The Miami Broncos

Chapter 26: Stories of Old

Written by Francois Guint-Riel (FGR)

I could heard someone coming over the sound of the mining drill’s motor, distracting me from tuning it for an instant before finishing up tuning the set screw to set the oil flow for as close to optimal operation as I could get it. As I turned the device off and watched the last of the fluid return to the surge tank I’d set up for the task, I heard the voice of my intruder, ever carrying it’s Aboriginal accent.

-Good morning, Squall, said Adoni as he came up beside me to look at the drill. You were certainly up early today.
-Sure was, Stretch Nuts, I replied using the nickname I’d made up for the kangaroo. Plenty to do today, and I’m taking advantage that Bongo’s out with a haul to tune up as much equipment as possible.
-I can’t help but laugh at the name, said the ‘roo as he bent over and honked out a few.
-Hey, lucky you! I mean I bet I’d be picking up chicks big time if I could do that too. Ever freak Arinya out with that boinga-boing ballsack?
-You’re insane, he chuckled.
-And the fact you didn’t just say no means that you do, I continued, right?
-In the morning, when I wake up before she does, I crouch over her, and bonk! On the muzzle, nodded Adoni. Don’t tell my sons, they don’t need to know that sort of thing.
-They don’t need to know a lot of things, I smirked as I turned from the machinery to look at the native, don’t they?
-Certainly not, hummed the ‘roo as he took another step before we hugged together and kissed hard. No one knows, as far as I’m concerned.
-Safe on my end of things too, I seconded as I gripped his right ass cheek. Hey, we’re on the clock here. I’m still on probation here, remember? I could do anything, because I’m crazy that way!
-I have strong doubts about that, the marsupial smiled, but as far as your probation, it’s officially over after the talk I overheard between Bongo and Rowan last night.
-Hurrah for me, I said. So, what you up to today, big boy?
-Just site supervision until noon, then I’m back at the village to prepare for a ceremony tonight. It’s one of the Dreaming Stories that I’m to tell while some of our dancers perform, the first time that a few of our village’s children hear it.
-Nice, I smiled, that’s always great for them. Back in Peru, there were a few stories like those too, from the old cultures there.
-You know them well, then?
-Oh, a bunch of them the most classic ones. I can’t say I really studied them or anything, but I ended up memorizing them after a while. I know that grin; what are you thinking?
-Well if you want, you could come with me to the village and be there for the story, then we could tell a few together for the children. Up for it?
-Wow, they’ll be mixed up if they jump from the Thunder Brothers to Citlalicue, I commented. Still, I suppose a story is fine if they don’t take it as seriously as yours.
-They’ll ask why the Ancestor Spirits aren’t in your story, that’s for certain.
-And why gods get so pissed off sometimes, I seconded. Fair enough, you’re on, Stretch Nuts.
-You and that name...
-Hey, I’m a squirrel! Nuts are my thing, naturally.

 The ‘roo left for his work, leaving me to return to my tasks at hand, which by the looks of them, would require longer then I had thought further along I went. I don’t say this out of any sort of prejudice, on the record, but some of the people who worked in the mines could have used a good talking-to regarding how to use these tools, and maybe a little education about mining. A lot of the heavier tools had surfaces that looked like they had been used as improvised hammers or blunt-force objects, and a few had loosened screws that from the feel of them as I put them back in, had stripped the threads they fit into. As I was giving a few curses at a hammer drill that had been totally scrapped after such brutal treatment, I heard someone else come in, this time turning to see Rowan, our friendly bandicoot Don, as he’d finally started calling himself, with just cause. I’d never hazarded to guess that he’d ever been anything else then a leader of creatures, as he was such a sharp set or ears and muzzle, but seeing as how he was the most educated of us with an mining engineer’s degree, I suppose that it came with the territory. Funny detail was that after him, I was the only other on the team with a college diploma, in natural history, as I’d originally aspired to get into archeology, but without the endorsement of a professor back then, I couldn’t get in.

-Rough start, squeaker?
-Nah, it started off great with the shredder there, which is prepped and ready, but then I moved on to the smaller stuff, and goddamn! The guys fuckin’ killed these! It’s only been a few weeks, and we already need a few more tools.
-I think that with the whole thing running like it is, we could start giving safety and operation courses to the lot of them, nodded Rowan. Good news though; we just hit a massive run at two hundred feet, south-southwest.
-How big?
-This big, replied the bandicoot as he took out a blood-red piece as big as my fist. They started getting these out, but it might be a bit of a slow process because the walls are really hard.
-Shit, I’ll go down and gouge a bit when I’m done here, I stated. That’s going straight to Jimi’s funds, I suppose?
-He’s been getting all sort of good luck with condos and we’re making a right pile’o quid, so I think that it would be well invested. We couldn’t have gotten this far without your help though, and I’d like to say that from now on, you can forget that stuff about being kept an eye on and all that. Here’s for you, enjoy.
-My favorite, I squeaked as he gave me a bottle of Jack Daniel’s that I promptly uncorked and took a long drag of. Oh Madre de Dio, this is the good stuff here, Rowan. Have a swig!
-To yours, he laughed as he took a mouthful too, though obviously had trouble taking it down and reared with a mean belch as he handed me the bottle back.
-Come now, you have to learn how to take your liquor like a man, even if your bedtime stories involve your meat between a bunny’s cheeks.
-And yours in a married man’s, jeered the bandicoot. No panic, I just passed by the village last week when you were over there too, totally coincidentally.
-Whew, I thought it was up on a billboard somewhere down the shaft, I sighed. Bah, he enjoys the distraction.
-Tell me, grinned Rowan as he hunched over an oil drum aside the bench, anyone else?
-I’m just telling you because I like to brag, I chuckled, but other then him, I just did Maka and Bongo.
-Wow, Maka? You mean you did...
-Yeah, yeah, don’t trip out, I waved. Just once when he was drunk off your stash, and it wasn’t all that.
-All right, and Bongo?
-Oh come on, I grinned as I made a length with my index, there’s not much to see at that amusement park.
-Really? I wouldn’t have guessed, but you know cats, not all of them, you know... still, nice of you to pitch in for him.
-Bah, you know me, I’m a good guy at heart. I should hook him up with that guy that pinched my ass yesterday, you know, the guy that wears the pants with the blue loincloth thing over it?
-We’re all mental, but it works, bellowed Rowan. See you later, and don’t empty that too fast.
-Sure, but xnay on the blabbering about Adoni and me, eh?
-Silent as a tomb, promise.

Around eleven, I had gotten my fill of playing doctor with the busted crap and gave up on it for the time being, putting everything I had reassembled into a trolley to return to the work site. I was really eager to see this vein that Rowan had announced, sort of the discovery that I had really wanted to make myself when I’d come over to Australia. Grabbing a pick from the storage aside the shaft, I hauled ass down the hole, avoiding the various loinclothed or underwear-sporting red kangaroos that were swinging their steel about. I saw a few of them standing around the entrance to the tunnel leading to the lucky wall, controlling the traffic pretty tightly, more to make sure that not too many people ran in to dig out the massive rocks at once then anything. They stood aside and greeted me as I passed by them, telling me in passing that there were about half a dozen people inside already.

I could see the hard mud and rocks piling up pretty quickly in the carts behind the men at work, really going full throttle as they rammed their spikes with a sort of measured, cautious force, at once both strong enough to break the face, but agile as well to make sure that if they felt something too hard to be simple soil, they could counter their inertia. I took a spot aside one of the gruffer guys, who looked over at me with a strange air of surprise for a second before going back to his work. I could see why, seeing as how this was only my fifth time in the mine, and the fourth dated back a while, when I’d thought I’d take up the exercise as a way to muscle up, soon discovering that it was far, far too strenuous an activity for me to practice for too long. I liked the strain that I felt as I let my pick strike the surface, somehow luckily locating a real chunk of the good red stuff just five minutes into my tour of duty. By the time that I’d taken five out of the wall, I was too tired to swing anymore, getting a grin and pat on the back from my neighbor, who didn’t mind taking over my lucky spot. As I was putting down my steel, I saw Maka coming down the corridor, waving at me as he came into the room.

-Well, these are unexpected, the younger mystic ‘roo commented as he took one of the dirty opals and looked it over. How much do you think this one is worth?
-I’m not too good on prices, unlike our man Bongo, but I think that’s about ten thousand dollars right there in your hands. Not bad, eh?
-Incredible what people will pay for pretty rocks, giggled the ‘roo. Honestly, I didn’t think that this would work out this well, but I suppose it goes to show me. You’re going to say that as a seer, I should have known ahead of time, right?
-My next joke was something along those lines, but since you’ve said it, it’s not really worth saying now, I shrugged as I followed him out of the mine, carrying a sling full of opals each. Here, we’ll go put these in the office for now so Bongo will have something to look at when he gets back.
-Those should get a good meow out of him, seconded Maka. So, you’re coming with us to the village for tonight? We were going to go back with one of the work teams in a few minutes, if you don’t mind going a bit ahead of time.
-In a hurry to get home?
-Oh, just supper with the family and all that. Join us, eh? Mother always makes too much of everything, and we could use some help clearing the table.
-It’s hard to say no to a good homemade meal, I smiled as we went to dump our treasure at the main building, crossing Adoni and Miki while we were unloading.

Stashing a few clothes and the basics in a satchel bag I’d bought when I’d just landed in Oz, one of the few things I still had after my, well, capture, I suppose, I didn’t waste any time. Maka gave a giggle as he saw the little cartoon koala bear on a surfboard, but he knew the story behind it too and was a bit cautious how he brought up the subject as we got into our jeep and I started the motor up.

-I still can’t believe that with everything we’ve been through and all, that you haven’t always been one of the gang, said the ‘roo. Nothing wrong with it, but...
-I know, I smiled, but I always remember getting busted by you guys like a job interview after having gotten laid off my last job. Bah, it’s nothing extraordinary when I look back at the rest of my life.
-You’ve managed to keep it out of the light, that’s for certain, said Adoni. So it was a rough time.
-I basically ran contraband across borders, I replied with a motion of my hand, smuggling anything from people to plants.
-Plants?
-Oh, some are controlled because of their statuses or bugs that they could carry, though the ones I delivered were grown in greenhouses specifically for export. What I’d go is get a load of coffee, then get two sizes of crates, one a lot smaller of the other.
-And you’d put the plants in the small one, put it in the larger one, then fill it around with beans, completed Miki. Genius!
-It worked, I shrugged. You catch on pretty quick, Mik. Sure you don’t want to switch to bootlegging?
-Don’t you start leading my sons into a life of crime, laughed Adoni. Then again, we’ve all signed on with the mob, so I suppose it’s a bit too late for those second thoughts.
-Yeah, I’d think so! But just wondering, started Miki, how can you smuggle someone? I’ve never really thought of it other then the classic running through the woods or swimming for it.
-Mostly fraudulent papers with good acting with the roles of friends and family. You must have heard of that little uprising in Mexico a year ago?
-We don’t get cable, laughed Adoni, and I don’t remember hearing it on the radio. Was it serious?
-Well, sort of a coup gone wrong because the president was an idiot who thought the police and army would support him, which they didn’t, not for long after having stopped getting paychecks. During the month and a half it lasted, I snuck over a hundred people across to the US and down to Guatemala.
-So they paid you a lot for that, cut Maka, right?
-No, not really, I waved, these weren’t really rich folks and they just wanted to get somewhere safe. Most of the ones I did were families, which I always used the same strategy for. I’d pose as the family father while he hid in the trade with the spare tire, with the right papers to make it look legitimate, then just drove the border crossing as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Worked great, but after that, I needed to lay low and get some money because I’d been too generous for too long. That was when I came here, by the way.
-Crazy! And you lived in a city?
-Nope, not always, because I’m a native too, a Huichol. What, you never wondered how come I like you and your village traditions this much?
-Great, bellowed Maka, we’re all savages here.
-Yes, I smirked. Those missionaries sure are tasty.

The rest of the trip was all just native jokes as we pulled each other’s legs until I reached over, took Miki’s tail and pretended to eat it, just sending us in laughter until we pulled into the village, looking and sounding like a bunch of escapees from a mental institution. I stopped it aside the ‘roo’s family home where Arinya was already standing, waiting for us to come back while letting the sun beat down on her. As usual, Adoni gave her a bug hug as he passed by and I gave her a polite handshake-hug as I went on in. Miki and Maka had taken up residences in a house aside their parent’s and after a few minutes, went off to do their business in preparation for the presentation, leaving us until then. Our warlock man was up to his meditation session in the living room, the odd trance he got into when he relaxed, Arinya offered that I change into something a bit more in the local theme rather then the sort of ripe work clothes. As much as I tried to decline the gesture and explained that I looked a lot more like the character I was going to take on that it would stay in the right vein for me to stay as I was, I couldn’t win against the flyer’s words and before I knew it, I was holding a full getup she’d conjured up from somewhere.

