A Flight of Raptors (Paws & Claws Book 2)

by Ralph Vaughan

  Benedict shook his head as the enormity of what Levi had revealed sank into his mind. He had hated his grandfather’s submission to the Raptors, but Benedict had done no less himself, though he had tried to hide it through futile rebellion and silent disdain for others.

  “We thought they were better than us,” Benedict said after a long moment. “It was nothing anyone ever actually said aloud, but it was there the whole time, the true reason we feared them, the reason we let them enslave us…why I ran rather than fought.”

  “That feeling of inferiority by the Parrots is as important to the Raptors as their fear,” Levi explained. “And that is why they still remain perched in watch over this house. They dare not let you return, and will do anything to prevent it. Anything.”

  Yoda shuddered. “So when you said the Raptors mean to grab Benedict…”

  “Not to return him, but to kill him,” Levi said.

  “What are we going to do then?” Sunny asked.

  “Today the dogs will make neighborhood patrols, as usual,” Levi answered. “The cats will make regular yard patrols – Kim and Little Kitty will patrol together…”

  “Ha!” Kim snorted.

  “Ha ha!” Little Kitty added, wanting to go one better than Kim.

  “…will patrol together, for safety’s sake, mostly in the backyard, side yards and the driveway area,” Levi continued. “Groucho, Smokey, and maybe a couple of their pals will keep watch up top, ranging over the house and garage roofs, maybe the adjoining structures as well.”

  “That will certainly keep the Raptors’ attention on this house,” Sunny observed.

  “Yeah,” Yoda agreed. Then he cocked his head in confusion and asked: “Is that what we want?”

  “Very much so,” Levi replied. “The actions of the cats will ensure the Raptors keep a close watch while keeping their distance.”

  “The Raptors might try something untoward with the cats,” Sunny suggested. “Remember our first meeting with them.”

  “I don’t think so,” Levi replied. “The instinctual relationship of cats and birds is very old and very defined. While a Hawk might not hesitate to go after a small dog like Yoda…”

  “You saw how that went!” Yoda boasted, smiling as he fondly recalled thrashing Vortex insensible.

  “…he will think twice about approaching a cat of any size, even a kitten,” Levi went on. “When any bird looks at a cat, it feels an instinctive and irrational fear that goes all the way back to when Cave Lions and Smilodons roamed the Earth.”

  Yoda frowned. “Smilodon?”

  “Saber-toothed cat,” Levi explained.

  “Scared just from looking at a cat?” Yoda mused. “I don’t get it.”

  “It is quite true,” Benedict confirmed, staring at Little Kitty.

  “What?” Little Kitty complained, looking as innocent as only a gimpy-eyed Calico can look.

  “So, the cats roaming about will keep the Hawks from paying attention to us?” Sunny suggested.

  “That, and the fact that our patrols will seem quite routine,” Levi replied.

  “But they won’t really be routine, right?” Yoda guessed.

  “On the contrary,” Levi countered. “Unless someone comes to us with a problem or a crime, we’ll just be walking about, checking contacts, chatting with neighborhood pets, making sure the local troublemakers know we’re still on the job, and no doubt answering lots of queries about last night – they will have all likely seen the newscasts and all have questions, especially if Stacker has been his usual discreet self.”

  “Discreet!” Yoda guffawed.

  “I don’t get it, Levi,” Sunny complained. “If all we’re going to do is community work, then what’s the point? We don’t need to be in and out all day just for that.”

  “When we leave before twilight for our meeting with Natividad, I do not want the Raptors to pay any attention to us at all,” Levi explained. “And I want the cats to continue their own patrols into the dusk.”

  “To make sure Benedict remains safe while we are gone?” Sunny asked.

  “No,” Levi replied with a mischievous grin. “To make those birds think he’s still in the house.”

  “Where will he be?” Yoda asked.

  “Yes, where will I be?” Benedict echoed.

  “With us,” Levi answered.

  “How will we manage that?” Sunny demanded.

  Levi smiled. “That’s where you come in, Yoda.”

