CAUTION: This story contains implied sexual activity between minors, violence, and profanity. Reader discretion is advised.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, events and incidents in this book are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Assam Chai
by IndigoNeko
Chapter 5
Sunday, June 12th, 2016
Aruna huffed, her tail twitching in irritation as she carefully wiped Alex’s claws with a cotton ball that smelled of acetone. The younger tigress was sitting on the floor in front of her bed, where the older tigress sat with hir paws out. “I still can’t believe you do this to your claws,” she muttered.
“I’m sorry,” Alex apologized. “Mom had me practicing on the wing chun dummy on Friday. I told you I’d need my nails done this weekend,” shi reminded Aruna. “Normally I’d just file them smooth again, but they still had nail polish and I don’t have any acetone-”
Aruna hissed, silencing the older tigress. “Seriously? Alex, don’t you have at least some pride in your feline heritage? Claw-care should have been the first thing you learned as a kitten!” the younger tigress snapped, then went back to cleaning Alex’s claws in silence before picking up an emery board. “You better start wearing claw-covers, or I swear...”
The older tigress swallowed; this was the first time shi remembered Aruna ever hissing at hir before. “Aruna, is everything okay?” Alex asked cautiously after a minute or so, when she’d set aside the emery board. “Is it something Ravi did? I can kick his ass for you,” shi offered, deadly serious. Ravi had been mean to Aruna before, and shi wouldn’t tolerate it... or Aruna being mean to Ravi, for that matter.
The younger tigress paused in the middle of pawing through her collection of nail polish and looked up, blinking in confusion. “What? No... It wasn’t Ravi. I don’t know. I’m just... really grouchy. Maybe I didn’t sleep well or something.”
Alex had a sneaking suspicion that maybe Aruna might be hitting puberty a bit early, just like shi had. Shi slid off the side of Aruna’s bed and knelt next to her. “So... I get really irritable just before my period starts. Especially when Mom and Dad tell me to do something that I don’t want to, like taking out the trash or cleaning the house. So... If you don’t want to do my claws, we don’t have to,” Alex said, gently resting one paw atop Aruna’s. “I just... I thought you like painting my claws.”
“I do like painting your claws,” Aruna said, sniffling slightly. “I’m just feeling... I don’t know. Something’s not right and I’m grumpy.”
That description felt far too familiar; Alex was pretty certain now what was wrong. “Do you know when your period’s due?” shi asked gently.
“I don’t know what you mean by period. The lady at the clinic said something about that when I got my, uh... the thing they put in me. But they never explained what it meant,” Aruna admitted, growling slightly, though Alex wasn’t sure if it was directed at herself or the aforementioned nurse.
“Shoot,” Alex muttered, then frowned. “So, supposedly they teach you all about this stuff in fifth grade...” Still, shi knew most of it thanks to Mom... Shi sighed and started explaining what shi knew as best shi could.
After spending the next five minutes giving Aruna an overview of seasonal estrus cycles, menstruation cycles, and their side effects on emotions and physical health, Alex wrapped it up saying “I don’t know if you’re going to have seasonal estrus or a menstrual cycle. But if you’re irritable for no reason and you have a menstrual cycle, you could be entering the luteal phase, and you’re about to start bleeding...”
Aruna scrunched her face in disgust. “This sounds gross. I’m going to have to go through this for the rest of my life?” she exclaimed.
Alex nodded. “Well, if you have a menstrual cycle... yes. You’ve got options though; you can use pads or tampons. See which one works best for you. I can show you how to use them. Let’s go see if your mom has spares...” Shi put a hand on the edge of the bed and stood up. “Wait here. I’ll go get your mom.”
Alex headed out of Aruna’s bedroom and to the stairs overlooking the living room where Sevita was watching TV with Atman. She was busy embroidering a dress of some kind that was laying across her lap. “Mrs. Bassi?” shi asked, somewhat hesitantly from the top of the staircase. “Can Aruna and I talk to you in private?”
Both Atman and Sevita looked up, eyes narrowing, then glanced at each other. Sevita set down the embroidery hoop atop the rest of the dress and stood up, then headed up the stairs. Alex led the older tigress into Aruna’s room, where they found the youngest tigress sitting on the bed.
Alex closed the door behind them and started explaining. “Aruna’s been pretty irritable today and doesn’t know why. I was thinking it might be that she’s about to start having her period and figured you should know. I wasn’t ready when mine first happened and it was a mess... I bled all over Elizabeth’s sofa,” the tigress said, staring down at the floor. “It was the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to me, and it was on my tenth birthday too. I didn’t want anything like that to happen to Aruna...”
Shi took a breath and continued. “So I figured she should wear a pad for a week or so, just in case she has her period. I don’t have any pads or tampons handy ‘cause my period ended last week, and was wondering if you had any spares. I was going to show her how to use them...”
