The Fox That Shot Me Twice
This is a story I wrote a while ago. It is very intresting. Once you start it, you won't want to stop.
The Fox that Shot Me Twice
By: Neptune Wolf
Originally finished on 09/19/04
"Jung gives us three principles, beginning with the principle of opposites. Every wish immediately suggests its opposite. If I have a good thought, for example, I cannot help but have in me somewhere the opposite bad thought. In fact, it is a very basic point: In order to have a concept of good, you must have a concept of bad, just like you can't have up without down or black without white.
The second principle is the principle of equivalence. . . if you pretend that you never had that evil wish, if you deny and suppress it, the energy will go towards the development of a complex. A complex is a pattern of suppressed thoughts and feelings that cluster -- constellate -- around a theme provided by some archetype. If you deny ever having thought about crushing [a] little bird, you might put that idea into the form offered by the shadow (your "dark side"). . . If you pretend all your life that you are only good, that you don't even have the capacity to lie and cheat and steal and kill, then all the times when you do good, that other side of you goes into a complex around the shadow. That complex will begin to develop a life of its own, and it will haunt you. You might find yourself having nightmares in which you go around stomping on little baby birds
The final principle is the principle of entropy. This is the tendency for oppositions to come together . . . "
~ G. Boeree
***
(Ok, now with that said, onto the story . . .)
I remember when I was a child, only about eight years old. My parents would take me to this island. It was so beautiful. "Mom, Dad, are we there yet?" I said with my ears perked high. My mom would turn around and say, " Almost Davidoff." It took an hour to get to the island from my house. I loved to ride through the city to get there, especially with my friend Mario. He was my best friend . . . at the time. He and his parents would go with us. Mario's parents were Mr. and Mrs. Jackson. Going to Valdez Park was an all day event. We only went once a month. It was like a holiday. My parents, Mr. and Mrs. Redd would prepare the food a day in advance. My mother would make the sides. I loved her cooking. She would make macaroni, greens, cornbread, and baked beans. My father was a chef and he specialized in meats. He made the ribs, chicken, and the fresh catfish for the bar-b-que. Mrs. Jackson would bring the dessert. Today she made a cherry cheesecake and a blueberry pie. Kenny Jackson would bring the games. Mario and me would pack everything into the car. I brought my baseball and bat, he brought the football and chess set. We were the best of friends. Nothing came between us. We were as close as two guys could be.
As we drove to the island that day, I looked out of the window. I could see my reflection. My fur was a light gray color with slight black highlights. My pointy ears had a black tip and so did my big bushy tail. I had a big grin on my muzzle as we crossed the bridge to get onto the island. There were trees on both side of the road when we got on the island. The deeper we got into the island, the denser the trees got. We drove for about 15 minutes until there was a field on one side of the road. We parked and Mario and I ran out of the car with our toys while our parents unloaded the stuff from the trunk. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. At the edge of the field was the water, so perfect and blue, but there was a steep cliff. My mother called us back, away from the edge. Mario and I played all day while out parents prepared the food. Mario was a Kit Fox with beautiful red and white fur. His tail was slightly bushier than mine, which was one thing I envied of him. We were the best of friends since he moved in next door to me when we were only 6.
The food was ready in a few hours. Shelby Jackson set the table with a nice tablecloth and here fine dinnerware and silverware. My father called us over for dinner, but we were reluctant because we were having so much fun. We sat down and my mother said Grace. As we ate, Mario and I told our parents about the things we saw as we were exploring the island. The tall trees, the deep caves, the blue water, everything was so new and exiting to us. The island was our paradise and we claimed it as out own. The water as clear as the sky, the towering trees, and the forest all around us was ours, just Mario's and mine. It was out special place. It was a perfect day . . .
But I would never see days like that again. Right now I had to concentrate on getting away. I could hear the guards behind me, chasing me. I ran as hard as my two strong, lupine legs could take me, but it was hard to see in the pitch-black night. Above me was the moon, only two phases away from being full. All around me was the dense woods. I ran and I ran, but I tripped over something. I quickly regained my step and continued running as fast as I could. I could hear the birds chirp and the owls hoot, but it was all disturbed by the constant rain of bullets coming from the guards AK-47's.
The woods were getting less dense. I made it to the main road. It was empty of course so I just ran across it to the open field. The guards were gaining on me. I was running out of breath. I took a second to get my second wind, and then I ran until I got to the end of the field. I stopped suddenly. There was a cliff, with a 200-foot drop. I turned around to see if the guards were close. There were five of them only 100 feet away from me. I could see them with theirs black, SWAT like armor. They fired at me a few times. A bullet whizzed by my ear. I was like a deer caught in headlights. In front of me was a life of imprisonment. Behind me was death. The guards got closer and closer. I turned around and faced the water. I took a deep breath and jumped. As I fell, I looked up at the cliff I had just jumped. The five guards were looking down at me. I had gotten away, that is, until one of the guards aimed his gun down at me fired wildly at the water below me. He unloaded an entire clip. He hit me once in my right leg. I hit the water with a load SPLASH, then I blacked out . . .
* * *
When I woke up, I was in a strange bedroom. It seemed to be a girl's bedroom by all of the fresh tropical flowers. In front of me was the door. It was open. I tried lifting my head, but it hurt too much. I could smell fresh water so I looked over to my right and there was a large, open window. Outside was the beach and a lake that seemed to be as big as an ocean. The sun was shining on the perfectly blue water that matched the perfectly blue sky. The sound of the waves relaxed me . . . that is until I remembered what happened. I struggled to get up. They were probably still searching for me. I heard the sound of heels walking towards the room. A nurse walked in. She was a tall thin fox with black fur all over, which offset the white nurse outfit, which had a short white skirt with the Red Cross on the left thigh.
"Please lie down Mr. You will hurt yourself if you try to get up." The fox nurse said calmly. I settled down in the bed as she approached me with a tray of food.
" Here, eat this. It will make you feel better. I had Chef cook this up for you." She sat the tray down in my lap. I wasn't sure if I could trust her, so I sniffed the food. It didn't smell like it was tampered with so I began to eat. As I began to eat she said, "I thought you might be hungry. Now you eat and rest up Mr. I'm Molly Sky, call me if you need anything."
