrontation.” Martin started to tear up. He had been increasing in volume throughout the explanation. “So, after leaving my beloved ones in the house and sealing it, I met with that...thing. He went for my throat, but in the end, knowing that no other options were left, I went for his." Martin snickered, but turned very pale at that memory. "As the dog lunged, I used his own momentum to stick my left arm down his throat, and crush his windpipe. It worked, but unfortunately, he was able to bite my arm clean off before he died. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, with his one good hand, trying to hide the tears. “I killed him, I didn’t have a choice, but … I still regret it.” After a moment, he seemed to have calmed down, as he was wearing his usual smile. “Amazing. The advances in medicine, we’ve achieved,” Martin said, indicating his bandaged arm.
Keith had listened to the story intently while driving, still staring straight ahead at the road. He could only think of one word to describe this man, admirable. “Yes, they are, amazing,” he responded, smiling.
Light turned over in his sleep, and smacked his lips.
Columbia 2009
In a small town, a street full of people were shopping, playing, and going about their business. A man sat on the front porch of a bank. He was hunched over, head down, face partially covered by a jacket hood. His hands were in the jacket’s pockets. His eyes looked around nervously from behind the cloth hiding his identity. From deep within the tree line, about half a mile away from the village, Light was staring at him through a pair of prototype Steiner 10x50 Range Finder Binoculars. Keith had used a specially developed spray paint for use on animal fur, his own invention, to camouflage Light for the general area. Light had also added his own touches with some native foliage to enhance the effect. He had been scanning the town for possible obstacles to the reconnaissance that was taking place, when he noticed the suspicious character. Light placed a claw on his earpiece attached to his collar radio, like a Secret Service agent. “Bravo One, we may have a problem.”
Across the street from the bank, Keith, was tucked away in a narrow alley, sitting up against a wall, his head to one side. He was partially dressed in native Colombian clothing, his face covered by a San Francisco Giants baseball cap, a half empty bottle of aguardiente laying beside him. The people in the street passed by, paying him no mind. He was there for a reason. On the other side of the wall, inside the building, there was a discussion taking place, a discussion that would reveal the location of their target, Carlos Diego Morales: drug trade kingpin, ruthless, ex-Colombian Military Officer, commander of a small army, and kicker of puppies. Keith and Light had tracked the cartel to the higher echelons of its organization.
Keith recognized the voice of Carlos’ younger brother, Juan Camilo ‘the Chameleon’ Morales. He was discussing with the group the location of the next pickup. “Mi hermano, el líder supremo, va a ser a cargo de esta. Él quiere dar a los clientes la más fresca, que va a darles la más frescos. Esta vez será recoger la mercancía directamente desde la fuente. [My brother, supreme leader, is going to be overseeing this. He wants to give the clients the freshest; he’ll give them the freshest. This time they’ll be picking up the merchandise straight from the source.]” he said, emphasizing the words by banging on the table with his fist. “Aquí, voy a escribir la ubicación. Asegúrese de llevar la fuerza de seguridad habituales.” [Here, I'll write down the location. Make sure to bring the usual security forces.]"
Suddenly, Keith heard Light over the concealed earpiece. He looked around and saw the man sitting on the steps of the bank. This wasn’t good. Keith knew a first time bank robber when he saw one. The nervousness, the hood covering the face, and he was wearing sunglasses, despite it being overcast. From his line of sight, Keith knew Light couldn’t see him, and there was no way to signal him without giving away his position. He had to buy some time until the conclusion of the meeting. A bank robbery was the last thing he needed right now. It was times like this he wished Light wasn’t a wolf. It would be much easier for him to walk around towns with him. Keith decided to risk it.
Light was still waiting for his response from Keith. He hadn’t seen him come out of the alley so he must have still been there. He concluded the only reason he wasn’t responding was because he couldn’t. Then, suddenly, he heard a reply over the radio, “Myanmar, ‘07.” Light recalled the scenario and responded instantly. He stood up once he was out of view of the village and ran to their camp. Then, after hiding their gear, but not before grabbing a stack of magnetic tracking device, he sprinted through the trees as quickly as possible being careful not to be seen. He came around to the side of the village where he had seen some Mercedes-Benz and BMWs parked. He was still far enough into the forest to not be seen by the villagers, but the forest was only a few yards from the town on this side. Luckily, there didn’t appear to be very many people, but there were a few stray dogs and cats. Light picked up a small rock and threw it in front a skinny, young, naïve looking cat with gray, matted fur and a hungry look in its eyes; drawing its attention. The curious cat walked into the forest to see who had thrown the rock. “Pssst* Light whispered to it, the cat looked in his direction. “Habla Ingles?”
“Si,” the cat replied, “Yes. I learn from American TV.”
Light came out from behind the tree slowly, holding an open can of tuna. The cat’s jaw slackened and his eyes turned to needle points, the dog was bigger than any dog he’d seen and was colored like a monster. He wanted to run, but his stomach was overriding his instinct. Light set the tuna down in front of the cat and sat down. “I need a favor.” he pleaded.
The cat slowly walked forward sniffing the tuna, it was the freshest smelling fish he’d ever had the privilege to experience.
“I will give you 500 dollares Americana if you put these,” Light said, showing him the tracking devices, “on those.” He pointed to the cars. “But you can’t be seen. Got it? No vista.”
“Money.” The cat said, after having polished off the tuna.
Light showed him the $500 but pulled it away when the cat grabbed at it. “Ah-ah-ah, not until after the job. I think I’ve proven my trustworthiness with the fish.”
The cat thought about it for a brief moment, then nodded. He took the tracking devices given to him by Light and casually walked towards the cars. Light got out his binoculars and watched the cat go to work. “The kid’s a natural,” he said to no one in particular. The back door opened to what appeared to be a restaurant. Light turned the binoculars to the doorway and a man walked out carrying a trash bag. Light turned the binoculars back to where he last saw the cat and cursed. He didn’t see the cat anywhere, at first he though the cat had ditched the job, but after the man went back inside he saw movement in one of the wheel wells. “Hoo-boy, nice one, cat.”
When the last tracking device was placed, the cat walked back to where he first met Light. But when he got there, he didn’t see anyone. “Chucho estúpido!” he yelled. Then he spotted it. The cat’s eyes widened. “Dios, mio.”
There was $1000, on the ground with a note attached with a rubber band. Buen trabajo. No lo gaste en un solo lugar. Recuerde, usted nunca me vio. –Anon [Good job. Don’t spend it all in one place. Remember, you never saw me.] – Anon
The cat smiled, turned and left.
Keith had gotten up after ‘telling’ Light what to do. He had hoped to save some money on the mission but he had to call an audible. He sighed. He picked up the bottle and took a swig, swaying a bit and hamming it up. When no one was watching, he spit it out. He ‘staggered’ walking across the street to the bank. He kept his head down and used the baseball cap to cover his face. Oye, ¿tienesh un shigarrijo? [Hey, do yoush havsh a shigrette.] with the best slurred Spanish he could manage he asked the nervous looking man sitting on the steps. The man looked up and then fumbling with his jacket pockets brought out the cigarettes, but a knife came out with them and fell to the ground. As the man reached for the knife, Keith placed it boot over it and put his finger to his lips looking at the man. The man looked very scared. “Shhh, que esta bien.” [Shhh, it’s ok.] Keith reassured him.
From the position he was in to grab the knife, the man sat back down. He placed his face in his hands. A foreigner?
“Habla Ingles?” Keith quietly asked. The man just shook his head. Keith offered the bottle of aguardiente to the man, without removing his boot from the knife. "[You don’t look like a bank robber.]” The man looked a little surprised, but the stranger didn’t seem like a normal person. He took the bottle and gulped a mouthful, coughing afterwards.
“[Let’s talk over there]” Keith said, indicating the alley he was in before. “[you’re attracting too much attention]” Keith stealthily slipped the knife into his boot and they both walked across the street. “[My name is Juan Do,]” Keith said, offering his hand. “[What’s your name?]”
The man switched the bottle to his other hand and shook Keith’s, he was almost beginning to regret thinking about going through with the robbery. “[My name is Hector Garcia… and you’re right, I’m not a bank robber.]”
They sat in the alley; Keith was against the wall again. “[Then why were you planning on robbing that bank?]”
“[Well, what about you? How’d you know?]”
“[I’m a cop,]” Keith lied, “[I’m here on vacation from California, Edgar Rentería, is my favorite baseball player,]” he continued, pointing to his baseball cap. “[I’ve always wanted to visit this country.]”
“[You speak Spanish very well,]” Hector looked at ‘Juan’ suspiciously.
“[Well, like I said, I’m from California.]”
Hector shrugged. “[I’m at the end of my rope. My pet cat, Alandra, is very ill … she’s my whole life. I don’t have the money to get treatment, and I don’t know how much time she has left…]” as the man was talking, his eyes were tearing up and by the end he was full on sobbing.
Keith was staring at the man and listening to the meeting behind him, on the other side of the wall. Unfortunately he hadn’t heard the location of the next pickup, and it was ending. He heard chairs scooting away from the table. He hoped Light had been able to pull off the assignment he’d given him. “[Did you consider, what would have happened to her if you’d been taken to jail, or worse, killed.]” he said to Hector.
He shook his head, his hands over his eyes.
“[I think the best thing you can do right now, is spend time with her, ok?]”
Hector nodded, and wiped the tears from his eyes, he seemed to have calmed down. “[You’re right, of course.]”
The back door to the building opened and Keith looked down the alley to see some men getting into vehicles. One of them, a large bald man with hairy arms, was waving goodbye to the others and started walking down the alley towards the two of them. He stopped midway, undid his zipper and starting urinating on the wall.
“[Excuse me a moment,]” Keith said to Hector. He walked to where the man was urinating and stood beside him. Keith stared at him and smiled. The man looked at him. “¿Que carajo quieres?” Keith whipped out a taser and tased him. The man slumped down between some garbage bags and a trash bin.
Hector ran over, “[What are you doing? Do you want to die? That man is dangerous, he’s one of the cartel big wigs.]” Keith ignored him and continued searching the man’s pockets. “¡Aí dios mío, aí dios mío…! Hector continued quietly, trying not to attract attention. He was pacing back and forth.
Keith took out a cell phone from the man and began searching the menus for files. He opened one that looked promising and smiled. [Wednesday Drop: 02:30am – Location: 11°22'37"N, 72°08’51”W] Hector watched as he quickly took out his Smartphone and connected it to the man’s cell phone. After downloading everything he replaced the man’s cell phone and stole the money out of his wallet. “[You need to get out of here.]” he said to Hector.
Hector nodded and walked out of the alleyway towards the street and walked down it towards his home, thankful he didn’t try to rob the bank. He remembered something important that he saw. [Wednesday … 2:30am 11°22’37”]
After Hector left towards the street, Keith peered out from behind the trash bin towards the other end of the alleyway where the parking lot was. All the other men that were in the meeting had left. He jogged quietly towards the woods through the parking lot. He spotted a young cat nearby sticking a large sum of money under his arm, trying to hide it, but just continued towards the forest, with a smirk.
The young gray cat didn’t think much of the man that was running by, only that he might have stolen the money if he’d seen it. He hurried along the edge of town with the new-found money towards the house of the most beautiful cat he’d ever known. With this money he felt he could finally ask Alandra to be his girlfriend.
Several minutes later, Hector arrived at his house. “[Alandra, I’m home],” he called out entering the living room.
Alandra was lying in her bed, lying against the best pillow they had, and reading a book on how to speak English. She coughed as Hector arrived. “[Hi, dad.]” she replied weakly.
It broke his heart every time he saw her like this, and she was like this every time he had seen her these last two weeks. He knelt down and kissed her on the forehead. “[I can’t take seeing you in pain anymore” he said, his eyes watering over. “I’ve got to do something for you.” he continued, embracing her.
“[You’re here, that is enough for me.]” Alandra replied, returning the hug.
“[Wait here, I’ll make dinner.]” Hector said, while Alandra returned to her book. He went to the kitchen, tears streaming down his face. After he pulled himself together, he grabbed the phone and called his friend that ran a small PC café on the other side of town. After the phone rang a few times, a man picked up on the other line. “¡aló!”
“[Hello. David? It’s me Hector.]” he said quietly, so as not to disturb Alandra.
“[Hello Hector! How can I help you, my friend?]”
“[I need you to look something up on Google Earth for me.]”
“[Of course, of course, just let me open it up here.]” then after several moments, “[Ok, go ahead, ask me anything.]”
“[Where is 11°22’37” located?]” There was a pause from the other end.
“[Those could be coordinates, but I don’t know if they’re North, South, East, or West. Do you have anything else to go with them?]”
Dang it, why can’t I remember the other coordinate number? Hector thought for a moment. “[Yes, it should be nearby … somewhere in Colombia?]” He heard typing from the other end of the line.
“[Ok, it looks like it’s a longitudinal line that runs through Colombia. But it’s not a very exact location.]”
“[Can you see if there is anything near our town on the line? A structure or building, perhaps?]”
There was another pause. “[I think I see something here on the map, around 11°22'37"N, 72°08’51”W]”
“[Ah yes, now I remember,]” Hector replied. “[Thank you so much for your help, David.]”
“[But why did you n-]” was all Hector heard from the phone before he hung up.
At that moment, in the living room a knock was heard at the window by Alandra’s bedside. Alandra looked at the window and saw a young, lanky, gray cat, waving enthusiastically on the other side. “Toni!” she exclaimed, smiling.
Alandra was the type of cat that treated others based on their character, not their social status. The fact that Antonio didn’t have an owner meant little to her. Antonio opened up the window from his side. “Hola, Ali.” He replied walking towards her. He lay down beside her and they hugged, rubbed their noses together.
Hector was watching from the kitchen. He was happy that Alandra had found a friend. She seemed in good spirits whenever he visited and that helped calm him down. He went back to preparing dinner while planning Wednesday morning’s ‘activity’ in his head.
Alandra unconsciously twirled her claw around one of the ends of a dirty piece of yarn wrapped around her collar tag. Antonio smiled. He’d given her that as a present when they first met, and he’d never seen her without it. “[How are you doing today, Ali?]” he asked.
“[Better, now that you’re here?]” she responded licking his nose.
He smiled, “[That’s great. I need to talk to your dad a moment.]”
He got up from where he was lying beside her and walked into the kitchen. Alandra watched as he walked away, a slightly confused look on her face.
Antonio cleared his throat ahem “[Sir, I love your daughter and would like to live with her.]”
Hector looked at him with surprise. After what seemed like minutes, he began laughing, quietly at first but quickly picking up volume. “How could I possibly afford another cat?” He stopped laughing and his face became serious. Then, quietly to Antonio he said, “I can barely afford to keep Ali alive with all these vet visits.”
Antonio took out the $1000 and shoved it at Hector. He was staring into his eyes. “I will do anything he said with quiet intensity.
Hector looked at the cat intently, then at the money he now held in his hand. He seemed to care about Alandra as much as he did, maybe even more so. And he helped raise her spirits when he was around. $1,000 wouldn’t be enough to treat her, but maybe he could afford to keep the grey cat around for a while with this money.
Suddenly, Alandra appeared in the doorway with her paws on her hips. Hector quickly hid the money and looked at Antonio nervously; he looked back at him, also nervous. They both tried to act casual. “[What’s going on here?]” Alandra demanded.
“[Alandra, you should be in bed. The vet said it isn’t good for you to be exerting yourself.]”
She glared at her dad.
“[Um, well, that is to say … Toni here ... is um, well by sheer luck he happened to find some money … apparently … so I said I’d consider letting him stay with us…]” Hector looked at Antonio, “[if he behaves himself, and doesn’t do anything to upset you.]” he added, with a weak attempt at a smile.
“[Um, yeah?]” Antonio said in agreement.
Alandra looked from Antonio to Hector and back to Antonio, her glare subsiding and being replaced with a smile and eyes glistening over. “[Yippee!]” she exclaimed, jumping in the air and stumbling as she came down, coughing. Luckily Hector and Antonio were able to help her in time, and they brought her back to her bed. Antonio stayed with her while she read to him from the book, and Hector went back to the kitchen.
The sun was low in the sky when Keith had returned to their camp, and found Light leaning against a tree, balancing a knife by its tip on his claw. As he approached, Light flipped the knife around catching it on the grip and got in a knife fighting stance facing him. But when he saw it was Keith he sheathed the knife. “You should radio in more,” Light said walking towards the ATV and taking a seat on one of the chairs beside it.
Keith took off the baseball cap and ran his fingers through his hair, pulling it back before replacing the cap. “Light … how much money did you give the cat?” He knew Light had a soft spot for strays, and was worried he’d given too much.
“1.8 million,” Light responded casually.
Keith sat in the other chair near an ice chest. His face was in his hands. Wait, we didn’t have that much money with us. He looked at Keith with a puzzled look.
“Ohhhh,” Light said with a sarcastic smile, “you wanted that in US dollars; in that case $1000.”
“Light…” Keith was mad, but not beyond reason. “Were you at least able to get the tracking devices planted?”
“Yes he was.” Light replied defensively. “…the kid was good, Keith. I felt … he deserved a bit extra.”
Keith took out his Smartphone and waved it in front of Light smiling, “Well I have the coordinates of their next meeting. “You know what that means.”
“Mission briefing?” Light responded smiling and wagging his tail. Ordinarily soldiers would find this part boring, despite it being the safest and most important part of a military operation, but Keith tended to put his own spin on things.
“Phht. No. It means celebration.”
Light looked disappointed.
“Ok, well I suppose we can do both.” Keith got out a bottle of Moose Drool and tossed an Orange Soda to Light. “So…Light?” Keith asked, opening the bottle of beer. “What’s the next step? You’ve been with me a while, so tell me what you’ve learned.”
Light looked at Keith with surprise. He was used to him calling the shots, and now it was his turn?
He cleared his throat while opening the can of soda. He took a big gulp of the drink. “Well I suppose … we should check out those coordinates you mentioned. Get a feel for the area, making sure we don’t box ourselves in … in case of a hasty retreat.” Soon he started feeling a little light headed. “What is it about this orange soda, huh?” He asked Keith, while staring at the can.
Keith just shook his head slowly, smiling. “Please continue Light, you’re doing fine.”
“Well, when is this going down? When’s it happening? That’s going to affect the whole mission isn’t it?
“It’s two days away.” Keith answered. “…Wednesday morning 2:30 am, so we have tonight and all day tomorrow.”
“That doesn’t give us a lot of time.” Light said, taking another gulp of the soda. He was deep in thought.
He walked over to the area of the camp where they had their equipment and began laying it out.
