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Chapter 23 - Trojan Horse

It had been a long time since most of the people I cared about were in one room together. I had nearly forgotten what that sensation was like as I looked around at the faces of people who had decided I was worth the risk and felt humbled. Not since I had been back in Alister's had I felt warmth like this moment and it made me smile.

We were in Renaldo's club in the basement. He had a large conference room of sorts (with mismatched furniture but still enough tables and chairs to sit at) with all our information in one spot. Nickel had converted the room into a kind of information hub and was working with Rut to organize everything we had all gathered. There were sketches of Crossbell Tower and blueprints from the city archives, as well as a photo of Mordecai tacked to the board as if we would forget who we were up against. I smiled as I saw Rut and Nickel talking quietly to one another and nodding while they referenced some paperwork in their hands.

Renaldo was sitting at the head of the table and twisting a glass of amber alcohol in his hand while he looked a million miles away right now. I didn't want to bother him.

Fiz was sitting at his right hand looking as chipper as always. He had a small knife that he was flipping into the air lazily and letting it impact the wooden table between his fingers on his other hand. He repeated the process all while he looked around and never moved the flat hand on the table. The guy was good. I wondered just how good his hand-eye coordination was.

Siro was sitting at the far end of the table and flipping through some papers out in front of him. He looked as beautiful as ever with his glittering beads and silken clothes. He was gorgeous in a way few men (and women) could ever achieve. He was also deathy intelligent, and he had been there for me more than once. I owed him a lot and I knew he was here because of me and me alone; the Arc would survive anything, even Mordecai -- of that I was sure. He was sticking his neck out because I had asked for his help.

I also saw Avery for the first time in days. He was leaning against the wall near no one and looking bored but attentive. He watched people, and when we caught eyes, he smiled at me and waved. I waved back. I knew no one else in this whole room, this whole world, could see my long-dead friend, but I was glad he was here. If anyone had a reason to see this work, it was Avery, even if he was but a ghost or my hallucination.

Finally, there was Quintin, or Tin. He was seated at the end opposite of Renaldo and looked mighty angry. He had been told what Iron had been up to and was furious. It had taken all of us to keep him from charging back to his old headquarters, and he had agreed because, as he put it, 'I owe Simon,' and so he stuck around. I didn't know for how long that would last, so we all knew we were on the clock.

"Okay," Renaldo said and rasped his knuckles on the table. "Let's get this meeting going. I think everyone is ready?"

So we all sat. Rut next to Fiz, Nickel across from Rut, me on Tin's right, and Siro on Tin's left. Renaldo smirked a little bit and smoothed back his headfur as he leaned forward.

"Well, Simon," he began, "you've gathered a motley little crew here today. I never thought I'd be working with the Iron Brothers, one a cop no less--"

"Detective," Nickel corrected with a bit of acid to his tone.

"One a detective no less," Renaldo corrected. "Or Siro for that matter. You are always neutral in everything gang and politics. For you to pick a side is rather...interesting."

Siro smiled and leaned back in his chair while looking more relaxed than anyone at this table save for Fiz. "True," he agreed, "but Simon has demonstrated that this is a real threat to the whole city, and he needs my help. I break my neutrality when people I care about need help, so here I am." He smiled at me and tilted his head to the side, his voice like the creamy silk I loved listening to. He was alluring in so many ways. I found myself flushed.

Lately, ever since Gideon had come around, I had felt so different about...everything. When I say 'everything,' I mean sex. I had always found sex wonderful, but I used to need it to feel anything. These days I don't have that problem, and now I want to sleep with people because...well, I wanted to share something with them. It was like being attracted to them all over again. From the twins to Tin, I kept looking at people I cared about with the eye of someone I was sexually compatable with. It was thrilling but also jarring at times -- I had to learn that I couldn't just think with my dick.

"Very well," Renaldo said and looked between Nickel and Siro. "But if we have a leak in our plans, I know exactly where to start looking."

"I'm offended," Nickel growled. "What do I look like, Iron?"

"Yes," Fiz said without looking up from his hand.

As Nickel bristled, Rut shook his head and cleared his throat. "He means you look alike, not that you're both traitors."

"He needs to be more careful with his words," Nickel said and settled back down in his chair. He shot a venomous glance at Fiz for a moment before he smoothened out his fur and turned to Renaldo, who was grinning.

"Now that we've got a lot of the preamble done, let's move on to the meat of the matter -- we believe we understand Mordecai's plan and we're here now to hammer out more of the details so we can stop him before more people end up hurt, or Simon kidnapped."

Rut cleared his throat and flipped through some pages of documents. He looked tired, if not a little bored. Meetings were never fun. "We believe that Mordecai is going to make a name for himself here in New York City -- as well as carving his name into the history of this city -- by being the pioneer and primary financier of the electrical revolution."

Siro hummed and I couldn't help but wonder why. I didn't stop Rut from continuing though, but I kept one ear turned toward Siro.

"Nickel has been able to go through the city records and found that Mordecai has placed a lot of money in Lumiere Electric. He owns approximately forty percent of the company and is on their board of directors. He has also converted his whole Tower into an entirely electrically-powered architecture, with absolutely no gas. Everything from the heating to the elevators is powered by electricity."

