FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Hey, what was with the circus trapeze act up there?" Sean asked.

"Trapeze?" Lazarus' ears twitched in confusion for a moment, "Oh, the dive, you mean? Damn uncharted plane flying black cut across our path. I sure hope those damn Raptors brought him down."

"Brought him down?" Sean raised an eyebrow in surprise. The ramp sent a pall of dust rolling behind the cargo plane when it thumped solidly to earth. Several feet beyond it stood a dozen forms, human and nonhuman both, waiting. Once the red caution lights dimmed and white loading lights blazed on throughout the plane ten of them trooped up the ramp. Sean realized that they were ground crew by their dress and the way four of them immediately began unharnessing Lazarus' truck. The remaining six navigated down the narrow aisle between vehicles and hull, disappearing toward the front of the bay. Two more remained where they were, unmoving. One was a human, tall and slender, in the ubiquitous black suit that screamed 'Fed!' as clearly as a badge. The other was a canine of some type, likewise in that badge of fed'dom black suit, white fur shining against the unrelieved black. Sean figured he was either an Alsatian shepherd or wolf. "They'd do that?"

"Shoot him down, you mean? No." Lazarus brushed his hands together and waited for his truck to be freed. "Fly on his wingtips and scare him into landing? Most certainly." Climbing into the cab of his truck once the ground crew gave the all clear he brought the engine roaring to life. While one of the ground crew guided him down the ramp with another set of glowing red wands Taws walked beside Sean down the ramp behind the truck.

At the base of the ramp the two onlookers did not move, forcing Lazarus to slowly navigate around them. After moving the truck off to one side out of the way of other vehicles being unloaded he shut it down, climbed down from the cab, and walked toward the pair. His civilian tag-alongs followed along more cautiously in his wake.

Lush tail wagging lazily Lazarus approached the suited wolf and the two exchanged a masculine embrace, clutching hands and leaning close to thump each other on the back. The human looked on ambivalently with his arms clasped behind his back waiting for the two canines to greet each other. Releasing the wolf Lazarus turned to wave at his two companions with one hand.

"Oda, you remember my sister, Taws. This is her man, Sean." He said with a toothy canine smile. The wolf gazed levelly at them and Sean felt a momentary twinge of fear at the predatory flatness of his slightly oriental shaped golden eyes. "Sean, this is Oda. We've been operations partners for years and there's no one better to have at your back."

"Or just behind you." The wolf growled, the corners of his muzzle turning up ever so slightly. His voice was canyon deep and sonorous; very Native American. With a dip of his muzzle his smile deepened, "I am Animikee Odayin, friend and brother to Lazarus. Please, just call me Oda, it's easier on your southern tongues and everyone does." His head turned slightly to direct his intense golden stare at the human standing a few feet away. On cue the eyes of the others also settled on the heretofore silent man.

"Special Agent Davies." The man offered with a nod, "I run the field office here, and Oda reports to me. None of you are on the books, let me tell you that right out front. Oda and Lazarus have the badges, so you two are just tagalongs." His gaze flicked back and forth between Taws and Sean, "Do what you can to stay out of their way." With a slight turn of his body he faced Sean more directly, "Agent Lazarus tells me that you have a situation with a... missing girl?"

Sean shrugged self-consciously, "I'm not so sure as much about missing so much as ... misplaced. Apparently she was seduced away -- she's my ex-girlfriend -- by someone promising her a job out here. When she arrived, from what I gather, she got pressed into an altogether more sleazy occupation. She hasn't told me what it is, but her brief messages lend me to believe its prostitution or pornography if not both."

The man's eyebrow raised slightly over his dark blue eyes, "Ex? And you up and rush out here, all crusading hero, at a plaintive cry for help?" he asked dubiously, gaze flicking toward Taws, the current girlfriend. What he thought of their relationship he did not reveal.

"She claims that she can't trust to contact the authorities, so I was the only person she could reach out to." Sean offered somewhat defensively. "Both of her parents are deceased, and she has no siblings."