-You know, I said as I put on the shirt she’d given me, I can’t understand how you could manage to stand out there without turning into barbecue ‘roo, Arinya.
-After you’ve lived out here as long as we have you get baked enough that it’s hard to notice unless it’s a really crazy day. Look at this, she said as she held her arm out at me and pushed her coat apart to show her leather, it’s like tanned hide. Anything that’s not covered gets like that. Between the two of us, I really used to love getting my chest tanned just because everything because a lot more sensitive. Then, of course, I got married and all that, plus no one wants to see an old flyer like me doing that when younger girls are out and about. Anyway, I feel old thinking about it.
-I’m going to go see the boys, Adoni called from the next room before we heard the door close.
-Off he goes, I hummed while I was looking down to adjust my belt, only to look back up and see Arinya looking back with her top in her hand and a grin. Oh no, it’s a flashing flyer!
-Darned right you are, she said as she reached out, took my paws and cupped her flattened breasts probably once C cups. Mind you I’ve had two sons and a daughter and I’ve never been that well acquainted with the concept of a bra, so be generous in your judgment.
-Oh, I wasn’t leaning towards anything but a high score, I retorted as I held up my thumbs and teased her nipples.
-Ah-ha, whispered the woman, I like that... all right, let’s do this quick. Drop ‘em!
-As much as I really like a woman that’s assertive like that, it’s just that...
-Drop ‘em, she reiterated as she leaned over a chair with her pants around her ankles. Doni told me how good you were and I want evidence to believe in stuff like that.
-So he told you?
-Surprise, you’ve been set up, she laughed. Well as a side to the storytelling, anyway. So?
-So, I grunted as I took her by the waist, penetrated her and started my performance, let’s see if we can improve your criticism now.
-I shouldn’t doubt a good thing when I hear it, she gasped between moans. Pick it up a bit, why don’t you... all the way in, right to your sheath...
-By your command, milady!

We didn’t dwell too long on our adultry, twenty minutes tops, but by it’s end, I was numb from the waist down and lightheaded with euphoria while Arinya had trouble keeping her eyes from rolling back for the same reason. To get my focus back after having come in the hot ‘roo, I stood back and asked her to kick me in the nuts, a request that made her chuckle until I got a ‘roo paw in the sack, not too hard but just enough to bring me back on Earth and debone, presto. With a smooch with Arinya, we got prim and proper again to go see what the guys were up to. Stepping in the brothers’ home, we saw them rehearsing for their show, though watching the trio, it wasn’t really necessary, almost superfluous. The flyer and I both gave a short round of applause as they called it quits.

-Do you even need the practice, I joked. Yeah, that thing with the lightning will never make it to the big screen at this rate.
-Well do you have anything more cliché then snakes, returned Miki, and all that sacrifice ritual routine? You have to do a total rewrite if you want to go anywhere with this.
-Let’s allow our audience the pleasure to judge that, commented Adoni.

To describe the evening, I think that I three-course meal can be a good analogy, with the communal meal as an entree, Adoni’s show as the main course and my tales as a sweet desert. I could see what deep respect the villagers had for the trio of seers, watching and listening with reverence, shot of brushing aside my images of Adoni and Maka between my legs or the series of drunken basifications we’d all been a party of. The dance and tunes that supported them had all the spirit and passion of any theatrical production or circus act, bringing it all together into something I understood that anyone would be proud to be a part of somehow. After Adoni’s powerful voice had echoed out into the distance and the troupe had cleared the midway, so to speak, the mystic ‘roo announced my show and waved for me to come replace him in front of the crowd.

I felt a bit intimidated at first, but after a few minutes I was totally at ease scanning the crowd as I put as much emphasis as possible on all the action in the four legends I’d picked, seeing as intense emotions in their faces as in my own. Even if Arinya, who had been standing right at the back and looking over the others from the height of her six-three, flashed me two times at the beginning of the show, I kept it together and didn’t lose a single spectator until the very end. Bowing out to rejoin my friends, I took a pitcher of water and drained it in a straight shot, putting it down with my tongue out before engaging in conversation. The latter didn’t last long as by that time we’d seen midnight come and go, enough to press everyone to go home, except Adoni, who had laid down aside me to look at the amazing sight sky.

-They really dug your show, I said as I patted his arm. You’re a local favorite, that’s for certain.
-My family has always been very well seen and respected, nodded the ‘roo. You’re certainly one of the first we know we’re this open with, though usually we’re a class apart. Yes, I saw Arinya flash you and I saw the welts on Maka’s butt, but don’t fret, we like you around.
-Everyone needs a squirrel of loose persuasion at some point, I replied.
-How true, he said as we smushed together to put our faces together.
-Hey Stretch Nuts, you never told me you had a daughter.
-Ah, my sweet flyer told you, eh? Yes, Killi. She’s about two years older then Maka, twenty-three, our oldest. She didn’t quite turn out as we’d hoped, though. She didn’t fit in the village life and left for the city after running away a few times. She finally made a mistake that she couldn’t run from, though.
-What happened?
-Oh, she stole a truck and tried to make off with it, but it didn’t work out and she was arrested, tried and put in jail. It’s been three years, but she keeps betting in trouble inside and getting more time. I don’t know when she’ll leave, really.
-You’ve come to terms with it?
-Not much to be done, sighed the boomer. We talked and everything even when she was running away, but since she got put inside, she hasn’t agreed to. I don’t know why. I know she can handle herself, though. She’d smart and built like a wall of bricks, stronger then anyone in our family tree. A strong ancestor must have looked after Arinya when she was carrying her, wow!
-Next time I’m in town, I’ll try to see her, I offered. I’ll be the messenger for you two.
-That might work, sure. Hey, look at that cluster of stars there...

I crawled back to the sofa in Adoni’s living room after staying out with him until what I made out to be three in the morning, getting just enough sleep to be functional the next day, barely. As soon as I’d gotten up and gathered my wits about me, I returned to the jeep, picking up one of the early work crews at the same time to make the trip a bit more profitable for everyone. The first creature I saw as we arrived was Bongo, leaning on his new Land Rover, a personal excess he had wanted to indulge in for a darn long time. He flagged me down aside him until I pulled the parking brakes and got out, reaching out to mess up his ears.

-Ahh, not again, the cat yowled with a laugh as he tried to wrestle away from me. Back from the village, number 6?
-It was a good evening out, I nodded. So, how did the haul go?
-Money’s pouring from everywhere, smiled the feline. The stones and such fetched a fair quid and Jimi’s really pilling up the paper. I guess that unlike before, when we were just getting by, now we have to make some calls as to what we’ll be doing with all this cash!
-I’m more worried about any of it getting lost in the cracks, I replied. After all, up to now, I don’t notice anyone keeping an eye on that with any real seriousness, not even Rowan.
-I know, we’re all mine rats, not fancy business folk. I suppose that we’d have to find someone again, but with Jimi up to his elbows in his work, I don’t think he could really be much more help then he already is. Plus, there plenty of transactions that I don’t think we’d be smart letting just anyone jabbering on about.
-That’s for certain, shot the cat. Well, I suppose we could give a call to our friends in Miami and see what they have to say about it.
-Man, this is a lot more complicated then I would have guessed, grumbled Bongo. Let’s go see what the bandicoot thinks about it.

As if to underline what we’d said, we found the ‘coot working the stone bath on the main site, occasionally picking out the pieces as they caught his eye. He showed us a few that he found more fascinating then others, sort of looking like a raving nut ranting on in a language only those of us who had been in the opal world could really decipher with any sort of luck. He piped down after a few, almost going into giggles as he realized exactly how odd he was acting. Bongo put the question forward about financial control to him, getting a ‘damn, didn’t think of that’ look back from Rowan as he finished.

-Yeah, darn, I wish we’d thought of that sooner, he stammered. God knows how much we’ve probably tossed already. Problem is anyone who we hire for that post will be seeing everything we do and sort of will have a dangerously big responsibility towards us.
-And all real accountants are chartered members of their orders, pretty close to the authorities so we’d be taking major risks there too, I seconded.
-That’s for sure! Still, I don’t see anyone we could trust with that much knowledge here who’d already have the right credentials. Chad’s out and about on a cruise this week... I suppose that we’ll be calling up the Broncos again.
-That sort of was out conclusion too, said the feral cat.
-I’ll try them, stated Rowan. It should be late in the evening over there, so fingers crossed, I should get their Don. Can you keep going with the water here?
-Sure, I said as I started the bath up again.
-That went well, purred Bongo. Figure we have the greatest synergy anywhere right here, eh?
-That and we know each other well enough that we’ve all been hot and heavy with each other at some point. Builds team spirit and all that.
-Strange, you never see that activity at corporate meetings, said the feline as he grabbed my ass hard. Tight little butt there, Squall!
-Thanks, I work out, I replied as I spanked his rear. Hey, that’s fluffy!
-It’s my shampoo, he whistled.

We processed two buggies of opals by the time that our ‘cootie came back with his usual bounce as he walked, foreshadowing good news. He still managed to get the drop on Bongo, grabbed the cat’s tail as to make him jump and accidentally tossing a bucket of water on me. Refusing to let it go unanswered, I took the hose and sprayed both of them down until Rowan was a soggy mess, looking pitiful with his ears flopping down. After drying in the sun a while, Rowan finally announced the result of his call to Miami, which was that a delegation would be coming over in a week.

-Their Don, a panther called Ulrich, told me that he’d be sending one of his best over with a few of his second line. Apparently, his wife just learned that they’re expecting, so he’s sort of busy with that right now.
-Nice of him to get us reinforcements anyway, I said. Well, I think that I could go get them at the airport, but before that, I have something to look into in town.
-Anything specific?
-Misplaced members of a certain kangaroo family we know. You could ask Adoni about it, because I’m not too sure if he wants everyone to know about it just yet.
-All right, fair game, it’s your duty of honor there, Squall, smiled Rowan. Need anything else then a jeep and our best wishes?
-A hug from a damp ‘coot, I laughed as I gave him a cuddle. Off I go!

I’m glad that the jeep was pretty rough on the road and bounced like a pinball off any solid obstacle it rode over because otherwise, the high-speed run into town was pretty boring. The vehicle didn’t have a radio or much of anything other then a chassis and the basics to be worthy of the title of automobile, one of the reasons why we’d the small fleet for so cheap, not that the lack of comfort was a problem when we used them as mining equipment, but for a long distance like I was doing, it was noticeably lacking. Not wanting to suffer longer then absolutely necessary, I held it down hard, only bringing the needle back down below a hundred clicks when I entered the city’s perimeter. I looked up the woman’s prison while I was at a gas station to fuel up my monster with the rawest, cheapest diesel they had, jokingly telling the attendant that everything else they had at the pump was too good for it. As it would be, I had to go back out of town a few kilometers and head north to get to the jail, about another half hour’s drive.

After a general search of the car and my person, I was allowed into the visitor parking of the detention center. There were a few others already in the lot and the traffic was such that I didn’t stick out at all, sort of fitting the mold of the old boyfriend or friend stopping by to see how their lady was doing. One of the wardens in the reception area handed me a leaflet with the standard procedure for the visits, an overall pretty simple affair that however introduced another element of complexity to my case, as Killi was apparently listed as a watched inmate. When my turn came at the wicket, I was explained that I had to visit the head warden to get permission to see her. Furthermore, the guard apparently knew the name already, raising an eyebrow while he looked the record up and printed out a form that his superior needed to sign, then handed it to me and directed me to his office down the hall. I hauled my tail over to the right door, which was held open my a pedestal fan blowing into it, creating enough of a breeze to keep it slightly cooler then the rest of the building. The mare inside had apparently heard me come down the hall and was looking at the door as I made my appearance, shooting a quick greeting at me along with an invitation to be seated in one of the nice ergonomic chairs across from her.

-Here, she said as she offered me a bottle of water with the prison’s picture and name on it, I know it’s hot out there today. That’s one of our work initiatives at the facility, by the way. There’s an aquifer deep under us and some of the better educated and behaved inmates operate a pumping and filtration plan to draw from it. Life skills, you know.
-Very appreciated, ma’am.
-Oh sorry, it’s Jean Hallaway, smiled the mare as we shared a handshake, miss.
-Then Miss Hallaway-
-Jean, she smirked.
-Jean, I corrected with a cordial laugh. I can’t even imagine how much work managing a facility like this could represent and I don’t want to be a burden to you.
-I don’t know how much trouble you’ll be just yet. What brings you to my office?
-A signature, from what I’ve been told, I answered as I put the form on her desk. So? A lot of trouble?
-The signature isn’t, but this kangaroo on the paper is. She’s a real case, Killer Killi, one in a million on the scale of pains in the ass. Not intentional, probably, but... sorry, I don’t mean to talk her down, but I’ve had her on more reports then I’d like to have anyone. Most of the time it’s not completely her fault, but by trying to play God in here, she’s gotten herself into some right messes. She’s what we call a block queen, though to be honest, everyone in the can knows that it’s not the best idea to get in her way.
-So she’s quite the Amazon, eh?
-Listen, you’ve obviously never been in jail, but let me tell you, either you stay quiet, serve your time and sometimes have a bit of an adventure here and there, or you go the other way and try not to let anyone push you or your friends around, attract trouble that even if you can deal with, doesn’t pass unnoticed. That’s Killi, right there.
-I take it that she’s earned a few more days behind bars in the process?
-She came in with seven for automobile theft and dangerous driving without a license, but since then various assault cases have gotten her another five and temporarily barred her from parole. At the rate those happen, she’ll probably be out of here in fifteen years. If I could ask, for the record, what brings you to see her?
-I’m a friend of her family, who hasn’t gotten much in the way of news from her in a while and you know, they care and miss her, eh?
-She could use the reminder, nodded Jean with a heavy sigh. It’s not good for a woman to stay in here too long like that. Three years is something, but in fifteen more, I can’t tell you what’ll be left of her for you to recognize. If she straightens out, enough to get parole back, it might be five or six, which goes by fast enough, you know. Anyway, I’m probably one of the only people in the world in the world who would be glad to be out of a job.
-I understand, I nodded. There couldn’t be anything that would get her free sooner, but any chance?
-Nothing legal, hinnied Jean, unless she appeals her case.
-It’s not too late?
-No, just on the limit. I think she still has... yes, she has three weeks to deposit her appeal. Poor girl isn’t rich though, so unless you’re up to helping her out...
-I’ll see what she wants, I nodded as the mare signed the papers. Thank you, Jean.
-Get her out of my prison soon, preferably lawfully, eh?