She closed the door behind her as she left me in the room. I looked around the room as I ate. I know this wasn't a hospital, but it had the feel of one: cool, sterile, and white. The tropical flowers were the only color in the room. There were no pictures on the wall, no clock, but it did have that one window. I thought about escape, but I wanted to thank my hostess . . . whoever she was. How could I be sure she was who she says she was? I learned never to trust other furs with my life. I learned that the hard way with Mario Johnson . . .
I finished the food and lied back down. I put the tray on the night stand on my left. It made me feel a bit dizzy. My head started to throb, so I shifted constantly in the white hospital- like bed. I finally settled down after a few moments, that's when I heard the soft music of an Alto saxophone coming from the beach. It was very faint, but I heard every note. I managed to sit up in the bed. I noticed I was completely naked. There was a bandage around my wounded leg. My body was mildly muscular, and cut. I could see my muscles through my deep gray fur. I held out my paws and examined them. I was amazed that I was still alive after that fall. I looked out the window. I saw Molly practicing far off on the beach. She was facing the water as she practiced her Saxophone solo. She sounded beautiful. It seemed as though she was playing a violin rather than a woodwind instrument. I wanted to hear more, I wanted to go out to see her play. The music was drawing me to her like a moth would be attracted to light . . . how a wolf would is attracted to the moon.
I stood up. I felt somehow better. There must have been pain pill in the food she gave me. I walked around the room. The closet had clothes in it my size. I put on some tight fitting blue jeans and a simple white shirt. I opened the door and walked out. I was in a small, old beach house, with only two bedrooms. The other must have been Molly's. I walked into her room and snooped around. There wasn't much to see. A few suitcases still filled with clothes, no pictures, no purse, and no color like in the room I had just left. I continued down the hallway until I got into the living room. It was slightly beige colored, possible because of age. There were decorations in this room. There were seashells on the wall, a few paintings of the beach at night, and an aquarium with exotic tropical fish. The smell of potpourri was dominant throughout the house. The old wood floor had sand on it. There was a pair of sandals near the door. I put them on and walked out onto the porch. The porch had wicker furniture; a chair, a love seat, and wicker table with a mug on it. I stepped off the porch and I was immediately on the beach. The house was on the back of the beach facing the lake. It was completely empty, only Molly was there with her alto saxophone. I heard a few seagulls in the sky and the waves crashing on the beach.
I walked up behind her, she was still practicing and did not notice me.
"Hi!" I said to her. She stopped playing
"I see your up, Mr." She said, not even turning around to see me. She kept her eyes on the seemingly endless blue water.
"I heard you playing and I couldn't resist coming out here to hear you." I said. She put her saxophone in her lap. I noticed that she called me "mister". I'm only 26 years old. "You don't know my name?" I asked.
"Uhh, no, you just showed up on my beach about a week ago."
"Well, I'm Davidoff, Davidoff Redd, but you can call me Oz. Where am I?" I asked with wonder.
"Nice to meet you Davidoff, I mean, Oz. You are on my private beach." Molly said. I didn't like her broad answer. I could have been anywhere in the world.
"Where am I?" I asked again, a little more sternly.
"You're on Blue Island, and this here is Lake Neptune." She said a little pissed off at my tone. I was still on the same lake, the same lake as Valdez Island, which I tried my hardest to escape.
"Is there any way I can repay you for your help, Molly?" I asked.
"No, it's Ok. You would have done the same for me, wouldn't you?" I nodded. She finally stood up and faced me. He saxophone was in here hand. "Where did you come from, Oz?" She asked me out of curiosity.
"Oh, it's a long story." I said trying to avoid her beautiful hazel colored eyes.
"Don't worry about it Oz, I'm all ears. I got nothing on my paws but time." She said coaxing me. I took a deep breath. She wasn't going to let go until I told her how I got here.
"Well, it all started when I was a child, about 6 years . . . " I was interrupted by the sound of a helicopter above us. It got lower and lower, blowing the sand everywhere. Molly covered her eyes with per paws, dropping the saxophone.
"SURRENDER, Mr. REDD OR DIE!!!" a muscular gray wolf in heavy armor said through a megaphone from the helicopter.
My mind was racing. "They found me!" I said to myself. I did the only thing that came to my mind. I wasn't going back to that place, that hell. I grabbed Molly and ran back towards the beach house. When the Wolf in the helicopter saw me run, he started shooting down at us with his AK47. We made it to the house unharmed.
"Who the hell are they, Oz?" Molly asked catching her breath.
"Don't worry 'bout it now. Do you have any weapons in the house?" She nodded.
"I have a magnum for protection."
"Get It, I need it NOW!" I yelled. She didn't question me. She went into the kitchen and came back with the magnum. We were both ducking because the Wolf in the helicopter was shooting up the place from above. She handed me the magnum and I noticed she had a knife in her hand. I liked her. She was a smart fox.
"Look, I'm going to burst through that door and take out the helicopter. I want you to go out the back and get us a way out of here. Meet me in the front, OK?" The fox nodded without any fear. We split up.
I ran out the front door and was greeted by a wall of bullets so I stepped back onto the covered porch. I held the magnum close to my chest fur. It was cold steel. I took a deep breath then rushed outside. I dove to the left and pointed my gun up at the helicopter. The wolf in the bulletproof vest did not expect that. I managed to get two shot off before landing in the sand, but that was enough to clip the pilot's arm and hit the wolf in the head. The helicopter spun out of control. I quickly regained my balance. Molly pulled up next to me in an old blue pick-up truck.
"GET IN!' she yelled. I quickly got in and slammed the door. The helicopter was still spinning out of control until it hit the house with a laud "BOOM!!!" We were already out of there.
We drove toward the main road. I could see the beach house in flames through the rear view mirror. In the distance, I could see two more helicopters coming our way.
"Hurry up!"
"What the hells going on? Who were they?"
