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Title

1: Easy Money

Warren watched the wolf across the table flip the final card.

Kevin was shit at cards. The only reason Warren held off cleaning him out, was that he was his cousin. Family was important to wolfs. It was a cliche notion, but it was true.

Jack, on the other hand, shared no ties of kinship. Warren was not even sure he would call him a friend.

Warren looked at his pair of fours and the four of spades just flipped. He casually tossed ten dollars into the pot.

Jack ran a hand over one of his horns. It was one of the goat's many tells. He was going to bluff.

"I see ya." Jack made a show of fanning himself with three ten spots. "Let's see if you got another thirty bucks worth of balls, boss."

Kevin folded.

Warren called and showed his cards.

"Fuck you!" shouted Jack.

Warren laughed as he scooped up the pile of cash.

The goat laughed too. "Fuck it, man. We're all gonna be rich in a few hours."

Warren got up from the table. His eyes were sore from the sickly yellow light given off by the old incandescent bulb. It cast nauseating shadows over the dusty kitchen.

The old farmhouse had not been lived in for at least twenty years.

"Noel, what time is it?" He asked the pudgy wolverine.

Noel had been staring blankly at his phone's screen, counting the minutes but he shook his head and refocused. "Uh, eleven forty-four."

Warren tried several times to get Noel into the game, but his offers were declined.

"Could you tell me why I have to come along, again?" asked Noel. "I really don't see why I can't just give you guys the code."

Warren sighed. "I told you, if you want a cut, you have to have skin in the game."

Noel folded his arms and resumed clock watching.

"Leave the fuckin' pussy here," said Jack.

"No!" Warren had this worked out. There would be no changes this close to zero hour. "Noel, you are coming along and opening the doors, then keep a look out. Kev, you're driving. Jack, you are helping me empty the safe. No discussion."

Warren pulled a beer out of the cooler they brought to the old farm house. He left the kitchen. The lights in the livingroom were broke, giving the slight risk of tripping over debris, but the darkness relaxed his eyes. The house was Kevin's contribution to the job. It was on some land his parents owned. A dilapidated two story affair, in the middle of nowhere, perfect place to sort out the cash without interruptions.

He took a gulp of the beer and reminded himself that it was not really a crime to steal from a criminal. Legally, it was, but more importantly, Warren would have a clean conscience.

Talbot Smith had held the town in a death-grip for as long as Warren could remember. This was more than justified.

He downed the rest of the can in one drink and went back into the kitchen.

"Let's go."

***

Kevin drove by the billboard with the smiling coyote pointing to an empty parking lot.

Warren had them drive past two more times before he was sure it was empty.

That arrogant fuck, Talbot never had security posted unless there was a big deal going down. Talbot was also under the impression that no one would be stupid enough to try and rip him off.

Warren aimed to exploit this arrogance. He was not after millions of dollars, or drugs, or stolen electronics. Warren was looking for around fifty to a hundred thousand in cash, that Talbot kept in his office safe. The best part was that Talbot was so dirty, even the sheriff he had in his pocket could not dig too deep into any money stolen, without outside attention being drawn.

"Ready?" Warren asked as the pulled into the landscaping wholesaler's lot.

"Fuck yeah!" said Jack.

"Noel?"

A moment of hesitation. "Yeah. I'm good."

The car pulled up to the side of a prefab warehouse. As Warren, Jack and Noel jumped out, Kevin drove away to idle the car in the shadows.

They made their way around the side of the building, to the employee entrance. Noel wrapped his finger in a napkin and punched in a code on the door's keypad.

He still worked here, but since getting involved with Warren he managed to learn the codes of a few other employees, one of which he now used. Warren it said would throw them off the trail long enough to make the money vanish.

"Good work, Noel. Now just stay here and give us a heads up if you see anything."

"I know. Just hurry up."

Warren felt better about Noel now that he was indisputably an accomplice.

Jack and Warren made their way through the dark warehouse. Warren knew the way from four years as a sales associate. The place was the same as when he had been fired.

