Rare Find

by Dale Mayer

  Exactly. Dennis was right. Her grandfather had no time or energy for humans. If you walked on four legs he'd bend over backwards to help, but in his world the two-legged animals were the ones you couldn't trust. He'd made sure she learned that.

  "And he treated Tabitha that way?" Ronin asked incredulously.

  Her less than the others, but his distrust encompassed everyone else. She lived with that prejudice. Was raised with it. Breathed it on a daily basis. And don't forget she was her father's daughter. Her grandfather could never reconcile himself with the parts of her father that she inherited.

  "She said they were close."

  He's the closest role model she had to formulate her values. There was her father, but he left. She had a fiancé and he bolted. All of this reinforcing her grandfather's views. Leaving her with only one lesson – that animals were the ones you could trust. But animals die too – and at a much younger age than humans. So she made sure she had many so that there were always some of them around to love her.

  "Wow. She's really messed up because of her childhood."

  And yet she's still strong, relatively sane and a good person. And most of that she learned through her relationships with animals. She learned to work with energy to help them. She could use it to help people, but she doesn't really believe they deserve it.

  "Ouch. That's a little harsh, isn't it?"

  Not for energy work. Look at yourself and how your relationship with animals was impacted by the death of your pet.

  "That just means I was a neurotic kid who never quite grew up."

  No. You're missing the other life event that happened at the time. I'd hoped you'd make the connection but...

  "Now what are you talking about?"

  You spent days weeping over your cat. And you blamed your father. He was the driver of the vehicle that killed Mr. Boots, wasn't he?

  Ronin winced. He'd deliberately buried that fact. "Thanks for that reminder."

  And do you remember what came afterward?

  "No. I obviously don't want to either."

  Yet it's time. You can't sit on these time bombs forever.

  Ronin stared down at Tabitha. "So tell me then. We're out of time."

  You told your father how much you hated him. That he was a killer and you were going to spend the rest of your life making him pay. Making killer's pay...

  Horrible images flooded Ronin's mind. Him screaming at his father, who stood staring down at the still body of Mr. Boots. His mother trying to shush him. He sat back on his heels and realized this was his reason he became a cop. He wanted to make sure that others paid for what they'd done wrong.

  "How can such a small incident be the driving force, a passion for a specific career?"

  Because at the time, it wasn't a small incident. Your father, accident or not, had taken someone you loved.

  "All my life, I was driven to be a cop..." he murmured.

  And then in a nasty karmic twist, both your parents were killed and you lost them too.

  Jesus.

  Think about why you don't do art like your brother does.

  "Because I suck at it," Ronin snorted. "Like that's hard to work out."

  Because you were drawing on the sidewalk when Mr. Boots got hit.

  Chapter 26

  Tuesday mid-morning

  Lassitude overtook Tabitha. The blood loss made her weak. And angry. With the added injuries, Trinity was likely to die. And the baby with her. Tabitha poured love and healing and caring into Trinity, trying to help her to deal with the shock, the pain and the blood loss. Trinity's heart was pumping steadily, which meant blood continued to leak from the double bullet holes. But neither were in vital spots. Neither would kill Trinity if she’d arrived in time.

  Unless Trinity gave up. Damn, she needed Ronin to find them. Where was he?

  And she couldn't shake the nagging suspicion that she might need to have Trinity close to her body to save her. How that would work, she didn't know. But Trinity was injured and Tabitha could help heal her. It would be much easier if she was physically there to help her. But her body was with Boran and her spirit was here with Trinity.

  Stefan, I need to have my body here.

  That's a little hard to do.

  I know. But I think it's the only way.

  I'll tell Ronin.

  ***

  "You want me to what?" Ronin sat back on his heels in shock.

  Take her to Trinity.

  Ronin gave a broken cry. "Isn't that going to cause more damage?"

  Roman is almost at The Olde Riverside Shipyard. I'll direct you when you get closer. Grab her and go. There was a pause, then Stefan shouted, Now!

  Shit.

  Ronin hopped to his feet. His sudden action caused both tigers to rise, growling in the back of their throats.

  "I don't have time for this. I have to take her somewhere and I have to take her now."

  He bent down and scooped Tabitha up. Her head lolled to one side. He tried to shift her weight so he could carry her comfortably and he needed to move fast.

  Boran growled.

  "Damn it, you have to let me take her. Mr. Boots, tell him, for Christ's sake."

  And damned if Boran didn't narrow his gaze as if he was listening to someone. The fur on the back on his spine relaxed. Not having time to waste. Ronin called back, "Thanks, Boran...and Mr. Boots." He hadn't said anything to Tango. He cast a long glance back to Tabitha's pet and said, "You know I'm helping her – right?" He kept walking forward, and damn if he didn't catch a glimpse of something...someone…inside Tango. He stopped and stared. The image disappeared. He shook his head and all but ran to the gate where Sue waited to unlock it.