"Don't worry about it, just drive! We'll talk later." She drove as fast as she could in the old pick up truck. We drove for about 10 minutes. Molly took us to her home, a small manor on the outskirts of town. Molly parked the truck in the front of the house and got out. She was mad.
***
"Laughing at me, or with each other, It does not matter, they have each other. All I want is someone to love, Is that so much to ask? Just one true love?"
~ Teiran
***
"Get out!" She yelled at me. I got out and followed her into the small, brick manor. The manor was richly decorated, kind of formal and thick on dark colors. It was a huge contrast to her house on the beach where she practiced her alto saxophone. I followed her into the living room. There was tiger butler standing against the wall right in front of us in the living room.
"May I get you anything master Sky?" The butler asked.
"Yes, Antonio, some Vodka and some fresh clothing if you don't mind."
"Yes, right away master Sky." The tiger said as he left the room. I had forgotten that Molly had on the nurse uniform.
"You, sit!" Molly commanded me. She pointed to a sofa behind me. " Tell me everything, Mr. Redd." I sat down on the sofa.
"As a fair warning, this story I'm about to tell you is kind of hard to believe, but I assure you that it is all true." I said solemnly. Molly sat down in a chair across from me. I continued,
"It all started because I used to be friends with Mario Johnson . . ." As soon as I said that, Molly broke out laughing.
"You were a friend of Mario Johnson? My boss? Mario Johnson, one of the most powerful foxes in the city of Emerald Fields?"
"So you know him?"
"Know him? I'm one of the ten members of the board of directors at Mario Co. I was even engaged with him."
"You're his wife?" I asked. Her smile turned into a slight frown.
"Used to be. I rejected his offer because of his temper. Everything had to be his way or the highway. When I told him no, that's when I saw his real anger. I can tell that no one has ever told him no before. He . . . he beat me with a baseball bat that night. I sued his ass for 11 million dollars. That's how I got this place. I'm still on the board of Directors but he treats me like crap."
"I used to be Mario's best friend for most of his life. Elementary to high school we were as close as two males could be. I was his boyfriend." I said. Molly looked at me.
"Your gay?"
"Yes." I said. Molly sighed.
"Just think, I would have wasted my time with you." The fox said. The tiger butler came back in with the Vodka. He sat it on the table in front of us. A maid came in and put her clothes down in Molly's lap.
"I'll be back, I just have to get dressed." She left the room and came back in after 15 minutes. She had on black business suit. "Continue, Mr Redd."
"Mario is an evil Fox. He thinks that just because he has money, he can get away with anything."
"And what has Mario done to you?" Molly asked.
"I haven't seen Mario since I was 17. His parents moved away when their business got big. I'm an architect now. I work for the East Bay company downtown. Mario made us a contract to design his new headquarters a year ago. I went to meet him one day. We went down memory lane and had a good time, until I showed him our plans. We did everything the way he wanted, but he saw the plans and decided to change his mind on the whole design. He wanted me to throw that plan out and start again. I was ok with that until he said that we have only two months. I laughed in his face. It took us a year to do that plan and now he wanted us to redo it in a 6th of the time."
"So that broke up your relationship as friends? How did you get to my beach?"
"I said no to his face. He took me out to his plant on Valdez Island and asked me again. I still said no because it was impossible and that no firm could do that in 2 months. He shot me in the leg and pushed me off the cliff." I lied.
If I told her the truth, she would freak out. The truth was too much for Molly to handle. The story was much deeper than that. Mario used to be a nice fox, but his father turned him into a monster when they found out I was his boyfriend and moved away.
I remember when Mario and I were in high school. We went to a top notch private school. I wasn't able to pay for it if it wasn't for Mario's father's help. Kenny Jackson, Mario's father was a business man and started his own company. He knew we were best friend and Mario's parents were my parents close personal friends. In high school, Mario majored in Business and was in a lot of business type clubs. He was also a 3.5 average student. Me myself, I was an architecture student. I played in the marching band throughout high school. The band was excellent, voted best in the land. I was too a 3.5 average student. Me and Mario were best friends then. I decided to take it up another notch and we became boyfriend and boyfriend at age 14. We kept it secret until we were 17. We were caught kissing over at Mario's house. Kenny lost his mind and started beating Mario. I ran away from home. I couldn't deal with my parents knowing I was gay. I came back after a week, only to find that Mario and his family moved away. They didn't tell anyone, they just left, ending out relationship. When they moved, Kenny's business grew at an astonishing rate, making them one of the richest families in the city.
* * *
Mario was beaten constantly by his father. The very sight of him made Kenny want to kill Mario. Everyday he gave his son a lecture to hate gay people. Mario went to college still, for business. When he grew up, Mario Took over the family business after his father mysteriously died. By then, his hate for gay people was too intense. To him, gay people were the reason he suffered for most of his childhood. Gay people were the reason his father beat him all of the time. Gay people were his enemy.
Mario killed a man once, a gay man on the street. He just said "Hi" and checked out his butt. Mario grabbed him by the neck and threw him into an alley. He beat him with all of his might, until his arms and legs gave out. By that time, the man was already dead. But now he had he power to cover up the murder. It was easier than he thought. Something snapped in his head. As long as he was rich, he could do anything. He paid 10 gay furs to go into a gay bar and get as many men as they could back to their place and drug them. Mario would send a crew to take the incapacitated gay men back to his factory on Valdez Island. Mario personally killed each and every last one of them and burned the bodies. He did this for a few months. No one even noticed the disappearances because the crime rate in the city of 1.7 million people was extremely high. He covered up all of his murders. But one got away, me, Davidoff. It was up to me to take down the tyrant that was once his only love.
* * *
"So you got a taste of his bad temper too?" Molly said.
"Yeah, Mario has to be stopped." I said. Molly knew that Mario was an evil fox. I could see it in her eyes. "Do you know if he has any 'illegal' or bad habits?" I asked.
Molly thought hard. "I don't know. Even though I'm on the board of directors, only a few know what he does in his free time. But I know a way we could find out." She said with a smile of her muzzle.
