“Hello?” Kaye’s voice pushed through my current shroud of brain fog.
It had taken me quite some time, along with a good dose of brushing, to get the feeling of that wretched bath off of me. Kaye, for her part, had been kind, sitting out back on the patio with me, both of us munching on jerky while she brushed me over and over again without saying anything to ruin the moment.
Despite the awkwardness, I was more than grateful, because now I felt a whole ten pounds lighter. We’d also gotten enough fur off of me to make another cat. Kaye tossed all the extra tufts into the woods so birds could use them to build nests.
I rolled my eyes when she suggested it, even though I did think it was kind of a nice thing to do—cutesy, but nice.
My attention shifted back to the present when the person on the other side of Kaye’s phone call started to yell.
She must’ve forgotten I was asleep on the bottom shelf of the empty bookcase in the bedroom. Don’t ask me why an empty shelf was so alluring for sleeping. It just was. I couldn’t explain it, if I tried.
If she’d remembered I was here, she might not have spoken so freely and I wouldn’t have gotten the primo opportunity to eavesdrop.
My ears twitched as the man’s voice rose.
Whoo, she was in trouble.
“You deviated from the plan,” I heard loud and clear. “We told you not to approach Roberts, didn’t we? I know I did.”
“Yes, sir,” Kaye said woodenly. “I believed my cloaking would be enough to let me approach as a human.”
The man’s voice dropped. “Did you glamor yourself?”
“No,” Kaye whispered. “I did not.”
“You are a well-known agent for the MCS, Godwin. You cannot go undercover without a glamor, and a strong one at that. Seriously, what were you thinking?”
Kaye rubbed her hand against her forehead. “I just wanted a win.”
“And you need one.” He sighed.
“Okay, Agent Godwin, listen closely. This is Roberts’ MO. You’re not the first agent to go after him, and if you hadn’t convinced me that you could do it with that felon cat helping you, I wouldn’t have sent you at all.” He then continued spitefully, “Actually, if it wasn’t for this magical auction using up all my manpower, I would’ve been able to send someone more qualified, regardless. You’re not ideal, but you’re who we have.”
Ouch. That one stung. My heart went out to Kaye. It really did.
She hung her head and nodded, even though the mean guy on the other end of the call couldn’t see her. “I understand, sir.”
He cleared his throat. “Do you? Because you’re not the first agent to go after him, but you are the first who has returned without being taken.”
Whoa. Hold up. Taken? Agents had been taken? Nobody told me that. Now I was really interested in their conversation.
“Roberts has some sort of spell that notifies him when someone magical crosses it. We were hoping the cat could get through, not some foolhardy agent with a weak cloaking spell.”
Kaye bristled. “It wasn’t wea—”
“I don't care,” he barked. “It didn’t work.”
He fell silent for a moment. “Try again. You’re lucky you’ve got O’Malley’s help on this mission. Even if we had anyone to spare, nobody wants it. So do what you promised and use the cat. Do things right this time. Have the cat get an eye witness testimony.”
Once again, I wished I could laugh. Me, an eye witness? They sure had high hopes as to my abilities here.
“Yes, sir. What’s the next location?” Kaye asked.
The line went silent again. “I don’t have one. Stay in the safe house and bide your time until we get more information. Our scryers and locators are working on it. I’ll be in touch with more details when I can.”
I waited for Kaye to end the call and drop her phone on the bed beside her, then ambled out of my hiding spot. After a quick stretch, I walked casually across the room and jumped up to join her on the bed. Instead of keeping my distance, I climbed onto her stomach and pressed my paws down hard.
“Dangerous?” I growled.
Kaye groaned and rubbed her eyes. “Moss, stop it. You’re squishing me. And yes. This is a dangerous mission. I really screwed up yesterday.”
I leaned forward, letting my paws dig in even harder. “How?”
“If you get off, I’ll explain,” she rasped.
I moved to the mattress beside her, sitting with my tail wrapped around my paws as I glared openly at her. “Okay. Now shoot it to me straight.”
She sighed, but didn’t argue. “Curtis Roberts is suspected in a string of scams and disappearances going back a couple of decades. He’s having a harder time hiding in the age of the internet, though.”
She shook her head. “He really shouldn’t have chosen a scam that would make people want to post about it all across social media. If you ask me, he’s getting sloppy.”
“So, why is this thing considered dangerous?” I pressed.
“Because agents have disappeared. Three just this year. We’ve never been able to come this close to catching him, though. He’s clever and immediately moves on if he thinks we’re close to catching up with him.” She rolled her shoulders and tipped her head back, studying the ceiling as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. “That’s why we were trying a new tactic. Using you, that is.”
“What were you thinking, letting him see you?” I asked.
But she ignored my question outright.
And that was the straw that broke this kitty’s back. Freedom was great and everything, but not worth dying for. At least not for me. I’d eat nasty brown mush, if I had to. At least I’d be alive.
“Take me back,” I demanded.
She lowered her gaze to meet mine. “Yeah, and what if they switch you to dry food?”
Just the thought of it made my gag reflex work, and the next thing I knew, my whole body was convulsing as it tried to bring up a hairball against my will. There was nothing I could do but let it do its thing, so I tried to relax as my chest heaved and a crude horking sound formed in my throat.
With a squelch, I let the hairball fall onto the bedspread right beside Kaye.
Well. That had just happened.
Instead of clearly conveying my horror, I simply turned, walked to the edge of the bed, and jumped off. I needed some water to get that taste out of my mouth, anyway. “Take care of that for me, would you?”
“You’re disgusting,” Kaye yelled after me.
“Maybe so, but at least I’m willing to help you find this Roberts guy,” I retorted as I walked into the bathroom. “Sounds like your job depends on it.”
“There’s one more thing.” Kaye jumped out of bed and hurried after me.
I let her talk as I jumped up onto the counter and pulled the water faucet handle toward me.
“Something they didn’t want me to tell you, but I think you should know. You’ve helped me this far, you deserve all the info,” she said, but then stopped.
I finished lapping up the water, then turned back to Kaye. “Yeah?” I prompted.
She shut off the tap for me. “They told you you’d be rewarded for good behavior, but they didn’t specify how.”
Oh, okay. Now I was interested. “How?” I asked.
“They’ll shorten your sentence. The more you help, the more cases you take on, the sooner you’ll be back in your own skin.”
Oh. Oh.
I’d have to risk my life, but I could get out of this whole thing sooner.
Either that, or I could submit myself to a guaranteed three years of mind-numbing boredom, nasty food, used litter boxes, and a serial killer kitty.
That did it.
“Bring on the danger,” I said with a smirk. There would be no going back for me now.