FIRE ON HIGH
“Fire On High” is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental. All characters and settings © Tigermark 2003-2006 unless otherwise noted. Request permission before using them, please.
The characters of Anatol Altaisokova and Melinda Altaisokova are my names for characters © Max Blackrabbit. They appear in this story with his permission. The characters of Brandy, Maxwell, Tonya and Zig Zag are also © Max Blackrabbit and appear here with his permission. Events and information relating to Tonya, Anatol, and their family are presented here, but are not to be considered canon to those characters or any other story but this one. ZZ Studios, James Sheppard, and Marvin Badger © James Bruner and appear here with his permission. Although characters from and events referring to Zig Zag the Story appear here, this story is not canon to that one, and the author will disavow any knowledge of this story. Matt Barstock and Intermountain Charter, The Bitch, and her crew © Silver Coyote. See their story HERE. Gail Rutherford © me and is not canon to any other story involving ZZ Studios. Aramis Dagaz © his player. Portions of this chapter parallel Chapter 28 of Aslaug’s story “Transitions” although neither story is canon to the other. Characters associated with “Transitions” are © Joan Jacobsen. See that story Here.
Chapter 36
Family Ties
Jenna gave a contented sigh. She was laying flat out on her stomach, relaxing on a chaise lounge on the deck at her home. Jack had knelt down beside her, and he was methodically massaging her back. As the tension fell away, she was able to contemplate the week’s events without getting a headache. First the mess with Andrew. She’d been ready to ground him for a month, but after hearing the whole story, she decided that the detention and essay were quite enough punishment for not telling her about the problem.
She was still upset about Thursday night. The very thought of it made her tail flip in agitation.
“Hey, easy there, that was my ear you just flipped, Sweetheart,” Jack said playfully as he increased the pressure of his ministrations to relax the muscles that had bunched back up.
Jenna relaxed into the massage, but continued her contemplation of the event. Alex had assured her that it was all right for Tia to go to class, and then she’d ended up in the middle of a gang fight. With gunplay involved, to boot. She’d let Tia off the hook, since she was also going by what Alex had said. Jenna was in fact quite proud of the way her daughter had handled herself. Alex, though, she was still miffed at. How could he let Tia be endangered like that? Tia had defended him, saying he hadn’t thought the gang could organize itself to attack that soon. For his part, he’d made himself scarce after dropping Tia off and quickly relating the events at the karate school. Jenna hadn’t seen him since, and now it was Saturday and Alex’s truck was gone from his driveway.
On top of everything else, the Furfemme magazine with the faux-Miss Sunburst pictorial had been released yesterday. So far the reaction she’d seen had been negligible, but she’d been walking on eggshells when she left work. She’d just have to wait and see if there was a gaggle of photographers laying in wait for her when she returned to work on Monday.
“Mmmm,” she murmured as Jack worked on a particularly knotted muscle. “I could get used to this.”
“Good,” he replied. “That means you won’t get rid of me anytime soon.”
Jenna arched enough to look back over her shoulder at him, curling her tail across his shoulders at the same time. “You remember saying you weren’t going anywhere?”
“Yes, and I’m not.”
“I’m not either.”
Jack leaned down and kissed her beside her ear. She pressed into the kiss and absently murmured, “Keep that up and we’ll have to find a preacher.”
She felt Jack let go of her shoulders. She’d had her eyes closed, and as she opened them she found him down on his knees, nose to nose with her. He had a rather shy look on his face as he reached out and took her paw in his.
“Funny you should say that, Mrs. O’Whitt. I was thinking the same thing. In fact, if you’ll have it, and me, I’d like to put this engagement ring on your finger.”
Jenna’s eyes went wide as Jack produced a ring box. He flipped it open to reveal a very nice, simple gold ring with a single diamond setting.
“Oh Jack! Oh my!” she stammered. It was still too soon, wasn’t it? She’d only stopped wearing her wedding band shortly after she and Jack started dating.
A little voice in the back of her head was weakly pleading something like that, but her heart loudly overrode it. It seemed to say, “If you say no I’ll…I’ll go on strike, that’s what I’ll do.”
