Nothing moved in the quiet street on the edge of the city except for one small cat. He was pacing backwards and forwards in front of a stylish old building that had been converted into a number of very expensive flats. The toms eyes were fixed on a window on the second floor that was open slightly through which he could hear the sound of a woman talking to some one as she got ready to go out. What she was saying was boring to say the least but he needed to be sure she had gone before he made his move. Mungojerrie rolled his eyes as the woman briefly came into view holding up some earrings and asking her friend if they went with her dress. Go away!, he mentally snapped at her and stalked across the road to get a clearer view of the window. She now seemed to be debating what coat to wear which was taking forever but at least it meant she was almost ready to go. The calico tom's tail flicked nervously as the human changed her mind again. He had already been watching the flat for hours and his boss had been very specific about wanting the object he was here to steal by five o'clock at the latest. He was running out of time. It would take an hour to get from here to the boss' headquarters and it was already three o'clock. Mungojerrie resumed his pacing silently cursing the human upstairs.
At last the woman and her friend came out of the building and made their way slowly down the ornate stone steps towards Mungojerrie. The cat ducked out of sight behind a very expensive black sports car and waited for them to get into their own vehicle and drive away. Finally they were gone and the burglar crept from his hiding place and checking the coast was clear he bounded up the steps and expertly began to climb the wall. The bricks were old and worn and it took less than a minute to reach the second floor and slip silently in through the open window. So far this was turning out to be one of the easiest burglaries in a long time.
The room was furnished in cream and a rather unforgiving burnt orange that didn't go at all. Mungojerrie wrinkled his nose. The flat smelt so strongly of perfume and flowers that it was almost making him sneeze. The tom scanned the room for the small antique vase he had been sent to get. Opposite the window was a large mirror above a cream sofa with orange silk cushions and an orange throw. Beside it was a bookcase full of little shiny glass animals and books that looked like they had never been touched and a tall swirly cream lamp. In the middle of the floor was a glass coffee table stood on an orange rug with a huge vase of flowers on it. The rest of the room was taken up by some uncomfortable looking cream chairs, an expensive flat-screen TV and a decorative fireplace with some flowers in the grate. No sign of the vase here.
Mungojerrie crossed the room, pushed open the door and found himself in a hallway with a small glittering chandelier, a dark wooden side table with more flowers on it and a thick cream carpet. Opposite the room he was in another door was ajar and the burglar could see a bed and dressing table through the gap. The bedroom was as good a place as any to continue his search so he nipped across the hall and through the door. He was greeted by fluffy cream cushions, light wooden furniture and baby blue ornaments and curtains. This room didn't take long to check. He only had to look quickly around to see there was nothing of interest here. At least now he understood why the woman had been trying earrings on in her living room. It would be far to embarrassing to let anybody see the mess in her bedroom. Clothes covered the floor and spilled out of the wardrobe, make-up littered every surface, the bed hadn't been made, there were empty wine glasses on the windowsill and the books from the bookcase were all stacked haphazardly on the floor in front of it. Even Rumpleteazer wasn't this messy Mungojerrie thought as he left the room again.
Thinking about his friend had made him miss her again and he suddenly wished she was here with him even if she was normally more of a hindrance than a help. She would have loved to get muddy paw prints all over the cream cushions. His friend had a strange aversion to the colour cream. The tom shook his head. Now was not the time to be thinking about Rumpleteazer and wondering what she was doing with Tumblebrutus right now, he had a job to do.
The next door he tried was the door to the kitchen. There was a big clock opposite the entrance telling him it was already twenty past three. He really needed to hurry up. Again Mungojerrie scanned the room but this time with more luck. On the windowsill was a small blue and green vase fitting the description of the antique he was looking for. In a flash the burglar was crouched on the draining-board by the window examining the vase. It was small and light, painted a light blue with rich dark green plants swirling up it. Just like his boss had described. Personally Mungojerrie couldn't see why anybody would want it as it was rather ugly but he wasn't paid to give an opinion on the things he stole. Pulling out a small sack Mungojerrie let the ornament slide into it with a smug grin. This had almost been too easy.
