Kitty Hero Chronicles

Chapter 14

Back at the cafe, Twitchy and Dach readied themselves to exit the building. In the front of the cafe, Faye had taken charge of their positions as both deejays and baristas. She seemed to have a natural talent for multitasking and was a quick learner, which could be expected from her experience as a receptionist at the Paw Print Press.

Keeping close watch through the windows on the backside of the cafe, Twitchy and Dach noticed that there was indeed another sentry rat just waiting for them to pull a stunt like they were planning. But this wasn't much of a reliable rat, from what they could see. He had managed to prop up several of the empty coffee bean boxes and create a makeshift bed for himself.

With the rat sleeping soundly, they figured breaking out would be a breeze, but they were still cautious and smart enough to bring along some backup, in the form of their high tech trinkets, just in case.

"Okay, Dach, here's the plan," Twitchy said. "We can't make a sound when leaving or that guys gonna wake up and then we're dog biscuits, got it?"

"Got it," he said. "What do you want me to do?"

"You brought everything with you, right?"

"Got it all right here in my doggy bag," Dach said, pointing to the fanny pack around his waist."

"Good. First off, we'll need the grease to make sure the door doesn't squeak when we open it." Dach unzipped his pack and rummaged around for the grease. After finding it, he zipped the pack again and handed it to Twitchy, who applied it liberally to the hinges of the door.

She opened it gently to test for the slightest sound. There was silence. They stepped gingerly out and onto the back lot of the cafe, walking on tips of their paws so as not to wake the sleeping rat. Luckily, much of the noise they might have made wouldn't have made much of a difference by the sheer volume of the rat's excessive snoring.

"I wish I'd brought a set of earmuffs," Dach whispered.

"Shhh, be quiet. No talking until we get out of here."

They continued along the back of the cafe, with Twitchy in the lead, making their way around behind the dumpster and out into the back streets.

"Owwww," Dach howled, jumping up and down and grabbing his left rear paw.

Twitchy swung around just in time to see the rat waking up and scrambling toward them, slipping on the makeshift bed he had made. She quickly unzipped Dach's pack and found what she was looking for just in time.

As the rat rounded on them, she rolled a set of loose marbles toward him. The rat twisted and spun as he reached out his claws for purchase to regain his balance. Instead, he fell headfirst into the dumpster door, knocking himself out cold, the empty thud ringing inside. The last half of his body lay straddled over the outside of the dumpster, his rear legs dangling just above the ground.

"Who says you need high tech to get the job done?" Twitchy said, wiping off her front paws. She turned and looked at Dach, who was now nursing his rear paw. "What on earth happened? You nearly got us killed and jeopardized the whole mission!"

Dach extended his paw and showed it to Twitchy. Upon close inspection, she could see a tiny shard of glass protruding out of the pad of his paw. "Here," she said, reaching again into his pack. She pulled out some tweezers and removed the glass in an instant. "There," she said, throwing the shard into the dumpster. "Now, can we get on with it already? Java's counting on us, and so is June."

Without another word, they exited the rear lot of the cafe, Dach thinking to himself all the while that someone should do a better job of keeping things clean around here.