  "How is she?" Sue asked.

  "Not good. I'm taking her to get help. I don't have time to explain. Make sure the cats are okay, please."

  "They're fine. Tabitha has always been able to connect in an unearthly way with her felines."

  Ronin groaned. "You don't know the half of it."

  Holding Tabitha tightly, his muscles straining, he raced to his truck then struggled to get Tabitha on the front seat and buckled up safely before anyone saw what he was doing. No one would agree to him taking an injured woman into town and to a deserted warehouse.

  Christ, Ronin hoped he was doing the right thing.

  ***

  Roman checked the area. He had only three other cops here. Geoff and Carmichael were here with him and there was more spread out to cover the back of the place. Inside, the warehouse was silent. And that was unusual in itself. Either they'd been found out, or the place was deserted. According to Stefan, the tiger was here.

  Somewhere. According to Tabitha, there were two men looking after her.

  Apparently Ronin was on his way. With an unconscious Tabitha. This shit was freaky. He struggled to understand Ronin's decision to bring her here and not take her directly to the hospital. Perhaps she wasn’t badly injured.

  She is, Stefan said. This needs to happen.

  Roman leaned up against the wall, his gun out and ready. Thankfully Ronin's men were here. He wouldn't want to deal with this without any backup.

  As it was, they could be shorthanded, depending on what they found inside. Carmichael and Geoff were in front of him framing the front door. Carmichael pushed it open.

  The door moved silently.

  Immediately a nasty smell leaked outward.

  "Oh gross," Carmichael whispered.

  Roman leaned forward to see inside. The place appeared to be a huge open cavern. But it looked as if he might be in the right place. There were cages of all sizes stacked along one side and several big cages down at the far end. The smell was rank. Was anyone hosing this place down?

  Down the way, they heard someone talking.

  "See, I don't know if you are really in there or not, but to believe I'm talking to a lady in a tiger... That makes me crazy."

  Roman almost laughed. He was definitely in the right place.

  "What the hell is he
talking about?" asked Carmichael in a harsh whisper.

  Geoff shrugged.

  Roman shook his head. There was no way to explain. And this job did make people crazy. Jesus, could this guy actually see Tabitha?

  "Hell, it doesn't matter. You're not a cop anymore, Roman. Stay here with Geoff. I'll scope it out and come back."

  And Carmichael disappeared inside.

  ***

  Tabitha's strength was waning. Trinity sucked up everything Tabitha threw at her to keep her calm and to help ease her pain. She didn't have a lot of energy left to heal the bullet holes. And the less energy Tabitha had to heal, the more agitated Trinity became and the harder it became for Tabitha to work.

  And then there was Fez.

  He was on guard duty. He didn't have a gun, so Tabitha was still unclear about who shot Trinity.

  And then she didn't have time to wonder as Trinity growled and tried to bite her injury. Tabitha was exhausting herself trying to stop Trinity from doing more harm.

  "See, if you're in there, then that's my beliefs about life and death blown right out of the water. I don't know what to do with that. I want to help you, but there's a part of me that thinks you are my meal ticket out of here. You're incredibly rare and if I find the right buyer for you... Wow, I could make a fortune. But I got to convince them you are in there. So how do I do that?"

  The damn idiot didn't seem to realize that soon there was only going to be a dead carcass to sell. "You realize I'm dying in here. That you shot me and now I will not survive without medical attention."

  His face lit up. "There you are! And how do you know about medical attention. Is that something animals think about?"

  Oh Lord. He thought she was the animal. "Why did you shoot me?"

  "Oh hey, that wasn't me. That was the buyer when he realized he'd been double crossed. And if he couldn't have you, he figured no one would." He leaned in close. "Although I'm thinking he's got a vet here right now. He could have killed the tiger but instead placed those shots so she wasn't really badly hurt by them."

  Wasn't really hurt? Jesus. Maybe Fez should get shot in the same damn places and then he could decide what hurt. With great difficulty, she reined in her emotions.

  "Where did he go?" She was sorry she missed seeing the asshole shooter. He's the one she really wanted. Anyone who put orders for these animals were just as culpable in her mind. She wanted to nail his ass.

  "They heard something outside and disappeared." He looked around as if afraid they'd snuck up on him. "Between you and me, my boss won't tolerate this. He'll take care of that asshole – permanently."

  "Take care of them?" she asked cautiously. "Like kill them?"

  "Oh yeah, he'll kill them. He's killed a lot of people."

  Tabitha paused her energy work long enough to study Fez's face. Because he thought she was a tiger and wouldn't be able to tell anyone, he appeared to be treating her as a confidante.

  "What's your boss's name?"