He rushed past a pallet of discounted grass seed.

There were a few back rooms and the cctv system was broke since before Warren could remember. Talbot did the kind of business that was better left off the record.

Warren stopped at the door and let Jack take the lead.

The goat pulled a pry bar from his waistband. He gave the handle a jiggle and turned to Warren with a shrug.

"What?" asked the wolf.

"Door's not locked, boss," Jack whispered.

Warren pushed him out of the way. He cracked the door. The room was as dark as the sales floor.

Warren turned to Jack and motioned for him to follow.

Talbot's office was not nearly as decadent as you would suppose. The coyote did not flaunt his wealth at work. Warren guessed he got off on pretending to be a man of the people.

He made straight for the jukebox-sized safe behind the desk.

An orb of light danced on the wall. Warren froze. He heard Jack mutter "fuck." Before he could backhand the idiot, the light danced across the ceiling and hit him in the eyes.

A voice from the darkness called out. "Warren?"

His brain clicked in recognition. "Lester?"

The light was aimed at the floor.

The wolf's night vision was shot for the moment. He had to think fast. "Grab him!"

The flashlight hit the floor, but the room had no windows and only the one door. Jack was on him.

"Want me to cap his ass, boss?"

Warren's eyes readjusted. The goat had a silver handgun pointed at the head of a coyote.

"Ah, shit!" Warren felt the urge to hit something. "No. No, just keep him covered." He went to the safe and found it already open. Stacks of bills seemed oddly radiant in the dark. Warren pulled a plastic shopping bag from his pocket.

"Warren?" squeaked the coyote.

Warren turned from filling his bag. "If he says another word, hit him with your crowbar."

Jack sneered down at the coyote.

***

Noel checked his phone for the hundredth time. He had been standing there for eight minutes now.

The wolverine looked across the parking lot, trying to spot where Kevin had parked. It was disconcerting that the lightless lot concealed the car so well. What else could be lurking out there, unseen?

The sound of footsteps brought his attention back to the door. He saw movement and started flailing his arms to get the driver's attention.

Warren exited. "Don't freak out, ok?"

Jack followed, dragging along a bound coyote.

"Oh, Warren! What the heck is this?"

The wolf motioned for him to be quiet.

Noel tugged at his black shirt. It suddenly felt constricting. He looked closer at the captive. "Is that Lester?"

"Yeah," said Warren.

"He knows me! He's seen my face now! God-"

An open hand smack silenced the wolverine. Noel was bigger than Warren, but the both knew it was mostly flab, and he was generally a wuss.

"Calm down. I've got this covered," said Warren. "Jack, did you check his pockets?"

"Yeah. A couple stacks of hundreds, his wallet, and his phone. I mean, my new phone."

Lester was gagged by a pair of black gloves held in his mouth by a plastic bag, twisted into a crude rope. But still, he attempted to voice his protest.

Warren held out his hand at Jack. "Don't be stupid. Phones can be traced."

"Oh. Yeah. Forgot about that." Jack passed the latest generation smartphone over to Warren.

Warren was not positive if they could trace a phone's location, but he had seen enough television cop shows not to want to chance it.

Warren took the phone and hurled it to the pavement.

Lester let out a plaintive "mmnnm," from behind the gag.

Kevin pulled the car as close as he could to the group, while Warren stomped on the phone.

Kevin leaned his head out the window. "Who's that?"

Noel groaned, "That's Talbot's son."

"Christ, Warren. You didn't say anything about hostages."

Warren ignored that. "Jack, get him in the car."

The goat tugged his goatee in contemplation. "That's a compact, boss. Shit'll look suspicious if we pile in on top of each other."

"Yeah," agreed Noel. "You couldn't have found us a smaller model, Jack?"

"Fuck you. Any of you other bitches have wheels? Thought not."

Warren was getting close to losing his cool. "Both of you shut up. Put him in the trunk. I swear, I can deal with this. Just remain calm"

Warren did have an idea, but he needed the ride back to the farmhouse to think it through and figure out how he could convince the others to go along with it.