Tentatively she put her left paw out, nodding her assent to both the ring and Jack. He broke into a huge grin as he placed the ring on her finger. She looked at it, and then looked up at him. They held there for a long moment, just looking in each other’s eyes. Then she reached out and grabbed Jack around the neck, pulling him to her and burying her head in the crook of his neck. They held that embrace for a while, and then she found his lips and kissed him soundly. She then released the kiss and smiled up at him.
“I guess now we have to tell everyone and set a date.”
“True, but I think we still need to take it slow, though. Especially with Andrew. He’s just now getting adjusted to us dating.” Jack was looking thoughtful, as though some of the ramifications of what he’d just done were occurring to him for the first time. Jenna began to think a bit more, too.
“You know,” she finally said, “I think I want this Furfemme thing to be long gone, too. Otherwise it’ll be a distraction at the wedding if a pack of paparazzi show up.”
Jack nodded. “We’ll take as much time as we need. As I’ve just said again, I’m not going anywhere.”
Jenna smiled teasingly. “Good, I wouldn’t want to have to go hunting for you. Now come up here beside me and let me enjoy my fiancé’s company until Tia and Andrew get back from the movies.”
Jenna sat up and Jack moved to sit beside her on the lounge. There wasn’t too much conversation after that, as the two let their hugs and kisses express their joy to each other.
# # #
Andrew grumbled to himself. He’d gone through all the information sources he could find about hacking, but his report was still too short. He’d lamented that to his Uncle Alex just the previous afternoon when the tiger had stopped while driving by on his way up to his house. Andrew now only had another few days to complete the essay and turn it in to Mr. Pauling, and he was becoming quite frustrated by it.
He was looking over what he’d written on his computer when he heard the doorbell ring, followed by his mother’s voice as she answered it. There followed a male voice, higher in pitch than either his uncle or Jack Lazarus. After a couple of minutes, he heard footsteps in the hall and then a knock on his door.
“Yes,” he answered.
The door opened and Jenna stuck her head in. “Andrew, there’s someone here to see you.”
A tall, slim ferret, with dark paws and a mask of dark fur around his eyes, stepped around Jenna. He adjusted his wire-framed glasses and smiled a bit.
“Hello Andrew. My name is Rich Farraday. I work for your uncle.”
Andrew looked the ferret up and down. “Hello Mr. Farraday, what can I do for you?”
“Colonel O’Whitt told me you had an assignment dealing with computer hacking that’s giving you problems. I think I can help.”
Andrew shrugged. “All right, but I don’t see how a pilot is going to be any help.”
Rich laughed as Jenna slipped back down the hall to the living room. She could tell Rich and Andrew would hit it off well, and she knew Alex wouldn’t send a fur to her home that might harm anyone. Besides, sometimes she needed to let her cubs have a little space, and she felt Andrew would be more open with Rich without her hovering about.
Rich’s laugh eased into a smile. “I’m not a pilot, Andrew. I do all of Kentiger’s computer information tech work.”
Now Andrew sat up and took a greater interest in his visitor. “Really? Wow, bet you could show me a few things about programming and stuff.”
“Yes, I could, and I will, but right now we have hacking to talk about.”
Now Andrew shrugged again. “Okay, but what would you know about it? You’re probably Mister Clean if you work for Uncle Alex.”
“Ha! Yeah, maybe now, but not always. Let me have a seat and I’ll tell you my story.”
Andrew got up and indicated the chair he’d been sitting in. As Rich sat down, Andrew stepped over and sat down cross-legged on his bed. He put his chin in his paws and curled his tail up behind him.
“Mind if I see what you have so far?” Rich asked, indicating the computer screen. Andrew had left the report up on it. Andrew nodded yes and Rich quickly scrolled through the report. Andrew’s curiosity was piqued, and he also wanted another opinion about what he’d written so far. It only took Rich a couple of minutes to read the draft. He then turned back to Andrew, pushing his glasses up a little.
“Very good, Andrew. Very in-depth as to the effects and dangers. The only thing missing is why.”
Andrew looked perplexed. “You mean why it’s bad to hack?”
Rich shook his head. “No, I mean why hackers do it to begin with. Col. O’Whitt wasn’t specific about what you got in trouble for. Did you get caught hacking?”
“No,” was Andrew’s quick reply. “I unintentionally gave someone information that let them hack into the school’s computer system.”
“Ah. Well, now you know how sensitive info like that is. Hackers live for info like that. Do you know why the hacker did what he did, though? That is, if it was a he. Most hackers are.”