He jumped down off the side and carefully crossed the hall back into the living room. Just as he was about to run to the window he heard the door to the flat slam behind him. "I wont be a minute, I just forgot my purse!", a woman's voice called and footsteps approached the door the tom had just entered through. Without thinking Mungojerrie dived behind the large cream leather sofa and crouched there very still trying not to make a sound. From his hiding place he saw some red high healed shoes come into view and cross the room. "It's not here! I must have left it in my room." The woman left the room again and the cat behind her sofa breathed a sigh of relief. Quickly he slipped out and jogged over to the window. It was easy enough to climb back down to ground level and the calico tom was gone before the woman came back out of her flat. It would be hours before she even noticed the vase had gone missing.
Across the road Mungojerrie was silently making his way along the pavement hidden by the shadows from a tall, neatly pruned hedge. He knew this neighbourhood so well that he could stroll casually along thinking of other things knowing where the dangers were and were he had to be careful not to be seen. For instance the tom knew that a large and very viscous grey dog lived at the end of this street on the side of the road he was on and if he cut across a nearby garden and jumped a low brick wall he could avoid going past it completely and save five minutes walking time. Mungojerrie began to whistle a cheerful tune as he slipped under the hedge and made his way across the perfectly maintained lawn beyond. The sun was shining and the traffic was so quiet here that the cat could clearly hear a bird singing nearby. In short it was the perfect afternoon for a walk, or it would have been if he hadn't been in a hurry and carrying a vase. With a sigh the tom quickened his pace to an easy jog and was soon across the lawn and in a smaller street with less expensive houses. There was never anybody about there at this time of day so Mungojerrie made good progress not having to be careful to stay out of sight.
Oi wonder wot Teaz is up ter at the moment. Oi bet she's not even finkin' about me, she's probably too busy arrangin' 'er nice new den or sumfink, Mungojerrie thought grumpily as he hurried along, She's probably too busy wiv Tumblebrutus ter care about wot Oi'm doin'. Oi bet they're already snuggled up togeffer talkin' about the future or sumfink. In fact Rumpleteazer was missing Mungojerrie as much as he was missing her even though she had Tumblebrutus now but of course he couldn't know that. Listen ter me. Oi sound like such an idiot. Oi can't believe oi sound jealous of me best friend. The calico tom shook his head angrily at himself and marched on trying to think of something else. Oi bet this 'orrible vase is worff quite a bit or the boss wouldn't want it. Oi can't see 'oo'd buy the fink fough. Mungojerrie remembered the unattractive colours and ugly pattern. Oi wonder if 'e's gonna sell it or keep it. Probably sell it. Even 'e wouldn't keep it, it's too 'ideous.
By now he had reached a scruffier area and the houses were slowly giving way to warehouses. The streets were narrow and grimy and down some of the alleys branching off from the road Mungojerrie was following he could see scraggy, thin cats fighting over scraps from bins. He shuddered at the thought of having to eat out of a bin and hurried on. This was his least favourite part of the city and also where his boss had decided to have his headquarters. The burglar turned off down a narrow alley and squeezed through a gap in an old wire fence to cut across another alley and make his way back to a wider street. A few more confusing short-cuts later and Mungojerrie was sauntering down a deserted road past warehouses with smashed windows and cracked walls towards a large building in slightly better repair than the ones around it.
"What took you? You're almost late." An elegant dark grey Persian queen stepped out of the shadows to Mungojerrie's right blocking his path.
"'Allo, Dylana. Wotcher doin' out 'ere?" Mungojerrie smirked at the queen and shifted the sack with the vase to a more comfortable position on his back. He wasn't really in the mood to talk to the queen and he didn't really have time but it could have been worse. Some of the other henchcats were harder to talk to and harder to get rid of again. At least Dylana was friendly enough most of the time if you didn't annoy her.
