Leopard's Baby

Tammy met Tyler and Candi at the airport. She hadn’t seen them in quite a while and had to fight back tears. They hugged. Tammy didn’t want to let go. Eventually they headed for baggage claim.

“Just seeing you guys gives me a sense of well-being I haven’t felt in a long time,” Tammy said.

“You look different,” Candi said. “I almost didn’t recognize you with the mole and the scar and everything. The mole looks real. Is the scar real? It looks it. Did you get hurt while you were locked up?”

“The scar isn’t real either,” Tammy said with a grin. “Mom still has contacts from her clandestine service days. It’s amazing what they can do with disguises. You guys look great. Still going strong I see. Any plans to make it official?”

“After this is over,” Tyler said. “We’d like to get married this coming summer. I’ll be twenty and Candi will be nineteen.”

“Still a little young,” Tammy said.

“You were twenty when you got married,” Tyler countered.

While they waited for their luggage to arrive at baggage claim, Tyler asked about the plan. Tammy described the layout of the compound and explained what she had in mind. She said they’d go as soon as it got dark.

“If it’s happening tonight we won’t need to use our hotel reservations,” Tyler said.

“More than that, you guys will need to get out of Dodge as soon as possible after we get my son back,” Tammy pointed out. “Before we leave the airport, make reservations for several flights out. Be sure the first stop will be in another state. Once you get there, you can see about getting home.”

“What about you?” Candi asked. “Are you going to fly out?”

“Can’t,” Tammy said. “The alarm will be out and there’s too much chance every flight from here for the next couple of days will be met by people looking for a tall female with a baby. Brendan and I will have to drop off the grid for a while.”

***

“I have a bone to pick with you, young lady,” Jennifer Roberts said over the phone to her daughter, Karla.

“What is it this time, Mother,” Karla said. She rolled her eyes and took a deep breath. Her boyfriend, Trent, snickered and tried to kiss her neck. She pushed him away. He lifted her shirt and unclasped her bra. Stop that! she mouthed.

“I know you told Tamara where I was located,” Jennifer said angrily. “Nobody knows where she is, but she has to be headed here. She’s going to try to get at Brendan. I’ve made sure she won’t succeed, but she will cause people to get hurt. That’ll be your fault.”

“It won’t be my fault, Mother,” Karla said. She was holding her phone in her right hand. Her next sentence was muffled because her shirt was covering her mouth. Trent had pulled her left arm out of the sleeve of her shirt and was in the process of dragging it over her head, leaving her essentially topless.

“Speak clearly,” Jennifer said. “I can barely hear you.”

“I said it’ll be your fault because you took Brendan away from his own mother. You could have come to an accommodation with her.”

Trent pushed Karla onto her back and unbuttoned her trousers. She lifted her butt allowing him to take them off along with her panties.

“Why do you always side with the person responsible for your brother’s death?” Jennifer asked. “If she gets the baby his life will be at risk just like his father’s was.”

“She’s not responsible, Mother,” Karla said. Her voice trailed off as Trent put his face between her thighs and began giving her cunnilingus. She arched her back, closed her eyes, and thrust her pelvis toward him, while thinking, Oh, God! Oh God! Her nipples hardened and she put her hand on his head.

“Once again I can barely understand you,” Jennifer complained in a strident voice. “You’re not paying any attention to me. Doesn’t that expensive school teach you how to concentrate?”

Karla reluctantly used her foot to push Trent’s head away from her vagina while saying, “Is there a purpose for this call, Mother? Other than to remonstrate with me about Tammy? Again.”

“Yes there’s a purpose! I can tell by your voice I finally have your attention. I want Tamara to make a move. That’ll settle things. She’ll go away to prison for a long time for attempted kidnapping. If she’s not killed outright. I want you to know I won’t forget your disloyalty. I’m going to talk to your father about having you cut off.”

“You can’t cut me off, Mother,” Karla said. She sat up and pushed Trent away as he tried to fondle her nipples. “Did you forget? I have a trust fund you can’t touch. Besides, Daddy would never go for it.”

“Don’t think I haven’t noticed how you manipulate him,” Jennifer countered. “Fathers and daughters. I’ll explain how you put the baby in danger. This time he’ll listen to me. You won’t get the bulk of our estate. The way you live the trust fund won’t be enough. Maybe I’ll reconsider after Tamara is out of the picture. Provided you show you care more about me than her.”

