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Chapter 11 - Three of a Kind

"Are you sure they're coming?" I asked Rut for the fourth time in the last hour. I know I was bothering him when he closed his book loudly.

"If Renaldo says they're coming, they're coming," the white fox said with a glare at me. "He never said they'd be punctual. They aren't, as far as I know. Just sit back and enjoy your drink." The white fox said firmly as he flipped his book back open to the page he was on and continued reading.

Today was the day we were going to get some extra help. It was dangerous, of course, involving ourselves with another rival gang, but Renaldo had said that we were in neutral territory so neither gang would be stupid enough to do anything. It was for this reason Fiz was not with us -- he was too unpredictable. Shame too, he was usually good at making me laugh.

"I wonder who Renaldo knows in the police who can help us," I mused again, chin in my hand and clicking my claws against the wooden table. I had reservations about the whole thing, clearly.

"Someone he says is trustworthy."

"You do realize that you're taking a gangster at their word." I flicked my eyes around to make sure no one had been close enough to hear me.

"Are you saying we're not trustworthy?"

"No! I mean....yes! I mean--"

Rut chuckled a little bit and closed his book far more gently this time, a finger between the pages so he would know where to resume. "Relax," he said. "Suspicion isn't a bad thing to have, my friend."

"I trust you. And Fiz," I added quickly.

At that Rut cracked a slow grin. "You do realize how dangerous that can be, right? Fiz likes you, but he isn't..."

"Fiz will do what Fiz wants, and if I cross him, that's one cross too many. But you two have come through for me many times. I trust you both."

"As biased as this is going to sound, we generally don't double-cross our friends, and you are a friend." He then stared at me, his face serious. "That being said, this whole mess you've gotten us wrapped up in... if you're lying about anything, you know what'll happen, right?"

"Renaldo will probably have me killed. By Fiz." I calmly stared back at him. "Which is fine. If I'm wrong about any of this, and I put so many people in danger, so be it."

"You say that now, but what will you do when he's coming at you with his favorite knife?"

"Let's hope I don't have to find that out."

We were in a bar called Parley, an infamous place I had heard about but never knew where. It was a gangster hangout. A regular bar but where people who were on opposite sides of the line could come and talk. It was not a place for pleasure but for business; the barkeeps were dressed handsomely and the food was, supposedly, incredibly good. I wasn't feeling very hungry and didn't want to spend a lot of money on food right now. I just wanted this meeting to go well and get back home.

I felt weird here... exposed. I hadn't been out of the Black Sock territory in a long time. Not like this. And certainly not in a room with men who I knew were armed.

Across from me in the booth was Avery. He looked like he was falling asleep, his head continuing to list to the side and jerk back up when he was about to fall over. I was ignoring him all day but this little show was getting on my nerves.

"You can always go to sleep...or whatever it is you do when you need rest."

That got a weird look from Rut, who then sighed and nodded. He knew about Avery, but I still wasn't sure if he thought I was crazy or if I was seeing ghosts. When I thought about it, neither option was actually a good thing.

"You've been sitting here for two hours," Avery said with a whine and a bored look up at me. "You can't blame a guy for feeling tired when nothing is going on."

"So go away," I said quietly, trying to not let Rut hear me, even though I could see one of his ears was cocked toward me.

"Nah. You've been quiet all day, and now you decide to talk to me! And in a crowded room!"

"You're not exactly easy to ignore when you're swaying to the side like a ship at sea. You know, when Renaldo gets here, he's going to want your seat."

"No he won't! We're going to go to the back, there's a meeting room back there with doors we can shut. You don't do business up here. It's impolite to the rest of the patrons."

I could feel the white fox's attention on me, even though he wasn't looking in my direction. "Listening in on me, Rut? It's fine. I know I'm not being quiet."

"At least you aren't screaming at...whatever it is that you're seeing." I did not let the very careful word choice by Rut go unnoticed.

"You wouldn't scream at me, would you, Simon?" Avery said with a playful pout. "I mean, between the two of us, you make more noise anyway."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I said to the ghost, narrowing my eyes as I picked up my beer and brought it to my muzzle.

"You know that saying...loud enough to wake the dead?" Avery said ran a finger of his along the wood grain of the table top.

"...Yes?"

