The Adventures of Caterwaul the Cat (23 page)

“Come on. The door is unguarded,” purred Juan. He grabbed Pudding by the paw and pulled her forward. Pudding did the same to Muse, while Feliz guarded their rear.

Once all four cats had safely crossed the threshold to the outside, Pudding let out a sigh of relief. “We made it,” she said excitedly, grabbing Juan's paw tightly in hers. “We're free.” Just then, there was a sound like a whip, and the trap sprung. The four cats were pulled immediately skyward. They were all four caught in a large rope net.

From behind a tree stepped a medium-sized, gray-and-black stripy. He was chewing on a stem of long grass. Even with the lack of light the trapped cats could see that both his face and most of his upper body were covered in scars.

“Good evening, ladies and gents,” said the stripy cat arrogantly. “Allow me to introlucidate myself. My name is Meyer.”

Caterwaul snarled back at the Felino on the ledge, challenging him to follow. It was true that the gangster cat was a lot larger than he was, but Caterwaul was betting the big animal would be lacking when it came to agility and possibly courage too.

When the Felino hesitated to jump after him, Caterwaul knew he was right. The mob soldier continued to hiss, spit, and paw threateningly in his direction, but it was all a smoke screen. It was obvious that the big cat was afraid to follow him. Soon it became apparent to the Felino that he wasn't fooling anyone with his faux ferocity. He then realized he could still call for help.

There were a number of family members outside the old windmill. When they heard one of their own calling out, they all looked up and saw what he was shouting about. Caterwaul, the reason they all had come here, was trapped on one of the windmill blades.

One of the grounded soldiers ran inside and within seconds he emerged with his capo. Lucius Felino Jr. smiled, giggling excitedly as he looked up to where his enemy was trapped on the blade above him. Since he now had Caterwaul cornered, Lucius Jr. lost interest in keeping those remaining party guests prisoner. As soon as he called his remaining men outside, the frightened guests bolted in all directions.

“How long do you actually think you can evade me by staying up on that windmill blade?” Lucius Jr. asked, laughing so loudly it could almost be called a howl. “It's only a matter of time, my elusive friend, before you tire and fall or one of my men climbs up there and grabs you.” Caterwaul held on for dear life. He knew he was caught, but he wasn't going to give up easily.

“What will I do with you once I have you? Hmmm? You know I'm thinking that I might eat you.” About a dozen eyes locked on Jr. in disbelief. Even his men were sickened by the thought. The fat kitten continued as his enormous belly rumbled. “I've never eaten another cat before. I wonder what it tastes like. It probably tastes like chicken. Isn't that what they say? Everything strange and new tastes just like chicken?” He paused, then stared up at his quarry with an evil glare.

“You want to know something Caterwaul?” he shouted up at the windmill blade. “I'm quite fond of chicken. It's delicious.” He turned to one of his men. “Get inside and find the locking mechanism that keeps those blades in place. I want you to release it. Let's see how long our furry, black friend can stay balanced on that thing if it's moving.”

Feliz unsheathed his massive claws and prepared to cut them free of the net. He looked around above him searching for the weak spot to slash.

“Oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you. You might fall on your head and break your neck, or worse . . . you might end up seriously injuring one of your lovely lady friends.” Meyer rolled the stem of grass in his lips from one side of his mouth to the other. Feliz kept his claws drawn, and he snarled defiantly at his captor. Meyer was impressed by the set of daggers Feliz had jutting from his paws.

“Oh, put those horrible things away before you hurt yourself.” He grinned and stared straight into Feliz's eyes.

“You want down? Put away those pig stickers, and I just might grant you your wish.” Feliz hesitated, and Meyer, who was losing patience, barked at him. “You heard me cat. I said claws, away . . . now!”

Feliz retracted his claws into his paws.

“Good,” said Meyer, “now we understand each other.” The stripy gangster whistled, and five more Felinos stepped into view. “Just so you don't get any wild ideas,” he said. “Let ‘em down, Bugsy, and not too gently.”

It was only then that the trapped cats saw they were not suspended in the air by any device, but by one large and extremely powerful yellow cat. As they looked out from the net, they could see him clearly. He wasn't even breaking a sweat. He held four fully grown felines aloft in a net and did it with ease. It was like their weight was nothing to this big yellow cat.

Bugsy let go of the rope, and the net fell to the ground. The cats landed with a thud. Feliz had been suspended upside down, so he landed on his back between his shoulder blades. He was glad that he had put away his claws.

The Felinos cleared away the net, and the four freed cats clambered to their feet. “Now I don't want no funny stuff, you two,” said Meyer, addressing Feliz and Juan. “I hear you can fight. I advise you not to get any ideas. If you start acting crazy, Bugsy here will rip you apart.