“I care about both of you,” Karla said. She swung her legs around so she was sitting on the edge of the bed. “More than you know. You have no idea the kind of shit-storm you’re in for. I’m warning you again. You haven’t seen Tammy in action. I have. How do you think she got away from a maximum security hospital? People who underestimate her tend to regret it. If they’re still alive. It might not be too late for a reconciliation. I don’t want either of you to get hurt. And it’s more likely to be you than Tammy.”

“I wish you wouldn’t use that kind of language,” Jennifer said. “You know I don’t like it. You have no respect for me.” The call ended abruptly.

Trent put his arm around her and started to kiss her. Karla pushed him away and began to get dressed. “I’m not in the mood anymore,” she said. “Talking to my mother is the ultimate anti-aphrodisiac. Maybe later after I’ve calmed down.”

***

Jennifer would’ve liked to slam the phone down on its hook, but since she was using a cell phone, that wasn’t practical. She pushed the “end call” button and began pacing the room, fuming. That girl drives me mad, she thought. We pay bundles of money for her to go to an expensive, Eastern, liberal college. Everyone there is probably a socialist. If not a communist. They teach her to disrespect her parents. She’s probably had intercourse with every boy she’s met there. A nice Christian boy like Congressman White’s son won’t be interested in her. He’ll probably think she’s a whore. She’ll wind up marrying some guy who’ll get her in the family way and who’s only interested in her money.

Jennifer came to a decision. She walked over to her desk, picked up the house phone, called Kent Malone, and ordered him to come to her study. Three minutes later there was a polite knock on the door and Malone entered. She waved him to a chair in front of her desk.

“I’ll get right to the point, Kent,” Jennifer said. “You know I’ve offered $100,000 to whichever of your men can take her out. I want to go beyond that.”

“You don’t need to offer more money, Jennifer,” Malone said. “You’ve offered enough to guarantee the job will get done. I know you didn’t want to have dogs here, but it was the right decision. Even if she can somehow elude my men and the CCTV cameras, she won’t get by the dogs.”

“That bitch is causing all kinds of problems even when she’s not around,” Jennifer complained. “Brendan’s afraid of the dogs. I can’t even take him out on the grounds.”

“The extra security is worth it,” Malone assured her. “You’ll see if she ever shows up.”

“She’ll show up. I have no doubt about that. She’s obsessed. But I don’t want to wait. You’ve been around the block. More than once. I’m sure you know people who’d be willing to… make a move on her.”

“Let’s not beat around the bush. Do you mean you want to hire somebody to bump her off?”

“Yes. I’m willing to pay up to a quarter of a million dollars.”

“For that kind of money you could get the President whacked,” Malone said and chuckled.

“I don’t care about the President,” Jennifer said. “Only her.”

“This is a big step,” Malone pointed out. “Previously you were talking about shooting someone during a home invasion. With your influence you could probably get away with it. Now it’s premeditated murder. Colorado has the death penalty. You could get the needle. Are you sure you want to proceed?”

“It’s justifiable homicide,” Jennifer claimed. “I just got off the phone with my daughter. She reminded me Tamara is a murderer ten times over. It’s her or me. Can you get somebody or not? If you can’t I’ll call Merritt Covington and ask him.”

“I can. I just wanted to make sure you know what you’re getting into.”

“I’m fully aware. I’d rather not have to use the ‘justifiable homicide’ defense in court, however. Can you make arrangements so I stay in the background?”

“I’ll try, but whoever does the job is going to want to know the money will be there. They’ll know I can’t afford that kind of loot.”

***

It was a cloudless night, but there was a new moon. The only light came from distant stars. Candi ran past the compound screaming for help. Tyler caught her just as she reached the gate. He threw her to the ground, got on his knees straddling her, and slapped her twice.

“You bitch!” he snarled. “You fucked other guys! I’m going to make sure you’ll regret it!”

“Hey!” a guard from the gatehouse called. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Stay the fuck out of it, you impotent asshole!” Tyler shouted back. “This is none of your fucking business!”

“Get away from that girl!” the guard yelled. Two other guards who’d be patrolling nearby came to the gate.

“Like you could do something about it, shithead,” Tyler said with a derisive laugh while flipping off the guard. “You might as well be locked in a cage with the rest of the monkeys.”

