Cat's Cradle

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  About This Book

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Excerpt from Cat’s Claus

  About Arsenic in the Azaleas

  Author’s Note

  About the Author

  Copyright Page

  About This Book

  Lani and Liev Blackburn have slid from the frying pan directly into the fires of Hell. When they uncover insinuations of a dangerous conspiracy that can be traced directly back to the foundations of society and permeates every part of life as the world knows it, they realize that to expose this evil is to shake the Earth to its core.

  One by one, people begin disappearing. If not for Liev’s twisted, genius brother Milo and Lani’s talking cat Charming Marvin, the two of them would also be missing—or dead. But someone is still playing games, stalking Lani and everyone connected to her, and the cat’s cradle web they’re weaving is becoming impossible to escape. Unless they can find a way to expose this massive cover-up and who’s behind it all, they’ll become the next vanished.

  Books in This Series:

  Cat’s Meow

  Cat’s Pajamas

  Cat’s Cradle

  Cat’s Claus

  Broken Protocols 1-4

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  Protocol 3:2:2. You will in no way misuse your authority or position or the trust placed in you—particularly if those actions are to selfishly enhance your own authority, position, status, and/or wealth.

  Chapter 1

  Lani Summerland Blackburn walked restlessly through the living room and kitchen. Her new life two centuries in the future had taken a strange and ugly turn. The problems besetting her since her arrival should have been over—instead things were likely to go from bad to horrible. Figures. Murphy’s Law had somehow followed her to this time period. Like, how did that work?

  She was desperate to calm the tension vibrating through her. The police had come and gone. As for the lawyer who’d tried to kidnap her, his remains had been removed. Life supposedly could now return to normal. Whatever that meant. She had no normal left. This time jump had come with no warning or preparation for what could happen next.

  Life had hit her sideways, and she was still sliding. She’d done the best she could, and Liev had been a godsend. Then again, he’d been the reason she’d been plucked out of her nice happy little life into his—as a gift for him—compliments of his uber-brainy kid brother.

  Since she’d first arrived, they had had nonstop trouble. From horrible pain to debilitating exhaustion to heated passion between her and Liev. That last part had been a bonus. But between that and the people coming after her, life had been a dangerous roller coaster.

  And she needed off.

  As they still hadn’t gotten to the bottom of this nightmarish kidnapping scenario, they weren’t safe yet. And, if anyone found out that the time-travel trick had resulted in her overgrown Persian cat now talking like a fluffy Einstein—and getting worse every day—would more people be after her and Charming Marvin? More than likely they’d both be locked up in a lab for the rest of their lives. That was so not going to happen.

  Was it any wonder she needed a break from this stress?

  Determinedly, she turned to face Liev. He sat, his chin propped up on his fingertips. Eyes closed, deep in thought. And she could just imagine what was going on in his incredible brain, one that matched his incredible body. Sex aside, Liev had turned out to be a hell of a good man. She walked closer.

  “Are you okay?” She sat down beside him, happy when he opened his eyes and smiled. Something was still so weird knowing that this man was her husband. They’d only known each other a few short days. He’d married her to keep her safe; yet now she couldn’t imagine life without him. Her cheeks heated as she remembered some of their best times together.

  His gaze warmed. He cocked an eyebrow and murmured, “What are you thinking about?”

  She gave a slow, intimate smile. “Good times.” She paused, then added, “And I was wondering about …” She let the words trail off, not sure how to phrase it.

  “What?” He reached out and slowly ran his fingertips up and down her arm. “If you need something, you only have to ask for it.”

  “I need to get away. From here. From all this nastiness.”

  He frowned and damned if a bit of fear, insecurity maybe, sat in the back of those deep purple eyes.

  “Not from you,” She reached out to stroke his cheek.

  The shadow in his eyes lightened, and he sat back to study her.

  “I was just thinking that I have a lot to learn. We need time together, yet people are after us.”

  He nodded. “All true.”

  “I was wondering if we could go away for a week or two. Where it might be safe for you to take me out and to show me life here. Where making a major gaffe won’t attract much attention. Where we could spend a little time together. Where every move won’t be watched. Where I can learn ports, and shopping, and …”

  He held up a hand. “I get the idea.”

  “It’s a great idea,” Milo piped up. “We could all use the break.”

  Liev faced her, a question in his eyes. She gave a small laugh and nodded. Of course Milo could come. And no way would she go without Charming, her walking, talking miracle feline.

  “A good idea as long as we all go,” Charming said, as if reading her mind. “It’s too dangerous for us to split up. Besides”—he hopped up on the back of the chair and butted his head against her shoulder—“who’d look after me?” His huge golden eyes stared at her in worry.

  “Not going to happen.” She stroked his silky back, leaning over to kiss the top of his head. “I wouldn’t go anywhere without you.”

  “Or Milo,” Liev said with a laugh. “It’s a good idea. We both have a few things to take care of first, not to mention deciding on where to go. In theory, we could leave tomorrow.”