"Indeed." He shrugged, "Be that as it may, you're a bare ancillary to whatever my agents choose to do. I am attaching Oda to you, and he will be your liaison with my office. He also has primary authority over your... operation. If further aid is required, and our other operations can spare the manpower, Oda will coordinate." Without further discussion he pivoted and ambled toward the dark sedan parked off to one side.

"Aint he a cheery one?" Taws commented.

The wolf, Oda, chuffed lightly from his chest, "Cold as a northern glacier he can be, but don't take that for what it seems. Jack is a dandy fellow, but your unexpected addition to his caseload, out of the blue and without even the slightest workup, poked a thorn in his heel. Notice he didn't ask you what you plan on doing?"

"I noticed." Lazarus nodded sagely, rocking on the pads of his feet as he looked around. The limousine was slowly creeping down the ramp lead by one of the ground crew. But for the lights of the aircraft and its dismounting cargo the desert was dark. More dark, Sean realized, than he had seen in over a decade. This was not the big city; it wasn't even close to the big city. Whatever runway lights that were in use to bring the cargo plane safely to earth had shut down, leaving them in an island of light surrounded by ink dark desert and sparkling night sky.

Pinning triangular ears toward Sean the wolf tilted his head slightly, "That's the question I'm asking." His golden eyes regarded Sean with a mixture of curiosity and predatory hunger that left the human feeling distinctly vulnerable, unable to read the slightest from the predator's inscrutable gaze.

He shrugged, "I am no field agent, Sir."

"Oda. Not 'sir', just Oda, pup." Turning his head slowly to take the three of them in he smiled enigmatically, "I am Number Four." He drawled mysteriously with a twitch at one corner of his muzzle.

"Yes, okay, Oda." Sean flinched at the gentle, growling correction and offering him a brief glance at that enigmatic title. "I don't have the first clue. She told us where she was, obliquely. The Diamond Mine, unless I read the message wrong. I don't know the place, other than where it is. Nor do I know who cuckolded her away from me, how she's being held or by whom."

With a slow dip and rise of his head the wolf listened, "Ah, so that's what got under Lazarus' tail to get him out here so fast. I am familiar with the casino, and we will have to tread carefully. There are many sniffing around the skirts of that place, trying to find a weakness to reveal its illegal spoor. Signs point to drugs, illegal prostitution if not outright slavery, blackmail, and the usual list of vices known well here." His shoulders rose and fell and white teeth gleamed in the white of his powerful lupine muzzle, "This is Vegas, after all."

"She also has some kind of limited help here, a border collie, I think. I don't know anything about him or her."

With a smooth grace the wolf moved forward, giving Sean the impression of a hunting cat moving in stealth, Oda turned and followed Lazarus toward his truck. "Can you contact her?" He walked with an easy smoothness that was disconcerting.

"She has a phone, yeah, but I don't know when it's safe to try making contact. We text, mostly, but she called once."

Circling around the parked limousine Lazarus paused by the front to glance back at them, and then looked down at the hood. With one finger he traced lightly across the highly polished metal. Against the stark light of the cargo plane's lights Sean could see that the polish was heavily smudged. When he looked up he saw Lazarus looking at him with one upraised brow, the corners of his muzzle drawn back in a quiet laugh. "I think this will buff out. Will we need to vacuum the inside, too?"

Taws tittered behind her hand, ears back and tail low as her shoulder bumped Sean's. Oda looked on with merely a quirk of one eyebrow. Sean found himself chuckling despite the embarrassment he felt burning his ears. He couldn't help marvel at the oddness of their situation; alone in the desert at an un-named landing strip surrounded by agents of whatever unknown federal agency they had become embroiled with.

"We're outside of cell range out here." Answered the wolf, "It's nearly one hundred miles to Vegas, most of it hardscrabble and dirt road. I've gotten clearance to use one of our safe-houses at the Azure Blue, for at least a week."

Moments after the first blinking white beacons of a cell tower appeared on the horizon Sean's phone began chirping with a cavalcade of text messages from Ashley. At first they were mere entreaties for him to help; her captors had been discussing things that left her heart cold. As time went by they became more and more desperate, believing Sean's protracted silence to be an abandonment. After reading through them, and allowing Oda to review what had been sent previously, Sean sent a reply.

