FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"How long are we gonna have to follow her, anyway?" Jack grumbled as he strode along the sidewalk, weaving his way through the other pedestrians.

"Until she loses us or Machiko tells us to stop, I guess." Taura shrugged. "She said that Shadow is really good at slipping away from pursuers, even in broad daylight, so as far as training and evaluation assignments go, this one isn't bad. It's better than being shot at."

"Eh, good point." Jack zoomed in a bit more, keeping his cybernetic eyes locked onto the young draconid a block ahead of him and Taura. He wondered how someone with obsidian skin, glowing cyan eyes, wings and a tail could lose them in an area that was populated mostly by humans. She wasn't exactly inconspicuous.

But then, neither was Taura. Some people didn't appear to notice her, but the ones who bothered to glance at her either gasped or did a double-take when they realized that a seven-foot-tall minotaur was within arm's reach. Shadow was the size of an average human, didn't have huge muscles like Corona and Taura, and had her wings folded around her shoulders like a cape. Maybe she simply seemed less threatening to the people around her.

Just then, Corona's voice came through their earpieces. "Well, if we can stay on her tail when she's that good at getting away, we should be able to follow anyone."

"I guess that'll look good on our resume," Jack muttered. "Assuming we can ever get out of this high-risk 'community service' sentence and get our lives back."

"Look on the bright side," Corona said with a chuckle. "Whatever we learn on this job, we'll be able to use when we get back to our old freelance gig."

"And this beats prison," Taura added. "As we keep reminding you, Jack."

"Yeah. Sorry. I guess it's in my nature to bitch about things."

"That's okay, Jack." Corona giggled. "It's part of your charm, actually."

"Well, I'm glad I can keep you entertained. But we've been at this for several hours. I'm getting tired."

"Well, you're only human." Corona giggled.

"Ha-ha." He glanced up and caught a glimpse of Corona gliding high overhead. He returned his attention to Shadow before she could slip away.

A half-second later, Shadow made an abrupt right turn and disappeared down an alley.

"Aw, shit." Jack groaned and jogged toward the alley.

Taura outran him, stopped at the end of the alley and peeked around the corner. She frowned and glanced at Jack.

"What the hell? She's gone!"

Jack walked around the corner and found an empty alley. "How the hell did...?"

Taura looked up, nudged Jack's shoulder and pointed toward the top of the building on the right. Jack craned his neck and saw a pair of black, digitigrade feet and a tail disappear over the edge of the roof.

"Damn it!" He spoke into his comlink. "Corrie, she climbed the wall. She's already on the roof."

#

"Don't worry, babe, I've got her." Corona circled around to keep Shadow in sight and watched her sprint across the roof. "Looks like she's gonna take to the air, or maybe just hop over to another rooftop. You might wanna get back to your car. I'll guide you to wherever she's going."

"Okay," Jack replied. "We're on our way."

Shadow leaped off the roof and glided across to the next building. She landed and continued running without missing a beat, then hopped over the far edge and dropped straight down.

Corona dived toward the building and swooped into the alley in time to see Shadow sliding down a large pipe running along the wall. Shadow reached the ground and bolted again. Corona touched down on the roof and leaned over the edge to watch her.

"Guys, she's running through the alley behind the building across from the Ackerman Street Mall."

"Thanks," Taura answered. "We're almost there."

Shadow turned another corner and disappeared. Corona leaped across the alley, landed on the roof and ran to the far edge. She leaned over and looked down at the street, and her muzzle fell open.

"What the hell? She vanished again!" Corona swept her gaze over the street below and turned to check the alley again. She growled softly. "I thought she might've doubled back while I was running across the roof, but I don't see her."

"Damn it." Jack sighed. "Oh, well, Machiko was probably expecting this."

"I'm not ready to give up just yet, hon." Corona leaped off the roof and glided around the mall, catching an updraft and circling the building.

Her phone beeped and she frowned, landed on the nearest roof and took the phone out of her vest pocket. Machiko's name appeared on the screen.

"Huh. Jack, Taura, the boss just called me."

"Us, too," Jack said.

Corona raised a brow ridge and accepted the call. "Hey, Boss, what's up?"

"Something has just come up," Machiko Ericson's softly accented voice replied.