They had with them 200 feet of trip wire, six fragmentation grenades, four flash bangs, 4 smoke grenades, a CheyTac M-200 Intervention with full accessory compliment, Light’s laser range finder binoculars, a nine millimeter, several spare clips for each weapon, a laptop, four Sony walkman cassette tape recorders, several days worth of food and water, two ghillie suits (one, Light’s size), camouflage face paint, several camo spray-paint cans, and a can of silly string. Light finished off the soda and set the can down as well, along with the sheathed knife. He scratched the back of his head.
Keith had moved the chair over near where Light was laying out the items and was sitting in reverse with his arms resting on the back of the chair. He drank some more of his beer, while watching Light. “You know,” he started, “we’ll be getting something in later this evening.”
Light looked over his shoulder at Keith, “What is it?”
Keith raised his eyebrows a couple of times, smiling. “A Barrett.”
“The Barrett anti-materiel sniper rifle!” Light exclaimed. “That Barrett?!”
“No no no,” Keith said shaking his head and wagging his finger. “Not just any Barrett; The M82A1A, with Raufoss Mk 211 Mod 0 .50 caliber rounds. That Barrett.”
“What are going to do with that thing?! Blow up a car!?” Light asked loudly, a little annoyed.
“Maybe,” Keith responded, smiling, “but not right now. Just add it to the list of items we have, and continue planning. I’ll be interested to see what use you can come up with for it.”
“Okay, okay.” Light was rubbing his temples and pacing in front of the equipment.
“Tick tock, we’re on the clock,” Keith reminded Light.
Light snapped his digit pads and turned to Keith. He was smiling. “I think I’ve got everything figured out.” He said.
Light explained his plans in detail to Keith while Keith listened and asked questions about things that he thought Light hadn’t planned for. Light was able to answer the questions relatively easily, though, once they were brought to his attention. Keith nodded in agreement once everything was planned. It had taken nearly 45 minutes for everything to be explained, and another 30 to plan for possible problems that would arise. The sun was now setting, and they would need to begin putting the plan in motion.
Light was approaching the drop area’s coordinates with his front and tail freshly painted, and his back was covered with a ghillie suit, resembling the heavy foliage of the Colombian forests. He stopped and sniffed the air while scanning areas in front of him for anything that seemed out of place. He was traveling slowly, but he knew it was better to be safe than sorry. He saw Keith travelling at a slightly slower pace about 100 yards to his right. There’s no way he could have seen him unless he knew he was there. Keith was a master of the art of camouflage, and Light was years behind him in learning it. Luckily, Keith was there to prepare his camo for him, most of the time.
Leaning against a tree, Keith placed himself out of sight of drop zone area. He looked at his Smartphone, hiding it inside the ghillie suit. Only an amateur would be caught looking at a map or phone that could be seen by someone. He began to worry. They were only 400 yards away from the coordinates and the buildings were clearly visible, yet they hadn’t come across a single trip wire or similar trap. It seemed almost too easy. He looked up and saw Light 40 yards ahead of him crawling forward and looking back at him. Keith and Light had opted to use hand signals in place of the radio for the recon mission; they wanted to reserve the batteries for the actual mission. He carried his fist to his shoulder, and moved his fist to the front, moving the fist upward vertically.
Light stopped. Keith raised his arm fully and then held up 4 fingers, indicating the range to the buildings. Light nodded, and faced forward, towards the buildings. He sniffed the air trying to pick up the scent of humans and listened for the sounds of a human. He definitely smelled human, but the scent didn’t seem fresh. He checked the ground to see if rain had fallen recently and washed away the scents. He heard several voices talking a couple miles past the buildings, but it wasn’t anything a human would be talking about, must be some ferals. He made an okay signal with his thumb and forefinger, and waited for Keith’s signal. Keith put his finger in the air, pointing upward, and moved it in a small circle several times. Light made his way over to him, keeping low and moving slowly. “This is a terrible idea,” Light whispered, once he’d arrived at Keith’s side. “Along the way, I’ve been talking to the ferals, warning them not to be in the area tomorrow night … and they said they don’t come near here because they’re afraid of the men with guns. Oh, one more thing, you’re going to love this,” he said sarcastically, “… they told me there is a full moon tomorrow night.”
Keith nodded. At least they wouldn’t have to worry about ferals getting hurt in crossfire. As it was right now, the moon was almost completely full, and by the light, they could see almost as well as if it were day…and that meant, so could the enemy. “Hey, it’s your plan, right?” Light looked at Keith, a little annoyed. “Don’t worry about it, if you plan enough, any op can work no matter what the conditions. Besides, we don’t have a choice. This guy doesn’t show himself much and we’re running out of time on our mission. This is pretty much our last chance…but hey, no pressure, huh?” He patted Light on the shoulder.
Light took out a can of silly string and while still looking at Keith shot a bit out 15 feet towards the buildings. Keith watched a point of the string suspend in air about 10 feet in front of them. “I saw a few of these 40 yards ahead of your progression,” Light said smiling. “I was able to keep ahead of you while watching for and avoiding trip wires. What’s wrong, Keith? Getting a little slow in your old age?”
Keith faked a dejected look. “That was uncalled for.”
Light rolled his eyes, “Anyway, all the lines I’ve come across were connected to frag grenade pins. Apparently these guys don’t care what happens to any ferals that might come through here. I get the feeling this is another reason they avoid this area. They’ve probably seen their friends or family members get killed by them,” he said in a growl. An angry bitterness was showing on his face, as if he was starting to become the feral he once was.
Keith started scratching Light behind the ear, and he immediately calmed down.
“Sorry,” Light said, snapping out of it.
“Remember Light…” Keith said, becoming serious. “…in our line of work we can’t let our emotions get the best of us. It’ll get you or your partner killed … which would be a bad thing for me.”
Light nodded.
Suddenly an owl landed quietly above them. It didn’t seem to have noticed them due to the camouflage. “Hey owl?” Light whispered.
The owl rotated it’s head slowly in several directions, looking for the source of the noise. “Whoooo?”
“Oh, c’mon that’s such an old joke,” Light said, still whispering.
Keith kept perfectly still and didn’t say anything, worried that hearing too many voices might make the owl seem nervous.
Light waved to the owl with a slow, steady motion and the owl looked down.
“Jeez, what are you?” indicating the strange looking creature below him.
“I’m a wolf, but that’s not important right now.” Light responded. “Have you ever been to the buildings over there?” he asked, pointing towards the buildings in the distance.
The owl scoffed. “Do they teach manners where you come from? One does not simply ask another, questions without first introducing themselves.”
“But you just –“
ahem “I am Bartholomew Preston III,” The owl said with a deep bow. He looked at the wolf quizzically. “And you are?”
“I am Light … just Light.” Light said, a little embarrassed at the simplicity of his name. “So, can you tell me, have you been to the buildings?”
“I have good sir Light, and I must say I do not dare go there when humans are about.”
Keith laughed quietly to himself. This bird seemed a bit cuckoo, for believing it to be a different time period, with the way he spoke.
“I notice it’s a bit quiet tonight in the woods around here. Are there humans there tonight?”
“Hmph. If there were, do you think I would be here?”
Light shook his head. “I mean, is it always this quiet in the area? I can’t hear much of the ambient speech of ferals, which forests usually contain.” He said, trying to impress the owl.
“You have a thorough vocabulary,” the owl said in a dignified voice. “Ever since the humans with guns came around, they won’t get within two furlongs of that place.”
“Thank you, Bartholomew.” Light said with a bow.
“You are welcome, I suppose.” The owl took off without a sound, no doubt, in search of supper.
“You certainly have a way with ferals.” Keith said.
“Yeah, now if only I could deal with humans,” Light said, smiling. He got out his range finders and began noting distances to landmarks located around the buildings.
“Well, it looks like we will be able to pull this off without harming any innocents.” Keith said reassuringly. “What could possibly go wrong?”
Hector and his family, including the newest member, had finished dinner and the two cats had gone back to reading the book together, while the homeowner had found the coordinates on a map of the area he had. He circled the area and put the map in his pocket. He had a plan to sneak into the area and steal whatever he would have an opportunity to, either drugs or the money the clients were going to use to purchase them. He wouldn’t let Alandra go without a fight. He was planning to check the area the next day, as it was getting late and he didn’t want to worry his cats, especially Alandra, by going out so late at night. He walked into the living room. “[OK you two, it’s time for bed.]” he said, smiling.
“[Aww, dad. Can’t we stay up a little longer?]” Alandra pleaded, just before Antonio yawned.
“I need sleep.” Antonio replied.
They didn’t need to understand English to know what he meant. Alandra stayed in her bed while Antonio wearily walked across the room to a chair. He jumped up, plopped down, and fell asleep nearly instantly; he’d had a long and busy day with his adventure.
Hector tucked the two cats in, and went to bed himself. He was thankful these cats had a normal sleep cycle…well normal for humans anyway. For several moments, he lay on top of his bed with his eyes closed, trying to fall asleep. He was remembering the day he had, and thinking about the hardships that were to come. “[Juan Do, huh?]” he said quietly to himself, before drifting into sleep.
Babylon Gardens 2010; 5 minutes from Lucky Charm Grove
Martin and Keith had noticed some sound coming from the back seat, where Light was sleeping. They looked back to see him kicking his legs out as if he was running, in dream, like dogs often do. “I wonder what dogs dream about.” Martin pondered aloud.
“Oh, probably the same things they do when they’re awake,” Keith replied. “You know, chasing sticks and balls, chasing prey … playing D&D… that kind of stuff.” As he said it, he wondered if the last one made sense. He figured it was possible, so why not?
Martin chuckled. “I know what you mean…you’re probably right.”
Colombia 2009
Light was sprinting through the forest. It was the day before the cartel/client meeting, the sun was just rising and both Keith and Light had little time to prepare. He’d disarmed the first few traps, carefully removing each grenade from the tripwires with his knife. After three of them, he’d noticed a pattern and was able to predict where the next one would be within a few yards. It was almost instinctual behavior, he was barely conscious he was doing it. 'Amateurs,' he thought. When he’d almost finished clearing the traps, he heard Keith over the radio. “Light, I’m finishing up here.” Light put his claw to the earpiece to respond, “affirmative.”
Keith looked over to where light was, and saw him running towards him. From several locations, he’d ranged several landmarks inside the building area and those surrounding it. They had needed to clear the traps around the buildings, in case they would need to shoot from a different position. They didn’t want to have to worry about traps that night, because it would slow them down if they had to search for them during the mission. He’d figured the ferals in the area would be thankful as well. While waiting for Light, he took notes in his log book, including what he’d had for breakfast that day, the temperature, relative humidity, what time the sun rose, wind direction, etc. The log book was the snipers ‘bible’, and without it, a snipers ability to learn would be non-existent. He knew sniping was a perishable skill, and without practice and discipline, could cause the sniper’s ability to decline, which could cause the sniper themselves, to perish at the hands of the enemy. Soon Light was standing beside Keith near the makeshift hide they’d made. It had only taken them 5 hours earlier that morning to create it, and they hadn’t had any sleep since the day before. “How many grenades did you find?” Keith asked.
“I don’t know if these guys are smart or we're just smarter,” Light responded. “I found about 20 grenade traps, but they were spread out in a strategic manner. I don’t even know how I was able to find them all so easily.”
“Are you sure you found them all?” Keith asked, a serious look on his face.
“I neutralized the traps that posed a risk to the mission, sir” Light responded, an equally serious look on his face. “I left the ones near the buildings to make them think no one has tampered with them, as per procedure."
Keith breathed a sigh of relief and leaned against the side of their hide, exhausted. “I think we should get some rest; we’ve earned it. Is there anything else you can think of that needs to be done before the op?”
Light thought back to his plan they discussed yesterday afternoon, but his mind was almost as fuzzy as his tail, from lack of sleep. “We still have time to get some rest before any final preparations that need to be made.”
We should go back to camp and rest before moving the gear to the hide. Keith got up and mounted the ATV while Light got on the back and strapped in. Keith drove the two of them back to camp over the uneven terrain, while Light held on.
Hector was hiding behind a tree beside the dirt road that lead from the highway to the drop-site coordinates. He’d heard a motorized vehicle traveling by and didn’t want to be spotted. He stood out because he was by himself and carrying rope and a large saw…if someone had asked him what he was doing out here with strange items, he wasn’t sure he could answer them. After the vehicle had gotten out of earshot he breathed a sigh of relief and continued down the road searching for a tree with a large overhanging branch.
He finally saw the perfect specimen. The branch appeared heavy enough for 6 men to be needed to move it. He tied one end of the rope to the saw and the other around his waist and began climbing the tree. The branch was hanging over the road in just the right spot. The road was blocked on both sides. If any vehicle wanted to get through, they’d be forced to move debris if it was blocking the way. Once he’d gotten to the base of the branch he pulled up the saw using the rope. Once he had brought the saw up he took it in his hand with a sad look on his face. “[Sorry, friend.] he said quietly to the tree as he proceeded to saw the branch. From the looks of things, he was going to be working on this branch for a while. He was hoping Alandra and Antonio would be ok while he was out for most of the day.
Light and Keith had been sleeping for much of the late morning and up through mid-afternoon. They woke around 5:00 and the sun was beginning to set. After they’d finished their yoga stretching they had meditated for a few minutes, sitting side by side, and working on controlling their breathing. They were both sitting in a crossed legged pose, with their feet on their thighs. Their eyes were closed, when suddenly Light opened his. “Have we planned everything.“ Keith asked, with his eyes still closed.
Light closed his eyes again and focused. He breathed deep regular breaths. “I can’t think of anything else.”
Keith opened his eyes, unfolded his legs and stood up. Light followed suit, and they went to their food supply to get breakfast. Keith began to boil some water for tea, while Light went to get the laptop out from their equipment. By the time Light had it set up, Keith had his tea in hand. Light didn’t care much for heated drinks, so Keith didn’t usually make him any. He handed him some orange juice.
Light started up the tracking program for the devices he’d paid the cat to place, the other day. The two looked at the screen and noted the addresses of some of the people that were at the meeting. There were very few of them living in the nearby town. “We know for certain Carlos isn’t at these locations.” Keith said before sipping some tea. “He wasn’t at the meeting. But, we may be able to thin some of their security for tonight.”
“Let’s get the gear to the hide, and when night falls, we’ll start this up.” Light said, with a twisted smile, looking over towards the Barrett.
Once Keith and Light had secured the gear they needed that night to the ATV, they rode it to the hide with Light carrying the object that was too large to be secured.
The day had passed without incident for Alandra and Antonio, who were staying in the small apartment. Alandra wasn’t even worrying about the longer periods of time her ‘dad’ was gone for that day, she was just happy to have company. The two of them had been conversing with each other in English for practice. Antonio was clearly the better of the two. Eventually he believed she was feeling well enough to hear the exciting story of the huge dog he’d met in the forest the previous day. He told it to her in slow English, explaining the parts she couldn’t understand in Spanish. As he told it to her, her eyes grew wide with disbelief. “[…and you didn’t even ask the purpose of doing that?]”
“No,” Antonio responded. “[…he offered me money. How could I say no?]”
“[So that’s where you got the money Dad was talking about?]”
“Sí.” he answered, sheepishly. He held a hand on the back of his neck.
Alandra started to look upset. “[Well that was foolish, and dangerous, and … very sweet.]” she said kissing his cheek. Antonio blushed.
Just then Hector walked in through the front door looking exhausted and covered in sawdust. Recently he’d been taking odd jobs from any neighbors that would hire him, to make some extra money, so it wasn’t anything unusual. He kissed Alandra and patted Antonio on the head. “[Are you two doing well? Are you ready for dinner?]”
“Sí,” they replied together. They looked at each other and giggled.
Keith and Light approached the home of one of the people at the meeting. They had finished moving the gear they would need for that evening and stowed it in the hide outside the group of buildings where the drop-off was occurring early the next morning. They jogged silently towards it from the forest behind the house. Light whispered to Keith. “That’s a good size house for a small town.”
Keith got out his binoculars and started scanning the house. “Yeah, I don’t see too much security though. These guys must know they have the rest of the town running scared,” he replied quietly, remembering how the man that called himself Hector was reacting the other day. Suddenly he spotted a woman and a child in the kitchen. It didn’t faze him though; they weren’t there to kill this man. They were there to prevent him from making it to the drop-off, by non-violent means if possible. The mission they took included a clause for minimizing casualties of those other than the primary target and Light had noticed Keith was fond of these types of missions. When it came to drug cartels however…
“How many do you think we’ll have to kill this time?” Light asked in a barely audible whisper.
“As many as we have to,” Keith replied, just as softly. “…with any luck, they’ll run once they see their “supreme leader” gunned down.”
Light nodded just as Keith placed the binoculars in his vest. Keith used his finger in a subtle point towards the alleyway to the west of the house. “See the car?”
“Yeah. Did you want the honors?” Light said with a smile?
“After you,” Keith replied with a slight bow and arm outstretched as much as he could without risking giving away his position.
Light slinked through the tall grass, his ghillie suit providing a nearly perfect camouflage, both in texture and color. He arrived at the vehicle without incident, with Keith right behind him. Keith got out a can of washable spray paint, while Light got out his knife. (Remember kids, don’t use paint on cars, it really will damage them.)
Keith and Light reproduced the results to several other cars over the next hour. Suffice to say, those people wouldn’t be making it to the drop-off in those vehicles. Keith had drawn various anti-establishment slurs and symbols on the vehicles to the point where the owners would have most likely reported in the morning that some kids had vandalized their cars during the night. While Light had made sure, that the cars would have more flat tires than they had spares. The spray paint would draw attention away from the fact that the flat tires were the main purpose of the ‘vandalization.’
Keith had also been prudent to point out to Light, that these were the vehicles that had arrived at the meeting that day, late. And that it would be difficult to get a ride with someone else, if everyone else was already at the drop-site.
It was around 2300 hours when Light and Keith arrived at the hide. They had decided to walk on foot to make sure they weren’t heard on the ATV. Once they’d arrived they did one last yoga stretching session, before meditating. Keith and Light would need every ounce of concentration and focus they could gather. Tonight was no different from any other mission and they knew they could very well die. They got in a prone position and got comfortable. Keith on the CheyTac Rifle, Light on the rangefinders. “Let the game begin.” Keith said with a smile.
Dinner at the Garcia Household had gone over well. Hector and Antonio were actually enjoying their company. Once Alandra and Antonio had gone to sleep, however, Hector went to his room and turned out the Lights, but he didn’t try to go to sleep. He couldn’t, not when he thought about what he was going to do. [I must be going crazy. No, I have to do this. This is for Alandra.] He lay in his bed until 11:30. He walked quietly to the window and climbed out. He put on his shoes he had left there earlier and began walking towards the tree he had sawed through earlier.
