"I don't get it," Ian muttered as we all got comfortable in the living room. "Why didn't the wolf just kill you? I mean...he had you right where he wanted you!"
I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't think he wants me dead...yet."
"It seems, to me, like Hank and The Wolf have a little bit of a history," Thomas added. "Hank's memory loss isn't really helping with that."
"Whose fault is that?" I grumbled, sinking into the couch.
Thomas snarled in reply, and started to tie knots with his tail. He always did that when his emotions got the better of him. His tail would end up in knots when he was nervous, angry, or just plain stressed. My guess was that Thomas was experiencing all three.
"And what the heck was with your paws?" Thomas exclaimed.
"What about his paws?" asked Avery. "Did something happen to them?"
I shook my head. "I have no idea. It was like my paws were as hot as coals. We can worry about that later, though. We need to get back into the CIA, and we need to do it tonight."
"Relax, Hank," Thomas said smoothly. "We've broken into that place two times already. We can do it again."
"But we don't even know where to start looking?" I grumbled. "We need a name, before we can start rummaging through everyone's offices."
"Then we go to Talon," Avery assumed. "Talon must know something about the guy. He doesn't look like the kind of anthro that just follows a shadow blindly. He's got to have some dirt on the guy...kind of like insurance."
Thomas stood up with bit of excitement, and immediately agreed with Avery. "And it's not like Talon has any time to move any of his important documents over to the hotel. They're probably back in his room at the colony. Fifty bucks says that his room that his whole section of the colony is unguarded. I mean, who's going to go back to the caves, when the rest of the anthros are out on the streets."
"So the colony is just...empty?" Ian asked.
Thomas nodded, "We can safely assume so. We're not going to drop our guard, however. I'll be damned if I let any of us get caught in those caves."
"Then let's make it one long round-trip," I added. "As soon as we find something that can lead us to the wolf, then we'll make our way over to Langley. Does that sound like a plan?"
Everyone, including Lucas and Kit, nodded in unison.
"Good," I continued. "Thomas, can you work on assigning duties for all of us? That'll include the trip to the CIA. I need to have a little chat with the humans, before we head out."
Thomas looked at me inquisitively, but eventually nodded, and gathered the rest of the anthros around the couch.
I waved the two humans over to where I was standing, and beckoned for them to follow me down the hallway and into the nearest bedroom. I stood patiently at the doorway until both Lucas and Kit were inside the room. Then, I quietly closed the door behind me.
"I have something for the two of you to do while we're gone," I said, while patting down the fur on the back of my neck. "You two obviously won't be able to come with us. It would be too dangerous. Now, Lucas, do you have a smartphone on you?"
Lucas nodded and whipped his phone out instinctively. "What do you need?"
"I need you do a little bit of research into who could be in charge of all this," I explained. "We're looking for someone within the CIA, with a high level of clearance. If you can find anything linking anthros to the CIA, write it down, then radio it to me. I'll have Thomas give you an earpiece."
"What if someone tries to get into the house, and it's not you guys," Kit asked, nervously. I could tell that this whole situation frightened him.
"That's easy. All your dad would have to do is grab you and get into the basement. There are plenty of places to hide down there. I'm going to be in communication with your dad, so if anything bad happens, he can just tell me, and I'll come running," I answered kindly. I then turned to Lucas, and said, "Just make sure you keep the earpiece on at all times, and you won't have any problems."
"What do you want me to do?" asked Kit. "You said you had jobs for the two of us."
"I need you to search the whole house for something," I said, kneeling in front of Kit. "I don't have any of the liquid on me, but before this house was trashed, there was a ton of vials of a red liquid. It looks almost like blood, but with a hint of orange. Start in the basement, and leave no stone unturned. I have a feeling that we're going to be needing a lot of that liquid soon."
"What does it do?" Lucas asked.
"It accelerates healing," I said quickly. "But it's lethal to humans."
Kit nodded at both of us, and said, "I can do it."
"Great!" I exclaimed with a thumbs-up. "Go ask Thomas for an earpiece. When we return, we can all get some rest. Until then, keep your guard up."
I opened the door to the bedroom, and quickly made my way towards my pile of equipment. We didn't have much time on our hands, we had to create a plan without any contingencies. I looked over towards the living room and saw Thomas hard at work with Ian and Avery. Ian was already vigorously typing on his beaten laptop, and Avery was collaborating with Thomas about which entrance into the colony they should take. Thomas was pacing back and forth in front of the coffee table, twirling a throwing knife in his paw.
"We should enter through the tunnel closest to Talon's room," I interjected. "Not many anthros use that tunnel, and it's the closest to our goal."
"What if he's there?" Avery asked. "If he sees us, then we're screwed."