I left the room with another handshake, returning to the wicket and presenting the form, receiving a stamp as a warden came to escort me to the visiting area, where a series of private telephones were set up in individual stations, a few of them already taken. Sitting down at the one I was assigned, I waited for a good few minutes before the young-looking but muscle-bound flyer came in and sat down at the station across from me, looking sort of confused as to my identity, as well as why I was there. After a short look around, she picked up the phone, sending a shot out in a voice almost identical to Arinya’s, however deeper.

-Hi, said the ‘roo. Who are you exactly?
-I’m Squall, I replied. You’re Killi, I take it?
-That’s that my jumpsuit says, grinned the girl as she poked the lettering printed on her shirt’s breast. So, is this just a social call from a stranger? I’m just asking because I don’t remember ever meeting you, though I do appreciate the visit and everything.
-Actually, it is. I’m just a good friend of your folks and they dropped your name the other day. I know the whole family, but I’d never met you, so...
-Well, here I am, she nodded, the family’s shame, I suppose.
-I’d never have even conceived the thought of saying that, I retorted. How did you end here, Killi? I heard general noises about the car, but...
-Look, I was trying to get home, but I didn’t have any money or anything, nothing at all. I was desperate, okay? I just wanted to drive back to the village, that’s all. I’d never done anything like it before, so I screwed up and minutes after I was off with the car, the police were after me. I felt bad, so I didn’t go far after that and pulled over.
-So you were tried for that.
-I was tried for car theft and automobile homicide, sighed the flyer. I can’t... I can’t talk about that, though.
-Oh? Not that I want to pry, but...
-It’s... I want to, but I can’t, whispered Killi.
-Is there a way for us to talk more privately, I whispered in return.
-Yes. Marry me, Squall, called the ‘roo with a long wink. I’ve always loved you, marry me today, here and now!
-Of course I will, I replied as I put my hand against the glass in indirect contact with hers. Warden, can two souls wed in these walls this minute?
-I’ll contact the chaplain, said one of the attendants. Congratulations, sir, ma’am.
-Thanks, called Killi. Squall, we’ll talk after at the ‘personal time’.

We kept talking until the man of the cloth showed up, really going back to lighter notes of life, both hiding out real intentions from the guards and bonding, as it was. Other then being quite a nice girl, she was a real bundle of laughs, albeit when she needed to, she looked like she could be a serious sort. As we were both reeling in yaks from one of the flyer’s jokes about never having an alcoholic drink and ‘red wine’ from cellmates didn’t count, the chaplain showed up and under close surveillance, we did the walk to the chapel hand in hand. By our request, we didn’t do the full ceremony, just a reduced version, apparently not an unusual request and were given stainless steel bands to wear use of for a few bucks. With two wardens witnessing, we concluded the business in a darn passionate embrace ending with a long, tongue kiss that make me feel like a skinny midget with her looking down over six inches and squeezing me hard enough to make my back pop a bit.

As by custom, we were shown to the hotel-like room where newlywed jailbirds were allowed to spend the night, unofficially also to consummate their union. The only thing that maybe took away from the atmosphere was the barred window and the slightly disguised vaulted steel door. We sat on the bed and waited a few more minutes to make sure that we were really alone, then in a really cute move, I leaned over and kissed Killi on the cheek.

-Whoa, I’m your wife now, do it properly, she protested as she turned and offered her mouth.
-Yah, I said as I followed through. So, now we’re alone...
-Yes, nodded the flyer as she took a much more stern tone air. You see, when I was brought in after having been arrested for the car theft, a detective and his captain came in and told me that I had hit someone while I was rolling, so I’d be charged with his murder. I freaked out because I know and still would swear on the ancestors that I was completely alone out there, therefore couldn’t possibly have done that. I tried to tell them that, but the detective until he simply told me that it was a fact and if I ever tried to contest it, he’d made sure I would be in jail for the rest of my life. A few wardens here are friends of his, so I couldn’t even do anything here, either. I was so frustrated that I couldn’t even talk to anyone about what had happened to me, you can’t imagine! I suppose that’s why I’ve become so touchy in here. See, I got in a few scrapes and that just got me more time.
-You didn’t get hurt yourself though?
-They never even get close, smirked Killi. So you see, I’m really stuck. If I try to appeal, I’m not getting out. All I can do is try to live this through until they let me go.
-I don’t see it that way, I hummed as I let my hand slip under the back of her shirt and rubbed her back. You see, your family is part of a mafia clan now, and we have a lot of resources when it comes to doing our part to protect the innocent. With such, we could get to the bottom of this business of framing you for the murder and probably deposit a complaint for mistrial to spring you. As for the rest of your charges, we’d use the results of our search as blackmail material to get you out of those too.
-You really believe you can do all that? I don’t want to get my hopes up, but do you think it’s possible?
-It wouldn’t be the first time, but I’d need names to go on.
-Amiens, that’s the detective, and Josh Villamaria, his captain, spelled the flyer as I jotted down the names. Worst comes to worst...
-We pop there two clowns to send a clear message to the rest of their friends that you have important friends watching your back.
-Speaking of which, she giggled, your hand’s getting pretty high up mine. Just a second... and the stupid bra too. My mother never wore one of these, and I hate these cheap cotton things they give us.
-Holy mother of God, you’re strong, I muttered as I ran my paw over her trapeze. Beautiful goes without saying, of course.
-Off with yours, she called as she grabbed my polo and pulled it over my head. Well you should talk, you’re straight up ripped! Damned fine, squirrel, aren’t you? Just try to take me down. Bet you can’t!
-Easy, I said as I got to my paws, planted them on the ground and grabbing Killi around the chest just below her breasts to get a good lever against her center of mass, then pushed her down on the mattress.
-Aw, she moaned as I found myself pinning her down with her tits in my face, aren’t you ashamed to act so violently towards a woman?
-Considering that the woman in question could kick my tail up and down the outback any day of the week, I think I’m doing nothing but provoking her right now.
-Right you are, she said as she wrapped her legs around me and rolled over to pin me in turn. I think we’re evenly matched, sweetcakes. About that, let’s take a look.
-Oh dear, I whispered as she pulled my pants and briefs down, looks like I’m done for now.
-Done? Nah, you’ve just started, the flyer laughed as she took it all off, but in terms of doing, you’ve got a ‘roo to do right here. First off, even if I’ve gotten more licks, fingers and stuff, I’ve never had a dick in me, so don’t be shocked it you have some trouble.
-I admire your chastity, I said as I ran my fluffy tail between her legs.
-Quit stalling, she bitched as she took my rod and slammed herself down on it. Oh-oh! Oh now, that’s more like it! Sort of... like... nah, nothing like that.
-You’d better get ready for a workout, I grinned as I turned us over to be holding her in a sort of wrestling lock, her shoulders on the bed and her pelvis in the air so I could do her in an almost downwards direction. And here we go, boys and girls!
-O-whee, she called as she reached up to hold the back of her knees against her and curled her toes. Slap that on turbo, champ!

We went at it all over the room until finally finishing in a simple, loving missionary position on the bed (yes, ironic, considering my previous comments on the traveling padres). With everything that had to be said already said and our passions having drained our batteries, we migrated under the sheets and grasping close, slept off the rest of the day and night. Around six in the morning, a call came on the phone to warn us that Killi was expected to be ready to go at eight, giving us the impetus to go take a bath and get it together. By the time the wardens were knocking, we were waiting, playing with our bands. Parting quietly with blown kisses, I returned to the parking lot, thinking how I’d go about the mistrial’s rectification. Secrecy would be the most important thing, for even if Killi had given me a sarcastic grin when I’d advised her to me careful while I was fighting her battle, I knew that should I really blow it, she’d pay for my failure as much as me. I was pretty confident that with my career’s experience backing me up, it wouldn’t be too tough to get a hold of my two leads, though what I’d do with them after was an outstanding question. Through my trials and tribulations, I’d never had to be a part of an investigation and frankly, I didn’t gather I’d do too good a job at it either.

Everything qualified, I wouldn’t mind backup on this, probably another qualified soul that would support my efforts in a neutral fashion. I called up Bongo, asking him if in his queries in town when he’d set up the organization, he might have come across anyone who could fill those shoes and thankfully, his reply was positive. All he had was the phone number of a security professional, as he’d identified himself as, but Tracks, the point of the Broncos, had confirmed that he was legit and could be trusted. As soon as I’d finished with the Don, I dialed up the number, getting a nearly canine voice on the other end who seemed as friendly as it did calculating and methodical in conversation.

-Hello, this is Dhole, said the voice. Is this for business?
-Yes, I replied. It’s to provide close support during a Family investigation, with two police targets suspected of severe corruption.
-Good, good. In exchange for better relations with the clan, I’d be quite inclined to act for free, though the time I could grant would have to be reasonable, if you can understand.
-By better relations, you mean become a preferential contractor? That could certainly be arranged, I’m certain.
-Music to my ears. I’ll wait at Cafe Colombi in half an hour for us to meet and discuss this further. I don’t trust phones that much, to be honest.
-Me either. I’ll see you there, Dhole. Take care!
-You as well. In a few, friend.

I liked this creature’s easy, relaxed demeanor, though I knew full well that as in the case of any in his field, he could probably rock like nobody’s business. The invitation to meet was a positive show of trust though, something to appreciate for what it represented. It was a strong handicap for us to operate without a point man, someone like Tracks or Jumpy, who were used to more complicated problems like this, as for the moment, I was really the closest thing Rowan had to one, even before Bongo who for all his talk, had even less stomach for violence then me. My expertise would have to come with practice, I supposed. The delay that Dhole had given me was just enough for me to get to the cafe, and by the oddest of coincidences, as I was absent-mindedly opening the door of the establishment, I felt someone behind me accidentally put their paw on mine to keep it open. Turning around, I found myself almost nose to nose with a medium-set dhole with a golden earring on his left ear. As we both stepped in, I broke the silence.

-Sorry if I’m wrong, but I’m looking for an eponymous animal of your species. That wouldn’t be you, would it?
-Let’s get a drink and talk about that offer of yours, smiled the red-furred male. I’m an espresso man myself. You?
-Just a cup of black Mexican bean. Home country, so I’m biased, I suppose.
-Interesting origin, he said as we took a pair of seats. I’ve never seen that part of the world, just here and some of the African continent. I was in the armed forces for a few years until I could retire my commission, so as a peacekeeper, I saw some exotic places. Always felt better here, though.
-Born here too?
-Russia, but my folks moved here when I was a pup, so it’s all I remember. You?
-Oh, just a native who went to the big city to find a richer life and I came here looking for those elusive opals. Sort of what the clan is doing now, and quite well at that.
-It’s a good commerce when you have the luck to get you through. So, what can I personally do for you?
-Help me set things right and settle an injustice, I said as I explained the situation with Killi. Would you be willing to join this dance?
-Oh, of course, that’s not a problem, barked Dhole. I’d start with that Amiens fellow and save his boss for later when we’re ready for more in depth work.
-That was the conclusion I came to as well. So you’re not alone in life, I hope?
-Oh no, I live with my long-time girlfriend in town. Got a ride?
-Yep, the jeep here is mine. Well, the family’s but...
-I get your drift, laughed Dhole as he patted my shoulder.

Before getting in the vehicle, we looked up the detective’s rather unconventional name in the phone book we borrowed from the barrista, luckily only finding a single entry under it. The place was deep in the ‘burbs, just ideal, and there wasn’t anyone else listed under the address, reassuring us that under normal circumstances, barring the fact he was throwing a rave party in his basement or some obscenity of the sort, we should alone with him while we discussed our ‘roo’s case. We wouldn’t even bother abducting him, keeping it local and simple. To insure our privacy, we did a first drive-by past the house, pretending to me looking for a number on the other side of the street without paying too much attention to any one of them in particular. There was just a single car in the driveway and without a garage, things looked good. Parking at an angle behind him to insure he couldn’t make off in a hurry, we got out and went to the backyard, locating the patio door overlooking a freshly built deck, completely vacant. Most of the communication at that point was non-verbal, and as Dhole tested the doorknob of the fancy door, I stole a concrete frog-on-a-log ornament that if I wouldn’t have needed to break in the ingress, I wouldn’t have thought twice about throwing up on out of tacky-induced illness.

Holding it together, we took a running start down the deck with toothy grins and a lot less subtlety then it was safe to use, though as we slammed into the lock assembly with the makeshift battering ram, the door yielded and swung open as we’d hoped. Rushing around, my friend with a pistol and me with the tire iron from the jeep, we cleared the first level in seconds. Not slowing down in the least, we ran upstairs to catch the gerbil detective stepping out of his room with nothing on but a condom and his service gun, though before he had time to use it he’d felt my iron in his elbow and forearm three times, granting him all the pain he needed to be convinced to let his weapon go. Still taken aback by the invasion, he didn’t resist that much as Dhole kicked him back into the room. As we followed the tumbling rodent, we saw a calico cat queen in the bed, looking at us with a very entertained smile while I gave another kick into Amiens. Putting one and one together, Dhole looked around for the wad of cash the prostitute would have been promised, but came up empty handed until she intervened.

