Tuesday morning
Tabitha sent a wave of questing energy out to her animals. Surely one of them was bothered by something. If there was anything going on, intruders or other predators, the animals always sounded the alarm. Except she'd already sent out a layer of suppression energy to calm them all down. Crap.
She would have to do a systematic search for her father. There were acres of land here. If her father was around, he could be just about anywhere.
Then she heard panic in the lions’ corner. Something was wrong. She bolted in their direction, calling back, "Over here."
"Did you hear something?" Ronin called behind her.
"The animals in this left corner are disturbed by intruders. They've gone into hiding but I can sense their panic...and fear."
She veered left, then right, her feet flying over the gravel path.
Just as she was about to turn the last corner, her shoulder was grabbed from behind. "Wha—?"
A hand slapped over her mouth. Ronin whispered against her ear. "Shhh. There are voices up ahead."
She stiffened. She'd been listening for the animals, not for people.
"Let's see if we can hear what they are saying."
She craned an ear, closing her eyes to hear better. The sounds were muffled.
Her father's voice. "What's going on here, Germaine? And what's with the gun?"
Tabitha shot a horrified look at Ronin, then watched with equal shock as he unclipped a weapon of his own.
She didn't have time to adjust when she heard the response.
"What's to figure out? God, you're slow. A brilliant money man for sure, but your instincts are just about non-existent when it comes to people."
Her father's pained voice answered, "Obviously, when I trusted you all these years. Maybe you could explain. What are you even doing here?"
A coarse laugh disrupted the serene air around them.
"This place is a gold mine. See, getting my hands on it is a bit of a problem."
"A big problem, I'd say. You won't get it by killing me. Even if you do, it's still not going to be yours by killing my daughter."
"Ah, but I like to think long term and killing your father was just the first step."
Tabitha gasped in shock. Her grandfather had been murdered? And she hadn’t known?
Ronin squeezed her arm in warning. She stared at him in pain as she listened to her father scream in outrage. "You killed the old man? Why, for God's sake? What did he ever do to you?"
"He wasn't...shall we say...cooperative."
Dennis spoke, his voice vibrating in anger, "So you killed him? Over this place. Why? It's a money sink. That's what it is. I pour thousands into it every month."
Germaine said, "And that's why I had help doing this. There is someone who doesn't appreciate all the money being funnelled in this direction. He seems to feel it could be better spent on him."
Tabitha strained to hear her father's shocked whisper, "Please, no."
That coarse laugh again. But Tabitha was already vibrating with outrage. Her poor grandfather, and although she didn't understand who the accomplice was, it was someone else close to her father.
More betrayal.
"Of course it's true. You should know that power, sex and money are really the only motivators in the world. And we have them all here." The disgust in Germaine's voice confused Tabitha.
"I would have never done this. But then you brought that pretty boy into your life. A second wind, a midlife crisis. A fucking joke is what it is."
"My relationship? That's what this is all about?"
"No. But that's what cut the bonds of loyalty for me. We were best friends. Until you decided to come out of the closet. I kinda knew all along but I just didn't want to confirm it. The status quo was working, so why mess it up? Then you started with the pretty boy. What is he, fifteen to twenty years your junior? And now that you are openly gay, people started looking at me. We'd been such close friends for so long, they assumed we must have been lovers. That you'd taint me and my family with your perversion was disgusting. It wasn't so bad in the beginning until you and pretty boy started living together a couple of years ago. I wouldn't have done anything about it, although I was trying to figure out how to get out of the company without losing everything. If I'd known before this recession, I could have cut and run. It was really bad timing when stocks plummeted. We're barely back on our feet as it is."
"And this makes sense, how? Why?"
"God, you're dense. See, I want the whole company." Germaine laughed. "And once I realized what you could control, if you so chose, well, then I wanted that too."
"Could control?"
Tabitha's thoughts mirrored her father's question.
"Your grandfather always made the provision that you were to look after Exotic Landscape if your daughter Tabitha was incapable. After being in a coma several times in the last month, the break-ins and the vandalism problems, it's obvious that she isn't mentally or physically stable, and that means she isn't capable of managing Exotic Landscape. So this property should fall nicely into your hands."
"Hell," her father said in disgust, "I don't want it. I don't want anything to do with it."
"Too bad, because the paperwork has already been taken care of. After your pretty boy, Eric, got a hold of your father's will, a handmade one... He really didn't trust anyone...did he?"
"Paperwork? Eric?"
Tabitha was too angry to speak. This was all about taking Exotic Landscape? It wasn't even her grandfather's property. It was hers. She'd made sure of that a while ago. At least she thought she had.
"No, that's not true," Dennis protested. "We have the official will."
