The next morning, I rose still tired. Sighing, this is the part of pregnancy I really hate. It doesn't help that Kiara has a doctor's appointment this morning that will disrupt my work day. What I didn't know yet was my day was going to get much worse.
Felina told me later what she and Jake had discovered last night that could have prevented the heartache, exhaustion, and fear I was to face over the next twelve hours.
As it was, I went to work blissfully unaware with a bouncy toddler tagging along to the office. Her appointment was within two hours so I figured I'd take her rather than try and go home to retrieve her. The trouble began when, after working diligently for more than an hour, I and Kiara were heading to the parking garage to my vehicle and were accosted by a rather plain looking grey tom with a sad but determined look on his face. Alarms went off in my head but it was too late for us to retreat.
I really wished I'd known what Felina did before this terrible moment.
Night before...
Felina sighed and rubbed her poor abused eyes. It was obvious she wasn't going to get through all the surveillance tapes today but she felt she was on to something and was loathed to stop.
After pouring through the file her uncle had given her, she had decided to check the store out personally but except for the minor pilferage, all she found was a well secured place of business. Frustrated, she decided to review the daily surveillance tapes rather than night security cams to see if their perpetrator might have come in and cased the place before robbing it.
Hours of viewing boring tapes had, so far, produced nothing but eyestrain. She decided to pack it in for now and take them home. Perhaps Jake would spot something she had missed.
Getting home before Jake, she dropped her backpack of work on the coffee table and made for the bedroom. She wanted a hot shower to try and refresh her before figuring out what to make for dinner.
By the time she reentered the living room, heading for the kitchen, the front door of their apartment opened and Jake walked in. He was carrying something in his paw that smelled delicious.
"Hey love," he said warmly, coming close and giving her a firm kiss on the mouth.
"Hmm, hey yourself. Whatcha got in the bag?"
"Food from that new place I was telling you about...the one with the healthy menu. I talked Chance into picking some up for Ulysses as well," Jake grinned, heading for the kitchen with Felina trailing after him.
"Wow, for healthy food, that smells really good," Felina admitted, going to the cabinet for cups, plates, and silverware.
"Yeah, it does and it's making me ravenous."
Several minutes later they were chowing down and talking about their day. Felina brought Jake up to speed on the case she was working on.
"I can do some scanning if you want to rest those peepers, love," he agreed, seeing how tired she looked.
"Thanks, I figure a new set of eyes just might see what I'm missing," she sighed, clearing the table then beginning to wash the dishes.
Jake ambled out into the living room and collected the tapes from Felina's backpack. He took them over to her computer. Warming up the PC, he looked over the dates on the discs and picked out ones that were closer to the reported thefts to look at.
When Felina joined him he'd gone through three tapes and was on the fourth, a frown on his face.
"Find anything?" She asked, standing behind him and staring at the screen.
"Perhaps..." Jake said slowly, "look here..." he pointed at the screen. "See this guy...now watch him closely..."
"What the...is he doing what I think he's doing and how did I miss this?" Felina said in annoyed frustration.
Jake froze the image and stared at the non-descript gray tom. "It's strange but this guy is so plain and quiet seeming that I bet he could just be standing next to us and we wouldn't notice him at all. I think that fact is why he was able to get away with stealing what he wanted with no one being the wiser."
"But I looked at these tapes and still missed this..."
"I know love. Like I said he's just so unassuming you just don't focus on him. I nearly missed him myself except for the fact he kept showing up in the tapes so I slowed them down and re-looked. In every one of the tapes, he stole something. He's your thief and he's doing it in broad daylight," Jake said, shaking his head amazed this guy was able to get away with stealing and no one noticed.
"Well damn! Get up Jake, I want to run him through the data banks at headquarters," she growled, taking the seat as soon as he left it.
She froze the image, blew it up then ran the face through the enforcer data banks. Nothing came up. "He's not there!"
"Guess he's never really gotten in trouble," Jake mused, he froze suddenly, something that had been niggling the back of his mind was now clamoring for attention. He hurriedly went to Felina's pack, pulled out the report then quickly pawed through it.
"What is it? What's wrong?" Felina asked, confused as she watched her lover find what he was looking for and scanning it frantically.
A look of horror spread across Jake's face as he put the pieces together. He turned to Felina and said in a hushed voice, "what this guy stole can be used to make a bomb..."
"What?" Felina shouted, gaping at him in shock. "Jake, we had experts look over all that stuff and they said it could make all manner of electronic doohickeys but none of it dangerous. How the heck do you get a bomb out of this stuff?"
"Trust me, as someone who has to make stuff from salvage and junk, all these components can be used to make a small personal bomb. It's not big enough to bring down a building but it is large enough to commit suicide and/or kill someone else with you," Jake told her grimly. "Honey, you have to find this guy before he finds his target...whoever the unlucky soul is!"
Present time...
Apparently, I was the unlucky soul.
I had just placed Kiara in her carseat and cinched her in then backed out and closed the door, preparing to go to the driver's door, when the odd tom came around the rear and halted me.
"Commander Feral!"
I startled and whirled around, ready to defend myself. But just as I had turned to face him, the tom opened his coat to reveal a bomb tied to his torso. My heart leaped to my throat and I froze.
"What do you want with me?" I asked carefully, keeping my paws away from my body to show I wasn't threatening him.
"I want to be noticed! I'm tired of being ignored even when I'm standing right before a person. I figured if I take someone as important as you, people would finally notice me!" He said calmly but firmly.
I could only gape at him in shock. 'How the heck do I get out of this and insure Kiara's safety?' I thought frantically.
Before I could make a plan of any kind he dashed my most immediate one which was to abandon Kiara and get this guy away from her.
"Give me your keys and get into the passenger side. Don't try anything stupid or we're both dead right here," the tom said in that same calm tone.
Swallowing my fear, I carefully retrieved my keys and handed them to him. He took them and waited until I went to the passenger side and climbed in. It wasn't until I'd put my seatbelt on that he finally climbed in himself. He didn't put a belt on as he started the vehicle and drove slowly out of the garage.
God only knew where he was taking us!