It was Wednesday morning now. Well, it had just passed midnight., when Antonio woke up. Alandra was having a bad dream and was tossing and turning. “Ali?” Antonio said quietly. “Ali” he continued, this time loud enough to wake her. “[Are you okay?]” Alandra woke up.
“Sí,” Alandra said in a tired voice. “[I’m okay, Toni. I just had a bad dream.]”
“[I’ll go see if your ‘dad’ will let you sleep in his room. You should feel safer there.]” Antonio was just about to open the door to Hector’s room when Alandra stopped him with her paw.
“[Really, I’m fine. I don’t want to bother Dad.]”
Antonio turned towards her and looked in her eyes. She turned her head and looked away from his.
Antonio looked worried all of a sudden. “[Ali, you aren’t ok. What’s wrong?]”
Alandra put a paw to her face, trying to hide the tears. “[I…I…]” She started sobbing and coughing. Antonio, put his arms around her and slowly rubbed the back of her head. She had her face on his shoulder.
“[Ali, you need to tell me what’s wrong…was it the dream?]”
She nodded with her head rubbing against his shoulder.
“[Something happened to your dad in the dream, didn’t it?]”
She nodded again.
Antonio broke off the embrace and slid his paws down her arms and took hold of her hands. “[Well, I can think of only one way to handle this.]” He wiped her tears away with the back of his paw.
“[We’ll just have to see your ‘dad’ to see he’s okay. It’ll put your mind to rest.]” Alandra nodded as Antonio pushed open the door to Hector’s room. As he was walking in he saw the room was empty and pulled the door shut and took a step back into Alandra.
“Oof.” Alandra said, rubbing her nose. “[Why’d you stop?]”
Antonio tried to keep a calm look on his face, as he turned to Alandra. “[You know what? You’re right, there’s no need to bother him. Heh heh.]” He made a nervous laugh and put his paw behind his head. Alandra wasn’t fooled.
“[What are you trying to hide]?” Alandra asked as she walked by him and pushed open the door. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the room was empty. Her eyes went immediately to the note taped to the bed post. “[Alandra and Antonio, I am going for a night stroll. :D I should be back in a few hours. Love, Dad.]”
Alandra’s eyes became as small as needle points and legs gave out as she fell to her knees, staring at the note. Her dad had never left her alone at night. While she would normally not be scared, even without her dad home at night, the unusual nature of the situation and the strange behavior her dad had been exhibiting the last two days, on top of the nightmare she’d just had, this was the breaking point. She was sobbing so hard she started hyperventilating. Antonio rushed to the kitchen to get a brown paper bag and helped her cover her muzzle with it, placing a reassuring paw on her back. “[Nice and steady Ali, nice and steady.]”
Alandra started to breathe more regularly and she suddenly appeared very tired and worried. Her eyes were still tearing and she was sobbing, but at least she seemed to have calmed down a little. Antonio carried Alandra back to her bed and laid her down, giving her a kiss on the cheek. The shock must have used up a lot of stamina, because she was asleep.
[When I find, Hector, I’m going to kill him], he thought, shaking his fist. He quietly walked through the room and exited through the window in Hector’s room. He noticed the shoeprints and followed them into the forest.
0100 Hours
Keith and Light were monitoring the changing environment, scopes capped, binoculars ranging the area from their hide. They were dressed in their ghillie suits, completely hidden in plain view and waiting patiently. Light put his ears down with his paws…for the eleventh time. Keith finally spoke up. “Light, if your ears are bothering you, take care of it.”
“It’s not my ears, I keep hearing this grinding noise, and it’s coming from over there,” Light indicated with his finger the direction of the annoyance. “It sounds like someone is sawing something. Wait, it’s stopped.”
Even Keith heard the splitting wood in the distance and the crash of what sounded like a tree hitting the ground. “Great.” Keith said, rolling his eyes. “Let’s go check it out.”
Keith and Light stealthily made their way to where they had heard the crash from. They stopped in front of a huge branch blocking the road. “Huh.” Keith said. “Look at that. It’s blocking the road.” Light pointed to where the branch had fallen, and Keith looked. There was a saw located in the tree. Who ever had been cutting the branch must have been working on it for quite some time, if they were doing it alone.
Light looked at Keith. Keith was holding an open hand above his head. Light brought his thumb and forefinger together in a circle and as he got out his knife, slowly turned and walked away from Keith, searching for the person that left the saw in the tree. Keith walked across the road, upholstered his 9 mil. and began searching the side opposite of Light.
A man was crouched inside some tree roots about 30 feet from the road. Light noticed the man and turned facing him with his knife outwards. “[Don’t shoot. I’m unarmed, I’m just a Botanist.]” he cried out, loudly with his hands covering his face.
Light didn’t lower his knife. “Habla Inglés?” he asked.
“[No, I don’t speak English.]” he replied. Just then a truck could be heard coming down the road.
“$%^&” Light said quietly to himself. He was so focused on localized sounds, he hadn’t been paying attention at range. Without taking his eyes off the man, he brought a claw to his radio piece to activate outbound. “Bravo one, I have a situation here…”
Keith heard Light’s report as he heard the vehicle approaching fast. “Repeat that Light, it sounded like you said you have a civilian here.”
“That’s an affirmative, sir.”
Keith rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Tell him to stay put and hidden. Don’t move, I’ll make my way over there when it’s safe.” He was whispering at this point, as the pickup had stopped and men were getting out. Yelling at each other and trying to figure out how to move the branch.
With an angry face, Light put a finger to his muzzle, pointed to the man and pointed down, indicating for him to stay there. After that, he slowly moved a little farther from the road and hid behind a tree.
At this point Hector felt he was in clearly over his head. What was he trying to do, get money?! For what, so his cat could be cured of a life threatening disease?... He started to gain some confidence back. That was exactly what he was here for…for Alandra!
He sneaked around to the back side of the truck. Light watched him with surprised eyes, and facepalmed. He was far enough away from the road to whisper into the radio and not be heard by the men, but he knew Keith wasn’t so lucky. He contacted Keith, “Keith, our civilian just walked behind the truck. No, no I’m not joking. I’m sure you would tell me to stop him because he could jeopardize the mission. Yeah, I’ll get right on that.” Light was running towards the truck when another truck came up behind it on the road, casting its headlights near his position. He quickly dropped and didn’t move. “$%^&”
“[Hey, what’s going on!]” Keith recognized the voice of the man that was in charge of the meeting the other day, Juan Camilo ‘the Chameleon’ Morales. He got out of the second truck and discussed the branch with the men from the first truck. [”Move it, we’ve got enough now.”] He motioned for the men in the second truck to help move the branch. 20 minutes later and after much strenuous activity, they had cleared it from the road. The men piled back into their trucks and continued to the drop-site.
After they had gone, Light came out from the tree and regrouped with Keith back at the hide. “Where’s the civilian?” Keith asked.
Light looked defeated. “I tried, Sir. I…I couldn’t get to him in time. I lost sight of him as I hit the dirt to avoid being spotted by that second truck. He must have used some rope to hide underneath one of the trucks”…he paused…“We didn’t plan for this, we should pull out now…is what I’d like to say, but knowing you…”
Keith smiled. “Things have just gotten interesting.”
Light rubbed his temples with his paws. “Why do I do this to myself?”
It was approaching 0215 hours; Keith and Light were back in their positions in the hide. The clients would be arriving shortly, and there was no sign of Carlos Diego Morales. “He’s with the clients.” Light said. “That’s the only explanation. He must want to make sure they find the place alright, and to make sure they don’t try to double cross him.”
Keith didn’t respond. He didn’t move at all. He had his cross-hairs on one of the men near where he predicted the drop would be made, which so happened to be where he assumed Carlos would be standing. He saw the crosshairs slightly bump with his heartbeat vibrating throughout his body and into the firearm. “Wow, that’s cool...” he whispered, “…it never gets old.”
Light looked through the rangefinders and took the range to the target area. “Bullet drop compensation, 400 yards”, he whispered to Keith. Keith confirmed the setting. Light looked at his Smartphone, with the light setting dimmed, beside him. Wind-speed, angle, number of obstacles between them and the target, temperature… everything had been accounted for. As they had feared, the moon was bright that night, but they had built their hide in the shade of a tree, so they wouldn’t be found too easily. They continued to wait.
Soon the final vehicle was arriving. Light followed the vehicle with the binoculars, and focused on the man in the passenger seat… Carlos Diego Morales, he checked his Smartphone photo and showed it to Keith. Keith looked through his binoculars. “Yep, that’s him,” he whispered. “Now we just wait for him to stand still long enough.”
“Did you hear that?” Light asked.
“Light, you know I can’t hear half the things you do.”
Light tried to listen for it again, but he couldn’t hear anything. “Never mind, it could just be a feral. It was quiet, so…probably far away.”
Carlos got out the car, followed by some Caucasians wearing suits. He had a typical drug-lord military appearance, down to the green military uniform and beard. He gave his brother a hug and turned towards the suits. “Welcome to my establishment, gentlemen.” He said with a smile and rubbing his hands together. “Never will you find a better product.” He walked with confidence, pacing back and forth. Suddenly the door to one of the buildings opened with force and a man carrying an assault rifle was pulling a struggling man by the back of his shirt. “[Who is this?]” Carlos asked, with a coolness that could only stem from that of a cold-blooded killer. “[I found him browsing our collection.]” the man with the assault rifle said, throwing the trespasser to the ground in front of Carlos. Carlos pulled out a Desert Eagle and aimed it at the man. [”Do you have a name?”]
“[Please don’t shoot me, I have a family.]”
“[I did not ask this question, I asked your name.]”
“[Hector, my name is Hector.]”
“[Good. I like to know the names of people I kill.]” Carlos brought the gun to level with Hector, and pulled the trigger as a cat bit into his arm. The shot went wild and struck one of the armed men in the chest, dropping him instantly. The men started backing up and getting behind cover, as Carlos was trying to wrestle the cat off his arm. He finally grabbed it by the back of the neck and threw it on the ground. The cat rolled a few times ending on its belly facing away from him. Carlos aimed his gun at the cat with fury in his eyes, just as the cat looked back at him with fear.
Suddenly everyone in Light’s range-finders turned as Light heard a noise coming from behind them. The man from the roadway was being dragged by one with an assault rifle. Keith was watching through his scope, he took his finger off the trigger; his eyes were wide with astonishment. “I guess we know where the guy from the roadway is.” Light said with a smile. He noticed Keith wasn’t smiling. “Keith?”
“It’s the man you warned me about the other day. The one that was going to rob the bank, don’t you recognize him.” Then Keith remembered Light hadn’t seen his face. “…never mind. His name’s Hector and he has a sick cat. It’s why he was going to rob the bank.” He never took his crosshairs off the target as he explained this to Light. He placed his finger back on the trigger and started squeezing, after he saw that a gun was being aimed at Hector. What happened next surprised the two of them.
Light almost jumped as he saw a wiry, gray cat come from nowhere and bite Carlos’ hand. Keith and Light saw the Desert Eagle go off in their scopes and soon after heard the gunshot. Keith began to squeeze the trigger, a second time. His sights aimed at Carlos’ center of mass. He moved the gun with him, following as he struggled with the cat. “Light, now!” Keith called out.
Light pulled on the wire beside him. The Barrett in the tree above them fired an explosive tipped round into the top floor of the 2nd story building in the group. Keith held his breath. Time slowed down. When the cat was thrown clear, his heart beat with a pulse just as he was about to take the shot, he waited for it to pass, squeezed the trigger, and fired.
For the second time that day, Carlos’ shot missed its mark. Although this time, not entirely, and this time, because of the explosion in the top floor of the building in front of him that he’d instinctively protected himself from. He suddenly felt something strike him in the chest, and that was the last thing he felt before he slumped to the ground.
Juan watched the scene in horror. Time seemed to pass at a crawl as he saw his brother die in front of his eyes. The explosion had been unexpected and as a result many of the men were in disarray, especially after having seen their ‘supreme’ leader gunned down. Hector figured this was a good time to flee, and at this point, the men in the suits had had enough, and were getting back into their car. “Oh, you aren’t leaving until you give us that money.” Juan shouted regaining his composure, trying to take the briefcase from them. The armed man wearing a suit standing beside the one with the briefcase, suddenly deposited blood on the side of the car, shattering a window, after which a gunshot was heard. Juan and the briefcase man paused briefly. Juan pulled out his own Desert Eagle and shot the man with the briefcase before staying low and quickly carrying the case towards one of the buildings. A claw dug into his leg. “Aiee!” Juan shrieked and looked down.
The gray cat was bleeding badly, but wasn’t out of this fight yet. He’d figured Hector had come here for money to help Alandra, he’d overheard him talking to himself when working on his plan and had just hoped he wouldn’t go through with it, sadly this wasn’t the case. Juan pointed his Desert Eagle at the cat and began to pull the trigger.
This time, Keith took no chance. He fired earlier than last time and thankfully his pulse had cooperated this time. A slight breeze caused the bullet to stray a bit and strike the Desert Eagle in Juan’s hand causing it to break into pieces and dislocating Juan’s trigger finger. He cried out in pain and dropped the case. Just then a round from the Barrett struck the building a second time, creating another explosion. “Ejecutar, es el ejército!” [Run, It’s the army!] Light heard several of the men calling out as they ran off into the forest. Juan kicked the cat away and ran with them.
“KW 3 knots west. One mil left.” Light called out, looking through the range-finders. Keith had already entered another round in the chamber and adjusted his crosshairs, but didn’t see anyone between the trees past the buildings. Light listened. All he could hear was the weeping of a man and the roar of the flames on the second floor of the building. “Area clear?” Keith asked. “Yes sir.” Light responded, bringing down his binoculars and breathing a big sigh of relief.
Hector had taken off his shirt and wrapped it around Antonio, covering his wound. It didn’t look good. The bullet hadn’t gone through and it was still lodged in his chest. It was amazing he was still alive. I can’t die yet, there’s something I still have to do. Antonio thought as he started to go into shock. Keith and Light arrived at the scene quickly considering the distance. Keith grabbed Hector by the shirt and tossed him against the building. “[What did you think you were doing?]”
Hector was sobbing. “[I…I…don’t know.]” He covered his face with his hands and collapsed to the ground. Keith slammed his fist against the side of the building. “$%^&”
Light got out his medical kit and helped Keith attempt to bandage the cat up. When they did the best they could do, Light picked up the cat and Keith picked up the briefcase in one hand and picked up Hector under the arm with the other and pulled him along. Several moments later Antonio spoke. “Ali.” he said weakly, barely audible.]” Hector shook Keith off and ran to Light, who was carrying Antonio.
“[What, Toni?]” Hector asked. Then he understood. He walked quickly ahead of Keith and Light. “[Follow me!]” he called out, his face, serious.
Alandra had awoken. She’d had another bad dream. She curled into a ball and sobbed, coughing. Antonio wasn’t there. Her father wasn’t there. She had no one at that moment…when she needed someone most. Her ears twitched as she heard someone approaching the door. She turned her head to the front door, she had stopped crying at that moment.
The door opened and a smile immediately came to her face, followed by absolute horror. Her dad walked in, with a sad expression on his face. But when she saw Antonio…
Keith shut the door behind them. Light carried Antonio to a cat bed and laid him down. Alandra slowly walked towards Antonio, as if in a dream…no…a nightmare, except this one felt more real than any nightmare she’d had before. She knelt beside Antonio. “[Hey, Ali.]” Antonio said as he coughed and some blood trickled out of his mouth. Alandra collapsed on top of him, crying…sobbing, tears gushed from her eyes and covered Antonio’s shoulder. Not Antonio, anyone but him. Take me, God. Just spare Toni. Antonio embraced her and pulled her away from him, smiling. Hector embraced Alandra and apologized.
He summed up the events that had happened during the last couple of days, apologizing every fourth word, tears filling his eyes. “[Toni…he saved my life…I was a fool and I should have died, but not Toni, he’s a hero…he doesn’t deserve this. I only hope you can forgive me.]”
Alandra turned back to Antonio, he was still smiling. “[Alandra, I want you to listen to me…]
She nodded, still too upset to speak. “[I want you and Hector to live happily, just forget about me. I want you to move on and find a new friend, and when you’re old enough to live happily with them and start a family. Can you…do…that? Can you live enough for the both of us.]” Antonio’s voice was getting weaker by the minute, but he needed to tell Alandra…his Ali, these things before he died.
Alandra was shaking her head. “Noooo!” she sobbed. “[Toni, don’t do this, to me.]”
Antonio stroked her head, she was still sniffling. “[It’ll…be…okay]” His arm fell off her head and down her arm as it came to rest at his side. He closed his eyes, and gave a weak, but sincere smile. He’d breathed his last, and Alandra had no more tears to shed. She cried softly until sunrise.
The next day, Hector told Keith and Light what had happened to help them fill in the blanks. Light made an especially detailed mental note of everything. They helped Hector bury Antonio, near the forest near where Light had first met the cat. “It was one of his favorite places to wander.” Hector said. Keith and Light had helped pay for a nice gravestone for Antonio. Keith, Light, Hector, and Alandra stood beside the gravestone, which was marked
“Antonio Garcia,
?? - December 9, 2009.
Friend, adventurer, hero!”
Hector and Alandra were crying. Tears flowing down their face. Alandra had lost her best friend, and Hector had felt responsible for his death.
Keith and Light stood at attention and saluted for their Brother in Arms. “Bravest soldier, I’ve ever known,” Light said quietly.
“One of the best.” Keith continued. He placed a hand on Hector’s shoulder. “[Use the money to get Alandra treated and move out of the country. They know what you look like, it’s only a matter of time before they come looking for you.]” Hector nodded, his eyes were sad but also filled with thanks.
Keith pulled Hector along back towards the town, while Light and Alandra were left at the stone. Finally Light spoke. “[That string around your collar, it seems like it doesn’t belong…Antonio gave that to you, didn’t he?]”
“[Yes, it was a gift, when we first met. I didn’t have many friends so, I gratefully accepted it.]” She looked very sad.
“[Don’t let go of the memory. I would keep it.]” Light said, as he began to walk back towards the town.
“[Wait,]” she called out.
Light turned and as she kissed him on the cheek. “[Thank you, for trying to save him…and for telling me that. I won’t forget him, but I will also follow his wishes and try to live for the both of us.]”
“No problem.” Light said, in English.
“Light, we gotta go.” Keith was calling to Light.
He wasn’t moving.
”Light…."
”Light….” He sounded far away.
”Light!”