"Well, hand-written ones are official too. Not when written under duress of course, but as we've already filed this one, giving Eric the right to manage it and you the ownership of the property, it's all good."
Ronin's arms were the only thing keeping Tabitha from racing into the middle of the mess and decking the asshole flat to the ground.
"And how is that going to help?" Her father's bewildered voice made Tabitha hurt. He didn't understand because he didn't want to see the level of betrayal in his world. She couldn't blame him. She didn't even know these assholes, and look at how she felt.
"Then, as you've been living common-law with pretty boy for several years, he stands to inherit everything."
"No, my daughter does," Dennis protested.
"And that was the final straw that brought pretty boy to me in the first place." Germaine laughed. "He found out you made out a will that left everything to your daughter and not to your lover."
"He's in my will. I left him a half million dollars." Her father's voice cracked in shock.
"And no one wants half a million when you give millions to a daughter you can't even stand. A daughter you hate."
Even after everything, that statement hurt.
"I have never hated my daughter," Dennis said. "I hated my father." He groaned. A sound so full of despair, Tabitha hurt for him too.
"What do we do?" she whispered.
But Ronin didn't have a chance to answer.
"I don't think that's going to be a decision you will have to make," said a rich voice from behind her. "No, don't bother turning around."
She stiffened.
"Shit." Ronin swore under his breath.
"Don't turn around, just keep moving forward and join your father." There was a rustling beside her. She caught the new arrival sliding Ronin's gun out of its holder. Damn.
"Who are you?" Tabitha asked as she walked ahead of Ronin.
Her father came into view. "No," he cried out. "Leave her alone."
The asshole Germaine asked, "Dennis, what part about the inheritance didn't you understand?"
Tabitha groaned. "The dead part, of course."
She was shoved toward her father. She stepped over to his side. "Hey, Dad. You really shouldn't have taken off like that."
"I didn't want to. But I thought I heard his voice through your phone talking to Ronin before he was knocked out."
"And you did." Germaine smiled. "And now we have the whole family here, including the security specialist. Except you really don't want to assume that those in an office know nothing about security themselves. It's so easy to fix things with inside people."
Security specialist? He was assuming that Ronin was Roman. Good. Then he couldn't know that Roman would be on his way in minutes. To delay their plans, in order to give Roman more time, she said, "You haven't fixed anything. I had the deed transferred into my name before he died."
"Ah, yes. You certainly filled out the paperwork and left it with your father to take care of. Of course, he gave it to Eric to handle. Only he made sure the papers were never sent off. But then…you haven't been capable of handling things around here in a while." And he smiled, a nasty smile that made her cringe. She looked at the second man also holding a gun. He was maybe in his mid to late thirties. "Dad, who is the second asshole?"
He glared at the younger man. "Eric, my assistant. Also known as pretty boy, apparently."
She gasped. "Your partner – the one you live with? The one you wanted me to meet?"
"Not this way." He sighed, a sadness on his face that broke her heart. "Not at all now."
"Sorry, Dennis. But if you think I'm going to wait around while you rekindle a relationship with her…" Eric shook his head, long black curls flying around his attractive head.
"Dad, we're going to have to talk." She snorted. "Pretty boy is all about glitz and short-term gain. He's not going to go the distance."
Eric gasped. "That is not true. I've been there for him all these years. Where the hell have you been?"
She didn't have much to say to that. But he looked like a disgruntled boy who'd been denied his toys. "Somehow I doubt my father has treated you badly." She sensed Ronin's shift from one foot to the other. She took several steps forward. "My father's a very generous man."
"Generous is not the same as having it all yourself. My looks aren't going to last forever. I decided I didn't want to wait for him. I'm still young. I don't want to tie myself down. But I need money to live as I want to. And between the two of you, there is a hell of a lot of it."
"See, I don't get that." And she didn't. She spent everything trying to pull enough pennies together to keep the reserve functioning.
Eric smiled. "Your father never told you, huh? Your grandfather left you a nice little trust fund. And then there's the value of all this land. So close to town. It's worth thirty million, easy. And as the manager of the reserve is incompetent, your father will be forced to shut the doors or hand the reins over to another manager while the animals can be moved elsewhere. It'll be easy to sell them off to private investors. The land will be sold to recoup costs and pay off the massive debts."
She gasped in anger. "I don't have any debts."
"Well, as there's no more money coming your way from Dennis." The gun wavered toward her father. "You will start accumulating them now."
"No." She shook her head. "There's no way you can do this."
"And, about your office manager?" Eric laughed. "Wendy is my sister. I'm sure this will turn out just the way I want it to."
