ONE BOMB TOO MANY
Chapter 3
Author's Note: Believe it or not I finished this story the same day I put up the 2nd chapter. Later that week when I went to edit it, I noticed my laptop and camera and several other items were stolen from my house. I've been so pissed about it I haven't been able to bring myself to rewrite it. I was so happy with the story too. So here it is much later. I backed everything up now and my armed husband installed ADT in our new house. No one is touching this laptop. Hope you enjoy the story. EDIT: Corrected and reposted.
Somehow they had moved from the living room to her room. It had been a wonderful interlude but now it was time to face the music. His partner was going to be livid. Jake gently reached down and caressed Callie's face. She blinked and opened her eyes. She smiled up at him.
"Well at least I got an excuse to get more sleep," she said with a sigh then frowned, "Weren't you and Chance supposed to have left last night?"
"Yeah, but Chance's leg was still too bad to handle the walk and I needed to show you how to use that gun." Jake said shrugging his shoulders.
"Well, I'm glad you did. Saves me from getting a hold of you later to obtain that information and I really appreciated the lesson as well as other things," she said softly. "I must admit that was the best sleep I could remember getting in a long time."
Sleep had been a difficult thing for her since she became Deputy Mayor, what with being kidnaped repeatedly and threatened a lot. "I'm sorry I fell asleep on you. It felt so good being held after so long." She told him.
He loved how she felt curled up against his chest while she slept. It made him feel good that he was responsible for her getting a decent bit of sleep. "Glad I was able to help, also glad we didn't leave last night."
"So pleased you didn't try to leave after I fell asleep. I might have had to kick your ass." She giggled.
"If I left after you fell asleep, I'd kick my own ass." Jake smirked.
She giggled a bit more and finally looked up at him. "You know, you're kinda cute."
"Kinda cute, wow, that's just what I hoped you'd say. I'm not quite hot, but I'm ok with lukewarm. You write for Hallmark right?" He said jokingly.
"Speaking of lukewarm..." She chuckled and crawled out of bed, checking the time. It was a little early for dinner but since they'd skipped lunch it seemed appropriate right now. Part of her wanted to stay on the bed but the majority wanted to impress him with a hot meal. "I'll make us something to eat." She told him, reluctantly pushing him away gently and getting to her feet. He grinned at her and did the same.
He lost the smile as he stood outside the room Chance was in while Callie had gone to the kitchen.
'Crud! What am I going to say to him? He'll know somethings wrong even if I put my mask back on. Callie's going to call him Chance and that'll be it. He'll blow a fuse when he learns I kissed her...damn why did I do that...how do I tell him I've told her who we are and why I did it...I can only hope he doesn't decide to throw me out a window for this...I've made a mess of everything...but somehow I can't regret it...this isn't going to get easier just standing out here...I'll just have to come straight to the point with him...' Jake finally decided.
He raised his paw to the door and knocked. A groan was heard from inside. "Chance, you need to see the news...quick...Feral's found out who we are and there's a massive kat hunt for us. Kat's Eye News is standing outside our house taping the looters. They're taking everything!" He shouted excitedly, changing his mind about the truth.
From inside there was a howl of shock and anger. "Holy God damm!" Chance shouted, running out of the bedroom half dressed. He felt halted in the doorway when he noticed his unmasked friend standing there in the hall with a shit eating grin on his face. "What the fuck??? Are you serious?" Chance asked beginning to get suspicious.
"No, I'm just messing with you. Callie's in the kitchen making dinner. Let's eat!" Jake said innocently.
"You son of a..." Chance began, furious with his partner for scaring him and wondering what was really going on.
"I'll see you in the kitchen Chance" Jake said quickly, turning and running for safety knowing his pissed off buddy would not follow while half dressed. 'Good thing Chance won't lose his temper around Callie but that won't last long. We do have to go home tonight. Oh well! He won't hurt me...much! Hope Callie is a good cook, I'm starving.' He thought ruefully.
Earlier that day at Enforcer Headquarters...