Molly hated Mario with almost every fiber of her being. She would quit her job on the Board of Directors but the money was too good. That fox Mario treated her like crap everyday of her life since she broke up with him. Molly took a sip of her Vodka and peered into my deep blue eyes.
"I could get some surveillance equipment! We can spy on that bastard and know everything about him. Then when we have enough evidence, we call the police." The Black Fox said with a smile. I sat back on the sofa. I knew this woman wanted Mario gone.
"Sounds like a plan to me." I said. I was suspicious though, "What will you benefit from Mario's demise?"
"With him gone, the Board of Directors will have equal power over Mario Co. I want that fox to have nothing at all. I want to see him squirm." Molly said with the fire of hate in her eyes.
"So when do you want to do this?"
"In two days. I'll call the janitor that's supposed to clean Mario's office tomorrow call in sick. Then I'll have you go in his place. I'll give you 10 micro cameras and 10 microphones to put in various places in his office like on his pen, on one of his books, on the light fixtures, on the back of chair, on the leg of his desk, whatever. You game?" I thought for a second.
"What if he recognizes me?"
"I'll dye your hair, give you some make-up, face putty, and the uniform includes a hat." Molly said. It sounded like a good idea to me. We shook on it.
"Oh yeah, if you get caught, I never heard of you. Ok?" Molly said. I said Ok.
She showed me the spy equipment she had in her bedroom. It seemed very high tech and expensive. There were a lot of other weird items in her bedroom also, including a small gun collection behind a bookcase on the left wall. She pushed a button and the small bookcase sank half-way into the floor. There were about ten different guns there on the wall. She grabbed a shotgun and held it in her hands examining it. She playfully pointed it at me.
"I call this one here 'Pump Action Charlie' he's my favorite." She handed it to me. I looked it over in my hands. It was loaded.
"What will we need this for?" I asked her.
"Just in case things get sticky."
"Now look, I don't want to kill Mario, I just want him in prison." Even though Mario was an evil bastard and tried to kill me, he was still my first love. Maybe I could change him?
"Prison? In the ground with a hole in his head? It's all the same to me." Molly said as she grabbed her gun cleaning kit. Molly seemed kind of 'eccentric'. I gave her back 'Pump Action Charlie' and took a few steps back. I had to remind myself to stay on her good side.
"You can sleep here tonight if you want to. There's a spare room down the hall." Molly said. I simply nodded.
* * *
I turned on the T.v. in the living room. The news was on. Apparently I was dead, well that's what the news anchor said. I called Molly into the room.
"Tonight we are saddened to report that a Mr. Davidoff Redd who was reported missing more than 5 days go, is now assumed dead. We go live to the scene at The Valdez Plant with Mario Johnson himself."
"Well, I don't know why someone would do something like this. I offered him a raise if he could make a few changes to the plans on the new Headquarters. He was the best in the architecture business. It's horrible that someone would steal him away." Mario said with a fake tear in his eye. They went back to the news anchor.
"Police have found evidence of a struggle near the cliff on Valdez Island. It appears that he was shot and then pushed off, but his body was not recovered. In other news, Mario Johnson is donating a very generous donation of 5 million dollars to the police department this week on Friday. We have coverage of this black tie event next . . . " The anchor said as she shuffled some papers as if my murder was already yesterday's news.
"You see that shit, Oz? You see that!? Mario thinks you're dead! He never looked for you!" Molly said with a smile on her muzzle.
"Don't be so sure about that. He came to your beach house yesterday. With the police thinking I'm already dead, nothing can stop him from bustin' a cap in my ass in the middle of Mardi Gras. You can't be charged with the murder of a dead man. And what about you? You can't show up for work tomorrow as if no one stormed your beach house yesterday looking for me. I don't think calling in sick is enough. I think you need to drop off the face of the earth for a little while. If he's looking for me at your beach house, he's looking for you too."
"Damn! Why do things have to be so complicated? I'll get you set up tonight so you can do this first thing in the morning. I'll call James, the guy in charge of hiring. He owes me a few favors so getting you in there tomorrow is no thing. It's up to you to set the cameras. I'll send someone to pick you up afterwards and drop you off at my cousin Primo's house. He's the guy who gave me all of the equipment for my birthday. No one from the company knows about him. I'll be waiting for you. OK?" The Fox said.
* * *
The next day . . .
I woke up and got dressed up in the janitors uniform and make-up. Molly had already left for Primo's house and left me the cameras. James hired me in with no problem, he said they needed the help. James put me on Mario's floor. Molly had convinced him to give me the keys and temporary codes for Mario's office. I put them in my right pocket of the grey uniform with "Hayes Janitorial Services" printed on the front and back in large white letters. I put the cameras in a black trash bag and left for Mario Inc.
Mario Inc. was downtown in the heart of the city. It was a huge 30 story building with dark, mirror- like glass all around it. I walked in through the front revolving doors. I went over to the head janitor, Robert, office and picked up my cleaning supplies. No one noticed the black bag I had in my hands. They must have figured since I was the janitor, it must have been trash. Robert didn't ask me any questions or even look at me. This building had so many janitors that he couldn't possibly recognize the new guy. I put the bag into the cart and got onto the elevator and hit the button for the 30th floor. I had to give an access code since that was Mario's personal floor. The codes changed every 12 hours. A few other people in dark suits or skirts got on with me. The elevator was pretty crowded by the 20th floor, but for some reason they all got off at the 27th except for one guy, a red wolf in a dark blue suit.
"What's going on on the 27th floor?" I asked.
"Another productivity meeting. Mario hired some motivational speaker, the young bastard. It's embarrassing to have a 24-year-old boss. Things were better when his father was here, and he was a hard ass." The wolf said. He got off on the 28th floor. I saw him stop by a vending machine and get a drink.
The elevator doors closed. It was a cold and lonely ride to the top, but the doors finally opened. I was there, in Mario's office floor. I took a step out of the elevator and immediately stopped in my tracts. I saw his office and a picture of Mario on the wall in front of me. It seemed like a picture of a communist leader. It made me remember . . . my fall, looking up as they shot down at me. My tail waved like a fluffy grey and white flag as the air-conditioning blew harder up here. This was a hallway/ waiting room before you actually got to his office. It was lavishly decorated. A couch was near the door of the elevator on my right. It seemed it would be more comfortable up here . . . if it wasn't for that picture of Mario staring at everyone who entered the Fox's domain. A little bit pass the wall with the picture was Mario's office entrance. The wall just stopped and suddenly you were in his office.
