A Flight of Raptors Read online

“All right then!” Levi said with a short happy bark. “The game is a-paw, as we say, and the Three Dog Detective Agency will do all in its power to free you and your tribe from the Birds of Prey.”

  Sunny and Yoda barked in encouragement.

  Kim grinned.

  Little Kitty yawned.

  There suddenly sounded frantic scratching at the backdoor.

  Chapter Five

  When the door was opened, Levi and Yoda, followed closely by Sunny, found Stacker, a Parson Russell from down the street, leaping about impatiently, beside himself with excitement. When the three dogs piled out into the driveway and the door closed behind them, they could tell something was wrong – Stacker was so frenzied he did not even bother to sniff anyone.

  “Hey, what took you guys so long you gotta come with me and help this dog that’s nearly dead that Dahling the Persian told me about that could get run over by a trolley anytime because she’s so near the tracks and someone just pushed her off and that…”

  “Stacker!” Levi snapped.

  The Parson Russell continued to chatter on, jumping and whirling as he talked.

  “Stacker!” Levi barked in an alpha tone. “Stacker! Calm down and tell us what’s going on!”

  The hysterical dog was so gripped by his emotions he did not react to Levi’s assertion of authority, a situation almost unheard of in the canine world, certainly indicating the importance of what Stacker was trying to tell them, but unless they could calm him down, or at least snap out of his hysteria, they could do nothing to help, and Levi had the sense that time was a crucial factor here. He motioned to Yoda.

  The little wild-haired Pomeranian leaped at Stacker, landing squarely in front of him, muzzle to muzzle, fur bristling, and let loose with an ear-shattering cannonade of barking that immediately arrested the Parson Russell’s motion, silenced him, made his eyes bulge in shock, and caused him to fall back on his haunches, so startled he could only gaze in apprehension. As Yoda fell sharply quiet, Sunny moved in and brushed her muzzle against his, much as a solicitous dam would comfort her pup. Almost immediately, Stacker stopped trembling and his eyes focused; realizing how badly he had breached canine etiquette, he started to submit.

  “We have no time for that now, Stacker,” Levi said, still using his alpha voice, but tempering it with charity and concern. “What are you trying to tell us? Start from the beginning, leave nothing out, but do so with an efficiency of words.”

  Stacker frowned.

  “Tell us everything,” Sunny said. “But be brief.”

  “Okay, I’ll try,” Stacker said with a nervous swallow. “You see, I was running in that alley behind where Snapper the Terrier used to live before he volunteered for that…”

  “Briefer,” Levi urged. “Just the facts.”

  “Oh, sorry, okay, so I was there when Dahling, that Persian from the trailer park across Broadway came to me,” Stacker continued. “She said there was a dog on the tracks at the Bayfront Trolley Station; someone dragged her off them, but she’s still pretty close, she said, so I was going to run there, but I got afraid of crossing the street, and I’m not really supposed to be down there anyway, so I’m wondering what to do, and then I thought of you guys, and then I said…”

  “Easy, Stacker, you’re starting to go off again” Yoda said.

  “Sorry, I…”

  “That’s okay, Stacker,” Levi said. “We’ll go right down there.”

  “You’ve got to help that poor dog!”

  “We’ll do what we can.”

  Levi ran through the driveway gate, which was open since there was only one car on the concrete, with Yoda and Sunny in close pursuit. The big Golden Retriever was able to keep up easily with the long-legged Dachshund-mix, but the Pomeranian struggled even though he was considered a giant among Pomeranians.

  “That’s out of our neighborhood, Levi,” Sunny pointed out.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Levi replied. “We have to do what we can.”

  “What can we do though?” Yoda asked breathlessly.

  “Won’t know till we get there,” Levi replied tersely.

  “Hey!” a nearing voice called. “Hey!”

  “Where do you think you’re going, Stacker?” Levi asked as the Parson Russell caught up with them, but not breaking the brisk pace he had set for the pack.

  “With you three, of course!” the energetic little dog replied. “That dog may need all the help she can get. I might be able to help. Maybe.”

