by Jan Stryvant
Sean was in a good mood as he headed back to his apartment, the last two weeks had definitely been interesting, and he had to admit the fairly non-stop sex was amazing, unlike anything he’d been involved with before. He was definitely going to start doing that a lot more! And that party, he’d have to find out where the next one was. Yeah, he’d have to deal with some assholes, but he wasn’t afraid of that. He’d killed so many people by now a few more weren’t any big deal, eventually he was sure they’d learn to leave him alone. But all those women just looking for a good time, he saw the looks he got. Yup, he was definitely going to a lot more of those. He’d just need to figure a way to guarantee himself future invites.
That night Sean found another underground rave and ended up using his newly learned skills to good effect. He ended up taking two rather delectable hot young ladies back to his apartment and spent the rest of that night and all day Saturday engaging in the kinds of things he would have dreamed of, if only he'd ever taken the time to think about the opposite sex during before now.
Both girls were quick to exchange phone numbers with him, when they finally left early Sunday. Rather than call them when he got up that evening, he decided to prowl around town and see what he could find on his own. It didn't take him more than an hour to find another party and another couple of playthings to occupy his time. He had to fight another one of those challenges first, but this guy at least asked for quarter once he realized he had lost. Sean was in quite good spirits and the gals were most definitely interested in him. Sean didn’t know why so many hot gals with a thing for cats hung out at the underground raves and the bad guy parties, but he knew a good thing when he saw it. Besides, after all the people he had killed, who was he to make moral judgments?
Making Money the Old Fashioned Way
Shadow yawned and stretched out on the bed; Liz was curled up now besides him, a satisfied smile on her face as she ran her fingers through his fur. It had taken him three tries, but by the third time he had finally realized what it took to be a great lover, and now three months later and he was still turning up in her bed at least once a week.
Of course the girls at all the parties and the raves he was nailing all night long and half the next day helped him figure it all out. He had just been following a routine, going almost by rote. Once he realized he had to put himself into the effort, that good sex was a performance, not just a formula to be followed, he was not only able to satisfy Liz rather completely, but all of the women he was now bedding rather regularly. He even had one of those little black books that he was quickly filling up with names and numbers.
As for himself, he was Shadow Cat now; he rarely thought of himself as Sean anymore, because he wasn't. That life had ended, a new, much better one had started.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Liz asked.
"I'm thinking about money," Shadow told her. "I blew most of my wad getting set up here."
"What about those designer drugs you're selling?"
"That's not a very big market; it's also something I don't really want to stay involved in for long. I only did it to guarantee my invites to the party circuit and get people used to seeing my face."
Shadow had to admit to himself however, that it had been an effective strategy. His medical background and some research had tapped him in to the latest craze in the underground. His prices were low, the lowest around, and his quality was high. So of course everyone wanted his stuff, and the invites had poured in so fast, that he was a fixture at almost every party in town.
"With all the girls you're shagging at all those parties, I'm surprised you still manage to show up here as often as you do," Liz teased.
Shadow purred and rolled over to face her, wrapping his strong arms around her, he kissed her, long and hard.
Liz put her hands on his chest and tried to push him away, she didn't like clients kissing her, and even though Shadow was no longer a client, it was still a game they played. He really loved to kiss her and to be honest, she enjoyed it too.
"Gotta spend some time with my girlfriend," Shadow grinned at her when he finally came up for air."
"Girlfriend?" Liz laughed, shaking her head.
"What, you don't like having a furry boyfriend?" Shadow teased.
"What makes you think you've earned that right?"
"Oh, knock off the bullshit, Liz. How many other guys are you dating? Guys that aren't paying you for the privilege?" He quickly added.
"Don't be so sure of yourself, fuzzball."
"Come on, Liz. We're not just lovers, we're friends. Hell, you're the only friend I've got."
"Is that why you keep coming back?" she asked, surprised.
"And it's why you keep welcoming me back," Shadow grinned and gave her butt a squeeze.
Liz sighed, and then leaned forward and kissed him for a change. The surprised look in his eyes almost made her giggle.
"Okay, yeah, I like you, and I guess it's safe to admit I think of you as a friend. Though why you want a whore and a madam as a girlfriend is beyond me."
Shadow rolled onto his back, keeping an arm around her. "We're both outcasts. We understand each other."
"You? An outcast?" Liz chuckled, "Hardly."
"How many friends do you think I have?"
"You're new here yet. Give it time."
Shadow gave a snort. "I'm older than you Liz. I've never had a friend before."
Liz looked at him, surprised. He was staring up at the ceiling, "Seriously, Shadow? No one? Ever?"
"You're the first," he admitted. "I don't exactly fit in, looking like I do, and I've spent most of my life hiding from people, living in shadows you could say. I think you're the first person I've ever met who treated me like a regular person."
"What about all those gals you're bedding?"
"Their groupies, they're just looking for supers and bad guys to get their rocks off," Shadow shrugged, "not that I mind of course, I like getting my rocks off too."
"So what does that mean?"
Shadow turned and looked at her, "I'd kill for you. That's what it means."