I knew there were cameras watching me so I pretended to clean the floor before I rushed into his room. I took out a duster and went over to his desk. I opened the black bag and put a balled up piece of paper from his desk and put it in. While my paw was covered by the back bag I pulled out one of the cameras. When I took my hand out, I put the camera on his planner which took up most of his mahogany desk. I did this several times. I put one on the back of his chair, the light fixtures, under his desk, on the back of his coat collar, his briefcase, the wall behind his desk, and several other places. Mario couldn't possible find them all.
I lingered on for a hour more and pretended to clean and look for evidence of his illegal acts. The only thing I could find was a memo that reminded him that the police dinner was on Friday. That didn't leave me and Molly much time. I left his office and went back out to the lobby. I pretended to clean out there for a while before I pushed my cart back onto the elevator.
I stopped by the 27th floor. The meeting was still going on in a forum down the hall from the elevator. I could hear the speakers muffled voice from the elevator. I walked around a little and "cleaned" a little more. I got back to the elevator and went to the lobby on the first floor. I left out the back as if I were going to empty my cart in the back incinerator. I left the cart and called Primo's house.
"Its done. Pick me up." I said.
"OK, look for a blue Monte Carlo, a Fox will be in the driver seat." Molly said.
I took off the uniform, but kept the make-up on so no one would notice me. I put the uniform in the black bag. After only 5 minutes the Fox driving the Blue Monte Carlo pulled up out front. I got in.
We drove in silence for about 15 minutes and pulled up into a big brick house near Molly's neighborhood. We got out.
"This is Primo's house. Molly's waiting inside. We already started our surveillance on Mario's office. By the way, the names Vance, Vance Morray." The short muscular fox said. He had on a tight black shirt and tight black jeans.
He opened the door. Molly was sitting on a couch in front of a screen.
"So, your back, Eh? Glad you got out of there while you did. After you left, two guards came in to check on the office."
"You want something to drink, Oz?" A Fox in the kitchen asked me.
"Uh, no thanks." I said
"Oh, this is Primo, my cousin. I told him all about you and your run in with Mario." Molly said. Vance walked pass me and went over to Primo.
"I'll take a beer." Vance said.
"And this here is Vance. He's . . . Primo's boyfriend." Molly said trying not to offend me. I only nodded.
"So what do we do now?" I asked.
"We just watch and observe. Mario will practically turn himself in. I know him, I lived with him. He can't keep a secrete to save his life." Molly said.
* * *
I remember when I went to Club Red. I sat down and ordered a Vodka with orange juice. It was dimly lit and smooth jazz was coming from the saxophone on the small stage. I remember that day perfectly. I was having a bad day so I walked in to have a drink. I don't know many gay bars there were, but I heard good things about this one. It wasn't too . . . eccentric or too neutral. It was just right to chill out and be all right. When I was there, my troubles seen to slowly melt away with the music. I took a seat at the bar. There were a few other furs at the tables. A few Foxes, a ton of Wolves, a table of rabbits, and a few different breeds of dog. The place was quiet except for the saxophonist. When he finished playing the crowd went wild. The musicians took a bow and left the stage. A few people got up and went over to the bar. A Wolf sat down next to me. His fur was pure white all the way down to the tip of his tail. He was nicely built and muscular. His eyes were a dark blue. He ordered the same thing I had. I couldn't resist his body.
"I see you have good taste." I asked.
"Yeah, I always order vodka. I see you do too. You a regular?"
"Uh, no. This is my first time here."I said sheepishly.
"You'll love it here. As you can see, this Is the only gay bar in this city that's not tacky or too loud. The music here is great. I come here after work every Tuesdays and Fridays. That's when Blue plays. He's my favorite trumpet player. Today he must have gotten sick or something, but Donte is pretty good too. He usually plays on Mondays and Wednesdays." He took a sip of his drink. "I'm Lucien." he said with his paw out. I shook it.
"I'm Davidoff, but everyone calls me Oz."
We talked all night about everything. The drinks never stopped either. By around midnight, I could barely see, but Lucien seemed as he was when I first saw him. He offered me a ride home. I got in the car with him and we drove. When he stopped, he guided me out of the car and into bed. I was too drunk to notice that this wasn't my house.
When I woke up, I was in a strange white interrogation room. There were a lot of other guys there. A siren went off, waking me up completely.
"Line up! All of ya!" A German Shepard yelled as he walked into the room. He had an AK-47 in his hand so I did what he said, so did the others. We lined up single -file in the large room. That's when Mario came in. I haven't seen since we were about 16. There was so much I wanted to ask him. I stepped out of the line and the German Shepard hit me with the back of his gun. I got up from the floor, so confused. Here in front of me was my one and only love.
"You have all been assembled here because you are the scum of the earth. . ." Mario said pacing back and fourth in front of the line. " You all should be ashamed of yourselves! Behaving in such a horrible manor. Did your parents teach you that being a homosexual is bad? The worst thing in the world?" Mario said with intensity.
My head was still in pain. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I stood there in awe. How could this happen? We were perfectly in love.
Mario continued to give an "anti- gay" speech. He quoted from the bible a few times and gave a few false reasons he though being gay was wrong, mainly referring to how gay furs were portrayed in the media. I was outraged that someone would have such hatred for gay furs. It was like listening to a KKK member or even Hitler himself. The German Shepard guard, who was named Roger, forced everyone to pay attention. I think he was Mario's second in command. Though his whole speech, he never once mentioned his first boyfriend, me. The guy from the bar walked into the room.
" You all may recognize this fella here. Because of your lust for other males, he made an easy ten grand luring you all here." The white wolf from the bar smiled and waved to me.