  Yoda’s jaw dropped as comprehension overtook him. “Now, just wait a minute, Levi! If you think I’m – “

  “Trust me,” Levi interjected. “It will be the perfect cover, so to speak.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  “I have never been so humiliated in my entire life,” Yoda complained.

  “Hey, what about me?” Benedict demanded from deep within Yoda’s thick and wild fur.

  “Pipe down, the two of you,” Levi advised softly. “Think stealth.”

  “I’m thinking, but it ain’t stealth,” Yoda muttered.

  “Once we get out in the driveway, remember: we’re just on yet another neighborhood patrol. Just act natural – especially you, Yoda.”

  “Do your best,” Sunny counseled. “Benedict’s life depends on it, and so does our mission.”

  “I always do my best,” Yoda said.

  “I know you do,” Levi said encouragingly.

  “You’re always a good boy,” Sunny added.

  “Best boy after this,” Yoda said. “I guess I’m as ready as I am ever going to be.”

  “Let’s go then,” Levi said.

  He scratched three times at the kitchen door which opened into the gated driveway, then waited at the gate till it was opened for them. The three dogs (and stowaway Parrot) filed out the gate, then down the apron of the driveway as they heard the gate’s latch click back into place. Levi chanced a quick glance back over his shoulder and saw Groucho, Smokey and a tabby named Mitch patrolling along the roofline, dim in the encroaching dusk but certainly plainly visible and menacing to the preternaturally keen vision of the sentinel Raptors who had maintained their observation the whole of the long day.

  And they were still there, one perched upon a lamp-pole at the rear of the property, the other on a utility pole to the northwest. He could not tell which of the Hawks were on duty, but he did not want to attract unnecessary attention by asking Sunny. Levi noted with satisfaction that neither Hawk made a move to follow the dogs on what appeared to be yet another of their pointless security patrols.

  Of course, Levi reflected, those earlier patrols had not been mere exercises in futility, even though their primary intent had been to inure their avian watchers to the comings and goings of the Three Dog Detective Agency.

  As he had predicted, almost all the neighborhood pets had seen the news story about the dog-fighting ring in Chula Vista, and even those ferals who were anything but couch-potatoes had heard about it, either from house-bound friends or through the efforts of young Stacker, who had survived confessing his misdeeds to his dam and sire – even being grounded and being put at the end of the chow line for a week had not dampened the pup’s enthusiasm.

  Yes, the Three Dog Detective Agency had broken the case.

  Yes, Stacker had run more than two miles full out to fetch the K9 Unit.

  No, Levi’s foes in the arena had not weighed a thousand-million pounds, and there had only been one, not seven.

  Some of the errors in fact and misconceptions had been easily corrected by the level-headed answers given by Sunny and Levi. At various times during the day Yoda had proved as incorrigible as Stacker the excitable Parson Russell, causing the elder dogs to roll their eyes, sigh in exasperation and try to set the record straight, but in the end, despite all the explanations and corrections, each animal in the neighborhood believed whatever made him or her feel better, or safest.

  A surprise greeted them during one of their walks along F Street in the form of Ajax, the Kansas-bred Mastiff who lived in t
he Centre Park Apartments and had gotten off on the wrong paw with them the day before. As they were leaving the Fire Station, where they had spent some time with Torchy, the firehouse Dalmatian, they heard an excited bark from across the street and saw Ajax bounding out of the apartment complex and into the street.

  “Stop!” Levi shouted, once again playing the alpha card.

  Ajax froze in mid-stride, just as he was about to leave the walkway, but this time he managed to not fall on his face.

  “But I just …” he started to say.

  “Don’t just run into the street!” Levi snapped. “Stop, look, then cross.”

  “Yeah,” Yoda echoed, even though he was anything but an alpha. “You trying to become road-kill?”

  “You have to be careful crossing streets around here, dear,” Sunny said in a comforting tone after Ajax had made it across. “Cars travel much too fast and sometimes I swear the drivers are blind.”

  As if to emphasize Sunny’s point, a blue Nissan with thundering boom-boxes in the trunk roared past. The vibrations were painful.