Andrew thought a moment before answering. “It was a he. He changed his grades in a couple of classes, so I guess he didn’t want to fail and get in trouble.”
Rich shook his head negatively. “No. Look at how hard he worked to hack in and change the grades. If he’d put in half that much effort on doing a few extra credit assignments, he could easily have brought his grades up and not risk being caught. If you would ask him, he’d say it was to fix his grades, but really it wasn’t. Did he just fix the grades?”
“No, he tampered with several others’s grades, and put a virus in to crash the system, too. The principle said that was to try and cover up his tampering.”
“Well, the virus fits, but it wasn’t to cover the tampering. It was part of the plan all along. He wanted to make a big splash. Make a name, even if it’s infamous. Like most hackers, he wanted the thrill of seeing his ‘work’ be in the news, or in this case known all around the school. Let me guess, though. After it came out, he didn’t want to get caught.”
Andrew shook his head emphatically. “No he didn’t. In fact he threatened me if I told the truth. My friend Sal, his brother, had been accused of it after they traced the hack to their home computer.”
“That fits, as well. Now, that’s what you can write about. The why of hackers. They do it for the thrill, mostly. Or for revenge over what they perceive as an injustice or slight to them by someone or some business or website. They want the notoriety, but when the consequences come home to roost, they aren’t so keen to be found out.”
“Okay, I can do something with that, thanks. How do you know so much about it?”
Rich sighed. “Because I’ve been there. You see, I was an administrative specialist in the Air Force. I was assigned to the same squadron your uncle was in. He was, as well as a pilot, the squadron security officer. That means he was in charge of making sure the unit followed all the proper safeguards when dealing with classified information. Computers were new to the service, then. I worked with one of the first desktop computers in use. As I worked, I got curious, and started seeing just where I could access. That became a game to me, and I pushed farther and farther into the system each time. I got carried away, and before I realized it I’d hacked into a system at the Pentagon with some really, really, highly classified information on it.”
Andrew’s eyes had gotten quite large. “Wow! I bet you got in a lot of trouble.”
Rich smiled ruefully. “Yes, you could put it that way. Two days later a pair of security policefurs showed up and put me in pawcuffs. I spent the night in detention. That’s what they call the base jail. About mid-morning the next day they let me go. Turns out your uncle went to bat for me. Told ‘em that it’d been a security exercise that went farther than expected. The higher-ups were not happy about it, but in the end we both got commendations for showing that vulnerability. I eventually even got to work on a program that worked to fix security holes. That’s what I do now. I work as a freelance computer security consultant, in addition to working for your uncle. After I got out of the service, I went to work for Kentiger. I deal with hackers quite often, so I have an idea how they think. I also remember how thrilling it was to push farther and farther. It became a challenge to see how far I could go. As I sat in that jail cell, though, I thought it out and decided it wasn’t something I ever wanted to do again.”
Andrew looked thoughtful for a long moment. “That doesn’t sound like my uncle. I’d think he’d have wanted you to face the consequences of your actions. He’s always big on honor and responsibility.”
Rich nodded, his attitude almost shy now. “Yes, he is. He told me later why he did it, though. What they wanted to do was way beyond harsh for what I did, and he didn’t think I deserved that. He made sure I knew that if it happened again, we’d both be in for it. He’d been looking at the vulnerabilities of the new systems, but no one would listen to him. Most of the brass didn’t know squat about computers at that time.”
“Wow. I never thought about a time before computers. How did anyone do anything?”
Rich laughed. “They managed. Now, do you have enough info to finish your paper?”
“Yes, I think I do. Thank you, Mr. Farraday.” Andrew made to stand. Rich stood also and offered his paw.
“You’re welcome, Andrew, and call me Rich. If you’d like, we can get together and talk programming and games sometime.”
Andrew shook paws and grinned. “You game, too?”
“Oh yeah. Starfox, Bear Blowout, even a bit of Felonious Felines Three.”
“Uh, Felonious Felines is out of my age range. Mom’d have a fit,” Andrew said sheepishly.
“Oh, sorry. Scratch the Felines, then. Anyway, if your mom okay’s it, we’ll get together sometime next week.”
“Sure! See you then.”
Rich walked out as Andrew set back to work on his report. As the ferret made his way out, he met Jenna in the living room.
