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Chapter 8 : Publish and perish

In the busy traffic of Johannesburg, a high powered sports car came to a stop. Inside, an enraged Doberman hammered the consol with his fist several times. The next flight to Madagascar was in half an hour, but it with the current traffic conditions it would be at least one and a half hours before he even got to the airport! LC snarled. His reputation and career was ruined, and all because of that stupid, useless Raccoon. 'I said it was almost finished, not make a fucking press release' thought the furious Doberman. He began to shake, and lashed out in rage, striking the interior of his car again.

Still, he at least had watched the news when he woke up after sleeping nearly twelve hours straight. He didn't usually do that. When he saw the hybrid he had created on the news escaping from a GeneTech investor and media conference he started packing as quickly as he could. While he packed he listened to the news as best he could. GeneTech predictably denied all allegations of wrongdoing, and pre-emptively blamed him for everything! Worse, those two Wolves he had hired had been caught. He could not believe that two men with military training had stayed for so long at the safe-house he had met them int. Nor could he believe that they hired escorts to go to the safe-house. Clearly they were better soldiers than criminals.

He packed a token amount of luggage into a medium sized hard shelled suit case and a medium sized backpack. He had nothing but the essentials. Mostly clothes, but it also had hard copies of his identity documents, diplomas, and other academic qualifications and certificates, his most up to date _résumé, and a_tablet computer with the blueprints for the retro virus he had used to make the hyena creature. He had little doubt the specs would make him an easy sell to one of GeneTech's competitors - or better yet, to a government funded organization which didn't advertise when it needed or wanted new workers.

LC was too preoccupied with how he was going to evade the law and rebuild his life to notice thefamily of Lions in the van next to him. The Lioness driving the van was becoming increasingly concerned with the unusual behaviour of the Doberman in the sports car next to hers. She exchanged glances with her husband. He was carefully taking note of the situation, as were the two sisters and of his wife, and his twoyoung cubs. The youngest was starting to cry and was being comforted by her auntie. Deciding to err on the side of caution, the Lion called the police on his phone to let them know about the Doberman.

The traffic was finally moving again. "About damn time!" snarled LC as he quickly accelerated. He cut in front of another vehicle to get onto the free way, ignoring the horn from the car he nearly forced off the road. In the busy traffic he failed to notice the marked police car that was further back from him. His heart sank when he saw the distinctive blue and red flashing lights and heard the police siren. His luck had finally run out. LC pulled over. He knew he could not out run the police. The police vehicle pulled up behind his and both doors opened upwards. A few moments latter two officers got out. Although they were wearing full face helmets and uniforms covered their bodies completely, it was easy for LC to work out their species. One was a 'lesser' Bear species. He only stood about 160 centimetres, which was much shorter than the species of Major species of Bears, which included the Kodiak, Grizzly and Polar Bears. Due to the uniform the Bear was wearing, he couldn't tell if it was a Black, Brown, Panda, or a Sun Bear. The other officer was clearly a Skunk. His black and white tail was held high behind him in an aggressive display.

LC started shaking and began panting.

The Brown Bear, a Warrant Officer in his early thirties, was approaching cautiously. His police issues semi-automatic pistol tazer was already drawn and he was he was mentally prepared to use the weapon if he had to.The night had been busy for him and his patrol partner, with several speeding fines and the arrest of an individual who had been banned from driving due to his atrocious driving and outstanding fines. The Margay simply would not accept that it was a privilege to have a driver's license, not a right.It wasn't more than half an hour after that ordeal that they received the APB issued to all patrols in Johannesburg. Doctor Lukas Cornelius Van de Wetering was to be apprehended, if necessary using Section 50 of the Internal Security Act. Such orders were seldom given, and the wolf could only remember hearing about one way back when he was a constable. The order had been quickly followed by additional information, including the offender's biometrics, and data about the offender's know vehicles. That allowed the long, slender automated number place and vehicle recognition camera mounted above the lights on the top of the police vehicle to identify the offender quickly. This often proved invaluable when backup was needed.

While he approached the parked sports vehicle, his partner relayed information to other patrol cars and back to the police information network using the communication system in his helmet. He was approaching the sports car on the opposite side to his partner and was careful to not get in front of his partner. He needed to stay directly opposite his partner to make sure he was not in danger of being hit by any rounds that might be fired.Backup would be arriving shortly. Just in case things did not go according to plan.

The Brown Bear shouted at the Doberman in a deep guttural tone. "Stop your engine! Do it now!"

LC meekly complied and ordered his vehicle to turn off.

The Bear continued, making sure to not leg his guard down. "Put your hands on your head! Do it now!"