Thomas held his paw forward, saying, "I'd be willing to take a risk like that. Talon likes his privacy, so if we run into him we can safely bet that he'll be alone...and that's assuming he's even at the colony."
"I don't like taking risks," Avery muttered. "So...what? We're just going to fight him, if it comes to that?"
Thomas looked at me for a response, and I just shrugged my shoulders. "Two against one sounds pretty good to me," I said, after a few seconds of thought.
Thomas nodded, and put his knife back into its sheath. "Alright then. Two of us will enter the colony through the tunnel closest to Talon's room. Once we're in, one of us will search Talon's things, while the other keeps watch. Ian, you're in charge of cameras. Are you able to see through the cameras in the tunnels?"
Ian shook his head, "No, I need to be there in person to tap into the closed circuits. Is there a surveillance room in the colony?"
"I don't know," Thomas answered honestly.
"If there are cameras, then I'm going to assume that there's someone monitoring them...and if we don't know where the monitors are, then we're going in dark." Ian stated.
"Then we will go in dark. Let's get this done. I want to be in-and-out as quickly as possible. I'm pretty sure that our trip back to the CIA is going to take a little longer," I said, while strapping on my weapons.
"What do you want me to do, then?" asked Ian, slumping into his seat.
"While we're in the colony, you're going to be running the ground game with Avery," I ordered. "The more eyes that we have while we're in those tunnels, the better. As for Langley, I think I might have a plan as to what I need you to do. We can talk about it on the way."
Ian nodded contently, and started to grab his things.
I looked over at Thomas, who was handing an earpiece over to Lucas. He glanced at me, and immediately noticed that I wanted to get going. I wanted to find a way to stop what was happening to the city, as soon as possible.
"Let's head out," Thomas announced, once he saw that everyone had gotten their equipment together. "We still have the cover of night, but there are only a few hours left until morning. I want to be back at this house before the sun rises. Let's hustle!"
We mustered all of our energy, waved goodbye to Lucas and Kit, and filed out the front door to the house. It felt a little unnerving to me that we were walking onto a neighborhood street in our anthropomorphic forms, but the neighborhood was empty. I doubt that there was a single human left in our block.
Thomas led the way, knowing which house to walk behind to get to the forest quicker. Within a few minutes, we were surrounded by foliage, and dense forest. Soon, the houses in the neighborhood were far enough away that only their roofs were visible.
I remembered the way through the forest, just as well as Thomas, but Ian and Avery were having a little bit of trouble keeping their footing in the dark. I could hear both of the anthros stumble over rocks and branches that had been strewn across the forest floor. It almost made me laugh as they bumbled behind us.
With a few more minutes of loud crunching through the trees, Thomas pointed towards the patch of land that I knew was the hatch that went down into the colony's tunnels. As we neared it, Thomas leaned forward and grabbed at a thicker patch of grass that was expertly mixed in with the real stuff. He pulled upward and up came a round overgrown hatch-cover.
"Get in," Thomas said, waving for us to hop onto the ladder.
I gathered my courage and slid down the ladder, landing quickly on the floor of the tunnel. After a forward roll, I was crouched a few feet ahead of the ladder with one of my daggers already drawn. The rest of the anthros quietly crept down the ladder, and gathered behind me.
"Avery and I will move ahead down the tunnel," Ian said while moving past Thomas.
I nodded, and started for the door to Talon's room. Thomas and I crept as best we could to Talon's door, and waited for a few seconds, pricking up our ears. After waiting, Thomas pointed at the door-handle, and beckoned for me to go into the room.
"Whistle if you need anything," Thomas whispered.
I slowly pushed the heavy metal door open, peaked my head in, and looked around to see if anyone was still in the room. I was about to give the all-clear to Thomas, but I caught something green out of the corner of my eyes.
It was too late, however.
I looked upwards at Talon, who had positioned himself on the far side of the entrance. One of his claws was raised towards his face, as he silently shushed me. The other claw was holding a .357 just a few inches away from my forehead. I immediately knew that if I signaled anything to Thomas, I'd be dead in an instant.
I slid my way into the room very cautiously, and pulled the door shut. As soon as I did so, Talon double locked the room with a heavy piece of metal that slid across the length of the threshold.
As soon as the door locked with a heavy clanking noise, Thomas quickly scrambled to open it. He yelled out, "Hank? Hank are you okay?!"
Talon smiled deviously. Both of us knew that Thomas wasn't going to be able to open that door. The metal was just too thick, and heavy. Even with his rat cannon, he wouldn't have been able to blow through it without doing any damage to me...and that was if the cannon was powerful enough.
"He's fine," Talon yelled through the door.
Thomas pounded even harder in response.
"Why didn't you shoot me," I asked, while Talon was watching the door.
"Oh I will," Talon answered. "I just want Thomas give up, first. I want him to hear me do it. I want him to know that he couldn't do anything to stop me from blowing a hole into your head."