Sorry, was in the air. Am in Vegas, call when free.

Her panicked call came minutes later, startling Sean into almost dropping the phone on the floor of the truck. When he managed to get the speaker phone feature activated, allowing them all to listen in, Ashley's voice came through distant and sluggish as if she were under some great weight. "Sean! Oh, thank god!" her voice was slurred and she took several seconds to get out the first exhausted answer. "Sharpson was here; he told me that he's going to show me off to some new clients tomorrow... God I hope they're not horses!"

"Ashley, who is Sharpson?" Sean asked slowly. She was clearly drunk, or worse, her rambling voice rising and falling as if she were dizzy.

"Casino... uh, boss, I think. He calls the shots around here."

"Where is here?"

"Diamond Mine, on the strip." Glancing aside to catch Oda's eye he nodded, confirming their suspicion about the location. Idly he stroked Taws' tail where it stuck through the seat in front of him. "Told me to... rest. Says long night tomorrow." There was a long pause where Sean could hear her drowsy breathing, "Sean, I'm scared."

"Don't be, hon. We'll try to find some way to get to you, and get you out of there."

For several moments he waited, thinking she had nodded off before her muddied response came as if from a great distance, "We?"

"Friends, hon, friends. They're going to help me get you out. Just - hang in there, all right?"

"I'll try, Sean, but I'm so scared." Again a drowsy pause before she mumbled sleepily, "Love you." He listened for more but, after several minutes with no response but her hushed breathing he figured she had passed out so hung up. When he looked up Oda was watching him, and Taws had turned in her seat to look back at him in silence.

"She's terrified. And either doped or drunk." He pocketed the phone and sighed, dropping his hands to the tail brushing his lap, idly combing his fingers through the lush satin fur. "Any idea who this Sharpson character is?"

Oda nodded slowly, "Abraham Sharpson. Up until two years ago he was just a two-bit money man, but when they opened the Mine he got put in charge. He's just an underling, however, answering to Lannister Bechaise, one of the biggest movers and shakers in town. Damn near half the local LEOs swear he's a stand up guy, but the feds have been tracking his operations for years. Classic Teflon-don sort of slime hiding behind his puppets, like Sharpson, pulling their strings." His regal white head bobbed in a slow nod, "I can see why she's terrified of the local cops."

"Means we have to avoid them, too." Lazarus pointed out without taking his eyes from the highway ahead.

Oda sighed softly, ears and whiskers laying back, "They fight us tooth and nail at every turn, blocking warrants, breaking cover just enough to get our targets wise, and other shit. DEA task force claims to have lost two agents in the last year to exposure caused by the local cops conveniently fucking up, FBI is still looking for an undercover who went silent last week. That's got their hackles up in a big way. And it's one of the reasons Jack is so damn leery of having you three showing up. It's already a fucking mess down here. Honestly, I think he means to use you as bait, hoping that by trying to eliminate a clearly obvious infiltration attempt someone will fuck up somewhere and give them a crack they can exploit."

Sean raised an eyebrow and scowled, "Nice of him."

Oda shrugged, "He's getting desperate. Nine months ago he had to arrest one of his own agents who was informing Sharpson of our operations. That man was one of Jack's oldest friends, and it hurt him in a way I can't describe." His claws flexed against the pants of his fed suit, "Now he's got a special hatred for Sharpson."

Where Sean expected a low rent economy hotel he was rather surprised to learn that the Azure Blue was one of the better Hotel-Casinos on the strip. The single suite they were supplied had two large beds typical of pretty much any hotel across the country, but it was well appointed with not one but two huge flat screen televisions above twin bureaus. There was a surprisingly large table at the far end of the room beneath the window with enough chairs to supply a fair sized poker game with room to spare.

Considering it was three in the morning they did not bother unpacking; tossing their bags down and making use of the equally palatial bathroom. Sean sat on the edge of one bed with Taws and stretched, yawning hugely. That morning he had gotten up for work and now he was two thousand miles from home making plans to break through the security of a casino. Aside from perhaps Fort Knox and the White House few places had security that would come anywhere near as tight, and paranoid, as that of any casino.