Sevita turned and waved her paw. “That’s alright, Alex. I’ve got a supply downstairs. I’ll show her how to use them... and you’re right, it would probably be a good idea to wear pads for a week or so, just in case. Why don’t you go play video games with Ravi, while I have a talk with Aruna?” the older tigress suggested with a gentle smile.
“Okay, Mrs. Bassi,” Alex said, nodding. Shi pulled Aruna’s door open and stepped out into the hallway, closing the door behind hir with a click before padding into Ravi’s bedroom.
Back inside her bedroom, Aruna looked up at her mom, torn between disgust and horror. “Am I really going to bleed every month for the rest of my life?”
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Ravi glanced up as Alex stepped into his room and flopped down on one of the bean bags. “All done getting your claws done?” he asked, looking back at the TV just in time to avoid crashing into a wall. He took a sharp turn and hit the accelerator, hoping to pass the car in fourth place.
“Nah. Aruna’s irritable and your mom told me to come play video games with you while they chat,” Alex explained, watching the television screen. “Slow down; that’s a sharp corner.”
Ravi knew it would be and was doing exactly that, hitting the brakes before entering the curve and then accelerating out of it. “Aruna’s a hissy kitty sometimes.”
“Eh, there’s more to it this time,” Alex said. “It’s a girl thing. Just be nice to her for the next week or so, ‘kay?”
He mentally shrugged. “M’kay.”
“Ravi?” Alex said with a firm but quiet tone. “I’m serious. Be nice to your sister for the next week.”
The teenaged tiger flashed a glance at the younger tigress, meeting hir golden eyes. They seemed to glow in the light of the television. Feeling the fur on the back of his neck start to rise, Ravi quickly looked back at the TV screen. “I’m always nice to her, but I will be extra nice to her for a week.”
“Thanks Ravi.”
Another minute passed in silence as he finished the final lap, coming in 4th place. He’d been hoping for 3rd, but this wasn’t bad. “Did you want to play?” he asked, knowing Alex loved racing games... and that he’d probably lose every match against hir. He reached down and picked up the 2nd player controller, praying shi would say ‘no’.
“I’m good. You’re only a few thousand from getting the GT-R. If you get first place in the next two races, you can buy it; it’s a huge upgrade,” Alex suggested.
Ravi mentally sighed with relief, dropping the 2nd controller, then frowned. Shi was right, but... it would be another half-dozen or more races if he kept coming in 4th or 5th place like he had been. He ground his teeth, then came to a decision. He held out his controller. “Would you get it for me? I’ve been having really shitty luck the last couple of races.”
“Are you sure?” Alex asked, raising an eyebrow.
Ravi nodded. He really wanted that GT-R.
“Okay...” Alex said. Then the look on hir face turned calculating. “But only if you’ll help me figure out how to do a front aerial... walkover and cartwheel.”
This time Ravi raised an eyebrow, then started shaking his head. “Can’t. We don’t have a mat and grass is too slippery to land on one foot like that. You’ll slide and bust your ass or twist an ankle.”
“We could use the dojo,” Alex countered. “We’ve both got bikes, though mine’s at home. That’s only a five minute walk, plus another fifteen minutes to bike to the dojo, tops. We could be back in an hour, easy, and dinner isn’t for another two.”
Ravi frowned. That would work, but they’d need permission... and it would leave Aruna here alone, and Alex had just told him to be nice to her. But what if... “How about tomorrow morning? We can get up early, before Aruna does.”
Alex smiled and accepted the controller. “Done.”
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Less than a quarter of the pews were occupied when Ginnie shuffled out onto the choir loft a few minutes before mass started, walking next to her father at the head of the column. Together they reached the far end of the loft, taking their places at the end of the risers. Mom was sitting down in the nave with the rest of the congregation; she didn’t have much of a singing voice.
The designated hymns of the day had been posted on boards to either side of the loft. All of them were songs she recognized, so she didn’t bother opening the hymnal in front of her. She listened quietly as the organist played Louis Vierne’s ‘Carillon de Westminster’. As the song reached its crescendo over the last minute, she could feel the harmonics of the pipe organ in her bones.
There was a short pause before they started singing the day’s entrance hymn, ‘On Eagle’s Wings’. At least it wasn’t ‘Amazing Grace’; Ginnie got tired of that one. By the time the procession started, the church was nearly full. The crucifer and a pair of candle bearers in black and white entered first, followed by the deacon (whose name she didn’t remember) and then Father Isaac, in green robes with gold embroidery.
After Father Isaac gave the greeting and Penitential Act, they sang the Gloria, as usual (except during Advent and Lent). It always struck Ginnie as a bit strange that Mass always began with the assumption of sinfulness that needed to be repented. Then again, she had definitely sinned over the week, so maybe it wasn’t all that strange.
After they finished singing the Gloria, Father Isaac gave the Collect, gathering the prayers of the congregation, then followed that with a reading from the Old Testament. Ginnie had to fight to keep from yawning; she’d studied Exodus 19 in Sunday school years ago. At least Father Isaac had the good taste not to read from Exodus 22; that would have been tacky. Most of it had no bearing whatsoever on modern life.
