19. run away bus Sapphire Panther and Amethyst Panther got up and walked over to Josy Lynx and flanked both sides of him, wrapping their arms around him. “Are you O.K.?” Sapphire Panther asked him. Amethyst Panther was sitting on the side with the ear that was bullet-nicked. “Here, let me see” she said, mothering him. “I’m fine. It’s just a flesh wound” he said, removing his hand from his ear, so Amethyst Panther could visually inspect it. Yellow Yama Flying Squirrel Leaping Lynx got up and walked over and kissed him on the forehead. Pink Honeysuckle Red Scorpion Pouncing Panther was still focused on the intruder, but she slowly got up, still watching him, shook her head a couple times, then slowly turned around and proceeded over to Josy Lynx, and grabbed his head in a big hug, while her sister was still trying to gently make sure no debris was in the wound. “Whoa, be careful sister!” Amethyst Panther said. “I’m sorry Josy” Pink Panther said, and she let go, and walked over to the couch and sat down. Leo snapped out of his momentary shock, and got up to walk over. “You O.K. brother?” he said, putting his hand on Josy Puma Lynx’s shoulder, squeezing gently, giving him a mini-hug. Catia Cheetah looked at Pink Panther. “Is he?… is he dead?” she asked quietly, shifting her gaze to the intruder. “Yea. He was weird, though. Like he wasn’t even fully human. But … I hate that I had to kill him. I didn’t mean to … I mean, I guess I kinda did, but then I just tried to put him under, but it killed him.” “Don’t fret, Pink Honeysuckle. He was one of the Dragon’s sharks. You did the right thing. I would have done the same. I was about to plug him with steel, myself, but, ah, I guess you beat me to the draw.” former F.B.I. special agent Maxine Violet Leffleur said. “That’s why I could barely see his aura, and didn’t see him coming!” Catia Cheetah interjected her comments of sudden realization into the conversation. “I know, but it just feels … wrong” Pink Honeysuckle said to Grandmother Violet. Maxine Violet Leffleur continued speaking to Pink Honeysuckle “That was his aura exploding. He was only a shark soul, so it wasn’t too bad, but you are a sensitive delicate flower, my Granddaughter. That’s what makes you so beautiful, don’t forget.” “I told you that lifetime in the Shaolin Temple was worth it” Amethyst Panther said. “Oh, come on now, Ms. know-it-all, just relax. Give her a chance, let her work out the kinks from the blast” Sapphire Panther said to her sister. “Sorry, sis” Amethyst Panther said to Pink Panther. “I thought I was learning how to control the venomous Qi from the Scorpion within me, so I could use it safely, as in "not at all! ! !", not effectively, as in "kill someone."” Pink Honeysuckle Red Scorpion Pouncing Panther replied. “You used your training properly, effectively, and skillfully. Your intuition guided you to follow the right path. As one of the Dragon’s shark-souled-puppets, he was never going to be able to evolve; he only existed because the Dragon used her skills with Qi to "glue" him together, and that glue was weak; even without the Dragon in his mind, he was never going to be able to find the spiritual dimensions or Nirvana. We have tried to save these souls before, by capturing them and attemping to reguide them, but their body dies quick, then their souls simply dissolve without the Dragon’s cohesive energy. Remember, in times of need, the Spirit Flows. And remember, we all have conflicting energies within us, that’s what brings about life itself, and especially the human condition. You’re managing them just fine. Remember, learning to manage all the conflicting energies at once is the path to higher consciousness, and you can’t do that without experience training you. You’ll get though this moment of stress and begin to clearly see that your Crown made the right decision. But that doesn’t mean you have to ignore your compassion for him, that just kills the Pink Honeysuckle flower within you!” Grandmother Maxine Violet Leffleur advised Pink Honeysuckle Pouncing Panther. “Yes, Grandmother” Pink Honeysuckle said, almost reluctantly, but realizing she was entirely correct. Josy Lynx had had enough mothering, hugging and kissing, and attention for the moment, especially after being shot at. Something inside of him just wished he was a Lynx