Thomas sounded like he was crashing a battering ram at the door with all of his might. Heavy thuds radiated throughout the room, making the ground vibrate a little bit. The style in which Thomas slammed against the door changed every few seconds. I could hear what I guessed was him slamming his shoulder into the door, then Thomas kicking the door, and then him trying to pull it off of its hinges.
Thomas screamed at the top of his lungs, "You son of a bitch! I'll kill you!"
Talon yelled back, "Are you talking to me, or Hank? By letting him walk through that door, you've just killed the hyena yourself!"
Thomas stopped pounding on the door. I had no idea what he was doing on the other side of that door. Whatever it was...it couldn't have been good. Thomas was a very dangerous anthro, when placed into a corner like the one he was in at that moment.
"Hank, put your weapons on the ground," ordered Talon.
"Stop!" Thomas pleaded through the door.
Talon ignored Thomas, and pulled the hammer back on his pistol. "Hank...weapons on the ground, now! I'm not going to ask again!"
I pulled the weapons off my body, and set them about a foot in front of me. My rifle, my daggers, my throwing knives, my ammunition, my handgun; all of them were presented in front of Talon, and then set on the ground just a small distance away from where I was standing. It felt wrong not having my weapons on me, with a gun pointing at me. I felt almost naked.
I was on my own. As the realization of that settled within me, the gears in my head started turning at full-speed. I had to find a way to disarm Talon, or I was going to die in that room.
My first instinct was to stall for time...
"Why didn't The Wolf kill me back at the hotel?" I asked, hoping Talon would take the bait. "I mean...you obviously don't need me alive, if you're going to shoot me; so why did he allow me live?"
Talon took the bait.
"He thought that you were still able to be recruited," Talon answered. "But we're way past that, now. He's ordered me to bring you to him, dead or alive. Why go through the trouble of keeping you restrained, when I could just ask a couple of anthros to drag your dead body into a truck instead?"
"But what about the blood? What's so special about my blood?" I continued.
"I told the wolf that you weren't ready," grumbled Talon. "If you were even close to ready for what he had planned for you, then you would have already known why your blood is needed. Just another reason, why I am pleased to be able to end your miserable little life."
The time that I bought was fading quickly, as Talon pointed towards my feet.
"On your knees," Talon said, while waving the gun in a downward motion.
Thomas hit the door once more. "No! Don't! Don't do it, Talon!"
My mind was racing as I tried to figure out a way to stop Talon. He was too far away for me to run towards him. I knew that Talon's reflexes were quicker than mine; so best that I could do was throw something at him, and hope that he deflects it. That would give me enough time to attack.
I quickly glanced at small pile of weapons that was just an arm's length away, noticing that one of the daggers that I had placed there was even pointed towards Talon. All that I would have to do, is move in one direction as fast as I could, and then throw my dagger at him.
"Talon!" Thomas yelled desperately. "Please! I'll do whatever you want; just don't do it!"
Talon grinned, replying, "You've done all that you can, Thomas. You can't save him."
As soon as Talon's eye glanced at the door, I took my shot. As quickly as I could, I ducked downward, and then grabbed the dagger with my paw.
My whole body tensed, and flinched, as the sound of a gunshot reverberated throughout the room. I didn't feel anything touch my body, so I continued to follow through with my plan.
I rolled forward to get a little closer, and then shot the knife towards Talon with as much force as possible. As soon as the dagger left my paw, I watched it fly directly towards Talon's torso.
Talon did exactly what I thought he was going to do. Talon's eyes focused on the sharp object that was propelling towards his organs, and immediately moved to deflect it. I glanced at the gun that he was holding, and noticed that it definitely wasn't aimed at me. He was too focused on the dagger.
I lurched towards Talon, as soon as he brought his other arm upward. As soon as the dagger was deflected to his left, I moved my arms to him, and shoved him against the wall as hard as I could. I brought my fist towards Talon's jaw, connecting surprisingly. With my other arm, I slapped the gun away from Talon's claw. I could hear the gun land on the ground, sliding just a little bit.
Talon exchanged a blow of his own, connecting to my midsection with his right claw. I anticipated it, however, and did my best to tighten my abdomen.
I grabbed both of Talon's horns, and pulled them down while bringing my knee up to his muzzle. With a burst of strength, I kneed Talon's face as hard as I could.
Talon made a sputtering noise that I had relished to hear. After that, his eyes were fluttering pretty quickly. I could tell that if would have hit him any harder, then he would have instantly lost consciousness.
I couldn't knock him out, however. I needed him awake and coherent.
"H-hank," Talon gurgled, as blood started to seep from his maw.
