It was mid-afternoon, and they were still driving. Catina couldn’t remember the last time she had eaten, and her head throbbed. She laid her head against Tiburon’s chest and tried to sleep. She was certain if she asked, he would stop his search and take her home, but she knew how important finding his sister was to him. So, she willed herself to be patient.
By five p.m., her stomach growled so loudly she had no choice but to interrupt his search. She looked around to get her bearings. “There’s a McDonalds about a mile up this street. It has a drive-in window. I have to eat. Aren’t you hungry?”
His nostrils seemed to flare. “Very much so, but I’ve never become accustomed to American food, so I’ll wait. However, let’s get you fed. You should have said something earlier! It really wasn’t my intention to starve you as well as bore you to death.”
Catina covered his hand with hers. “I know how important this is to you. I didn’t want to distract you from your search.”
Tiburon lifted her hand to his mouth and pressed his lips against her flesh. With some reluctance he released her hand. “Roll down the privacy window and tell the driver where you want to go.”
Catina instructed the driver and sat back. As she waited, her stomach growled so loudly that she remarked, “I think there’s a baby cub in there.”
Tiburon looked startled by her statement, then relaxed as he realized she was teasing. They were almost to the restaurant when Tiburon hit the privacy button and rolled the window down. “Turn right at the next street.”
“Don’t you want to stop at the McDonalds?” the driver asked.
“Later. Turn right.”
The driver sighed and turned right.
“Slow down, but don’t stop. Catina, do you know what any of these buildings are for?”
“Only that one.” She pointed to an ugly white concrete one story slab. “That’s a veterinarian hospital. I’ve had to take a few of my cats there. It’s one of the few places that has the expertise and equipment to handle large cats.”
In response, Tiburon kissed her. “You can go to McDonalds now,” he informed the driver and leaned back in his seat.
Once the privacy window was up, Catina asked. “Is she there?”
“I believe so.”
“He couldn’t keep her prisoner there. It’s a hospital for cats. A woman held against her will would be noticed.”
“You’d better order. How far are we from home?”
“Only about five miles. We’ve come full circle around this town.”
Tiburon pulled her to him and kissed her forehead. “I’m sorry, love. You’ve had a terrible day.”
“If it has helped find your sister, I don’t regret a moment of it.” Rolling down the privacy window, she had the driver order her two Big-Macs and three orders of fries. Never in her life had she been so hungry.
Not long after inhaling her first Big-Mac she regretted her impulsive gluttony. Her meal was poorly received by her empty stomach.
She gave the remainder of the food to the driver and barely made it home before her stomach purged itself. Sick and miserable, she didn’t protest when Tiburon carried her upstairs and put her to bed. In a few minutes, he returned with a cup of tomato juice.
“Drink this. It’ll make you feel better.”
“I can’t.” she said, turning her face away from the cup.
“Catina, listen to me.” He sat on the side of the bed. “You need to drink this. Now, while its warm. I promise you, it’ll make you feel better.”
Unable to argue with such a bossy doctor, she took a sip of the drink. Her first reaction was that it wasn’t tomato juice. Her second reaction was to consume the remainder in one swallow. “Is there anymore? This is quite good.”
Tiburon smiled. “That’s all there is. Later, if you’re very good, maybe I’ll make you another cup.”
“Tell me what it is and I’ll make it myself.”
Tiburon looked down at his hands for a moment. “Yes. Well, that day will come too.” Then he sighed and stood up. “Get some rest.”
She yawned. “A nap sounds like a good idea. Will you be okay on your own? You can join me, if you want.”
Tiburon smiled. “I’ll be fine. I need to do some planning. Sleep now. I’ll check up on you later.”
“Okay, but when I wake, you’ve got to tell me what was in the drink,” she murmured before falling off to sleep.