  “We never had anything like that in Kansas,” Ajax said after the noise receded and everyone could once more hear. “No too many roads and the traffic was either pick up trucks or tractors.”

  “What was the name of his vehicular paradise?” Levi asked.

  “Tonganoxie,” Ajax replied. “Small place. I lived on a farm.”

  “I lived on a farm before I ended up in the Shelter,” Sunny said. “I bet you miss life there.”

  “I really do,” Ajax confirmed, “but when you’re a dog you learn to live wherever you are and make the best of it.”

  “Ever see Toto?” Yoda snarked.

  “Oh, stop it, Yoda,” Sunny chided. “Living on a farm is the best thing in the world.”

  “What can we do for you, Ajax?” Levi asked peremptorily. He knew that if Sunny started reminiscing about her pre-city days they would be there for hours.

  “First, I want to apologize for yesterday,” the Mastiff said, lowering his gaze.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Levi said. “It’s in the past…let’s leave it there.”

  “Then, also, you said you help dogs…”

  “You in some kind of trouble?” Levi asked.

  “I was watching the news this morning and there was this place that stole dogs and made them fight, and I was…”

  “Yep, that was us,” Yoda said proudly, so proudly that he drew a stern look from Levi.

  Ajax cocked his head in confusion. “Huh?”

  “Yeah, we busted that place.” Yoda explained, then saw Levi’s look. “Well, we helped bust it.”

  “What about it, Ajax?” Levi prompted.

  “I was worried they might come and steal me and make me fight,” the big dog whined. “After I saw that, I had a bad dream, and then I saw you three again.”

  “It’s all right, dear,” Sunny assured him, licking his face as a dam would a nervous puppy. “The police and the K9 Unit closed that place down, and you don’t have to worry about it anymore.”

  “But there could be another,” Yoda said.

  Ajax trembled.

  “Listen, Ajax, you’ll be okay if you never get into a car, truck or van,” Levi told him. “And don’t let anyone you don’t know take you anywhere. Just be cautious around strangers. You should probably go home now.”

  “Okay,” the Mastiff said gratefully. “Bye, guys.”

  “And be careful crossing the street,” Levi advised sharply.

  Ajax waited for a car to pass, looked both ways twice, then scurried across the street as fast as his scared little legs would take him. They watched him vanish into the apartment complex, and Yoda shook his head in disbelief.

  “What a sissy!” he said, though softly just in case Mastiff had good ears.

  “Yoda, that’s not very nice,” Sunny scolded.

  “Sunny’s right,” Levi agreed. “On the other paw, it is hard to believe that young pup is descended from Roman war dogs.”

  “Probably not from the deep end of the gene pool,” Yoda pointed out.

  “You two are terrible,” Sunny said with a trace of annoyance. Then she looked back to the apartments and sighed. “I just hope we don’t see his picture on a telephone pole some day.”

  Altogether, the Three Dog Detective Agency made seven patrols that day, each to a separate area of the neighborhood, more than they usually made in a week, but much shorter than the usual walkabout. No doubt they managed to suppress a lot of shenanigans and monkeyshines through high visibility and personal contact, but, more than that, it accustomed the watching Hawks used to the idea that these dogs were out and about all the time; because of the cats, however, it never occurred to the birds that the quarry they sought so diligently had just departed with the dogs on their last romp.

  The three dogs headed north on Fifth Avenue, intending to put a goodly distance between them and the house before they turned up E Street. By that time, of course, they would be out of the Hawks’ line of sight and free to head up to the alley behind the abandoned Vogue Theatre without further worry.

  By the time they reached Fourth Avenue, the pastel shades of evening were rising around them. A few of the street lamps were already flickering to life, and lights within homes and businesses shone dimly.

  Levi glanced nervously southward on Fourth. It was just this morning, in the cool of the dawn, that he had encountered the mysterious, the numinous, the inexplicable, but already it seemed as if it had happened a lifetime ago, and more than once during the course of the day he had wondered if it had happened at all.