Light woke with a start. He saw Martin and Keith in the front seats of the car. He rubbed his eyes.
“We’re here,” Keith said. Light’s eyes opened with amazement.
Chapter 5
Light was impressed by the feat of engineering that Martin had put together. The first thing he noticed beyond the fence in front of him was a building 20 stories tall in the center of the complex. It was a rectangular, curved building of glass and Steel, allowing for its residents to see each other while standing on the terraces of their apartments. The shelter buildings appeared to have been rebuilt from scratch. The five-meter-tall fence stretched in a circle around the large perimeter of the grounds. On the fence were a signs that read 'DANGER- ELECTRIFIED FENCE – DO NOT PASS THE LINE.' And there it was, the infringement line running at 3 meters inside and outside the fencing. From the dormitory, the complex was divided into 8 'pie-like-slices', each one hosting smaller, two-story buildings.
“The buildings are dedicated workshops, schools, theater/movie theater, pet food shop/pet fancy shop, internet cafe, bar/mess hall, chapel, veterinarian/human medical clinics…laboratories, a weaponry, direction, and security offices. The pie slices are divided by wooded paths, with benches provided with fountains and telephone points at the light poles....” Martin explained in detail, seeing Keith and Light’s curious faces.
Keith and Light also noticed the heliport. It looked to be large enough to accommodate a Mil Mi-26T. Keith gave an impressed whistle. “This is quite a setup here.”
A security guard at the gate came out to the vehicle on Keith’s side. “Can I see your ID?” he asked Keith. Then he saw Martin riding beside him. He looked surprised. “Mr. Fos-…I mean, Martin? I didn’t know you’d be coming by today. I heard you’d left for a vacation somewhere.”
“Ah, I had a few more things to do before I leave…and it’s tomorrow that I’m leaving for vacation. Could you let us through please?” He motioned with his hand for him to open the gate.
The security guard quickly walked back to the booth and the gate began sliding open. He waved to Keith and Martin and a surprised look at the wolf that was looking at him from the back seat as they drove past him and into the shelter.
“Do you already have a security team?” Keith asked Martin as he pulled up to the main building.
“It’s a temporary security service I’ve hired for watching the shelter while the construction is going on.”
The three of them got out of the car and walked into the building. Light was lagging behind, trying to get used to the spectacle. He looked around him again before following them into the building.
Inside the lobby, Keith and Light noticed the building’s…they didn’t know how to describe it…New building smell? Martin greeted the person seated at the front counter. “Miss Evelyn Sunman, this is Keith and Light. Keith and Light, this is Ms. Sunman.” He gestured with his good hand towards each person/animal respectively. Handshakes and pawshakes were exchanged before a Welsh Corgi walked into the room carrying a large stack of paperwork. He was reading one of the folders he held in front of his face, and wasn’t watching where he was going. He bumped into Light’s side and Light looked down at him.
“Hey, watch where you’re…” eep the Corgi looked up and made a frightened sound as he saw the unfamiliar wolf. He dropped the paperwork, scattering it across the floor. Light jumped behind Keith, he still wasn’t familiar with all these strangers, and this new turn of events had startled him. The dog was on the floor, a bit dazed (and wet) from the sudden fright of a wolf right in front of him.
“Ah,” Martin said, stifling a laugh “…how are you doing today King?”
The Corgi, that Light now knew was named King, shook his head and came back to his senses. Light politely ignored the fact that the Corgi had just wet himself, and offered him a paw. King appeared to have calmed down a bit. After all, he’d seen that the Milton wolves that they could be friendly if they wanted to be. He grasped Light’s paw and the wolf helped him to his feet. “Sorry about that.” Light said, a bit embarrassed at the mess he’d caused. “…my name is Light.” He smiled nervously. This day is just full of great first impressions.
King brushed himself off as he looked at the mess of papers on the floor. “Oh great!” he started, blushing, and obviously annoyed, “that took me forever to organize!” He bent down and started to gather the papers up. Light started to help him. “Hey!” King shouted, causing Light to pause and look over at him, “…don’t you think you’ve caused enough trouble?” Light didn’t like it when others snapped at him when he was just trying to help them. He started growling. King shrunk back; in his excitement he’d forgotten he was talking to a wolf.
“Light?!” Keith said, looking at Light and pointing a finger at him. Light backed off. “I uh, um…sorry…King, was it? I was just trying to help.”
King, was afraid to say anything to upset the wolf so he just went back to picking up the papers. This time Light didn’t try to help. The worlds of human and pet, and that of the feral were quite different, and even though he had spent much of his life with Keith, he was still learning.
Keith and Light followed Martin to a conference room down the hall from the lobby. Martin sat along one edge of a rectangular table, while Keith and Light sat across from him. Light turned over the two glasses in front of himself and Keith and poured some water from a pitcher that was sitting in the center of the table. Martin turned over his and Light leaned over it and carefully poured him some as well.
“Well, I have to ask Martin … it is ok if I call you Martin, right?”
Martin nodded. “Those military sticks-in-the-mud … always yes sir this, no sir that. I like my employees comfortable and happy; it helps keep the guests here calm … guests that might have had a stressful time with their previous lives.”
“I see,” Keith continued. He wasn’t exactly used to calling his employer by their first name. “I have to ask…why did you request us, personally, from RMMS. From the looks of things, you have enough money to hire anyone from any organization … so why Light and me?”
“Well for one thing …” Martin took out an envelope and opened it. He removed a stack of papers and laid them on the table. “…from your mission records, I noticed you hadn’t killed or wounded a single innocent animal. Most of the other possible candidates had caused collateral damage that involved the injury or death of at least one. However, upon seeing this, on the off chance that these reports could have been fabricated, I took the liberty of calling everyone you’ve ever worked for … and worked with. I was actually quite impressed that they all told me the same thing. ‘Keith is a true Boy Scout, through and through.’”
Keith blushed a little.
“Eagle Scout, actually,” Light added. Wait a minute, haven’t we defaced private property before? he thought to himself. Of course, he had often left out non-vital facts and information from mission reports he filled out on Keith’s behalf. Keith loathed paper-work so he would often do house chores and manage the finances (the only paperwork he’d touch), while Light filled out the mission applications, reports and other paperwork. It was a good system…I’ll have to remember to ask Keith about that?
Martin went into more detail regarding what the job entailed, and how much they’d be paid, blah blah blah, etc. Light was beginning to be bored. He tuned in when Keith started speaking again.
“Well, I have to say, it’s the best job offer than I’ve had in a long time. But, if I’m going to be working for you, I have some conditions.” Keith said to Martin.
“The employee is already demanding his boss for things, and he hasn’t even started work?” Martin said with a smile.
“Well, we’ll see if I’m going to be your employee or not?” Keith responded, with a similar smile. “I need a shooting range. Sniping is a diminishing skill, and I want to stay sharp. I haven’t been able to find a range to suit my needs near my old place…and the nearest long-range shooting range is 4 hours away.
Martin smiled with pride. Once again, he’d outthought the sniper. “I’ve actually bought the kind of land you are looking for. I wanted the security staff to be well trained. About half an hour’s drive to the east, you'll find Dartmoor Reserve,” he wheeled his chair over to a reference bookshelf against the wall. He took out a binder folder and wheeled back to the table placing it in front of Keith. “I’ve had them install a shooting range and training course. It is, of course, fenced for preventing ferals from getting onto the range, and despite lying on a flat field it has been equipped with obstacles and firing points that can be moved and combined according to an individual’s skills and training type.”
Light and Keith looked through the images. Once again, Martin seemed more and more eccentric in his power of wealth. An entire shooting range and training ground for just the security?! They were, however, thoroughly impressed with what they saw in the binder.
“I do plan on allowing it to be used during non-training sessions by the guests of Lucky Charm Grove, of course…perhaps for Airsoft or paintball matches.” Martin continued.
“Well, you’ve already taken care of the housing condition I mentioned earlier.” Keith said. He leaned back in his chair with his arms folded and his eyes closed, deep in thought. After a moment he opened them. “Who else do you plan to hire for the security team?”
“It will be up to you to find the other members. But, I have the final say in whether or not they’re hired.” Martin replied with less of a smile, and a more serious face than he usually showed. He would be ready to run background checks so hard, the ancestors of the applicants would feel it. It was getting to be late in the day at that point, and he would need to get to bed early, to get up early for the vacation tomorrow morning.
Keith was still leaning back in his chair and looked to the ceiling, pondering his decision. Sitting beside Keith, Light anxiously waited for his decision. He was hoping he would take this opportunity. He wanted to live in a house, not the small apartment he’d lived in with Keith all this time.
Finally Keith spoke. “Light, what do you want?” He looked at the wolf.
“Wha-?” Light responded in surprise. His eyes were wide open.
“Well, we’re kind of like roommates, right?...family? I’m not going to make a decision on where we live without your say-so.”
Light looked at Keith with sparkling admiration in his eyes, his mouth was slightly hanging open, his tongue hanging out in a smile. He hopped on Keith and started licking his face.
Keith was laughing and trying to push Light’s muzzle away, to no avail. Finally he got Light to stop, but he was still laughing a bit. “Okay, Mr. Martin, you’ve got yourself a deal.” He held out his hand and Martin, smiling, grasped it with his. “I won’t let you down, sir.”
Light howled with joy.
In an office near the lobby, King heard the sudden, loud howl and was scared stiff; dropping the files he was carrying. “DAMN IT!”
Chapter 6
Martin spoke with Keith and Light for several minutes after that, regarding Babylon Gardens and a very brief background on its origins. After a while, Martin noticed the time. It was getting to be late, and he still had much to do to get ready for the vacation. “I am sorry, but that’s all the time we have for today...” Martin said. “As you know, I’m going on vacation with the lovely Sandwich household to their relative’s farm in the country and I have yet to finish packing.” He gestured for Martin and Light to follow him as he got up from the table and opened the door. As Keith and Light left the room with Martin, he presented the keys of the shelter to Keith. “I trust you can keep the shelter in one piece until I return?”
“Are you sure you want to give me the keys to the shelter? I’m not quite ready to start…maybe a couple days from now but…” Keith started to say.
Martin smiled. “I’m going on vacation, remember…take this time to get used to the neighborhood and shelter…I expect you to be able to find everything quickly by the time I return.”
Keith saluted. “Yes sir.” He replied, while Light stood at attention. Keith quickly relaxed after the salute. He’d just thought of something. “Oh, um…is there any chance I can stay at the shelter until my house is processed for ownership? A couch would be fine.” He rubbed the back of his head. “I don’t want to waste any time in getting to know the neighborhood…or the shelter…and the drive is a bit much.”
Martin thought about it for a brief moment. “I don’t see why not…as long as nothing happens to it while I’m gone.” Keith smiled, thank you “Si-…um Mr. Martin.” Keith felt it was a reasonable compromise, showing some friendliness while still giving his new boss some form of subservience. “He was sure Martin was going to have a good time on his vacation, from what he told him about the Sandwiches. Light thought the name was a bit odd, but didn’t say anything.
They walked down the hallway, Light heard King mumbling something about him from another room…but he felt he’d caused enough trouble that day…just once he wished for moving to a neighborhood without giving a bad first impression…since there were already wolves here, maybe I have a chance. Keith received an employee’s pass from the front counter. After he’d gotten it activated, the group waved goodbye to Miss Sunman, got in the car and left through the gate they’d entered through. After dropping Martin off at his house, Keith and Light waved goodbye and left for their apartment.
The ride home was uneventful, if you can call a wolf that doesn’t say much suddenly finding all kinds of things to talk about, uneventful. “…and did you see the size of that yard!?” Light said, excitedly. His tail was wagging 50 times a second.
“I think this will be a good change of pace for us.” Keith responded. “Seems much safer than what we usually do, right?”
Light looked at Keith with a skeptical look. “Alright…you are you and what have you done with Keith?”
Keith laughed. “Surprising, huh? You think I’ll get bored there, don’t you?”
Light leaned to the side against the window; he was staring out the windshield in front of them. He sat there a moment, his tail still wagging. As the cars on the opposite side of the road passed, their headlights caught Light’s eyes; each one causing them to glow eerily, for a brief second. “We won’t regret it.” Light said, breaking the silence. Soon, he was fast asleep.
Keith arrived at their apartment, just in time for dinner. But, tonight, they’d eat out to celebrate…the start of a new career, and a new life. Keith came to a careful stop in the parking lot, so as not to wake Light. He quietly got out of the vehicle and went to his apartment. He checked the lower hinge of the door. The pencil lead filling was still in place…unbroken. He unlocked the door and walked inside, quickly getting the supplies they’d need for staying a few nights at the shelter. He grabbed some instant noodles from the kitchen; on the off chance the cafeteria wasn’t ready to serve customers. He went into the bedroom and threw a few changes of clothing and a tactical vest in the duffel bag he’d placed on the bed. He got his toiletries, some spare ammunition, his 9-millimeter, and packed his Cheytac Intervention in its bag along with its accessories and attachments. He’d try to get some time in and check out the firing range, if Martin would allow him. He checked for his ghillie suit, before realizing he already had it in the trunk of his car. “Oh yeah, that’s right.” He said under his breath, remembering. He’d want to bring it to modify it accordingly, to fit into the area surrounding the shelter, in Babylon Gardens…just in case, he thought. He grabbed some of Light’s essentials including his laptop, and packed them into his bag as well.
Keith had carried everything back to the Honda Civic, and put the bags in the trunk, before getting back in and starting up the car. Light stirred in his sleep on hearing the starter switch followed by the engine. He slowly opened his eyes, and realized they’d stopped. “Are we home?” he asked.
“What are you talking about, Light?” Keith asked, looking over his shoulder and backing out of the parking space. “We don’t live here anymore. Remember?” He said with a smile on his face. He briefly looked at Light, before putting the car in drive and pulling out of the parking lot.
Light started wagging his tail again, his stomach growled from hunger. Keith stifled a laugh…he was just realizing they hadn’t eaten since breakfast and they were both hungry. After several minutes of driving, he pulled off the highway and pulled up to the drive thru of Light’s favorite fast-food place. McCleod’s. It was a family-owned hole-in-the-wall place that served nutritious meals for humans and canine pets, and Light couldn’t get enough of them. After Keith had ordered, he pulled up to the window…the sight of the wolf in the car gave the window operator a slight shock. She recovered quickly, though, and handed Keith the food after he’d paid for it. Keith thanked the person and as he was pulling away from the window, Light grabbed his sandwich wrap and took a big bite…he savored every moment of the smoked salmon and crisp green lettuce, an assortment of various complementary flavors…as he slowly satiated his hunger, bite after bite.
Keith was always amazed at watching a wolf, which would normally ‘wolf down’, pardon the pun, their kill after a hunt. Perhaps it was the years of living in human society that had given Light a refined sense of taste. Suddenly, Light scarfed down the remainder of his sandwich and let out a loud belch.
“’Scuse me.” Light said, not embarrassed in the least…
“Well, so much for that thought,” Keith said to himself, under his breath.
Keith pulled onto the freeway and started heading back towards Babylon Gardens. The sun was getting lower in the sky, and Keith was hoping to arrive at the shelter before it got dark. “Lucky Charm Grove…” he said to no-one in particular.
“Hmm?” Light asked groggily. He was almost falling asleep from the large meal he’d just consumed…the car ride wasn’t helping either. His eyes were slowly closing.
“It’s just an amazing concept, isn’t it, Light?”
The wolf nodded, his eyes were closed, and he was on the verge of sleep. As Keith was looking at Light, a jeep cut him off and raced down the highway. Keith had to swerve into the other lane to avoid hitting him, jostling the car…and Light out of his slumber. “What happened?!” Light asked, instantly awake.
“Some jerk in a tan colored jeep just cut me off…” Keith replied…a bit annoyed. “You’d think these people would learn how to drive by now…”
It took a little while for Light to recover from the adrenaline surge. He leaned back against the seat and sighed. He shut his eyes and tried to sleep, but he’d been jolted awake and was still a bit uneasy. He got out his smart phone and started typing using the touch screen keyboard…he was working on his writing. He enjoyed writing. It always helped him calm down when stressed, and he was hoping to get some of it published someday…whether or not he could get it published, he still enjoyed it.
After a while, Keith and Light arrived at Babylon Gardens. Keith carefully proceeded through the neighborhood towards the shelter. He didn’t want to hit anyone by accident. Keith pulled up to the gate and was greeted by security…the same man that was operating the gate, earlier that day. “Good evening,” Keith said, pulling out his employee ID. “Martin said I could stay at the shelter while he was on vacation.”
The man looked at the identification with his flashlight, and used the same flashlight to look at Keith’s face. Keith instinctively squinted from the sudden brightness. “Yeah, Martin said that was the case…” he replied, giving the ID back to Keith. He walked back to the security booth and opened the gate, allowing the Honda to proceed through.
Keith thanked the security guard and drove, following the signs, to the parking area. He pulled into a parking spot that said, “Reserved: Security” “Hey, that’s pretty cool...Our own parking spot.” Keith said, while getting out of the car.
“Huh?” Light responded, still typing on his Smartphone.
“C’mon, Light. I need your help carrying some stuff inside.”
Light sighed and saved his work before putting the phone away. He got out of the car and grabbed several of the bags Keith had in the trunk. He could hear several construction workers in the area. Most of the heavy construction seemed to have been completed, but they appeared to be working on installing utilities that evening. They must have been working night and day, to be staying on schedule, from what Martin had told them. He followed Keith to the entrance of the building labeled security.
Keith got out the keys Martin had given him earlier that day and opened the door. They walked inside and were stunned. The top of the line security monitors and computer systems. NASA would have been so lucky. Nearly every angle of the Lucky Charm Grove was covered by video cameras…a single security guard was in the room watching the monitors with a steaming mug of coffee in his hand. He looked over at Keith and Light as they entered. “Whoa! A wolf!?…that’s so cool!”
Keith walked over to the man; Light followed…a little more reluctant. Keith offered his hand to the man. “Hello. I’m Keith Greyfield, the unofficial new head of security.” Keith noticed the muscles of a martial artist as the man stood and grasped his hand. “Alan Scott.” He replied. “Excuse me, but…unofficial?” Keith rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. “I didn’t have time to make it official before Martin had to leave for vacation…but I have an employee all-access pass and the keys. I’m basically staying here for a couple weeks…getting to know the neighborhood and shelter before it opens…when was it again?”
“Two weeks.” Alan, replied. “So…yeah, we got coffee on, over there.” He pointed to a kitchen area walled off from the Comm. Room they were standing in. “…if you want some?”
“No thanks, Alan.” Keith held up a hand in polite refusal. Light was standing behind Keith…afraid of making another bad impression. “So…this is my wolf, Light.”