Tiburon let his hand slip down until it rested on her stomach. Already he could sense its presence. A little female. Pulling his hand away, he looked at the puncture wound he had made on his finger. He would have to tell her soon. With his cub inside, her body would no longer accept processed cooked food. She had to know. He looked down at her sleeping face, so angelic, so peaceful, soon to be replaced by fear and loathing. He sighed and stood up. He had broken the first rule his father had taught him: Never become emotionally attached to the livestock.
Chapter 13
Jason was relieved when the day was over, and he could go home. Between Cole’s betrayal and his phone conversation with the one-hundred and thirty-eight-year-old doctor, it certainly ranked as one of his top ten worse days. He took a beer from the fridge and sat down in front of the TV. He couldn’t seem to focus on the re-run of Seinfeld; his mind kept recalling Catina Nelson when they broke into the bedroom. She had sat upright in the bed behind Tiburon, her skin almost alabaster white. More than anything, he wanted to see her again.
***
In the morning, Jason stopped by her house. When no one answered the door, he walked around to the back. He sensed she was home.
He walked past the garden and down the row of animal cages, checking each one. He found her in the cage with a black panther. Its head lay limp in her arms. She was crying.
“Are you all right?” He opened the cage and let himself in. He didn’t close the gate behind him. Why bother? The cat wasn’t running away.
“He’s gone,” she sobbed, petting the animal’s broken neck.
“What happened?”
“He found his sister and now he’s gone.”
Jason knelt beside her. “Who’s gone? The cat?”
She nodded her head. “Yes, Tiburon.” Then she burst into heart wrenching sobs.
He gathered her in his arms to comfort her. God, she smelled good. “It’s all right. It’s better this way. It’s better he’s gone,” Jason murmured as his lips pressed against her hair.
She nodded and rose. Taking Jason’s hand, she led him outside the cage to a grove of pine trees. “This is where he told me.”
“Told you what?”
“Everything. All his secrets. Who he is. What he is.”
“Who is he?”
She laughed. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. No one would.”
“Try me and see.”
She paused and then shook her head. “You’re a good man, Agent Connors. I can see that. How different my life might have been if I had met you first.”
Jason held his hands out. “We play the cards we’re given. If he’s left you, your life must go on…”
She looked up in surprise. “Does it? How?”
“One day at a time. And I’ll be here to help you. You can lean on me all you want.”
“I’m going to have his cub.”
“What?”
“His baby. I’m going to have his baby.”
“You said ‘cub’.”
“No, I said baby.” She turned to walk up the path, but Jason grabbed her wrist and turned her around.
“You said cub.”
She looked up at him in confusion. She opened her mouth to speak, but all that came out was a cry of pain. She grabbed her stomach and fell to her knees. “Jason, help me. Oh God, help me.”
Streaks of blood appeared on the floral dress as her stomach ripped open and the bloody wet head of a panther cub pushed its way out.
***
Jason woke with a start. Jesus! What a nightmare! He looked at his watch. It was onl
y nine in the evening. He stumbled to the kitchen and grabbed another beer, hoping it would lower the adrenaline rush his nightmare had sent through his body.
He listened to the tape Carmella had given him when she shook his hand. She had recorded Cole’s conversation with her before she was assigned the Nairobi field trip. Jason had still hoped it was all a terrible mistake or misunderstanding, but there was no doubt. Cole had turned. He was certain Taylor had done it.
Jason understood why the doctor wanted his record disguised, but why hide Tiburon’s? Why wouldn’t he want all of Tiburon’s past deeds disclosed?
First thing tomorrow, he was paying Tiburon another visit.
***
As he walked around the house, he felt the eerie sensation of déjà vue. He was quite relieved to see Catina cutting flowers from her garden. She is absolutely perfect, he thought. When she turned and saw him, she smiled and waved. She started towards him when a flash of black crossed the garden. The giant panther struck her from behind, snapping her neck in one swift bite. Jason pulled his revolver, but it was too late. The panther looked up from its kill and smiled. It wasn’t a panther at all. It was Tiburon.