"According to the Holy Bible, you will all go to hell unless you renounce your ways. You have one chance which is now! Step forward!" Mario said. No one stood forward to renounce their sexuality. What could he do? He couldn't kill us just for being gay. I stood still. Mario couldn't convince me to be straight unless there was millions of bucks involved. Mario reached over to his side and pulled out a huge magnum from its sheath. He waved it around as he spoke,
"Since no one stepped forward, I will do you all a favor and put you out of your misery, save you from a terrible life and send all you heathens to Hell where you belong!" Mario pointed the magnum to the guy next to me and blew his face off.
I jumped and ran for the closed, steel door but Roger was standing there with his gun pointed at my head. I immediately ducked to the ground. The guy behind me caught 5 bullets from the AK-47. Every one was running around tying to find a way out while Mario stood calmly and pointed and shot them as if they were cattle. He had a sadistic grin on his face. He was enjoying this. As I ducked down I rammed Roger with all of my might into the door. He dropped the gun. I pushed him to the side and opened the door. A bullet from Mario's gun hit the door as I ran out. I didn't know where I was so I was basically running blind.
I went though several doors trying to find a way out when I realized that this was one of Mario's factories. I finally found an exit sign and ran out. That's when the alarms went off. I ran through the dark forest, all I could think about was when Mario and I were friends . . .
* * *
We waited but Mario showed no signs of illegal activity. It was Friday morning and we were about to give up on our surveillance. I had my 3rd cup of coffee at around 4am. I sat down in the living room which had been voted to be our headquarters. I just stared at the computer screen. If we didn't find anything by tonight, all would be lost. Mario would be untouchable. His donation to the police department was nothing more than a bribe and everyone knew it, but no one in the city knew why. Mario was up to no good and we would be there to out fox the Fox.
Molly woke up. It was around 6am, her usual shift. I worked the midnight shift, Molly watched in the morning, Vance worked the afternoon, and Primo worked the night shift. We did this for a week and today was the last day. I needed a little change.
"Look, This isn't working. We're missing something, overlooking something. How about I work the night shift today?" I asked.
"You have to ask Primo, not me. But I'm sure he wouldn't turn you down." Molly said with a grin on her muzzle. "Why you so damn competent this morning? Yesterday you wanted to quit and now you talking about doing more than one shift." she continued.
"You know as well as I do that Mario is up to no good. A fox with his power and money could do almost anything if he pays off the police tonight. It's like he's telling everyone he's going to do something big and there's nothing we can do about it, but he's wrong. As long as I'm on watch today, nothing is going to get pass me." I said intrepidly.
"But today is the last day. I'm pretty sure he will be on point about covering everything up until the party." She signed. Molly knew she couldn't convince me that our search was in vain. "But if you think you can, I'll be right here next to you, Oz, Mr. Davidoff Redd." Molly said laughingly to soften my stress. She was more like a sister to me than a partner in crime.
I went up stairs and tried to get some sleep. The coffee didn't allow me to. I just sat up for about an hour, looking out the window. Primo had a pretty nice house. He had two guest rooms, both upstairs. The overall tone of the medium sized, 3 bedroom house was kinda dark. There was almost no white in the house and there were paintings on all of the walls. My room had a beautiful view. The window had this flowing beige curtain with a split in the middle. The room had red paint and was trimmed with beige paint. The house had an old antique smell to it, like my grandmother's attic. The paint was possibly white when it was first put on. The room was kind of crowded, like it was used as a storage space and cleaned out for my stay. A wooden African antique statuette of a Fox sat in a dark corner of the room near the window. It felt eerie in some way to me.
I sat on a wooden chair next to the bed. It was facing away from the window so I turned it around so I could look out the open window. Every once and a while the wind would blow the curtains to the side like some dream. The sun had barely risen. The view was so beautiful. Primo's house was on top of a hill so I could see all the way to downtown. The trees near his house were a deep red with the red sunlight on the horizon. I felt warm inside, like all of my problems would go away soon. I could see the tall and short buildings. On one apartment building, a tiger and a wolf were having a jam session. The tiger was on the trombone and the wolf was on clarinet. I could hear their mellow tune softly in the breeze. It reminded me of when I woke up on the beach with Molly. Their music, the soft cool breeze, and the warm red rising sun slowly put me to sleep. I got up and walked to the bed and went to sleep.
I woke up at 4 in the afternoon, a full 10 hours of sleep. I was truly refreshed. I went back down stairs. Molly was still there at the computer.
"Bout time you woke up. I told Primo that you wanted to take his shift. He said it was OK and he left a little while ago. He said he was going to the party tonight at Prime Hall downtown. He has . . . connections. I don't know how he can get tickets to one of the most exclusive black tie events in the city, but he somehow does all the time. I was just here to tell you our updates." She pulled out a clipboard from under her cup of black coffee. "So far Mario has done nothing. He has barely been in his office all day. He only went in there to pick up a few papers, which was nothing more than his speech. He's been going over it every time he goes into his office. Nothing incriminating yet. I just pray that you find something in the 4 hours until the party." Molly got up and stretched. "It's up to you, Oz. If anything happens, wake me up immediately." She went up stairs solemnly. I sat down in the still warm chair. This was going to be the longest night of my life.
I stared at the computer screen without blinking. An hour went by, then another. I felt that I had failed. Mario would be scot free in only two hours. I had a nervous twitch from drinking a few pots of coffee. That's when I saw it out of the corner of my bloodshot eyes. Mario walked into his office and sat down at his desk. Two other furs, a Wolf and a Lynx, came in after him and sat down in front of him. I turned up the microphone.
"Everything's all set, Mr. Johnson. All you have to do is sign the check." The Wolf said.
"Good! Good!"
"But first, How do you know this will work?" The Wolf in the dark blue suit and white shirt said.
"How could it not work? The Emerald Fields Police department is in dept millions of dollars. They will be more than happy to accept the money. As long as we don't do anything just out in the open, we'll be OK." Mario said. The pen was in his hand and he signed some papers with a wide grin on his muzzle. He was wearing a dark burgundy suit. To me, with his red fur and dark red suit and red tail, he looked like the devil. When he was finished signing the papers, he put the pen down.