Lazarus sat on the opposite bed facing them while Oda was in the bathroom. The collie yawned hugely echoing Sean's tiredness and stretched. "We'll just sleep in; things probably don't start flowing in this town until after noon. See what we can figure out about the Diamond Mine and how your ex is being held. Seems like she's indeed wrapped up into prostitution so there will be points of vulnerability that we can exploit. Hopefully they'll want to show off their wares and one of us may be able to just flat out hire her."

"I doubt it will be so simple as walking out the front door with a hooker." Oda commented as he emerged from the bathroom, naked to the waist, wearing nothing more than a pair of sweat pants that, Sean observed, were almost entirely superfluous. While the wolf was thickly furred, his pelt was still shorter than that of Taws or her brother and left little to the imagination above the waist of his sweats. In the deeper bluish-gray fur of his lower abdomen the ridge of his lupine sheath stood out rather starkly. Circling the bed he sat down on it next to Lazarus who evinced not the slightest discomfiture at the wolf's effective nudity. The only thing those sweats covered was his balls. "It's pretty common for brothels to limit use of their wares to on-premises rooms only."

Sean directed his eyes away from the wolf and met Lazarus' deep golden gaze only to find the collie grinning at him fiendishly. Heat suffused his cheeks and he looked down. The casual ease with which the canines lazed around unclothed was so new, so alien to his upbringing he simply didn't have any idea how to respond. Taws stroked one of his legs with one hand and, glancing aside to her, he saw that she was also trying to avoid the view. Pushing himself up from the bed Lazarus gave a lazy sweep of his tail and ambled into the bathroom.

"But that can be overcome with some planning, so never fear." Oda rumbled as he stretched out on the bed and made himself comfortable. "Give your brother and I a week and you'll be flying out of here with her."

Taws rose and began removing her clothing and Sean opened his mouth to protest but sighed after a moment. Canines simply had no concept of the modesty he grew up with and trying to enforce it upon them would just be intruding on their culture. He watched while his furry girlfriend's shirt came off and then her pants, piled negligently on one of the chairs. Without taking his eyes from the leisurely disrobing of his comely love Sean shrugged, "I really don't much care where she goes, Oda. She's not my girlfriend anymore." While Taws moved around to slip into the far side of the bed from him his gaze came back to the wolf. "She's just a woman in need of help, and that's all I intend to do. Once she's out of that place, and safe, she's on her own."

He felt Taws' fingers rubbing along his back and leaned into the touch, yawning again. "Heart gone so cold, love?" the collie bitch murmured softly. Sean turned to look over his shoulder and found her stretched out atop the covers, her orange and tan and gold shimmering warmly in the light. Even in that chaste, relaxed pose he felt she was worthy of a canvas in the Louvre.

"No," he shook his head with a smile, tensing when her claw tipped fingers dragged down the back of his shirt, un-tucked it from his pants, and then slid upward against his skin beneath it. The touch sent shivers racing up his spine and he chuffed softly in pleasure. "She dumped me like yesterday's trash, hon." Half turning he leaned back to stroke the back of his fingers along the side of her muzzle, pushing her whiskers back slowly, "Though I guess I should thank her for that; for you."

Taws' eyes gleamed when she smiled. Her tongue drew out and stroked her muzzle, rolling across his fingertips with a lick. "I owe her the same thanks, in that stead." She nodded with uplifted ears. Lazarus wandered out of the bathroom clad even less so than Oda; he wore nothing whatsoever just like his sister. Sean saw that his pelt was much darker than hers; the white of his chest and stomach was crossed by marbleized patterns of gray and black spotting. Where Taws' fur patterns where well defined and blended smoothly her brother's were a calico patchwork of marble swirls on a deep gray background. Even his throat ruff was dark and brindled.

At least, with the long fall of fur following the ventral line of his stomach, Sean could not see the collie's sheath.

Not that he felt any less insecure at having the naked brother of his girlfriend standing a dozen feet away.

"Let's get some sleep, we've got a lot of long, very boring days ahead of us." Oda observed from behind Lazarus. Sean leaned forward as Taws added a second hand to the first beneath the back of his shirt, rucking it upward while those gentle hands worked along the smooth skin of his back. Shifting up onto her knees she settled behind him and, upon reaching his shoulders, drew her hands downward and around to his front to begin worrying at the buttons of his shirt.