  The world seems filled now with young pups and kits, Levi thought as they waited for the traffic light to change. Smaller dogs do live longer than most other dogs, but sometimes it seems as if I have lived forever. Sometimes I dream of walking the Nile with Anubis or through the forest primeval with First Dog…but are they really dreams…or memories? Sometimes I wonder if I am getting too old for all this, whether it’s time for me to find a sunny spot on the sidewalk and just…rest. Did someone, or something, really speak to me this morning, or did I just dream a Voice…unless, of course, the Voice dreamed me.

  “Levi, the light has changed,” Sunny mentioned gently.

  “No cars turning,” Levi said in an oddly brisk tone, stepping quickly off the curb. “Let’s go.”

  Sunny glanced down Fourth, toward where Levi had been staring, seemingly lost in thought, but could see nothing even with her remarkable eyes. Concerned for her friend, yet never doubting him for an instant, Sunny followed after, keeping pace with Yoda.

  “So uncomfortable,” Yoda muttered voce soto, his words carrying to Sunny and none other. “How much longer”

  “Not till the alleyway, at least,” Sunny answered in an equally soft voice.

  “My poor hair,” he complained. “And my dignity. Ouch!”

  “What?”

  “I think he nipped me.”

  “Keep up,” Levi advised. “Keep a tight formation. Keep quiet”

  By the time they passed Garden Farms Market, formerly the home of Schultz’s Butcher Shop. Twilight was full on. While the market still had a full-service butcher, it was not the same. How well Levi recalled lingering at the rear of the market when he was new to the area, sure in the knowledge Schultz would eventually toss him a meaty link or a bit of cut-off.

  So very long ago now, he thought wistfully.

  Shaking off remnants of the past, Levi led his pack past the market and the line of small businesses. He glanced at Yoda with an inquisitive expression.

  Yoda nodded. “Still hanging in there, but…” He grinned. “Are we there yet?”

  Levi sighed and rolled his eyes. “Almost.”

  After they passed the Axiom Coin Exchange they turned south into the alley, keeping to the thick shadows. Structures with faded bricks and peeling wood formed a nearly solid line down the length of the narrow alley, punctuated now and then by ill-used doorways. By now, twilight had ful
ly settled upon the city and the sky was completely infused with the faint red glow visible only to dogs; stars shone down with frosty aloofness, and bright lights moved among them on errands mysterious and unknown.

  Levi led them into deep darkness, far from the prying eyes of any species. After looking around to make sure they were truly alone and unobserved, Levi moved close to Yoda.

  “All right, time to shed yourself of the bird,” he whispered.

  “Thank Anubis!”

  “And Quetzalcoatl!” said a tiny voice from deep within the forest of fur.

  “Keep it down,” Levi whispered. “The night not only has a thousand eyes, it has just as many ears.”

  Levi and Sunny cautiously helped Benedict find his way out of his unusual hiding place, being careful not to pull at Yoda’s hair as much as possible. Though the Golden Retriever and Dachshund-mix were not entirely successful in disentangling the young Parrot without pulling against any roots, Yoda maintained a stoic and uncharacteristic silence, not letting the sharp pains caused by the Parrot’s egress elicit any whimper which might betray him or his friends to watchers, or listeners, in the night.

  Keeping close to the building, Levi and the others moved toward the back of the Vogue. At the entry point, they paused, listening intently. Their efforts met only silence.

  Suddenly, Yoda tensed, ears rising even higher and sharper than usual. The others noticed his change in body stance but said nothing. Moments later their heard the same scratching and clicking sounds that had alerted the Pomeranian; Sunny considered that perhaps Officer Antony had not been entirely inaccurate when referring to Yoda’s ears as radar dishes, but wisely kept the thought to herself.

  The sounds on the other side of the opening drew near, then stopped, as if waiting for acknowledgement.

  Levi uttered a short, soft and breathy woof, then waited.

  The visitors to the theater did not have long to wait, the merest of moments, before they heard whispered: “Levi?”

  “It’s me, Natividad,” Levi confirmed. “Come on through. There is someone here eager to meet you.”