"Good, Mr. Johnson. Now lets discuss what will be happening tomorrow morning." The thick Lynx in the black suit said.
"OK, tomorrow will make what I've been doing these last few months seem like a drop in the pool. Tomorrow, every homosexual in this whole entire state will be gone forever! I'll have men patrolling the streets everyday. Anyone who even appears to be gay will be brought to the Valdez Plant to be exterminated. Their bodies will incinerated in the furnace and there's nothing anyone can do about it!" The two furs in front of Mario only smiled. They must share his sick and twisted visions.
"Now for a demonstration." Mario said. He pushed a button on the intercom on his desk. "Roger, bring in our guy." after a few moments he came in with a guy tied up. He was a Lion in his mid 20's. There were scars and bruises all over his body as if he was just beaten like an African Slave. He was in full S&M gear and a ball gag in his mouth.
"Here ya go boss. I softened him up a little" Roger said as he left out. He let out a slight giggle. Mario stood up. So did his two partners.
"This one here likes to be spanked." Mario said as he grabbed the Lion by his chin and pulled him closer. He then back-handed him and the rather tall lion fell to the floor, his screams muffled by the gag in his mouth. Mario looked down at him for a moment. "This one here likes to be spanked, I see." Mario looked up at his partners. He reached on the side of his belt and pulled a Magnum. "Scum like him should not be allowed to live!" He pointed the gun to the lion's face. He only gulped. Mario reached down and took the gag out of his mouth. "Any last words?" The Lion barely got a chance to open his mouth before the hollow tipped bullet went through his head. Mario laughed. "You think I would let roaches speak to me?" The other two furs had a smile on their muzzles. "It's time to go to the party. There's a limo waiting for us outside and a special cleanup crew will be here in moments." They left out of Mario's office. The Lynx stepped over the lion's corpse as if it was nothing more than garbage.
I looked on in shock. I thought I was hallucinating from all the caffeine I had consumed. I blinked hard. My hand reached for the phone next to me and I dialed molly's cell phone number with a quickness I've never seen. Then I remembered she was only up stairs.
"MOLLY!!!!!! COME HERE QUICK! HURRY UP!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. Molly nearly fell
down the stairs to see what I had found.
"What happened?" She asked as she adjusted her robe.
"We got our proof. It's time to go."
I ejected the tape and ran up stairs to get dressed. I only had on a robe and a pair of underwear. Molly fixed herself a cup of black coffee and drank it in only one slurp before she followed me upstairs.
I took a short shower and got dressed in some of Primo's best clothes. I helped myself to a nice black DKNY suit in his closet. I came out of Primo's room and waited for Molly downstairs in the livingroom.
"Hey Oz, come up here for a sec." Molly yelled from the top of the stairs. I went upstairs to see what she wanted. I took a look at Molly. She had on a red dress that had silver accents on it. It fitted kinda tight and looked good on her. Her black head fur was a mess though. It went in every direction. I tried to hold back a giggle. I followed her into her room.
"Now Oz, just in case things get a little out of hand, I'm taking Pump Action Charlie and a few of his friends with me. If you want anything your gonna have to carry it with ya, you got me?"
I nodded and grabbed a pair of PP7's and a silencer from her open suitcase on the bed. She put a small gun in a holder on her thigh, another one on her ankle, and a third one on her waist.
"I'll keep Pump Action Charlie in the car." She said staring me straight in my blue eyes while she gave it one pump to make sure it was loaded. "We got a party to crash."
We went out of the room. I closed the door behind me. The ceremony will start in an hour. It will take us 45 minutes to get there from Primo's house. We got into Molly's Blue Corvette. She put her favorite shotgun in the back and we drove off.
It was getting dark and the streetlights were coming on. We were doing about 90 on the freeway. As we were driving, Molly passed me her cell phone.
"Here, call Primo and tell him were on our way there with the tape."
I took the phone, it was already ringing. Primo picked up after only 2 rings.
"Hey Primo! We got the evidence. We'll be there in about 10 minutes."
"Good! Meet me and Vance in the entrance hall. You better hurry though. Mario's limo just pulled up."
"Oh shit! Damn! Try to hold him off until we get there."
"What?"
"You heard me. Do anything to stop him from getting into that party! You got me?"
I closed the flip phone down.
"You gotta hurry it up, Molly, Mario's already there."
"Shit, I thought we had more time."
"We got a little time. I told Primo to distract Mario until we got there."
"Good." Molly said as she changed into the fifth gear and switched four lanes.
We got there in six minutes. She whipped into the parking lot and we both jumped out as the valet took the keys and handed Molly a card. We ran to the front entrance. There was a huge crowd of people gathered outside. We ran through them to the red carpet. Mario's limo was still parked outside. He was still inside. Two huge guys in black shirts with "SECURITY" written in huge white letters stopped us. One was a tiger and the other a wolf. Both of them were easily 6'6" and 400 pounds of pure muscle.
"Where do you think your going, hot stuff?" The tiger said in an intimidating voice.
"Get back!" The wolf yelled as he shoved us off the red carpet and back into the crowd.
Just then Primo came up behind the security officers.
"Wait, wait, wait. These people are here to see Chief Ozegavich (Oh- seg- ah- vitch) for an important meeting."
Chief Ozegavich was the chief of police here in Emerald Fields. People called her Chief "O" for short. She was a short and kind of muscular wolf since she was once a navy SEAL in her good years. Her job was really hard. This is a city of over one million people and it is hard for anyone to solve all of the murder cases in Emerald Fields. Some people can't understand that, so they blame her for the crimes in this city, calling her too soft, and incompetent when it comes to getting murderers put in prison. Today, she was going to be the hero.
Primo pulled out a slip of paper from his left hand suit pocket and showed it to the two guards. They looked over it and saw Chief O's signature at the bottom.
"O.K. She's right over there." The wolf said as he pointed to the other side of the crowd. He let us pass.
"How did you get that letter, Primo?" Molly asked.
"I have . . . connections. Now get over there. I already told her that you have something she needs to see. So right now she is holding the entrance until she hears from you. Hurry up now. Who knows what Mario might do if they don't open the doors to his own fund-raiser."