“Oh, he’s a magnificent creature to be sure…” Alan replied.
Light came out from behind Keith. “Hello.” Light said, offering his paw. He’d try to take a different approach this time, and try to relax.
Alan took the paw and shook it…”Hi, Light.” He smiled.
Light smiled too, trying not to look threatening. Keith saved Light from the moment. “So, you’re the only one here watching the camera feeds? There seems to be a lot.”
“Well, it’s actually pretty easy. The camera system is set up on a motion detection setting…and mainly focuses the screens on the main monitor that aren’t in heavy traffic areas. It just takes one person to watch a larger area of potential danger, without much trouble. See…” He indicated a camera feed that just came on the screen showing a feral rabbit that was wandering too close to the electrified fence. It suddenly ran off as if startled by something. “We have a warning system that can scare ferals and warn them about the fence…some of them can’t read the signs…and we figure scaring ‘em a bit is better than them getting electrified.”
Keith nodded in agreement. Well, I think I’ll head over to the gym and take a shower before bed.” He said, yawning. It’s been a long day, and I have to get up early to check out the shooting range…care to join me?”
“I’m working until morning…but if I’m not too tired, I might come check it out. I haven’t actually had a chance to yet.”
“Great.” I’ll see if you can shoot. “You going to be okay here, Light?”
Light nodded. “Okay, I’ll be right back.” Keith carried his bathroom supplies down the hall of the security building. “They’re in the third door on the left.” Alan called out, before drinking more coffee and turning back to the monitors. He turned towards Light in his swivel chair. “There are some rooms down the hallway that have beds in them for us to use for sleep in case of extended work shifts.”
“Thanks,” Light said. He walked down the hallway and turned towards a room with a bed. He was tired from the busy day. He didn’t often meet so many new people and pets in such a short amount of time. He opened the door and turned on the light. It was a small room with a couple of bunk beds. From the size of it, it didn’t appear to be of much use, other than to sleep in. Light hopped onto the top bunk, landing on his back, with his paws behind his head. For a bunk bed this is pretty comfortable. he thought to himself, as he slowly drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 7
A loud piff sound came from the gun beside Light. He was watching downrange and saw the rising sun glinting off the bullet as it flew towards the practice target. 2 mils right, he called out to Keith for aim correction, just before the bullet struck the target. Keith looked at the tics on the crosshairs through His scope. 2.5 mils to the left…Oh, so close.
“Not bad, Light. Just a half a mil off, and before it hit the target, too.” Keith said, correcting his aim. “Sharp as ever.”
Light smiled. His smile quickly disappeared as his ears perked up. He heard an ATV in the distance…the same model as the one they’d taken to get here. “I hear an ATV…the same as that one,” he said to Keith as he indicated the ATV behind them.
“Must be Alan.” Keith replied, unmoving. He squeezed the trigger and let another round fly. This time he saw it strike the target, near its center. “Nice.” He said to himself.
Light wasn’t watching…he was just listening. He scanned the fenced off range, for anything suspicious. He had…a feeling they were being watched. His muscles tensed. His instincts were finely honed…almost, too much so. Most of the time he felt like this it turned out to be nothing…but it was moments like these that reminded him of his feral side. He took a deep breath…smelling everything within a mile radius…holding his breath, holding the energy of the surrounding forest. He slowly exhaled, releasing the tension. He opened his eyes to see Alan in the distance, approaching on one of the shelter’s ATVs.
Keith stood up and flagged him down.
The ATV came to a stop in front of the man and wolf and Alan got off of it. “Good morning,” he said to Keith and Light, as he was taking off his helmet. After placing it on the back of the ATV he brushed his hair back with his hand. He looked around him at the field and firing range. “Wow, this place is awesome!…the pictures don’t do it justice.”
“I know, right?” Keith said, in agreement.
Alan looked over at Keith’s rifle. “That’s a nice weapon. I think I’ve seen that before…it was in ‘Shooter,’ wasn’t it…?”
“Did you want to try it out?” Keith asked, casually.
“Yeah.” He replied, with a big smile.
Keith helped get him set up and showed him the proper sniper pose to fire from the ground using the rifle’s bipod. “Hey, Light?” he called out to the wolf.
Light was typing on his Smartphone. “Yeah?” He replied, not looking up from the small screen.
“Come spot, for Alan.”
“I’m busy...” Light replied.
Alan looked at Keith with surprise. “What?! You mean…Light is your spotter?!”
“Cool…huh?” Keith replied with a smug look on his face. He walked over to Light and swiped the device from him.
“Hey!” Light said, looking up at Keith. The man had a serious look on his face and his arm was outstretched and pointing towards the firing range.
“Okay, okay.” Light said, while he stood up and walked towards Alan, with his ears against his head.
Keith looked at an excerpt on the Smartphone’s screen.
’Spooooot! Watch out!’ Light cried out as he leapt in front of Spot (Superdog) and took a hit from an orphanite bullet (a bullet made out of orphanite, which is Spot (Superdog)’s weakness). Light, looked back at Spot (Superdog)…
Keith scratched his head…What is this…I don’t even…
Alan was able to hit the target fairly easily, with Light’s instructions. Keith was impressed as well. After Alan stood up, Keith patted him on the shoulder. “So Alan…I’m just going to cut to the chase. I’d like you to be on the security team. I could use someone familiar with the neighborhood...I’m sure Martin wouldn’t mind, seeing as how he’s already hired you.”
Alan smiled and his eyes were saying, Where do I sign up? “…Martin’s arranged for specialization training once I’ve gotten a group together…only problem is I don’t know very many people I can really trust.” Light took his phone back from Keith and walked back to where he was sitting before. “…anyway, I’m hoping you know a few people that might be interested?
“I may know a few...” Alan replied. “I’d be glad to join, and it doesn’t hurt that you have such an awesome firearm…man, using that thing was awesome. Well, I assume we’d start the training as soon as Martin’s back?”
“Well, once we have a team assembled…but Martin’s going to take a while to run background checks, before he signs them on… I get the feeling he’s some sort of control freak, but I mean that in the nicest way possible.” Keith didn’t want to say anything bad about his new boss…but he couldn’t find any other way to describe him…besides admirable.
“Well…” Alan paused, while yawning. “…you get used to it after a while. I’m beat…I’m going to return the ATV, then head home…”
“Okay,” Keith said, before turning his head to Light. “Light. Pack up the gear, please. We’re going to be visiting the neighbors.”
“Oh!” Alan exclaimed, before getting on the ATV. He turned to Keith, “Thanks again for letting me try out your rifle.” He turned his head towards Light. Light looked up from his phone screen. “Thanks, Light. You’re a great spotter!” Light blushed a bit. “Uh…thanks he replied.” His tail was wagging. He liked it when humans acknowledge him, he couldn’t explain why. Maybe it was just the way pets felt.
After packing up the gear and driving the ATV towards the shelter, Light was getting nervous. He knew many of the neighborhood pets had met wolves…oddly enough they were living right there alongside them. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to meet some animals, since he’d be living here. It wasn’t long before Light and Keith had arrived at the shelter and, after transferring vehicles, were driving past the homes of Babylon Gardens. Keith had said their first stop was that of the Arbelts. Light looked through the dossiers Martin had provided. Three pets…a dog, a cat, and a rabbit. Tiger, Marvin, and Zach. Owner: Jerry Arbelt. Light looked again at the photos of the pets and the names written under them. That’s strange, he thought. Someone mislabeled these. The car came to a stop in front of a house.
Light looked out the window and got out of the car. He heard a piano and keyboard from next door and remembered the information he read about two instrument playing cats. He assumed they’d be heading there next. He anxiously waited for Keith to ring the doorbell. A man answered the door…”Can I help you,” he asked Keith. The wolf threw him off-guard, but only for a second…a pet friendly place, indeed.
Keith extended a hand. “Hi, I’m Keith Greyfield…I just moved in and I’ll be working at the Lucky Charm Grove, once it opens. Please to meet you.”
“Jerry Arbelt.” The man, opened the door. He looked a little depressed…or worried, Keith couldn’t put his finger on it…wait a minute…
“I heard about what happened to Zach.” Keith said, feeling that was the cause of the man’s dejected look. “I heard about it from Fido…my condolences. It’s a terrible ordeal to happen to such a nice neighborhood...and such a nice rabbit. We wish him a speedy recovery.”
Light walked up beside Keith and extended a paw to Jerry. “Hi.” He said. “Keith and I will be sure…to, um well, we won’t let something like that happen again… I’m sure Keith would say.”
Keith placed his hand on Light’s head…ruffling his fur…you got that right, buddy.”
Jerry smiled a little, but only a little. “Marvin…Tiger! We have some new neighbors. Come say hello.” He called out, over his shoulder.
An orange cat and peach colored dog, entered the living room and walked to the front door. These are my ‘children’ Marvin and Tiger…Marvin and Tiger this is Keith and Light, they’re going to be neighbors. Don’t worry, Light is friendly.” Jerry said, indicating the wolf. The cat extended his paw, Light shook it. “Nice to meet you Tiger-“
The dog cleared his throat, loudly. Light looked at him, worried once again, he’d done something wrong. He looked back at the cat. “I’m Marvin.” He said, indicating his tag. Light saw the clearly visible M, and saw the T on the dog’s tag. He face-pawlmed.
“So the dog is named Tiger?” Keith asked, with his fingers under his chin, a parody of being deep in thought.
“Sorry,” Light said…so the files were correct he thought to himself. “It’s a common mistake,” Tiger said, shaking the wolves paw. “Just don’t make it again.” He left the room followed by Marvin.
Keith and Light said their goodbyes to Jerry and began walking next door. Light looked over his shoulder at the house they’d just left. Did Tiger just threaten me? he shook his head of the thought, and ran to catch up with Keith.
Chapter 8
Keith broke off from the route towards the next house and walked back towards the car. Light followed, a little confused. “Umm, Keith…weren’t we going to be visiting the neighbors.” He asked, scratching the back of his ear. Keith didn’t answer and got into the car. Light began to worry…was Keith mad at him, did he do something to offend him in front of the new neighbors…he couldn’t be sure so he entered the car with his ears laid back and closed the door. A moment of awkward silence followed. Light was dying from the anticipation.
“You look like a tourist,” Keith finally said, with a serious face. Light whined. Keith reached over and Light was expecting a punishing tap (really, they aren’t more than taps) on the nose. But instead, Keith opened the glove compartment and got out a large jewelry box. Light looked at the box and then at Keith with a confused look and took the box offered to him. He ran his paw slowly over the lid, contemplating what it could possibly be. A gift…given…not during the holidays?
“It’s just a little something to help you feel welcome…help you feel…like you belong.” Keith said, finally smiling.
Light flipped it open. Inside was a specially modified collar tag…it looked like what one would see looking down a rifle’s scope…Crosshairs. Light smiled.
“I got it last night after you were asleep. Had to pull a lot of strings to find a nice place to get it made at that hour. You noticed the pets around here, right?…in Babylon Gardens? They all have a custom tag design…so I thought maybe you’d feel more like you belong here, if you had something to represent that.” Light reached around Keith giving him a hug.
“Thanks, Keith. It’s the best…you’re the best.” Light replied, as he replaced his old, plain collar tag.
“I know,” Keith said, as he started the car and drove to their next stop. He thought it would be a little better for Light to start off with meeting some of his own kind that lived in the neighborhood, before moving onto the 'regular' dogs and cats.
Chapter 9
Written by Special Secret Guest Writer...VALERIO!
…corrected Google translation by Lightwolf21
Shepherd’s Main, Babylon Gardens
Okay, this place was officially crazy.
In short, he had grown up with traditional family values; lived his life hunting and fighting for his meals, waited to find a suitable partner, and with said partner, start a new pack. Easy. Simple.
Humans were notorious for complicating these simple concepts. So when they involved their pets in these complications, it was annoying. In his opinion, a dog should not be the living mirror of its ‘owner’, another concept he abhorred. Since when, could a life be owned like an object? It’s okay to kill for food on. Even worse, he had just discovered that humans were able to bribe the feral. Of his fellows, who now lived in that house, dormitory, worked, and played the part at being human, just to have a more comfortable life?!
“Light,” a voice called out behind him.
The white wolf turned around. And there he was, Keith Greyfield, the only human who could be considered his friend. Not only a companion in battle and the one to whom he owned his life, but the only human with whom he felt he could share…something really profound. A fellow pack. Both had much in common, they were warriors, and their family had been exterminated by humans.
Light did not blame those hairless apes…much. After all, his clan had repeatedly raided their livestock, attracting their ire. It was inevitable that a response would follow. In the struggle for survival, brute force was not enough, what was needed was common sense, and his family had shown little. Luckily, he, on the day of the massacre, had grown enough to be away from the den, engaged in his first exploration of new territory…
On the day of that tragedy, Light had learned an important lesson: if you want to use fangs and claws against the humans, be sure to be well armed, or avoid them. A lesson, he had failed to learn from. During a very hard winter, on his journey to find a name for himself, he’d gotten hungry and made the same mistake as his parents. Attempting to get some food from a farm had earned him a bullet in the shoulder.
Keith saved him. A 'first time' that had left an indelible mark as the spirit of the wolf without a name that would be bestowed upon Light ...
Keith put his arm around the shoulders of his wild, white-coated friend. "I know you want to meet them, Light. Come on, they don’t bite."
"I'm going, but before I do, wipe that grin off your face or I'll bite it off." Light said, in front of the house.
*Tsk*\ "Promises, promises. As long as the break lasts, I’ll be back and get you later. Now, get going. "
The wolf opened the door and got out. The vehicle departed soon after, leaving him alone. The new neighbor of the neighborhood * dramatic music please! *\
In fact, Light was nervous about moving into uncharted territory without Keith ... but what the heck, he wasn’t a lost puppy! He couldn’t rely on him all the time!
Light walked toward the house, under the curious eyes of many dogs and cats. Of course, no one dared to approach him, but he had the collar, right?
With a medal, shaped like a crosshairs-Hi, I’m a good housepet, I'm one of you guys!
The wolf tried to greet a peach-colored pit bull who was walking on the other side of the sidewalk. He even brought out his best diplomatic smile.
The dog stared at him... and slammed against a lamppost. Ouch! Light decided to avoid the petty diplomacy for now.
Light stopped in front of the house colored as delicate green leaf. A brass plate on the bell proudly proclaimed
MILTON FAMILY HOUSE
for The Recovery and Equal Chance Program
(If you can read this plaque, you have a minute to think about it.)
Deciding to ignore the last line, Light rang the doorbell.
The door opened immediately after – Were they lying in wait? – and Light was found in the presence of a wonderful gray female! The celestial creature was wearing a green apron with the words 'Sniff the Cook' and a smile that emphasized her big blue eyes. Light did not even notice his wagging tail as he said, "Nice to meet you. Greylight Field. That is, Fieldlight Grey. That is ... " He finished giving himself a slap on the forehead. Way to go, champ!
The wolf chuckled and held out her hand. "Lucretia Milton. My pleasure, ..?"
"Light Greyfield," he finally managed to tell her, grabbing her paw, strong and gentle at the same time. Her fur smelled of leaves and autumn. Why had they not met in the forest? "Enchanted ... I mean, new neighbor…more or less. My house, that is the human with whom I live, is at the end of the … … neighborhood … “
If Light had been able to talk to a dog named Peanut Butter Sandwich, he could have found in him a very understanding shoulder in understanding that clumsy introduction worth a clumsy puppy’s first crush. Okay, so it was his first crush, more or less. A worthy son of the forest didn't waste time in wooing, when he saw a potential mate; you must first kill a rabbit for her. Too bad that the only one he knew was recovering at the shelter's vet clinic… “Do you have a mate?” Please make it a beta, or better, an omega. Please please please!
This time Lucretia looked at him maliciously. “Oh-ho, we are bold, big guy. Anyway, yes, and we are an alpha pair. And we have puppies. Sorry about that.”
*whine!*\
Lucretia stepped aside and invited the new neighbor to come in. “Please make yourself comfortable. It’s nice to have visitors. For some reason, when I answer the door, most people faint or run away screaming.”
“I wonder why,” Light said, sincerely. He couldn’t imagine a more beautiful scene….Clean thoughts, soldier! “Nice apron,” he added, in a desperate measure to change the subject.
Lucretia closed the door. “Oh, I love it.” If he is concerned with the glitter in his eyes. “It’s so provocative, and I like to wear something that reminds others I work with the food! Humans have their faults, but their notes are a paradise. That Mr. Foster was so friendly…gave me enough cookbooks to fill half a library.”
Light understood her perfectly: the first two weeks with Keith, he was really surprised to see the variety and amount of food that were available to humans. If it was up to him and his survival instincts, he would eat half a waiver of Keith and the other he’d bury in the garden to keep an eye on it.
As if to underline the words of the wolf, just as he entered the room, Light's nose was assaulted by the smell of biscuits and salted meat ... A huge tray was placed on the table in the middle of the room, sublime temptation!
"I suggest you to give the proper compliments to the cooking of my mate, neighbor," said one of the strongest gray wolves that Light had ever seen. The creature looked like the brother of Foster's giant wild dogs, but was wearing metal rimmed glasses, holding a newspaper in one hand and showing a friendly smile. "Otherwise we will put on weight, since we don’t throw anything away." Then the wolf held out his paw to Light. "Nice to meet you. Milton Miles, pack leader. "
“Light Greyfield, sir.” Calm or not, that guy commanded respect. The young white wolf felt the need to tuck his tail between his legs.
Miles took off his glasses. “No need to be so formal, Light, really. We saw you drive a car before, remember?” Light blushed slightly. “Ah, yes. I was trained and I have a special military license…although I think your neighborhood police officer didn’t think too highly of the idea.”
Miles laughed. “Agent Bill! I’ve never seen a man more attached to regulation. If you want to conquer him,” he winked at Light. “…offer him a steak, thick and raw.”
Light decided not to ask questions about that. He wanted, instead, to satisfy the curiosity for which he had knocked on their door. "So, you want to be included in human society, in all respects?"
Miles pointed to a chair. The white wolf sat down, while his host took his place on that front. Lucretia immediately brought to light a plate full of cookies and meat. As soon as the guest had taken it, she kissed her mate on the forehead. "I'm going to prepare chine of pork. See you later! "
“Fortunately, we do a job that makes us use of a lot of calories," said Miles. "We are on the the security staff of the Milton ferrets’ estate. Theirs is a large property, and each patrol is a good exercise session."
Among the many things that Light would have to get used seriously, was the idea that the real masters of the lives of all inhabitants of Babylon Gardens was a group of six ferrets, very eccentric and filthy rich.
