Leopard's Baby

“I have the kid, Jennifer,” Malone said. He was standing in front of the barn, holding a struggling, crying child. “He was hidden inside a barn.”

“What about the girl who took him?”

“No sign of her. But she killed a dog and one of my men. Jennifer, these are not people to take lightly.”

“How could a young girl kill one of your men?”

“I’m not sure,” Malone said. He hesitated. Should I tell her what I really think?

“How did he die?”

Again Malone hesitated. “It appears he had his throat ripped out. The dog was torn to pieces. There are… signs of a large cat.”

“There you have it,” Jennifer said. “She probably hid Brendan in the barn and ran away, but left the door open. This is a rural area. There was probably a mountain lion living nearby and it got in. The dog and your man surprised it.”

“Maybe,” Malone said. Again he hesitated. “There’s another possibility.”

“What other possibility? What else could it be?”

“There’s a chance we might be dealing with… Ouch!”

“What just happened? Why did you yell?”

“Your grandson just hit me on the nose.”

“Don’t hurt him!”

“Jennifer, he’s not even two,” Malone said as he rolled his eyes. “I think I can handle him without getting overly physical.”

“Of course you can,” Jennifer said. Malone thought she sounded condescending. “Listen Kent, these people are dangerous. They kill with impunity. I’m sorry about your man, but with a wild animal on the loose around here in addition to those murderers, I’ve got to get my grandson and take him away. I’m going to drive to the beginning of the airport road. Bring him to me there.”

The moment had passed. He decided not to mention the possibility of a were-leopard.

***

“Stop!” Fong shouted.

“What?” Tammy said as she slammed on the brakes.

“Tiffany’s close. She’s getting closer.”

Fong opened the passenger door. A naked Tiffany darted out of the woods and into the truck. Her teeth were chattering, her lips were blue, and she was crying copiously. Fong took off her own jacket and wrapped it around the sobbing girl. Tammy turned the heat on high.

“They got Brendan, Tammy,” the bawling girl said. “They got him. I couldn’t stop them. I tried but I couldn’t. My leopard killed a dog and one of them, but the others starting peppering her with machineguns. She tried to get at them, but there were too many. The bullets didn’t penetrate, but they hurt. A lot. She couldn’t stand the pain. She ran away. I’m sorry Tammy. I failed. I couldn’t hold up my end.”

“It’s not your fault, Tiff,” Tammy said. She took her sister in her arms and tried to console the shivering girl. “You held them off almost all day. With any ordinary person they would’ve had him hours ago and would be long gone. We still have a chance to get him back. Who had him, where and when?”

“It wasn’t that long ago,” Tiffany said. She took a tissue from Fong and wiped her eyes and blew her nose. “Maybe ten minutes. Fifteen at most. Jennifer’s security chief, Malone, was holding him. He was kicking and screaming. He punched Malone. Then a car drove up. The driver got out. Malone took Brendan into the car with him and left. That’s when my leopard headed for this road. Somehow she knew you’d be coming. When she saw the truck she changed.”

Tammy thought furiously for a few seconds before she put the truck in gear and peeled out. “Where are we going?” Fong asked.

“Malone has to be meeting Jennifer somewhere,” Tammy said. The truck tires squealed as she went around a curve at a high rate of speed. “She’ll want to get as far away from here as she can as quickly as she can. Malone must be meeting her either at the airport or on the way to the airport. I’m going to drop you two off at Haley’s Place. It’s on the way. Tyler will pick you up there. Then I’ll head to the airport. I hope I won’t be too late.”

“You’ll be better off if we’re with you,” Tiffany said.

“Maybe, but then what?” Tammy said. For a few seconds she concentrated on her driving before adding, “If I can get Brendan back, I’ll have to be on the run again. You can’t be with me. As a group we’d be too noticeable. I can’t leave you there because you’d be arrested as accessories to a kidnapping. This I have to do on my own.”

“Drop us off a couple of blocks away,” Tiffany said. “There’s a deputy there. If he sees you, he’ll try to arrest you.”

***

Jennifer breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Malone’s car. It’s about time, she thought. What did he do? Take the scenic route?

Malone brought the car to a halt behind her car and reached over to the passenger seat. Jennifer could hear Brendan’s yells. When Malone got out of the car with the baby tucked under his arm, Jennifer saw Brendan was kicking, hitting, and trying to bite his captor. Jennifer chuckled as Malone approached her.

“Give him to me,” she said. She took a step toward Malone, holding out her arms.