***

The car rumbled down the dirt road. No one spoke on the drive. Before shutting Lester in the trunk, a few menacing threats ensured his silence also.

Warren exited the car and looked at the closed trunk. "Leave him in there. We need to talk this over before we do anything."

"So, now it's a democracy," said Noel.

The wolf gave him a hard look that silenced any more forthcoming observations.

As Kevin, Jack and Noel sat around the formica table in the grimy, yellowed kitchen, they had all eyes on their de facto leader.

Warren paced for a moment. "Alright. I'll admit, this is a bit of a snag. But we can't change what happened."

"I knew we should have wore masks," said Noel.

Jack looked over at him, "shut the fuck up."

Warren held his hands up. "Settle down. That's a fair criticism, and I accept full responsibility for not seeing this as a possibility. But seriously, I said we can't change what happened. Let's see if we can't make something out of this clusterfuck."

He leaned against the basin sink and tried to find the right words. "Lester did see our faces. That leaves us two options. One: we kill him. Make him disappear."

The goat stood up. "Fuck yeah! I vote for that."

"Wait 'til I tell you the other option." Warren waited for the eager would-be killer to sit back down. "Option two, if some of us are averse to murder," he glanced at Noel, "is we ransom the son of a bitch for enough money that we all can disappear. I'm thinking two or three mil, split four ways."

Noel spoke first. "That's half a million dollars a piece."

"I vote for that," said Kevin.

Warren looked to Jack.

The goat looked thoughtfully for a moment. "Could I still kill him?"

Warren rolled his eyes. "If we get the money, I don't give a fuck what you want to do. Just don't kill anyone until we have the money."

"Got ya, boss."

Noel stood. "Wait, wait, wait. How the heck are we going to do this? This is the kind of stuff that gets the Feds involved, that gets long jail sentences, that- that gets people killed!" He was hyperventilating.

Warren tensed his fist but opted for a more diplomatic approach. "Noel. Look at me." He put his hands on the wolverine's shoulders. "Talbot won't get the Feds involved. Nothing has changed, he's still dirty as hell. I promise you he won't risk it."

The wolf gently pushed Noel back into his seat. "We won't get caught and no one will get killed." He walked back a few steps to become the room's focal point.

"Having said that, I'm going to need sometime to work out the details. All I ask is that you continue to trust me." He gave a wide trust-me-smile.

***

"Kev, the rest of us'll go out and get Lester. Clear a spot in the cellar so we can tie him up."

"No."

Warren blinked several times. He was not used to disagreement coming from his cousin. He turned and raised his eyebrows.

Kevin shrugged. "That's twenty years of spiders and cobwebs down there." He shuddered.

Warren looked at Jack who shook his head in agreement.

Warren nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Fuck that. Could you go find a room to keep him?"

Kevin gave a thumbs up.

"Preferably one without any windows," Warren called after him.

The trio walked into the night. Dawn was still hours away, and the sounds of crickets echoed through the tall grass.

As they neared the car, they could hear thumping from the trunk.

Jack jogged to his car and slammed his fist down.

This brought out a muffled scream, another thud, then silence.

Jack laughed his ass off. "I think the fag knocked himself out!"

Noel put his hand on the wolf's arm "I think I'm going to be sick. You mind if I go help Kevin?"

Warren waved him toward the house.

Jack waited until Noel was out of earshot. "Your friend is pussy."

"Not my friend," Warren corrected the goat.

"Then why is he-"

"To spread the risk! Just open the damn trunk."

"A'ight, boss." He pulled a set of keys from his pockets. "Commit a few felonies an' everyone gets so fuckin' sensitive."

Jack kept mumbling while the trunk popped open.

Lester was curled in a tight ball. His arms were still bound with Jack's belt and the improvised gag was still in place.

"Mmphfm!"

"Shut the fuck up," said Jack. The goat reach around his back and pulled out his pistol.

