Benjamin nearly tripped as Goyle shoved him back into the bedroom and dragged him to the four-poster bed. Dr. Arianna Fauna watched impassively as the elk forced him onto the mattress and attached him to a bedpost with a pair of handcuffs.
"Aren't you going to take me to the front gate?" He dared to ask.
"Not yet. Not until it's time to make the switch." Fauna said.
"And how do you plan to stop him?" Benjamin asked.
Fauna smirked and pointed to the ceiling. "A sharpshooter is waiting on the roof at this very moment. The moment Vercus shows his face, he's dead."
Benjamin shot upright, his arm stretched straight by the restraining cuff. "You never said you'd kill him!"
"Every second he's breathing, he's a danger to us all. Tell me, would the police be any different?"
Benjamin hesitated. "… It's not the same!"
Fauna closed the glass doors of the balcony. "I don't have the time or the care to discuss moral hypocrisy with you. I have less than an hour to prepare, so you can just lie back and relax until then. And just in case you somehow escape that bed, the entire building is crawling with Veltro's people. The grounds are patrolled day and night. Also, the fence is electrified. So if you do get out of that cuff, do yourself a favor and stay put. Behave and you might even get a blackberry pie when this is over." She walked out, followed by Goyle, and the door was closed and locked behind them.
Benjamin sighed and lay flat on the bed. If anyone else were still in the room, they'd have thought he was bored. On the inside, he was terrified. He had no idea what Vercus was up to, or what would happen to him if the assassination was a success. Would Veltro kill him quickly? Or did they have something worse than death in mind? Even though Fauna had admitted that Veltro's supremacist ideals were nothing more than a sham, most of the mammals here truly did desire the persecution of predators such as himself. With his free paw he gripped the key ring Bogo had given him and tried to convince himself that everything was going to be okay. Bogo and the others were on their way. In a matter of hours, every mammal on this estate would be behind bars. He just needed to stay put, just like Fauna had said.
But Vercus's last words still haunted him. Be ready, he'd said. Fauna had a plan, but so did Vercus. Fauna had brains and a sniper, but Vercus had brains, brawn, and a bomb. As he stared up at the bed's canopy, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to go horribly wrong. Benjamin looked up at the cuff holding him to the post. He couldn't stay stuck on this bed if something did go wrong. He may not be able to leave this room, but he could at least try to get free.
The cheetah didn't bother trying pulling off the cuff, instead turning his attention to the wooden post. It was almost as thick as his arm, and carved with an intricate hoof pattern at the base. He didn't have a chance in heck of snapping the thing, but he remembered his parent's home having a modern version of this bed. He'd helped to hold up the canopy railings while his mother fixed the posts in place like a peg in a hole. Maybe this bed had the same weak point.
Benjamin stood up on the mattress and tugged the cuff up the pole until he could grasp the corner of the canopy rail with both paws. It was a lot bulkier than his parents' bed, but it was a heck of a lot older. He pushed up at the rail, and initially nothing happened, but he tried again with all the force he could muster. With a scarily loud crack the corner popped free.
Benjamin glanced sharply at the bedroom door. He heard footsteps. He dropped down onto the mattress just as the door opened and Goyle glared into the room. He looked at Benjamin, then around the room. The curtains must have been concealing the damage to the canopy railing, for Goyle eventually gave the feline a threatening look and shut the door again. Benjamin exhaled, stood back up, and pulled the cuff free of the rail. Now he could run or defend himself if Fauna's scheme went awry. He was careful to put the rail back in place before sitting back down on the bed.
He lay on the bed, hoping the ZBI would get here in time as he constantly checked his watch, which looked like it had been cracked during his kidnapping. When there were ten minutes left before the trade-off, he got up and went to the balcony doors. A quick tug on the handles confirmed they were locked, but at least he had a perfect view of the front gate. Much like the Casel Estate, a long gravely road stretched down from the house to the front gate. Near the front gate and the small building that housed the gate controls was a parked black car. If Benjamin had some binoculars, he could easily spy on the front gate, but all he could see for now was a rectangle of bars and at least three indiscernible figures.