The remainder of Mass passed as usual, ending with the Communion Rites, Final Blessing, and Dismissal. The recessional of the day was ‘City of God’, another hymn that Ginnie appreciated. While she felt it was a bit too fast paced, it was an appropriate closing for a morning Mass.
Ten minutes later, Father Isaac had finished giving communion rites to the choir members as well, and Ginnie was following her parents out the front door with her robes slung over her arm. “Hey Dad?” she asked as they approached their car. “Do you think we could have brunch before we leave Prairie Flats? I’m hungry.”
Hank turned to look at her. “Didn’t you have a smoothie before we left the house?”
“Well... Yeah,” Ginnie admitted. “But I’m still hungry.”
Hank hit the key fob to unlock their SUV as they approached it. “Fine by me. Gwen?”
“Sure. There’s a cute little bistro that opened up near the lodge that I’ve been wanting to try,” Ginnie’s mother said, pulling open the passenger side door to their SUV.
“Yay,” Ginnie said, the corners of her mouth turning up in a smile as she got into the car as well. “That’s what I was thinking of too. They’ve got an apple and walnut salad with honey-mustard dressing that looks delicious.”
“Okay, now I want to know... Why are you willing to eat solid food when we eat out, but you have nothing but smoothies at home?” Hank asked, looking at his daughter in the rear-view mirror.
“Uhhh...” Ginnie stammered, drawing a total blank on any kind of explanation that couldn’t be construed as an insult to her parents’ cooking.
“Well?” Gwen asked, also looking back at her over the center console.
“I, uh, know how, uh, busy you two are,” she extemporized. “I don’t want you to have to waste your time cooking for me.”
Gwen turned to Hank. “Do you smell bullshit?”
Hank glanced at his wife and nodded. “Definitely bullshit.”
“Fine!” Ginnie said, giving up on any pretense. “I don’t like Cajun or New England food. Is that what you want me to say? Crabs and clams are gross.”
“You just haven’t had good Cajun food,” Hank said, looking back at her through the rear-view mirror again. “I make a mean étouffée.”
“Whatever,” Ginnie said, buckling her seatbelt and looking out the window. “As long as you don’t make cajun crab cakes again,” she said, shuddering at the memory.
__________________________________________________
“I still can’t get over how tangled these streets are,” David complained as he pulled into the Marriot’s drive-through, parking their rented SUV near the end of the loop before shutting off the engine.
“David, these streets were probably laid down in the early eighteen hundreds... maybe even the late seventeen hundreds,” Raenne pointed out. “They were built for people who were walking or riding horses or horse-drawn carriages. These towns and cities were established long before cars were a thing. At least this hotel has an attached parking garage; if we were downtown we’d have to find a separate parking garage and walk to the hotel.”
The white tiger sighed, glancing over his shoulder at the two cubs in the back seats. “I’ll be back in a few minutes,” he said, pushing the car door open and stepping out.
True to his word, David returned from the hotel lobby with keycards in hand, got back into the SUV and drove back around to the parking garage. Another five minutes later, David and Raenne had taken their luggage up to the 8th floor where their hotel room was.
“Not bad. A little cramped, but it’s at least clean and modern...” David muttered, leaning his suitcase against the wall. At the sound of a whine from near his chest, he adjusted the baby sling on his chest and ran his thumb across the bridge of Katherine’s nose. “Shush little one,” he murmured. “Your brother’s right over there.”
“You expected less from Marriott?” Raenne asked, raising an eyebrow as she set her own suitcase down. Then she turned to inspect the Pack n’ Play that had been set up on the far end of the room. It wasn’t particularly big, but the twins wouldn’t need it except when sleeping.
“Well, no, but...” David sighed. He didn’t want to go into the reasons why he didn’t like the Marriott chain, most of which stemmed from the blue book in the nightstand drawer next to the Holy Bible. He decided to change the subject. “We should go get a nice dinner. To celebrate,” he said, turning and smiling. “You’ve got your fifth stripe now: that’s years of effort.”
“Sixteen years,” Raenne agreed, returning the smile. “I guess that is worth a celebration.”
“Well, I just happen to know that there’s three particularly good restaurants nearby,” David said, glad he’d asked the clerk at the front desk. “If you want Mexican food, there’s ‘Coyote Crossing’... or if you’d prefer American there’s ‘Salt & Stone’. They’ve apparently got good seafood. If you’d prefer fine dining, there’s a place just across the street here...”
“Mexican,” Raenne said decisively. “Fine dining is a terrible idea with a pair of infants. Let’s go; I’m starving.”
“I’d be hungry too. That belt test was... what? Three... four hours? The kihon and kata portions were two hours alone, plus the sparring and written exams...”
“Exactly. Let’s go,” Raenne said, adjusting her own carry sling before stepping out of the hotel room. “I want a fajita.”