The coyote's muffled screams rose an octave as Jack pointed the gun at his shaking head.

"Put that away," said Warren.

"You're lucky my bro is here right now. Else, you'd be wasted," Jack growled at Lester.

Warren pushed the goat out of his way and looked down at Lester. Tears were flowing from the coyote's tightly shut eyes.

"Lester," Warren said. When no response was forthcoming he shook the coyote by the shoulder. "Lester, look at me."

Lester opened his eyes and blinked away tears.

"Lester, I promise we won't hurt you, as long as you do what we say. Do you understand?"

Lester nodded.

Warren and Jack pulled Lester out of the trunk and half dragged, half steered the petrified coyote into the farmhouse.

Kevin peaked around kitchen doorway. "This way. Upstairs." He motioned for them to follow.

Warren could not help but think he should have blindfolded Lester. As it was, there was nothing stopping Lester from memorizing the general layout. But if he stopped to think, Warren would be there all night pointing out the flaws in his impromptu kidnapping. His hopes were resting on luck and his improvisational skills at this point.

The stairs creaked louder than the crickets. They passed a tangle of broken wooden chairs and a dresser that had been pulled from the room Kevin pointed to.

Warren could hear the distinct sound of nails being hammered.

"In here," said Kevin.

Warren told Jack to hold the captive, and went to inspect the room. It was acceptable. Everything but a bed frame and a throw rug had been stripped. The room had a window, but Noel was hammering it shut with pieces of broken chair. Warren noted the bare ceiling lamp. The same nausea inducing yellow glow as the kitchen's.

Warren added lightbulbs to the list of supplies he might need to pick up if things went slower than he planned.

"You guys didn't happen to find any rope where you found the hammer and nails?"

Kevin smiled. "Actually, I did, cuz." He went to the hall and grabbed a coil of wash line from an antique tool box hidden behind dresser.

***

2: Lester's Predicament

As soon as his captors left the room, Lester took stock of the situation.He was tied, spread-eagle, to the rusty iron frame of an old bead. His mouth was gagged and he was losing feeling in his hands. But what really annoyed him was what the rust coated mesh of springs was doing to his shirt.

It was an expensive shirt. They could have left the mattress on the bed.

Lester felt oddly calm now that he was tied to a bed. Not an unfamiliar position for him to be in, but it was more a sense of relief that they were probably not going to kill him. At least not for some time.

He was less sure about that earlier. Especially when he was pulled out of the trunk, in the middle of nowhere. That was possibly the most scared he had ever been in his life.

But once inside, and imprisoned, it was starting to make sense.

The door opened and a tall wolf entered. It was Warren. The wolf dragged a wooden chair behind him.

Lester pulled at his bonds. Although he was confident he was not about to be shot, there was no reason his captors could not work him over. He shook his head wildly, trying to yell through his tight gag.

Warren held a finger to his lips, signalling the coyote to quiet.

Lester had no choice, but maybe if he complied easily, he could spare himself unneeded pain.

Warren leaned over Lester. "Do what we say, and I promise no one will hurt you." The wolf ran his hand through Lester's hair, in an oddly comforting gesture.

Lester nodded.

"Now I'm going to get this out of your mouth. But don't start yelling, or it goes right back in. Understand?"

Lester nodded again. He winced as Warren took a stake knife out of his pocket and slid it carefully between the improvised cord and the coyote's cheek.

Lester pushed at the wadded gloves the second he felt them loosen.

Warren took the spit dampened gloves and tossed them out of sight. "Better?"

"Y-yes," Lester said.

"Good," Warren pulled the chair close and sat down. "Now I have a few questions," the wolf looked at the door to make sure they had privacy. "Why were you taking money out of Talbot's safe, in the middle of the night?"

Oh God, thought Lester. "Did my dad tell you to do this? I swear, whatever he's paying you, I will double it!" Lester guessed his chance of living were around fifty percent now. "Please, just let me go. You can put the money back and say I was never there," Lester's voice rose an octave. "I, I'll give you whatever you want!"