“We have to come to an accommodation first,” Malone said as he backed away.

“What are you talking about, Kent?” Jennifer asked. She put her hands on her hips. “You work for me. I pay you plenty and you’ll get more in the future. Hand him over. NOW!”

“I know you, Jennifer,” Malone said as he pointed a finger at her. “You’re planning to take off and leave the rest of us here holding the bag. I know what’s going on. I have sources. The evidence is mounting that you forged that prenup. At the very least you’d be found guilty of fraud, and my men and I would be accessories.”

“That’s ridiculous!” Jennifer stated derisively. “I would have no idea how to forge such a document.”

“Ridiculous? I don’t think so. You wouldn’t do it yourself of course. You’d have your minion, Covington, do the dirty work. Just like you had me arrange a contract killing for you.”

“Why are you being like this, Kent? You know you and I have a special connection.”

“Because we fucked?” Malone said. He laughed as Jennifer recoiled when he dropped an F-bomb. “This is funny. Adultery, forgery, and even murder are fine with you, but a four-letter word upsets you. Let me get serious. I lost a man today. If I want to keep the rest of my men with me I have to do something about it. At least offer compensation. That means I need money. I know you have traveling money. Give it to me and you get the kid. You’re super rich. You can always get more. Otherwise I take him away and sell him to your husband.”

Jennifer’s face turned red with anger. She breathed deeply for several seconds before saying, “You’re right, Kent. I was planning to disappear with him. You win. I have a half-million in the car. I’ll trade it for Brendan.”

“I want a million,” Malone demanded.

“I don’t have that much with me, Kent,” Jennifer said. She spread her hands out wide. “Be reasonable. I don’t usually carry a lot of cash. I only have the half mil because I thought I’d need ready cash until I can access my accounts. Who knows how long that’ll take. I know you won’t take a check.”

Malone hesitated and nodded his agreement. He followed, holding a crying baby tucked under his right arm, as Jennifer walked back to her car. She opened the trunk and took out a valise. She reached inside it, withdrew a handgun, and shot Malone twice in the chest. He staggered back and dropped Brendan, who landed on his rear end.

“Too bad you couldn’t leave well enough alone, Kent,” Jennifer said. She applied the coup de grace by putting a bullet in his forehead. “I was hoping I wouldn’t have to do this, but since you forced me to, at least I won’t have to worry about you as a loose end.”

Brendan was trying to run away with a typical toddler gait. Jennifer shoved the gun back into the valise, hurried after him, scooped him up, and headed back to her car. His screams got louder and his struggles more pronounced.

Putting a baby into a car-seat hadn’t seemed difficult when she’d watched others do it, but now, with an uncooperative child, she was finding it was extremely arduous. At one point she thought she’d finally done it, but he managed to slip out of the seat onto the floor of the car. Getting both angry and desperate, she slapped him twice across the face. The stunned baby stopped squirming long enough for her to get him strapped into the seat. Then he started to wail even louder. She was tempted to slap him again, but decided it was more important to get to the airport and get on her charted flight ASAP. She ran back, picked up the valise, and started back toward her car.

***

Tammy came barreling around a curve and saw two cars stopped ahead. Jennifer was holding a briefcase of some sort and was opening the trunk of the lead car. Between the two cars a body lay motionless with blood seeping out of a wound in his forehead. Tammy slammed on the brakes. The truck came to a screeching halt inches from the rear car. She jumped out and ran toward Jennifer. Tammy couldn’t see Brendan, but she could hear him screaming.

Jennifer turned at the squeal of the pickup’s brakes. She reached inside her briefcase and took out a gun. A slow smile spread across her face. “This must be my lucky day, Tamara. I get my grandson back, I get to rid myself of my greatest nemesis, and I get to avenge the death of my beloved son. And with you gone I’ll be able to win back the affection of my daughter. When you took Brendan from me in Colorado, you said if we met again one of us wouldn’t survive. You must be prescient. Only you didn’t think you would be the one to die… What are you doing? Are you crazy?”

Tammy was in the process of taking off her clothes. She knew Jennifer would want to savor the moment and gloat. As soon as she was naked, Tammy said, “You’re wrong again, Jennifer.” Tammy changed.

The black leopard snarled as Jennifer screamed. She started backing away, yelling, “You’re a demon! Be gone! Get back to hell!” She pulled the trigger over and over until her gun clicked empty. Most of her shots missed. Jennifer turned to flee, stumbled, and fell.

The leopard pounced.