"Why would he be doing something like this? He's rich and powerful, he can make inroads easily," Tin said.

"Because," Siro said, putting his elbows on the table and steepling his fingers while smiling at the large tiger, "power is not endless, and it is not something that can be created."

The wolf just kept going, not bothering to pause for Tin's bewildered expression.

"In the upper echelons of our wonderful city, power is like a pie. There is only so much to go around, and you need a certain amount to be of any significance. Power is the only thing that derives men like Mordecai, or rather, the more sane variations of men like Mordecai. Money is merely a measuring stick upon which they will lay their proverbial cocks and let the world bask in their greatness."

"So Mordecai, even with his money and family connections back in London, can't just show up and expect power to be waiting for him?" I asked.

"Exactly, my dear Simon." Siro smiled at me. "Mordecai is trying to break into that circle of power, and to do that you need to take power from someone. There are powerful men here that could make even Mordecai's life difficult if they turned their full economic and political forces on him. But there is one vulnerability that he saw even before I did -- the men controlling the gas lines.

"Gas will grow less and less popular as electricity becomes more economical and profitable. Mordecai, for all his insanity, is a genius businessman. By being on the forefront of electricity and its benefactor, he stands to take a lot of that power currently held by the gas barons in this city. When they go and Mordecai fills that power vacuum, he not only gets their territory but also their gang connections and political affiliations in Washington. It is, quite simply, the only way for him to be anything here in America."

"But he's got Iron and his company..." Tin said, frowning.

"True," Siro said and pointed to the map of the city on the wall, "and he has carved out a beautiful little fiefdom, but it is nothing compared to the men he wants to deal with. I was able to find a lot of this out when one of the Directors visited the Arc. He was... quite talkative once he relaxed." He smiled with a meaningful wink.

"Okay," Rut said with a cough, "so he's backed electric companies but wants to take down the gas companies. We believe it's going to be twofold--"

"Boom!" Fiz said as he threw his arms out around him, in the process throwing his knife so high into the air that it stuck into the roof. The black fox frowned.

"Dammit, Fiz!" Tin growled across the table. "Don't do that!"

"Anyway," Rut said and coughed to get our attention again, "the explosions are the key. In one move, he gets people out of areas where he can then buy up the land cheaply and when those new buildings are rebuilt, they're already wired for electricity."

"So the gas companies are not only dealing with a loss of businesses but they're also dealing with the aftermath of these explosions and fires," I added, tapping the table with a finger. "Not bad. If I didn't know how crazy Mordecai was I'd give him a compliment."

"How do you know he's making the explosives?" Nickel asked, leaning over to look at Rut.

Rut nodded. "When Simon and I went into Crossbell Tower, we found cases of odd black powder. When we got back I did some tests--"

"Lit it on fire!" Fiz interrupted.

"I did more than--"

"Shot at it!"

"Fiz!"

"Put in metal balls with a wick!"

"FIZ!"

The twins were looking at one another, one grinning and one looking pissed. I'll let you guess which was which.

"It's an explosive," Rut said finally. "Not exactly sure on what formula was used, but it's potent. We saw a lot of cases of it, and I'm betting the bank that there's a lot more in the Tower's sublevels. It needs to be kept cool and dry."

Nickel said quietly, "In this area, there's supposedly a lot of interconnected homes and businesses underground. If he's using the tunnel system to plant these explosives..."

"I believe the explosion the other day was mostly a test. The next one will be more devastating. Probably the biggest. He'll want to keep the terror fresh in everyone's mind but at the same time not look like he's the one benefitting from it. As to when, I'm not entirely sure. Soon though. The pieces are coming together. Without Tin there, I think he may move quicker, just to try and keep us off balance."

"There's also a chance that he could go right for Black Sock Gang territory," Renaldo said. "I've got men looking around to make sure they don't see anyone suspicious. But we're going to need more help than my gang can do alone."

Tin chuckled and crossed his arms over his broad chest, smirking wickedly. "Then let's get my gang back. I have an idea."

---

"This is insane," said Rut as we pushed the cart up to the warehouse. "This is the most idiotic, half-assed, dangerous, stupid plan, and I live with Fiz, so that's saying something!"

The three of us -- Rut, Fiz, and I -- were hauling a large wagon with a wooden box on it toward the gang's headquarters. The tiger gang was near the docks as many of them had taken up harbor jobs. Because of that, their homes and part of the city were near the water, and the scent of the river was strong. Fiz didn't like it and had a bandana tied over his snout to block out the smell.

"Relax," I said to Rut and shook my head. "We need to keep our heads on straight, or this is going to go south real quick. Besides, I trust you and Fiz to keep me alive."

"Simon safe," Fiz said calmly.

"It'll be tight even for us if things go south, Simon," Rut said with a frown. "You owe me when this is all over."

"Fine!" I hissed under my breath. "I'll cook dinner for a month. Just shhh!"

We got up to the door of the warehouse and were stopped by two burly guards. I had to admit that tigers were incredibly strong looking...their arms were about three times the size of my own, and I had to guess these weren't even the biggest ones here.