“Oh, the receptionist downstairs mentioned they have a chimichurri marinated steak fajita that’s absolutely amazing...” David said, following his wife out of the hotel room.
__________________________________________________
Monday, June 13th, 2016
Awareness came slowly to Alex, along with the realization that shi was overheated and, more importantly, that shi needed to pee. The young tigress lifted hir head and glanced over at the clock sitting on Aruna’s desk. It was a bit after midnight. Sighing, shi gently moved Aruna’s arm, tossed aside one corner of the comforter, and rolled off the side of the bed. Alex wasn’t concerned about waking the younger tigress; she slept like the dead.
The small fuzzy rugs on the floor stood out against the hardwood floor, thanks to the nightlight near the open doorway. Alex hopped from rug to rug until shi reached the doorway, then paused to straighten hir pajamas before stepping out into the hallway. Ravi’s door was closed... but there was a line of light along the bottom edge. Shi had a feeling that he was probably staying up late reading or something.
Their upstairs bathroom was a little further down the hallway, just before Atman and Sevita’s bedroom. Shi didn’t want to wake the Bassi parents up, but the floorboards creaked slightly under hir weight, despite hir best efforts at moving quietly. The bathroom door wasn’t perfectly square and hung up on the frame, needing a firm push to fully close it.
In the end, hir attempts at silence probably didn’t matter. The toilet flush was far louder than any noise shi had made thus far. Alex sighed and washed hir paws, then pulled the door open and stepped back out into the hallway. The strip of light under Ravi’s door beckoned.
Unsure if he was still sleeping or was up reading, Alex walked over to his door and scratched lightly at the door with hir claws. After a second shi heard the rustle of paper and cloth. Another two seconds later the doorknob turned and Ravi cracked the door a few inches, letting light spill out into the hallway. He looked like a living shadow in contrast to his bedroom, which was lit by the lamp on his nightstand.
“Alex?” Ravi whispered, clearly not expecting visitors this late at night. “What are you doing awake?”
“I had to use the bathroom,” Alex whispered back, “and I saw the light under your door. Why are you awake? Were you reading?”
“Yeah,” he admitted with a nod, then he pulled the door open and gestured for hir to enter. Alex had half been hoping he wouldn’t be wearing his t-shirt, but was disappointed. Shi stepped into his bedroom anyway, and he closed the door behind hir with a quiet click. “There. Now we don’t have to whisper,” he said quietly, padding back over to his bed and sitting down on it.
“What were you reading?” Alex asked, walking over to his bed. “One of those romances that Aruna mentioned?” Shi gestured at the paperback novel that was sitting next to him atop the comforter. The way his ears went flat in embarrassment was answer enough, and Alex grinned. “I thought so. Why, though? We’re going to be getting up early. Gymnastics, remember? We have a deal.”
“Yeah, I know,” Ravi admitted. “I just...”
Alex tilted hir head as he went silent. Shi lifted one knee and sat on the edge of his bed, staring at him. “What’s the matter, Ravi? I promise I won’t tell anyone.”
Ravi swallowed, licked his lips, then tried to explain. “It’s... I dunno... We’ve been dating for a couple of weeks now and it’s nothing like I expected, or like what’s in the books. I was expecting we’d do things like... like going on walks, holding hands, sitting together on park benches, cuddling together... You know, stuff that couples do. Only we haven’t done any of that...”
Alex blinked. He was totally right; they hadn’t... although shi and Aruna had. Clearly he wanted to. Maybe he’d been trying to make up for that by reading romances where the characters did do that. Shi frowned, wondering why he didn’t just ask for cuddles and stuff. Then shi realized he must have some kind of hangup... a need to act macho around others. He definitely acted differently in private than he did in public, even if it was just Aruna that was with them. Fixing that would take time. In the meantime, Ravi clearly needed comforting now. Shi reached out and set hir paw on his.
Ravi looked up, meeting hir gaze. “You’re right. We haven’t. I’m sorry, Ravi,” shi said, taking his hand and squeezing it gently. “Want me to sleep in your bed tonight instead?”
The older cub nodded, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed. “Yeah. I’d like that.”
Alex smiled and leaned forward, planting a kiss on his cheek. “Okay.”
__________________________________________________
Still panting from the three mile bike ride, Alex picked up hir mountain bike and carried it up the half-flight of stairs to the dojo’s courtyard, then walked the bike across the flagstones. Shi put the kickstand down and pulled out hir phone, opening the Vivint app and swapping from the home security system to the dojo’s security system before disarming it.
Ravi walked his bike up next to Alex’s and put down his kickstand, then took off his bike helmet while Alex unlocked the doors. “Are you sure your parents won’t mind us using the dojo like this?”
“For gymnastics? Nah,” Alex said, pulling out hir key and unlocking the front doors. Shi stepped back and waited a second before waving hir paws through the air in front of the door sensors. “We’re just not allowed to use weapons without adult supervision.”