Benjamin heard the growl of an engine and brought his face further to the glass. A massive semi crawled into view, stopping on the snow and grass beside the road midway down. The massive red words on the side said 'Rodentia Apples,' but Benjamin was quite sure they weren't carrying fruit. A car trundled down the path, and Benjamin caught a glimpse of Fauna's mane and pantsuit through the rear window. He watched the car drive all the way down the path and stop a short distance from the front gate, and watched Fauna and two other mammals climb out. They slowly approached the closed gate. He didn't appear to see anyone on the other side. Benjamin checked his watch; seven minutes left.
"Be ready." Vercus had said. Be ready for what?
Benjamin watched and listened, but he saw no squad cars smashing through the gates, heard no sirens. He checked his watch again. Six minutes left. "Where are you, Mansa?" He murmured. Another semi crawled into his line of sight, stopping slightly closer to the building. Veltro must be preparing to flee the city as soon was Vercus was dead. With one leader dead and the other in ZBI custody, it was only a matter of time before Fauna was exposed as the new leader. Her family estate would be one of the first places they'd look.
He checked his watch once more; five minutes go-
He saw the explosion before he heard it, a flash of white and orange followed by a plume of smoke rising high above the tree line. Benjamin clapped his paws to his mouth, the cuffs jingling as they dangled from his wrist. "Vercus." He whispered.
Muffled by the closed doors, the sounds of cursing and confusion filled the air. Fauna and her two companions, mere blobs in the distance, started back towards their car. Then there was a louder bang and another flash of color as the car's engine exploded and combusted the entire vehicle. The three mammals were knocked to the gravel but lucky that they weren't close enough to be outright killed by the shockwave. Even so, Benjamin was sure they were hurt. Then the front gate slid open.
Someone emerged from inside the small building beside the gate and quickly approached the small black car, a large mammal dressed in a coat and hat. Benjamin couldn't recognize them from behind, but he could see whoever it was carrying a metallic briefcase.
The mammal he was certain was 'Yokai Nishimura' clambered into the small car and went tearing through the snow like a street racer, speeding in between the burning car and the fallen mammals, through the open gate and disappearing into the forest.
There was a slamming from behind. Benjamin spun round to see that Goyle had flung open the bedroom foor, his eyes wild with panic. He stomped over and grabbed the feline by the arm, dragging him away from the balcony doors. "What the hell is going on here, predator?!"
Benjamin stammered as he pointed outside. "Di-did you see that? Someone just ran off with a briefcase!"
Goyle paused. "They what?"
"Someone in a big coat and hat took off after the explosions!" Benjamin cried, desperate to keep the large, angry elk from putting the blame on him.
Goyle snarled, his grip tightening into a painful vice. "Damn it. Damn it! I warned her! I warned her we couldn't trust hi-"
The world disappeared with a bang.
Bogo brought the car and the line of cars and armored vans screeching to a halt at the first explosion, coming from the left above the tree line. "Oh god, what now?" He growled through gritted teeth.
Judy saw the way her boss stiffened in the driver's seat. "Sir, it's okay. The estate isn't in that direction."
"Then what the hell is it?" Bogo demanded.
"I don't know. But we're going to find out." Yaxley grabbed the radio and gave orders for two cars to go and investigate while the others continued on to apprehend Fauna. The line started up again, picking up speed when they heard two more explosions. Judy felt sick. Those two explosions had definitely come from the estate.
Before anyone could speak, the radio crackled.
"Sir, we've found the site. Looks like a bomb went off in the middle of a campsite."
"That was quick. Any casualties?" Yaxley asked.
"No, but it looks like Vercus Casel was here. Either there was an accident or someone tried to off him. There's no sign of Vercus, so we'll have to assume that he's unharmed."
Bogo punched the dashboard and stomped on the gas pedal. Yaxley put a hoof on his arm to calm the buffalo and responded to the radio. "Any ideas where he might be?"
"My best guess, sir, is that he'll be looking for blood."
That was when they all heard the biggest explosion yet.
Fauna watched, the cold gravel pressing into the side of her face, as the gate slid open. She clenched her teeth and moaned in agony. She knew her right arm at least was broken. Boris was dead, his neck broken when he hit the gravel. Kennedy was moaning somewhere nearby. A black car sped past their bodies, escaping into the forest.
