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A Cat Among the Stool-pigeons. Episode 6. Note: Dafydd is the Welsh equivalent of "David" and is pronounced "Davith"

So, on Mike's request, we'd diverted ourselves up to my cabin in the north woods. One undercover cop, a (probable) spook and his daughter, a secretary/PA and a cynical PI. After we'd got here I heard why he'd made that request. Apparently, the mole in Drugs and Gangs had skipped, leaving two guys from internal affairs in a mess on his apartment floor. One of them had survived and had told Mike that he was ranting about "taking care of that fucking cat" himself.

Now, this could mean me or it could mean Sarah. Either way I agreed with Mike's idea that all of us should make ourselves scarce. Sarah and I both had to vanish for a while and if I'd left either my current clients or my staff behind, they'd just be sitting there, nicely available to be used as bait. I prefer not to have to walk into that kind of trap, so let's put all the bait in one place - hopefully out of reach. So we had a nice relaxing north woods vacation while the cops back in the cities went crazy trying to track down a crooked member of their own ranks.

The two cervines really loved the woods. They were off in a world of their own trying to come to terms with the loss of Marian, Frank's wife and Hannah's mother. They hadn't got around to coming to terms with the fact that Hannah was knocked up by her drug dealer moose boyfriend. Sarah and I each kept to ourselves. I was actually more forest adapted than she was, her ancestors preferred higher elevations and less vegetation. The one vulpine in our party, however, was bored and lonely.

"Mr Owen, is it ok if I call Brad and ask him to join us up here?"

"To join you, you mean!"

"Well, yes..."

"Have him call you after he's past Two Harbors. Give him directions from there when he does."

---

Brad arrived the following evening. Liz settled down to enjoy a paid vacation with her black lab boyfriend. It ended up that most evenings, the only ones sitting out on the porch were the two felines, Sarah and I.

"How long do you think it will be until we get back?"

"You could probably answer that better than I can - Until they've caught him I guess. Mike told me a week or so, but I know that was a SWAG."

"Sounds like it, yeah. Care to swap war stories while the others are occupied with each other?"

"Most of 'em I aint allowed to tell. The ones I am are either the tame ones or the ones I really don't want to remember. Like the time my ship took a missile hit and the shrapnel cost me my right nut kind of 'not wanting to remember'"

"I get it. I was an MP in 'stan. You don't want to hear stories from back then either. So, Other stories.. Is there a Mrs Owen?"

"There used to be and we've two daughters. I haven't seen or heard from all three in over ten years. I don't blame Dianne for it, my navy career was a bit much for them."

"Yeah, military careers are hard on families."

Three high piched beeps sounded from inside the house. "What the fuck? Thats the alarm at the entrance road. We're not expecting company." I raised my voice and yelled.. "Everyone, in the cabin now!"

---

"Ok, we are about to have unexpected visitors. Under the circumstances I think it's reasonable to be a little paranoid." Walking to the gun cabinet on the wall, I fished out my keys. "Liz, I know your preference. Brad, do you shoot?"

"Not unless you want a lot of 'friendly fire' incidents. I can't hit the broad side of a barn."

"OK, Sarah.. Sidearm, PDW or a long gun?"

"If you've a 16 in there I'll take it."

"Frank, Hannah? what about you?"

"I'm a reasonable shot with a handgun but I'm more effective with a shotgun. Hannah knows how to handle a handgun safely."

"Ok, here you go.. " I had a small arsenal in that cabinet. "Frank, take the wingmaster. Liz, Hannah, these are yours. Sarah, I do happen to have a 16 for you. These are for me." I passed out the weapons with three loaded mags each, or in Franks case a box of 12-gauge shells. For my own part I grabbed my regular sidearm and added an MP5SD6. "Sarah, you're in charge here. I'm going to prowl around a bit outside and see what I can find out about our visitors. I'll knock twice, then once on the back door when I'm ready to come in so you don't shoot me. Anyone coming in unannounced by any other means is potentially enemy. Anyone Sarah shoots at is a free target. Got that?" As everyone nodded I adjusted my MP5's sling then silently stepped out the back door.

By the time I hit the treeline my eyes had fully adapted to the darkness. I took a moment to hook my bluetooth earpiece over one ear and speed-dialed Liz's phone.

"Mr Owen?"

"Put your phone on speaker and lay it down where everyone can hear it."

"Ok."

As I got closer to the access road, I heard the vehicle approaching. I was heading for a place in the woods where I could see beyond the last bend in the road. Here came our guests... Oh, these guys were not acting friendly. The car doused its lights as it came into view, rolling almost to the last bend before coming to a stop. Three guys got out and as they passed out weapons there was enough moonlight for me to get a clear view of them. Uzis, and two of some kind of grenade each.

"Three guys with Uzis and grenades, just above the last bend in the road."

"Grenades? Game-changer." That was Sarah.

"Agreed. Watch the front but be ready for a fast evac out the back if I call it. Head straight for the woodline and go to ground if you have to unass the building."