"What's this?" the one wearing a bowler derby said.

"Gift!" Fiz said, smiling from ear to ear.

His brother added, "Renaldo is making a peace offering and knows that, while the foxes and the tigers aren't on exactly friendly terms, there is a peace between us. He wanted to send over this case of liquor to...smooth things over."

"Mmm," the tiger said, walking up to the pushcart and nudging Rut out of the way. He grabbed the lid of the crate and lifted with all his strength. The sound of wood and nails being stretched echoed out around us and the lid came up.

Silence.

"See?" Rut said, quirking a brow. "Whiskey. We heard that Iron loves whiskey."

"Tsh." The lid was slammed back down onto the crate and the tiger looked at us all. "Small foxes for such a big delivery."

"Just let us give this to Iron and we'll go, okay?" I said, looking up at the big man tiredly. "This thing is heavy and you're wasting everyone's time. This is a gift from Renaldo. You know that if we were lying and he found out, he'd skin our hides."

The tiger huffed. "Just hurry it up. Not like you can do anything terribly smart inside anyway, little foxes. Just know that you'll be dead before you can say Statue of Liberty."

It took a lot of effort not to dramatically exhale. We pushed the cart inside the warehouse. It was done up like a club with rows of tables and a bar in the back. We could see walls built to partition off 'rooms' so to speak. There was a ring in the center lined with sandbags and two tigers in the middle, naked from the waist up. We stopped and watched as they fought.

"Someone pissed someone else off?" I said to the tiger who was closest to me.

"Hm?" the skinny tiger said. "Nah mate, this is just what we do when we are a bit bored, you know? Keep us sharp and we get to make a bit of money on the side if we bet right, we do."

I was reminded of the brawlers back home but quickly pushed the feelings of home and loss down. I was in the belly of the beast right now and needed to stay focused.

Iron wasn't hard to miss; he was drinking and laughing, his hand holding a large mug of foamy beer and guzzling it down. He was laughing with some of his friends, it seemed, who all seemed more than eager to laugh at anything even remotely funny the large tiger said. I heard Fiz make a groaning sound but we kept pushing.

"Oh?" we heard him say as he walked over, arms spread, and looking down at the box. "What's this? A gift? For me?"

"That's correct," Rut said, letting go of the handle and putting his hands behind his back. "Renaldo formally wishes to make amends with the tiger gang and keep the peace. He hopes that this case of whiskey will show you his honest intent."

"How he get it?" Iron said, drunk off his rocker. He was swaying a little bit. He was also limping by the way he moved his foot. Was something broken there?

"I don't know," Rut said, shrugging his shoulders. "Didn't ask. Was just told to deliver and so here we are."

Having emptied the mug of ale, Iron threw it over his shoulder and rubbed his hands together, looking down at the wooden case and running a hand over the top of it, purring softly under his breath. "Well then, that is a kingly gift, if I do say so myself."

We were turning to leave when we heard it. The lid flew back and the bottles of whiskey flew everywhere. Something had erupted from the case like an explosion and the scent of alcohol filled the air. In one fluid moment, the music from the corner had stopped and the laughing ceased. I blinked and Fiz had five knives in one hand and a sixth in his other. Rut had his silver revolver out and one hand holding a quickload for six more bullets, arms in front of him. I would learn that it was to protect his heart if he got shot.

Standing from the box was the behemoth of a tiger I had come to know of as Tin. He was growling and glaring with bright eyes and a lashing tail. He had his hand out and clasped around Iron's neck, squeezing so hard that rivulets of blood poured down from where his claws punctured fur and flesh. Iron kicked, trying to breathe as he was held off his feet.

"Hello, little brother," Tin said softly. "Enjoying playing with my things?"

There was a gagging sound from Iron.

Tin pulled his other fist up and slammed it into Iron's face. The younger tiger's head rolled to the side and blood trickled out of his nose. But it didn't stop there. Tin did not let up. He punched his brother's face again and again and again, watching as his face went from objectively handsome to swollen black and blue. One of his teeth had fallen out. Tin's knuckle's had split and bled, but he did not stop.

No one moved. No one dared approach, but the twins had taken positions with me in the center. They were protecting me again. I really, really needed to learn how to defend myself.

Finally, when Tin was done he dropped his brother onto the floor, a wet and guttereral wheezing echoed out from the younger tiger's face. He would need stitches in some of those cuts, but he was still alive. I looked at the big tiger and frowned.

"Blood is thicker than water, and I couldn't look my Ma in the face when I died if she found out I killed my baby brother. Not without at least one more chance to get his head out of his ass!" This was punctuated by a hard kick to the downed tiger's stomach. Iron coughed a few times and became limp. He fainted.

"Now then," Tin said and hooked his thumbs into the loops of his jeans, slowly turning to look at every tiger in the room. They had put their weapons down and were watching him with a mixed expression of shock, confusion, and fear. He pulled out a kerchief and rubbed the blood and viscera from his knuckles. "Your boss is back. Any objections?"

No one said a word.

"Good." He flashed his fangs in a grin. "Someone tie this piece of shit up and bring me a beer."