-He wasn’t paying me, said the cat. I was doing it so he wouldn’t arrest me like he said he would.
-Shut up, fucking slut, called the gerbil.
-No gent, are ya, Dhole whistled as he put a few toes into the detective’s gut.
-I got his wallet, I announced as I pulled it from a drawer of the dresser across the room. Here’s two hundred and his bankcard. What’s the combo, Amiens?
-What? Ow, he cried as my colleague gave a blow a bit lower then before. 01224!
-There, I said as I handed the dough and plastic to the woman as soon as she’d dressed back up. You didn’t see anything here, did you?
-Nothing at all, she replied as she fingered through the stash and left.
-What the fuck are you doing, called the detective we took a few ties and belts to bundle him up with.
-We’re here to talk to you about a case you supposedly solved three years ago, though we know for a fact that you played with the facts. Of course, seeing as how it’s likely you’re the one who committed the murder you pinned on the detainee, it’s pretty obvious why you did it.
-Hey, I’ve never done anything like that!
-We good walked in on a blatant abuse of authority just now and it’s not even noon yet, so pull the other one before you tell us that you walk the straight and narrow, cut Dhole.
-So, you had a couple of 4Xs on the shift when the radio was quiet, probably in your car, and suddenly, this call comes on about a car jacking. You fly off down the road like Ghost Rider with alcohol poisoning, then lo and behold, you turn someone into road kill. There’s no way you’re going to be caught in the state you’re in, so you keep going until you catch up with the perp. Just a moment’s pause after the race to clean off your bumper, then you prepare a good story to make sure that this little native trash you caught gets the fall. Sounds about right?
-Just hold on there! How did you get all this? I’m not admitting anything, but you’ve got me over the barrel here.
-You be we do, I grinned. Well, now that we got this story right and everyone’s on the level, let’s see how we can part ways without anyone having bad memories about today. Wouldn’t you know, we want the girl you pinned your little Death Rally on out of jail, because to honest, what you did ruined the last years of her life. Though I don’t think that it’s worth our time to appeal to your morality, I thought it might be courteous of us to tell you why we’ll be beating you into a pile of shit if you don’t fix this up in a serious hurry. 
-Yo, wait up! Fine, I’ll fess up - I did everything you said. But there’s nothing you can do to get her out, even if you beat the crap out of me.
-Actually, I wouldn’t say that, I hummed as Dhole slowly drew a cell phone out from aside him.
-I like mp3 phones, he chuckled as he stopped recording the conversation. I’m sure your captain will be happy to hear all that, so there’s for getting a mistrial declared. As for you, I think that we’re free to have a bit of fun.
-You know, I bet you’d look good as a tetherball, I started as I strapped a belt around the gerbil’s hands before hoisting him to pass the bind through one of the appendages of the heavy brass ceiling light that hung over his bed, then flipped the mattress out of the way as to give him nothing to hold on to unless he stood on his tippy toes.
-If you keep kicking, you’ll break the lamp, Dhole playfully reprimanded as he took two ties from the detective’s closet and strapped his feet and knees together. There, that ought to make sure you hang out here until your chums come to bust your ass. Can we use your phone?
-Listen, we can talk, called Amiens.
-That would have been the right thing to do three years ago I corrected as I gagged him. Now anything you say can and will earn you a kick in the ass. Hush, big people are talking.

I’ll skip the transcript of the exchange that we had with the gerbil’s superior, just because it went on for quite a while as he tried to downplay the severity of Killi’s conviction and attempted to secure our promise that should he retire the charges that stemmed from her unjustified time in prison, we would keep the story out of the media. There had been a few cases of native abuse in the last few years as some downright morons tried to play frontier lawmen in the city, and there had been just enough bad publicity as to the police’s inability to address the growing issue that any further case of it could well be the spark that lit the bomb which would see the most visible members of the force politically reprimanded or fired, this captain Villamaria included, nothing he was too anxious to have happen. I kept the pressure on him throughout the conversation, not directly telling him that no matter what he did, we’d go on the rooftops with a megaphone, but still pressing him to deal with us in all honesty. As I repeated to him, we both wanted for wrongs to be righted, nothing more, not viciously seek to throw anyone else in the slammer as a personal vendetta.

Well I shouldn’t say that, because to both the captain and us there was no reason why Amiens should be spared a good ass raping in jail for all he’d done, and considering that apart from the hoe blackmailing we’d witnessed, his boss knew of a few more incidents that he could have indicted the out of control rodent with, it would be well deserved. As we closed the discussion, Villamaria told me that he’d call a friend for a favor to have the remaining jail-time charges against Killi dropped, so if we went to the prison, chances were that she’d be a free woman by the time we got there. I didn’t want to jeopardize the successful negotiations hence I let him go and warned Dhole about what we’d traded across the phone line, signing for us to go before the captain sent people over to pick up the gerbil. As much as I would have liked to further repay him for his misplaced generosity, I really felt like I already missed the red ‘roo girl and leaving him hanging on (please laugh if you would), we hoped in the car and took off.

The same spot in the visitor’s lot that I’d taken before was vacant and tracing an arc with the tires’ rubber on the asphalt, I took it again. Dhole looked panic-stricken until the suspension settled again, giving a shake of his head with a smile as we did the walk into the reception area under a steady level of tension. There were plenty more people in line then yesterday, though we were to be spared the process as soon as Jean came up from her office with an empty coffee mug, looking like a bit of a wreck from her job. She did a double take as she saw us, breaking into a smirk as she waved for us to follow her as she filled her cup from a carafe on the visitor’s courtesy cart.

-I don’t know how you did it, said the mare. First I see Killi on a marriage certificate that came through the administration, then a friend from the academy calls me as a friend to ask if I could bump her subsequent convictions on the basis that she shouldn’t even have been in prison when they occurred. Anyway, it sure clears up a lot of questions about that ‘roo. Well, your wife, I should say, with congratulations, and pardon my wit, best of luck.
-I take it in the best possible way, I laughed. So as per these arrangements, Killi’s free to go?
-Free as the wind and the rain. I’ll have her shown here right away. I wish all our ladies here had a fellow like you, Squall.
-Things would have been easier at this end of things would some of the wardens not have been cooperating with the guy that put Killi in here.
-Damn, it’s not enough I need a dozen new employees, I can’t even count on the ones I have, cursed Jean. Do you have names?
-My wife will know, I replied. Hmm, I hear something.
-Squall, I heard Killi cry out as I shot to my paws. Squall, ancestors bless you!
-Killi, I called in turn as I hugged the red ‘roo tight, you’re free, love. Look, before we leave, could you tell Jean here who the guards that helped Amiens out from inside were?
-Some, she said as we sat down, but a few I just know by face. I stayed away from them, you know.
-I have the yearly roster right here, said the mare as she took a heavy binder a shelf behind her and passed it to Killi. I’ll just call my assistant to second me for your statement.
-Preparing for war, Jean?
-These guys and gals will be examples for the course books, she snarled and hinnied. They’re going down, hard.

Within half an hour, the ‘roo had identified five wretches from the book for prosecution and had written a statement she gracefully signed before giving it to Jean’s care. After sharing a last round of handshakes and very discretely trading the Family’s number for the mare’s in case she needed any ‘special help’ sometime, we stepped out of the prison and strapped into the jeep to get to a local mall so Killi could get threads to replace the white jumpsuit she donned, as well as regroup over a warm meal to decide what we’d do next.

Now sporting a black tank top under a white shear blouse with matching heavy cotton pants (note the lack of mention of a bra), my wife made a strong case for a return to the village between bites of the vegetarian spaghetti she was gutting. Dhole didn’t mind the destination either, but voiced that he needed a ticket back home after his meet and greet with the rest of our posse, hence as we continued the meal with dessert, he went to get a rental to pilot. In his absence, the mood between Killi and me took over as we held hands across the table where our mound of ice cream sat.

-So here I am, free at last, heading home with a good husband, she said. Hard to grasp all that, though I do like the way this is going. You... you do love me, right? Fine, it was a bit of a quick call to get married, but...
-Killi, I whispered as I moved to sit on the bench aside her, I couldn’t have imagined I’d ever meet someone so special and sweet at you, let alone fall in love with her an marry her. I couldn’t be happier that fate’s put us on the same wagon on the express train to happiness.
-Nice way to put it, she sighed as she snuggled into me.  I suppose that destiny and love is the only reasonable explanation, if you looked at it from tail to ears. Otherwise, there’s not much to explain why someone would put it all on the line to try to spring someone they’ve never met and who’s only knowledge of is from her parents that he’s only known for a few short months.
-Reason and calculated consideration has never been part of my great, life-defining choices. It just sort of bats me around and I try to bounce.
-Bounce, the red ‘roo called as she gave me a quick shove.
-Wee, I said as I returned upright. I’m going to have to start pulling weights to keep up!
-All right, cut it out you two, laughed Dhole as he came back, tossing keys in his hand. I’m ready to go, if you two are in the mood for a bit of driving.
-Hired something fun to ride, I asked as I put some bills on the table, or did they hand you something they’d prefer you lose in the wilds?
-Something in between choices A and B, he replied as we returned to the parking where he pointed to a Rav 4 aside our jeep. On the plus side, it rolls and still has decent shocks.
-Ha, we’ll skip the rock hopping, I said as I pushed our car’s suspension up and down a bit to show off how stiff it was.

I was conscious that it was a bit late in the day to head back, but with Killi’s enthusiasm about going home, a night at a hotel would have been stretching her patience for nothing. As soon as we were out of town, she reclined her seat and closed her eyes, doing as good an impression of a solar collector as her mother could to catch the rest of the day’s rays. Just to make sure she was still with us as well as to kill the monotony, I reached over now and again to rub her stomach, getting plenty of giggles in return. Two hours later, the moon relieved the sun of it’s duty and the temperature dropped, confirmed as my wife took the coverall tarp from the back and threw it over herself with a joke about having forgotten that it falls below fifteen outside of jail and that she’d been well off getting a coat while we were at the mall. I lost the pleasure of her company soon after that as she curled up in the cover and slipped under the spell of the night right up to the moment we hit the village. Through her unconscious state, she must have been listening to the car, as for the second I had turned off the ignition aside Adoni’s, she came back around. Killi’s timing was perfect, just getting out of the car in time to see Adoni and Arinya coming out of the home, the older flyer running to hug her daughter.

-Killi, exclaimed Arinya. I missed you, Killi, we all did!
-Killi, Adoni stated in an almost hesitant tone, are you really free? Squall, is she...
-It was all a misunderstanding, I nodded. We’ll tell you all about it, though...
-Come in, invited the boomer, giving me a pretty wet hug as he guided me in. Is that a ring? Who’s... Killi? Are you two married?
-Yes father, blushed the girl. We love each other, the nutty squirrel and me.
-My dearest, you confuse you poor old father, but he’s proud and happy to have you back. You’re a friend of our friend, dhole?
-That’s the way of things, nodded the canine.

The rest of the evening was a real roller coaster with  bursts of joy for all the god that had come to those present in the home, doubling as Maka and Miki  came over, to fierce hatred as the reasons for Killi’s extended stay in prison, though those were tempered with the account of Amien’s just end. Sure, Arinya and Adoni were stunned by everything, but at this point, we were all as dizzy from the intense chain of events and in the end, the calm that had been so hard earned though our work was all that mattered to anyone. With Miki and Maka out of the house as their eyes struggled to stay open from fatigue, there was an extra room handy to replace Killi’s old one that had since been converted into a storage room, so as we all fell to the same curse as the brothers, the ‘roo girl and I had somewhere to stay while the good dhole stayed passed out on the sofa he’d squatted during the reunion. A complete mirror image from the torrid time we’d had in the prison room, we stayed quiet as we simply held under the sheets, feeling our nude bodies share warmth in the utmost serenity.

The night was interesting, though, moreover for the dreams I had then anything physical. For some reason, through my mind’s imaginings, I relived my recent years in a sort of stop-motion fast-forwards, some sort of comfort from the gods that I had really experienced reality and not some grand illusion that would so easily vanish in the first glimmer of morning. Nothing did so, not Killi or me and after waking to witness the first movements of the flyer as she heard me hum a short opera piece I’d memorized so long ago. I reached up and scratched the top of her head, carefully. Her eyes opened faster then lightening and just as fast, we’d gotten into a Greco-Roman wrestling stance aside the bed, trying to toss the other back into it. I submitted after a few minutes, feeling Killi pushing me harder and harder such that I knew that should I weaken even for a second, my chuckling flyer would be tossing me like a football. Breaking her hold, she dropped in a pushup-jump to end on her hands and knees, right in position as she started giving me a gentle oral job, nothing too intense to indicate she intended for it to lead to a relation, just something for the fun of it. I gave a cough to get her attention before getting on the ground as well, pulling under her to feel her breasts against my abs while I raised her tail and went for her clit.

Almost like kids fooling around behind their parents’ backs, we didn’t last much longer then the first few sounds from Adoni and Arinya for who, though unspoken, it would have been embarrassing to find their family friend and daughter in out present state of affairs. Their reaction to our return had been better then anything I could have hoped for, really, but the way we stuck together and never missed a chance to do something kind and affectionate for one another spoke long about our love and respect. It was cute to see the flyer’s parents’ sympathetic gestures as well, holding hands and hugging after some glance at us of some unheard whisper between them, those of a proud couple looking at their child successfully pass another milestone in her life.

As we were leaving the house to go out and about, I saw Bongo parking another jeep aside a group of villagers who took it to get to work, leaving him to come over to see the ‘roos and me. His first words after a polite greeting was a question about how my tour in town had gone, and introductions between him, Killi and Dhole as well as a show of our bands was all that was given in reply before the cat started babbling all sorts of congratulations as well as those of the entire Family in their present absence.