The semis, two of five scheduled to vacate this place, exploded. They didn't disappear into massive fireballs like in the movies, rather the secret cargo they were carrying appeared to suddenly combust, setting two thirds of the massive vehicles aflame just like her own car. There go the weapons, Nightfall, Daybreak, spare parts and stockpiles of Midnicampum holicithias. There was still the lab itself, and all its equipment. The serum vials, the antidotes, everything that was supposed to go into the remaining semis.
Another explosion. The roof of the mansion. Her sharpshooter, dead. More explosions coming from inside the building. The exterior wall of the dining room disappeared in a cloud of smoke and debris. Her birthright, her rightful inheritance, gone. How could this have gone so wrong?
Crunching footsteps. Fauna had to roll her entire body to see who was striding through the open gate, moaning in agony all the while. She stiffened, her pain almost forgotten in her terror when she saw Vercus approaching her. Kennedy blocked his way, sobbing and squirming. Vercus silenced him with his sickle and kicked him aside. Instead of killing Fauna right away, he looked up at the ruined, burning building. "Not a pleasant thing, is it? Being betrayed by the ones you'd trusted?"
Fauna was almost surprised. His question was so guttural it was almost a growl, but at the same time it sounded so normal. He'd resisted the most adverse affects of the serum better than she'd imagined. It probably helped that he was aware of his own insanity, and what the serum was going to do to him when he used it. Helped him resist. "The first explosion. What was it?"
"My campsite." Vercus replied, with the edge of malice he'd had on the phone. "I was already on my way here, lucky me. Not so lucky for Nishimura when I sever his tongue. See if he can still talk his way out of an excruciating death. How do you think I should do it, Ari? Make him run into my knife ten times? Or should I pin him on his back after I take his tongue, and make him drown in his own blood? If you have a better idea, I'd love to hear it."
Fauna nodded, chuckling bitterly. It was so obvious. She'd known she couldn't trust Nishimura completely, but how was she supposed to know he knew explosives? "Honestly, I'm not very surprised."
"Oh?" Vercus crouched down before the wounded mare, his sickle red with Kennedy's blood. Strapped to his back was the Nightfall launcher. She could see the rage burning in his eyes now.
"Nishimura must have been laughing at us all this time, wasting the night howlers on petty grudges." She shakily raised her good arm to point at the weapon Vercus was carrying. "Do you have any idea was that is worth? To the right buyer?"
"I know." Vercus snarled. "I was his first customer when he advertised Bellwether's serum."
"And all this time he was using us to make the serum a true weapon of war." Fauna winced and clutched her abdomen. "He even had us develop a new antidote to sell with the serum as a set. You and I aren't so different, really. For one thing, we were both played for fools."
"No." Vercus sneered, his eyes flashing with the insanity he'd buried under that scarred mask so he could speak with her civilly. He was speaking in shorter sentences, as if it was taking more effort than usual to speak coherently. "Did you really think I would trust someone so false? I knew he would betray me eventually. Call it a seventh sense, if you will. It's what you get when you've been betrayed before."
Fauna lowered her head. So this was it. "Just do it already. I'm probably dying anyway."
Vercus grabbed her chin and forced her to look into his blazing eyes. "Not yet, you lying little tart! Where is he?"
Fauna answered quickly. "Master bedroom. It's where we left him. Just kill me already."
Vercus shoved her head into the frozen gravel and stood up. "No. I think leaving you here to freeze and suffer is more karmic. In the meantime I'm going to leave a little surprise for my old friend Scarface. Then I'm going to look for Benji. If I find him dead, I'm coming back for you. Pray you'll bleed out by then. Here, let me help you along." Fauna could only brace herself and clench her teeth as the elk-deer put down his sickle, pulled out a small knife with an even shorter blade and pressed the tip into her forehead. The mare whimpered as he slowly carved something into her flesh. When he moved the sickle away, she shakily touched the carving with her hoof. It felt like the letter V. "That's from the one you betrayed." He cut two more letters in both of her cheeks. "And that's from the two-faced slimeball who betrayed us both. We will see if the ZBI's smart enough to figure it out. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a cheetah to retrieve."
