On the Prowl

by Matt Lincoln

  By now, more people were panicking, and I could hear screams coming from outside the dining room. I turned around, and through the gap between the double doors, which had been propped open by a fallen piece of furniture, I could see a large spotted cat with pointed ears and tufts of hair that framed its jaw like a beard.

  “What the hell is that?” I asked Augustine as panic rose in my chest. I heard him gasp as he turned to look in the same direction. Right outside the double doors at the entrance of the dining hall was a large, fluffy brown wild cat.

  32

  Charlie

  I wasn’t sure how long I had been looking into the eyes of the mother leopard. I knew that Ciaus had been hurt and was struggling with two of the suspects and that a few others had run out the back and were probably escaping at that very moment, but I couldn’t bring myself to move even an inch. I was paralyzed by the fear that the moment I did, the leopard would lunge at me.

  I summoned up all the courage I could and pulled my gun out of its holster and pointed it toward the leopard in one swift motion. I didn’t want to hurt it, but I wasn’t about to let myself die here either. This thing was bigger, faster, and definitely stronger than I was, and right now, it was coming down to my life or hers, and I knew which choice I was going to make.

  “No!” I heard Iris scream, and her voice was so loud in the hush that had come over the room that I jumped in surprise and had to stop myself from pulling the trigger on instinct.

  A second later, the leopard yowled in anger and fright as it was hit with two tranquilizer darts, and I turned to see Ciaus holding a tranquilizer gun. Behind him, the two suspects he’d been struggling with were both incapacitated and handcuffed. Frankly, I was a little impressed by how much he had pulled off in such a short time period, but I guess they were special ops for a reason.

  I looked back at the leopard, which was still on its feet but looking more unsteady by the second. It walked toward me sluggishly, slow enough that I was able to move out of its reach just by walking away. It teetered from side to side until it finally seemed to give up and collapse on the ground on its own, closing its eyes and finally staying still.

  I took a deep breath, looking down at the sleeping animal and marveling at how something so large and strong could be taken down by two tiny little darts.

  “Go!” I heard Ciaus yell from behind me, and I turned to see him leaning against an overturned crate and gripping his bleeding arm. “Two escaped through the back. Nikolaus is out there too. I’ll call for backup. You two go and stop them!”

  I didn’t waste another moment, taking off at a sprint through the back door with Iris right behind me. Several yards away, on the waterfront, I could see Nikolaus in a physical struggle with one of the suspects while another one was attempting to untether a small boat docked on the harbor.

  “Iris, can you help Nikolaus?” I yelled over my shoulder. “I’m going to stop the boat!”

  I knew I couldn’t let them get away, especially if one of these men was Lucas. We’d lose the ringleader, and we’d risk one of the ferry smugglers finding out about our plan and attempting a stunt like the one from two days prior. I sprinted toward the boat at full speed, and the suspect looked up at me just as I jumped on board. Before he could react, however, I tackled him, using my own momentum to knock us both off the boat and into the water.

  Once again, the biting cold of the water hit me with a shock. For a moment, I wasn’t sure which direction was up as all of my senses seemed to go into overdrive. I thrashed around as I tried to find the suspect. Finally, I spotted him, just in time to dodge as he thrust his gun toward my face. I reeled back and head-butted him as hard as I could underwater, although the water’s resistance dampened the force of the blow. I thought back to the underwater fight I’d had a few days earlier and recalled how I’d finally managed to subdue Illias by wrapping one arm around his neck and the other around his torso to pin his arms at his side. It had been a physically taxing and uncomfortable process, but in the end, it had worked.

  While the suspect remained dazed from the blow to the head, I worked quickly, maneuvering him into the same position I’d managed to trap Illias in. Once I had him secured, I pushed us up to the surface and began to kick backward toward the shore.

  “Iris, Nikolaus, are you there?” I called. I couldn’t see behind me and could no longer hear the sounds of a scuffle either.

  “Here, we’re coming!” I heard Iris say, and a moment later, I heard a splash as Iris jumped into the water and helped me pull the suspect onto the dock.

  Once we were all back on solid land, Iris quickly and efficiently handcuffed the suspect. I looked over at Nikolaus, who was standing over the other suspect, now handcuffed as well, thanks to Iris’s assistance.

  “Do you two have everything under control here?” I asked. I was soaking wet, and every muscle in my body was aching, but I knew I wasn’t done yet.

  “We’re fine,” Iris said. “Go check on Ciaus!”

  I ran back into the building to check on Ciaus, who was sitting up and leaning against one of the opened crates.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, leaning down to inspect the injury on his leg. His pants were dark, so it was hard to see how much blood had seeped through.

  “I’m okay,” Ciaus insisted. “It was just a graze. It hurts, but I can still move it, which is a good sign. I already called animal control. They should be here soon.”