  She brightened. “Thank you. That would be perfect.” She grinned, thinking about how easy that had been and added, “Besides, today is almost over.”

  Charming snorted. “What time are you on? It’s barely after lunch.” And he gasped, his eyes rounded into huge glowing marbles. “Lunch.”

  “No,” Lani said. “You had lunch.”

  “But I had an early lunch, and that means it’s snack time.” He turned his flat face toward Liev and deepened his tone. “You did order treats for me too, right?”

  “Wow.” Lani rolled her eyes. “It’s hard enough for poor Liev to adjust to a talking cat without that same cat trying to order him around. Remember your manners.”

  “Ha. He’s doing fine.” Charming shot a leg into the air and proceeded to clean the back of it. “Soon he might even start obeying those orders.”

  She smiled and reached out a hand to stroke her four-year-old pet.

  “Liev, as much as it’s a good idea, I think we need to solve this problem first,” Milo said. “The leads are hot right now. If we leave, these assholes will go under, and we might never catch them.”

  “I was actually thinking about sending you three away, and I’ll stay here and deal with this,” Liev answered.

  “Oh no.” Lani shook her head, adding in a flat tone, “All of us or n
one of us.”

  He frowned. “Milo has a good point. This has to stop.” He reached over to cover her hand. “If we leave, they’ll just be waiting for us when we return.”

  “So we solve this first and then leave. Personally, I’m thinking a beach.” Charming dropped and sprawled along the back of the couch. “I’d like some more sand.”

  Lani snorted. “Maybe you could just get a litter box instead.” She exchanged a laughing look with Liev, remembering the last time Charming had come close to sand. “If that’s the case,” she said, returning to the problem, “what must we do to resolve this mess permanently? I hate the idea of always looking over my shoulder.”

  “It seems to have started with Johan. We need to find Johan and whoever was behind my lawyers’ attempts to kidnap you. Hahn said that Gina had gotten him into this trouble, and they probably tortured Johan’s name and location out of her. So we also have to find her killer. I’m hoping the two are the same man or group of men.”

  Johan was Liev’s friend who lived in the top apartment—or used to. Lani had never met him. He was on the run from the authorities now. “Okay,” she said. “That makes sense, but how we do that?”

  “That’s my part,” Milo said around the straw in his mouth, as he sucked up something bright green. “Finding them, in theory, is no problem, but stopping them is.”

  “Because we don’t want to involve the authorities?” Lani asked.

  “Partly, but they are involved already,” Liev said. “Two dead lawyers cannot be glossed over.” He reached out and tugged her into his lap. “We need you safe.”

  “I need all of us safe,” she muttered, “but how?”

  Liev cuddled Lani close. He’d do anything to keep her from harm. Had already done several things he never believed he would have done. But they’d been necessary. “We’re good at what we do. We’ll find the responsible parties.” He squeezed her gently. “I promise.”

  When she looked up at him with those huge eyes filled with uncertainty, he repeated, “I promise.”

  Milo came up behind him. “Sounds like it’s time to get back to work.” He brought up the big countertop 3-D monitor.

  “I need treats first.” Charming groaned. “I can’t help you until I regain my strength.”

  Lani laughed. “Ha.” She nudged Charming’s large sprawling belly. “You’re getting fat.”

  “I am not fat. Well, maybe a little, but I’m cuter this way.” He stretched out a right paw and offered the underside of his belly for a scratch. When she obliged, he moaned.

  Liev shook his head. “He’s something else. I’ll put on coffee and help Milo.”

  At the sound of coffee, Lani swung around so he could get up. He laughed. “You are as bad as your cat. Your treat is just in liquid form.”

  She stretched out on the space he’d vacated and smiled. “In that case, we both deserve treats.”

  “Finally.” Charming moaned, as if in major pain. “Treats. I need treats.”

  Milo snorted. “How about a booster? Whoa! What do we have here?”

  Liev raced over.

  Lani twisted to lean over the back of the chair. “What did you find?”

  “I’m not sure.” Then Milo pinched his lips, and his hands moved faster and faster.

  Liev stepped back and watched his brother work. It was rare to see him in the zone to this extent. His brother was sheer magic. And, when he was on the hunt, he was lethal. His hands flashed. The screens shifted too fast for his eye to see what they were. The monitor buzzed with the speed of the activity. It blurred in front of him. Then Milo made a slashing motion with his hand, and everything froze.

  Lani made a strangled sound from behind them.

  Liev could only imagine what she thought. Nothing even close to this in terms of home computing had existed in her time. Bigger, faster, and more complex computers were at his office, but not by much. By the very nature of Milo’s genius, his baby brother needed tools available at all times. And typically the best that could be had. That meant building their own supercomputers. Not a problem, but many of their inventions went way past computing. That’s when they got into trouble with the Council and the cops.

  Milo leaned closer.

  Liev stepped in to look. “What is it?”

  “An intersection of paths.”

  “Whose paths?”