-Blimey, youse two are great, pure acid! One of the late teams told us through the public billboard that you were back, so I though I might pop by because really early this morn, like four or something like, we got a call from someone called Jean, another dame I figure, telling us that she sort of needs our help, with you as her contact with us. Darned if we knew what to make of it, not that we’re not up for giving her a hand, but we didn’t have the bloodiest who she was, so we told her you’d call back. Here’s a sat phone, if you like.
-Jean’s the director of a prison in Sydney, I commented, a two-day old sister in arms I traded cards with. She’s tight, no problem. I’ll give her a shout.
-Acid, replied the cat as he went off to talk to Adoni while Killi came to lean over my shoulder to listen in as I dialed the prison’s number.
-Director Jean Hallaway, Burlington penal institute.
-Hello Jean, it’s Squall. How are you, good mare?
-Gah, I’ve been better. I’m really sorry to call you so soon and ask for aid, but I’m in a bad spot. I had the wardens Killi listed to us arrested during the night, save for two, and during the time it took us to get the others, a prisoner transport went missing. Put it together and we have a hostage situation with two disgruntled guys that know the system inside and out.
-No communication from them yet?
-No, which probably means they’re still getting set up, the greatest time to get them off guard. The police and our guys will only negotiate when there’s a call, and to be honest, with the history that’s been written at the prison recently, my head’s on the block. Any way you look at it, I’m out of here in the very near future, but I’d rather do it my head held high on a high note.
-So we take care of two wardens gone wild on a joyride, then you give your notice?
-Please, added Jean. I’ll already be going with some rough notes in my dossier because of a few escape attempts and riots that this is too much to find another job with.
-Want to join us? We’re on the lookout for bright, dedicated people with your kind of strength and honor if you’d like a change of pace.
-No kidding around?
-Serious.
-So how does one fill out an application, asked the mare, just like that? Sorry to have to ask, but I really never explored the possibility.
-You just did, I answered. There’s no politics or paperwork with the Family, just the right people going out of their way to do the right thing. We’ll get something together, so sit tight for more, Jean.
-I’ll be camping by the phone in my office, assured the woman. Talk to you soon!

No later then the first few lines of my explanation later, two jeeps were shooting back for the city, the six hour drive too long for all of us as the level of anxiety rose to a new high, especially with Adoni and Arinya having joined us, rather out of refusal to let us go off and risk our safety again without putting in their own swords in the fire too. We stopped only a single time, at the mercantile that we usually did business with and who we didn’t think would ask too many questions as I went in with Bongo and Dhole to basically buy their gun display, giving us four rifles and as many pistols to handle. The ‘roos looked more terrified then ever as we came back and slung the wares in the back of our jeep, but transitioned to steely determination as I explained that our hopes of negotiating with the two ex-wardens were nil and that innocent lives would almost certainly suffer should we simply stand by and let them be, and that a good friend relied on us to save her honor, basically. As we passed the approximate mark in our minds that represented an hour between Sydney, and us I called in to Jean, getting a coordinate from her using the passive GPS unit that had been place with forethought in the jail vehicle. What really threw me off was the fact that it had apparently not stopped moving until very recently, either meaning that the wardens had been putting some mileage on their ride, or that they’d disconnected it and placed it in another moving target of some sort, which meant that our fastest and safest way of finding them was gone, seriously hampering our operation.

We were about twenty minutes into the denser streets of what mostly looked like distribution centers for larger trucking companies when we pretty much sighted what would be the best estimate of where the signal could be coming from. A flour plant spanning about a block to a side, looking like it had been left unused for a good few years, was the only thing that could correspond to the ping, though we couldn’t follow it as the crow flies with any sort of confidence that we wouldn’t run into anyone we didn’t want to. Overall, the silence of the plant was daunting, as was the size of the place in general and by logical extension, the possible locations where a bus could have been hidden. There was no knowing if the pair we were going for were armed, just to make it easier, aside from the batons and mace Jean told us they normally kept in the transport in case things got wild during their run. Scooping the place out was faster in the car, in addition to the limited but yet useful protection it granted and the fact we could use it as a mobile bunker with our barrels on the windowsills to get a steadier bead. But without targets, beads were useless and we didn’t get any sign of life for minutes on end. Maka’s sight was the first to see our bus between two rusty containers in a loading dock a bit apart from the others around back, apparently empty.  Rather then give more time for our prey to see us, Bongo made the jeep dart over to end up aside the stolen vehicle, waving for us to unload in a hurry.

Formed into a strange grouping that gave us riflemen a better view to the front then our less experienced ‘roos, we moved in, keeping every sense on red alert for even the most subtle disturbance. After all, save for any homeless that would have taken up quarters under the roof, no one would have any reason to be around. My tail gave a short flail as I heard a footfall on the dry concrete floor up ahead, though the team was so on edge that the quick move was all the incentive Dhole and Bongo were looking for to get in a diagonal line to my right as for us to completely cover the side of the workshop we were in.

For the shortest instant, I could have sworn I saw a face at one of the window of the smaller bays that were built into the shop’s side. I didn’t need to say or do anything this time, but joined the crescent we’d unintentionally formed around the unit, sort of slumped to better deal with its door. Waiting for nods all around, Dhole violently opened it and almost immediately we had our hardware training on a skunk male and female, the latter in a prisoner’s jumper and the former still wearing the pants and undershirt of a warden’s uniform. The female looked completely confused, awkwardly hiding her face from us with her hand and forearm, muttering as it to herself. The male moved as to separate us from her, and even is unarmed, had a look of steep resolve not to let us harm her. A short frown from Dhole as he made his own review of the scene ruined that courage though, replaced by a saddened face with a few silent tears on his muzzle.

-Please, the skunk started, please don’t hurt her. She’d my cousin - she’s really retarded. She doesn’t understand what’s happening. Just let her go, please! I’ll stay - just let her go.
-You took the bus to get her out of prison, I nodded.
-She doesn’t know what’s going on, reiterated the skunk. Look, she was in a special home for creatures like her and a doctor tried to, you know, abuse her. She panicked and pushed him away, but she’d stronger then she knows and he fell through it four stories.
-I didn’t mean it, whined the woman, I’m sorry, Andy. I didn’t...
-It’s okay, Eve, it’s okay. They tried her without contacting us, and next thing I know, I get her name on a run to the institution. She can’t go there, man! Do you know how she’ll get treated in there? She can’t deal with that!
-Okay, okay, I sighed as I took my rifle off the pair and indicated to the rest to do the same. I’ll call Jean to discuss this and find a solution.
-Jean? You mean head warden Hallaway?
-She’s the one you’ll be thanking for us to have found you rather then the bluecoats, I replied. Now where’s the other guy you were with? I know you were both in cahoots to keep Killi here under water for a certain detective, so let’s not play stupid.
-He’s gone, he ran off. We dropped off the rest of the inmates along the way here. I just wanted for Eve to be safe, but I know I’ll do time now. That’s fine with me.
-The road to Hell is paved with good intentions, I cringed. I don’t even care to image the potential consequences of your jailbreak adventure, but since the ones for accepting to spy on inmates are probably impressive by themselves, you’ll already be in the cage, so you might get lenience. As for your cousin, like I said, this isn’t reasonable, so she’ll probably be released back into another home, maybe in another nearby city so her accident doesn’t haunt her, though the record about that would need to be set straight. You have family here?
-Yeah, a big one. So you’ll help Eve?
-I’ll call Jean right now, I answered as I stopped out of the room while the others stood by to keep an eye on the skunks, now sort of hugging as Eve calmed down.
-Head warden Hallaway, the mare replied. Wh – Squall, is that you squeaking?
-Ha ha, you bet, Jean. I bring mixed news. We found the bus, for starters.
-Oh thank God! You have the wardens?
-One of them and one of the women. She’s his cousin and even if she’d severely mentally challenged, she was tried and convicted in an attempted rape turned manslaughter, as a normal adult. I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but it would be more humane for her to be pardoned and transferred to an institution rather then a jail cell. Don’t get me wrong though, the warden’s busted.
-We’ll have her under observation at the general hospital’s psych ward, but I’ll tell my replacement to transfer her and take care of her case. He’s an ex-judge with a great rep, so don’t worry, it’ll happen. Where are you?
-I’ll send you the GPS, I said as I repeated the coords.
-Nice! I’ll send a retrieval over. And as for the rest of the inmates and the other warden..?
-Running around town, apparently. With the time that’s gone by, they can’t have dug in too much. I’ll send out a few contractors to pick them up on bounty. That usually gets very fast results so I wouldn’t be surprised if we get results by tonight, actually. So, do I have a happy mare over there?
-Heckies yeah! I’ll put my papers in for my resignation and take the rest of my time in vacation. Hey, could you follow the transports in? We could all go out for something, because I don’t even intend to finish the day here.
-I suppose so. In a bit, Jean!

The mare must have told the wardens to step or even stand on it as we didn’t even have time to take the edge off from the mission and let our adrenaline drop off before the second bus showed up and half a dozen of the prison employees came to personally fetch the skunks, then drive away both of their licensed vehicles, in about as much of a sullen silence as in a serious hurry. Rather then sit around with our thumbs up our noses, we hustled to get back in the jeep formed up behind to hook up with Jean, but off the record also to help with the traffic as we used the convoy to legally blow some reds along the way.

Our good soon to be ex-warden was sitting on one of the concrete pylons outside the visitors’ center with her muzzle in her hand. Though we might have been able to see the transports go in and finish it in that sunset, I sort of felt we’d had enough drama for the day and patted Bongo’s shoulder with a short recommendation to put it aside the mare’s hangout. Her transition from sitting to upright to running for us was executed so fast that Dhole just had time to come on the second row of seats before she did a sort of hedge jump over the door to land in the passenger seat, rocking the feral cat in his own. Bongo was too concerned with cracking jokes about the sudden Olympic-quality display to be disturbed by it in any negative way, so with a hinny from Jean, we spun it and made for home base.

Where that would be was to be put to come contest though, seeing as how we had Dhole and Jean living in Sydney while the rest of us lived in the sunburned plain. Trading notes about where everyone called home, Dhole and Jean ended up realizing that they were on two intersecting streets to the north, five hundred meters apart at the most. Still, the mare’s residence was tiny apartment she told us she nicknamed her cell, as the size of the bedroom was about the same as one of the inmate’s quarters at the prison and seeing how it was the largest room of the 3 ½, she couldn’t possibly most all of us with any sensible level of comfort for any length of time. On the upside, it meant she could gut it in so time should she need to move, something she made clear she would have liked to if we had another place to offer her.

-I’m up for a change, she called to us. Since I won’t be working in a jail anymore, I don’t see why I should continue to live somewhere that looks like it’s part of one either. Is there any real estate by your mine there, Bongo boy?
-Ha, at least you didn’t say Boy Bongo, said the cat as he flicked a limp wrist, or I’d be defending my manhood here. Well, I think that it’s a bit crowded at the mine itself now, but if you have any ideas, Adoni...
-If you get a mobile home and drive it out to our village, you’re more then welcome to join us, said the ‘roo. If Aboriginal Affairs come by, just duck and we’ll tell them the native lives at your place is off on a trip somewhere.
-Jimi could maybe get a call in for one of those, I added, and even take that place of yours off your hands.
-I’ll have to go and say ‘yes’ to the whole series of generous offers and start handing our thanks, said Jean as she started laughing. That’s all fine with me! I’ve always wanted to have a cottage somewhere out in the bush, so there’s one ambition satisfied right there!
-Plus, being with a bunch like us will probably teach you all you’ve ever wondered about our culture, added Maka. Where are we going now?
-Mine, waved Dhole. You can hit the highway from the off ramp down my street after. I’ll be splitting, if it’s all the same to you.
-No worries, I returned, and check your account when you have a chance.
-The Easter Squirrel left some goodies in there?
-Oh, you’d get a good case of diabetes if you spent all of it on sweets.

Contrary to Jean’s, Dhole’s casa was a grandiose loft that he’d already paid for in full in a 60/40 split with his girlfriend, not too heavy a financial burden considering that he had his military pension and the income from his second career to play around with. As we followed him inside after a ride in what looked like a cargo elevator that had been fixed up to somewhat conceal it’s original calling, we saw a wild dog bitch sitting in the kitchen with a bottle of red wine and orange juice, apparently making some sort of mixed drink from the two. Dhole gave a high-pitched bark chaining into a long howl she answered to with two barks as she looked to us.

-Hey Patch, said our host, say hello to my latest employers.
-Cheers, the woman replied as she gave us a toast before slugging her glass. Man, we got this one just in time! Any longer and this bottle would be battery acid.
-The OJ takes the edge off that taste?
-That’s the idea, she smiled. Hey, I blew the cork apart when I opened it, so there’s no sense sparing it. House specialty all around?
-Sure, nodded Killi. I have to say that you really know how to make folks feel welcome.
-Ah, it’s the whole platoon mentality thing, the dog stated as she handed out the happy juice.
-So you were in the army too, asked Bongo, or is it just by osmosis with Dhole here?
-Ten years Special Forces, retired, answered Patch. I did casualty extraction on the front line. I took my leave when I got hit while pulling some guys out in Timor a few years ago.
-Nothing too serious, I hope, Killi commented.
-Well, serious enough, she said as she came out from behind the counter and raised her pant leg to show she was sporting a knee-down prosthetic. I saw three high-caliber holes in the side door of the Little Bird I was flying and then I couldn’t feel anything from here down. That was all I was aware of, because I went into shock from the trauma. My medic, the copilot, took over and got us to a field back, but it was already too late to save my paw. I’m so used to it now that I can’t say I really mind anymore.
-So you’re a helicopter pilot, I said. Better then planes?
-Any day of the week if you ask me, grinned Patch. That’s still what I do. I have an Augusta Westland 109, from the older series, I use to do tours of the region and Outback with, but since the price of petrol and all that went up, I didn’t have a choice but to raise my tolls a bit, so my clientele base isn’t what it used to be. I go by bookings and even if I really charge rock-bottom prices, they’re not going on the rise. Trouble is the Wite Cloud is going to need some major maintenance I’ve been putting off way too long in the very near future, and my company funds aren’t there to do it. I could put some of my cash into it again, but just throwing money into something that can’t hold it’s own is sort of stupid. It pisses me off, because I would have thought it would have gone a bit better.
-We’d have some business for you if you were willing to do longer runs.
-How long?
-Well, the round trip would be twelve hundred kilometers, give or take. It would mostly be cargo, consisting of opal shipments from our mines, more valuable pieces, though more often it would be equipment and people. We’d be looking at four or five trips a week, top dollar. We’ve never operated on the cheap, and we’re not interested in starting now.
-Wow, that’s all the flight time I usually get in my best weeks, startled Patch. Even if this is a firm offer and all, I don’t think you know the detail that there are just a few helicopters that can do over nine hundred clicks on a refuel with auxiliary reserves when they’re full. Mine just does about nine fifty empty, and I don’t have reserves. If you’d want me to fly, you’d need to have a fuel reserve over there for me to tank back up before coming back.
-So there’s no chopper that can do it in a single shot?
-Nah. Sorry...
-No, no, it’s fine; I have another idea. What if we set up a service station at our central mine, and we hire you to disserve all three mines we run, so you just have one or two flights into town a week to worry about?
-You mean for me to do freight runs? All right, she grinned as she sat up on the counter, let’s talk real business here. First off, my bird is a twenty-year-old used model from an oil company that used it to survey platforms routinely. It’s tired from the heavy mileage, which is one of the reasons why I got it for as cheap as I did. That means that I don’t see myself being able to fly it for more then maybe three more years before I have so much service to do that it’s hardly with it to keep it in the air anymore, and that was as a tourist rig. Second, fuel is about eight to nine hundred dollars for a full tank. It’s not cheap. Still not scared?
-No, not really, I said. Here’s my offer; we’ll give you ten million over two years to buy a new helicopter that can do the job, plus twenty thousand dollars a week for your salary and expendables. I think that means you could expect to make about half a mil. That would be about twice what we’d pay you too if you choose to sign on with us proper, Dhole. So?
-Sorry, I just have to go change, Patch said with a flushed look as she held her pants’ seat a bit away from herself.
-Wow, I never saw that, Dhole stated. My answer would be a yes, as you could have guessed, and I think that hers will be too...
-It is, the bitch cried out as she ran back into the room with a new pair of jeans. Please forget that just happened, but you have to understand, I never heard of amounts like that. Not wanting to sound like a hick, but you guys must be pretty gosh darned rich!
-Last time I checked, I think we were at about six hundred mil, I hummed. It’s the real estate and property management that’s really bringing in the cash, though some of our other activities that I won’t mention in good company contribute generously. So, when would you be ready to start? Not that I want to push you, but I don’t know how much time a helicopter takes to be shipped.
-It depends. Sometimes some companies have contract refusals that they put on sale. Can we go look? I know a few websites that might be a good start.
-I’m with you, I said as I followed the dog to her office while the rest continued to party in the loft’s agora. So, have any particular set of dream rotors you want to look at?
-Well, I’ve always loved Augusta, and they have larger models, you know, she commented as we hunkered in front of her workstation. Let’s see now, there’s a 139 on sale with maxed-out fuel cells, so that’s pretty much what we’re talking about.
-They say to call for the price, I pointed out. Care to?
-I’ll go get my cellular, she stated, just be a second.
-But there’s a regular line right there...
-I guess it’s time for the last cover to drop, Patch sighed. Heart to heart here, and I’m sure that Dhole wouldn’t have told you, we bled ourselves dry to get this loft. Everything in here we really bought bit by bit, because it’s hard to make ends meet when you’re working off a pension. I mean a pension’s just that, something to help you cover the costs of relaxing and taking it easy, not living a busy life like us. Because I haven’t been able to get good bookings lately, I haven’t been drawing my salary from my company, and Dhole hasn’t gotten a job with his security thing in just under a year. I mean it’s not like there are that many places that are looking for someone with his specialty without the formal training and certificates to back it up, so it’s been hard. We missed a few bills here and there, though we sort of sacrificed the phone by accident. We owe then a bundle, so until we make good on that in addition to penalties, the line’s dead. I still have this cell from my company, though.
-Now I understand why he was willing to take the gamble and do some work for free to get some promises from us, I nodded. I’m sorry to see you faced with this, Patch.
-It comes to down to the fact that we’re really very ready to take a chance on you guys because we’re sick of living on the day to day and not being able to plan for a real retirement eventually. If you need any sort of proof that we’re as serious as you are, let’s have it and we’ll give it.
-All I need from you is the promise that you won’t toss me out of the door the one time I manage to fall asleep on your helicopter, I laughed. Here’s my phone, send that call out.
-I still haven’t promised anything, smirked the wild dog.
-I’ll live on the edge for the moment, I replied.

The high-pitched yelping that Patch gave while she waited for the other party on the line to answer was so funny that I had to leave the room for a minute while I tried to make myself stop laughing, to the point that Killi came over to ask if I was all right. Keeping quiet for a second, she also heard the up and down pings Dhole’s girl gave, pushing us both over the line. The ‘roo didn’t leave me, slumping against he wall aside me as we listened in to the telephone conversation, most of it completely incomprehensible to us, though when she stated that she’d need a second to get her things to make good on the deposit, I hopped in and took over, arranging a money order to cover it, as well as another for the full amount of eight million once we had the helicopter in front of us with the keys in our hands. The seller didn’t have the least problem with that arrangement, even offering any other bells and whistles we might like to have at a bargain price. I reached over to take Patch’s paw and brought her over so we could both have an ear near the receiver, letting the good salesman list what he could offer and if the wild dog gave a thumbs-up, called to tack it on. The extras wouldn’t take too long to install, from what he told us, and assured shipment within the week to the woman’s usual airfield as soon as we faxed the contract back and forth.

As the call ended, Killi and I found ourselves with a spring-loaded chopper pilot calling to high heavens that we rocked like no one’s business hugging us and soon breaking into a run to get her to the living room, launching onto Dhole, who didn’t have time to bark before he was smashed into his couch with Patch sitting on him, explaining in pretty incoherent words that she had a new toy. Not that he didn’t look impressed, but after a few intense seconds of Patch’s healthy madness, he picked her up, carried her to the kitchen sink and putting her head under the tap, sort of hosed her down a bit until she broke into chuckles and settled down.

Settle down was the opposite of what things did in the two follow days, pretty much one of the most intense periods we’d had to deal with as we got things set up for the supporting facilities for the AW139 at the mine, though Rowan was all over it, running around like a crazed hen to try and make everything happen. Though I’d sort of acted without telling him until I advised him that we’d bought the vehicle and it was coming over within the next seven days, he had just jumped into cartwheels, more then a little happy to have something else then our jeeps to do some of the heavier hauling, as well as a way to get around faster in case we needed to. At the same time, a new four-room mobile home had been driven into Adoni’s village, along with its proprietor. Jean’s welcome was just super, especially after she met up with a few of the locals and bought some of the basics she needed for the place, though of course a lot of it she would have to get shipped over in due time to replace the fold-out furniture and metal cabinets we lent her from the mine. As a late addition, Rowan had a wind-powered turbine sent over and installed in the village, the former one that was part of an order of six he’d placed for our operations and had ended up storing as a spare in case we had a breakdown.

Even if she had left the big city for the open Outback, I couldn’t see Jean as having lost that many of the luxuries that she was used to, and seeing her gray silhouette mingle with the red kangaroos freely and without any sort of hesitation, it was clear that she’d have a grand time living at the village. Furthermore, seeing the looks that Bongo gave her every time the two were around, I wasn’t worried that she’d be lonely for too long, aye! For my part, I tried to regain some sort of balance with this blizzard going on, as well as remembering that we had guests coming from Miami that evening, and we had sort of neglected to arrange for their housing. With everyone we had just welcome into our folds and the new activities we took on, the rest of the free space that we might have had was gone, so the only option was for them to stay in the city, nothing that I suspected they would be cross about. I booked them three rooms at a better hotel, including all the meals they might need and a few free movies, so they had nothing to worry about from the moment they landed. That done, I drove the way to personally meet them with Killi who, in so short a time, had really made a niche for herself as my lieutenant, as much a paranoid and worrybe as me about the safety of the Family, who we finally decided to dub the Bandicoot Clan, out of respect for Rowan. I introduced her more formally to firearms the pervious evening, nothing she seemed to have a huge proficiency at, but still seemed to take seriously enough.

As much as I thought about her protection, I knew this little outing was nothing dangerous, just business. After all, anyone who Ulrich trusted enough to call his own was no one we had to worry about trying anything hostile towards us, in theory, anyway. Time was sort of short as we rolled in, so we made straight for the airport and waited for the flight to land, a mark that came just minutes after we’d sat down and caught our breaths. Being sort of a tradition for members of our organizations to spare themselves the trouble of customs and the like, it was to be expected that the chances that the delegation would come through the same corridors as the other passengers was rather slim. Indeed, they proved to be nil as we saw a hyena, a ram, a wolf and a gazelle come out of a staff-only corridor with nothing to indicate that they had any link of employ with the enterprise. I walked over quickly with a half friendly, half serious air and introduced myself, getting a few handshakes as presentations as I got confirmation that they were indeed who we thought.

-It’s interesting to visit such a place as this, said the ram. I’m Helix, one of Ulrich’s front line. That’s my mate Gevaudan, and these good ladies are Eshe and Cassa. Cassa’s a first rate accountant, who I’m sure will be able to offer plenty of insight into your issues here.
-I hope I will, seconded the gazelle with a grin, but I’ll have to see what I’m dealing with first. Any large financial moves recently?
-We just bought a helicopter, I grinned, cash. Does that count?
-All right, this ought to be pretty interesting, she smirked.
-So where are you situated, asked the wolf, here in Sydney?
-Partially, but our main concerns are opal mines a few hours from here. We have a hotel set up for you nearby, if you’d like to put yourselves a bit more at ease.

We’d done the smart thing and left the jeep in a lot about half a block from the last stop on the route of the airport shuttle in Ramsgate, just a quick run away from the hotel. Our only real pause was when we passed by a sign marking the neighborhood and Helix insisted that the wolf take a photo of him aside the sign for his own albums, too good a joke to pass on, obviously. The rest was well-timed, just slowing us enough to walk into the hotel as the sun passed over the horizon in a explosion of colors, deserving of another series of pictures from Gevaudan before we went on in. Also, it was to be timed to coincide with another situation, though this time of an entire different kind. Now to sort of put things into context, I had looked up the hotel a bit and seen what sort of reviews it got, in case that they had been fronting and it was actually a roach motel that no sane mind would have put a paw in. From what I’d read, it had always been pretty predictable and always equal to itself, but in the last year, they’d sort of gone a bit down, not in a really dramatic way, but still not quite what people who booked it expected. I’d decided that, Hell, it was worth the gamble for the rebate that they gave for week-long stays, sort of a five-nights-will-get-you-seven sort of deal, and for all the reviewers said, I had a feeling that they’d all conspired to bring the place down or something. Still, they’d lost a star, going from four to three, nothing that any institution would brag about.

There was something off when we walked over to the front desk, with a platypus in a nice suit talking very seriously with the attendant, repeatedly pointing to somewhere in the building, almost visibly loosing his shit as they talked. I caught a lot of it, enough to understand what was going on.

-He’s nuts, said the platypus, but fuck, we can’t call the police! This is the last thing we need!
-Sorry to intrude, I said with a smile, but is there anything we could do to help? Someone needs removal here?
-Holy shit mother of fuck, yes! There’s a freaking head case that blew some guy away in a room on the third floor and locked himself in. I think he’s going to commit suicide or something, but all I care is that we have a crowded hotel that heard a pair of shots and calls have been coming in like nuts about that. We’ve managed to convince them that it was just a water pipe that’s being removed and it’s just working noise, but now we have an armed maniac in a room we can’t deal with! I mean come on, we already got our ass ripped a while back, and the last thing we need is another story like this! Sorry, sorry. I’m out of line here. Please, don’t worry; I’ll see to your room. What was your reservation?
-Oh, wait up, pointed Helix, what room is this?
-312, grumbled the platypus as he ran a paw over his face with a just incensed air. Still care?
-Yep, I said as I just poked the pistol I’d packed behind my beach bum shirt. You got something on you, guys?
-Sure, Helix smirked as Gevaudan, Eshe and he repeated my gesture, though only the two last were silenced. Got extra pillows or pop bottles?
-Uh-ah, just a moment, said the creature as he scampered to the concierge’s office and returned with a few old pillows. Will these do?
-Nice! Now, we’ll also need a box of garbage bags, I declared before turning to Helix. We don’t have a housekeeping expert here.
-It’s fine, we’ve done it too, he returned as Killi got the bags from the platypus. Let’s go!
-And of course, this is between us, Gevaudan shot to the hotel employees.
-We owe you a serious bunch, the latter nodded as he leaned on the counter. I’m Gunther Spiegelmann. Call for me when you’re done, please.
-Interesting start, the wolf chuckled as we all boarded the elevator.