Ravi followed Alex into the dojo and dropped his helmet next to the shoe rack and started taking off his shoes while Alex did the same. They both bowed out of habit before stepping onto the beige gym mats.
“So... Let’s start with the aerial walkover. It looks like a forward handspring, but you don’t touch the ground... so it’s closer to a front flip with your legs straight, but with one leg going before the other.” Ravi explained. “I have trouble with them myself; I can’t move my legs fast enough in the spin and tend to land on my back.”
Ravi tried demonstrating it and, true to his word, landed on his ass because he didn’t have enough momentum. He sighed and got to his feet. “Coach says it’s easiest to learn by keeping one leg flat on the ground while swinging the other one up while you lean forward. You just keep the momentum of the one in the air and kick off with the other, landing with the one that was in the air first.” He sighed again. “Only I’m not as flexible and I can’t do a front split; not even close.”
Alex tilted hir head and looked at him. That explained why he had problems with doing high kicks. Flexibility was important for high kicks. Shi promptly sat down and swung one leg behind hirself, leaving the other straight ahead. “You mean you can’t do this?”
Ravi sighed with a hint of irritation. “No, I can’t do that. I can do the hips but I can’t straighten my knees when I do.”
“Your hamstrings are too tight. That’s why you have problems with head kicks,” Alex pointed out, swinging hir legs back in front and standing up. “You do hamstring stretches and I’ll try doing this aerial walkover thing.”
Ravi got down on the floor and started stretching and watched while Alex started practicing front aerials.
__________________________________________________
Raenne blinked sleepily at the beep from her phone and rolled over, picking up her phone from the nightstand. There was an alert that someone had entered the dojo courtyard. Only it was practically the ass-crack of dawn. 08:10 EST would be... 06:10 MST.
Wondering if a wild animal had wandered into the dojo courtyard, Raenne opened the Vivint app and quickly swapped from the home security system to the dojo’s security system. Muttering under her breath at how slow the app was to connect to the camera systems, she waited patiently.
“What is it?” David mumbled, squinting as he saw the light of the phone a few feet away.
“Someone’s at the dojo,” Raenne said. The front camera feed showed a pair of mountain bikes dead center in the frame. One of which was obviously Alex’s new bike. She sighed, and switched to one of the four interior camera feeds. A second later she snorted in amusement as Ravi tried doing a front flip of some kind and landed flat on his ass. “It’s Alex and Ravi.”
“What the hell are they doing at the dojo at... what is it? Eight in the morning on a Monday?” David asked, squinting at the clock on the hotel room wall.
“Six-ten their time. Gymnastics, apparently,” Raenne said, wondering if she should keep an eye on them through the cameras. It wasn’t like she could actually do anything if they hurt themselves. She clicked the speaker button at the bottom of the screen.
__________________________________________________
“Ravi, do your parents know you’re at the dojo right now?”
The tiger in question frantically looked around as the voice came from the front of the dojo. It was very obviously Alex’s mom, or at least her voice. “Uh... I told grandmother before we left,” he said loudly, not knowing where the microphone pickup was.
“Do you both have your phones with you? So you can call your parents or nine-one-one if there’s an accident?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Ravi said, realizing that the voice was coming from the camera to the right of the dojo-kun tapestry. He pulled his phone out and held it up so the camera would see it.
“Okay. No sparring and no weapons. Be careful.”
“Yes, ma’am,” both Ravi and Alex replied, waving at the camera. After a second Alex took a running leap and bounced into the air, swinging hir legs in an arc above hir head.
__________________________________________________
Ivan took a deep breath of relatively fresh air. The morning mist still hadn’t quite burned off yet and the city seemed to glow in the morning sunlight. The only thing spoiling his morning routine was Dillon. Ivan kept his distance, not wanting to catch so much as a whiff of the cigarette that was currently dangling between the lynx’s lips; he hated the smell.
“Boss, what the hell are you doing with that lizard?” Dillon asked, breaking the silence.
Ivan glanced over at the well-dressed lynx, who was leaning up against the warehouse’s graffiti-covered brick wall. “What do you mean?”
“First you kidnap him, then you beat the shit out of him, and now you’re caring for him. Does he have information? Is he a hostage? What?” the lynx asked in his signature Boston accent.
“His firm was managing my parents’ estate after they died. I wanted to know where their money was,” Ivan answered, shortly. He didn’t care much for Dillon, but the lynx was useful.
“You mean... the ones who died back in January?” the lynx asked, then took another drag of his cigarette.
“Yeah.” Ivan nodded, staring through the rusty chainlink fence at the cars passing through the early-morning fog. Sometimes he wondered if the lynx really was as dumb as he seemed.
“So... Does the lawyer know where it is or not?”
“It’s in a trust in my niece’s name. All he knows is that she’s living in Colorado,” Ivan said. “The information is back in his office, but they’ve got security. I figure his wife’s probably called the police to report him missing, so I’ll wait a couple of weeks for him to recover a bit and the heat to die down. Then I’ll take his wife or kids hostage, and offer to release them in exchange for the info...” Ivan’s voice trailed off as he realized the lynx was staring at him with a strange expression. “What?”