again, alone, lying on a wide, high tree limb next to a still lake. He stood up, shifting to the side a bit to avoid bumping or pushing Leo and said “if it’s O.K. Leo, I’m going upstairs to take a shower. I…I need some quiet time right now. And I want to wash this ear. Ah, sorry, I think I dripped blood on your couch.” Josy pointed to the drop on the backrest pillow, as he pinched his ear with his other hand. “By all means, brother” Leo said, looking him in the eye. “Josy, … don’t take too long. We gotta get out of here. I could see the Dragon in this shark’s mind. She saw all of us. I could see at that moment there is only one assassin here, but she’ll send more after us. Tonight? Tomorrow? Who knows.” Maxine Violet Leffleur was walking over to the window as she spoke, and looked out. “Wow. A flying saucer. That means more could come at any time.” “O.K.” Josy said, as he turned, and proceeded upstairs; he stopped a moment, and replied “Awishona Ts'uyya said we were selected and asked to help because the Dragon never met us and doesn’t know us.” “That was to protect Jasmine. The Red Dragon doesn’t care about ANYTHING except Jasmine. Stay out of her way, and she ignores you. Obsession taking over her entire aura and mind. Any way she can hurt Jasmine, she tries.” Violet had walked over to Jasmine as she spoke, and she placed her hand on Jasmine’s back between her shoulders. “Now she knows where to find Jasmine. Your identity is meaningless in this situation at this time. Unless we fail in this lifetime, and you confront the Dragon in any lifetime, she’ll simply focus on other things. It’s part of the mental disease growing within her from too much hucha, not enough meditation.” Violet wrapped her yellow alpaca-wool shawl around her chest, and continued “If you have alpaca, wear it, now that the Dragon has seen you.” she said, looking at Josy Lynx, Leaping Lynx, and the Panther sisters. Maxine Violet Leffleur stepped out the front door and looked up and down the street. Everything was still and quiet in the darkness. Mostly old, retired folks lived in this neighborhood. They likely couldn’t even hear the window explode even if they had theirs open. But it was too cold for that. She looked inside the open door of the mini-saucer, just big enough to hold one person, and noted that the controls looked like helicopter controls. Yellow Yama Leaping Lynx came up behind her, and peered in also. “Ever fly a helicopter?” Maxine Violet Leffleur asked Yellow Yama Leaping Lynx. Maxine Violet Leffleur walked back inside the house, as Yellow Yama entered the small, low craft on the front lawn, half-hidden in the tall grass, and sat in the chair and studied the controls situated around her. She dared to turn on what she believed to be the main screen, and it worked. She found the menu, navigated through it, and found the owner’s manual and operating and navigating instructions, AND the maintenance and repair manual tucked away in the file system. She quickly began reading. Maxine Violet Leffleur addressed the remaining crowd in the front room, as Leo returned with an armload of blankets, handing the first one to Jazmin, who was already shivering in the cold air — or from nervous fear — or both. Maxine closed the front curtains that had parted slightly in the middle from the blast, as she began to speak. “We have a safehouse — or the F.B.I. does — not too far from here, that we should be able to retreat to, at least for a while.” Maxine focused on Jasmine, as Sapphire Panther and Amethyst Panther moved over near the front window and bent over upside-down to shake the broken glass bits out of their hair and into the mess on the floor — the window curtains had limited the blast-zone but they sat within it. “Number one priority is contacting your daughter, Tammy, and getting her to destroy that phone. Mexico is a sparse network of cell-phone towers, so chances are, they can not pinpoint her location, but they can get within a 100-mile diameter, and it won’t be hard to find her from there with modern tech. So we also need to get her to move, or get to her and escort her out of there, pronto.” Jasmine’s eyes were wide, as she and Violet locked gazes, as Violet spoke to her. Tears of worry appeared glazed over her irises, and clouded her vision. Jazmin started to cry “I’m sorry. I