"Well, I’m going to be working for the security of the new Lucky Charm Grove for the Abandoned and the Ferals," Light said, biting into a biscuit. The idea was to behave politely while eating the snack, as Keith had taught him, but as soon as his taste buds were overwhelmed by the divine taste, his eyes lit up. Light took two more cookies and ate them at supersonic speed. Then he turned an imploring look to the rest of the plate, not knowing whether or not the alphas had received their portions...
"Don't worry," said Miles. "I said you can have it all… So, it's true: Mr. Foster has reestablished the old shelter?"
"Mm-hmm," Light replied, his cheeks deformed by the enormous mouthfuls. Keith would have scolded him until next week, but it would have been worth it! He swallowed before continuing, "It’s incredible. It seems in every way a suitable town to humans, nothing is missing. Everything’s on the cutting edge. "He glanced at the library that decorated two walls of the room." And they have a huge library and a school. Foster made it his personal mission to teach all their guests to read. He’s convinced that an animal with schooling has a better chance of being adopted, even if ... " He left the sentence suspended, for good luck. As he grew up practically as a lone wolf, Light hated the concept of 'abandonment', now that he was part of a pack. Every so often he found himself thinking that if he had not thought of the idea to go alone, it never would have happened...
Miles nodded. “Wise man. I appreciate it, and I know from personal experience that he is correct.” He sighed. “If more ferals decided to study, as I did, the process of integration between the human world and the forest would be easier with less trouble for everyone. When you meet him, Light, tell him that I offer my most sincere congratulations. And if he needs a teacher, I’m available. I do not think that ferret’s goal…even though I should go on a diet at that point!“ he shouted towards the kitchen.
"I'll cook the pork with apples and balsamic vinegar," said Lucretia cheerfully.
The stomach of the two males grumbled. They whined, pitifully pleading like two puppies.
Light tried to concentrate on the conversation. "... Once integrated, I guess you will also need to become someone's pet, right? I don’t think you are the owner of yourself."
Miles took a biscuit. "Hmm, it's a bit…complicated here: technically, we're not, given that we belong to the foundation that runs the program, kind of like a student with a temporary visa. If we are expelled, we’re forced to return to the forest and its inconveniences. On the other hand, we actually have a job, our own money, and answer only to ourselves. In fact, the program aims to make us walk among the people without being ‘arrested’ by Animal Control. You are lucky, Light, although I must admit, we do not aspire to be forced to wear collars." Miles put his glasses back on and looked at Light’s medallion-shaped lattice. "Interesting choice…Military?"
"Keith is an ex-marine; a sniper. He taught me to be his scout and spotter. We are a good team," he glossed with pride. "By law, he’s called my 'master', but I could not count on my peer and best friend."
Miles sighed, and took off his glasses. "Then you're a lucky creature, indeed…the both of you are. I hope that at least my children can find a very special person to live with. "He stood up and stretched out a leg muscle to his guest. "Now, I'm sorry, but I really must go: I want to finish a research report, regarding interspecies friendship, between Argos and Odysseus."
"Sounds interesting." Light shook his hand. "Good luck, then ... By the way, do I still have time? Can I meet the puppies? I'm really curious." And he was. He lacked the presence of some real play fighting in his life, let alone, females who wished to start family ...
"Oh," said Miles. "They have certainly found time to meet you," and walked a few steps. "By the way, they seem to have taken the habits of Foster’s domestic animals. Good luck."
Light bent his head to the side in curiosity.
- Fthump! * The sound was like what he did when he jumped on prey. The white wolf scarcely had time to notice the three figures who were bearing down on him ...
"HELLO!" roared three voices in unison, just before the house was rocked by a kind of explosion.
Once again a big thank you to our renowned fan-fic writer, Valerio, for this chapter. I knew he wanted to write the scene with Light meeting the Milton wolves...and he delivered.
Chapter 10
Keith pulled up to the Milton wolves place just as Light was slowly crawling to the curb. “Help…me…” Light called out just before collapsing.
Keith got out of the car and waved to the wolves that were standing at the front door to see Light off. “Get a hold of yourself, Light” He said as he rolled his eyes. “C’mon” he said, as he picked Light up and slung him over the shoulder.
“Bye Uncle Light!” the wolf cubs called out. Light blinked a few times before opening his eyes. He weakly waved ‘bye’ to them while swinging back and forth over Keith’s shoulder.
Keith put him in the passenger seat and closed the door before walking around the car to get in. “Did you have fun?” he asked Light, as he started up the car.
“Let’s just say…I’m not ready to have cubs.” Light answered, rubbing his temples.
Keith let out a small chuckle as they drove a few houses down. A few of the ‘masters’ of the house aren’t home, so we’re going to be visiting the ones that are. We don’t want pets to be caught home alone, with a wolf at the door.”
“That could cause a problem.” Light concurred.
The next address they pulled up to belonged to a family with seemingly unusual taste. Light noticed the outside of the house appeared to be a bit creepy, seeing as how the clouds above it were darker than the others, and more…active? Light’s fur stood on end, but it wasn’t because he was scared. He felt… well, he didn’t know how to describe it. The closest he could come up with was attributing it to an animal’s sixth sense.
Keith approached the home with a much more nonchalant attitude than Light. Perhaps he wasn’t sensitive to whatever it was Light was feeling at the time. “Light, cmon.” He called out when he noticed Light falling behind.
“Uh, sorry Keith,” Light replied, walking a bit faster to catch up. “This place feels strange.” He continued, telling his owner how he felt.
“I’m sure the family is very nice.” Keith responded in a reassuring manner. Once the wolf was beside him, he raised his hand to knock on the door but the door was answered before he had a chance. It opened with a silent creak.
“Hello, Mr. Greyfield, I’ve been expecting you,” said the middle-aged woman standing in the doorway. She had black wavy hair and a bandana wrapped over her head. Other than that, she was dressed quite normally.
“Oh…you were expecting me?” Keith asked, looking a bit skeptical.
“Yes, I got a phone call from Jerry saying that there may be a man coming by to say hello.”
“Oh, yes…well of course… And I don’t mind you calling me Keith. It’s okay…really.” Keith replied, in a polite manner.
“…and a wolf.” she said, looking down her nose at Light. “Yes, a very nice wolf, indeed, Keith… I am Florence Ambrose.”
Light wasn’t sure if she was being sincere or not, but he didn’t want to be impolite so he held out his paw. “Pleased to meet you, Ma’am.”
She just looked at it. “Yes… Well, you may come inside and make yourself at home.” She said as she walked back inside her house toward the kitchen. “Can I get you anything? Coffee…tea…”
At least she knows how to be hospitable to guests. Keith thought to himself, a little annoyed with how she had greeted Light. “I’ll have some green tea, please Ms. Ambrose…if you have it.” He walked inside the house with Light.
The woman stuck her head out from the kitchen doorway. “Please, call me Florence. I feel old enough without having people refer to me by my last name. Make sure you wipe your feet and paws, dears… I just swept the floors.”
“I heard that you have a dog and a cat?” Keith asked, while wiping his shoes on the mat just inside the front door.
“Yes, but I can never get them to come when I call… They’re always too busy it seems.” Florence replied while stacking teacups on plates the kitchen. You’re free to go see them if you wish, wolf. They don’t get many visitors.” I have a name, you know, Light thought to himself, calm down, Light. He took a deep breath.
“Go ahead Light, I’ll speak with her while you get acquainted with Tarot and Sabrina.” Light nodded and walked down the hallway, smelling and listening for the dog and cat.
Light happened upon a doorway from which he heard chanting. I didn’t sound like a language he recognized, and while he couldn’t understand words from every language, he could usually at least identify what the language was. As he quietly approached the door the chanting stopped. The door slowly opened and a pure black cat stood in front of him, starkly contrasting with his pure white coat. “You’re a bit taller than I expected, Light.” She motioned him to follow her. She began walking down the steps to the basement.
“Uh…thanks?” Light replied, scratching behind his ear in confusion. He started to follow her down the dimly lit stairway.“...how did you know my-“
“Name?” Sabrina interrupted. “The same way I know you’re going to hit your head.” Just as she was saying this Light hit his head on a water pipe that cut across his path.
“Ow.” he said quietly to himself as he rubbed the spot on his head. “Okay, now that was impressive.” He said, smiling a bit.
“Oh really?” she said in a playful voice. “What makes you think that I wasn’t just distracting you so you weren’t paying attention?” She smiled mischievously.
Light was about to respond but then thought back to what happened just before he hit his head. Her tail was swishing back and forth. As a predatory animal, Light had fallen for the oldest trick in the book. His eyes were naturally drawn to an object in motion. He had been distracted. He covered his face with his paw. “Okay…you got me, Sabrina” For some reason Light felt comfortable…much more so, than he was outside this particular house. Maybe it was the female cat making him feel at ease.
Sabrina turned toward the white wolf, “…and how did you know my name, hmm?”
“As the future security team leader of Lucky Charm Grove, it’s my duty to know the neighborhood and its residents.” Light looked off to the side proudly.
Sabrina giggled a bit. “You’re ridiculous,” she said as she continued back down the stairs.
She reached the bottom after a few more steps and continued on toward a strangely decorated corner of the room. Light could only describe it as occult. His eyes fell upon a Pomeranian meditating on a large pillow surrounded by several candles. The dog opened its eyes. There were a beautiful yellow color that reflected the candlelight surrounding her. Light opened his eyes in amazement.
A few seconds later Light finally spoke. gasp “You…are…”
Tarot nodded slowly.
“…simply adorable.” Light continued with his hands outstretched toward her.
A surprised face appeared on Sabrina and Tarot. If this was an anime, a giant sweat drop would have appeared behind their heads as well. “eh?”
Light composed himself. ahem “Sorry. I mean…I’ve seen a lot of dogs and you’re one of the cutest I’ve ever seen.” He blushed a little bit.
“Oh. Thank you, Light,” Tarot replied. “Shall we begin?” She indicated the two pillows in front of her, each between two lit candles. Light saw Sabrina sit on one and he reluctantly sat on the other.
“We aren’t doing anything illegal, are we?” Light asked Tarot.
Tarot’s eyes began glowing green. The white wolf started freaking out. Sabrina’s placed her hand on his shoulder, calming him. “It’s okay, Light. She’s just contacting the spirits.”
“She’s contacting the what?!” Light shouted, surprised.
Sabrina held her finger up to her mouth gesturing a ‘shush up,’ to Light. The wolf had seen quite a few things in his life. Even members of the occult, but he’d never seen an animal involved in something like this. His fear soon turned into worry as he thought what Keith would think if he saw him participating in this activity. But soon his worry turned into curiosity. What reason could these two have, for making him participate in…whatever it is they were doing? He had to know.
Sabrina placed Tarot’s right paw in Light’s left paw, and she grabbed Light’s right paw with her left. Their hands were joined in a circle. “Try to relax, Light. This will only take a moment.”
If there was anything Light was good at, it was relaxing. He did yoga daily with Keith, so he focused on his breathing and was soon feeling very relaxed. More relaxed than he’d ever felt actually. He felt himself falling, yet he didn’t feel fear. He wasn’t sure if he was imagining it or not, but he found himself standing in a different room than the one he was just in. Tarot and Sabrina were sitting at a table with a crystal ball. He walked over to the table and sat down without even thinking about it. It was as if his actions were being controlled by someone or something else, yet he didn’t mind.
Tarot looked into the crystal ball. “There’s not really anything in here,” she said to Light, indicating the crystal ball. “It’s just for show.” She closed her eyes and rubbed her paw over the crystal ball. “I sense a great hardship will befall you.”
Light chuckled a little. It sounded so hokey, and if he hadn’t seen her eyes glowing earlier, he wouldn’t have been taking this as seriously as he was. He began listening intently to the Pomeranian. “Why aren’t her eyes glowing?” Light whispered to Sabrina.
“She’s put all of us in a trance-like state. We’re not really physically here. Did you ever see the Matrix?” Sabrina asked, also whispering. The wolf nodded. “It’s kind of like that,” she added.
Tarot peered into Light’s future. “The spirits are showing me very little for some reason. I was hoping to get more information on what is to come.” She opened her eyes and turned her head toward Light. “You will find acceptance of your fate.”
Light wasn’t happy with the cryptic answer the small dog was giving him. “Is that it?” Light asked, a little disappointed. “Can you at least tell me what that fate is?”
Tarot shook her head slowly. “Sorry, Light. It doesn’t work that way.” She closed her eyes. “I’ll attempt to look into your past to make up for it.”
Light nodded. Why did I nod? She can’t see me with her eyes closed. I’m such an idiot, sometimes.
You’re not an idiot, Light. Tarot’s voice reverberated through Light’s mind. He suddenly looked surprised.
Sabrina noticed and spoke to him with her thoughts. Don’t worry, Light. We can’t see everything you’re thinking. We can just speak through our minds to each other when linked.
Tarot was nearing Light’s past. She gasped, suddenly breathing very hard. Soon, she started going into convulsions. Sabrina looked very frightened. “Tarot?” she called out. “Tarot?!”
“What’s happening?” Light asked Sabrina, in a panic. He was really worried, now that the cat that keeping him calm was panicking, herself.
“I don’t know.” Sabrina replied. “This has never happened before.” She was trying to hold Tarot down.
Light grabbed Tarot’s other limbs and with his free hand took his wallet out of his collar and stuffed it in her muzzle to prevent her from biting her tongue. He could always count on his military experience to help him improvise. “How do we wake her up?” he asked.
“The strain might be too much for her mind, right now.” Sabrina knew Tarot to be the most experience at communicating with spirits and she had a strong mind...the strongest mind she knew. To see her like this… What did she see in Light’s past? A few moments later and the convulsions stopped. Tarot still appeared unconscious.
“Why didn’t we go crazy…if our minds are linked?” Light asked Sabrina. He was still panting from the ordeal and the adrenaline made him want to run.
“We use a…redundancy in…deep reading. Me.” Sabrina replied. She was also breathing heavily. “It helps…strengthen the…connection.” whew “It looks like Tarot is calmed down, now. We should be able to wake up.” She closed her eyes, and Light felt himself fall backwards, off the pillow. He felt as if he’d just awoken from a bad dream. He was breathing heavily and his pupils were dilated, as were Sabrina’s. They looked toward Tarot and found the Pomeranian unconscious. Sabrina grabbed some smelling salts from an airtight canister on a shelf nearby. Light could smell them just as strongly as if they were under his nose, and he covered it. Sabrina waved the salts under Tarot’s nose and her eyes suddenly opened, glowing green. They slowly faded to their normal yellow color. Tarot held her head as if it was in pain. “What did you see?” Sabrina whispered in her ear as she helped the Pomeranian to her feet.
“I’m a little curious, myself,” Light replied, crossing his arms and looking very serious. Sabrina and Tarot looked at the wolf with worry. Sabrina was sure Light wouldn’t have been able to hear that but she also figured Light would have asked the same question, regardless. Sabrina helped Tarot sit back down on her pillow and lightly held her up. “Is this a common occurrence in mind reading?” Light added.
Tarot shook her head. “There are some things better left, unknown,” she replied. Sabrina looked at Light, still supporting Tarot in her pillow.
“That’s not good enough.” Light responded. “I’m sorry you had a bad day because of me… So I’ll let you rest for now. You’ll know where to find me, when you can talk.” Light stood up and began walking toward the steps leading up.
“Wait.” Tarot said in a whisper. “Light…”
Light stopped and turned around.
“You’ll know, someday…but not through me. It shouldn’t be through me.” Tarot’s gaze was unwavering.
Light understood…he wouldn’t be able to learn what he needed to know from her. However, knowing that he would eventually know about it was enough for him. He nodded to the dog and cat in the corner of that room and walked back up the stairs. There must be something in my past that even I don’t *CLANG*\ Light hit the top of his head coming up underneath the same pipe he’d hit before. His vision blurred as he fell backwards down the stairs.
Light came to with the scent of smelling salts, assaulting his brain. “Whoa. What hit me?” he asked.
“The pipe…” Sabrina answered. “You got a nice bump there. You hit it pretty hard.” She helped him stand up.
Light felt the top of his head with his paw and pulled his head away from it as he touched the bump. “Are you okay, Light?” Tarot asked, helping him stand from the other side.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Light replied. “I had the strangest dream. Tarot and Sabrina looked at each other behind Light’s back.
“Care to share?” Sabrina asked Light.
“Yeah, I dreamed we had a meeting, or séance or whatever…and Tarot started going crazy and it was just a big mess.” He rubbed the bridge of his nose with his paw. “Keith would kill me if I did something like that…especially if it harmed such a cutie like you, Tarot.”
Tarot looked at Sabrina behind the wolf’s back again. Her eyes said, ‘don’t tell him.’ But to reaffirm it, she said to Sabrina telepathically, “It’s best if he doesn’t know, just yet."
Light was able to stand without support. “Thank you, Sabrina and Tarot. It was a great time…besides the bump.” He bowed to them and walked up the stairs, keeping really low. He was practically crawling up them.
Keith set down his tea instantly when he saw Light’s bump. “Jeez, Light. What happened? Are you okay?” He grabbed the wolves head and inspected it, parting the fur. “Florence, do you have an icepack I could have?” The woman walked to the fridge and opened the freezer to get one.
Sabrina and Tarot walked up behind Light. “It was a trap.” Light replied, smiling. Keith chuckled. They were always making cheesy and overly popular meme references to each other. Ms. Ambrose handed Keith the icepack and he applied it to Light’s head. The icy coldness swept over the wolf and he felt the pain lessen a little after a while. Keith gently placed Light’s paw on the icepack. “Hold that there, Light.”
Light nodded slightly. “I hit my head on a water pipe.” He said to Keith. He turned to look at Tarot and Sabrina “It’s nothing. I’ve had far worse.”
Keith stood up and turned to Ms. Ambrose. “Florence, would you mind if I took the icepack for the day.” I’ll return it to you as soon as I can.”
Ms. Ambrose waved him off. “You can keep it, I’ve got several others.”
“Thank you very much.” Keith responded.
“Yes, thank you, miss.” Light added.
Keith and Light walked out through the front door, with the three of them seeing them off. They walked to the Keith’s car and got in. “Always getting into trouble, hmm?” Keith asked once they were in the car.
“Well, you know me…” Light replied; still holding the icepack on his head. “I like to keep things interesting.”
Keith started up the engine. “That’s enough sight-seeing for today. Let’s head back to the shelter.”
“Okay.” Light said, nodding in agreement.
Sabrina and Tarot remained on the front porch as their mom went inside the house.