“You have a niece who lives in Colorado?” Dillon asked, one eyebrow raised. “A Siberian tiger girl around ten years old who wears black ‘Hello Kitty’ t-shirts, black strapped shorts, and open-toed orange sneakers?”
This time it was Ivan’s turn to stare. That was far too detailed a description to be coincidence. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“That wasn’t your niece then?” Dillon asked, looking confused. “I’d have bet a hundred bucks she was the same kid who was in the news clip; the one sitting in the back of the ambulance in a black hoodie and skirt.”
“That kid in the ambulance was almost certainly my niece,” Ivan confirmed, remembering the news video. “Now tell me about the one you saw in Colorado.”
“There was a standing order to look for a six to ten year old female tiger-cub for like... four years or something. Jordan told me about it, years ago; said you’d posted a BOLO with Liam. I spotted her when I was getting lunch in this tiny-ass town off I-70 in Colorado, in November. I snapped a photo, called Liam, and got the payout for it. I was doing Noah’s gig, driving a shipment from Denver to Salt Lake-”
Ivan glared, thinking rapidly. His parents must have known Raenne had a daughter and Jordan had obviously still been reporting to them after they’d faked their deaths. Viktor must have had Jordan place the BOLO with Liam for them... and Dillon had somehow found her with that unbelievable dumb luck of his. The timing sold it: less than two months between finding the girl and his parents’ deaths. “Where?” Ivan growled, narrowing his eyes as he stared at the lynx.
“Fuck, man. You know my memory’s shit... Gimme a second,” Dillon said, visibly frightened. He looked down and flicked the butt of his cigarette as he concentrated, his Boston accent growing even stronger. “It was like thirty minutes west of Prairie Flats, then like ten minutes north... way up in the mountains. Winter-something. I took a detour up there ‘cause there was this restaurant that was on that show, uhhh, ‘Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives’. Fuck that was a damn good hamburger...” Suddenly the lynx looked up and snapped his fingers, meeting Ivan’s eyes. “That’s it! Mel’s Diner in Winter Creek, Colorado. ‘Best damned diner in the Rockies’.”
__________________________________________________
Raenne pushed open the back door of the sedan, then picked up her duffel bag full of gear and stepped out. “Thanks for the ‘lyft’,” she said to the driver before closing the door. As the car drove off, the tigress checked her phone; another fifteen minutes before the seminars and corresponding tests began. The tigress yawned; her internal clock was still convinced it was way too early in the morning.
The fact that the seminars were hosted so early in the morning gave her plenty of time to get back to the Philadelphia airport, get through security, take the flight back to Colorado, and drive home from Denver in time for the evening class. The seminars and exams ended at 10AM, and her second Lyft would get her back to Consohocken by 10:40AM. She and David could go out for an early lunch, then head to the Philadelphia airport two hours before their flight departed. The two hour time shift going from Eastern time to Mountain time effectively made the four hour flight only count as two hours. Landing at 5:15PM would give them just enough time to get some fast food and be back at the dojo by 7PM.
Raenne smiled at how perfectly the timing had worked out, and walked over to the building where the B-rank instructor training seminar was being held.
__________________________________________________
Alex rolled the dice in hir paw, getting a one and two, and moved the top hat token from North Carolina Avenue to Short Line. Shi didn’t have the money to buy the railroad this early in the game, and passed the dice to Ravi.
The older tiger-boy shook the dice in his paws vigorously and tossed them onto the board, getting a three and five. He moved the car figurine from Illinois Avenue all the way to North Carolina Avenue, passing the Scottish terrier sitting on Marvin Gardens.
Alex smirked and held out hir paw. “Twenty-six dollars, please.”
Ravi sighed and counted over the cash, then handed the dice to his sister.
Aruna took the pair of dice and rolled them, getting a one and four. She moved her terrier token to Pennsylvania Avenue, frowned, and then started counting out all of her money to see if she had enough left over to buy the property. She certainly didn’t want Alex collecting all three of the green properties. After a bit she smirked and handed over most of her monopoly money. “Gimme,” she said, making grabbing motions at Ravi.
The older tiger quickly flipped through the un-purchased deeds and handed over the title to Pennsylvania Avenue. “Here you go.”
Alex snagged the pair of dice off the board and tossed them, getting a five and six. Shi moved the top hat around, landing on Oriental Avenue, then took half the money shi’d just earned from passing ‘Go’ and used it to buy the last un-purchased light-blue property.
Aruna frowned, realizing she’d been denied the chance to get all three properties. She huffed in irritation, and waited as her brother picked up the dice and rolled, moving his token to land on the ‘Chance’ section.
Ravi drew one of the orange cards. “Bank pays you dividend of fifty dollars. Nice,” he said, pulling a fifty out of the bank stash, then handing the dice to Aruna.
