The Trouble With Tigers, page 10
Samson stormed through the amphitheater gates and collided with Trixie, knocking her on her ass.
His face turned a funny green color as he hurriedly backed away from her.
Trixie shrieked like a crazy lady, “I hate Texas. I hate Texas. I hate Texas.”
The skunks chittered and stamped their front feet.
“If I were you, I’d run,” I shouted.
Trixie took one look at the skunks as they raised their tails and bolted.
The skunks chased after her.
A rather large horde of flies descended on Trixie. Her screams got louder.
Samson stomped over to me. “You’re a menace.”
I shrugged. “You just now figured that out?”
“Boss, she can control the flies too,” Chet warned.
Samson’s gaze settled on Trixie who was covered head-to-toe with the nasty insects. “Of course, she can.”
I glanced around. “Where’s Ted?”
“He’s disarming the General’s security system.”
“Not necessary. The rats should have it down in no time.” I walked over to a door marked Security and opened it.
“Rats?” Samson repeated.
“Yep.”
Several dozen vermin skittered over his boots.
I bit my lip to keep from laughing at the appalled expression on Samson’s face.
Samson swallowed hard. “I hate rats.”
“She’s responsible for the stampede too,” Chet said.
“Figures.”
Juan chimed in, “The hunters and militia will think twice before doing business with the General again.”
“I suggest we go get Stephanie and her tiger before the General has time to regroup,” I said.
Samson gestured. “Lead the way.”
Chapter Fourteen
“Good decision.” I grabbed the keyring from the rat-infested security office and headed down the hallway.
The guard stepped out of the men’s room. His eyes bugged out when he spotted us.
I waved at him. “Woohoo. We’re lookin’ for the lady y’all have locked up. Can you help us?”
“My mission relies on a crazy woman,” Samson muttered.
The guard fumbled for his weapon. “Hands. Hands up. Up. Get them up.” He pulled his pistol.
I had two rats drop on his head and another crawl up his pants leg.
He shrieked like a little girl, dropped his gun and hopped around like a mad man.
“Get rid of the fucking rats,” Samson snarled.
“Okey-dokey.” I waved my hand and they scurried off. “Happy?”
“Ecstatic.” Samson punched the guard in the face.
His head snapped back and down he went.
“Help! I need help,” Stephanie cried.
“We’re coming,” I hollered.
Karma roared.
Samson shoved me back. “Stay behind us and next time don’t tell the entire world we’re coming.”
I made a zipping my lips motion.
Pulling their weapons, the guys crept down the hallway in the typical SWAT tactical approach.
I trailed after them.
“Clear,” Samson called.
Juan said, “Clear.”
“Guys, Karma already gave the all clear.”
Chet shot me an aggravated look. “The tiger?”
“Yep. She can see the entire hallway.”
Juan holstered his gun. “Well, why didn’t you say so.”
“Kandi is that you?”
“It is.” I slipped past the men and hurried over to Stephanie’s cell. “How in the hell did you end up in here?”
Stephanie jerked on her chains. “That bitch Trixie called me and said for a hundred-thousand-dollars, I could have Karma back.”
I unlocked the cell door and using the toe of my boot I pushed Archie’s stinky head out of the way. “And when did you discover it was a trap?”
“When they stuck guns in my face. That pipsqueak who calls himself the General wanted me to sign over the rights to my circus animals. He was really interested in my three elephants. That creep said hunters would pay up to two million dollars to bag an elephant.” Stephanie pointed to her black eye. “I got this when I refused.”
I finally found the right key and unlocked her shackles. “They murdered Archie. What made you think they wouldn’t do the same to you?”
“It was a dumbass move, but I was desperate,” Stephanie admitted.
“I told you I would find Karma and bring her home.” I pointed to the guys. “I even brought the cavalry.”
Stephanie hugged me tightly. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I thought we were going to die.”
“It’s okay.” I patted her back.
Karma coughed.