don’t want my children missing to bring you problems like this” she looked at Catia Cheetah and Leo. Catia Golden Sunflower Cheetah wheeled over and took her hand, and Leo followed and took her other hand. “NO, sweetheart! This is NOT your fault! Or your childrens’ fault!” Catia said to Jazmin. “NO! Not at all!” Leo emphasized. Jasmine walked over, and rubbed her on the back between her shoulders “this is MY fault. They are after ME. I took a … bad … job before I met you, and they wanted to kill ME afterwords. That’s why I went to Mexico. I brought you back here. This is NOT your fault.” Jazmin was still crying, though. Sapphire Panther and Amethyst Panther walked over and started gently massaging her shoulders and rubbing her temples. Pink Panther was still doubting herself, and didn’t want to let her Qi escape into anyone else today, lest it be poisoned with hate and possessiveness. Maxine Violet Leffleur replied to Jasmine “this is only the fault of the Red Dragon.” Maxine Violet Leffleur continued speaking instructions to the others. “If you have a cell-phone, either pull out the battery if it’s old enough, or smash it and take the parts with you. Panther sisters, … I hope I’m not being rude to address you that way …” “No my Grandmother, please continue” Sapphire Panther said. “Gather all the food in the house and put it in your vehicle, or the bus if it will carry us all and our stuff. Let’s see what Josy says. Leo, I’m sending you to a late-night U-Haul dealer; they’re open ’till 9:00, so you need to hurry. Take your sister’s car in the garage, the Dragon didn’t get to see it. It’s not too far away, in the outskirts of greater New York City on the North side. Here, use this card for the rental” she said, pulling a small hidden "traveler’s waist-band wallet" out from under her shirt, and grabbing a Visa debit card out of it, handing it to him. “Leave your car there, and bring the U-Haul truck. You can meet us along the way, and we’ll ditch the bus. It’s cloudy tonight, so the satellites can’t see you, or us. We need to 86 our vehicles, and be in the U-Haul by dawn, so the street cameras can’t see us well enough for an A.I. to follow us. Most of the trip will be unmonitored roads, but we will have to drive through a few small towns with cameras at intersections.” “What do we do with him?” Catia Cheetah said, looking at the dead body beneath the broken front window. “We leave him here, gun still in his hand. Don’t mess with the bullet in the wall. Board up the window, if you have any plywood, Leo.” “Some old small scraps, but I think they may be enough” “Just keep the wind and rain out until you can return. We’ll take care of the body in the mean time, so he doesn’t stink up the place, or draw unwanted attention from local cops with his stench. Or perhaps I still have some help in the Bureau. Or maybe …” she laughed out loud “I could call the New York mafia and blackmail them into doing it! Never thought I’d hear myself say that. O.K. Sorry.” She looked back at Leo “do you have any important mail … bills or something … coming soon? Stuff you can’t predict and just put on auto-pay or auto-deposit?” “No.” “O.K., good. We’ll be fine, folks.” She looked at Jazmin, who was still slightly, quietly crying, and bent down on one knee in front of her, and took her hand. “My friends Yellow Tiger and Awishona Ts'uyya and José Yaguar would not have sent these folks to help us find your kids if they were not very strong and powerful. Don’t worry sweetheart, you will be O.K., we will be O.K., and your children will be O.K., and we WILL find them.” “Thank you for your kind words and your confidence, my Grandmother” Amethyst Panther said. “Yes, thanks” Sapphire Panther said. “Thank you, my Grandmother” Pink Panther said. “You’re all welcome, and you deserve to hear the truth” she said, smiling, and continued “I’ll keep an eye open, ready for anything else the Dragon throws at us tonight.” She turned to Jasmine and continued “I’ll also assist you in helping Spots, ah, Catia, in getting her stuff together, and getting together whatever Leo needs, from the house for 6 months stay away. Maybe it will be a week, maybe two, maybe a month, but let’s say 6 months, just for overkill, just for safety sake.” “We don’t need much” Catia "Spots" Ocelot Cheetah said. “No, we don’t. Some