The youngest tigress rolled the dice, getting snake eyes. She moved her token onto the ‘Chance’ section along with her brother’s token. She reached over and drew an orange card as well and read it. “You’ve been elected chairman of the board... What!?” she exclaimed, looking down at the handful of cash she had left. “I don’t have enough money.”
“Then you’ll need to mortgage your property. You just bought Pennsylvania Avenue... you can mortgage it for one hundred sixty dollars.”
Aruna huffed again, then turned the card upside down, taking the money from the bank before handing most of it to her brother and Alex. She was getting annoyed by the game, but handed the dice over to her brother, but he put his hands up. “You got doubles, sis. Roll again.”
The youngest tigress frowned, then tossed the dice again, this time getting a pair of fours. She moved the little terrier token around the board, landing on the income tax slot. “There goes my two-hundred dollars,” she said angrily, then picked up the dice again, rolling them one more time. A pair of threes stared up at her.
“That’s three doubles. You’ve been caught speeding. Go directly to jail,” Ravi said.
“I hate this game! It isn’t fair!” Aruna yelled furiously. She picked up the tiny dog token and threw it across the room, then grabbed the edge of the board and flipped it over, sending orange and yellow cards flying.
Both Alex and Ravi jerked backwards, startled at Aruna’s sudden outburst.
“Get out!” Aruna yelled, standing up. “And take that stupid game with you!”
Ravi looked across the mess of cards, tokens, and fake money that were now scattered across the floor of his sister’s room, and looked up at her. He’d never seen his sister get this upset before over something as stupid as a board game... and she was definitely upset, practically on the verge of tears.
Alex quickly stood up as well, then grabbed Aruna around the shoulders, pulling her into a tight hug. “It’s okay, Aruna. We’ll clean it up. We don’t have to play Monopoly ever again.” Shi waited a moment before asking “Can I get you something? Maybe some ginger tea?”
The younger tigress huffed, visibly unsure whether to pull away from the hug or return it. After a second she swallowed and relaxed against Alex’s chest. “Uh... Yes. Tea, please. Ginger tea sounds good right now.”
Alex waited for a few seconds, then relaxed hir hug. “I love you, Aruna,” shi whispered, nuzzling the younger tigress before stepping back. “Come on. We’ll go downstairs and make tea while Ravi cleans up. Then we can snuggle on your bed, if you want,” shi suggested, tugging Aruna’s paw and heading towards the door.
“Okay,” Aruna said in a quiet voice, following the other tigress out of the room.
Ravi stared at the door for a moment as the two younger cubs left, wondering what the hell had just happened. He looked at the mess on his sister’s floor and sighed, then started picking up pieces of paper Monopoly money.
__________________________________________________
David looked up at the office building, sighed, and hefted the baby bag with his left hand and Katherine with his right. Luckily someone was exiting the building just as he reached the doors and held the door for him. “Thanks!” he called out over his shoulder as the other person let the door go and continued on their way.
He glanced around, taking in the black and white patterns on the marble floor, the high ceilings with crystal chandeliers, and the beige marble walls interrupted with polished brass fixtures, all in straight lines and hard geometric shapes. He’d be hard-pressed to name a better example of Art Deco architecture; this was right up there with the Empire State Building lobby.
A directory hanging on the wall had dozens of businesses listed. He scanned his way up the list, eventually finding the offices of Pullman & Pratt up on the fourth floor. He walked over and hit the elevator call button with one of his knuckles. The elevator had a no-nonsense brushed steel interior with a panel of buttons. He hit the one labelled ‘4’, and waited while the elevator made its way up with a mechanical hum.
When the door opened, David stepped out into the hallway and glanced around, checking office numbers. It didn’t take him long to find the offices of Pullman & Pratt, which had the firm’s name in gold-leaf lettering on the black wooden door. He had to set the baby bag down and knocked on the door before trying the handle.
As the door swung open, a stocky wolverine in a blue suit and a red squirrel in a cream colored dress looked across the waiting room at him. A young koala in tan slacks and a button-down shirt walked into the room as well.
“You must be, uh, Mr. Andreyev?” the red squirrel asked.
David nodded and bent to pick up the baby bag. “Yes. My wife said she’d set up an appointment a few weeks ago to discuss our daughter’s trust with Mr. Pullman.”
“I’m Leanne Taylor, the firm’s secretary. This is Jasper Eaton,” the squirrel said, gesturing to the wolverine. “Our... well, our only attorney as of now.”
David’s head tilted slightly. “What happened to Mr. Pullman?”
The secretary looked over and met the attorney’s eyes.
“I’ll handle this, Miss Taylor,” the wolverine said. “You can continue helping Ethan familiarize himself with the client files... that way at least one of us knows where they all are,” he said before turning to the much bigger white tiger. “Mr. Andreyev, if you’ll step into this office here... it was Mr. Pratt’s before the... uh... incident,” he said, leading David inside. “Take a seat. You’re welcome to let your, uh, children crawl around if you like. I know the carpets are clean. They’re literally brand new,” the attorney said, closing the door behind them.