"Excuse me Agent Muffin, is the witness still in custody? I'd like to interview him one more time." Lt. Feral asked. She could feel something was very wrong with this whole case. She dare not say it aloud, but she knew the SWAT Kats had more respect for life than everyone gave them credit for. The witness however... she didn't trust this loser as far as she could throw him.
'The only reason he's a witness was because he and his friend were caught racing away from the scene and then they compounded that by assaulting the officers that had stopped them. No surprise there. Soon he'll be cut loose for his help in the bombing case.
'Innocent until proven guilty... yeah right. More like, 'lets take down the competition'.' She thought angrily. Any case involving enforcer deaths is hard to deal with but this one was much harder.
'Its too bad I can't question the SWAT Kats. I know there's more to this story. I just need to find out what.' Felina thought in frustration.
"Sorry, the District Attorney has given them a deal for their help on this case. He doesn't want anyone talking to them." Harry said shrugging his shoulders, not really caring. He felt he had a good case and there was no need for the pair in jail anymore.
Keeping her sigh of annoyance to herself, she went with Harry to view the security tapes. A few hours later and they were no closer to seeing anything new. The security camera nearest the exit door had been destroyed by the bomb. The only viable tapes were the ones for the other doors nearby and they only showed lots of high schoolers exiting as well as other museum goers rushing by in fright and then only the backs of their heads. Useless!
"Thanks for your help in this case, I know you don't normally get involved with investigations." Harry Muffin sighed as he turned off the worthless tapes.
"No problem Harry. Anything you need, let me know," Felina offered.
"How about dinner tonight?" Harry tossed out hopefully.
"How about no." She said in the same light tone.
"Damn! Oh well just thought I'd ask. Anyway, how about you tell me more about the SWAT Kats. Is there anything you can think of that can help us get them. It's too bad we can't send out a bat signal and bring them in for questioning." Harry said sourly, grasping at straws, desperate for a clue, and made a funny face when he thought too hard. He was an older Kat, lots of gray, and not very good with the ladies. His wife made sure of that.
"Even though they broke countless laws, they never attacked any enforcers. Maybe we should just ask. Kats Eye News would be happy to broadcast a number to contact us by if they want to tell us their side of the story," Felina suggested, hoping to make Harry see reason.
"We have that already. Its called 911. If they wanted to talk they would have contacted us already." Harry grunted not willing to entertain anything else.
"You're more than likely right. I'm going to drive down to the scene, see what I can find." Felina said casually, dropping any attempt to make him see the SWAT Kats side of it.
"Good luck, I'm going home. Its Sunday and I can't stay any later. My wife will never believe I was working late." He growled in annoyance as he got up to leave.
Felina just nodded and headed out. It was already after eight o'clock in the evening.
Less than an hour later outside the museum...
The museum had closed for the night but was well lit outside. Callie was driving Chance and Jake to pick up their double cyclotron parked a block away. The enforcers had not discovered it though they might have if they had parked it nearer the museum instead. They had put their G-suits on correctly and put the makeshift masks back on.
As they passed the building, Callie spotted someone familiar. She unexpectedly shouted, "Duck!"
Chance repeated, " Duck Jake!" As he leaned down quickly.
"Goose" He joked as he pulled his head down. "Whats going on?"
"We just passed Felina. I didn't know she was on this case. I'm going to have to call her in the morning. See what info I can get out of her." Callie said grimly as she made her way to the block they had indicated and turned down the alley. Their bike was where they had left it, behind a dumpster.
During the drive, Jake couldn't stop thinking about her. He wanted to hold her paw so badly, but he didn't want to further upset Chance. The tiger tom had, strangely enough, accepted his unveiling before the Deputy Mayor with only a moment of anger at his partner for doing it without asking him first.
What Jake hadn't told him was his growing feelings for the blond she-kat and the kiss they had shared. Right now, it was sheer torture to just sit in the back seat and not be able to touch her. He was a little jealous of Chance sitting beside her. Callie was an unusually brave Kat...bold too...she didn't hesitate to put herself at risk if she truly believed she was doing the right thing...that included helping them.
Well he'd been able to keep his feelings to himself this long, he could continue to do so a little longer no matter how much it hurt. Callie halted her car and they climbed out. Chance's leg still troubled him as he slowly got out and closed the door.