"Roger."

I listened with one ear to Sarah organizing the folks inside the cabin while I watched our visitors deploy. They weren't bad but there wasn't enough of them to cover the place properly, even if they were dumb enough to split up. They paused and hunkered down as the cabin came into their view. Hard luck for them that there was a cat in the woods quite close enough to hear their quiet conversation.

_"Tom, cover me going to the front from by that big tree there . If you see any movement by the upper windows, hose it. As soon as I do the door, run like hell across that open bit to join me. Jack, I'll give you 15 minutes to get into a place where you can cover the back. When you hear the party start, you come in that way."

"Got it."

"On my way."_

I'd heard enough. I was moving silently through the woods away from them, getting into a position where I could prevent Jack from reaching his destination. As soon as I was far enough away from them I quickly summarized their deployments for the benefit of those inside. Then I settled down in my chosen spot to wait.

Jack wasn't much of a woodsman. I could hear him coming long before I could see him. There he was, holding his weapon ready and struggling through the brush. I flipped my selector to three-round burst and snugged in the stock to my shoulder.... Reminding myself that I was firing a suppressed weapon, and therefore subsonic rounds, I let him get a little closer. Down he went, nice and quiet. I looked at my watch and spoke to the folks inside as I went to check my target. Jack was a thick-set dobie but more than that I couldn't tell you since pretty much everything above his muzzle was mush.

"Guy heading for the back is down. Party out front will start in seven minutes. The grenades they are carrying are flash-bangs, look like police issue. Unass the house and head for the woodline nice and quiet. Go. Remember to take the phone with you."

"We're gone. We'll lock the back door behind us."

"Smooth. I like the way you think." My respect for Sarah went up a couple of notches. Realizing I was going to be out front, she'd just turned the cabin into a trap.

Now I had to get to a point where I could get a bead on Tom's position by the big white pine out front and still had a clear run to the front door. I stuffed Jack's flash-bangs in my pocket, they might come in handy. I had a choice of two positions that suited my needs. The one with the shortest run to the door was too far forward, The guy at the front door would see my muzzle flash, even if he didn't hear a report. So, a slightly longer run to the front door in exchange for taking down target #2 and remaining covert. I could live with that. #3, whatever he was called, was kneeling by the door looking like he was working a set of lockpicks. I checked my watch. Two minutes. The left side of Tom's head filled my sight picture and I just waited, my ears folded flat against my skull as I waited for things to start.

I triggered on the light spilling out from the opened front door. As I heard the flashbang go off inside the cabin, I was already feeling my weapon push back on my shoulder and I was watching my target go down. I took off sprinting for the door as #3 disappeared inside.

Yeah, yeah, I know. If I'd been doing this right I'd have verified that my target was not going to get up and be a threat behind me before engaging the last one, but if I were following doctrine I'd have a teammate who could cover that door while I made sure that Tom had joined the choir of angels. I didn't have that luxury. The cabin was a bottle and I had to be the cork. I got to the door in time to see the third guy sweeping the side rooms, heading for the stairs. I primed one of Jack's flashbangs and flipped it towards the guy as I dived behind the sofa, rolled and came out the other side with a view of his legs, the coffee table obscuring everything higher. The flash-bang detonated, freezing him in place, and I slid my selector to full rock'n'roll and held the trigger back. Just over a second and a half later my mag was empty and I'd pretty much sawn off my targets hind-paws. He was on the deck, had dropped his weapon, which probably saved his life, and was clutching at his legs. I bounded over the table and kicked the weapon further away.

"Sarah? Get in here. I think you want this guy."

"On my way."

Sarah walked in to see me putting tourniquets on the guy's legs. She blinked at him and snarled "Why not let the fucker bleed out?" My response made her blink.

"Because alive he's your prisoner and I helped take him down. Dead he's just another homicide victim and that could be awkward for me. Besides, alive he gets to go where the bad doggies go, into federal supermax and live out his life in a hole that never sees sunlight."

"Fuck you, Bastard!"

"Son, it aint me gonna get fucked."

Sarah stepped forward, a toothy grin all over her muzzle... "Anton Cavernagh, you are under arrest. Anything you say may be taken down and used in evidence against you. You have the right to an attorney..... "

I didnt listen to the rest of it.. I'd heard it all before anyway. I was dialing Mike.

"Olson."

"Owen. Anton Cavernagh is on the floor of my cabin, making a mess of the furnishings I should add... He is currently in the custody of Sgt Sarah Marshall."

"Shit.. I'll send IA up there to take him off your hands."

"Send Duluth PD homicide too. He brought help and they didn't make it"

"Admiral, you just saved an undercover cop - one of our own. They'll kiss your feet rather than charge you with anything."

"If you want 'em to kiss my feet, make sure you send women. I'm straight." I swear I heard him laughing before he hung up.

Sarah was doubled over laughing. "You... you dare... You get any other woman to kiss your feet tonight and I swear.. I swear I'll fucking kill you."

The evening was looking up.

To be continued....