“How did it go?” she asked.
“Pretty good, I think. He hadn’t thought about why the hacker did what he did. I think we made a connection with programming and games, too.”
Jenna nodded. “Good. Since his dad passed on, and then his grandfather, he’s been a bit distant. He isn’t into flying like his uncle or Jack, my fiancé. It’s kind of you to offer to mentor him.”
Rich shrugged. “Col. O’Whitt asked, and I’d do just about anything for him. Andrew seems like a bright, good kid. It’ll be fun to hang out with him. If it’s okay with you, I’ll stop by again next week.”
“Sounds good. Give me a call Monday. I’ll know our schedule for the week by then.”
“All right. Talk to you then.” Rich offered his paw and they shook. As he walked out to his car, he mulled over the meeting and conversation.
“Glad I was able to help the Colonel out. Andrew is a bright one, if that report is any indication. It looked more like a first-year college report than an eleven-year old’s. Better watch it, or he might kick my tail gaming. Let’s see, what evening is open next week? Probably Thursday.”
Rich got in his car and drove away, still planning for the next week.
# # #
Alex yawned hugely. He’d been in the air, one way or another, for two out of the past three days. Today had started in the early morning hours, first on a C-141 out of Rhine-Mein into New Jersey, and then via commercial flights on to Pittsburgh, and now into Lexington. It was Saturday, and he was looking forward to home and rest before he flew out on Monday to Cleveland to pick up the ROTC cadet he was to escort to Cincinnati. He’d thought it odd that anyone would be going to Cinci instead of Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, but the fax from Scatcat had said to drop the cadet off at the 665th ROTC detachment dorm at the University of Cincinnati for some class as part of ROTC training.
The week had been rough. He’d stayed away from Jenna’s over the weekend to let her cool off. Tia had come by Wednesday evening to tell him it was safe, that Jenna had been in a very good mood for several days. He’d left very early Thursday morning so he could ferry an F-15 to
Just then the pilot turned on the seatbelts sign and announced their approach into Bluegrass Field. Alex adjusted his seat to the upright position and put the paper he’d been looking at in his briefcase before putting it under his seat. He’d been re-reading the fax about the cadet he’d be escorting on Monday. The young male had the rather colorful name of Aramis Dagaz. His profile listed him as species: feline, religion: Catholic, age: 18, specialty: Aerospace Engineering, rank: Cadet 4th Class. That would make him a first year student. The assignment wouldn’t be difficult, just a three and a half hour drive with an inquisitive young cadet. The fax also stated that a tan civilian-version Hummer would be waiting with the cadet at the private aircraft FBO at the Cleveland airport.
The DC-9 airliner banked and Alex felt and heard the flaps and gear come down as they set up for landing. In a few short minutes, he saw the familiar terrain of central Kentucky passing by under him. The green fields and horse farms below let him know that the airport was near. Another moment and he saw US 60 flash by as they crossed the runway threshold. Another second and he felt the main gear screech onto the runway.
The airliner slowed to a stop and taxied back to the terminal building. Alex gathered his things and was ready when the boarding gate was attached. He joined the rest of the passengers as they disembarked. He traveled light, with only his briefcase and a carry-on, but he still had to wait for his helmet and gear bag to disgorge from the baggage carousel. That was too large for any of the storage areas in the passenger compartment. A short walk brought him out to his truck. After loading his things, he drove to the exit and paid his parking fee, and then drove down to Kentiger to see if anyone was around. The place was locked up tight, but he decided to go in and check his office and use the restroom before heading for home. He cleared the alarm and unlocked the door. He didn’t turn on any lights, preferring the quiet restfulness of the darkened hallway.
After taking care of nature’s call, he walked down to his office. He opened the door and flipped on the light, and walked over to his desk. Activating the speakerphone, he punched the button to listen to his messages. As he listened to several mundane calls, he contemplated the picture of him and Zig Zag. He’d had it enlarged and framed and now it graced the corner of his desktop. He hadn’t talked to her in a couple of weeks, and he chided himself for already becoming cavalier about his cousin. Then he realized he’d be going right through Columbus on Monday.
“Now that’s providence for you. A perfect chance to drop in. Better call first, though,” Alex thought to himself. “Heh, hope this cadet doesn’t —, nah, what am I thinking? I doubt any college-age male would turn down a chance to meet Zig Zag.”