  Milo tapped the top of the screen, drawing Liev’s eye to the faces. Both Defino brothers’ images sat on one side. On the other side sat the two dead lawyers, Gina and Hahn.

  “So you’ve tracked all their paths?” Liev asked Milo.

  “To this one spot.” Milo tapped the monitor frozen in place. “At the old shipping docks.”

  Liev frowned. “That’s the turf I’d expect from the Defino brothers, but not the lawyers.”

  “Except,” Lani interrupted, “Hahn said something about not liking where he was being forced to take me to.” Lani walked closer to study the screen. “So maybe that’s the headquarters. The boss man would be in a location like that, wouldn’t he?”

  “Only part-time,” Liev said. “They’d have a home base somewhere a long way removed from that hellhole. Likely at the topmost end of the scale.”

  Her face fell. Then lit up again. “That would make sense. Could that be Johan? He lived pretty well in this building. You have no idea what he did for a living, but it sounds like it was just on the edge of legal.”

  Liev shrugged. “If we could track his path to the same area, then I’d say definitely. But as he’s gone underground …”

  “What about his known friends and associates?”

  “He doesn’t have any.” Milo looked at his brother. “Does he?”

  Liev looked from one to the other. “I don’t know. I don’t know him that well.”

  “Then maybe that’s where we should start looking. Everyone in his circle. See where those paths intersect?”

  Milo raised his eyebrows at Lani’s suggestion. After a quick glance at Liev, he swept his hand back the other way, unfreezing the monitor. Immediately the screen loads flashed and sparkled as they moved at light speed.

  Lani faced Liev. “I guess that means he’s on the hunt again?”

  Liev smiled. “Seems like it.”

  “So does that mean coffee and treats are back on the menu?”

  With a smile at their tenacity, Liev walked over to the wall, where he started coffee. “I guess it does.”

  While he waited for it to finish, the house alarm went off. Lani gasped, her hand going to her chest. He reached out to her. “It’s all right. We have company. That’s all.”

  She took a deep and shaky breath. “Okay. I’ll go back in the pod room then.”

  “You don’t have to.” He was already walking toward the door. “Not if you don’t want to.”

  “Actually, I wouldn’t mind.” She gave him a wan smile, reminding him how tired she was. What she’d been through already today. “A short nap, with Charming, would be nice. I’m feeling peaky.”

  “Okay then.” He watched her carry on down the hallway; Charming, somehow knowing what she was up to, followed close behind. Lani looked tired, melancholy. Taking her away from all of this was a great idea. She’d only been here a few days, but they’d been brutal. The alarm went off again.

  “Liev? Are you answering that?” Milo asked.

  Giving his head a shake, he said, “I’ve got it.”

  At the door, he looked outside. Damn, another Council henchman. At least the suit and close-cropped hair denoted henchman. He could only see the back of the guy’s head, since he appeared to be looking behind him, as if waiting for someone to join him. Not unexpected considering the break-in and death this morning. But Liev had hoped it would be over, at least for today. Like Lani, he was tired and fed up. The alarm sounded again.

  Gritting his teeth at the visitor’s arrogance to keep hitting the alarm, Liev went about accessing the security system. The alarm went off one more time. “I’m coming. You don’t hav
e to keep pressing the damn button.”

  Finally he unlocked it and pulled the door open. And stared in shock at the man standing in front of him.

  Johan.

  Chapter 2

  Lani opened the healing pod. Charming hopped up and froze. His whiskers quivered. She sat down on the side and yawned. She had to admit, she really could use a nap. The morning had worn her out. She slumped backward, spread her arms, and closed her eyes. She giggled when she felt the pod automatically shift and move under her as it adjusted to her sideways position. “Nice, huh?”

  Charming didn’t answer. She ignored him. She was so tired. The pod was always so welcoming. Nothing like warmth on your back to soothe and ease the tension inside. She was one step away from falling asleep now.

  “Lani?” Charming asked.

  “Hmmm?” She rolled over and tucked her knees up higher. “What?” She yawned and felt herself drifting deeper and deeper.

  “Did you hear who just arrived?”

  “No.” And she didn’t care. Her body relaxed a little more. Boy, she needed this. Just as she drifted off, she heard Charming’s response.

  “Johan.”

  The word percolated through her brain, then slammed into her consciousness. She bolted upright, barely missing the pod lid as it lifted automatically ahead of her movement. She hadn’t had a chance to think with so much going on, but, upon reflection, it seemed like the pod was doing more things. As in learning her, adapting to her and her likes and needs.

  Nice.

  And creepy.

  “Did you say that was Johan at the door?”

  “Yes.” Charming stared at her, his eyes impossibly round. “Why would he come here?”

  “No good reason that I can think of.” She sat on the edge and worried about the problem. “Can we hear the conversation?”

  “Audio on,” Charming said.

  Immediately Liev’s voice slipped through the ceiling. “Johan? I don’t understand. Why are you here?”

  Milo didn’t give Johan a chance. “Whatever his reason, it’s a bad idea.”