“So what did you see, Tarot?” Sabrina asked.
“His past was so muddled and mixed up, I couldn’t get much.” She replied, disappointed. “…but the fact that it’s so messed up must mean something. I just wish the spirits would tell me what it is.”
Sabrina turned and walked back into the house “Well, there’s no helping it if they won’t cooperate... He’s a smart guy, he’ll figure it out.”
Tarot sighed and followed the cat inside.
Chapter 11
Keith and Light had arrived back at the Lucky Charm Grove about mid afternoon. Light still held the icepack on his head, as Keith drove through the security gate. It was much easier, now, since he had clearance. Keith got out of the car once they’d parked in their spot and walked around to the passenger side of the car. Light got out and followed behind Keith as he headed toward the newly built clinic facility. Light looked annoyed. “Keith, I’m telling you, I’m fine.”
Keith stopped and turned to look at the white wolf. “I just need to be sure,” he said as crouched to eye level with Light. “I can’t have my spotter unable to spot,” he added with a wink.
Light placed a paw behind his head and blushed a little. “I’m…sorry to put you through all this,” he said with his ears down.
Keith sighed as he stood up. “Don’t be,” he replied as he walked through the entrance to the building, with Light following behind him.
For a clinic room it was incredibly clean…and brand new apparently, just like the other buildings of the complex. Keith walked up to the front counter as the sliding doors shut behind him and Light. The ex-marine rang the bell on the counter. It resounded with a pristine, *ding*\ Light’s ears twitched. Surprisingly the sound didn’t bother him at all. It sounded almost musical. Classic he thought.
A few moments later a man walked up to the counter carrying a clipboard and writing on it. He was a thin man, about 60 years old, with graying hair and a jet black goatee. “What can I do for you,” he said, looking up from his clipboard, “…gentle-…men?” The pen fell to the floor as if in slow motion. The look of shock he gave was the same as that of Keith and Light.
Light remembered it like it was yesterday. He was sleeping soundly in the arms of the man that had just found and bandaged him up…essentially saving his life. Traveling over the deep snow was a task all its own…but carrying a wolf? The wolf’s ears twitched as he heard a vehicle through the forest…several vehicles. He opened his eyes and looked up at Keith, then looked in front of where the he was being carried to. He opened his eyes in shock. There was a large open area enclosed by a high fence. Buildings and large, strangely painted vehicles littered the area. The vehicles were coming and going, being temporarily stopped at gates. Then Light saw the humans. They were patrolling the perimeter, as were several guard dogs. He noticed one thing all the humans had…guns. He started to struggle in the arms of Keith while Keith tried to hold him. “Hey hold still!” Keith shouted. “You’ll open your wounds.” Light wasn’t listening, he knew enough about people to know they wanted to kill him. A sudden burst of pain caused the wolf to wince, stopping the struggle. He looked down at the bandages…dark red seeping through. Already weak from having lost so much blood, the wolf’s vision started to fade, Keith’s voice sounded more distant. “What’d I tell you?” Light heard, before blacking out.
Light regained consciousness to find a man in a white coat standing over him speaking to Keith on the other side of…he didn’t know what it was…only that it was strangely comfortable. He suddenly lunged at the more unfamiliar of the two men and bit down on his hand as hard as he could. The man in the lab coat shouted in pain as he tried to pull his hand away. Light let the man’s hand go and he tried to get out of bed, but he felt a sudden, sharp pain on his rear. He looked back and saw a syringe sticking out of his flank. His vision started to blur again, and he went limp. He could still hear and see a bit though, his heavy breathing slowed to a more relaxed rate.
Keith pulled his hand away from the syringe. “Sorry about that, Dr. Stanwick,” Keith rubbed the back of his head, and hung his head in shame. “I didn’t think he’d react that quickly.”
“It’s alright,” Dr. Stanwick replied, while tying the wolf down with bed straps. “…you reacted pretty quickly yourself.” He gently placed his hand on the wolf’s head. “I won’t hurt you…I’m trying to help you, understand?” he calmly said to Light.
Light slowly nodded. He would accept his fate. There was no escaping it now. He’d surely be put to death for what he’d done. His eyes started to tear up as the breathing mask was placed over his muzzle. Not like this…not like…this… his vision faded to black.
Light awoke inside a dimly lit room. It smelled of blood and sweat…but mostly blood. He slowly sat up. His whole body hurt. He looked down and saw new bandages wrapped around where he’d been shot. Several small metal splintered objects rested at the bottom of a tray with strong smelling liquid, a thin layer of blood collected at the top of it. There were no humans around. He made his way over to one of the doors, and tried pushing on it. It didn’t budge. Across the room, the doors opened and Keith walked through, shutting them behind him. Light quickly got beneath the operating table. Keith just stood there. “Light?” Keith called out. “I saw you get under there and try not to move around so much, your wounds are still healing.”
“No thanks, I can see fine,” the white wolf replied looking down at his bandages.
Keith chuckled. This annoyed Light. “I don’t see what’s so funny. I am grateful for saving my life… But I never agreed to…this?”
Keith shook his head, smiling. “I mean with the ‘Light’ thing…that’s a pretty good one.”
Light stuck his head out from under the table and sniffed the air. He was convinced Keith was the only one in the room with him. The rest of his body slowly followed. He turned his head to once side in confusion. “What do you mean…pretty good one, what?”
Not Keith was the one that looked confused. “Oh, it’s a…never mind.” He acted like he was taking a step toward Light and the wolf took a step back. Keith pulled back his foot. “Hmm...” Keith put his fingers under his chin as if in thought. “I was afraid this might happen…but what choice did I have? You needed medical attention, Light.”
“I said I don’t need the lights turned on, I can see fine.” The wolf said, supporting himself by placing a paw on the side of the operating table.
Keith looked at the wolf in surprise. “You’re serious?” He suddenly looked embarrassed. He’d realized the wolf might not have heard him call him Light, yet. “Oh, Light is the name I gave you when I became your owner. He quickly put his hand into his pocket and Light hid behind the table. “It’s okay,” Keith said raising one of his hands above his head. “I’ll move slowly, alright?” he continued, as he slowly pulled out a piece of paper and unfolded it. He held the piece of paper out as Light slowly came out from behind the table and looked at the paper. It was a registration form, for military registration of a white wolf, Light, to be under the ownership of Keith. Light looked into Keith’s eyes. “I couldn’t let the alternative happen.” The man said in a serious tone.
Light turned around when he felt his eyes start to water. *sniff*\ “I thought for sure…” he started, as he began to sob. “…I mean…I…I bit that man…how could…I still be alive? I don’t understand.”
Keith bent down and hugged him. “Shhh, it’s okay, Light.” Light started to calm down a bit. A human…hugging a wolf…he laughed to himself.
Just then, Dr. Stanwick walked in with a bandaged hand. Light’s ears flatted against the sides of his head as he was hit with a wave of guilt. “It was quite difficult to perform surgery with a broken hand.” He said as he stopped at Keith’s side. Light whimpered. “Don’t worry,” he whispered to Light, winking. “…nobody else knows you did it.” He held up the bandaged hand.
Keith coughed breaking the tension. “Um…small world. Eh, Doc?” he said, looking at the Veterinarian in front of him, nervously smiling. He gave a small nudge to Light.
“Oh, uh…what a surprise,” Light said, snapping out of his surprise, his ears hung in shame. He felt he owed his life to this human as well.
He shook his head in disbelief. “Lieutenant Greyfield and Light,” he chuckled, “What are the odds?” he said slapping the countertop.
“What are you doing here?” Keith asked extending a hand in greeting to the doctor he hadn’t seen in so long.
Dr. Stanwick shook Keith’s hand. “I lost my German Shepherd, Hunter, to a landmine and fell into a severe depression. I was deemed no longer useful to the military and discharged. I needed the money and couldn’t find a job, until I found this shelter. Although it was a terrible place, I felt I could at least try to do some good in that pit of despair.” His eyes glazed over as if remembering a sad time of his past. From the sound of it, it probably wasn’t the best of times. He wiped his eyes. “But that’s in the past, and Martin is giving me a chance to actually help some of these poor souls…make up for lost time,” he said with a smile.
Light extended a paw. “Thanks again for saving the life of a wolf you’ve never met before,” Light said, rolling his eyes. It sounded better in his head.
Dr. Stanwick grasped the paw with both hands. “Think nothing of it, Light.” He smiled. “What happened to your head, there?” he indicated with his head toward the icepack Light had been holding on his head.
Light blushed. How could he explain a pipe got the jump on him. Don’t say a pipe. “I hit it on a…pipe.” Light replied. He pictured himself facepalming, in his mind.
“Well come on back and I’ll take a look. I’ve been meaning to try out the new CAT scan machine.” Dr. Stanwick said, smiling.
Keith and Light followed the doctor into the examination rooms.
A couple hours later the three were back in the lobby of the clinic going over the test results. Dr. Stanwick had given Light a full physical to test out all the facilities and was now flipping through Light’s chart. “Well, Light. You’re as healthy as a horse.” Keith snickered at the thought. Somehow animal comparisons didn’t work as well on animals, as they did on humans. “I’ve never seen a healthier wolf.” He said looking up at Light, from his clipboard.
“Thanks, Doc.” Light said, hopping off the chair. He was a bit happy to finally meet someone he knew in Babylon Gardens, even if the previous meeting was brief. Keith followed Light and also thanked Dr. Stanwick before closing the door behind him.
Dr. Stanwick waved goodbye. Any time, Keith and Light…anytime.
Chapter 12
The next week proceeded with Keith and Light meeting the remaining residents of Babylon Gardens, except for the Sandwiches, including the several that have been trapped by the security on the Foster mansion for a number of hours. Keith had also used the time to gather several potential candidates for positions on the Lucky Charm Grove Security Detail and arranged for a time they could come in and meet with Martin. He’d texted back and forth with Martin to coordinate a schedule. (…being careful not to disturb him when he was busy.) He and Light were exploring one of the top floors of the central building…twenty stories tall, it completely overlooked the surrounding area. It had been a week and a half and Martin would be returning soon. Keith and Light had gone over the neighborhood several times now, and knew the shelter like the back of their hand/paw. They entered onto the roof, normally inaccessible to residents, and sat down at a small two-person table. Major construction had been completed and the bubble they had been using for muffling the noises had been removed. The view of the surrounding forests in the afternoon sun was beautiful…at 260 feet above the ground.
Having paradropped behind enemy lines several times, Light had gotten used to heights, despite not knowing what an airplane or helicopter was, before meeting Keith. He got up from the table and walked to the edge…despite the door to the roof being locked…the roof had standard safety fences around the perimeter. He was conflicted by the simultaneous caged feeling of the fence and the feeling of freedom and serenity that came with the view. Keith followed behind him. Light caught a glimpse of a small pinpoint of bright light out of the corner of his eye from the forest below. Instinctively, he jumped on Keith and brought him to the ground…not a moment too soon. His ears clearly heard the bullet cutting through the air as it flew past.
Keith didn’t hear much, other than his head hitting the ground. *Oomf!*\ he exclaimed…”Light! What’s going on? You want to play, huh?”
Light didn’t exactly know how to respond, at first. The bullet had passed right through one of the rings of the chain link fence, a precision shot. “Keith, a sniper almost hit you!” Light quickly said, staying low to the ground.
Keith suddenly became serious. “Oh, no warning, huh?! What a cheating bastard…” He began crawling until he was closer to the center of the building. The sniper was aiming for him while he was on the roof…not an easy shot…and not much line of sight, either. When he was a few yards from the edge he stood up and ran to the stairway, with Light on his heels.
They headed for the nearest security intercom. Keith pressed a button so he could be heard on all of the speakers throughout the complex. “This is Keith Greyfield, from security…please proceed indoors and stay low to the ground and away from windows until further notice. Thank you.” The phone on the wall beside the console rang. Keith picked it up.
“Keith, a man called requesting to speak to you.” Miss Sunman said, from the other end of the line.
“Now is not a good time…as you might have heard.” Keith said in response.
“He said his name is Juan Morales.” Keith and Light’s hair stood up on the backs of their necks. “I…I see…” Keith stuttered. “Put him through.”
A few seconds later, the call was connected and Keith remembered the mission a year ago in Colombia. He hadn’t killed the man known as “The Chameleon”, the brother of the notorious drug lord he had killed, for the mission. He was now regretting that decision.
“Hello, Juan Do… or should I say Keith Greyfield.” The voice on the other end of the line was smug…and unmistakable. Even though it was in English, Keith recognized it as the one that had conducted the meeting from which he had gotten the information on the whereabouts of his target. He’d used Juan Do as an alias while in Colombia…not a very good one, but Morales shouldn’t have found out his real name…he was very careful. He suddenly worried about the man and his cat, Hector and Alandra, which they had helped. They were the only ones he’d told his real name. “I tried searching for that man that should have died at my brother’s hands…I thought he might have been working with you…but he disappeared.” Keith breathed a sigh of relief…so Hector is okay.
“Anyway, it wasn’t too hard to track down non-Colombians that leave the country when you belong to a network like mine…or should I say used to.” Keith stayed silent on the other end of the line…he knew how people like Morales thought…they always liked to talk…
“So, I tracked you down and eventually found you …My name is Juan Camillo “The Chameleon” Morales, you killed my brother…prepare to die.
“Someone’s fond of memes.” Keith finally spoke.
“Oh ho, so you were listening. That’s good, I don’t like repeating myself.” Keith hung up the phone. As long as the workers and everyone else at the shelter listened, and stayed indoors there wouldn’t be a problem. However, Martin would return in 3 days…he would have to solve the problem in about 68 hours. He was deep in thought…in planning.
Light was worried…he knew they didn’t have as much time to formulate a plan as they normally did, Keith was being targeted by a rival sniper…and a good one at that. And the shelter was in danger…not a good position to be in for an employee that hasn’t officially been hired yet. He started sprinting down the hallway, and then he remembered their gear was in the security building. He rubbed his temples trying to figure out what to do. They were practically pinned down in this building… the only thing he knew was ‘The Chameleon’ had shot…at Keith on the…eastern edge …. The white wolf suddenly realized what to do. He hoped the sniper hadn’t relocated, because he was about to do something very dangerous. He exited the building on the west side sprinting towards his goal, the security building was within site and the large 20-story living-accommodations building was behind him. Light figured the sniper wouldn’t see him…he just hoped he had time to get back to the building with their stuff before the sniper could get into a position where he would be seen.
Meanwhile, Keith had called Miss Sunman on his Smartphone. “Miss Sunman, could you please confirm that everyone here at the shelter is staying inside. I don’t want to incite panic but there’s a sniper outside and he’s come here to kill me. I kind of, uh…killed his brother. Anyway please do that for me. He might try to start targeting others if I don’t give myself up…which I have no intention of doing… I’d rather the police not get involved; since they’re most likely not equipped to handle this… I’ve got it. Thanks…and be safe.” As soon as Keith hung up his phone it rang again. He answered it.
“You hung up on me… Don’t do that again.” Juan’s voice sounded colder than it was earlier. “As you might have already guessed, I’ve been a sniper for a while and I am not to be messed with.”
“Why don’t you get to the point, Juan, or do you prefer Chameleon?” Keith finally spoke. “What do you want, huh? A sniper duel…or just to kill me?” As Keith was talking, he could tell Morales had gotten him worked up a bit. It’d be a different story if I had you in my crosshairs.
“Relaaaax, Mr. Greyfield… I’m just returning a favor owed to you by my brother. Do you not think I could have killed you where you stood on that roof…or any time you were wandering around the complex? Noooo, I took my time to learn layout of the area and I am unlike you…I give my prey a sporting chance.” This time it was Morales that hung up the phone. The cocky man was starting to get under Keith’s skin. The ‘Chameleon’ was practically asking Keith to hunt him down, but the ex-marine knew he was at the disadvantage. Morales had a weapon and he didn’t. Things looked bleak.
Morales lit a cigarette. He was walking from his original shooting position to get a point of view that covered a larger area of the Grove compound. He knew a cigarette was on the list of sniper no-nos, but he had Keith pinned, he knew the ex-Marine couldn’t make it to the security building, where he’d left his weapon and gear. The Colombian chuckled, quite pleased with himself for this plan. He’d watched Keith moments ago, waiting until he had been far from his weapon and in the open. He glanced at the compound and saw a white wolf sprinting from the large central building toward the security building…the same wolf that had knocked his target out of the way, when he’d finally had a chance to get his revenge. Morales cursed and put out his cigarette by tossing it on the ground and stepping on it. He got in a prone position and set the scope on his rifle just as the wolf was entering the security building.
Light knew the sniper had been where he was because that side of the complex gave a better vantage point of the large building in the center of the Grove. He also knew that the sniper would have to relocate since Keith knew where the shot had come from. He quickly gathered their gear in a duffel bag and grabbed Keith’s rifle case before making his way back to the living quarters building. As he was sprinting back, a bullet ricocheted off the ground at his feet. The wolf unflinchingly continued sprinting toward the central building complex. He calculated the time it would take an average sniper to reload and/or realign the shot and took a short stutter step before sprinting again. Again the bullet missed as it hit the doorway of the building as he ran through the sliding doors. He noticed something strange about it…but he was too concerned with living to give it much thought. Why do they have to open so slowly? the wolf asked himself regarding the automatic doors as he finally made it to the safety of the building. He didn’t take any chances though, as he continued sprinting until he was at Keith’s side, safe within the interior of the living quarter building.
Keith smiled when Light showed up with their gear, panting. He rubbed him on the head and behind the ears, “Good boy, Light.” Light just rolled his eyes. Still panting he started to get the gear out of the bag. He took out his tactical vest, sniper issue. Keith followed the wolf in stride. Keith heard the phone console beside him ring. He put the Bluetooth on his ear and pressed a button on the phone on his belt. A few seconds later, Miss Sunman answered. “Eveyln, patch him through on this line,” Keith requested.
Light was finishing gearing up and helped Keith put on his ghillie suit. The Bluetooth connected. ”Clever, having your dog do your work for you.” Light ignored the comment he’d overheard. It was basic psychological warfare, trying to get him and Keith to distrust one another....what Morales didn’t know was that Light had risked his life to get their gear of his own accord.
Keith helped Light put on his ghillie suit. It wouldn’t do them any good in an urban environment, but Keith was planning on taking this battle away from the shelter…away from people. “Well, let’s set some ground rules for this encounter…” the ex-marine said, into the Bluetooth. “…I don’t want to make things too easy for me.” Light smiled. Keith was holding the Cheytac and with that, the two’s fear diminished…confidence replacing it. The wolf sheathed his knife and with that, he was ready to go.