He’d put her home number on the new PDA he carried, so he pulled that out and called up the number. Then he picked up the pawset and dialed. After two rings, his cousin answered.
“Zig Zag speaking.”
Her voice sounded a bit irritated. Alex was afraid he’d caught her at a bad time, so he tried his best to sound friendly. He was so tired from his traveling he inadvertently used her old first name.
“Hey Tonya, it’s Alex.”
There was a second of silence, but when she spoke again the tiger-skunk’s voice sounded much warmer. “Oh, hello Alex. Long time no hear.”
Alex grinned ruefully. “Unfortunately, yes. I’ve been all over the world, after all. Frankfort-am-Main isn’t just around the corner from Columbus, Ohio.”
“So that’s where you’ve been hiding. Well, it’s not as if the family wants to have any sort of interaction with me, after all.” Zig Zag said the last part in a reproachful tone. Alex might be tired, but he was having none of that.
“Ahem. . . some of the family, Tonya. Please don’t count me in with those who disowned you. It’s been a hectic couple of weeks, and I simply haven’t been in the neighborhood.”
“It’s all right, Alex,” she replied with a small sigh. “If you’d been like the others, you wouldn’t be calling me now anyway. It’s good to hear your voice, though. It’s been one mother of a week.”
“Likewise. Say, how would you feel if I happened to drop by briefly this Monday? I’ll be passing through Ohio and I’m thinking of making a slight detour to visit my favorite second cousin.”
Zig Zag smiled to herself. After all the stress of the previous week, visiting with Alex sounded like the second-best way she could think of to start the new one. Being away somewhere with James would be the first.
“You’d be welcome, but are you sure? I mean, I’ll be at the studio most of the day.”
“That’s fine,” Alex replied. “I’ll be glad to stop by there. I’m bringing a new ROTC cadet from Cleveland down to Cincinnati. From his profile, he’s still a bit wet behind the ears, but he looks to be shaping up into a fine officer, from what I can gather. Try not to let any of those young femmes there ambush him, okay?”
“My my, are you down to babysitting duties now, Alex? I thought that was beneath an officer and a gentlefur,” Zig Zag teased.
Alex mock-growled in return. “That’s Lieutenant Colonel O’Whitt to you, soldier!”
Zig Zag laughed. “Sorry, I never enlisted. I think I served the armed forces in other capacities.”
“Ouch! That stung my sensitive ears, Cousin. That was more information than I needed.” Alex gave a slight chuckle at the end.
“Oh come on,” Zig Zag teasingly chided back. “You’re a big tiger, you can take it. Anyway, I’ll see you Monday then. It’ll be nice to visit and catch up a bit. Oh, and I’ll have the crew on their best behavior.”
“Good. We’ll be there about eleven hundred hours. That’s eleven o’clock. See you then.” Alex sounded quite cheerful, despite being so tired. Zig Zag sounded a great deal less stressed out now, too.
“Bye Alex.”
“Bye.”
Alex hung up the phone and then headed for his truck, shutting down and locking up as he did so. Once there he started it up and drove away, more than ready to get home.
# # #
It had been a nice, quiet Sunday afternoon. Alex put the phone back in its cradle and stood up, placing the book he’d been reading on the side table. Tia had just called to invite him down to dinner with Jenna, Jack, Andrew and herself. He brushed down the old, faded shirt and jeans he was wearing, slipped on a pair of sneakers, and walked down the driveway to Jenna’s house.
Walking up on the deck at the back of the house, Alex tapped lightly on the glass of the patio door. Presently, Tia stepped out of the kitchen and opened the door to greet him.
“Hi Uncle Alex, come on in. Mom says to have a seat at the dining room table. Dinner’s almost ready. Can I get you some iced tea?”
“Yes, thank you. How are you doing?”
“Fine. Mom seems over her tiff, by the way. I’ll be right back with your tea.”
Tia went back into the kitchen while Alex walked into the dining room and had a seat. In a minute or so, she came in with a tray holding a large pitcher and enough glasses for everyone. She put the tray on the table and poured a glass full for Alex.
“Here you go. Uh, Uncle Alex?”
Alex arched an eyebrow at his niece as he took a sip of tea. “Yes?”
“Um, Sensei Quai didn’t say much about, y’know, the fight. Do you know what happened to the gang members? I mean, if they’ll go to jail or how badly they were hurt?”