The Doberman continued to comply. 'So far so good' thought the Skunk.

LC waited until he was given the next order. "Open the door with only your left hand! Do it now!"

He slowly moved his hand and manually opened the door. He had to physically push it upwards to get it to start opening.

Lowering his tazer slightly so he could see the Doberman, the Bear shouted "Place your left hand on your head! Do it now!"

As soon as LC had done so the Bear approached, grabbed LC's right hand and pulled him out of the vehicle, twisting his hand so that he could be more easily forced onto the ground. Once the Doberman was on the ground his partner came around from the other side of the vehicle, keeping a close eye on the Doberman's hands. His partner covered him as he holstered his tazer and accessed his handcuffs. He cuffed the hand that he had hold of, then grabbed the Dobermans other hand above the writs. He bent the Canine's hand down towards the underside of his arm, making it impossible for him to do anything with his hand. The Bear then twisted the Dobermans arm behind his back and handcuffed it to his other hand.

The Skunk used his helmet's communications systems to relay the arrest of LC to the police network. He loved these new helmets! They combined night vision, they had a see-through ballistic visor which doubled as a heads up displays, they had inbuilt communications systems, a liner system that helped to reduce traumatic brain injuries, and were strong enough to offer protection from pistol rounds. 'They are good, but they take a lot of training to get the most out of them' thought the Skunk as he tried to make sense of the heads up display. It distracted him as he was walking back to their patrol car, and caused him to trip up and nearly fall over.

Back at the police station, Jana was busy talking to her parents on a rugged police issue tablet that had been set up on a stand so she could call her parents. Tears were streaming down her face and her parents faces. Jana had crossed her hands over her chest. She wanted to hug her mum and dad, but she couldn't. She was trying to be as dignified as possible, but she was failing. Not that it mattered to her parents. Jana's father, Jacobus Herculaas de la Rey, was hugging her mother, Jacoba Elizabeth de la Rey.

Her father was very joyful despite the tears. "I am so glad you're alive! I thought we lost you. I hope the police are treating you well."

Her mother smiled and wiped away her tears. "...I am glad...you're alright...sweet heart..."

Jana half laughed and half chocked on teats. She didn't really know how her parents would react to her new form.

Veronika and Nicole smiled. Veronika had been the one who contacted Jana's parents to inform them that their daughter had been found, and who had explained to them what had happened to Jana. It took a while to explain, and longer still for her parents to accept that it was not a joke, but that didn't matter now. Jana still had a loving family, her parents were glad she was alive. The fact that she was a Hyena didn't seem to matter to the father. 'Her mother may not be completely happy about her being a Hyena, but I am sure she will come to accept it' thought Veronika as she sat in the lobby while Jana continued to talk to her parents. Nicole had also taken an interest in Jana's situation, and was concerned how her parents would react. She didn't know them like Veronika did. And she was glad that they accepted their daughter, even though she was now a Hyena.

Veronika noticed Nicole shift in her seat. She seemed to be on edge. Nicole glanced at her then back at Jana. The Mouse had a hunch that Nicole was the bearer of bad news.

After Jana and her parents had said their goodbyes, Nicole got up and walked over to Jana. She sat down next to Jana. Jana immediately knew that something was not right...Nicole seemed...upset.

Nicole sighed and choked back tears. "We raided an address in Johannesburg which is connected to one of your kidnappers. Although we found the kidnappers, they both managed to escape afterwards. One of my colleagues had been critically injured, and is in a critical but stable condition in hospital. We...have to be prepared for the possibility that we may not find them again...they are former military. They know how to escape and evade, which is not something we normally have to deal with."

Jana heart sank. Not at the thought of her kidnappers getting away with it, but at the thought that an officer had been badly wounded. She opened her mouth to say something...but she couldn't bring herself to speak. She hugged Nicole. The feline lent on Jana and returned the hug. After a while Nicole regained her composure.

Nicole wiped tears from her eyes and then continued. "We have apprehended the geneticist who we believe was responsible for your genetic changes, and who may have payed for you to be kidnapped. We don't have a motive yet. We hope to learn his motives while he is being interrogated. There is not much else I can say at the moment."

Jana felt happier knowing that there was a chance to find out why all this had happened. She really didn't care about the how, but she wanted to know if there was a reason why. Would it be a highly logical reason? Or the kind of reason that only makes sense to the one giving it? Jana didn't know. There was not always a reason behind things. Sometimes things happen because they happen. But it would be nice to if there was a reason why.

After a long pause Jana inquired. "Who is he?"

"I'm sorry. But I can't say at this point in time who the individual is."

Jana nodded slowly.