  He looked out over the garage as he spoke, and for the first time since I’d run back inside, I looked as well. I’d been so focused on Ciaus that I hadn’t realized that the entire garage was now filled with animals from top to bottom. It seemed as though in the time it took us to apprehend the last two suspects, more of the animals had woken up and become alert, as there were colorful birds flying through the building and sitting in the rafters, breaking out in the occasional squawk. All over the floor, there were cats, although thankfully, there didn’t appear to be any others as large as the mother snow leopard. The majority seemed to be babies of various species, and I could see spots, stripes, and patches of fur in shades of white, black, brown, orange, and gold everywhere I looked. Honestly, it was like something out of a cartoon.

  “That little brat, the one that took off right after he shot at you, he let all of them out,” Ciaus said, shaking his head in disbelief at the scene in front of him. “Right after you knocked on the door, he ran out the back door, then ran right back inside when he saw us. Raised the alarm and started knocking everything over, opening all the doors, tossing things around. I didn’t realize what he was doing at first until I saw animals start coming out of the boxes. He told the rest to run and that he would stay behind and make sure we got eaten by the animals.”

  “Well, he almost succeeded,” I said, glancing down at the leopard that was still curled up in the center of the garage asleep. Ciaus shook his head.

  “Most of them are still pretty drugged,” he said, nodding toward the animals. “That’s why they’re so calm right now. In another hour or so, they will be more alert, but for now, they’re still half-asleep. That leopard probably wouldn’t have been able to hurt you considering how drugged it was. Not unless you just stood there and let it, anyway. It was a stupid plan in the first place.”

  “Well, before they do become more alert, let’s get the hell out of here,” I advised.

  “Good idea,” Ciaus chuckled.

  Together, we walked the two suspects who were still inside out of the garage through the back door and then closed both the front and back exits, not wanting to risk any of the animals getting loose before animal control could arrive. Once we’d gathered all four suspects together, Nikolaus left to retrieve the car so we could take the suspects into custody.

  “Which one of you is Lucas?” I asked, staring down at the men.

  Unsurprisingly, none of them said anything. Just in case it was a matter of language barrier, I asked Iris to translate the question for me. Still, they remained silent.

/>   “Listen, guys, we caught you red-handed,” I pointed out. “We literally found you in a garage full of wild animals, and every one of you assaulted police officers and a federal agent, so there’s no getting out of this. Better to just stop playing this dumb little quiet game.”

  After a beat of silence, I shrugged and, acting on a hunch, roughly gripped the man who I’d tackled off the boat by the arm and twisted his body around to one side. I ignored his shouts of protest as I dug into his pocket and pulled out a leather wallet. My suspicions were confirmed when I flipped it open to reveal the driver’s license inside and asked Iris to read the name for me.

  “Loúkas Galánis,” she read aloud. I pulled my phone out to take a picture of the ID before closing the wallet and placing it inside an evidence bag. I handed the bag to Iris and then dialed Nelson’s number to give him an update.

  “Hello?” Nelson answered on the second ring.

  “Mission success,” I said, walking a few steps away from Lucas, who was now screaming at me in an incomprehensible mixture of English and Greek. “We apprehended four suspects, one of whom I believe is the ringleader, Lucas. His real name is Loúkas. I’m sending you a picture of his ID. Hopefully, Gardner can dig up some more information now that we have his real name and the correct Greek spelling.”

  “I’ll pass the information along,” Nelson said. “Thank you for the update. Once you’re finished with the interrogation, call me again, and I’ll let you know your next moves from there.”

  “Got it,” I said, ending the call.

  Animal control arrived soon after that, and once we had settled everything with them, we all loaded into our respective vehicles and headed over to the jail to process and interrogate the suspects.

  33

  Junior

  I could feel warm blood trickling from the cut in my arm, but I didn’t dare move to stop the flow. The tiger that had given me the injury was still staring me down. Even though the pain in my arm was tremendous, the fear I felt at what might happen if I took my eyes off of the cat in front of me was worse. After what felt like hours of staring the tiger down, but was really only a few seconds, I heard a shrill scream from the entrance of the cargo hold area. I looked up and saw Angelique jumping up and down, waving her arms and screaming something in Greek in an obvious attempt to draw the animal’s attention away from me. The tiger turned its head to look at her, and before I could even think, my legs moved on their own, springing up and propelling me away from the tiger.

  The cat tracked me with its head as I moved, following behind me languidly. I noticed then that its movements seemed sluggish, and it appeared to be swaying from side to side and stumbling as if it were drunk. It would have been a comical sight if I hadn’t just felt legitimately scared for my life. The tiger was still moving slowly toward us, but it didn’t seem to be making much progress. The suspect that we had apprehended and taken the key from was still sitting by the door, mouth agape at the scene before him. I stalked over to him and pulled him up roughly by the collar of his shirt.

  “Was that your sorry attempt to kill me?” I asked, raising my voice in frustration. My body still pulsed with adrenaline, and I couldn’t calm down. The man just sputtered, looking between the tiger and me with wide eyes. He said something in Greek, and even though I couldn’t understand what he was saying, I could tell he was stuttering and stumbling over his own words.

  “He says he doesn’t understand,” Angelique said, eyeing the tiger warily as it continued to advance on us slowly, looking around as if seeing something we couldn’t. “He says it’s supposed to stay asleep until after we dock. It shouldn’t be awake this soon.”