  “What can you…” Yoda started to say, then got a bit winded. “What can you do, little fellow.”

  Stacker, who was not much smaller than was Yoda himself, started to protest, but Levi cut in.

  “Perhaps you can, Stacker,” Levi said. “But you stay close to us and do exactly what we tell you.”

  “Absolutely!” Stacker agreed happily, picking up the pace.

  He was quite relieved now that he could direct his nervous energy into something much more constructive. He felt good about helping the legendary Three Dog Detective Agency, and was looking forward to coming back with a story he could share with his dam, sire and kennel-mates…or at least his kennel-mates since both his parents would likely be cross at the thought of him leaving the neighborhood…or even playing in the alley…or talking to that Persian; yes, this was definitely a story for his kennel-mates only, or maybe just Potter because he knew how to keep his yap shut, most of the time.

  “Absolutely!” Stacker repeated wholeheartedly.

  The quartet of dogs, Levi in the lead, rounded the corner of Fifth Avenue and F Street, heading west on F toward Broadway. They bounded past the Holiday House, so called by the animals of the neighborhood because it was always decked out in celebration of one holiday or another, even the obscure ones; between times, it sported flags and decorations celebrating life and the goodness of the Earth. Today, however, there was no time for sightseeing, so Levi made sure no member of the pack slowed to gawk.

  Sunny pulled even with Levi. “Do you see it, Levi?” she asked softly. “To the north? Third telephone pole on…”

  “I see him,” Levi replied. “Probably not as well as you do, but I see the old bird glaring at us.”

  “One of the Birds of Prey?” she ventured.

  “No doubt,” Levi replied. “Until this matter is settled, I expect they will keep a close eye on us.”

  “I see him too,” Yoda yapped from behind.

  “Sonic ears,” Sunny quipped, “when he wants to listen.”

  “What’s going on?” Stacker asked.

  “He’s just a little fellow,” Sunny said.

  “Yeah,” Levi agreed, “but he should be okay with us.”

  “What’s going on?” Stacker asked again.

  “This is what,” Yoda began, and he began to relate the tale in low tones, pausing at times to pant with the quickness of the pace; he, however, never dropped back.

  “Do you recognize him?” Levi asked Sunny, now that the little dogs were occupied. “Obviously it’s not Ripper – I don’t think he’s one to do much of his own dirty work – but it might be one of the others we met.”

  “Don’t think so,” the Golden Retriever replied. “Hard to tell by sight at this distance, and I can’t get a scent…it may be Courser.”

  “Yeah, the only one not battered to a pulp,” Levi quipped. “Well, whomever he is, keep an eye on him. Until we get this matter sorted out, one way or another, we would do well to consider all Raptors possible threats.”

  “Not all birds?”

  “Most birds are as decent as any other animal, just want to live their lives,” Levi pointed out. “Besides, I don’t think many of our bird friends would ally themselves with those Raptors. What about your friend Christopher?”

  “Oh dear, I forgot about little Christopher,” Sunny gasped.

  “Don’t worry,” Levi assured her. “That Wren can look out for himself; he’s not quite the baby you found, fallen from his nest, anymore.”

  “I’m stil
l going to look him up when we get back,” Sunny said. “He is such a wee fellow.”

  “That is not a bad idea,” Levi said thoughtfully. “I think we should talk to him.”

  Sunny frowned. It had been years since she had saved the baby Wren who had fallen from his nest in the patio rafters, but she still felt soft maternal feelings for the bird. If Levi wanted to talk to Christopher, it could only be because he had some idea of enlisting the Wren’s help against the Birds of Prey. What made it worse was that Christopher would eagerly go along with whatever Levi suggested, especially if it involved action and excitement – the reasons Christopher had fallen from his nest in the first place. Sunny had misgivings aplenty, but, for the moment at least, she kept her worries to herself. Later, she would talk Levi out of it.