Fauna giggled as Vercus stormed off in the direction of the small building that housed the gate controls. It was astounding how well Vercus was able to keep himself from going completely savage. How did he do it? How did he fight off a substance that turned even the most disciplined elephant into a howling lunatic?
Slowly, as she watched the gate close again, a dozen thoughts pieced themselves together and became a theory. The howling lunatic had been inside Vercus all along, tempered by a privileged upbringing and everything that came with it. Wealth. Security. An obligation to uphold the family's good name. When all of that was taken from him, he had no more reason to hide. The night howler serum had only taken away what few inhibitions he had left. Benjamin Clawhauser, the cheetah he'd irrationally obsessed over for the past five years, was the only reason Vercus was still putting on a flimsy mask. The elk-deer needed a lucid mind for what he had planned for the unfortunate feline.
That was if he reached Benjamin alive. If Nishimura's intention was to steal the Nightfall weapon and its data and destroy the rest, then the lab must have been blown up as well. And considering the serum is gas based…
"Good luck with that." She sneered as the world grew dark and colder.
The world was strangely quiet when Benjamin opened his eyes and found himself lying on his side on the aged carpet. Goyle was gone, and glass, wood and other bits were strewn all around him. He slowly pushed himself up on aching arms and felt a cold breeze wash over him. He turned around and gasped softly. The balcony doors were a wreck, every glass panel blown out. A plume of fire and smoke filled the air beyond the balcony.
A horrible slicing pain struck his side when he started to get up. His heart plummeted when he looked down and saw a blade-like piece of glass protruding from his sweater, ringed with a small dark stain. "Aw crap." He whimpered. Another sudden stab of pain had tears beading in his eyes. His first instinct was to take it out, but he'd been warned against removing embedded objects on your own. He looked around the ruined room, growing more distressed by the second. Maybe there was something in here he could use, a towel or some other small cloth, to make a donut ring around the shard and keep it stable. A little something he'd learned after the time a repairmen fell on her screwdriver while fixing Precinct One's air conditioning. But this was broken glass, much, much sharper. Sharp enough to cut through cloth like it was paper.
He made the agonizing move of rolling onto his front, taking care to avoid the other shards of glass all over the place. Then he became aware of sounds from somewhere underneath. At first he thought it was screaming, but then he heard screeching. Howling. Bellowing.
Just like Greener Grass.
Benjamin stared at the open bedroom door. He scrambled to his feet, groaning from the sensation of his side being sliced over and over, and evaded the broken glass as he raced to the door and slammed it shut. He didn't have the key to lock the door, so he made his way to the dresser and shoved it across the room and blocked the door with it. By the time he was done, he was panting with both exhaustion and pain. He staggered back to the bed and eased himself down to check on the shard of glass in his side. It had shifted during his mad dash to secure the bedroom, slicing through an inch of his flesh like a filleting knife. It had gone slightly deeper, too. The strain had grown bigger and redder. Sucking air through his teeth, Benjamin stared at the dresser blocking the door. If a savage rhino tried to get in, that dresser wouldn't hold for long and then the cheetah would have to run for it. God knows how much damage the shard would do to him if it came to that.
Benjamin gripped the covers beneath him, bracing himself for the colossally stupid and torturous thing he was about to do. His only comfort was that there tons of fabrics in here he could use to stem the bleeding, and his pudgy body combined with the small size of the glass panels made it unlikely the shard had pierced any organs.
Take it out.
Don't take it out, you don't take it out, you idiot!
If you have to run or fight, keeping the glass in will make it worse.
Don't do it, you could bleed to death!
There were no sirens, no flashing red and blue lights, and the sounds of savages were getting louder. Benjamin pulled a clean-looking cover off a pillow, folded it into a thick small square and held it close to the red stain, read to apply pressure the second the shard was out. If he pulled it out. He may not have a choice in a few minutes. The lethally sharp piece of glass would tear his body wide open if a savage mammal so much as nudged it.
Then something slammed against the door, shaking the dresser and making the feline jump. They struck the door again. And again. They knew he was in there, and the dresser would not hold forever.
There were still no sirens.
Benjamin braced himself and pinched the shard between his fingers. Then he let go, still unable to bring himself to do something so risky. The banging stopped. The feline sighed in relief and started looking around for something to stabilize the shard.