Liz didn't even flinch. More than a few of the bad guys visited her house, including ones with super powers like Shadow probably had. The bordello might be her main business, now. But she had other sidelines she engaged in, including the selling of information. She wasn't proud of it, but she'd had people killed before, in order to protect her girls.
"Sure you want to go down that road?" she asked him and snuggled up against him.
"I've gone so far down that road, Hon, that there isn't any coming back," Shadow sighed. "Hell, it's one of the few things I'm really good at. But I don't do it for money, so don't go thinking you can start selling my services."
"Well, you were just saying you needed more money," she teased.
"I was thinking more about stealing some from somebody who didn't need so much."
"You don't strike me as the bank robbing type. Besides, you'd stand out in a lineup."
"There are a lot of bad guys in this town; surely no one would get upset if I robbed one of those?"
Liz shook her head, "All of the bad guys are tied into a network. Everyone works for someone else, all the way up to one of the major crime bosses, or maybe even one of the kingpins. You rob from one of them, and you'll have somebody's organization on your tail soon enough."
"Everybody?" Shadow asked, looking at her in surprise.
"Anybody worth stealing from. If you're going to go after criminals that is."
Shadow sighed, heavily, "I don't want to go stealing from regular hard working people. They're innocents when you get right down to it. Their life is hard enough without me making it worse."
"That's what insurance is for, Shadow."
He shook his head, "Sorry, no." He kissed her again, and smiled when she didn't pull away for once.
"Well, what about people who aren't innocent?"
"Huh?" he asked.
"There are just as many bad rich people living uptown, as
there are criminals living downtown. Steal from one of them."
"I can do that?" Shadow said surprised.
"Oh course you can," Liz laughed, "they're not in any of the criminal gangs."
"Huh," he said, and thought about that. "I guess I could do that, but how would I find them?"
Liz smiled at him, "Well I just happen to be in possession of just that information."
Shadow smiled back at her slowly, then suddenly rolled on top of her.
"How much?"
"Twenty-five percent!"
"Twenty-five? That's an outrage!" he growled.
"It's a seller's market, Fuzzybutt," she grinned at him.
He paused a moment, and then started to kiss his way down her body.
"That's not going to work, Shadow!"
He stopped when he got to her breasts. Liz had a rather nice set, and using his tongue and his teeth, he started to go to work on them, very, very slowly.
Liz sighed and started to run her fingers through the fur on his head, he was definitely a talented lover. Though why he thought this was going to help his position, giving her something she enjoyed, was beyond her.
Twenty minutes later and he was still working on her tits, switching back and forth between her nipples, which were about as tight as they could get. He'd lit her fires, and she knew what he was capable of doing to her.
And he wasn't doing it.
She was pushing on his head, trying to get him to go lower, and the damn cat was just purring and doing enough to get her excited, but nothing else!"
"Dammit! Twenty, twenty percent!!"
She sighed as he started to work his way lower, until finally he reached her sex and started to take her to the next level, employing that incredibly long and talented tongue of his.
And still he wouldn't take her where she wanted to go! Damn him! He was getting her hotter, running his tongue all over her mons, his fingers over her body, but he'd yet to put anything inside her!
"Seventeen percent, you bastard cat! Now get to work!" and she kicked him in the back with her heel.
Shadow laughed and parted her lips with his tongue and started to artfully drive Liz crazy with it. Taking his time. He took her to the edge, and then backed off, letting her calm down.
Then he did it again. And again.
By the fourth time he backed off, Liz was kicking his back with both heels, as hard as she could and was beating him on the head with her fists.
"Fifteen and I let you live, you black furry bastard! Now make me cum or I swear I'm going to shoot you!"
Shadow surged up over her body, capturing her legs on his shoulders and bending her back as he mounted her, sliding in deep he just let her have it hard and fast. When Liz finally hit her climax she crossed her legs behind his neck as she bucked back against him, and pulled him close, her hands on his ass as she tried to pull him as deep as possible.
"That wasn't fair," she panted, when she finally came down several minutes later.
"Wait to you see what I'm going to do to get you down to ten percent, Hon!" Shadow laughed and kissed her.
Six hours of non-stop sex later, after he'd dragged her back to bed twice when she'd tried to make a break for it, he had her down to twelve. But she'd called him 'hon', and meant it. So he felt it was a win.
"I definitely trained you too well," Liz grumbled as they cleaned up in her shower.
"That's only because I care," he laughed.
Liz sighed, he was right of course, he cared and she knew it. Worse yet, he was the only one who did. Not that she'd ever tell him that.
"So when do you want the names?"
"That depends, where do they keep their money?"
"Most of it is in safety deposit boxes in the bank, but a good deal of it is still tied up in stuff in their houses. Artwork, antiques, stuff like that."
Shadow nodded and thought about that.
"You can go to Scorecard and ask him to hire some security specialists, burglars and other helpers."
"Yeah, but I'll have to pay them."
"So?"
"That's less for me, plus they're liable to talk."
"You're going to have to kick Scorecard a percentage too."
"Why?"