"Is this another training thing?" Jack said.

"No, this is the real deal, guys. We've got a hostage situation near your location."

Corona frowned again. "Aren't the cops handling it?"

"They've surrounded the building, have sharpshooters in place, and all that shit. But they're reluctant to do more than try to negotiate, at least for the moment. Maybe they're afraid the media might play it as another debacle like the one that landed you three at my agency."

"Yeah, I can see how they'd be worried about that if they stormed the place and any hostages got killed."

"Good," Jack snapped. "At least they're thinking twice about rushing in just to test out a new weapon like those fuckers did at Fly-by-Night."

"Okay," Taura said, "who are we dealing with and why are they doing this?"

"His name's Robert Givens," Machiko said. "Several witnesses managed to slip out of the building before he turned violent. They described an altercation between Givens and a lab tech in one of the photo labs in the Ackerman Street Mall. I don't have all the details yet, but he was apparently being abusive toward the tech, and the situation escalated until it came to blows. Then Givens pulled out a gun and threatened several people with it."

"Jesus Christ," Corona muttered.

"It was probably over some stupid little goof-up that didn't amount to anything," Jack said. "I had to deal with douchebags just like this guy every day back when I was delivering pizzas. Too many people think that being a customer gives them the right to treat you like you're a piece of garbage."

"And assault you as well, apparently," Taura added.

"Right. That's how I lost my original eyes. Well, Machiko, what do you want us to do about this? Please tell me that we can go in and kick this guy's ass."

"The longer the police wait, the greater the chances that Givens will hurt someone. Just get in there and take him down, and make sure none of the hostages are hurt."

"You've got it. Jack, Taura, I'll meet you there." Corona signed off and leaped into the air.

#

"I'm not looking forward to this." Jack parked his hearse behind the police cars and shut the engine off.

"Neither am I." Taura patted the back of his hand. All three of them had collided with the police a few days ago, and it wasn't hard to imagine how the cops would react when she and the others got involved. Just what she needed, now that she was in heat and her emotional state was often unstable at best.

Jack got out and took a quick look around, then pointed. "Corrie's over there. Looks like she's getting hassled by a cop. Helluva shock, huh?" He strode off toward Corona, and Taura followed him.

"Well, look what we got here," the cop said when he saw them approaching. "The rest of the cop killers."

"I've told you people before," Corona snapped, "they didn't kill that bastard; I did. I'm not proud of it, but I had no choice. It was self defense."

"Bullshit!" The cop put his hand on his gun. "The guy you blew away was a good friend of mine, and seeing you three running around, free and clear, makes me want to puke."

A surge of anger came out of nowhere and surged through Taura. She took a step toward the cop and snarled into his face. "We've told you stupid assholes this before, as well--we're not free. If we were, we wouldn't be standing here, arguing with pricks like you."

The cop glared at her. After a moment he glanced around and looked as if he was thinking about pulling his gun on them. She prepared to boost her body into its combat state.

"If I thought I could get away with it," he finally said, "I'd shoot you dead right here."

Jack stepped between them. "That kind of shit is exactly what got your buddy killed."

"Your friend murdered innocent people just so their deaths could be blamed on us after we were dead," Corona growled. "What were we supposed to do, stand there and let him gun us down after he killed those people right in front of us?"

"If you don't get out of here right now, you'll wish he had."

Taura clenched her fists so hard that her arms shook. She managed to hold her temper in check for another second,--then she lost it.

Jack spoke before she could move. "Listen, we are not going through this shit with you people again. We've explained it to you over and over, and you won't listen. Fine, whatever. Just stay out of our way."

"Or what? What do you think you're gonna do, huh? Think you're gonna just waltz in and take over?"

"We don't want to take over." Jack sighed. "We don't want to be here. The only reason we're getting involved is because our boss ordered us to. We don't have any choice. Can you understand that?"

The cop stared at him for a long moment, then sneered. "Just get out of my sight."

"Gladly." He took Taura's hand and gave it a gentle tug. "Come on."

She gasped at his touch and finally moved her glare from the cop. Her heart pounded and she started shivering. She almost lost her balance. She tightened her grip on Jack's hand. He winced, but kept quiet until the three of them were a good distance away from the cop.