As we reached the level, we saw that a few bell boys had sort of irregularly congregated to block off the corridor where our target room was located, though as we drew and quietly voiced our intentions, they backed off to let us pass. We weren’t going to play around, just go in and take out the mark. On two, Gevaudan and I shot out the lock, having the highest caliber weapons, opening the way for us all to flood inside and as we all saw our intended victim sitting in front of the TV with a revolver under his chin, we opened up a barrage that shredded him in seconds, most if not all our shots hitting him in his upper chest or head. As he fell to his side dead as a rock, we started our next phase, tying him in fetal position before wrapping his remains in the garbage bags whole, saving us a lot of blood spills and trouble. The sofa he’s fell on was pretty much totaled as well, so fetching the covers from the bed, we threw them over it and as soon as Helix had finished with the second body, we put them on it and with five pairs of hands working together, lifted the whole thing and got it out of the room through the thankfully quite wide door, leaving the ram staying behind to do blood control.

We used the stairs, as painful a project as it was, then left through the back of the place to sneak the whole thing into a metal dumpster. I left for fifteen minutes, coming back with a half-full plastic gas container and a few bottles of engine oil, getting a few long laughs from the wolf and hyena as we poured the sauce into the garbage and set in on fire before running off to a safe distance. The sofa had been a sort of beach-style wood and fabric thing, so there wouldn’t be much of it left after a good fire, and at the speed the two meter-long flames were shooting out of the trash, we didn’t have much to worry about.

As soon as we returned to the hotel and visited the room, we saw that Helix had finished his bleach and CLR job, coming up with another bag of stuff to dispose of, though once that could easily be passed off as just normal garbage, and the lock had been replaced in a big rush by the concierge. All and all, unless you knew there had been a double homicide, there was no sign of it. We were all giggles and high-fives as we returned to the front desk, where Gunther was drinking a huge glass of brandy, though his attention switched to us as we gave him a few assorted thumbs-ups and rock and roll horn signs to tell him we’d taken care of his problem upstairs. Almost slamming his drink onto the counter, he called to his cog to waive the fees applied to us for the rooms.

-Man, what has it been, twenty minutes? How the hell do you guys come up with plans so quick? What’s missing?
-A new couch, linen service and lampshade in 312, Helix smirked. Everything else is gone out of sight and out of mind. Now, about those rooms we had reserved?
-I’m sorry, it looks like you’ve been upgraded to the first class suites on the tenth floor, Gunther said with an air of mock apology. I hope that you can manage with the change.
-Will do, I giggled as I took the sets and handed them out. Good evening, Gunther!
-It just became one, he replied. Oh, expect room service later.
-We ought to book here more often, Killi whispered as we huddled off to the apartments.

The places that the platypus had traded us into made any room at the mine look like a latrine, but even then, the toilets here looked too good to make that comparison. After recovering from the ditz and dazzle, Cassa pulled a laptop of our her luggage and plugged it up, logging on into the hotel’s network before started a ciphering program that would blind any servers between her and the ftp site that Rowan and I had set up a while back to manage our affairs remotely. We’d tried to be good about putting anything really important there, contracts and major purchases or the like, all of which really made the gazelle’s jaw drop.

-And you guys have been operating for how long now?
-A few months, why?
-Wow, I don’t know how you guys have been able to keep it together so long without some serious financial planning! Who controls the funds?
-About half a dozen or so of us. I do most of the big stuff though, because Rowan sort of has his head in his gems.
-You most certainly need someone to be on this twenty four-seven, stated Cassa as she slapped the back of her hand into her other. I mean there’s too much cash doing nothing for you right now. As for taxes, you’re screwed stiff, unless... oh, how nice, you’re registered in Trinidad. Well, still, you could do a lot better.
-Here’s a good joke, I smiled. A gemologist, a prospector and a smuggler walk into a bar. The barman asks them a question about his taxes...
-And..?
-The gemologist gets smashed, the prospector gets sick on his pool table, the smuggler makes off with his gin, and he goes bankrupt the next week, I chuckled. Sorry, it’s not too good, but you get the idea, right?
-Pretty clear, she laughed. I have a pretty good idea, but you’ll have to give me time to actually work a bit to get it into shape to present it in a concise way you can use.
-It doesn’t look like you’ll have it, said Gevaudan as he let two carts from the kitchens come in, nice and full of pretty fascinating munchies.
-Compliments of the hotel, the last of the attendants said as he gave the wolf a card with the place’s ensign. Good night!
-Welcome to Oz, I said as we popped the two wine bottles that had been chilling out in their ice bucket.

For the first time in a while, I woke up without the delicate touch of natural sunlight, feeling pretty soggy all over as I opened my eyes. Opening my eyes in a start, I found myself lying in one of the suite’s Jacuzzi bath nekkid with Killi still sleeping lying on her back against me. I knew I wrinkled like a prune when in water, and as much as I liked the comedy in the moment, I was sort of in a hurry to see if I hadn’t become the proud owner of a “Grand Poombah Bukkake King 2007” tattoo somewhere I would never have gotten one. Giving Killi a quick tit grope to rouse her from slumber, I got up at the same time as she shuffled out of the tub, looking at me as if to ask what had happened, though I’d be damned if I knew myself. The empty bottle of champagne in the sink and the equivalent of a pack of condoms in the garbage was enough to answer for both of us though, and since we’d marinated all night, we dried off and hunted down all our garments.

As we unlocked the door and snuck out, we found ourselves in the bedroom where Helix was plowing Cassa, both of them looking at us red in the face as we walked past for the door with our heads turned and announced we would be getting breakfast. Just to ice the cake, in the living room, Gevaudan was beating off with a few select scenes from one of the racier movies offered on the hotel’s film channels, waving to us with his off paw and promising to come meet up when he was done with himself, to coin a phrase. The faces I made as tried to piece together whatever brain cells I had left to work with became things legend between Killi and me, snapping back to reality with a kiss from the flyer. The restaurant was already serving its breakfast buffet, a long winding series of tables giving off more odors then we could possibly resist even in our most determined states. The busboy was going to show us a table when Gunther popped up to take the menus we would need and with a gentle smile to his employee, guided us himself.

-I hope you slept well, said the platypus. The buffet is at your disposal, of course.
-Thank you for everything, I insisted. So, no echoes this morning?
-Just a footnote on page seven of the Telegraph, but not much more. Actually, I have a sin to confess.
-Ah? Please, have a seat, Gunther. It’s your hotel, after all.
-That it is, he smiled. You see, my sister in law is one of the head managers at the national bank, from the description I gave her about our intruders last night, they just might be part of a group that held up one of their counters in Brisbane. I don’t need to tell you that they didn’t find that funny, nor did they like the added insult to injury that they realized after the fact, that a pretty nice virus had been introduced into their system. Lo and behold, while it was doing its work, a few accounts got skimmed.
-You don’t need to be Einstein to figure that the attack was a diversion to get their minds off their screens while someone else operated, I commented.
-That’s one of the more likely scenarios, said another duck-billed creature who walked up to the table to sit aside Gunther. We pursued a few ourselves with the miserly help our insurance company gave us, but just like I suspect Gunther would have if you had not come to his aid, we worked to silence and muffle the event as much as possible, even sacrificing the search for the robbers for the greater good of our reputation. After all, it would have looked quite bad if we’d kept going after these felons and constantly reminded our customers that a few of them had gotten ripped off.
-The lesser of two evils, I hummed. It’s unfortunate that any further evidence last night’s pair might have carried went up in smoke, pardon the pun.
-Well to the naked eye that’s the way of things, corrected the woman, but you see they used a debit card, the insolent fools, and we were able to trace their accounts to a certain extent, a bit further then law would allow, even. They had two more co-signers, which would fit with the rest of this story. However, like I said, I’d hate to drag this out into the news again.
-I think I see what you’re leading to, I said. You’d like us to track them down and see what come of this lead?
-They’re both in town, she insisted. Here, I have more information. This is my card here, as well. Oh, actually, I’m Madison Spiegelmann, and you can’t imagine how pleased I am to meet you.
-I can’t make any decisive promises, but we’ll get into this as soon as we have the time, I replied.
-Didn’t Cassa say she needed time to work, questioned Killi, for the plan?
-Oh, that’s right, isn’t it? Well, it looks like we could get to this today, Madison.
-Thank you God, sighed the banker as she raised her eyes to the ceiling for a moment.
-So, smirked Killi, about that buffet...
-All yours, laughed Gunther.

I accused myself of getting to used to the wonderful delicacies that we were being treated to here at the hotel as compared to the more basic if not just plain grub we usually had back at the mine. My ‘roo wife apparently shared the same opinion, cleaning a plate of sweet potatoes by herself, for as she was putting scoop after scoop of the stuff into her plate, the chef in charge of the buffet simply had another batch of it sent right to our table with a shrug and a short thank for the indirect compliment about the place’s cooking. Personally, I almost passed out as soon as I saw a huge bowl of trail mix aside the salad bar, covertly sneaking it to the table as I tried to resist the urge to drool like a rabid rodent. There was a fair share of jokes around the table, seeing as how each of us found the ambrosia their species, but our hats came off for Madison as she gulped about a dozen hardboiled eggs with mayonnaise, her eyes almost rolling back as she dropped them in her bill. We were totally stuffed after our stomachs indicated to us that unless we suddenly wanted to pop like balloons, we should consider putting an end to our feasting and see if we could still stand without dropping on our asses in a hurry.

I was the first to try the bold move, then started prodding the rest of the group to get in gear to go, getting everyone out the door save for Gunther, Cassa and Helix, the latter two going back to work while we sere gone. Walking off the meal was just what the doctor ordered, though having Madison along with us was something different. To say that she was a blabbermouth was to be polite, because she didn’t stop from the time we left the hotel to the second we reached her workplace. There, she totally changed, from a ditzy girl to a serious, almost headmistress-like attitude that way probably more proper to her business, though after what we’d lived through with her, the front was almost funny. Standing our ground, we waited until her supervisor, an older camel with amazingly thick frames, emerged from the back to bring us into a boardroom as if he knew precisely why we’d come. As soon as we’d sat down and played around with the levers into the chairs to make ourselves at home (fine, we acted like kids with new toys, I’m not above admitting that), he started explaining in greater depth the sequence of events that had lead to our invitation. Basically, the looks I traded with Gevaudan and Eshe marked our agreement that the bank had been completely defenseless against the level of skill the hackers who broke into their system presented, as anyone would have been.

-Nonetheless, concluded the camel, they made a mistake. Here is the information about the location where we suspect you will find these daredevils. In return for this, I would be pleased to offer you twenty percent of the funds they stole as a token of our gratitude.
-Quite the sum, I hummed. Would it be possible to open a few accounts here to put that cash in? Right now, our banking needs are somewhat unmet by our present purveyors, and I’m sure that we’d be better served here.
-Sir, the camel started as he took off his glasses and put them in his shirt pocket, I think you’ll find that our financial services and confidentiality policies would suit your demands, no matter how stringent they may be. How large a sum would you be depositing?
-Upwards to half a billion, I replied.
-You have that much money, invested? Good Lord in Heaven! I’m sorry to ask, and feel free to leave my question unanswered if you will, but how you accumulate that sort of a fortune?
-Quite, quite a few of these, I replied as I took out a red and blue fire opal from my wallet and put it on the table in front of him.
-God, it’s beautiful, he whispered as he gently took it and put his glasses back on to admire it.
-That stone’s about five thousand, I commented, just from memory and such. We have certain plans for the placement of our money though, as you could have guessed, we’ll rely on your institution to bring them to term. How soon could we make our transfer?
-Immediately, though depending on your previous bank, there might be a short time for which it would be withheld. During that period, we could offer you a interest-free line of credit for you to continue operating as if nothing was out of the ordinary, refunded from your accounts one they are released.
-Wait a moment then, while I put you on with our employer and the main signatory, I signed as I dialed back home and got Rowan on. Hey, Rowy, say hello to our new friend!

I handed the phone to the camel as I leaned back in the chair and chilled out while the Don got to know our friendly banker, who’d still to date only presented himself indirectly as ‘Mister Bolton’, apparently a working title he maintained, according to Madison. The call was long and complicated enough that Bolton soon opted to continue it on his own line to be able to make conference calls with other employees as more intricate points of the Bushwacker’s financial arrangements came up. Not that I didn’t care about the oh-so-interesting subject, but looking around to see how everyone else was holding up, I decided to call my readiness to get on with our hacker removal job. While Bolton seemed to be sucked deeper into his little world, we all snuck off, still with our platypus in our midst.

I don’t think that she’d expected to be involved in anything else but escorting us to our information session, and seeing her increasingly frantic looks as we got in the jeep and drove off like we stole it from her cozy workplace, I started explaining what we were going to do, trying to calm any concerns she could have had about her having some part to play in our undertaking. As I went on, joined in my almost motherly explanation on the ‘Family way’ by Gevaudan and Eshe, we polarized Madison’s spirit into being almost single-mindedly determined to prove to us she shared our qualities and ideals, quite riled up about the whole thing. Eshe seemed to inspire her the most of all, though occasionally she turned to Killi as for confirmation or a second opinion on something.