  As they crossed the alley just prior to reaching Broadway, all the dogs except Levi slowed a bit, distracted by the delightful smells emanating from the Cali Baguette and Pho Restaurant on the opposite side of F Street; it was not the Pho soup that attracted them so much as the savory meats used in the sandwiches.

  “Keep going!” Levi snapped.

  Sunny and Yoda caught up quickly, a little ashamed at having been so easily distracted when they were on what would likely turn out to be a vital mission of mercy. Stacker, on the other paw, much less disciplined than were the three detectives, stopped and looked longingly across the street, visions of cows and pigs gamboling through his mind.

  “Stacker!” Levi barked.

  A shadow passed over the dogs.

  In a moment of inattention, the Hawk on the telephone pole had launched himself into the bright afternoon air, wings spread wide to catch the vertical currents rising from the asphalt. Swiftly it closed in on the four dogs, aiming for the smaller of the pack who was separated from the others by a distance of perhaps twenty feet.

  The dogs looked up as the shadow passed over them.

  Stacker, caught in the gloom of that Raptor shape heavy upon him, snapped his head skyward and trembled in terror; the story Yoda had told him along the way no longer seemed as funny as it had just a moment before.

  The three friends rushed toward the frightened and gone-tharn Parson Russell.

  But as quickly as the danger had approached, it passed. The Hawk spun about, turning upon its wingtip as it glared down at the canines. The Hawk returned to its post.

  “You all right, Stacker?” Yoda asked.

  Sunny pressed close to the frightened youngster.

  Levi continued to regard the Hawk with a narrowed gaze.

  “I…I’m okay,” Stacker stammered.

  “What was all that about?” Yoda demanded.

  “A message,” Levi replied.

  The other dogs tilted their heads in confusion.

  “That they are watching us,” Levi explained. He looked again to the far Hawk, knowing full well the Raptor could see him clearly, even from that distance. “Message received…and understood.”

  As they moved toward the corner, resuming their trek to the Bayfront Trolley Station, Stacker did not stray from their sides, did not let himself be distracted by anything.

  “Broadway is a wide, busy street,” Levi said as they reached the intersection. “There is a crossing light, but it is still very dangerous to cross, very literally a matter of life and death, for the cars are driven at unsafe speeds by distracted drivers who care for no one but themselves. They often do not pay attention to the lights, or anything else…and I think we all know who loses when it’s car versus dog?”

  The other dogs nodded, Stacker too as he visibly trembled and glanced nervously toward the busy thoroughfare.

  “You don’t have to come with us, Stacker,” Sunny said gently. “No one will think any less of you if you do not.”

  “That’s right, Stacker,” Levi agreed. “It might not be safe for you to head home alone right now, but you can wait for us in the alley.”

  “Between the building and the dumpster,” Yoda added. “That will give you protection from above, and keep you out of trouble till we get back.”

  Stacker squared his stance and shook his head vigorously. “I said I wanted to help, and I still do – I’m going!”

  “Good boy!” Yoda yapped encouragingly.

  “Stay close to me as we cross,” Sunny said.

  Levi smiled and looked upon the little Parson Russell with approval. “You might have a heart of oak after all, Stacker.”

  “Huh?”

  “All right, let’s get ready to cross,” Levi announced, moving to the curb, the others close behind. “When I start out, move with me, keep up, and keep a sharp eye out for turning cars.”

  Levi glanced across the wide street at the crossing signal on the far side. One of the greatest misconceptions about the canine world is that dogs are color blind, dwelling in a stark black-and-white realm, relieved only by pallid shades of gray. Nothing could be further from the truth. Not only do canine eyes possess sufficient rod-and-cone receptors to differentiate between all the colors of the rainbow, but their eyesight is shifted a bit toward the infrared, as befits the descendents of wolves and direwolves, which is why the night sky always seems to dogs to possess a faint reddish wash; that altered sense of perception is also why dogs growl in the night when there is, apparently, nothing to be seen – the Children of Anubis see much of this world, and also much of worlds unknown and unsuspected.

  “Go!” Levi snapped and leaped from the curb, keeping to a fast trot that would get them across quickly, yet still allow for reactions to vehicles driven by distracted and demented mooncalves. “Keep up! Stay together!”