"Well, when you go to the Arc, you aren't exactly a church mouse. I think the neigh--"

I coughed and nearly had beer go up my nose. I saw Rut look at me worriedly, and I saw Avery giggling. I coughed and grabbed a napkin from the table, holding it to my wet muzzle and coughing.

"I take it that your friend said something amusing?" Rut said, handing me a second one after putting his book aside and well out of my range.

"Not exactly," I said with a huff, watching Avery sit there and grin, showing all his teeth. The same kind of grin he used to give me when he made me split my sides back in London.

I also realized I was smiling.

"Whatever it is he said to you, it seems to have made you less of a storm cloud," Rut said as he checked to make sure there wasn't any spilled beer in the booth with us.

Avery's gaze turned to the door as it opened. "That's my que," he said. I followed his eyes to the front door where Renaldo walked in with someone behind him. A tiger.

Have you ever experienced a moment in your life where you were so shocked and equally embarrassed that you forgot how to speak? That was me right now. Or should I say, "us."

It was hard to process what I was seeing. I stared ahead at Renaldo and his "source" in the police department.

Nicholas Sullivan. Detective. The married man I had seduced the other evening. He was standing there next to Renaldo and also staring at me with those wide hazel eyes.

Rut must have seen and put it all together. Damn him, why did I have to tell him about what I had done? I heard him laugh and then felt him elbow me. "Is he...?"

"Yes!" I hissed under my breath at Rut, grabbing his wrist to keep his attention. "And if you say anything..."

"I won't have to," Rut said coolly, motioning with his head to Renaldo and Nicholas.

The red fox cracked up and held himself around his gut. He looked at me, then at Nicholas, who was pulling down on his hat and trying to hide the blush. I was also trying to sink down into my chair as the two approached and slid into the booth.

"Well now," Renaldo said with that sly grin of his, looking right at me. "I knew you were going to meet someone, Simon, but I didn't realize we lived in such a small world. Did you two have fun?"

"Renaldo!" Nicholas hissed under his breath, slumping down just like me. I looked at the tiger and tried to explain how sorry I was about all this. I knew that the man, who depended on his image, was embarrassed. Not that he hadn't enjoyed his time with me.

"Relax. If anything, it tells me Nicky here is even more like one of the good ones than I suspected and he could've used the fun."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"What it means," Renaldo said with his grin still painted across his vulpine muzzle, "is that you may have a wife and children and enjoy her very much, but you also like men and you ignore that part. You were acting very relaxed until you saw Simon here."

"Maybe he's tense in another place?" I heard Rut volunteer, which got an elbow from me and a glare from Nicholas.

"Can we not talk about my bedroom dalliances?" I said, muttering. ( saw Avery hovering near the booth, sitting on a chair and watching with rapt attention.

"Why, embarrassed?" Renaldo said in a taunting tone. I knew he wasn't into men, but I also knew he was a huge tease. It must have been a fox thing. The only other fox I knew who didn't tease was Fiz.

"Hardly. Just that, if there's going to be talk of my skill, I shouldn't be present lest the story undersell the goods." I winked at the red fox and sat up straighter, even unbuttoning the top two buttons of my shirt in jest. I saw Nicholas blush and reach over, grabbing my wrist.

"Let's... not get too chummy right now, Simon," I heard him mutter. I laughed a little bit and let my shirt go but didn't bother buttoning. I knew I had an effect on men but this was the first time I really felt sexy. I had been feeling more attractive lately, and I didn't know why. I think Nicholas had helped my self-esteem a lot. The man had really made me feel desired in a way that a lot of the other men in my life hadn't.

There was some more teasing, mostly at Nicholas's expense, for a few more minutes before the door to the bar opened and Renaldo looked over his shoulder at the newcomers. "They're here."

I watched two tigers walk over. Nicholas stood up almost immediately.

"No," he said, looking at Renaldo. "You did not."

"What?" the red fox said, looking genuinely confused. I was too. Rut was watching with his usual quiet observations, trying to put it all together.

"Not them!" Nicholas hissed under his breath. "Anybody but them!"

"I thought you said you wanted to get this done? And as much as I love to say I am amazing, the Black Sock Gang doesn't have all the inroads into our target as I would like. But I know the Metal Claw Gang does, so I invited them for a chat."