We ran through the crowd yelling "VIPs!, VIPs! Get out of the way." We made it over to Chief O. She was in a crowd of police officers which was just what we needed. But around her personally was a crowd of news crews trying to get an exclusive interview with her. We pushed our way over to her. Behind us was Vance with a t.v and VCR on a cart.
"Primo said you were going to need this." Vance said then quickly ran back into the crowd. I grabbed the t.v stand and put it next to Chief O. She turned around.
"You two must be Davidoff and Molly right? I'm a very busy person. What's this all about?"
"WE have physical evidence to prove that Mario Johnson is a vicious, heartless murderer!" I said. I passed the tape to Molly and she put into the VCR. All of the live video cameras were on us.
"We have breaking news!" The reporter closest to us said into her microphone. "We are here live at Mario Johnson's police fund-raiser where we have two people here who are accusing Mario himself as a murderer." The camera guy zoomed in on the t.v. screen. The tape played perfectly. A few people flinched as Mario shot the Lion and smiled. Mario must have had the t.v. on in his limo because he left with a swiftness. The police officers ran to their squad cars to go after him, but they were too slow. He was already around the corner. Chief O was in awe.
"STOP THAT FOX!!!" she yelled as she ran for her car. We did the same. Me and Molly got to the vette. We hopped in and drove towards the main street. This time I drove. I knew where he would be going. I followed to where the limousine turned. The cops were everywhere and my speeding went unnoticed. We followed the cops for a long while and we caught up to the limo. That's when I noticed that there was a police car making a sudden left turn. I decided to follow it. The other squad cars didn't notice it and continued on after the black limo.
After a while the squad car slowed down and turned off its lights. The car parked and three furs ran out and got into another car, a Bentley. I knew it was Mario, so I continued on and circled the block then I decided to meet him at the Valdez Plant. I knew he was going there.
I arrived at the island in only 5 minutes. Me and Molly got out. She grabbed Pump Action Charlie and we both went inside. The noise coming from all of the machines made it impossible for anyone to notice us. This is why Mario chose the Valdez Plant: no one would ever heard the shots being fired. I was in front of Molly guiding her to the conference room were I had been before. I burst through the metal door. Roger was waiting inside, sitting at a table in the middle of the room eating a sandwich. He looked at us in shock.
"It's you! How the hell did you escape that fall?"
"Magic." I said as I pulled out the PP7. " Payback's a bitch!" I shot him twice and he fell out of the seat. Molly looked at me strangely
"I didn't know you had it in ya."
"Well I do. Mario will be here soon. He's going to come through that door expecting Roger to be here. That's when we turn him in." I said with Molly's cell phone in my hand. I told the police where we were. "They'll be here late as usual."
We both had our guns pointing at the closed door. We heard footsteps and Mario came in. He put his paws in the air.
"Well what the fuck is this shit?" he said with his sadistic grin.
"This is where you go to jail for a really long time, that is, if your lucky."
"I knew you were alive Mr. Redd. One of the operatives saw you on Molly's beach some time ago. We stormed her house and there was nothing there. Why are you protecting him Molly? Why?"
"Why do you hate gay people so much?"
Mario looked at me in the eye. Molly looked over to see what he was looking at.
"This was caused by Oz?"
"Oh, I see he didn't tell you, Molly."
"Oh, no, don't try and blame this on me, Mario. I was you best friend. It wasn't my fault you moved halfway across the city." I yelled.
"It was you who corrupted my mind with all of that nonsense. It was your fault my father beat me everyday! It was you! IT WAS ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!" Mario yelled with his hands still in the air. The two partners had already left and was halfway down the hallway. I put my gun down to my side to try to prove to him that I was still his friend in some way.
"What the hell are you doing, Oz?" Molly turned and yelled at me. Mario reached over and pulled out his now famous magnum.
"Goodby Oz!" He said as he shot me in the shoulder. I stumbled backwards until I hit the window in the back. It gave way and I fell three stories onto the hard concrete parking lot. Molly forgot about Mario and ran towards the window to see if I was Ok. She looked down to see me in a pool of blood. I looked up at her. I was in intense pain.
"Love hurts doesn't it?" Mario said as he stood behind her looking out the window. She pushed him away.
"Why do you blame him?"
"He deserved it! All gays do . . ." Mario said solemnly. He trailed off at the end and a tear formed in his eye. "All I wanted to do was see him again . . ."
Molly managed to get away from him without a struggle. She pointed Pump Action Charlie at Mario. He turned around from the window. It all dawned on him just then as he was staring down the barrel of a shotgun. He had hated gay people for all of this time. It wasn't Oz's fault he couldn't come see him when his father moved him away. He had killed the only person he had ever loved. He knew it couldn't be undone. He started to cry.
"This wasn't meant to happen! It was my father's fault! He caused this to happen!"
Molly just looked at him. Mario had dropped the gun on the floor and was on his knees crying. She couldn't stand to see a man cry, so she hit him in the head with the back of the shotgun. The police came in and surrounded Mario. They took him out in hand cuffs.
Outside, I was put into a stretcher and was driven to the hospital with Molly by my side. As I was driven there, I could see Valdez park. The place where me and Mario played so happily. I remembered the best day of my life as I was driven to the hospital. Up until now, I though happiness could never be found and there was no meaning to my life, but as I remembered the days Mario and I were together, I finally realized that I was happiest with him, the man who shot me and pushed me off a cliff.
* * *
"I am sorry for what I have done. I have seen the error of my ways. I tried so hard to deny it but I cannot anymore. I AM GAY! AND I AM PROUD OF THAT!"
This was what Mario said in the final line of his speech before he was sentenced to death. It was on all the news. Molly was the new majority owner of Mario inc and renamed it "Molly co."
As for me, I finally got out of that hospital a month later and redesigned the headquarters for Molly. She gave me enough so I could finally start my own architecture firm. I eventually found another boyfriend, but I will always remember the Fox that shot me twice.
***
Thank you for reading my story! I hope you liked it! If you have any comments, questions or constructive criticism, email me at my new email adress: