Chapter One

Razor stirred from his sleep. His head was fuzzy, his vision unclear. Surrounding him was a group of concerned looking civilians, each looking at him in a different way.

“Show’s over! Nothing to see here,” came the voice of the overworked, underpaid enforcer from somewhere near the back of the crowd “Come on, move along. Only debris left, nothing of interest.”

But, the call of a young kitten came from the front of the crowd. “But, mister, there’s a kat in there!”

Chapter Two

Chance stirred from his nap. It had been over a week now since Jake had, had, he couldn’t bring himself to even think it. He was still suffering the mental agony of losing someone close to him. He was about to resume his nap when the voice of his new houseguest travelled to him from across the room.

“Chance? You going to get that?” called Dessy from her position in a seat over at the other side of the room, “or are you going to sleep all day?”

Chance, then realising what had woken him up, sat up and rubbed his eyes, ran his fingers through his freshly cut hair, and tried to tighten his belt a few notches. Still wouldn’t go. Ah well, maybe he’d try one of Dessy’s sisters’ diets. Later.

The knock came again; he knew who it was. He hadn’t seen her for a time and she was due for another something to break in her car.

Chance finally managed to haul his tail over to the door to open it to reveal a stressed looking Callie.

“Hi, Chance. Um, I think you know why I’m here.”

“Yeah, I’ll get my tools. Pull it into the garage and I’ll…”

“No. You see, it’s about Jake.”

“Jake? Callie, that’s not even remotely funny.”

“Chance, just shut the heck up and listen for once in your life instead of jumping to conclusions. There have been reports submitted to me about sightings of Jake. But, it’s kinda weird. People have been saying they’ve seen him in the back of someone’s car, in a SWAT Kat flight suit.”

“Probably one screwball…”

“No, dozens of Kats all around the city have been seeing him. I don’t know if there’s any truth in these sightings, Chance, but they sound pretty real. I’ve been trying to find out more, but now I need help…”

Chapter Three

“Where am I?” muttered a barely conscious Jake.

“It’s OK, you’re safe here.”

“Who are you?”

“My name’s Luck; don’t you remember me? We went to the same high school. I was two years above you, in the same class as Chance. I had the biggest crush on Chance for two years, but he was too busy being ‘one of the guys’ to take any notice of me. Anyway, mister SWAT Kat, you’re in my home in my bed, so I think you should settle back and let me ask the questions. Now, I know who you are.”

“Please tell me then, ‘cause I’m not sure.”

“Just settle down, Jake…”

Wait a minute. She just called him Jake, and a SWAT Kat. Uh oh.

“What happened to me?”

“You’re jet crashed, with you in it. If I didn’t know better, Mr Inventor, I’d say something went wrong with your seat.”

“That’s right! My seat didn’t eject! Kats alive, why wasn’t I killed?”

“OK, stop panicking now. I was only at the beginning. There must have been a fail-safe mechanism in your seat belt, or something, because as the plane plummeted, you kind of separated from it and fell more slowly, landing on top of the wreckage. There was no explosion, which was incredibly lucky. The kind of jet fuel I found you were using could have taken out half a block.”

“Wait a minute. You found?”

“Yes.”

“You know about this stuff?”

“Well, kinda. I’ve been a follower of yours since you and Chance teamed up together. I’ve been studying your plane and, well, it’s the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen. Even when I was working as an enforcer I never…”

“OK, rewind. Now I have a few questions for you.”

“OK, shoot,” returned Lucky, calmly sitting down on the bed next to Jake.

Until now, Jake hadn’t seen how adorable she was. He hadn’t seen anybody like her before, lithe, fit, pretty, and apparently smart too. This couldn’t get in the way of his questions though.

“Right. So, what happened to me after I landed?”

“The enforcers herded everyone away, and I used my old enforcer medics pass to gain access to the area. I then asked two enforcers to help me carry you to my car, as there was no ambulance in sight. You were unconscious by then, of course. You had shown signs of coming around, but you just went out cold again. It was then a choice between here and the hospital. I couldn’t take you to the hospital because too many people would find out who you were, so I brought you here. You weren’t hurt, just a bit bruised. You must have been unconscious when you landed, because you were so relaxed you didn’t get as hurt as I thought you were.”

“You said something about the enforcers. Aren’t you one anymore?”

“No. I began as a chemist working in conjunction with the hospital, but it didn’t last. They soon wanted me to move into a new area of expertise, MegakatGW.”

“What does that mean?”