Stephanie released me and hurried over to her cage. “My poor, poor baby.”
A loud explosion shook the arena.
“We’re going to check that out. You stay here with the woman and her tiger,” Samson ordered.
“Yes, sir.” I waited until they were out of sight to unlock the cage door and link with Karma. I wasn’t quite sure how she would react. “You’re safe. I won’t let anyone hurt you or your momma.”
The minute I opened the cage door, Karma butted her head against Stephanie and made happy snuffling noises.
Stephanie wrapped her arms around the tiger. “I love you too sweetie.”
“Let me see if I can find her some food.”
Stephanie nodded. “What are we going to do with Archie’s head?”
“A damn good question.”
“Kandi!”
I spun around and squealed in surprised delight when I saw Dutch running toward me. “Dutch!” I launched myself at him.
Dutch caught me. His warm mouth closed over mine in a soul-scorching lip lock. He lifted his head and rained kisses over my face. “Don’t. Ever. Scare. Me. Like. That. Again.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck. “I’ll try. How did you find us?”
“Your mother gave us some details and then we beat the rest of it out of Dick.”
Stephanie kept a tight grip on Karma. “Did you bring the police?”
“My team’s better than the police and we don’t have to worry about the bad guy’s constitutional rights,” Dutch answered and dropped me on my feet.
Team? Constitutional rights? I let out a gasp. “You’re working with my father and Harry?”
“I am and I called in a few favors.”
“Holy crap! What happened to the by-the-book cop?”
“You.” Dutch caressed my cheek. “I discovered I’d do anything to keep you safe.”
The love in Dutch’s eyes had me grinning like a loon. “Once the women in my family fall in love, it’s for life.”
“Good.”
Stephanie butted in, “I hate to interrupt this touching moment, but what blew up?”
“The General had a weapons storage bunker in the north pasture. We destroyed it. The only thing left is a big-ass hole in the ground.” Dutch gave me a smooch. “Watching your critters chase off the guards was one of the funniest things I have ever seen.”
I went up on my tiptoes and kissed him. “I thought I would never see you again.”
Dutch hugged me tightly. “I’ll always find you. No matter where you are. I will come for you.”
A thunderous boom sounded.
“What was that?” Stephanie cried.
A wolfish smile curved Dutch’s mouth. “Kandi’s father must have found another bunker.”
“Kuti won’t be pleased that his weapons stockpiles are being destroyed,” I said.
Dutch grimaced. “That sonovabitch slipped over the Mexican border before we could arrest him. There’s no telling where he’s heading.”
“My guess is Nigeria.” I glanced down the hallway. “Where’s Harry?”
“Helping Tom move the exotic animals to a safe location. I also contacted the ATF and local FBI office. They should be here soon,” Dutch replied.
Stephanie gestured toward Archie’s skull. “That’s what left of my ex-husband and I have a lot to tell them about the General’s operations.”
I gave myself a mental head thump. “Do you need the paramedics Stephanie?”
“No, outside of a few bruises, I’m okay but I want to get a vet to check Karma out.”
Samson and his team charged down the hallway.
In an amazingly quick movement, Dutch had his Glock out and leveled at Samson. “Another step closer and I’ll blow your fucking head off.”
Samson stopped and eyed Dutch grimly. “Did you tell him?”
I shook my head.
“Tell me what?” Dutch demanded.
“Kandi’s the key to stopping a terrorist attack.”
Dutch shot me a sidelong glance. “Is that true?”
“They need me to help them retrieve twelve stolen white tigers from Akbar Mehsud, a Pakistani warlord. If I’m successful, the tigers’ owner will give Samson the location of a stolen Russian missile. Which is capable of delivering a nuclear warhead.”
Dutch’s lethal gaze never left Samson’s face. “What’s the owner’s name?”
“A Pakistani warlord known only as the Hawk,” Samson replied.
“I’ve dealt with the Hawk before and he owes me a favor.” Dutch holstered his pistol. “I’m coming with you.”