Alex smiled. “Concerned about them, huh? Good, you have a good heart. Well, I talked to Sensei Wednesday. He told me that Detective Phillips had called him to follow up on the case. Izzy had asked pretty much the same question. The detective said that T-Lo, that wolf who was the gang’s leader, was looking at hard time and a lot of it. This will be his third felony conviction, and it’s entirely possible he’ll spend the rest of his life in prison. The other young fur who had a gun is looking at several years for firearms possession by a minor while in commission of a felony. The rest are under eighteen, and might get away with probation, community service, and maybe a diversion program. Sensei Quai told him the first service they could do was fix his doors. As to injuries, he was told that two had broken ribs, three concussions, and a lot with scrapes and bruises. I’d say both sides got off very lucky, and it’s a good thing you all learn quickly and well.”
Tia nodded, satisfied with the information and warmed by the compliment. She turned to go back to the kitchen. Just then Jenna walked in. Alex stood up, but before he could say anything Jenna wrapped him up in a tight hug.
“Hi Bro. hey, I apologize for acting so mad about the karate class. You did a good job of keeping not only Tia, but the rest of them safe. Thank you.”
Alex returned the hug, and then stepped back and put his paws on Jena’s shoulders.
“You’re very welcome. Believe me, if I’d known that was going to happen, neither Tia nor the rest of the students would have been anywhere near there. I’m very proud of how she handled herself. She’s a very strong, tough young lady.”
Jenna beamed with pride. “I totally agree there.”
Tia had retreated into the kitchen to help bring the food out, but she still managed to catch part of the exchange between Alex and her mother. She had a slight blush on her cheeks as she carried a large bowl of salad in and placed it on the table. Jack and Andrew came in next carrying food and plates and utensils. They both greeted Alex with a nod and a hello. A couple more trips back and forth, and in short order the table was set and the meal laid out. Jenna then asked everyone to take their places.
“Okay everyone, find a seat, but don’t sit down quite yet. Alex, would you say grace?”
Alex nodded and bowed his head. He gave a short prayer of thanks, and when he was done, everyone looked at Jenna. She smiled widely and took Jack by the paw.
“We have an announcement to make. Jack has asked me to marry him.”
Jack spoke up before anyone could react to that statement. “And Jenna has agreed. Now, I have to ask, since I’m a bit old-fashioned. Alex and Andrew, as the males of the family, may we have your blessing?”
Jenna looked slightly askance at Jack. To her thinking, she didn’t require anyone’s permission. Still, it was a thoughtful gesture, so she said nothing. It would be great to know that they had Alex’s blessing, and especially she wanted to hear how Andrew answered the question.
Alex grinned broadly. “Well gee, what took you so long? You most certainly have my blessing. Andrew?”
The younger tiger was silent a moment, looking very solemn, and a bit surprised to be asked. Partly, he was still a little unsettled about the idea of Mr. Jack and his mother together. Now though, seeing the happy smile on Jenna’s muzzle, and thinking about how Mr. Jack had been there for him in the recent trouble he’d had, he had no doubts about his answer. All the same, he phrased it carefully.
“S’long as we don’t forget about Dad, then no problem.”
Jack addressed him with the same solemnity. “Andrew, believe me, I’d be upset with all of you if you didn’t remember him. I feel so blessed to be a part of the family he started.”
Jenna grabbed Jack and locked him up in a big kiss. After a minute or so, Alex smirked and looked at the two cubs.
“All right, kids, let’s sit down and eat. They might be here awhile,” he teased. Tia giggled and Andrew exclaimed, “Ewww,” causing Jack and Jenna to break their kiss in laughter. They all sat down and began to eat, enjoying the meal and each other’s company. A short time after the meal was over, Alex excused himself. He wanted to give Jack and Jenna time to say goodnight, and then let Jenna get her cubs headed off to bed. He had an early morning coming up, so he didn’t want to be up very late, either. As he headed up the shallow hill to his house, he hummed to himself, very pleased at the announcement from Jack and Jenna, and at how the evening had gone.