“Megakat Germ Warfare. I did not want a thing to do with that, so I just quit.”

“You said you had been studying our plane, how?”

“Photos from the papers, news shots of the jet in action, seen you fly myself a few times. Wonderful machine. Huge power, awesome capabilities. I couldn’t see it up close, but from what I could tell, it was a heckuva machine.”

“How do you know about fuel?”

“Chemistry isn’t all medicine, not at a basic level anyway. I knew a bit about fuel compounds and stuff.”

“One last question. What makes you think that other kat, um, Chance did you call him? Was the other SWAT Kat?”

“Don’t try to play dumb, Jake. I know you and Chance from my, ahem, acquaintance, Callico.”

“You’re friends with Callie?”

“Sort of. She never really liked me. But, she was a friend of my sister, Dessy. You remember Dessy. Same year as you, short chubby, gray tabby?”

“Oh yeah. Friendly, but not many people liked her. Yeah, I do now.”

“Anyway. She told me all about you guys, how much she liked… anyway, she told me all about you.”

“How long have you known?”

“Only since I found you. Now, do you want dropping off somewhere? You’ve been out cold for over a week; I’m sure your friend is worried…”

Chapter Four

Callie and Chance were in the pickup truck, with Dessy crammed in beside them.

“Are you sure it’s legal to have three kats in two seats?” asked a slightly nervous Dessy.

“Probably not, but who cares? We’ve got the deputy mayor. We needn’t worry about rules,” replied Chance.

“Well if you’re sure. OK Callie, tell me more about these sightings.”

“They saw Jake Clawson in a car, heading towards Dew Street.”

“Dew Street? I’ve never heard of that place before. If my buddy’s in some kinda slum, I’ll…”
“Relax, Chance,” said Dessy. “Dew Street is a very good area. That’s why you’ve never heard of it.”

“Why have you then, miss ‘works in a bar and has to clean up other peoples cigarette butts and football hooligans vomit’?”

“Don’t talk to me like I’m an idiot. I know about it because my sister lives there.”

“Mmmph.”

“What I don’t understand,” thought Chance, “is why was he in a car, and how could people recognise him? He was presumably still in his disguise and flight suit, unless his mask came off, and someone kidnapped him either to hold to ransom, or to sell the story to the papers. Oh man, I hope he’s OK.”

As Chance turned the tow truck down Dew Street, he saw something startling. Jake quite calmly walking up the road with a she kat he didn’t know, in the direction they’d just come from.

Chance wasn’t sure what he was feeling now. His friend was alive, but presumably the kidnapper was the person he was walking with. And then there were the rumours about people seeing him in his flight suit. He had to get Jake out of there. Meanwhile, he had driven past, and the two she kats were beginning to get anxious about his behaviour.

“Chance?” murmured Callie, “you just drove past him.”

“Crud,” was the only audible reply, followed by no action.

“Chance, aren’t you going to turn round?” queried Dessy.

“Yup,” he replied, slamming on the brakes and turning the steering wheel at the steepest angle possible, sending them round in a tight circle which smoked as they came around.

They found themselves on the other side of the road, charging towards Jake and Luck. This was, of course, after denting several of the shiniest new Mercs in the street.

“Chance!!!” both she kats exclaimed.

“Nevermind. More customers for the garage,” was the reply.

They were soon almost on them, and Chance could see Jake wasn’t wearing his own clothes, just some old tatty ones which looked like they had come out of a charity shop. He was also carrying a bag, which looked like it had a helmet sitting in it. His SWAT Kat flight suit!

Chance swerved into the pavement across their path and jumped out to greet his friend.

“Chance?”

“Jake!”

“Dessy?”

“Luck!”

The two Tomkats turned around to see the two she kats hugging, much to the bemusement of Callie.

“Where have you been, Jake?”

“Chance, I’ve been, safe.”

“Yeah,” interrupted Luck, “safe and fed.”

“Well, I had been unconscious for a week.”

“You were on a drip,” replied Luck.

“Doesn’t make me less hungry.”

Chance, meanwhile, was hanging back away from the talking Jake, Dessy and Luck, and was leaning against the side of the pickup truck with a curious Callie.

“Do they know each other? They seem like sisters or something,” Callie asked

“How do I know? Although they do seem kind of familiar… but Jake hasn’t talked to me properly yet.”

“Well, maybe he’ll start taking later.”

“Maybe, Callie. But, until then I’ll only know one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“I don’t trust Luck at all. She knows something that she’s not letting on.”