"Thanks Callie, you've been an angel." Jake told her as he closed his door.
"Yeah thanks a lot. Be careful!" Chance told her then hobbled slowly toward the bike.
Jake paused a moment longer. "Will you call me later and let us know what's going on?" Jake asked quietly. Chance was no longer in ear shot. "Or maybe we could meet up?"
She smiled, "You call me and let me know you got home safe. As for the rest...I'll let you know." She reached out her window and touched his face. "Be careful sweetie"
"Always!" He sighed returning her touch then turned quickly and trotted over to join his partner.
They climbed on their bike and watched Callie's car go down the alley, turn on the street and disappear. T-Bone waited a minute for her to clear some ground between them and started the powerful engine. He drove down the alley slowly and halted at its end to check to see if it was safe to proceed. There was, fortunately, no traffic and they were able to head up small, empty side streets until they finally reached the back road they usually took to get to the salvage yard.
T-Bone was finally able to open up the throttle and soon they were racing the rest of the way home. Going this fast, they knew no one would be able to see them which was a blessing considering how bad they looked.
T-Bone grit his teeth. The bike's vibrations were causing him significant pain in his leg. Both Kats made no attempt to talk. They had far too much on their mind.
The big tom sighed in relief when the yard came into view. 'Thank God. So glad we're home again. My leg is killing me...more so than yesterday...really hope I haven't managed to get an infection in it. Probably should have Razor take a look at it again. God I wish I could just sit and watch Scaredy Cat cartoons for the rest of my life. So tired of going out and getting injured as well as being accused of doing something we didn't. It's getting harder to be a SWAT Kat lately...this really sucks!' He rambled bitterly to himself as he took them around to the secret entrance at last. He pressed the button to open the entrance and zoomed down the ramp only slowing down when he reached the spot where they parked it.
Sighing in relief, he took off his mask and gingerly climbed off the bike, making a note to himself to get new a helmet and gloveatrix. They didn't speak as they stripped off they G-suits and redressed in their coveralls then went up the ladder. Jake helped his partner get up and settled him on the couch before going to the kitchen for a drink.
As he sat at his favorite spot on his comfy sofa, TV off, he stared off into space thinking about everything that had happened at the museum. He went over how it had all started, 'We followed a surge we thought was Hard Drive only to run into some strangers setting a bomb that we hoped we'd prevented being set off only to have it do so anyway and now we're being hunted. None of it adds up.' He mused bitterly.
"Hey bud, mind if I join you?" Jake said sitting down beside his partner. The whole thing still felt weird and unreal to him. So much happened at once. "It's a little overwhelming if you think about it."He said what they were both thinking.
"It's a little overwhelming even if you don't think about it. Do we even know who we were fighting the other day? They definitely looked serious when that dude stabbed my leg. What an asshole." Chance said angrily.
"Ha, well thats one way of looking at it." Jake chuckled a little, "We thought we found a lead on Hard Drive. We followed it, not sure where it went wrong. It feels like a trap and we fell for it." He said, frowning unhappily.
They sat for a moment deep in thought.
"You don't think that moron is bright enough to set us up do you?" Jake said musingly.
"Maybe, but how do you explain the suicide bombers?" Chance said in puzzlement.
Suddenly, it hit them and they turned horror stricken faces toward each other.
"We trapped them there, didn't we? Oh God, it was our fault they died. We trapped them there while the enforcers took them... I guess that's why the two guys that got away ran like that, they knew what was coming," Jake said in anguish.
"Which means there could be more bombs than we thought. I didn't even see them arm the first one, though." Chance felt even worse now.
"I need to make a phone call and hit the sack, I'll see you in the morning. Don't let this get to you till we know for sure what happened" Jake said badly shaken.
"You mean, don't bleed until you're stabbed. Got it... in the leg as a matter of fact... aah, why does it hurt so much, its not a deep cut." The tabby growled in pain.
"Well, you better shower, clean the wound again and get to bed, if it still hurts in the morning, you might want to see a doctor." Jake said distractedly as he helped Chance up the stairs then left him to make his call.