The two tigers came up to us as we all stood up to go to the back. The one in front was the rumored leader of the Metal Claw tiger gang. They were one of the biggest in the city and the most connected to the politicians. Their territory was almost twice the size of the Black Sock Gang's, and you knew to give them a wide berth. They could ruin your life without ever throwing a punch, or so the rumors went. Even Fiz said he didn't like to mess with them, that it usually ended up messy, whatever that meant.

No one said a word as we went into the back room to talk. It was an oval table with place settings for twelve, but there was no way we were going to have that many. I walked around to the side with Rut, sitting down next to him. Renaldo was on my right, and next to him was Nicholas.

The other two tigers sat across from us. Both were young, but the bigger one was clearly the older of the two, and also older than Nicholas. Broad shoulders and a thick jaw. He wore a handsome suit that he looked uncomfortable in -- he probably preferred the regular clothes people like Rut and I wore. Renaldo wore a suit, as did Nicholas, but both of them seemed relaxed in them, like a second skin.

This older tiger had bright orange fur with black stripes and quite a few scars on his hands, especially near his knuckles. I knew his name as Quintin, the leader of the Metal Claw Gang. To his left must have been his younger brother, Byron.

The younger of the two tigers was smaller, with shoulders set closer together but still strong-looking. His fur was a lighter orange than his older brother, and he wore the same clothing as Rut and I: slacks with suspenders and a button up shirt. He didn't even bother with a tie or a vest (like me). Rut enjoyed being a little fancy all the time. I found the clothing restrictive. There was a tense air between the two groups.

Byron was the first to react. He smirked a little bit and cracked up. "I always knew you were into foxes," he said to Nicholas. "Getting yourself a collection?"

"Shut up," Nicholas growled. "I swear to god if I had known you and Tin were going to be here, I wouldn't..."

"Don't tell me," Renaldo said, his expression shifting from confused to amused. "I had heard rumors but I didn't believe them."

I looked at the red fox questioningly.

"The rumors that the Metal Claw brothers are actually a three-piece set," he explained to me.

"We are not!" Byron growled, pointing a finger at Nicholas. "This piece of shit decided to abandon everyone he knew to be... what was the phrase? 'Better than the sum of your parts?'"

"I'm proud of the work I do," Nicholas said with a scowl, "and you would be too if you decided that being in a gang isn't worthwhile. I actually do good for this city, what do you do?"

"I help feed the immigrants coming from the ships! I make sure our kind is safe, and I also make sure we don't get involved in bullshit issues like this one! I'm only here because Tin here said I had to come."

"QUIET!" Quintin barked at Byron, and then glared at Nicholas. "I'm not going to embarrass myself in front of Renaldo and his friends. We're here cause we all want the same thing and Renaldo said I needed to meet this fox." He looked right at me. "So let's start talking. We can bicker later."

"I'm not--" Nicholas started but was silenced by Quintin glaring at him.

"Nickel, we can talk about this--"

"'Copper,'" Byron spat out. "He's not 'Nickel' anymore. Because he's a fucking cop now."

The Metal Claw brothers certainly lived up to their names.

I watched Rut roll his eyes and lean back in his chair. This was going to be a long afternoon if this kept up. I was even more glad Fiz wasn't here. He would have enjoyed poking this problem until it became amusing. Truth be told, I would have, too, but I needed them. All of them.

"Sorry to interrupt," I raised my voice to get the tiger brothers' attention, "but I'm the fox Renaldo was talking about, and I need your help." I went straight to the point. "I need to bring down Crossbell Industries. Publicly, legally."

"What makes you think I can help you?" Quintin said, relaxing more in his chair. "I run a gang, not a law firm. Nickel here is who you want for that."

Renaldo said, "Crossbell, or rather, Mordecai's territory, is right at the bottom of your territory, and I know he's been ruffling your fur. Building his own power base in the city, trying to get other gangs to work with him."

"Tigers aren't going to work with that caracal. Tin says we're staying loyal to the bosses, not some English pomp."

"Still," Rut said, "he's probably cutting into your business, making problems. Your men are probably getting hurt more than you would like."