“And you . . . with that fine set of Christmas cutlery up your sleeve,” he was talking directly to Feliz now. “You might think that because you and me are about the same size you can take me on. Trust me you can't. You make one move toward me, and I'll kill ya quick. There's lotsa cats buried in the dirt ‘round here that was bigger, stronger, faster, and a lot scarier than you are, cupcake. I put ‘em there . . .” he paused for a moment.

“I want you to look at me closely. Don't be scared . . . I know I'm a beauty,” he said sarcastically. “Really take a good look at me. No cat gets a face like this without being in a whole lotta fights. And as pretty as I am . . . you should see the other guys. So play it cool, and these guys won't have to bury any bodies tonight.”

He took two steps toward where Feliz was standing. “Oh yeah, and there's one more thing, cupcake. You ain't the only one here that's carrying a conceited weapon.” He smiled widely, drawing back his gums to reveal an enormous set of fangs. “They say I'm a throwback to my prehysterical ancestors. You ever hear of a saber tooth tiger, cupcake?” He turned to address the girls.

“Now regardless to you, young ladies, I've been watchin' botha you for a while now,” he said. “I must say, my little brown friend, you impressed the heck outta me the way you took out Zero and Carmine.” He started laughing loudly, “Those two are gonna be useless for weeks. Rocks in a pillow . . . that's awesome. Gonna have to remember that one. Have to keep an extra close eye on you too.

“Which leads me to you, gorgeous,” he said, staring directly at Muse. “You sure are a looker. You're my kinda gal. I would keep you all for myself if only my boss didn't have plans for you. He's got this scenario working, and you, my dear, get to play a starring role.”

Muse looked back at him horrified. She could hardly bear to look at his mangled features. This cat was frightening.

“You didn't know I was watching you the whole time, did you?” he asked her. “You didn't know that I was there hiding in the background, just watching as you and him held hands and you laid your head on his furry shoulder all romantic-like.” He flashed his enormous teeth at her, and she jumped back.

“My boss is absolutely dying to meet you, Muse. You're gonna be the bait that draws Caterwaul right to us.”

21

The Crooner

C
aterwaul held on tightly as the windmill blades began to move. Lucius Jr. was determined to bring him down from his high perch by whatever means necessary. As the blade started dipping toward the ground, Caterwaul inched his way toward the center and leaped across to the opposite one that was rising. As the new blade rose it came precariously close to the Felino on the windowsill. Caterwaul had to duck and slip down toward the hub to avoid being raked by his claws.

This went on for a good twenty minutes. Lucius Jr. screamed in frustration from the ground below. Twice he ordered his cats to climb up the stones covering the outside of the windmill, and both times, they fell back to earth after trying to grab onto one of the blades. The cats tried to knock him off by throwing stones at him, but Caterwaul either nimbly dodged them or, if they hit him, they weren't enough to make him let go. He was hanging on for his very life.

Then the worst thing Caterwaul could imagine happened. A large group of Felinos emerged from inside the windmill, and with them, their collars chained together, were Pudding, Juan, and Feliz. His heart sank. His friends were nicked. Undoubtedly the underboss was going to use them as bargaining chips. He didn't know what to do.

At least they didn't have Muse, he thought. Maybe she had been able to slip away with the other cats when Jr. went outside. At least that was what he hoped had happened. But hope faded quickly as he saw Meyer on the ground below walking toward his employer. Even from high up, he knew it was Meyer. That jigsaw puzzle face of his was unmistakable. He held in his paw a rope noose, the business end of which was around the throat of a beautiful white cat, Muse.

They had her too. Bugsy walked behind Muse, as if to challenge anyone to try to free her. It was clear to Caterwaul he hadn't really gotten the whole “Bugsy picture” that day out in the tall grass. The yellow cat was a monster. He had the right job as muscle for the Felinos. In fact, he had muscles on top of the muscles he took to work. Caterwaul realized it was only pure luck and his magical powder that had gotten him through that first encounter. He did not relish a rematch, especially not with his pack inaccessible, hanging in the old windmill.

Lucius Jr. yelled up at him. “Hey, Mr. Fancypants, time to knock off the hijinks.” He took the rope from Meyer and tugged it, causing the noose to tighten slightly around Muse's throat. “You're pretty good with the jumping around all willy nilly. I might put you on the road in the circus. That is, if I wasn't going to kill ya.”

Caterwaul felt the windmill panels slow and then stop. One of the gangsters must have restored the braking mechanism. He turned around and dug his claws deep into the gaps in the blade. This gave him the best position possible to see what was going on below and avoid being knocked to the ground.

“It's time for you and me to make a deal,” the mob boss hissed.

“If you hurt Muse or any of my friends, Jr., I swear I will tear you apart,” Caterwaul shouted back.

Lucius Jr. cackled at the thought. “Big talk, coming from a cat who won't even come down here to face me. I tell you what . . . This is how it's going to go. You are going to come down from there right now. If you try to stall, I will turn one of your friends over to Meyer and Bugsy. In fact, I have a good idea which one I'm going to give them first.” He tugged on the rope again, and Muse gasped.