***
He woke again. “Jesus Christ!” he murmured, going to the kitchen for some coffee. Tossing the remainder of his beer in the trash, he decided he was switching brands.
Having lost any interest in sleeping, he opened his briefcase and reread his notes on the Tiburon case.
Chapter 14
In darkness, carrying the limp and awkward load in his arms, Tiburon hurried down the mountain. At the base of the mountain, he located a car and hot-wired it.
He parked the car a block away from the cat hospital. Entering through a second story window that was open a crack, he moved down to the basement. He stopped before a steel door. He could sense his sister on the other side. He pushed against the door, but it was quite solid. He almost laughed when he felt the wall beside the door. With a single blow, the sheet rock shattered, and he pushed his way into the room. He noticed the door was wired to set off an alarm if opened, but since he hadn’t opened the door, the alarm remained quiet.
A giant black panther lay strapped to the table. For a moment, he feared his sister was dead. When he touched the side of her hip, he felt the slow pulse of her heart. She was alive, but just barely. He tore the restraining straps away and carried her to the car. He then lifted the limp form of Catina’s black panther and carried it into the building. He placed the dead panther on the table, then looked about the room for flammable liquids.
Finding bottles of rubbing alcohol, he saturated the room, turned on a Bunsen burner and tipped it to its side so the flames set fire to the medical supplies on the counter. The spilled alcohol spread the flames in a river of fire. As the wall caught fire, he escaped the building and returned to the car. He had just turned over the engine when the fire alarm screamed. He drove the car to its original parking place.
His sister was so close to death, he feared even the slightest jar might send her over. His careful journey up the mountain took several hours. By the time they arrived to Catina’s cat refuge, her heart barely beat.
He laid her on the grass in the panther’s cage. Tearing a deep gash in his hand, he let the blood drip into her mouth. Each time his blood would clot, he’d reopen the wound. Near morning, he grew weak from the loss of blood. He needed nourishment. The image of Catina came to mind, but he ignored the temptation and headed down the mountain.
***
Catina awoke with a start. She had dreamed she was in the garden when her dream panther had come to her as he had each night. She could see Agent Connors reaching for his gun, she begged him not to kill the panther when suddenly a sharp crushing vise clamped down on her neck.
Catina washed her face in the bathroom, trying to clear her mind of the horrible nightmare. As she dressed, she noticed the bed. Tiburon’s side had not been slept in. Had he gone for his sister? Or had he simply gone?
She went downstairs and poured herself a large bowl of cereal, but upon a single spoonful poured it down the sink. The milk must have turned rancid. What she wanted was another one of those drinks Tiburon had made for her last night. But Tiburon was nowhere in sight. She hoped he hadn’t gotten himself arrested or hurt in his night excursion, but even more, she hoped he hadn’t left her.
Chapter 15
Connors woke to the jarring insistence of the phone. It took him a moment to remember why he awoke at the kitchen table. The dreams…they had kept him from sleeping most of the night. He reached for the phone, mostly to shut it up.
“What?” he said, knocking over a glass, sending it crashing upon the floor. “Shit!” he added, reaching down to pick up the slivers.
“He’s taken her!” an outraged voice bellowed.
Even in his incoherent state, he recognized the voice of Dr. Taylor, but he still had no idea what the man was talking about.
“Taken who?”
“My panther. He’s stolen my panther.”
“Dr. Taylor, I honestly don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Tiburon! He broke into a veterinarian hospital, stole my panther, and set the place on fire.”
“Do you have any proof it was Tiburon?”
“Proof! I don’t give a damn about proof. I want that panther back! I’m positive he has it at the woman’s house. Find it and bring it back to me. Immediately.”
“And why is this panther so important?” Jason asked as he continued picking pieces of glass off the floor.
“Her importance is irrelevant. What is important is that you return her to me. If you are unable to do this simple task, you will be replaced.”