"Some," Tin said with a shrug. "But from what I hear, the Black Sock Gang is the one suffering the most. Foxes going missing, hurt, found murdered. You piss off another group, Renaldo?"

"That's the thing," the red fox added. "Things have been mostly quiet. But still a lot of my boys are ending up, well, missing, and then found in the river, or in pieces. There is a talk of some vampire roaming the city. We think it's all stories but..."

"But this is what happened in London," I added. "I need to tell you a story about Spring Heeled Jack."

I told them about Jack and what had happened in London. I left out some of the details, the personal bits I didn't think would matter. I told them about the masked creature that had been seen roaming London and killing people, and at the time, chimney sweeps. I told them how it had been Mordecai Crossbell, who had been hunting me specifically and killed several people I cared about. I counted Gideon in that group. I didn't know if my old...friend was the same as he had been.

I saw the look of skepticism on Quintin's face, and I knew he didn't entirely believe me. For one, I didn't have any proof but my word. I needed help finding that proof. I knew Crossbell Industries was doing something illegal, I just didn't know what.

"I think Mordecai is using his company to help capture and...torture the people he captures," I said, swallowing. "He doesn't have his family name here and an endless list of properties to fall back on, only his money. So he has to be using his assets to continue on being Jack."

"I don't know what you want us to do about it," Quintin said with that stony face of his. He was being hard to read on purpose. "This sounds more like Nickel's thing than ours."

"Think about it, brother," Nicholas said. "I can't get close to him. I tried, but he's got money and enough connections already in the city that one detective isn't going to find anything substantial. If what Simon says is true, he'll probably have me killed if I keep going at it by myself. I've already had superiors tell me to leave the case alone. That doesn't happen unless politics get involved."

"If you keep ignoring this problem," Rut began, "you're going to have a bigger issue once Mordecai is more cemented in the city. If he breaks up your territory or causes enough strife, the political bosses of the city will switch gangs."

"Psh," Byron said with a roll of the eyes. "He isn't that strong."

"Not yet. But he will cause problems in this city for the gangs. You could end up on the wrong side if you don't join him, or you just end up a casualty as he takes more power from the bosses."

"Sounds like either way we lose," Quintin said with a glare. "If we mess this up, Crossbell comes after us like a monster. The bosses won't be pleased either. They'll drop us like a sack of potatoes."

"So don't mess it up," Rut said calmly. "And if you do, we all lose. You think Renaldo won't get himself drawn into this? People talk when money is involved, and loyalty only goes so far I've seen."

Renaldo nodded solemnly. "My boys are as loyal as they can be, but if I go absent or I start becoming an issue for their livelihood? I'm sold out, same as you, Quintin. That's part of the game we play."

"Fine," Quintin said. "I can't promise anything. I don't even know what I'm looking for. But I would rather be alive than dead."

"Tin, you can't be serious!" his brother shouted. "This is just some fox bullshit. You know they're just going to try and ruin us. Renaldo and Copper ain't your friends!"

"Iron," Quintin said to Byron with a warning tone, "you want to question me, fine, but not in front of others."

"But Tin--"

The younger tiger was silenced when a fist the size of a brick struck him on the side of his muzzle, sending him toppling out of his chair and crashing onto the floor. The older tiger huffed a little bit, then fixed the wrinkles on his shirt that were formed by his sudden movement. Nicholas was up and moving over to Byron, but the man pushed him away.

I gulped and looked at Renaldo and Rut, but the other foxes didn't seem fazed by the incident.

"So where do we start?" Quintin said to Nicholas, who returned to his seat.

"We need someone to get inside Crossbell Industries. We need someone who can get a look at their documents. We also need to see about the enforcers he's using. The non-gang ones. If you can get me information on some of them, I can start putting public pressure on them to talk."

"Done," the oldest tiger said as he stood up. He looked down at his youngest brother, who was sitting on the floor and gingerly rubbing his muzzle. "We'll meet back here in two days. If I find out you're lying though--" I could feel the pressure that was placed on me by the tiger's gaze.

"I know," I said with a sigh. "I'm a dead man. There's a line forming."

I noticed Avery. He looked nervous. I almost asked what was wrong but held my tongue. I didn't need the others to think I was crazy.

But like when we were cubs, when I saw Avery upset, I took notice.

Something was about to happen.