Tabitha couldn't even begin to think of the type of damage that Wendy could have done while Tabitha had been out of commission. Wendy had been referred to her by one of her regular suppliers. Had they known? Were they in on it? It could take months to sort out the damage. Just the thought of losing Exotic Landscape to this slime in some land grab made her physically ill.
"She's going to heave."
She bent over, gasping. Ronin gently rubbed her back. Dying now would likely kill Trinity as well. She couldn't let that happen.
"Easy, honey."
"What are we going to do with them? We can't just shoot them," Eric whined. "That would leave all kinds of unanswered questions and evidence we don't want."
"She's got lions here. Tigers. All manner of animals that are looking for fresh meat. And Wendy will make sure they aren't found for a long time."
Tabitha froze. Ronin growled. For him, this would be a nightmare come true but inside, Tabitha's heart leapt with joy. Now this would be the first positive break as far as she was concerned.
Eric smiled. "Perfect."
"The early morning feeding time is soon. The cats will be hungry and they should finish them off quickly. We need them to kill them before anyone comes."
"Or we can shoot them to draw the animals. The scent of blood will speed up the process."
The men were busy talking, but Ronin had a strong grip on Tabitha’s arm.
"Don't worry. They'll never touch us."
Her father snorted. "They'll take us down in minutes and go after the soft tissue first."
She sighed. The men in her life had so little idea of her world. "No, they won't,” she reassured the two men in her life.
"Put them in with the lions." Germaine motioned to the gates behind them. "Wendy said lately the lions have been more aggressive than any of the others."
Ronin's grip tightened.
She winced but didn't bother trying to reassure him. She was more afraid of the bullets.
"The lions are one path over. Get moving."
***
Ronin tensed looking for a break. He'd take a bullet over a lion any day. But it sounded as if he might be getting both.
The two men motioned him toward the other two. He'd easily take on one guy. Two on most days. But two men with guns was asking for a death sentence. Or he could trust Tabitha. She appeared to be unconcerned.
That's because I am.
He quaked at the thought of her reading his mind. There were a lot of things in life he could handle, but he wasn't so sure that was one of them.
And I didn't read your mind. You're speaking telepathically.
He snorted. "You're crazy."
Dennis turned to look at them.
Eric said, "Hey, no talking."
Ronin shrugged. They were standing in front of the lions' pen. Tabitha walked up to the computerized lock and entered the passcode.
She opened the door and motioned her father and Ronin inside. As they stepped past her, she whispered. "Run for the trees on the left."
"And you?" Ronin asked as she stepped inside. "I'm staying right behind you."
Her father bolted. With one last look at the two men holding guns on them, she zigzagged for the trees herself, Ronin beside her.
Shots fired behind her, but they were either shooting into the air or they were lousy shots. Either way they reached the trees safely.
Her father was already there, looking around anxiously. "We have to get out of here," he cried, "before the lions find us."
"They already have." Tabitha spun around. "Nothing happens in their space without them knowing about it."
"Shit." Dennis spun around, terrified.
"Calm down. It's your fear that will set them off. Stay calm and let me handle them." He nodded and she turned to face Ronin, making sure he understood. She saw his face. "Are you hit?"
"Yeah, but it's just a scratch. I'll be fine." He lifted his arm to show her a long red streak under the tear in his shirt.
It looked raw but wasn't bad. It would sting for a while but wouldn't slow them down. Still, it had to hurt. She gave him a quick kiss. "Sorry."
He shrugged philosophically. "It could have been so much worse."
"Yeah." She gave a short hard laugh. "They could have done some target practice."
Dennis backed away from him. "No way that's nothing. That's fresh blood. That's a dinner bell to a lion." He kept backing up. "Nothing personal, Ronin, but Jesus."
Tabitha sighed. "Stop backing up, Dad. If you get too far away from me, I can't protect you."
He stopped in his tracks. "You? Protect me? How?"
"Because the lions are already here."
Her father jumped back toward her. "Where?" he snapped.
She hated to answer him. "Nisha is above you."
She watched sympathetically as the color completely drained from the faces of the two men beside her. Poor Ronin. He'd done well so far but this... yeah, this would push the strongest of men into full-on panic. And yet he was holding on better than her father.
Her father's reaction wasn't one she'd seen him have before. But it would also explain some of the reasons why her grandfather despised him. Her grandfather would consider his obvious fear to be a weakness. Moneymaking hadn't been important to her grandfather. Animals were. If her father couldn't stand to be around the animals, then he'd be nothing in her grandfather's eyes…although her dad appeared to handle Tango and Tripod just fine. Then again, he'd met them many times. They knew him – unlike the ones out here.
She called up to the tree and the lioness watching them with interest. "Nisha, do you want to come down and meet these two men?"
At the same time, she sent Nisha a warm loving greeting to boost the continuous wave she'd been blasting out since entering the compound. There was another female in here and one big old male. Captain was old and cranky. Salba was the second female, and she was young and hyper. Tabitha expected she was racing toward them right now. Nisha was the dominant female, the hunter of the pack. The one to keep an eye on. Automatically, Tabitha did a quick scan of Nisha's energy. She looked good. Happy and calm.
But hungry.
She glanced at her watch. Feeding time. Not that the lions would be a problem. They had a great relationship. But all animal trainers knew that any animal could be dangerous.
Nisha stood up and stretched, then jumped lightly to the ground.
She walked over to Tabitha first and jumped up, placing her big paws on Tabitha's shoulders in her usual greeting, then she rubbed her face against Tabitha's head.
"Hey, baby. How are you today?" Tabitha murmured, giving the loving tabby a big hug before stepping to the side so she'd jump down. "Nisha, this is Ronin and my father."
At Nisha's head shake and snort, Tabitha laughed. "She's not impressed."
"You know," Ronin said, "that's understandable. I'd be happy to leave anytime. How about now?"
"I'd have preferred leaving ten minutes ago." Her father went to take several steps backwards.
"Don't move, Dad," she cautioned. "All animals know how to sense fear in others."
He took a shuddering breath and nodded quickly.
"Same for you, Ronin." Tabitha could feel a bright energy racing toward her. "Here's Salba. That means Captain won't be far behind."
"Oh shit. You mean there are more of them?" her father groaned softly.
"Only three here. They get along famously."
"Uh uh."
She laughed at the stiff nod from Ronin. "Hey," she said gently, "you're holding up really well."
Beads of sweat formed on his forehead and he gave a short laugh. "Like hell. But I'm still standing."
Just then, a light brown streak came flying toward him. Ronin’s eyes became wide and he opened his mouth to scream. And caught it at the last second.
"Stop, Salba." The lioness roared lightly and wrapped itself around Tabitha's legs. Tabitha laughed and bent over to hug her. "Good girl." The lioness gave her a rambunctious greeting then twined her long lithe body around the men's stiff legs.
Neither moved. Neither bent to touch her. Neither breathed.
She grinned. "Doing good, guys. But there's one more."
"Hello, Captain." And she sent out a wide loving wave of cool soothing energy toward the big old male that strode toward them, his nose lifted, checking out the air. Picking up the scent of the males. The scent of the blood.
Easy, boy. We're just here to visit. All is well. She tweaked his aura, laying down a light suppression energy wave on his system. He roared, but it was a happy one. He walked up and rubbed his huge head against her ribs.
She smiled and gave the big teddy bear a scratch under his chin.
"Hey, big guy. Life is treating you pretty good, isn't it?"
He started to purr. His big diesel engine rippled outward across the countryside. Tabitha laughed and looked up at Ronin. He was staring at her in bemusement.
"He's not dangerous?"
"Oh, in the right circumstances, he's very dangerous. But with me...? No." She shook her head. "As he doesn't know you two, I laid a layer of energy to keep his hunting instincts suppressed."
"Thanks, I think."
Ronin glanced over in the direction of the road. "Nothing personal, but any chance we can get the hell out of here now?"
***
"Where the hell is Dennis and the others?" Germaine scanned the pen. Rocks, brush, trees. And no sign of the rest of them. "And why is there no screaming? Yelling? Hell, the damn lions should be roaring...shouldn't they?"
The two men stared at each other.
"I'm more worried about them getting away," Eric said. "There's no way they can be allowed to live at this point. We have to make sure they can't tell anyone."
Germaine groaned. "We can't go in there. We should have shot them dead and then thrown their bodies over the damn fence."
A cold hard voice spoke from behind. "A little too late for that."
Eric stiffened. "Shit."
"Don't say a fucking word," warned Germaine.
"Hey, I'm not going down for this," Eric cried. "I haven't done anything."
"Don't. Just don't. Keep your mouth shut," Germaine snapped. "They don't know anything."
"I wouldn't say that exactly. Hands out of your pockets and turn around slowly."
They turned slowly. Eric gasped. "We put you in the lions' pen!"
Roman smiled a little grimly. "Actually, you put my twin brother in there. But he's fine. No thanks to you. At least one of you, if not both of you, is a lousy shot. Not that it matters. There are cops coming up behind me."
The two men looked at each other. Then bolted into the closest field. The fence wasn't high enough to slow them down.
They heard shouting behind them, but neither of them slowed enough to make the words out. Big mistake.
Coming from the side and ripping forward at an incredible speed in their direction was another cat.
"Oh shit. That's a fucking tiger."