  And then they were on the other side.

  Not pausing any longer than was necessary to see that everyone was all right and not too shaken up (Stacker was trembling but since he was obviously doing his best to hide it no one mentioned it) Levi led the pack with a quick and efficient lope. Sunny caught up with him, leaving the two little dogs close behind.

  “You know that we’re out of our territory,” she said.

  “We all knew that when Stacker said the dog was at Bayfront.”

  “Just mentioning it,” Sunny said. “It is not often that we get out of our neighborhood, what with the gangs in their own territories and the police K9 officers trying to keep a lid on it.”

  “I don’t think we have much to worry about down here west of Broadway,” Levi replied. “No gangs to speak of, just some loners and the pets in the apartment houses; and you won’t catch the K9 hounds nosing around here – as far as they’re concerned, it’s just a half-mile on the edge of oblivion.”

  “Ah, the marsh lands on the other side of the trolley tracks,” Sunny murmured. “You should know about that better than anyone, I suppose – it took a week for the scent to wear off totally.”

  “Most dogs don’t hold a grudge for six months,” Levi said.

  “Grudge?” Sunny said, surprised. “Who’s holding a grudge?”

  “Who indeed?”

  “I’m just saying you could have used my strength the night of the accident,”[9] Sunny explained. “Had I been along, you would not have had to rely on blind luck for help to come by, nor rely on that steely alpha stare to stop a speeding car.”

  “Did you have breakfast today?”

  “You know I did. Why?”

  “You get snarky when you’re hungry.”

  “I am not snarky!”

  Suddenly, Levi broke into a flat run, those long legs of his giving him such speed as dogs other than Greyhounds could not hope to attain.

  “Levi! What is it?”

  “Make sure the others get across okay!”

  Bayfront Trolley Station

  Chapter Six

  Fortunately, Woodlawn Avenue was a sleepy street lined with seedy motels and disreputable businesses, so herding the others across safely was no problem at all for Sunny, to whom herding came as naturally as retrieving. She was as confused as the others as to why Levi had suddenly broke away; that is, she was confused till sh
e got to the other side and had started down the access road that led to the back parking lot of the trolley station. Yoda realized what was going on the same moment Sunny did.

  “We’ve got to move fast!’ Yoda shouted.

  Sunny and Yoda sprinted, followed closely by the young Parson Russell, who still had no idea what was going on, for his senses were not nearly as highly developed as those of the three detectives. Even among the operatives of the Three Dog Detective Agency, however, there were differences and degrees. While Sunny had the sharpest of eyesight, being a retriever, her hearing was nowhere near as keen as Yoda’s, those pricked-up ears of his acting almost like radar dishes. And being dogs, their senses of smell was nothing short of amazing; for all that, though, neither of them could compete with Levi when it came to sniffing – from the Dachshund side of his ancestry, bred to find and ferret out badgers from deep in their earthy lairs, he had inherited a nose that was nothing short of a chemical analysis laboratory, able to detect the faintest clues…and he had a mind that was even keener than his sniffer.

  Long before Sunny had seen the quivering of the wires visible above the tracks, and long before Yoda had heard the low ominous rumble of the metal wheels upon the tracks, Levi had smelled the increasing ozone around the wires, the hot oil that lubricated the trolley-train’s machinery and scents picked up by the cars of the train as it traveled out of San Diego and National City, so different from Chula Vista.

  As Sunny bounded across the parking lot, she saw Levi reach a pale canine form partially on the tracks. He grabbed her collar with his teeth and pulled for all he was worth. The trolley-train was on the other side of E Street, on its final approach into the station, the crossing arm down across the street and the warning bells clanging.

  Levi struggled, but the distressed dog was larger than him, and while determination and valor can often work miracles, even Levi was at times bound to the physical laws of the universe. Sunny was a big girl, heavily muscled, but running fast was not her forte.

  She ran fast, very fast, urged on by desperation and a valiant heart seemingly on the verge of bursting.