I grabbed Talon, and shoved him backwards against the large desk that took up most of his room. As he was writhing in pain, I grabbed my dagger from the ground, and quickly returned to Talon.
"Who is he," I asked, pressing the dagger against his neck. "Who is the wolf? What's his name? Where's he from? What the hell does he want with me?"
"You think you have power over me?" Talon answered almost in a daze.
I turned the dagger around, and set the tip on top of the middle of Talon's left thigh. "If you don't tell me his name then I have no more use for you. I'll skin you like I skinned Donnie."
I pushed the dagger into Talon's thigh, with my palm, and pushed until his fur grazed the handle. Talon bit down on his lower lip, and tried his best to hold in the screams of pain from a having a foot-long dagger in his leg. He was too weak to struggle anymore, so the best that he could do was endure the agony.
"Tell me!" I snarled. "I can keep you alive for hours, Talon! You're going to be begging me to kill you!"
Talon's lips curled into a bloody smile. "I'm the one holding the cards, Hank," he spat.
I jerked the dagger out of Talon's leg, and moved it to his right leg. Without waiting, I jammed it into his thigh as hard as I could, making Talon howl in pain.
"So you have the cards, huh?" I retorted. "Well, I'm the one holding the blade."
"If you k-kill me...then you don't have anything. No name...no location...n-nothing," grunted Talon, with a pained look on his face.
"I didn't expect you to make this easy for me," I grumbled.
I grabbed Talon by the shoulders, and pulled his body onto the table, so that he was laying on his back. After that, I pulled the dagger out of Talon's thigh, and started for the door. I pulled the bar out of the way, and unlocked the door.
"What are you doing?" Talon asked, spitting blood onto his own table.
"Thomas is going to hold you down," I said, as Thomas stormed past me.
Thomas grabbed Talon by the neck, and threw the heaviest punch that he could to Talon's cheek. After that, Thomas grabbed both of Talon's arms, and held them above Talon's horns.
"I'm going to give you one more chance, Talon..."I said, standing over the side of the table."...but here's what I'm going to do first. I'm going to press my dagger against your sternum, until it cracks. If you want to start providing some information, then I'll be happy to listen. If not, then I'm going to start pulling your ribs apart. If you're still alive, then I'm going to start skinning you from there."
Talon's eyes went wide with fear. He tried to pull his arms away, but Thomas wasn't going to let go for anything. "Wait, wait!"
"Shhh," I interrupted. "You can speak once I've cracked through your ribcage."
I set my dagger onto the middle of Talon's chest, and pushed it down as much force as I could muster. Talon's screams didn't bother me a single bit, as I kept pushing with all of my strength.
"Please!" Talon screamed. "I'll tell you!"
I switched to my left paw, and then used my right paw to start pounding on the bottom of the dagger's handle.
"Kyle!" Talon yelled at the top of his lungs. "His name is Kyle!"
I paused...
"Come again?" I asked.
"Kyle is his name. I don't know his last name but he told me his name was Kyle. I swear that's all I know," Talon said, shakily.
That name sounded familiar to me...
"He works at the CIA," Talon added. "You've gotta believe me, that's all I know about him. Only a few of us even know that he's in charge."
"Thank you," I muttered, I punched Talon directly under the chin. As soon as my fist connected, Talon's eyes rolled back into his head, and he was out cold.
Thomas let go of Talon's limp arms, and looked at me with concern.
"What?" I asked, turning my head to the side.
"We got the name, and we know where to go," Thomas said quietly. "Are you feeling up to continue the trip to Langley?"
"Of course," I said, waving Thomas off. "Why would you ask that?"
Thomas didn't say anything, and just pointed towards my chest.
I looked down, immediately noticing that my clothes were soaked with blood. Then I realized why Thomas was so concerned. Just below my ribs, there was a hole, the size of a dime. As soon as I saw it, I wanted to vomit.
"Exit wound?" Thomas asked quickly.
I reached at my back, and felt around until I felt the same kind of hole on the other side of me. Looking back at Thomas, I gave him a nod. "It went right through me."
"Good. That means you'll heal pretty quickly without needing a serum," Thomas explained. "We should get going then. I'll round up Ian, and Avery, and we will meet you on the surface."
After that, Thomas made his way out of the office.
I grabbed the rest of my weapons, and slowly put them back in their original spots. With a deep breath, I started for the door. I couldn't help but look back a Talon's unconscious body, however.
"Coward," I mumbled, and then spat on the ground.
We had a first name...Kyle. The name sounded like it should have meant something to me, but it didn't. What we needed to do next was find out anything we could on the guy; starting with his office at the CIA.
Morning was still a little while away, but I couldn't help but think that we were going to take a lot longer than Thomas had desired. I had a feeling that the CIA wouldn't take too kindly to a third attempt to break into their headquarters.
We were going to do it anyway...