-We have to be careful, I said to Gevaudan, it looks like we’re starting to train a new legion of Amazons here.
-You’re telling me, laughed the wolf.
-We’ll be in charge in no time, jeered the hyena. Say, between us here, Squall, how’s the job market here, if you know what I mean?
-I don’t think I do. You mean the national perspective or what?
-I mean you have Dhole to second you, but in terms of experienced people, that’s the bottom line right there, isn’t it?
-Whoa, Eshe, said the wolf, are you talking about transferring here?
-It’s just that it already feels more like home here. I came from Kenya with my little sister Amina, and as much as Miami was interesting for a while to get our curiosity out of our systems, we’re sort of out of place.
-Too big, too fast?
-Too much for a simple hyena, she nodded. We’ve sort of been keeping to ourselves for a while, just waiting for something to come up.
-You wouldn’t mind the change?
-We’ve always been on the move since forever, grinned Eshe. We don’t have much to bring over, just a few bags worth. So we’re welcome?
-Adoni’ll have another new hut in his village, I shrugged, and we’ll have one heck of a new Bushwhacker. How old is your Amina?
-Early teens. Are there others her age in the village?
-Oh, a bunch, and Adoni’s their mentor along with his sons. She’s in school over there?
-Home schooled by me while I’m not too busy. Yep, no regrets!

Yeah, no regrets, that was well put. Miami, or more specifically Eclipse, as far as I’m concerned, the strange animal of a dragon, had been a stepping stone out of the poverty sis and I had lived in for too long, but I’d known that it had been just that, not just because of my gut feeling, but just with regards to the way things happened. Moving there, becoming far more then just friends with the drake and then backing up as he found a more serious soul mate, all that had been too sudden for things to stay stable for long. Still, it had introduced us into a new lifestyle with the Family, one I’d become an asset in, but with such an astounding collection of elite individuals to pool from, good Don Ulrich hadn’t really been able to make use of me after my training, so I’d had to get a few contracts myself to hone my skills as a front-line agent.

Here? Now here was everything, all that we’d worked for, the culmination of our efforts. I wouldn’t be a backup anymore; I’d be the right hand of a point, and from what I’d seen of Squall so far, one hell of a crack point. As for Dhole, he had a lot to teach and with any luck, I’d be in a position to learn. This was a great start to it too, right in a series of actions that built up the team spirit as well as demonstrated my abilities. The vibes were good, and even better with my offer, right until we pulled on the lawn of a run-down shack of a home with a dirty RV from yesteryear parked up against it, its front tires on blocks and the other visible one blown out. Classy, I thought, as we stood outside the jeep with our paws in the patchy, overgrown lawn that probably hadn’t felt the touch of a mover in a pretty long time. A lot of doubt was showing on Squall’s face, as if he was questioning the fact that anyone who lived in a shit pile like this could be responsible for the high-tech crime that we were looking into. The faces missing in this case were those of the designers of the computer bug, hence obligatorily well-educated souls with deep knowledge of systems like the bank’s not some beer-swilling, deadbeat social security dependants like the place there indicated.

There was also the possibility that in their travels in the computer system, they would have changed the names and the like of the owners of the accounts they used, hence we were potentially on the verge of cracking down on totally unrelated victims of the cons. As true as that was, the ground squirrel indicated for us to get ready to go in and see what we’d find. Weapons at the ready, he kicked in the screen door blocking out the insects from the home and we moved in to secure the place. There was a lot of sound coming from somewhere to the back of the home, the sort of chaotic banter usually generated by video games, like imitation gunfire and odd sounds from monsters being shredded to bits. The level of the concert was pretty high for a normal household to tolerate, but so was the smell of general dirtiness around us, continuing with the same trend as outside. Gevaudan and I took point as we reached what ended up being the living room, though it honestly looked like a haphazard mix between a teen’s ransacked den and a gamer’s hideout, with all sorts of music and computer junk strewn about with varying levels of care. Suddenly, the profiles of our hackers had taken a turn for the geekier...

Two Labrador Retrievers in their mid teens were intensely concentrated on a cooperative shooter game they were playing on a huge plasma TV I had no idea how they could have purchased if their surroundings were any indication to their income. Still, it wasn’t the time to lulled into a false sense of security by what we saw and replace caution with condescendence, so we needed to get their attention fast enough to keep them stunned. There was a moment of synchronous thought between Squall and I as we glanced at the television and while Killi, Gevaudan and he kept their aim on the couch potatoes, I pumped a pair of rounds into the screen. The reaction was immediate, both of them giving a start before looking around to see what had put two pretty big holes in the glass, now giving off a strange sound as the picture vanished. They phased into the usual fight or flight state that I expected they would, but seeing all the present variables, they would have made a break for it had we not tackled them and put them in pretty efficient locks to make sure we had their full cooperation. As to add to the general mayhem we were causing in their lives, I took their game controllers, pulled them out of their sockets with a brisk yank, then passed them along to be used as ligatures, a somehow poetic analogy to me.

By then, Squall had already gotten into the subject of testing what buttons to press to get the labs to give us what they’d been up to with the stolen money as well as how they’d done it. He didn’t go too far with any rough stuff, keeping his overall tone neutral until he decided to use their more and more annoying megalomania and overconfidence, almost flattering them on having succeeded such a complex task and expressing his admiration. That hit the spot bang on and they both started flaunting their deeds.

-It’s not such a big deal, started one of them. I mean a system always has pretty much the same layout and there’s just a certain number of things you can do to keep information secure.
-We just tried a lot of things really quickly with some code, and once it found out how the data was encoded and all that, made thing so we could access it however we wanted. That code was the hardest part of everything, but it was part of a project we’d done for a club a while back, so we just had to set it up with more options.
-How did you get it to them?
-Just over the phone. Their messaging service stored stuff on their servers, so we just sent it like that. All they knew was that they had gotten a voice message that didn’t sound right, because while it played, it was actually running our program so the data wasn’t in a playable format. Well, it’s a bit more complicated then that, but that’s the idea.
-Cool! How did you get the money out? That must have been hard, to transfer it out?
-Oh, no! It’s an account on their system, but one they can’t see. We do though, just based on its address in memory. Good trick, eh?
-And they couldn’t ever access it?
-Not unless they knew where it was. Want me to show you?
-Why not? Let me untie you, the squirrel said as he loosened the cords.

We watched as the dog took out a laptop with a bunch of stickers on its originally black casing and went into the command line to enter a really low-level software he used to show us any account we wanted, then the one they had put their swag into, accidentally saying that all they needed to do was to set the value of a variable in memory to make accounts visible or not. Then, they continued and made a second misstep, saying that there was nothing of theirs on the bank’s servers, that everything was done remotely. Maybe to them it meant that they were pretty freaking hot, or as on the them had on his tee-shirt, ‘l33t’, but to us, it simply meant we could wrap things up, promptly. In a second, I had taken the portable computer from the hack, made the account visible and unplugged everything from it, took it under my arm and stepped back before Squall recaptured it’s owner and tied his hands again.

As indignant as they acted at the way their presentation had turned out, Madison rubbed sour mash in their ego’s wounds by using their phone to call back to Bolton and give him an update on how our outing was going. The matter of how to transfer things as to assure that justice would be dispersed against the two pirates, however, was plenty more complex. There was nothing legal in how we’d operated and absolutely everything we had gathered was of no used in prosecuting our two prisoners. Out lack of planning on that front had been deplorable, but we really hadn’t foreseen a scenario that would have gone the way that this had, and second thoughts did nothing to resolve it. The fact that they were minors made things worst, meaning our option of finding a use for them on our side would be unusable. Too self-absorbed and irrational, they couldn’t be trusted. The problem was serious enough that while Gevaudan kept them under observation, the rest of us conferred in the next room, trying to decide on a course of action to follow. What we came to conclude, mostly due to my insistence and logical argumentation, was a mix between a sort of house arrest and exile, depending on where their legal guardians were. We only had them to go on for that, and how we could obtain the details was through them, period. I took the podium, showing none of the feminine kindness that could have been expected from a lady like me.

-All right boy, here’s the deal; you screwed up and seriously broke the law, but it’s not a judge who’ll be deciding your fate, it’s us. Now there are two possible sentences to pass here. One, we kneel you down and put one in each of your heads and we don’t have to worry about you nerds breaking into any more computers. That sort of suits us, because hey, all we have to do is this, I giggled as I motioned twice with my trigger finger. I think you, on the other hand, might prefer the second option, which is to keep all your stuff for ourselves to repay for the shit you caused and hand you back to you homies. If we do that, then we’re taking a risk that we’ll have to kick in your door again sometime and do you in anyway for having played another trick like this. So, your pick; what’ll it be?
-We have an uncle in Melbourne town! If we go there and never do this again, you wouldn’t kill us, would you?
-Probably not. We’ll let you bring one bag each, no larger then this, with nothing that uses electricity, stated Squall. Guys, let’s let them pack up, then I’ll get a contractor to drive them to their uncle’s. Consider this your one get out of jail card, and you just spent it.

The silent nods of the two spoke for their understanding of the delicate suspended sentence that they’d received and remained so for the rest of the time it took for them to gather as much as they could of their most treasured possessions into gym bags, then get put into a purposely modified hummer manned by a contract driver. Without legal occupants, as the house had actually been purchases by someone who, from what Jimi would tell us later, had been dead for well over sixty years, the realtor started taking steps to take it for proper resale as soon as he got word from Squall while we returned our overjoyed platypus to her workplace. Just to make sure that they would never fall victim to the same means of infiltration, we’d put the boys’ laptop in her care for analysis and future reference. Our welcome back was as polite and quiet as our first, with Bolton greeting us the moment we put a claw into the bank and showing us back to the same room as before, though this time with a smile stuck on his face.

-We found the account number you told us about, announced the manager, and I can’t even come close to expressing how grateful we are that you were able to bring this honestly embarrassing episode of our history to a close. As we promised, our first transaction with the recovered money was to transfer your reward.
-As for the original owners of these funds, asked Gevaudan, what of them?
-Already reimbursed by our insurance, as any that gets misplaced by some ill-tempered wisp. Now, you’ll be glad to know that the plans you told me about when we first met were communicated to me during your absence, and are already being looked after. I don’t know how your company’s previous bank was able to empty and close your coffers over there, but we already have the full amounts they contained. I suppose I say this with the hopes that it could put your minds at ease.
-It does, said Squall. Now, I’m sure you have plenty to take care of with all that’s happened, so we won’t take up more of your time then it would be polite to.
-I’ll certainly have to send this to our main offices to see what they can make of it, said the camel as he tapped a hoof on the laptop. How... how almost insulting, I’d say.
-Where are you going, asked Madison, just like this?
-What, would you like to come along?
-Well, you see, mister Squall, coughed Bolton, it’s a habit of mine to always assign a financial representative to any of our more sizable clients, hence if you would accept, I’d be quite glad for Madison to be at your disposal as a liaison between you and our institution. Would this arrangement suit you, or would it be too intrusive?
-I think we could work something out to keep you quite busy continually, the squirrel smirked. Come on, we’ll talk while we drive. You live here in town?
-Yes. I was the loss control officer here, so I always needed to be close to work, but now, I suppose that I’m where ever you are.
-No need to worry, we’re here in town too. No need to go out and bake your beak for nothing, don’t fret.
-Oh, good. My husband and I have a nice little place here, so it would have been a bit of a shame to lose it. So, can you risk telling me more about what you do?
-Sure, smiled Squall, what do you want to know?

Half an hour later, we were back at Gunther’s little palace, sipping on cognac with the two platypuses, laughing at how their lives had gotten easier since they met us, but sort of changed their priorities and definition of legality. I didn’t take more then half a glass of the Martell before taking a second to myself and with a calling card I had bought before leaving the States, called back to Miami to get a hold of sis. The sound of her sweet little voice was soothing to hear, and I started explaining to her that what we’d talked about regarding moving again had come into form. I’d made it as easy as possible for her to make the transition, sort of making sure that she wouldn’t feel too bad about leaving the Bronco behind, though I could hear it in her voice that she was sort of hesitant for a moment.

-Eshe, baby, we talked about this. You told me you missed the wide-open spaces as much as I did, didn’t you?
-Yeah, sighed Amina. It’s just that... are you sure that we’ll have a place to stay over there?
-Listen, Amina, I would never take us away from a home without having another to go to, never, not anymore. Now, I’ll call Ulrich so he’ll send someone to help you pack up and then bring you to the airport.
-I can pack up myself, corrected the little hyena, don’t worry, sister. Will you be at the gate to meet me when I get over there?
-Of course I will be, I hushed. See you soon, little spot.

The second call was easier, getting Jumpy rather then the panther, who was just as happy to give us a hand, voicing his understanding about why I wanted to move and his best wishes for my career and our future in his motherland. With a few fond farewells, I hung up and returned to my previous conversation with Squall and Killi, both surprising me by telling me that by the time that we would go back in the mining region, there would already be a pretty big trailer home waiting for me and sis.

-Jimi worked some more magic, smiled the red ‘roo, and it’s a nice lot right aside ours. We’ll wait until your sister gets here before we go back, just to save another trip. Hey Gunther, mind if we crash another night?
-You’re twisting my arm, the platypus smirked. Sure, if you can deal with the places you had before.
-No problem, I laughed, we’ll try to remember more about the evening this time.
-Does that mean that the good hyena is renouncing to this fine bottle?
-I can still count my spots, I laughed. So, Killi, any especially fine-looking guys at your village?
-A few, but there’s only one model and color.
-Red and brown match pretty well, I hummed as I let my imagination wander. Yep...