  "Ha. He insists I call him ‘boss.’ He doesn't like real names to be used." Morosely, he added, "But everyone knows my name. If anyone goes down for this, it's going to be me."

  "Unless you help me."

  "What can I do? I'm no vet."

  "No, but men are looking for me. They are coming to help me."

  He looked around fearfully. "Here?"

  "I hope so," she muttered, pushing more healing energy into the injury. She had almost stopped the bleeding, but the damn bullet was still in Trinity and that was a lot harder to deal with.

  Trinity would pull through if Tabitha could get her out of here. Captivity, particularly in bad situations like this, did something to the psyche of an animal. They fought it and fought it and fought it then they gave up. That was dangerous. Animals had been known to lie down and die even when nothing was physically wrong. In this case, Trinity was hurting and injured and needed to keep her spirits up.

  To that end, Tabitha gently pushed a little more energy into her heart chakra. Brightening and softening, bringing light into all her dark places.

  "When?" Fez cleared his throat, reminding Tabitha he was still there. She hadn't exactly forgotten, but she was struggling to keep her focus as it was. Her connection to Trinity was draining her life force at the same time as Trinity's. So the dying Trinity was trying to be saved by the dying Tabitha. She'd have laughed at that mind-bend if she could have. Instead, she just wanted to cry.

  Fez cleared his throat.

  She struggled to answer. It all seemed so pointless. But Tabitha knew that was Trinity's energy expressing Trinity's thoughts…her negativity. Tabitha pushed them back, fighting the depression with love. It took several minutes for the despair to leave and for her to remember that Ronin and Stefan were fighting for them. And they had friends who were coming to help.

  Damn right. Stefan's voice rippled through her mind.

  Oh God, Stefan. This is so hard.

  Her feelings are dominating. It's a difficult thing to fight the onset of negative emotions of another soul at the same time you are absorbing her feelings.

  And how, she murmured in her mind. Just his presence was light, healing, soulful. She immediately felt soothed, blessed.

  And could see where she'd gotten sucked into confusion again. She had to think without her body and the experience of the physical – to be one of pure energy, pure love. To distance herself from the injured body, the pain. She could feel her spirits rising yet again. Healing energy poured into her, through her and into Trinity.

  The cycle continued, each lap stronger, more powerful, more energetic. Trinity started to heal even as Tabitha watched. Trinity grabbed the energy and used it herself. Intuitively, her body knew and understood what to do. Tabitha watched as torn muscles struggled to push out the bullet, struggled to stitch the muscles together, to fill the flesh behind it. It would take time, but Trinity had turned a corner. Trinity's earthly experience wasn't over yet. Shaky but gaining strength by the minute, Trinity stood up. And roared.

  Fez screamed. "Holy shit."

  Footsteps sounded behind him. Fez turned and Tabitha watched as his face became respectful. "Sorry bos—"

  The boss stepped back with a smile and yelled, "Police, hands up."

  Fez stared in confusion.

  "Put the gun down and get your hands up." When Fess stood in shock, his hands automatically going up, the boss yelled, "Now!"

  Fez's arms shot straight up.

  The boss brought out a second gun and fired. Then fired his police issue gun sending a second popping sound echoing throughout the vast warehouse.

  Stunned, Tabitha watched Fez collapse, a red stain spreading across his chest. The boss had just shot an unarmed man. What just happened?

  Stay quiet. Stefan whispered. The balance of power just shifted.

  Ya think, she murmured. She stared out of the cage at the boss. Casually dressed, he held a gun as if he was used to handling one. He walked over to Fez and said in a low voice, "Fucking idiot. Do you think I was going to let you ruin things for me? Hell, I wasn't even planning to pay you."

  He looked around, then carefully placed the second gun in the downed man's hand, giving the appearance the man had been armed and dangerous. Then he called out behind him, "All clear."

  ***

  Roman heard the call and came in through the back. He'd been peering through a grimy window and had seen the man go down. Until he walked closer, he hadn't seen a gun in the slain man's hand.

  Then he saw the tiger and everything else went out of his mind. Jesus, she was big. Even hurt and in pain, she was a majestic animal. He walked closer to the cage slowly, trying not to set the animal off.

  How could he tell if it was Tabitha?

  "Tabitha?" he whispered.

  The tiger turned those huge unblinking eyes on him. But there was no sign of Tabitha in them.

  "Do you know this animal?" Carmichael asked.

  "Maybe." Roman studied the tiger. "And maybe not." He motioned to the rest of th
e warehouse. "You should probably check to make sure no one else is in here."

  Carmichael nodded. "Search is in progress. Although I doubt anyone is still here. I thought you were looking for a woman or something. And the tiger. But wasn't this op to find a woman?"

  "Sorta." Roman walked around the tiger's cage, hoping the cop would take off and leave him alone to figure out the Tabitha-tiger thing.