"I was catching some dinner." She gestured to a small pile of mice on the pavement beside her. "If I were you I'd hurry up though. He's getting quite impatient waiting for you." The queen gave him a sickly sweet smile. "I wouldn't like to find out what he'd do if you were late."
"Thanks for the warnin'." Mungojerrie pushed past Dylana and left her standing watching him with a grin on her face. He quickly walked the last bit of the way and slipped into the warehouse through a crack in the door. The ground floor of the warehouse was one huge room that had been separated into different rooms at one side by some large wooden boards. This was where the guards like Dylana lived. At the far side of the building was a flight of metal stairs leading up to the second floor were there had once been a number of offices. Mungojerrie made straight for the stairs and quickly leapt up them very conscious of being watched by somebody in the shadows, probably one of the guards. Once at the top of the stairs Mungojerrie hurried down a corridor and stopped outside a large wooden door at the far end of the warehouse. He knocked loudly and waited.
"Come in!", a bored sounding voice called from inside and the burglar pushed the door open and entered. The room was large with a huge desk covered in papers and countless shelves of books all around the walls. The window had been boarded up so nobody could see in from outside so the only light came from a bare bulb dangling from the ceiling. A huge map of London covered the board over the window and there was an old leather chair behind the desk. In the middle of the room Macavity turned to look at his employee. "You're late," he hissed.
"Oi'm sorry, boss. Oi 'ad ter wait for ages for the woman ter leave." Mungojerrie scuffed his paws uncomfortably and avoided Macavity's furious glare.
"But you got it?", Macavity demanded impatiently. The thief nodded and pulled the vase out of the sack he was carrying. Macavity snatched it off him and examined it carefully. "Good, good," he muttered to himself and stroked the antique. "Get out!", he ordered without even looking up at Mungojerrie.
The calico tom hastily backed from the room and closed the door behind him. He let out a long sigh of relief and turned to leave. At that moment he heard a strange noise coming from one of the other rooms. It sounded like somebody crying. Slowly Mungojerrie moved closer to the door, alert for any other sounds coming from within. As he was almost level with it the door opened and another of Macavity's guards came out. Before the door fell shut behind him Mungojerrie caught a glimpse of a young white queen huddled in a corner crying. There was a long chain attaching her leg to a ring in the wall and he could see blood where the metal had rubbed her skin away. She was the most beautiful thing Mungojerrie had ever seen and he would have given anything to be able to go into the room and comfort her.
"'oo were that, Tocho?", Mungojerrie asked the other tom as the door snapped shut hiding the little queen from view.
The Abyssinian shrugged his shoulders. "Just some prisoner. We're not allowed near her apart from to give her food. Boss's orders." He turned and walked away from Mungojerrie clearly not interested enough in the captive to want to talk about her.
Mungojerrie jogged to catch him up. "Where did she come from?", the calico tom wanted to know.
Unhelpfully Tocho shrugged again and carried on walking. "We were just told the other day that she was there and we had to give her food. I don't know or care where she came from." He left Mungojerrie behind and jumped lightly down the stairs and out of sight.
For a few minutes Mungojerrie stayed where he was gazing wistfully at the door hiding the mysterious queen from view. He wished he could go over and talk to her and stop her from crying. She had looked so sad and lonely and so vulnerable. The poor thing needed some one to protect her. As he was stood there thinking he heard the sound of Macavity pacing. If he was caught staring at the room with the prisoner his boss was so secretive about he was likely to get into serious trouble. Better to leave now before he looked too interested. Mungojerrie sprang down the stairs and made his way quickly back outside. To his immense relief there was no sign of Dylana. He really didn't want to talk to her now. All he wanted to do was think about the little white queen. Slowly Mungojerrie turned for home.