clothing, depending on a washing machine being available” Leo agreed. Josy Lynx came down the steps, with a bandana wrapped around his head, holding the makeshift bandage he made from toilet-paper. “Oh, shit brother, I forget to give you a bandage!” Leo said, scrambling towards the upstairs bathroom where Josy just came from. “No, don’t need one. It’s not bleeding much anymore, and I hate disposable plastic stuff, even band-aids. I use them when I need to, but this is fine for now.” “You’re so strong, Josy!” Pink Panther said outright, somewhat surprising herself as she spoke. “Ah, yea, it’s just a flesh wound. I’ll be fine. Hey, look y’all, I’ve got news. I talked to José Yaguar down in Mexico, and told him what happened.” “Huh?” Jasmine quickly responded. “Coconut wireless … you know, direct psychic communication. I’m not that great at it, but they say a lot of people are worse than me … I just needed the quiet flow of the water over me, out here in the city, where all this environmental electromagnetic pollution just jangles me. The water kinda blocks it, or grounds it, or something. And it helps me relax my mind enough, too, so I can quickly meditate into it. “Anyway, José Yaguar said we need to get to Tammy before the Dragon finds her. He has friends in Mexico nearby where she is staying. He has been watching us. How he does that without our knowledge is beyond me; like is he shape-shifting into a fly on the wall or something? But how he knows everything from Mexico to here is beyond me.” “You’ll see how one day” Maxine Violet Leffleur said. “Yea, well, José said to tell you Jasmine, that he has 10 Spiritual Warriors watching over Tammy right now; they have been all along. He is sending more, and he is sending one of his latest students to escort her out of there, down to Southern Mexico. She can wander the streets down there without worrying about local banditos. No reason to hide in the church.” Jasmine put her forehead in her hand, as she looked down at the floor, rubbing her own skull. “Jasmine, everything is fine. You have made all the right decisions so far. Your daughter will be fine. In a few minutes Leo can drop us off where I have a cellphone stashed nearby, and we can call your daughter and tell her to smash her phone. Don’t worry. We got this, girl! Come on! We are a BIG family, and we got your back, we got your daughter’s back, and we got Jazmin’s back” she said, turning her gaze to Jazmin, who was finally calming down enough to stop crying. “And that pendent that Awishona Ts'uyya gave you! Don’t forget what she said. You are protected by 100 Spiritual Warriors. How do you think these ladies responded with such an instantaneous defense?” Maxine Violet Leffleur said, turning to look at Pink Panther. “I felt them! Just before the window exploded. I was already ready to Pounce. That was really freaking me out! I thought it was my own Red Scorpion Qi gone bad!” “That was your Qi. Don’t doubt it. What made it start to flow?” Pink Panther shrugged. “Like we say, "when the time comes, the Spirit Flows"” Yellow Yama Leaping Lynx walked back in the front room. “I found the instructions AND the repair manual. I looked at the schematics, and I think we can disable the entire communications network, and the unit will be invisible to the parent system. It’s A.I. system does not need help to fly or navigate. But we need a bit of time, AND equipment for modifying the circuit boards. Yellow Tiger told me you like electronics, and building them. Got any tools on you?” she asked Josy Lynx. “My van is a bit small …” “Tools? Why do you think I drive a bus? I’d have a cross-over road-ready dirt bike if it weren’t for tools. I can fix your car. I can fix your computer. Maybe your dishwasher, too. But not your heart. You let it break, you fix it.” He smiled a shit-eating grin. “Can you come and take a look and see what you think, and maybe help me disable that system?” Yellow Yama Flying Squirrel Clapping Seal Leaping Lynx asked Josy Woods Skunk Mongoose Puma Lynx. “Surely.” “HA! My friends used to call me Shirley. Shirley Squirrel.” She smiled at him as they walked out the front door together. “Oh, it’s cold. I have an alpaca sweater in my bus, and an extra; do you need one? …” “Doomed, that boy is” Sapphire Panther said. Pink Panther didn’t giggle this time.