Jason was going to explain he would require a search warrant to even search for the panther, but Taylor saved him the effort by hanging up.
“Shit!” Jason hissed as he pulled his hand away from the glass shards. He stared at the blood welling on the tip of his finger. Given how much it bled, he suspected it was a rather deep puncture. “Great, I can see the obits now: FBI agent dies from finger prick.”
He went to the bathroom, applied anti-perspirant, combed his hair, and declared himself ready. He remained dressed in the clothes he wore yesterday. If Taylor was right, that Tiburon had set the animal hospital on fire, he could arrest him on arson charges and get him deported, despite his convenient marriage to Ms. Nelson. The sooner he got Tiburon out of the country, the sooner he could get Taylor out of his life. He tried putting a Band-Aid on the tip of his finger, but he had doubts it would stay there.
***
Catina couldn’t find Tiburon anywhere. Remembering her dream, she passed through the garden quickly and worked her way down the cat cages, making certain her felines had water in their bins. When she reached the panther’s bin, she stopped. She knew in an instant the cat inside was not Tabetha. For one thing, the cat was almost twice as large, and its fur was too long and glossy. The cat reminded her of the one in her dreams, except this one was female. She stared at it from outside the cage for several minutes. It locked eyes with her, but it didn’t move. It looked thirsty, but the water bowl, two feet away, remained untouched. Perhaps it was too weak to reach it.
Catina felt a chill go through her spine as she watched the panther studying her. She had never before been afraid of a cat, but this one, with her calculating eyes, frightened her. The cat was injured and sick. Yet, it was not pain she sensed in the animal’s eyes. It was cunning speculation. She noticed the razor-sharp claws twitched. The cat’s tongue rolled out to one side of its mouth as it panted.
She wants me to come inside the cage, Catina realized. She’s trying to lure me in so she can attack.
Catina was horrified by her thoughts. It was just an injured animal. It wasn’t plotting an attack. It was too sick to attack. Forcing herself to override her intuition, she unlatched the gate. She kept her eye on the panther the entire time. Its eyes seem to sparkle in anticipation.
Again, her body froze in fe
ar. It took her several moments to overcome her hesitation and pull the gate open. She screamed as blackness slammed against the gate.
“What the hell are you doing?” Tiburon pushed the gate closed and latched it.
The panther screamed in rage at the denial of its quarry. However, one intense look from Tiburon sent it back to silence.
“She would have ripped you to shreds.”
Cat tried to stifle the fear coursing through her body. “But she’s sick.”
“She’s not that sick. Under no circumstances are you to go in the cage.”
“Where did she come from? Where’s Tabetha?”
“Who?”
“Tabetha, the panther that was here yesterday.”
Tiburon stared at the furious but quiet panther glaring at them from within the cage. Taking Catina’s hand, he walked her further down the path. “I don’t know what to do with you. A part of you knows what is going on and has accepted it, yet another part remains blind. I never meant to involve you this deeply.” He turned and faced her. “I never meant to love you this deeply,” he added, caressing her hair.
Her heart lifted at his words. “You love me?”
“More than I thought possible.”
Catina wrapped her arms around him. “Then tell me, whatever it is, tell me. It won’t change how I feel about you. Knowing you love me is all that matters.”
“Your mind isn’t going to want to accept the truth, but I think in your heart you already know.”
“What?”
“The panther, she’s my sister.”
Cat frowned and shook her head. “But that’s not possible.”
“You know it is. Think of the dreams. In what form do I come to you?”
“But those were just dreams.”
“They weren’t dreams. They were real.”
“That night in the jungle,” Catina stammered.
“The Marobi’s left you as a sacrifice, to be eaten. Yet, you were such a beautiful creature, with intelligence instead of fear in your eyes. I could tell you were as enchanted by me as I was with you. Never in all my years, had I met anyone like you.”
Cat Refuge Page 7