“We’ll see about that,” the guard screamed.

The gate started to open. The guard, followed by the two who’d been patrolling, ran out. Tyler jumped up and ran off. One guard started to follow, but quickly gave up.

“Are you okay, Miss,” the first guard asked as he helped a tearful Candi to her feet. She was bleeding slightly from a split lip and her clothes were disheveled. The guard handed her a handkerchief.

“I’m fine,” Candi said. She dried her eyes and pressed the handkerchief to her lip. “Thanks for your help.”

“I can call the police if you want,” the guard offered.

“No, don’t,” Candi implored. “We’re on our honeymoon. Usually he’s fine, but he… snorted a little too much.” She blushed. “It’ll wear off and he’ll come back feeling contrite. I’m sure he won’t do it again. He keeps telling me how much he loves me.”

“Abusive husbands don’t stop,” a second guard said. “You should report him to the police. A little time in the slammer might straighten him out.”

“Please don’t call them,” Candi begged. “I just told him I was pregnant. He said it’s not his because he always used a rubber, but he didn’t the night we got engaged. When he comes down off his high I’ll remind him. I don’t want my husband and the father of my child to go to jail.”

“You’re sure?” the third guard said as he returned from chasing Tyler. “Abusers don’t usually give up until someone gets seriously hurt.”

“I’m sure,” Candi said. “If he were sent away what would happen to me? I know he loves me and doesn’t really want to hurt me.”

“It’s your funeral,” the first guard said. “I hope not literally. We can call a cab for you.”

“Our car is just down the road that way,” Candi said, pointing. She started to give the handkerchief back. He indicated she should keep it. “I’ll drive back to our hotel. He’ll come back apologizing like mad. Thanks again for your help.”

***

While the commotion at the front gate was going on, Tammy’s leopard easily cleared the wall surrounding the compound. Strapped to her was a pack. Tyler’s leopard, also with a pack, soon joined her. The two leopards were almost immediately challenged by three vicious Dobermans. Two more joined them. The dogs were only half the size of the leopards, and their bites couldn’t penetrate the leopards’ hides. In less than a minute all the dogs were dispatched.

The leopards dragged the dogs to the wall where the bodies would be less likely to be noticed. They ran to the house and leaped onto the second floor balcony, twelve feet above the ground. They changed.

Tammy and Tyler crawled along the balcony until they came to a room with the window cracked open about two inches. Someone in the room was crooning as if to a baby. Tammy peeked in the window. She made a “thumbs up” gesture, shrugged out of her pack, and donned black, pajama-like pants and shirt, black booties, and a black wig. Tyler put on surgical gloves.

They could see there was a stopper preventing the window from being opened more than two inches. They slid their hands into the opening, grasped the window, and, in unison, heaved upward with all their were-leopard strength. The window shot upward sending the stopper flying. An alarm sounded. Tammy launched herself through the window. Sandra Burnham, the nanny, shrieked. She turned from where she’d been rubbing Brendan’s back and singing to him.

In less than a second Tammy was on her and jabbed a needle into Burnham’s neck. Two seconds later the nanny passed out. Brendan got to his feet in the crib and stared at Tammy, his mouth hanging open. Then he launched himself at her, wrapped his arms around her neck, and said, “Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!”

Jennifer burst into the room waving a gun. Tammy turned toward her, holding Brendan with her right arm. Jennifer fired just as Tammy ducked. The shot missed. There was a gleam in Jennifer’s eyes as she said, “I’ve got you now, bitch! Any last words before I put a hole in your head right next to that scar?”

Tammy, while holding Brendan, leaped toward Jennifer’s legs. The second shot whistled just over Tammy’s head. Before Jennifer could shoot a third time, Tammy reached up, seized Jennifer’s wrist with her left hand, and violently twisted. There was an audible sound of wrist bones breaking. Jennifer cried out in pain, dropped the gun, and fell to her knees, holding onto her injured wrist. Tammy kicked the gun away and, still clutching her son, squatted so she and Jennifer were eye to eye.

“Most people who’ve aimed a gun at me intending to shoot wound up dead,” Tammy said. “You get a pass this one time because I promised Karla I’d try not to hurt you. You just used it up. If we meet again one of us won’t survive.”