"Boring?" Sean signed, quashing the atavistic fear that suddenly welled in the pit of his stomach at being stripped in front of the two males. One he did not know in the least, and the other was the brother of the female behind him. Such openness left him cold but Taws' warmth behind him calmed his fearfulness.

"Lots of it." Lazarus quipped as he leaned back, twitched up the blankets of the opposite bed, and slipped himself beneath without hesitation at the fact there was a scantily clad male wolf behind him. "The meat of any operation is in its information gathering, Sean. And that is the slowest, most mind-numbingly boring aspect of what we do." He stretched out and shifted to settle comfortably. Sean could see the more pale hue of gold from the eyes of the wolf behind him gleaming. "Sitting and watching, for hours or days, or even years."

"You forgot the mountains of paperwork that come after," Oda chimed in. Lifting his head, Oda rested his chin on Lazarus' shoulder with a wolfish grin, "Or in the case of these mob run gambling meccas like Vegas; decades." He rumbled. Lazarus did not evince the slightest response to the chin on his shoulder. Sean lifted his arms and shed his shirt with Taws' aide. She tossed it onto the chair with her on clothing and, moving closer behind him, dropped her hands to his belt and began working it loose. Sean blushed hotly and dropped his hands onto hers with a startled whuff of breath. Lazarus and Oda grinned simultaneously with twin flashes on long pearly fangs.

Much to Sean's surprise, and confusion, the wolf moved his head slightly and nuzzled one of Lazarus' ears, and then gave it a lick. The collie in front of him let out a short bark of laughter and elbowed him under the coverlet. Taws snickered as well and resumed her work. With a shuddering sigh, still blushing heatedly, Sean tried to relax and suffered her help. Once his belt and fly had been loosened, however, he snatched the coverlet of their over himself and slipped upward to stretch out on the bed. Shucking his pants beneath the covers was as awkward as ever, even with Taws' powerful footpaw helping, and he could not tear his gaze away from the voyeuristic males staring from the opposite bed.

"Oh, Lazy, what big ears you have." Oda rumbled humorously, that sonorous low growl strangely disconcerting with such a statement.

Lazarus smirked toothily and licked the tip of his nose, "All the better to hear you stumbling after me." He quipped.

"Oh, and what a black nose you have." The white wolf observed with another lazy stroke of the collie's shaggy ear.

"All the better to smell your stink."

"And what big... oh, yes." Oda growled, meeting Sean's startled stare from across the room.

"All the better to make you howl." Lazarus snickered at the human's flummoxed expression. Behind Sean, Taws guffawed and Sean could not help but laugh along at the teasing twosome, even as he rubbed the palm of his hand over his beet-red face. His chuckling was brought to a sudden stuttering, coughing halt when he felt Taws' gentle, warm fingers capture his balls with a light caress of furry fingers. Lazarus reached out a hand and tapped the lightswitch, plunging them into inky darkness, the deep chuckling of the three canines filling the night for several minutes before tapering off into silence.

Sean lay there for a long time, Taws' body a warm softness against his back and her gentle fingers resting warmly upon his crotch. These canines were so confusing in their easy banter and inhuman lack of modesty that his mind was too aboil with confusion that it took him a long time to give into the sleepiness weighing heavily upon him.

Sean was awakened some time later by a light brush of whiskers and fur across his cheek as Taws stretched against his back in a warm, satin press of fur. Her nose brushed over his ear with a nuzzle and the arm draped over his side drew him back in a brief, firm hug. When he opened his eyes he saw that the opposite bed was empty. There were no lights on and the diffuse daylight through the heavily curtained windows left the hotel room in warm gloom.

"When did they sneak out?" he mumbled as he stretched under the covers. A huge yawn opened his mouth while Taws slipped out of the bed behind him and shook herself.

"Couple hours ago." She replied warmly. She padded around the bed toward the bathroom with a slow sweep of her long tail.

"Are they -" he began. Pausing at the door Taws glanced back and shook her head.