Morales had relocated, again, after shooting at the wolf. He kept his scope shifting between the several entrances of the building, occasionally looking up from the rifle at the compound to expand his view range. He didn’t know how much trouble the wolf would be, but he was prepared. He could hold his own against any beast, even at short range with his knife and 9-milimeter. But as long as he had his rifle, it wouldn’t be a problem; he’d be able to see that wolf coming from a mile away with that fur color. No…he knew his biggest threat was Keith. The ex-marine had killed his brother, was an excellent sniper, and for now… his opponent. He was apparently also very annoying as the gloating comment from him, had struck a nerve with The Chameleon. “Laugh now…die later, American dog,” he hissed into his Bluetooth, sneering. before hanging up.
The offroad truck peeled out of the garage attached to the security building as it drove at insane speeds for the amount of road it had toward the western gate of the Grove. Keith had selected the sturdiest looking vehicle he could find for this gambit. Unfortunately the gate didn’t raise fast enough…and there was no way Keith was going to slow down to make himself a target, so he just ran through, shattering the fiberglass red and white striped arm gate. Oops, he said to himself, smiling, as he made a sharp right and drove along the side of the forest. He was hoping Morales would take the bait. He didn’t want anyone at the shelter to become a potential target.
The Chameleon saw the truck barreling out of the complex and had a slightly quizzical look. “Ahora…¿a dónde vas?” he asked himself quietly as he followed the truck in his scope. He lead the target and squeezed off a round, aiming for the tires.
The truck lurched as Keith struggled to maintain control. He knew he hadn’t run over anything. He hit the tires? Keith noticed, a bit surprised. He was better than he’d initially thought. The tire was on the driver’s side rear. He kept driving for as long as he felt the rim could take it. Eventually he pulled off the path and went into the forest out of view from where he considered The Chameleon could have been shooting from. Not as far away as I’d hoped, but it’ll have to do. He quickly got out of the truck and ran into the trees, staying low. “The game begins.” The ex-Marine said quietly to himself.
“Mweheheh.” The Chameleon laughed to himself. Dio en el blanco [Got it.] He slowly headed for the direction the truck was going before he’d lost sight of it. He knew he was at a disadvantage. A human and a wolf versus a human, hardly seemed like fair odds.
Light was reviewing information over his Smartphone, his own earpiece nestled in his ear, to give Keith status updates concerning weather and other information that he knew he would need for this fight. What Light didn’t know…was why Keith had asked him to stay behind. He said it was to watch over the others in the shelter, but the wolf wasn’t buying it. Is this another one of Keith’s lessons that he puts together so incomprehensibly…as if he’s expecting me to guess the right answer… Light shook his head and rubbed his temples with his knuckles. He brought up the weather updates, and saw a Summer storm was approaching. “Ohhhh great.” he said to himself uneasily. He pushed the number for speed dialing Keith on his Smartphone and gave the ex-marine the update.
Several hours later, the sun was setting, but you couldn’t see it. Dark gray clouds blanketed the area, pouring rain down upon Babylon Gardens and its surroundings. The Chameleon was quietly swearing to himself. He’d been trudging through mud for the last 30 minutes and his energy started to fade. He hadn’t spotted his rival since he’d shot the truck’s tire and when he’d got to the truck, he found it abandoned…and locked…he tried breaking the window with the butt of his rifle but it was a no go. He even considered trying to break the window by shooting it with his pistol, but he knew it could give away his position. He couldn’t guess where the drive had gone since the rain had made it near impossible to track anyone. He slipped back into the forest when he determined the truck was useless.
Keith had spotted Morales through the forest while he was searching the LCG’s truck. He also noticed the weapon…it was the same rifle Keith was carrying. He wouldn’t try an attempt from here…not with the rain. He knew in a battle between snipers, if you didn’t get it the first time, you may as well already be dead. He knew he had to get it in the first try and the rain was the ultimate variable. Not only were the drops of water heavy enough to affect the trajectory of a projectile, but they were randomly placed. No, it would have to wait until the rain stopped. But as long as he knew where Morales was and Morales didn’t know where he was, he was feeling pretty good about things.
“What happens in the rain doesn’t let up, Keith?” he heard the wolf ask in a worried voice, over his headset.
“Well, I’ll just have to think of something, won’t I?” he whispered back.
More time passed. Light didn’t like this…Keith had been gone for more than 6 hours and night was falling and he had turned off his phone to save on power. Light couldn’t remember the last time he’d been separated from his best friend for that long…if he’d ever been separated for that long. He decided if nothing’s happened by now, and Keith had informed him Morales wasn’t near the shelter it would be okay if he left. He’d shuddered at the thought of disobeying a direct order ‘…but it’s to help Keith,’ he convinced himself. He picked up the phone from a console and dialed Miss Sunman at the front desk. “Evelyn,” Light started. “I’ve decided to go help Keith.” “…the employees should be able to leave the shelter if they want.” He listened to her response. “Yeah, Keith led the sniper further away…it’s safe for now.” Light headed out into the heavy rain, walking through one of the checkpoints equipped with his tactical vest and wearing his ghillie suit, he made his way out into the forest in the direction Keith lured ‘The Chameleon’ Light chuckled at the thought of the name…it was so non-sinister sounding, but it was appropriate for a sniper to have as a ‘codename.’ Focusing his attention back on the task at hand, he became serious. He hoped he would be able to find Keith before Morales did…the rain wouldn’t make tracking easy.
The rain continued through the night. Keith hadn’t slept in over 24 hours and kept a distance of at least 600 yards from Morales. The rain finally let up around sunrise…the clouds still loomed over the landscape, letting little light through. He turned on his Smart phone and tried calling Light. It rang a few times. C’mon Light, I need some information here. The wolf didn’t pick up and it went to voicemail. Son of a… He mentally punched a punching bag, trying to get rid of his frustration. The ‘no sleep thing’ was getting to him. It had been a while since he’d gone this long without it, but he forced himself to remain calm. He set up the M200 Intervention and targeted Morales in his crosshairs.
Morales was thankful for the rain, it was familiar territory for himself. He continually moved in unpredictable patterns in case he was being watched. When the rain stopped, he started to worry…he knew the moment that the sniper rifles could actually be useful had arrived and he was being extra cautious. In the thickly forested area, he figured this ‘sniper’ battle, could easily turn into a short ranged melee if neither of them couldn’t get line of sight on the other. A bullet impacted near his head against the tree he was walking around and he quickly jumped back behind it. Listening for the gunshot, he reached into his backpack and put on his ghillie suit, greatly increasing his ability to hide. He took out a mirror on a stick and used it to look behind the tree.
He’d missed his first shot. If Light was with him, it would be easier; the wolf was an excellent spotter. Keith was doing everything himself, the process was slightly slower. He lined up the mirror in his crosshairs, but knew better. The Chameleon was trying to find him, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to at that distance, not unless he fired at the mirror; it eventually disappeared back behind the tree. He waited. After another hour, there was no sign of his opponent, and Keith began to wonder if he’d slipped away somewhere behind the tree…he might have gotten lucky and known his point of view, or he could have guessed it from seeing the direction the round he had fired struck the tree at. Either way, he was fairly certain he’d have to track his prey all over again.
Light heard the bullet impact the tree, but the surrounding woods muffled and echoed the noise so he couldn’t be sure where it had come from. He stayed low, unmoving, in some tall grass that blended with the suit he was wearing. He was listening for anything that could help him, but nothing came. His sense of smell wouldn’t be useful for some time…the entire area was cleared by rain, of any scents that might have been left by someone coming through that area in the past. He stealthily checked his Smartphone and realized it was turned off…Shoot…it must have turned off when I was crawling earlier. He turned it on and checked his missed calls, one was from Keith. “Great,” Light whispered as he hung his head and sighed. Keith will never let me hear the end of that one.” He attempted to call Keith, but he got voicemail again. He left a message saying he’d have his phone on for now. He didn’t think it would do much good though; the coverage was spotty, at best, out here. He put away the phone and continued on…slowly.
Night was falling on the second day. Keith had used almost all of the food he was carrying…he hadn’t slept for 48 hours and was exhausted from concentrating for so long and moving at a crawl…and to top it all off, he had no idea where Morales was at that point. It didn’t help that the Colombian had a ghillie suit of his own. Keith was expecting to have finished this battle sooner. He started to worry, but since ‘The Chameleon” hadn’t returned fire recently; he must have lost him as well…at least for now. The two had exchanged shots ever since it had stopped raining, over the last 24 hours. The ex-Marine was down to two rounds. Better make ‘em count, he reminded himself. He’d been taking as good as he’d been giving, so he wondered how much ammo his opponent had left. Leaning up against a tree he starting dozing off, when he snapped back up to alertness. That was close, he thought rubbing the bridge of his nose. He silently yawned and pinched his cheek, to feel a bit of pain…to try to stay awake. He didn’t have as much riding on this fight as the Colombian did. He imagined the determination of ‘The Chameleon’ was unwavering. He turned on his Smartphone to call Light. He was going to request his help out here…he didn’t know how much longer this battle would last. His Smartphone vibrated; he checked the screen and saw the call was from Light. He pushed the button to answer it and turned on his Bluetooth. “What’s up, Light?”
“Sorry, Keith, I screwed up.” Light spoke into the receiver that was being held in front of his muzzle. His head still ached from where he’d been hit by the butt of Morales’ rifle. The wolf’s hands were tied behind his back. The man took the phone away from Light’s head and brought it up to his ear, keeping his 9 millimeter aimed at the wolf. “I am getting tired of this game, Mr. Greyfield. I admit defeat as you are the better sniper…however,” he added, grinning. “…I now have the upper hand.”
“What do you want, Morales?...You want me to just walk into the middle of an open field and let you shoot me...then shoot my wolf? Cause I don’t think that’s going to fly…”
“I could always shoot your wolf first. I think I’ll start with the leg.” He pulled the hammer back on his pistol.
Light cowered back against the tree. He didn’t like being shot…he’d had enough of that to last a lifetime.
“Okay!” Keith was heard shouting into the phone. ”J-just…just let me say goodbye to my wolf first.” Morales shrugged as he held the phone up to Light’s ear.
By now Light was really scared…not for himself, but for Keith. Is he really going to sacrifice himself…for my sake? He spoke into the Smartphone. “Keith?”
“Whisky Oscar Lima Foxtrot Zero Two Activate… Command Priority One” Light’s eyes glazed over as he relaxed after hearing the strange words on the phone.
"Time Delay…Zero Nine…Escape-Stealth…Command Priority One…Time Delay…One Zero…Attack Target…Juan Morales…End Command” The wolf started counting in his mind. ”Goodbye, Light.”
“I understand… Goodbye Keith” Light replied, in a monotone voice.
Morales brought the phone back up to his ear. “Here are the coordinates...” He sent a text to Keith with the coordinates to the center of the field. “...where I want you to stand…and don’t bring your rifle…or else…”
”I got it, Morales…just don’t hurt him.”
Morales looked at the wolf and smiled. He knew if he hurt the wolf, Keith wouldn’t show up and would probably make sure he would regret it. But after Keith was dead, what was to stop him from killing the wolf. “Mweheheh.” He started to mock the wolf. “Your owner is an idiot, you know that?” He slapped the wolf with the back of his hand, the force causing Light to fall over onto his side. The wolf looked back at Morales without anger or hate…it was almost pity and it disturbed Morales for some reason. He quickly turned away, unable to look at the wolf, and he set up his rifle aimed at the center of the field…now it was just a matter of time.
Keith didn’t have much time, he was pretty far from the coordinates and he knew Morales would act if he didn’t get there soon. He had to move slowly enough so as not to be seen easily, but still move quickly enough to get there as soon as possible.
Eight minutes had passed, and Keith was finally near the edge of the field. He looked through his scope at Morales. He was scanning the area for Keith and just as he thought, he was kneeling behind Light. There was no way he could risk that shot…not in this situation. He called Light’s Smartphone. “I take it you’ve arrived?” Morales asked as soon as he answered. “Yeah, I’ve arrived, but I want insurance that you won’t shoot me until I’m in the center of the field.”
“Please, Mr. Greyfield, I’m a man of honor…besides, what’s more insulting than a sniper gunned down in the center of a wide open field. Mwahehehh, I’m surprised you agreed to it…does this mongrel mean that much to you?...as much as oh, let’s say…a brother?” Keith didn’t like the tone with which Morales said that. Will he kill Light before me? Suddenly the game had changed and Keith was second guessing the plan…he checked his watch timer. One minute remaining. He had to risk it. He laid down his rifle as he slowly walked toward the center of the field. “Your brother was a bad man, Morales…he paid for his crimes. I was hoping you’d learn a lesson from his fate…to change for-"
"Take off the ghillie suit too, I don’t want you disappearing in the tall grass after I shoot you…you could pretend to get shot, and try to slink away…was that your plan?”
Keith gave a surprised look to Morales…he knew he was watching him through his scope. He reluctantly took off the ghillie suit, sneaking a glance at his watch as he did so. ’10 seconds’ he continued to walk slowly until he was near the center of the field.
“You know that whole argument you made…about you wanting revenge for your brother because I killed him?”
“What about it?” Morales asked in a carefree attitude, looking at the man suddenly stare straight at him and smile in his scope.
“I have a wolf…Your argument is invalid.” he heard the ex-Marine say over the Smartphone.
The rifle was suddenly pulled out from under ‘The Chameleon’ and swung into his chin knocking him off the ground and sending him backwards.
“Qué…” Morales asked, dazed. Light continued to strike the man that was holding him hostage not moments ago, with the heavy end of the rifle, until he overheard Keith’s voice over his phone on the ground. ”10-34 Alpha Tango Juan Morales One Zero Mike”
He stumbled a bit but regained his balance as he realized he was holding a Cheytac in his hands and Morales was on the ground...and in bad shape.
“Good job, Light! You got him,” Keith shouted from the field as he began running toward Light.
“Are you okay, Light?” Keith asked as he quickly checked Light over for injuries, before hugging him. “I thought I told you to stay put,” he looked at the wolf in a scolding manner.
Light wasn’t exactly sure what happened, but he was glad Keith was okay so he hugged him back. “I’m sorry, Keith,” he replied, tears forming in his eyes. “I promise I won’t disobey you again…at least not on purpose.”
Keith laughed and ruffled the fur on the wolf’s head. He took Morales’ weapons off of him and started walking away.
Light picked up his Smartphone and followed Keith but looked back at the man groaning and bleeding, clearly in pain…his legs were broken, so there’s no way he could have walked out of there. Are we really going to leave him here?...I mean, he’d do that to us, but aren’t we better than that?
Keith took his phone and pushed the button to dial RMMS. After a couple of rings someone picked up. “Hey, this is Keith Greyfield… password: bravo delta echo echo charlie zero two one, yeah, I’d like to request a pickup at these coordinates…” he said as he copied the coordinates from his GPS system on his Smartphone. “…Juan ‘The Chameleon’ Morales…There’s a bounty? Yeah, have it transferred into my account, thanks.” He hung up and put the phone away. “So, Light…” he said turning to the wolf. “How was that for our last unassigned job with RMMS?”
Light looked at Keith with an aside glance, complete with raised eyebrow, that said, ‘Oh it was fine, except for the being held hostage and the pain, and the fear…’
Keith laughed, heartily. “Yeah, I think it could have been better too.” He pulled the wolf beside him with his arm over his neck and rubbed his head again.
“I don’t believe this?!” Martin shouted furiously at the wolf and ex-Marine seated in the chairs opposite the desk from him. They hung their heads in shame as they took the full force of the assault from the Lucky Charm Grove’s owner. “I haven’t hired you and already, you get attacked…and at the shelter no less. …not only that, you didn’t inform the police…” he was pacing back and forth behind the desk, his fury knowing no bounds. “This is not the kind of scandal I want the day before opening!”
“W..Well I th-“ Keith started.
Martin banged his fist on the desk, interrupting Keith…the fury of his drunken father showing in his eyes. “I hope you have a good explanation for this…” he said with an icy cold tone.
“Sir…” Keith said calmly. “No one was hurt, RMMS is discreet at handling these types of things, and since I’m still under their employ, I’m taking full advantage of their resources in making sure nobody knows what happened. I already informed Miss Sunman to explain to those working here that night that it was a mandatory safety drill...” Keith stood and placed a hand on the desk looking Martin in the eyes. “…and I know if the police had gotten involved, so would the media…and you know they would have loved to spin this story...it wouldn’t have been pretty.” He turned around and sat back down. Light was looking from Keith to Martin, worried a little that a fight between the two would break out at any moment. He felt it best not to mention the piece of the residency building that was missing from the bullet that hit it.
Martin sat down in his chair. He ran his fingers through his hair and looked at Keith. “Alright, you get one more shot…but the next time something happens to my shelter, you’re gone…understand? I can’t keep a liability hired as an employee.”
Keith and Light stood at their chairs and stood at attention. “Understood sir!” They replied in Unison.
Martin chuckled. “Okay you two, get out of here. I understand we’ll be getting the rest of the security forces, soon?”
Keith and Light eased up on their stances. “That is correct, sir.” Keith replied.
“Well, I have some trainers I want them to look forward to.” Martin smiled mischievously. “We’ll make the Navy SEALs look like Navy seal pups.”
*snrk*\ Light held up a paw to his mouth. Keith looked over at him. “What?” Light replied. “…it was kind of funny.”
Keith and Light left the office and drove back to their house. The bank had cleared it surprisingly fast, and tonight they would finally get to live in it. Keith pulled up to the house and Light hopped out of the car and started hopping up and down on the front porch; Keith following behind, a little more slowly. My first house… He was enjoying the moment. He eventually joined Light on the porch.
“Excited about our new house, Light?” Keith said, smiling as he unlocked and opened the front door.
“Yes, but I also needed to go to the bathroom,” the wolf replied as he rushed past Keith and frantically searched for the bathroom.
Keith laughed and rolled his eyes as he shut the door to their new house.
The End
Thanks for reading…I will have another short novel that introduces the other members of the Lucky Charm Grove security forces. Look forward to that!
Story Coming Soon
Rated PG-13 for strong violence and mild sexual themes.
Reader discretion is advised.
A Story Series I wrote as a fan-fiction for Housepets! by rickgriffin
One of my favorite Webcomics.
This story has been two years in the making (started August 2010) and influenced by the fanfiction conceived by Valerio on the Housepets Forums. HOUSEPETS! THE SERIES
My story is a parallel story alongside Valerio's story; featuring my characters and some of his and some of Rick's.
Cover art by Lightwolf21. Characters (C) to their respective owners. Thank you and enjoy. X3
If I could get help with tags I missed, I would appreciate it.
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