# # #
“Alex, we’ll be starting our approach into Cleveland in a few minutes,” Jackie Leeds called out over the Kingair’s intercom. He could see the bobcat’s ear flicker in his direction, despite the earphones she wore. Then she became busy with communications as Patricia Celine began to ease back the pitch and throttle levers and trim the aircraft for descent. Alex had been kaht-napping in the first passenger seat behind the cockpit, but now he sat up and adjusted his seatbelt, alert and awake.
“Cleveland Approach, Kentiger Two Two is a Kingair Three Hundred, request approach for landing on Runway Six Right. We’re currently over Tiverton for the KEATN Two arrival. We’ll be over KEATN in about ten,” Jackie intoned as she announced their intention to the controller. All Alex heard in reply was the buzz of the turboprops, as the reply went only to the crew’s headsets.
“Kentiger Two Two,” Jackie acknowledged a short time later.
Patricia leveled off at nine thousand feet and they prepared to orbit the KEATN navigation point until a spot opened up in traffic. It was a good fifteen minutes after their first orbit before Alex heard Jackie acknowledge clearance for them to move on.
“Kentiger Two Two copies heading three four zero for five, and then expect vectors to final.”
After a bit more maneuvering, Alex began to see bits of the ground through the early morning clouds. The Kingair continued to settle lower as they got closer, and the farmland and small towns below began to give way to the urban sprawl of Cleveland. Soon they were on final, and Patricia executed an easy, smooth landing. They turned off the runway at Taxiway S, and then moved onto J for the rest of the taxi over to the Air Services, Inc. ramp. Once there, Patricia put on the brakes and shut down the port engine. She turned back to say goodbye to Alex as Jackie started to extricate herself from her seat so she could shut the aircraft door behind him.
“Ow was that, Aleex?” Celine asked in her soft French-Canadian accent.
“Smooth as silk. Thank you, ladies,” he replied as he stood up and retrieved the small carry-on he’d brought. With the vagaries of travel, he always carried a small bag with essentials like a toothbrush and toothpaste, soap, deodorant, cologne, and a change of underwear just in case he got stuck overnight somewhere. Jackie followed him back as he went to the door at the rear or the cabin and opened it. The ramp fur was just rolling a small set of steps out for him, and as he positioned them Alex stepped deftly off the aircraft.
Turning back he faced Jackie as she grabbed the door handle. “Bye Jackie, see you at the office.”
“By Alex,” she called as she shut the door. Alex then turned and went quickly down the stairs and toward the big building with the business logo on it. He hadn’t gone ten steps when he heard Patricia call out “clear prop” over the buzz of the idling starboard engine. He turned to watch as the port engine roared to life, and in a few seconds they released brakes and turned back toward the runways. In a very few moments, after two seven three seven airliners landed, he watched the Kingair lift skyward in the distance, enroute to Pittsburgh to pick up their day’s charter.
Alex turned back toward the building and nearly collided with a young, earnest-looking feline.
“Lieutenant Colonel O’Whitt?”
Alex didn’t flinch or step back, merely stopped where he was. He would have been nose-to-nose with the young feline, except that there was a bit of a height difference. Alex looked down at the fellow’s eager, earnest expression as he took in the unusual markings around the feline’s left eye. A reddish triangular area both above and below, but they didn’t have the appearance of scars. After a moment, the young male took a hesitant step backward.
“Um, sorry sir. I wanted to make sure you could hear me over all the noise. Cadet Fourth Class Aramis Dagaz reporting as ordered. Our vehicle is in the parking lot. The recruiter dropped me and it off about fifteen minutes ago.”
Both furs were in civilian clothes, so no salutes were exchanged. Alex had yet to speak, but when he did, Aramis was impressed by his smooth, calm baritone.
“Cadet Dagaz, glad to meet you. Relax, I won’t bite.” The young cadet had nearly flinched when Alex offered his paw to shake. He shook paws, and was glad to see Alex didn’t try to crush his paw like some had a habit of doing.
“Uh, thank you for being my escort, sir. I read your profile, and I’m kind of overwhelmed to have a real ace and war hero driving me to my class. Uhm, is that what they have you do after you retire?”
Alex arched an eyebrow. Aramis stammered as he quickly reacted to the gesture.
“P-please excuse me, Colonel. I didn’t mean any insult.”
Alex put a reassuring smile on his muzzle. “Easy, Cadet, easy. I wasn’t offended, just a bit perplexed. No, I still fly in the Reserves. In fact I just got back from
“Uhm, whatever you say, sir.”