"You okay?" he said softly.

"I guess. Just...it's happening more often every day."

He nodded, then tugged on her hand again. "Ow. Ow."

"Oh, sorry." She released him and he grimaced and rubbed his hand. "Damn, I didn't break anything, did I?"

"I don't think so."

"I'm sorry." She ran her hands through her hair and let out a frustrated grunt. "Just...when you touched me..."

"I wasn't thinking. I just wanted to get you away from that guy before you went nuclear on him."

"I know--thank you." She shook her head. "I don't know how much longer I can control myself."

Jack looked worried for a moment, then he took a breath and said, "Just try to stay focused."

"I'll do my best." Taura caught herself running her hands over her belly and chest. She shoved her hands into her pockets, trying to suppress the sudden wave of twitching that had just started working its way out from below her waist. "Let's get this over with. I need to masturbate as soon as we get home." She winced. Oh, hell, did I really say that?

Jack started to laugh, but cut it off abruptly. "Don't feel like you have to hold anything back, okay?"

"Sorry. My mouth is outrunning my brain."

"You know, we're gonna have to hook you up with Otto. You're starting to sound a lot like him."

But he's not the one I'm in love with. Taura shrugged and walked on ahead of Jack and Corrie. "Come on, I need to stay focused. What's the first move? I doubt the police are going to help us, given our history with them."

Jack took a look around the mall parking lot, then pointed. "That's the photo lab. It's on the outside of the building, but maybe there's also an entrance from inside the mall."

"We can slip in through a door into another part of the mall and see for ourselves," Corona said.

"And when we're out of sight," Taura added, "I'll see if I can patch my omnitool into the mall's security cams and find exactly where Givens is in the lab."

Jack nodded and headed around the end of the mall. Taura and Corona followed close behind him.

Each entrance they passed had at least two cops stationed there. Taura had to fight the urge to gnash her teeth.

Stay calm. Keep yourself focused.

"Let's try that one." Jack nodded at the nearest door and strode toward it. The two cops standing there moved to block his path as soon as they saw him approaching.

"Get the fuck outta here," the one on the right snapped.

Corona flashed her ID. "We're here on orders. You wanna stop us, take your best shot. You'll get one." She stormed past Jack and straight toward the cop who'd just spoken.

He remained in place until he realized that she wasn't going to stop. He dodged out of her way at the last second, glared at her and placed his hand on his gun.

Jack drew in a quick breath and reached for his own weapon. Corona pointed a talon at the cop without looking at him and snarled, "Don't even think about it."

The man froze, but looked for a moment as if he was weighing his chances.

Corona's right hand flicked under her vest and reappeared holding a throwing knife. She kept walking deeper into the mall and didn't even look over her shoulder at the cop, but she could spin around and plant the blade right between his eyes as soon as she heard the gun come out of its holster.

The cop seemed to figure it out after a moment, and took his hand off his gun. He continued glaring at Corona, but kept his mouth shut.

Jack released a long breath and left his gun holstered. He nodded at Taura and they hurried to catch up with Corona, both of them glancing over their shoulders every few seconds.

"There it is." Jack pointed at one of the store spaces up ahead. The photo lab's name glowed on a neon sign above the door.

A pair of uniformed cops stood on either side of the door. They frowned when they spotted Taura and the others approaching.

Here we go again. She nodded at the restroom across from the photo lab. "We can step in there for a moment so I can use my omnitool." Her holographic computer wasn't exactly common technology--she was beta-testing it for the cyberware dealer who'd built Jack's eyes--and she didn't like to let just anyone see it in action if she could avoid it.

Jack and Corona followed her through the door and into a short hallway leading to the restrooms. Taura pushed open the closer door, which happened to be the men's room. She ducked through the doorway and pointed a thumb over her shoulder.

"Take a hike," she snapped at the three guys in the room. One of them stood at the first urinal, the second was washing his hands, and the third was stepping into one of the stalls. All three turned to glare at her, then froze after their eyes took in her height and huge muscles. Their faces turned pale.

Jack held his badge up. "We need to use this room for a few minutes. Go relieve yourselves somewhere else."