"As much as brothers, those two." She answered, "They went through the academy together, and have worked on god knows how many operations together. They were just teasing you, though I do sometimes wonder about that wolf." With a smile and a wink she disappeared into the bathroom.

Sean had certainly never seen co-workers act like that, platonic or not. Sitting up on the side of the bed he arched his back and stretched with a groan. He suffered no unpleasant morning erection, however. Taws' gentle affections kept his manhood well satiated leading to a relaxed awakening to the point that she was more often the cause of morning wood than its relaxing.

Not, of course, that she failed to satisfy it once she had caused it.

Reaching over to the night table he picked up his phone to see if Ashley had left any messages.

It's about time you arrived. Meet me, Galaxy View, 10pm. NA.

Sean's brows furrowed at the text; it had not come from Ashley's number. In fact, the phone indicated it was a totally blocked number. The NA, he surmised, simply meant 'Not Ashley', and that left him with a sudden cold pit in the center of his breast.

Someone other than Ashley knew that they had come to Vegas!

Setting the phone back down he rose and wandered toward the bathroom. The door was still open a crack and the sound of running water came from within accompanied by a pall of muggy warmth. Pushing it open he wandered in to use the commode, dealing with other issues that came with waking well beyond an awkward stiffness.

He was not even done shaking off the last drops when a hand snaked out from behind the shower curtain and yanked him into a deluge of hot water. With a yelp he staggered over the lip of the tub barking his shins and grabbing at the dripping wet collie. She helped him catch his footing and giggled, drawing him close in a sopping wet hug to place a firm kiss upon his lips. Her wet tongue, tasting of toothpaste, slipped past his lips as her lithe, sodden body pressed against him. After a few seconds to let the sting fade from his shins Sean dropped his hands to her ass and hugged back, pressing his blunt tongue against her own while the coursing water streamed down his back.

Breaking her kiss Taws stepped back and thrust a large bottle of shampoo against his chest, "Wash my back and I'll wash yours, lover." She crooned. Water dripped from her whiskers and plastered the lush fur of her head upon her scalp, making her seem far smaller than normal. Laughing, Sean accepted the bottle and motioned for her to turn around. Squeezing a sizable dollop into his palm he set the bottle aside and began working it into the density of the wet fur at the nape of her neck. The snake-like appendage of her water heavy tail brushed slowly back and forth across his stomach as Taws leaned into the massaging touch of his fingers with a rumbling canine sigh.

Working slowly with his fingers Sean worked the shampoo into a rich lather, taking the time to give the muscles of her neck a massage before moving to her back. Splaying his fingers he gathered the lather downward through the thicker fur of her hackles and upper back where she could not reach on her own, working upward to get the soap in deep, inching slowly downward. Taws leaned forward to brace her hands against the far wall of the shower and he knelt behind her to continue working that thick clean lather further and further down her back, reaching for the bottle whenever it lessened.

Her tail brushed across his shoulders and swept under his chin as he worked lower, lifting higher and higher while his hands crossed the small of her back. Gentle thumbs hooked beneath its root to lather the wet fur clinging to the muscular thickness causing it to hitch up a little higher still exposing the black glisten of her wet ring. With light, circling pressure he used the shampoo to bathe that luscious, warm flesh bringing small groans and whines from the depths of her throat. After some long moments luxuriantly massaging the shampoo into the fur of her butt and caressing her ring he worked upward again, drawing her lovely tail through his hands as he turned the tan and fire hues into foamy white.

Upon reaching the tip he once more returned his hands to her shapely ass, massaging slowly while he admired the muscular curves revealed by the waterlogged smoothness of fur. Resting one hand on her hip he slid his other hand between her thighs, cupping the out-thrust diamond of her canine vulva against his palm. Hooking and splaying his fingers he lathered up the fur of her loins while his palm massaged the warm, soft flesh that rested upon it. Taws moaned softly and writhed back against his touch, her lathery tail lifted high.