Warren held up a hand. "Shhh." He gave a disarming smile. "So you were stealing from him."

"No!" protested Lester.

Warren laughed. "But why? With all the fucking nepotism Talbot threw at you, you were practically running the legit side of the store. That has to pay well."

Lester stared at the wolf.

"In fact," Warren went on, "I bet you even got a bonus for saving all that 'excess expenditures' when you fired me." A hint of anger crept into his voice.

Lester grimaced. He had hoped Warren did not remember that. "Sorry?" he offered.

Warren took a deep breath and regained his composure. "No. What's past is past."

"Um..." Lester was hesitant to ask, "You're not working for my father, than?"

Warren raised an eyebrow. The question did not need to be answered.

Warren prodded Lester with several more question. Mostly about Talbot's finances and his phone numbers. Lester answered as truthfully as he could but he tried explaining to Warren that he was a bit out of the loop as far as the family business was concerned.

The wolf was satisfied with the answers. He stood and patted Lester's chest. "Remember what I said. Be good, and you get out of this alive."

Lester nodded.

"I'll be back later," Warren switched off the light on his way out.

Lester wished he had left it on.

He was not sure how long he lay there but a sudden burst of shouting startled him. It stopped just as quick. Lester prayed it was the police, or even some of his father's hired goons. But he was unwilling to risk calling out.

The sounds of nearing footsteps brought renewed hope and fear. The door opened, "hello?" he called.

"Shut up. Fag," Lester remember the voice of the goat who pointed the gun at him, twice.

There was a blast of static, then fast bursts of music. He was tuning a radio. The band stopped on a rock station. The volume increased, and the light from the hall disappeared with the goat.

Lester was now alone, in the dark, with a blaring radio. He could no longer make out any voices.

He was not a fan of rock music. In fact, if his top priority was not self preservation, he would have demanded the station be changed.

As it was, Lester tried to puzzle out why he was here. His best guess was for ransom. But how they knew where he would be...

It was still dark when the music was replaced by a lame morning show. Two DJs making prank phone calls that were more harassing than funny, and giving ill-informed takes on yesterday's current events.

Actually, the show was growing on him by the time the door opened and the radio was switched off. Lester did not offer a hello this time.

Warren leaned over him. Lester could make out a few people pacing just outside the door.

"Ok," said the wolf. He unfolded a piece of paper. "Read this."

Lester looked at the paper held in front of his face. It was written in sloppy handwriting. It was a script:

"I am alright. I need you to get two million dollars in cash. You will get a call in two hours and be told what to do with the money. If you are not ready, they will hurt me. if you call the cops, they will kill me."

Lester looked to Warren.

The wolf took the paper away. "I'm calling your father. If you deviate from what's written, I promise, you will regret it."

Lester nodded, to afraid to speak. The way Warren talked so calmly unnerved him.

Warren stood. He took a few deep breaths to center himself, pulled a phone from his pocket and pressed the call button.

Warren locked eyes with Lester. The coyote watched the wolf turn on speakerphone, and lift his shirt to cover the phone's mic.

Lester's eyes drifted lower while the rings sounded. Warren sported a rather impressive six-pack, thought Lester. Under more agreeable circumstances he might have tried chatting him up. And here he was, tied to a bed...

He shook his head. This was no time to get turned on.

The ringing stopped.

"Talbot," declared a low rasping voice.

Warren pressed the phone close to his lips. He whispered through the muffling wad of shirt. "We have your son." There was no way Talbot could identify the voice.

Warren held the paper up to Lester's face again. His other hand held the phone, his thumb poised over the disconnect button.

Lester cleared his throat. "I am alright. I need you to get two milli-"

"Lester?" Talbot asked. "Listen you little bastard! You fucked up bad this time. I don't give a good goddamn how much money you owe your fucking bookie. No one steals from me. No one!"

The rage coming over the line was palpable. Even Warren's eyes were wide with shock. The co-conspirators had edged further into the room.