David took a seat on the leather chair opposite the polished mahogany desk, looking around. Like the waiting room, the carpets were a deep emerald green and the walls were wood panelled to waist height and had beige wallpaper above that. He set the baby bag down along with Katherine, then pulled Nicholas out of the baby sling to set him on the floor as well. The first thing Katherine did was try to crawl under the chair he was sitting on. He sighed, hoping they wouldn’t try to chew on anything expensive, then looked up to meet Mr. Eaton’s gaze.
“Exactly two weeks ago, Mr. Pullman signed a contract with me to take Mr. Pratt’s place as the second partner in the firm,” the attorney started. “The next day, Leanne informed me that Mr. Pullman was missing; she filed a missing persons report, but the police were unable to locate him... are still unable to locate him.
“Unfortunately, I still needed to complete my final two weeks with my previous firm before starting here, which I did today. So for the past two weeks she’s had to call every single person with an appointment and reschedule them. You’re actually the first client I’ve met here at this firm,” the wolverine said, steepling his fingers.
“Luckily Mrs. Taylor out there had time to fill me in on why you’re here, at least as much as she could. Mr. Pratt was handling the Kaminski estate. After it was liquidated and donations made to various philanthropic organizations as per their will, the remainder of it was added to a trust they created in your daughter Alexandrea’s name, with small payments to be dispersed upon each of hir birthdays until shi turns eighteen... whereupon it becomes a monthly stipend that is to be dispersed to a bank account that is in hir name and hirs alone...”
David listened to the attorney’s deep, strong voice as he continued to explain the legal contract that he and Raenne had signed, which would cover how the trust would be distributed to any ‘heirs of the body’ if Alex became incapable of managing the account. The tiger asked a few questions for clarification, somewhat shocked at just how much effort had been put into writing the contract in such a way as to ensure he and Raenne had absolutely zero ways of accessing the money in the trust. He said as much. “So... What I’m getting is that we have no legal way of touching the money in that trust?”
The wolverine nibbled his lower lip, then said “There might be, but the stipulations in this trust’s contract are the most stringent and comprehensive that I’ve ever seen in thirty years practicing law. To be honest, this could be used in law school,” he said with a snort. “Either as an example of how to write an absolutely air-tight trust, or to see if students could come up with a way around it. I have no idea why the Kaminskis thought such a thing was necessary... except that it’s a very large sum of money. Your daughter will never need to work a day in hir life.”
“Huh,” David grunted. “I have no idea either. They must not have had anyone else to put in their wills, since Raenne was estranged and from what I’ve gathered their son was a real piece of work. Actually, that might be why they made the trust contract so restrictive, to keep Ivan’s hands off it. He’s still on the FBI’s ‘Most Wanted’ list.” The white tiger sighed. “They were all part of the Russian mafia, but I guess Viktor and Dina had a change of heart, ‘cause they faked their deaths and went into hiding... at least until they kidnapped Alex. They probably should have stayed in hiding; they were murdered the very next day.”
__________________________________________________
Jasper stared across the late Mr. Pratt’s mahogany desk at the white tiger. In three sentences, the man had managed to flip his orderly, legal world upside down. Finding out that the Kaminskis’ son was on the FBI’s ‘Most Wanted’ list was not good... and Mr. Andreyev just kept adding fuel to the proverbial fire. “Murdered?” he whispered, eyes growing wide.
He hadn’t looked into the circumstances surrounding the Kaminskis’ deaths; that hadn’t been included in the file. Suddenly the wolverine remembered the bizarre news story from earlier that year, where eight people had been found dead. “Wait... were the Kaminskis the two tigers that made news headlines back in January? Eight people shot dead near a restaurant in north Philly?”
“Yes,” David confirmed, nodding. “Viktor and Dina, their four bodyguards, and two unknown assailants. Alex was the sole survivor.”
The fur on the back of Jasper’s neck stood on end as he started putting together the facts. A pair of people who just happened to be hiding from the Russian mafia, whose son happened to be on the FBI’s ‘Most Wanted’ list, happened to be murdered the day after they broke cover. Then the attorney handling it happened to be murdered a few months later and then his partner happened to go missing.
Now Jasper was desperately wishing that he hadn’t signed that contract with Heinrich Pullman. The last thing he wanted was to get involved with people who had ties to the Russian mafia. He didn’t like this. He didn’t like it at all.
Jasper picked up the landline handset sitting on the desk and held it up, cautiously watching the tiger across from him. At this point he was terrified that he’d wind up being murdered too... He quickly dialed 911 as he held the phone up to his ear. Then he realized the phone didn’t have a dial tone. His heart began pounding and he glanced over the edge of the desk, following the cord... and saw a white and black-striped tiger cub chewing on the mangled end of the telephone wire.