I held my breath. Please. Please, say yes.
Samson studied Dutch for a long moment, then nodded. “Deal, but you have to keep the menace under control.”
“Menace? Hey, I saved the day.”
Samson snorted.
“I’m coming too,” Dad announced.
Alarm flared to life in Samson’s eyes as he slowly turned to face my father.
Chet and Juan raised their hands.
Dad held a MAC-10 sub-machine gun in one hand and an UZI in the other. He smiled his serial killer’s smile.
Most men peed their pants when that happened, but Samson didn’t even flinch. “I finally get to meet the Christmas Elf’s partner, Bad Santa. The photo in your file doesn’t do you justice. How did you manage to bypass all the General’s security?”
“We rappelled in.” Dutch responded.
Samson’s eyebrows rose. “From a reindeer driven sleigh or do you have access to a chopper?”
“The Superstition Mountains Search and Rescue’s Huey helicopter,” Dad answered.
“I’ll be wanting that copter,” General Brendan said as he stepped out of a hidden doorway.
In an almost choreographed move, the men had their weapons out and had assumed combat positions.
“Show us your hands,” Dutch barked.
“Careful now.” Brendan held up a grenade with the pin missing. “Shoot me and we all die.”
A jolt of raw fear shook me. The expression on the General’s face was that of a man with nothing left to lose.
The guys lowered their weapons.
Brendan smiled. “That’s more like it. Radio the Huey and have the pilot land in the main parking lot.”
Dutch pulled a radio off his weapon’s belt and raised it to his mouth. “Buck, we need you to land in the parking lot for a medical Evac.”
“Copy that,” Buck said.
“Now, slow and easy, I want y’all to place your weapons in that cell and get in the cage with the tiger,” Branden ordered.
Samson snarled, “Do you think we are fucking nuts?”
“Are you prepared to let terrorists get their hands on a nuke?” General Brendan countered.
Crap. The General had been eavesdropping. “Why do you care? You were kicked out of the Army.”
“I’m still an American and I love my country,” Brendan declared. “Now, do as I say, or we all die.”
“Sugar let’s get in the cage. I don’t want to get blown to smithereens.” I quickly linked with Karma. “Do not bite, scratch or try to eat the men. They’re here to protect you and your momma.”
The guys placed their weapons in the cell and crowded inside Karma’s cage.
A growl rumbled in Karma’s chest.
“Easy, girl.” I started to squeeze in.
“Not you, Bambi,” Brenden snapped.
Keeping my hands in plain view, I stepped out of the cage and frowned. Brendan’s left eye was twitching like crazy. How did I keep the suicidal megalomaniac calm? By being as non-threatening as possible. “Anything you want Sugar, you’re the boss. What do you need me to do?”
“Lock the door and throw the keys in the other cell.”
I did as he instructed and winked at my dad. Like me, Dad always carried lock picks and he’d have the door open in ten seconds flat.
The General scowled. “What are you?”
“Excuse me?”
General Brendan bared his teeth in a snarl. “I want to know what the fuck you are.”
“Well, I’m part Irish with some Italian thrown in. Why?”
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it. You’re the reason all the animals went nuts,” Brendan snapped.
“Me?” I laughed like it was the funniest thing I had ever heard. “And how did I do that? It’s not like I can talk to the animals.”
“I don’t know, but I’ll sure as hell find out.” He walked up to me. “Now you can hold the grenade.”
I put my hands behind my back and shook my head. “Nope. No way, no how. I ain’t doing that.”
The General shrugged. “Then I’ll throw the grenade in the cage, and they all die.”
An icy rage vibrated through every cell of my body. No one threatened my family and lived.
“Do what he says sweetheart,” Dutch encouraged.
Samson added, “Don’t be a stupid bitch and we might get out of this alive.”
“Watch your mouth.” My father rammed an elbow in his stomach.
Samson grunted in pain.