The guys glanced at him, then at Corona and back to Taura, and shuffled past them. Corona chuckled and leaned against the door, bracing it shut.

Taura folded down the diaper-changing table, grabbed some paper towels and spread them on the surface before taking her omnitool out and putting it on the table. She activated it by tracing a finger along the surface.

A holographic display and a large keyboard, configured with big buttons for her oversized fingers, appeared in the air above the table. Taura entered a command and a set of icons appeared; she reached into the holofield, touched one, and accessed the mall's floorplan.

She pointed. "There. That's the photo lab. There's an entrance leading in from inside the mall, just as you guessed, Jack." She opened another window, touched several icons and worked her way into the building's security camera system. An image appeared in the window, a downshot from one of the lab's cameras on the ceiling, showing a middle-aged man with short, graying hair pacing around the room, yelling and waving a gun around.

"There's our guy," Jack muttered. "Can you find any info on him? Like, whether he has a history of mental instability or an arrest record?"

"Not a problem." Taura could've slipped into the city police network without the level of access their new job had given them, but now it wouldn't take nearly as long. Got to admit, working for Machiko does have its perks. She pushed the current window aside and opened another, then logged into the NCPD net. She read the info that came up and nodded. "He's never been given a psych evaluation, but he's had a number of complaints filed against him regarding his explosive temper and unreasonable attitude. He's been banned from several grocery stores and other businesses. The police have talked to him several times about it, but that was as far as it ever went."

"Typical." Jack shook his head. "They never do anything other than 'talk' to a guy like this--until he flips out and butchers someone."

"At least he hasn't killed any of those people," Corona said, her glowing red eyes flicking around, checking the condition of each hostage.

"Yet." Jack stuck his hands into his pockets and watched the image for a moment. "Hmm. Can you show us footage of the assault? I'd like to see how this mess got started."

"Sure." Taura opened a new window, brought up the camera footage and ran it back to a point just before the assault. She touched the playback icon and crossed her arms over her chest. At this point, there had been only one guy working in the lab, running frantically from the film processors to the printers and back again. A few customers were looking at the cameras and accessories on display, and Givens was standing at the counter, glaring at the employee, his eyes tracking the poor kid's every movement.

"What a dick," Jack said. "I used to get that crap all the time at the pizza place--it's like people think that glaring at you will make their order come out faster."

"I'm beginning to understand why you were so antisocial before you met us." Corona shook her head.

"Yeah. When most of the people you meet every day go out of their way to make you miserable, you find it's much easier on your blood pressure to just stay home on your days off."

"Well, maybe now you'll have a chance to show one of 'em what it feels like." She winked at him, then pointed at the film processors. "What's the guy putting in there, anyway?"

"He's developing film. I don't know why anybody still uses it--or why people don't just print their pictures out at home."

Corona cocked her head. "What's film?"

Before Jack could reply, Taura nodded at her display. "I think it's about to start."

In the holofield, Givens shook his head, huffed and sighed, and leaned on the counter. "What's taking so long? I've been waiting an hour and a half!"

"Sir," the lab tech said, obviously trying to keep himself under control, "We're extremely short-handed right now--I'm the only one here this afternoon--and there's a couple dozen orders ahead of yours."

Givens leaned forward and bellowed, "I don't care! You guarantee pictures in an hour!"

"We guarantee rolls of film in an hour. Digital orders are done as volume permits."

Givens drew in a deep breath and screamed even louder. "One! Hour! Period!"

The tech glared back at him, walked over to the stack of envelopes on the counter beside the printers, and carried one of them over to Givens. He pointed at the label. "It says right here, 'Digital orders done as volume permits.' There's a bunch of orders ahead of yours, some of the digital ones are for several hundred prints, and yours is for almost three hundred. That many prints will take longer than normal."

"You know what? I'm gonna talk to your manager and tell him how incompetent you are!"

The tech shook his head, threw his hands up and walked back into the lab. He tossed the envelope back onto the stack and reached out to pick up a batch of photos that had just come out of the nearest printer.

"Don't get pissy!" Givens snapped.

"The fucking nerve of that guy," Jack growled through clenched teeth.

"Excuse me?" The tech turned and stared slack-jawed at Givens.

"I said, don't get pissy! That's my job!"