Before his seductive bathing could progress further, however, she stepped away and turned to face him, black pupils wide in the dark ring of her eyes as she looked down upon him. "Love, unless you want a soapy breakfast, you should stop that." She growled breathlessly. She caressed the side of his face with the tips of her fingers as he grinned up at her, licking his lips, and then looked down at the lathered nest of pale fur about the black Y of her wet canine labia. Water streamed off of the pert tip at their nadir sending a thrill of anticipatory pleasure rushing through him. He loved the taste of her wet puss, be it from the freshness of bathing or the hot slickness of arousal.

"Speaking of breakfast," growled a voice from the other side of the curtain causing them both to start.

"God damn it, Lazy!" Taws howled and swatted the curtain, "Must you always get between me and my man?"

Warm laughter rumbled through the curtain followed by the rush of the toilet flushing, "I'll leave 'getting between you' for Oda." Lazarus joked, his voice moving away, "He might like that quite a bit."

"Asshole!" Taws barked at the thump of the door closing, then tittered laughter. With a shake of her head she drew Sean to his feet, "I swear, I'm going to skin that boy for a rug."

Helping her rinse with the shower wand Sean chuckled and shook his head slowly, "Oh, yes, great... we can make love in front of the fireplace on your brother's pelt, huh?" he winked. Taws giggled anew with a glitter in her golden eyes. She helped Sean wash his back, teasing his ass and balls much as he had her crotch before the buzz-killing interruption. He left her to dry under the roaring vents while he made expedient use of a towel. Throwing a robe on he wandered back out into the room.

He found the two males there, seated at the table upon which a sizable repast had been arrayed, complete with actual porcelain plates and silver tableware. "Room service." Oda rumbled with a smile and a nod at the human, pointing at an empty place setting with his fork. Lazarus' long tail wagged slowly behind his chair as he grinned around a muzzleful of eggs benedict.

"Service, and room, yeah... I probably would have enjoyed it if big brothers were not taking a piss three feet away." Sean riposted as he sank into the indicated chair. At least the two were dressed, though casually. Gone was Oda's glaringly Fed suit, replaced with a faded tan leather vest complete with a multitude of tassels and beads accompanied by faded denim jeans. He cut the combination between Native American chic and cowboy rather well. Lazarus was wearing a simple black tee and baggy blue shorts. Neither wore anything on their stout foot-paws, but that was normal for many nonhumans, especially in places with milder climates. The collie laughed warmly and shoveled a good serving from the salver onto Sean's plate.

Taws emerged some minutes later wearing another heavy terrycloth robe, her fur a damp, windblown chaos. She drew up a chair next to Sean after punching her big brother in the shoulder causing another round of jocular masculine laughter. Silence but for the sound of eating took over once it had died down and Taws set to reducing her own plate of savory eggs benedict to crumbs.

"I got a mystery text this morning." Sean offered into the silence. He took a sip of the fresh squeezed orange juice provided with breakfast. There was coffee, as well, but the single carafe did not go very far spread among four caffeine addicts. Three sets of triangular ears pricked up curiously at that.

"Someone identifying themselves as 'Not Ashley' wants us to meet them tonight."

Oda and Lazarus shared a sober glance over their post-meal coffees, a sense of disquiet passing between them. "Less than ten hours and people we don't even know are saying hello." Lazarus growled with a frown, "Fuck, this god damn town is chock full of holes and spies."

After a few moments of contemplation Sean shook his head, "I doubt spies, outright as such. I'm thinking that someone's duped Ashley's phone."

"Howso?" Oda asked with a twitch of his ears.

"Well, it's one of those cheap Mal-Wart prepay phones, right? And she's being kept somewhere she can't just go out to a store, right?" he sipped his orange juice again, "Someone had to have gotten it, and then gotten it to her undetected. That shows some inside touch right there. Now, let's assume that they can dupe a phone, too. It's not terribly difficult, my roommate did it in college all the time. So; all they have to do is sit there and read whatever she sends or receives."

"And then make contact," Lazarus nodded sagely, "It makes sense, but it still leaves me pretty damned worried."

Digging a cell phone from the pocket of his vest Oda tapped the screen with his clawtip, "This 'Not Ashley' say where they wanted to meet?"

"Galaxy View?"

Oda quirked a brow, both ears twitching, and he tucked the phone away, "I know the place. It's a bit of a drive, outside of the city. What time?"