Way to go, dad. I held out a badly shaking hand. “See? It’s not a good idea. My palm’s all sweaty and I’ve got the jitters. I’ll drop it for sure.”
“Which city do you think the terrorists will nuke? New York, Los Angeles or Chicago? Millions could die,” Brendan stated.
The lowlife sonovabitch was right. “Okay, but I don’t like it. Not at all. If you get blown into itty-bitty pieces, don’t blame me.”
“Remember. Don’t let go of the lever. If you do, you die. Got it?” Brendan wrapped my fingers around the grenade.
I nodded. The creep was enjoying this, but not for long.
“Remember what I taught you,” Dad said.
I sent him a nervous smile. “If you can’t run with the big dogs, stay under the porch.”
Dutch’s eyebrows rose in confused disbelief. “What?”
“She gets as much as a scratch and you won’t like the consequences General,” Dad warned.
“You have my word as an officer and gentlemen. I’ll take real good care of her.”
In other words, he’d kill me the first chance he got.
Brendan jabbed a finger in my back. “Let’s go Bambi.”
“Yes, sir.” Taking tiny little steps, I headed down the hallway.
“Move it, you can walk faster than that,” Brendan bellowed.
I wailed like a brainless bimbo, “But I might drop it and it would go boom and I don’t want to die.”
Spewing a litany of vulgar curses, Brendan marched up to the door, and looked outside.
A fly-covered Trixie ran by screaming loudly.
Skunks, possums and an armadillo scurried after her.
The General leaned out the door and watched her weave her way through the Longhorns. “What the fuck?”
Was my lockpick the right size to replace the grenade’s pin? Maybe. Maybe not. Only one way to find out. But first I needed a little diversion. Hmmm. Flies, or rats, or Longhorns? In the middle of the arena stood a massive bull with enormous horns. He was perfect. I linked with the bull and put the General’s image in his head. “Sic ’em.”
The Longhorn pawed the dirt and charged.
Brenden stiffened in alarm and at the last second slammed the door shut. Wham! The metal frame buckled as two tons of beef hit it.
I quickly pulled my lockpick out of my bra and slid it into the grenade. Dang. It didn’t fit.
Visibly shaken, the General drew his pistol and stuck it in my face. “Pull another stunt like that and I’ll kill you.”
“Not if I kill you first.” I held up the grenade. “Want to go mano-a-mano? See whose balls are bigger?”
“You’re not crazy enough to drop it.”
I cocked my head. “Wanna find out?”
Whump. Whump. Whump.
Buck and the Huey had arrived. “As much fun as this has been, I bet you want to get the hell out of Dodge. So, put the gun away and you might live to see tomorrow.”
General Brendan shoved his pistol back in the holster. “You win.” He walked over to a security panel.
He had given in a little too easily. I watched closely as he punched in a sequence of numbers.
The hidden door slid open. “Ladies first.”
I stepped into the narrow passageway and broke into a jog. I had to keep Brendan’s attention on me before he did something foolish like shoot my father or Dutch.
“Hey! Where are you going?” The General called. “You can’t get out without the code.”
“Which I have. Three, two, eight, ten and one.” I skidded to a stop by the security panel and typed the numbers in. The door slid open. One look at the furious expression on the General’s face and I ran for my life.
Bang! A bullet whizzed by my head.
I took cover behind a statue of Stonewall Jackson and hurled the grenade at Brendan. It bounced off a truck, rolled across the parking lot and boom! Samson’s Humvee exploded in an enormous fireball.
Whoops.
Pieces of flaming metal rained down. A burning car door landed on the hunting lodge’s cedar roof. Whoosh! The shingles caught fire.
Whump. Whump. Whump. The Huey rotor blades fanned the flames.
I gaped in astonishment as the inferno raced along the rooftop. God, I hoped everyone had gotten out.
“You’re one dead bitch,” General Brendan yelled. Thwap! The Humvee’s hood fell on him, knocking him flat.
