Chapter 22: Mal-Larci's Final Days ©
The next day I had another visit from Lily. Boy was I glad to see her. Just looking at her made me feel good.
"How are you today, Mal-Larci," she said in her delicious accent."Ok," I said, wishing I could stand up or at least sit on my haunches. Somehow I felt at a disadvantage lying on my side on this bed.
"Tell me the latest news will you?" I asked, anxious to take my mind off my own problems for even a short time.
"As you know," Lily began, "We had set-up the trap for Katzenjammer the bomber so that we might be able to catch him in the act of placing the bomb on Oprah's jet. All of those false-trails you put on the internet, plus some other little items of "leaked news" fortunately persuaded Katzenjammer that the plane we had placed under surveillance was the real jet that Oprah and George Clooney were going to use."
"Mr Clooney and Oprah instead used another private jet at another location which we kept strictly under wraps. By the way, both of them arrived in Scotland and over the next couple of days will meet with several local councils and communities about saving the Scottish wildcat. I understand that a few international television reporters are there as well. Hopefully it will prove a success and raise some much needed funds for the wildcats," Lily continued.
"I understand you were part of the team that Headquarters here in the US organised to repaint a second jet so that it looked authentic. That was about two weeks before Mr Clooney and Oprah were due to leave. The location of the hanger was deliberately chosen because of its remoteness so that there would be no injuries when the plane exploded."
Nodding, I was pleased to hear the full story.
"About five days before Oprah and Mr Clooney were due to leave, an FBI agent spotted a couple of remote control vehicles around the area. Each had a camera fixed on the hanger with a long-range telescopic lens. We knew that Katzenjammer the bomber was watching."
"Everything would have looked normal to Katzenjammer other than the extra security that we had placed in the area. We didn't want him to suspect anything other than security had improved. Then on the night when the flight was due to leave, we used two decoy agents to enter the plane. They looked very much like Oprah and George Clooney. An FBI agent dressed as the Captain had already entered the plane."
"To Katzenjammer everything was in place for his plan to succeed. He'd placed a bomb near the fuel tank of the jet just a couple of hours before it was due to leave. Using a remote control mechanicsm he'd constructed himself, Katzenjammer had painted the device the same colour as the plane and placed in an inconspicuous spot on the underside of the jet so that it would not be noticed."
"The agent dressed as the captain, switched his clothes for a baggage handlers outfit and slipped out with the other baggage handlers when they left. We figured he wouldn't be noticed by Katzenjammer.""The two agents dressed as Oprah and Mr Clooney placed themselves inside the empty food-carts and were taken off the plane. There was then no-one left on-board," she added.
"We had set-up the plane to be remote controlled and had placed our own bomb on board to ensure that it blew-up over an unpopulated area. We didn't want any casualties as you know. The plane itself was just a shell with all of the internal fittings and chairs etc removed, though from the outside, it looked perfectly normal."
"So everything went according to plan, except for tracking down Katzenjammer," Lily added.
"I'm sure he must have been quite disappointed that there was no news the next day about Oprah and George Clooney being killed," I said.
"Yes, though I'm sure that won't be the last we hear from Katzenjammer," she said.
"I wish I'd been able to get a better look at him," I said, "Though I'll never forget his creepy eyes."
"Your job from now on is to get better," Lily said. She reached out a paw and ruffled the fur on my head.
My skin tingled where she'd touched it.
"You can count on it," I said.
I'm not sure why, but from that moment on I felt confident about getting better and regaining the use of my back-legs.
* * * * * * * * * * *
About four weeks after I was injured in the explosion, I was in the exercise room with my physiotherapist when Bob burst into the room.
"You're not goin' to believe this mate," he exclaimed. "Katzenjammer sent a letter to the French Government saying that he says he's going to blow up the Eiffel Tower if they don't outlaw cats."
"What??" I spluttered.
"Yeah, the Frenchies took the threat seriously and have called in members of the European Headquarters to assist them. I'm going with Lily to fill them in on what happened here," Bob said.
"They're going to bring in a specialist psychologist to provide a profile on Katzenjammer, so that we can understand him better and the way he thinks," he added. "It may help us catch the maniac."
The news was a bit of a blow, because my injuries meant that for the present time I could not be part of the ongoing investigation. It also meant that I wouldn't see Lily before I returned home.
Bob must have noticed the look on my face, because he said, "I hear you're going to be ok."
I smiled and replied, "Yes, now that the swelling in my spine is going down, I'm starting to regain some feeling in my legs, though my poor tail is taking a bit longer. Watch this."
Lifting myself onto a specially built walker, I took several steps forward, pushing ahead with my shaky back-legs. The physiotherapist nodded his head in approval.
"Dr Fletcher says I should make a good recovery, but it's too early yet to know if I will fly again."
"Ah, you'll be right mate," Bob said.
"I never realised how important a tail was until I couldn't use mine," I said. "Without it as a rudder, flying will be impossible."
"You'll fly again," said a voice from the doorway.
I knew instantly that it was Lily. My heart leapt inside my chest.
"Look at you already," she said. "I can see your tail twitching."
"What?" I exclaimed looking back towards my tail.
She was right, my tail was trembling at the end. "Holy Moly!" I said excitedly.
Bob and Lily laughed.
"Yes, my little superhero," Lily said taking a couple of steps towards me. "You've got to get better so that you can help us catch that stinker Katzenjammer."She leaned forward and kissed my forehead. I felt like I was going to faint.
"Count me in!" I exclaimed, determined to get better so that I could once again be Mal-Larci, the superhero cat.
I looked at my friends Lily and Bob, and smiled.
END OF BOOK ONE ©
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