Talbot's tirade continued. "You bring back my fucking money, right fucking now! Then get the fuck out of my town. You are cut off. You hear me? Cut off!" The line went dead.

The room stayed silent for a while.

"What just happened?" asked Noel. Lester immediately recognized the wolverine's distinctive voice. On the occasions he showed up to work, he was technically Noel's supervisor.

Warren got over the shock. He looked over his shoulder at his cohorts. "Hand me your gun."

"No!" yelled Lester."Don't shoot me!"

The goat handed the gun to Warren. Lester's heart raced as the gun was pressed to his head. He squeezed his eyes shut.

He heard a shutter-snapping sound and gave a surprised squeak.

"Let's try this again," said Warren.

When Lester opened his eyes again, Warren was punching keys on the phone. A ping sounded. Lester guessed that was a picture of him with a gun to his head being sent to his father.

The wolf dialed and put it on speaker.

Talbot's voice answered. "You the guy that sent me the picture?"

Warren did not respond. Instead, he showed Lester the script.

The coyote sounded much more authentic this time. Almost tearing up near the end.

Warren held the phone close to his ear.

A sigh. "Can I assume you are also the asshole that stole from me? Well listen here, punk. You obviously don't know who I am."

Warren cut short the monologue. In a low growl through his shirt he said, "I know exactly who you are. And you need to know we're not fucking around." He jumped onto the bed and straddled the coyote. He grabbed hold of Lester's throat, cutting off his air.

Lester let loose a cacophony of gurgling hacks.

"Do you hear that?" hissed Warren. "That is the sound of Lester being choked to death." He let go of the deathgrip.

The coyote's howl-like wail filled the room.

Warren sat back on Lester's hips. "I'll call in two hours. Have the cash ready."

Warren was about to hang up when Talbot said, "hold on. You're a smart boy, you got this all figured out. You know I can't pull two mil outta the fucking air. If you want the money, it'll take time."

"How much time?" Warren asked cautiously.

"A week, maybe."

The goat could no longer hold his tongue. "Bullshit! Does he-"

Warren silenced him with a look. "Forty-eight hours."

"This is not let's-make-a-fucking-deal," shouted Talbot. "I can't walk into the fuckin' local bank, and say, 'hey, lemme just withdraw a couple mil.' I gotta go into the city. And if I take it all out at once, well, I'm looking at a fuckton of questions. You get me?"

"The 'questions' are your concern, not mine. Make whatever arrangements you need. But you still only have forty-eight hours."

Lester looked up in awe at the Warren's hard negotiation. He had never heard anyone speak that way to his father before. The wolf oozed with the kind of confidence Lester only dreamed of having.

"In forty-eight hours, we'll start mailing him back to you. Pice by pice."

The fear was real rush. Lester knew he should probably be in a state of hysterical terror, but this all felt so familiar. Especially with the wolf in such intimate contact.

"Forty-eight hours," said Warren.

"Forty-eight," repeated Talbot.

The line went dead.

After a pregnant silence, "well, that could've gone worse." Warren did what he could to keep morale high.

He got off of Lester. "Where's Noel?"

"He left when you started choking him," the other wolf motioned at Lester.

Warren rubbed his eyes and sighed. "Go find him and make sure he's not doing anything stupid." As the left, he turned to Lester. "Are you kidding me?" he asked.

Lester was unable to shrug in his current state of bondage. "Dad's not used to negotiating, I guess," he said with a cough.

"Not that." Warren leaned over the coyote. His hand lightly flicked Lester's crouch. "You got a hardon?" Warren asked in disbelief. He shook his head, looking at the bulge in Lester's pants.

Lester blushed with a half apologetic, half mischievous grin.

The wolf started to leave. Before turning on the radio and shutting out the lights, he told Lester he would be back in a while and see about getting him some food.

The coyote lay there and had the strangest thought, that this might not be all bad. Assuming he does not end up in a shallow grave, with a bullet lodged in his brain.