  I looked back at the tiger who, despite clearly still being under the influence of something, was definitely awake and active enough that it managed to scratch me as it jumped out of the crate. I looked back down at the man, and I could see the moment realization dawned on him by the way his face paled, and he gasped.

  “What?” I asked, and he stuttered something in Greek again. Angelique’s eyes went wide as she translated.

  “Oh, God,” she said. “He says that his boss has been telling him to only give the animals two-thirds of a dose for the past month to save money. It should have been good enough, and so far, it had been, but earlier this week, his boss gave him a different kind of tranquilizer. He didn’t think anything about it and kept giving the animals the same amount as he had with the previous drug.”

  “Was the smuggler on the other ferry given the same drug?” I asked. Angelique asked him, and I knew just by her expression what the answer was.

  “He says yes,” she said.

  “And there are other big cats on that ferry right now?” I asked, praying my suspicions were wrong.

  “He says yes,” she said again. “At least two.”

  I dropped the suspect roughly and pulled out my phone. As I did, I could hear something moving behind the car where the other crate still was. The tiger heard it too and perked its ears up before turning and moving slowly toward the sound.

  “Hello?” Nelson picked up almost immediately.

  “Nelson,” I barked, “you have to get in touch with Agent Castillo. The smugglers gave the animals an inadequate dose of tranquilizers, and they’re waking up right now. The ones on this ferry are literally up and moving around, and it’s highly likely the ones on Castillo’s ferry will be doing the same.” I spoke in a rush, glancing back at the area behind the car where the sounds were growing louder. “The suspect we apprehended confirmed that there are at least two big cats on the other ferry, although there might be other animals on board as well.”

  There was a loud crash then, followed by the sound of splintering wood. I could feel my heart threatening to beat out of my chest as I registered what sounded like a crate being broken open. Something had just come out of the other crate. From where I was standing, I couldn’t see what it was, but judging by the low growl now emanating from the other end of the cargo hold, I could tell it wasn’t anything good.

  “We have to go now!” Angelique yelled at the same time that the suspect began to scream something incoherently.

  “Agent Chapman, is everything okay there?” Nelson said, his voice laced with concern.

  “No, I have to go,” I said, ending the call and hauling the suspect up to his feet again. “Angelique, go. We have to get the door closed now.”

  She limped through the door as quickly as she could, and I shoved the suspect through after her. I could hear claws skittering across the floor as I turned to close the door, and I slammed it shut just in time to hear a high pitched hiss and claws scratching at the other side. Whatever had just emerged from the other crate was clearly more awake than the tiger had been, and I hoped whatever was on board Agent Castillo’s ferry wouldn’t be as alert.

  34

  Miranda

  I watched the cat nervously through the thin opening between the dining hall doors. The large cat was slowly swishing its long, thin tail from side to side and looking around in curiosity. The longer I watched it, the more I realized it didn’t seem hostile. It actually looked kind of drowsy, as its head kept bobbing up and down as if it was falling asleep.

  “Come on,” I whispered harshly to Augustine. “It seems distracted right now. We need to move.” We slowly made our way through the double doors and into the main hull of the ferry. The cat was blocking our path, but it still didn’t seem to be in any hurry to attack us. We gave it a wide berth as we circled around it toward the staircase that would lead us to the upper deck of the ferry. Behind me, I could still hear the bird wreaking havoc on the dining room, and somewhere in the distance, I could make out the sounds of panicked passengers.

  “Well, at least we know for sure there are animals on board now,” Augustine said with a dry laugh.

  “Yeah, no kidding,” I said. Once we were far enough away from the cat that I felt certain it wouldn’t come after us, I turned and broke into a sprint toward the stairs.

 
; “What do we do now?” I asked Augustine once we were back on the main deck. I had to yell over the roar of the passengers, who by now were mostly all gathered at the stern. “Should we even bother looking for the cargo hold? As you said, the animals are clearly here. Do you think the smuggler released them deliberately? If something went wrong with the mission, someone might have tipped him off that we were here.”

  “That’s possible,” Augustine yelled over the sound of the crowd. “But why release them now when we’re in the middle of the sea? Why not crash the ferry, like Illias did before?”

  Before I could answer, I caught sight of a man forcing his way through the crowd toward the other end of the ship.

  “Look!” I pointed at the man to alert Augustine.

  “I see him!” he shouted, attempting to push through the crowd. By now, though, the deck of the ship was in total chaos as people screamed about wild animals being loose on board, and Augustine was struggling to make any headway.

  Luckily, I was much shorter and slimmer than he was, and I was able to slip my way through the throng of bodies with relative ease.

  “Stop!” I yelled as I got closer to the man.

  He turned and fired a gunshot at me with no warning. Fortunately, it’s hard to hit a moving target while shooting backward, so the shot went wide. I heard a metallic clang as the bullet ricocheted off a bollard fixed to the side of the ferry. Unfortunately, I could also hear the roar of the crowd increase in volume in response to the sound of a gunshot. I quickened my pace. Having a boat full of hysterical civilians to contend with was not going to make this case any easier. I needed to catch him fast.