They walked between the buildings to the parking lot, where Aramis led them up to a tan, civilian-version Hummer with government plates. The feline passed Alex a set of keys, and he dropped his carry-on bag in the back seat. He noted that most of the rear seat and probably the cargo area behind were already full of luggage and boxes, presumably for the cadet. They both got in and buckled up, and Alex started the motor. Soon they were on their way south down I-71.
# # #
Agent Aramis Dagaz had let the conversation lapse into companionable silence. The tiger driving him was being the consummate officer and role model so far. All their conversations would have given an actual ROTC cadet a good boost in motivation, while also providing good examples to follow. As far as he could tell, his cover was solid. The Colonel gave no indication of being suspicious that he might be anything other that what he represented himself to be.
He was going to the University of Cincinnati to do an undercover investigation on one of the Air Force ROTC instructors there. Allegations had been made of the officer improperly pressuring cadets to do favors and work for him beyond the class he taught, including lawn mowing and home maintenance, in exchange for passing grades. His assignment was to blend in, and do just badly enough to make himself a target if the fur was doing such things. Aramis needed to be convincing, and from what he remembered reading about Lt. Col. Alex O’Whitt from the case of the Rotten Rotweiller, as he called it, the tiger was as sharp as they came. If he could fool him, he’d be sure to fool the students and faculty at the college.
He’d become so lost in thought that Alex’s voice caused Aramis to flinch in surprise when he suddenly spoke.
“Cadet, ready for a break? We’re just coming into Columbus. Where I’m going to stop is on the south side of town.”
Aramis blinked and sat up straighter in his seat. “Yes sir, I could use a stretch, and a bathroom.”
Alex grinned. Typical of a young fur to need a bathroom as the first thing. He’d stop at a gas station and get that taken care of before heading for his cousin’s business.
Privately, Aramis hoped the tiger didn’t go too far out of the way. Stopping for a break was fine, but if they had to go too far out of the way, it could be dangerously close to misuse of a government vehicle. He also hoped it wasn’t in the tiger’s head to introduce what he thought was a young cadet with a bright future to his ugly cousin in need of a husband.
Traffic was steady, but Alex maneuvered the wide Hummer expertly through the downtown interchanges, including the sections where the interstate became part of the downtown surface streets, stoplights included. They took an exit just south of downtown, and after a quick stop at a service station for a restroom break, they headed away from the interstate. After a few more turns and traffic lights, Alex signaled a right turn into a parking lot.
Aramis felt his eyes go as large as saucers as he read the sign above the door on the building the parking lot belonged to, and this wasn’t part of his cover. Did Colonel O’Whitt seriously think that stopping at a place like this was allowed while in transit in a government vehicle?
“Uh, Col. O’Whitt, are you lost?”
“What do you mean, Cadet?” Alex looked puzzled by the question as he eased the Hummer in; taking up two spaces because using one would crowd the adjacent slots.
“Well, um, sir. I really don’t think visiting a porn studio is authorized on my travel orders.”
Alex looked the cadet up and down, trying to determine if he was joking. Finally he answered.
“No, I suppose not, but we’re not here for that. I’m sorry if it surprised you. You see, this is where my cousin works. In fact, she owns the place.”
Somehow Aramis’s eyes got even larger. “Y-your cousin is Zig Zag?”
Alex grinned. “I see you’ve heard of her. Yes, she’s my second cousin. Don’t look so shocked, you think the folks that make blue movies don’t have families? Now, as to using the GOV and our orders, do you intend to watch or purchase porn while here?”
Aramis emphatically shook his head no.
“Do you intend to go into any of the sound stages where adult films are being shot?”
Again a rapid, emphatic shake of the head.
“Neither do I. The most we’ll see of the place is the lobby, a hallway, and Zig’s office. The furs in there don’t go running around the place naked, despite what you may have heard. I’ve been here a couple of times now, and so far everyone has been polite, friendly, and clothed, at least in a robe. Now, shall we go inside? It’s too hot to leave you out here.”
Aramis nodded mutely. In the back of his mind, he was wondering how in the world he was going to write this into his report. They got out and walked up to the door. Aramis noted a sign there that said “No Minors.”
Alex opened the door and started inside. Aramis resisted the urge to close his eyes, and stepped through the door after him.
End of Chapter 36