Tammy exited through the open window and handed Brendan to Tyler. She stripped off her clothes, stuffed them along with her wig into Tyler’s pack, and slid a baby carrier over her head. Tyler fitted Brendan into the carrier. Tammy and Tyler changed, jumped off the balcony, headed for the wall, and vaulted over it.

Candi awaited them in a car with the engine running and the passenger side front and rear doors open. Tammy’s leopard darted into the back while Tyler’s entered the front. The car took off. The motion of the car combined with the air pressure caused both open doors to slam shut. Tammy and Tyler changed again. The two were-leopards lay gasping for breath while the car raced away. Brendan had remained silent throughout the entire process.

***

Kent Malone ran into the baby’s room with two other guards close behind him. Jennifer was on the floor holding her injured right wrist with her left hand. Her face was twisted in agony, and tears ran down her cheeks.

“She got him, the bitch got him!” she screamed. She pointed toward the window. “She went out that window not five seconds ago. Stop her before she can get off the grounds. She’s got the baby with her! Don’t let the dogs hurt him! He’s afraid of dogs!”

Malone barked out orders to the men with him. They ran off. He helped Jennifer to her feet and half carried, half led her to the aid station on the first floor. The nurse on duty said Jennifer would have to go to a hospital to get the break properly set, and might need surgery. Malone detailed a guard to drive Jennifer to the hospital. Then he headed for the main security office also on the first floor.

“What the fuck happened?” Malone demanded as he burst into the guard office. “How the fuck did she get in, snatch the kid, and get away before you morons could do anything?”

“We don’t know,” the duty guard admitted. “We also don’t know what happened to the fucking dogs. We can hear the ones in the kennel barking their fool heads off, but not a peep from the ones patrolling. I sent Hutchington to check.”

“Show me the video from the baby’s room,” Malone ordered.

The video started with Sandra Burnham carrying Brendan into the room. She put a fresh diaper on him, put him in new pajamas, placed him in his crib, and started to sing while she rubbed his back. He put his head down and appeared to be nearly asleep when the window burst open.

“Stop!” Malone said. “Scroll back a little and zoom in on the window. Advance slowly.”

Just before the window opened Malone ordered them to stop again. “Look,” he said as he placed his finger on the screen showing the bottom of the window. “Four hands. She had help.”

“Even so,” the duty guard said. “How the fuck did they knock the stopper off? It was solid steel securely welded on.”

“Must have had a defect,” Malone said. “Continue with the video.”

“That’s some wicked scar on her face,” the duty guard noted. “Should make her easy to identify.”

A few seconds later, when Tammy broke Jennifer’s wrist, he exclaimed, “Holy shit! I’ve never seen anyone move so fast in my life. Even in slow motion her hand is a blur.”

Before Malone could say anything else another guard burst into the room. “The fucking dogs are all dead!” the newcomer declared. He was breathing hard and his hands were trembling. “It’s like a fucking horror movie. Five dogs torn to shreds. I wouldn’t have wanted to mess with any of those motherfuckers, but they were no match for whatever killed them. It’s like a demon from hell got them.”

“Take me to their bodies, Hutchington,” Malone commanded.

Hutchington led Malone to the spot. Malone examined the bodies as best he could in the dim light and then slowly spiraled outward. He stopped when he came to a spot where grass had been torn up exposing dirt

“What does this look like?” Malone asked. He shown a flashlight directly at it.

“It’s an animal track,” Hutchington said. “It’s too big to be one of the dogs. Did a bear get on the grounds? How the fuck did it do that?”

“Not a bear,” Malone said. “A cat.”

“A cat!” Hutchington exclaimed. “I know a cougar could jump over the wall, but why would it? Why would it go where there were a bunch of dogs?”

“A cougar wouldn’t,” Malone said. He hesitated before continuing. “But a were-leopard might.”

“You mean what we speculated about a year or two ago back in Washington?”

“Yeah. I have to figure out a way to tell Mrs. Roberts without looking like I’ve lost all my marbles.”

***

Tammy dropped Tyler and Candi off at the “departures” gate. She drove into long-term parking and found two cars whose license plates started with the same two digits. She left the airport and drove to a secluded spot where she replaced the Illinois plates on her car with the Colorado plates she’d just stolen. She took off the black wig and the scar and moved the mole to the other side of her face. She ripped up her Judy Felson ID in favor of Melissa Garton. Then she headed for Denver. Brendan, in a baby seat, slept soundly in the back seat.