"It's traditional to kick the boss in your area a percentage of anything you make. Scorecard likes you, so he's the obvious choice."
"And what do I get for that?" Shadow asked.
"Access to his fences, he'll put you in touch with trustworthy crooks," Liz laughed, "well as trustworthy as they get. He'll also keep the other bosses from messing with you, and you'll gain respect."
Shadow nodded and turning off the water he gave Liz a kiss. "I'm gonna have to do some research. It'll probably be a few months before I can do this."
"Why so long?"
"Because I don't want to get caught, obviously," he laughed.
# # # # #
Shadow looked at his watch. It was twenty-five minutes after two. Taking the drill he started in on the lock on the first box. He had sixteen specific boxes to drill, two locks on each one. Depending on how long it took to drill a lock that was how many of the boxes he would be raiding.
The drill bit in fairly quickly, which pleased him. The first lock took very little time at all, but halfway through the second one, it started to bog down. He stopped and quickly changed the bit and started back up. When he got through the lock he got out the small bar he had made, flipped both locks and pulled the box out an inch and checked his watch.
Ten minutes.
He started in on the next box immediately. Fifteen more boxes, two hours thirty minutes. That would make it just past five in the morning. It would be close, very close. He had thirty drill bits left; he had brought a lot of them. He started changing the bits after each lock was drilled, and didn't bother stopping to pop the locks with the bar. That would wait until he was done.
He checked his watch as he started drilling each lock, doing his best to be as efficient as possible. As the night wore on he got his time down to four minutes and ten seconds a lock.
When he finished drilling the last lock he looked at his watch. It was four-fifty.
Moving quickly he unlocked each box, pulled it out, dumped it into the rolling dumpster, then replaced it, locked it, and pulled out the next one. He started with the ones on the bottom, which turned out to be a fortunate choice, as they were all filled with kilobars. One kilogram gold bars that were used heavily in trading.
By the time he got to the higher draws it was mostly coins, papers that looked like bonds and contracts, bundles of cash, and jewelry. He did his best not to dump the heavy stuff on top of the jewels, but he couldn't be too careful, he was running out of time.
When he got the last box dumped and replaced he wiped them all down with a rag, vacuumed the floor to pick up the worst of the metal shavings, then threw his tools all on top of the mess, wiped the floor down and threw that rag in last and covered it all up with the remaining towels.
He pulled the roll of stickers out of his pocket, and carefully placed one over each of the drilled out locks. Each of the stickers had a high quality picture of the lock face on them. Up close it would be obvious that something wasn't right, but a cursory glance, or an image over the cameras, wouldn't show a thing.
Finishing that he started to push the janitorial dumpster out of the vault.
Damn was it heavy now! The wheels were catching on damn near everything. He hadn't bothered to count the gold bars, but there were at least a hundred of them, which meant he was probably pushing three hundred or more pounds!
Getting the cart out of the vault, he reached up and grabbed the jumpers he put on the camera and yanked them off, then pulled the vault door closed. Spinning the locks he closed the gate, locked that too, and then started to push the cart down the hallway towards the back door. Setting the cart just over by the door he picked up the other janitors cart, and dumped the trash in it on top of what was in his.
Then it was a simple matter
of opening the door and pushing the cart out onto the closed loading dock for pickup.
Then he headed back to the guard's watch station.
Both of the guards were still unconscious. Shadow checked all of the monitors, then sliding under the desk he removed the bypass jumpers he'd put on and looked back at the monitors, all of them showed the correct view now.
Going through the doorway into the recording room, he popped out all of the recording tapes and threw them in his bag, replacing them with the ones he'd taken out of the closet earlier. He put new stickers on each of the tapes and copied over the writing on the tapes he'd removed to them. He knew he wouldn't show up on the tapes, but the cart would, and so would the vault's camera suddenly going out. If his substitution wasn't discovered, then they might not even figure out exactly when the crime had been committed.
Going back towards the guards, he checked his gear, everything was in the correct bag, and taking out the aerosol spray antidote, he sprayed both of the guards in the face and then headed towards the front door. If the stuff worked as designed, they'd wake up in a bit of a daze, and wouldn't remember having been asleep when it wore off as it caused short-term memory loss for about an hour.
Checking his watch, it was almost six. Sitting down and taking a break he waited for the bank manager, who always showed up at ten to seven.
By seven-thirty, Shadow pulled up in a janitorial services truck, backing into the now open loading dock and picked up the full cart, replaced it with an empty one, and drove off.
He stopped at his uptown apartment building and using the service elevator he moved the cart up to his lair and left it there. Then returning to the borrowed truck, he drove it back to where he'd stolen it from, left it, and went off to catch up with the others.
After spending all night in the bank, robbing the houses was almost anti-climatic. They'd pull up in front of the house in a moving van. Go in through the front door, punch the codes Shadow had stolen from the main office into the alarm system, and then pack everything up and leave.
It took two hours to clean each house out, and no one thought twice about a team of movers in a great big giant moving van emptying out a house. Especially as Shadow had hired a guy to show up wearing the uniform of the security company and driving a car with the company's emblems on it.