The tech finally lost it. He stomped up to the counter and yelled back at Givens. "Like hell it is! The printers can only work so fast. I don't have any control over it. Don't yell at me over something I can't control!"

"Hey--shut the fuck up, you punk bitch! Just print out my pictures now!"

By this point the rest of the customers were staring in shock at both of them. One glared at Givens and shook her head; two others began inching toward the front door.

The tech pointed at the door and screamed, "Get the hell out of here before I call security and have you thrown out!"

Givens glared at him, trembling--then he cocked his fist back and punched the tech in the face.

Corona's muzzle dropped open. "Oh, hell..." She glanced at the realtime feed from the lab's camera to be sure that nothing was happening yet, then kept watching the recent footage.

The tech took a swing of his own, connecting with Givens's jaw, then leaped over the counter, grabbed him and tried to drag him to the door. Givens began pummeling him and then pulled a gun from under his jacket. He shoved it into the tech's face and the kid froze.

The other customers screamed and ran for the door.

Givens grabbed the tech and pressed the gun to his head, turned and shouted at everyone else. "Get back here! Anybody who tries to run gets a bullet in the head!"

"I've seen enough." Jack turned to the door. "Let's go take this piece of shit down."

"Just a sec," Corona said as Taura closed the window. "Can you find out which cops have been posted here? Maybe there's one who's a little more understanding about our situation."

"Good luck with that," Jack grumbled.

Taura shrugged and went back to the surveillance system, switching through the cameras and taking a quick look at the officers on each one. A few seconds later, she pointed at the image. "That looks like Detective Ramirez and her partner Montoya."

"Oh, Kim's mother. Perfect!" Corona grinned and plucked her phone from a pocket in her cargo shorts.

"Hope her hands aren't tied," Jack said under his breath.

Taura nodded. Lola Ramirez was on good terms with Corona because Corrie had protected her daughter from a stalker a few days ago, but there was only so much a plainclothes detective could do.

"Montoya's a decent guy, too," Jack said. "They're the only cops I've ever met who never gave us any shit."

Taura nodded and waited for Corrie to dial Ramirez's phone.

"Hope she has time to answer it," Corona said as she pressed the call button with a claw tip.

Taura looked up at the window and watched Ramirez and Montoya talking with one of the uniforms. Ramirez took her phone out a moment later and looked at its screen, said something to Montoya and moved away from them.

"Hi," Corona said. "Yeah, it's Corrie. Yeah, I know, but that's why we're here." She took a moment to get Ramirez up to speed on their involvement. "So, think you can help us out?"

Taura heard the detective's reply: "I'd love to. I can kind of understand why they're holding back, but this is getting ridiculous. It's really frustrating."

"I can imagine. We just need to get into the lab without any interference from the police. Then we'll take it from there."

"Well...I shouldn't--but we've been here so long, I don't give a shit about regs anymore; I just want to get the hell outta here and go home. I'll do what I can. As long as the hostages don't get hurt."

"We'll keep 'em safe. Thanks, Lola." Corona smiled and gave the others a thumbs-up. "Let's do this."

#

Jack zoomed in on the cops as he and the girls walked up to the photo lab's mall entrance. Ten uniforms plus Ramirez and Montoya. Most of the uniforms weren't even guarding the door; instead, they were sitting on benches nearby or leaning casually against the wall. One of them was playing with a handheld video game system and another, near the lab entrance, was looking bored and puffing away on a cigarette. Only one of them appeared to be actually keeping an eye on what was going on inside.

Several of the cops spotted them and glared. Two of them put their hands on their guns.

Taura growled. "Don't even start that shit."

"Calm down." Jack held his hand up, but knew better than to touch her this time.

"I've already explained the situation to you," Ramirez said to the others. She ran a hand through her shoulder length, brown hair. "I'll take full responsibility. Just let 'em through."

"This is bullshit," one of the cops snapped.

Ramirez jabbed a finger at him. "Do you wanna be stuck here for the next twelve hours? Then shut the fuck up and let these people do their job."

Several of the cops muttered and grumbled, but made no move to stop Jack and the girls. Jack fought the urge to grin and approached the door, wincing as he passed close enough to the smoking cop to get a whiff of his cigarette. He held his breath for a moment, and released it when he was clear of the smoke.