"Tonight, at 10."

"Okay then, that gives us all day to reconnoiter." Oda set down his coffee and stood, brushing his hands on the front of his jeans. "You and Taws, I'm sorry, but I really can't see you doing a whole lot. Lazy and I know what we're doing, and we can do it while we're blending in." His pale golden eyes took in each of them soberly, "But I would like you two to go there, anyway, just so you can get a feel for the place. Vegas casinos are chaos, easy to get lost -" He was cut off by a trill and buzz from Sean's cell on the night stand. While the human stood to retrieve it the phone trilled again, and a third time more even as he was bringing it back to the table.

Aslon & Talys Bacha. XC7A1. 2:27pm.

Sean scowled in confusion and extended the phone to Lazarus. "Any idea?"

"That's an airplane's tail number." Lazarus muttered, scowling with similar confusion. "Oda?" The wolf was already on his phone, quiet clicking coming rapidly as his thumbs worked the keypad.

"Those names are flagged by Homeland Defense no entry. Plane's a private charter service from Mexico City, landing at 2:27 this afternoon." His brows rose in surprise. "Guys, these assholes are some pretty high end flesh peddlers wanted by pretty much every agency that can want someone!"

A show of good faith; here are tonight's clients. US Most Wanted.

10pm, Galaxy View. NA

"Oda?"

"Oh hell yeah, I'm on it." The wolf fairly jumped from his chair and striding with that hunting-cat grace out towards the balcony.

"I don't like this," Sean said, loud enough to get the lupine's attention as well. "This all seems too convenient."

"Why would you say that?" Lazarus asked, his ears perked up as he leaned across the table.

"As you said, this place is a nest of criminals and spies. We already know someone on the inside besides Ashley knows about us, but they don't know exactly who we are. So they toss us some bait, something big and juicy enough that we won't be able to resist taking it. Maybe these guys pissed off Sharpson's organization some way, this is a bit of revenge, maybe this is NA acting on their own, hell I don't know. But, I get the feeling that NA is waiting to see who comes down on the plane this afternoon, so they know who they're dealing with." Sean tossed his napkin down on the table in angry frustration. "It just seems all designed to draw us out, tip our hand about this."

Oda and Lazarus shared a look of wry consternation, neither apparently able to find fault with Sean's logic. "Okay," Oda asked, "so what would you have us do? True, it may be a trap to see who we are, but we can't let scum like the Bachas slip through our fingers."

Sean sat back in the chair, arms folded over his chest, and thought a minute. "You said that the FBI had a bone to pick with Sharpson's organization, am I right?" Oda confirmed he was. "Can we feed this to them in a round-about enough manner that it can't be easily traced back to INS?"

Once more Oda and Lazarus shared a look, quirking their heads at each other. "Jack. No... James! Yeah, James!" Oda muttered, deep in thought before raising his head to look at his partner, "Who was Jack's golfing buddy from the Bureau? Erol, I think it was?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Got his number still?"

"Should."

"Right, give him a call."

Taws and Sean glanced at each other, the entire transaction completely lost on them, before Oda strode out to the balcony and began talking animatedly on his cell phone. The text still sat there on Sean's cell phone. As before the text had come from a blocked number; there was no way to reply.

"Whoever this 'Not Ashley' person is I think they're trying to convince us they're on our side." The collie muttered and handed the phone back. "As Oda was saying before, we'd like you to wander the Mine as tourists. Try to get a feel for the layout. If Ashley only trusts you then we'll need to have you make contact so there's no complications convincing her who the good guys are."

"Think I can get a disguise?" Sean asked, "Casinos have hundreds of cameras, and I wouldn't put it past them to be paranoid enough to use facial recognition software. If my name pops up associated with Ashley we're busted."

"Smart." Lazarus bobbed his head, "We'll do that."

Oda stalked back in with a whisper of swinging drapes and smiled, licking his whiskers. "Bureau guys are going to be on that plane like fireants on a toad the moment it touches down."

"Well, that should keep Ashley from being sold off to some offshore smutshop." Lazarus opined as he stood, "For tonight, at least."

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