Corona and Taura joined him at the door, taking positions on either side to remain out of sight. Jack leaned over far enough to peek through the glass door and took a quick look around. The hostages hadn't moved from their positions on the floor, leaning against the counter, and Givens was still pacing around and ranting into a phone.

"He's just yelling at someone I presume to be the negotiator." Taura brushed a hand through her short, blond hair and frowned, then glanced at Ramirez and Montoya, who were crouching beside her. "Has he made any demands?"

"Not the kind you'd expect," Montoya said with a shrug. "He just wants to be turned loose."

Ramirez snorted. "Oh yeah, after assaulting someone for no reason at all, he thinks he's just gonna walk away from it. Like that'll happen."

"Typical asshole customer." Jack shook his head. "Most of 'em don't go this far, at least."

"Can you take him down without endangering the hostages?"

"Yeah. Get ready to yank the door open." Corona nodded at Jack, took a deep breath and crouched.

Jack reached up and grasped the door handle. He'd seen Corrie in action often enough to know that she was preparing to shift her body into its combat state, which would boost her speed and reflexes far beyond normal for a brief period.

She nodded once more. He stood and pulled the door open, and Corona launched into the lab, moving so fast that she was just a blur. A gust of wind whipped up by her wings ruffled his hair--and then she was inside, bearing down on Givens before he could turn to see what the sudden noise was.

Corona clamped one hand onto his wrist, forcing the gun upward and squeezing until he couldn't keep his grip on it. It fell and she snatched it out of the air, flicked the safety on and shoved it under her belt while Givens shrieked and clawed at her hand. Then she cocked her fist back.

"No!" Givens screamed.

She punched him in the face, snapping his head back and knocking him out cold. He farted as he passed out, and Corona grimaced and let him fall to the floor.

Jack and Taura stormed in. Taura sniffed and wrinkled her snout.

"He shat himself, didn't he?"

"Smells like it." Corona took the confiscated gun out, ejected the clip and popped the round out of the chamber, and tossed the gun aside. She headed for the door, waving a hand in front of her nostrils. She nodded at Givens and called out to the police. "He's all yours."

"That's it?" one of the cops mumbled as they flowed through the door. "We waited all these hours and that big lizard finishes it in two seconds?"

"Lizard?" Jack snapped--but Corona put a hand on his shoulder and shook her head before he could say another word.

"It's okay, Jack." She shrugged at the cop. "Any of you could've done this at any time. Or, hell, you could've just had one of your sharpshooters take him out. Why didn't you?"

"We were waiting for the 'go' order," another cop grumbled as he and two others grabbed Givens and put cuffs on him.

Jack looked over his shoulder at the hostages, who were just now beginning to absorb what had happened. A few of them pushed themselves to their feet and looked around with confused expressions.

"Damn," one of them said under his breath, "that was fast."

"Yeah," another said. "We were stuck here all day, and it was over in a second."

Corona grinned and gave Ramirez a thumbs-up. "Now you can be home in time for dinner."

Ramirez chuckled. "Thanks." She and Montoya strode through the door. Both of them scrunched their faces up when the uniforms dragged Givens past them. Ramirez pinched her nose shut and muttered, "Jesus. Something crawled up this guy's ass and died!"

Corona giggled and put her arms around Jack and Taura. "Y'know, I could start to like this job."

"Eh." Jack shrugged. "Don't expect 'em all to be this easy."

"Try not to be so optimistic." Corona winked and leaned over to nuzzle his cheek.

"Well, there's a dark cloud around every silver lining." Jack tossed her a lopsided grin.

They walked out the front door and headed back to his hearse. As soon as they stepped over the police tape, Jack found a microphone shoved into his face.

"What the fu--"

A cacophony of voices battered him from every direction, shouting questions about what had happened in the lab. Jack took a slow look around; he and the girls were surrounded by people carrying cameras, microphones and spotlights.

The media. He hadn't noticed them on the way in. He groaned.

Corona stared at the people in front of her for several seconds until she recovered from the shock. Then she grinned and waved into the cameras. "Hi!"

Jack shook his head. "Ah, shit."