KC Frantzen - May the K9 Spy 02 - May Finds a Way: Peril in Paris by KC Frantzen Page A

Boy’s name.”
    “He is not happy, like most humans.” Léonce indicates I should follow. “Soon you will accompany me to find you a home.”
    I wish he would understand. I have a great home, it’s just far away and I have a task to complete first.
    As we leave, I watch Alexis, eyes squeezed shut, swaying with knees clutched to his chest.



Chapter 15
    T hough Léonce has been gracious to share his food, a few days of raw pigeon is about enough. Not that I’d mention it. Wouldn’t be proper. At least I learned how to chew quickly through the feathers to the meat. And now a change in fare. Yum!
    Gnaw, munchmunch, swallow. “Thank you, Léonce. Mole has a nice earthy flavor.” I examine the carcass. “Strange creatures aren’t they – poking around, avoiding daylight.”
    After a few more bites I ask, “When can I really be on my way?”
    “You can move well?”
    I stand and stretch. “See?”
    “ Oui . Try walking.”
    Drat. In spite of my best effort, I limp. A little.
    “Purrhaps tomorrow. Finish dining then we practice in the event they find you.”
    I settle down with the mole between us. “Mother used to say, ‘A prepared puppy is ready when opportunity is provided.’ If I’m still here when the anarchists return, maybe I can dig out information we can use to stop them.”
    “You are a rare canine.”
    Blush. “I was just at the right place at the right time. But the culprit, Rukan, slipped past, which still seems strange, like he knew we were close. The thing is, I know him well. I lived with him and his family.”
    Léonce looks up, surprised.
    “He is a horrible human. He was bad to his wife, but mainly to me. He hated dogs. He even taught his son to be mean. He’d hurt me and Rukan enjoyed it. I think he was going to kill me, but the Creator had a plan.”
    Léonce looks unconvinced. “So you have said.”
    “Well, it’s true. I’m proof. That’s how I know about anarchists. That’s what he called himself. Sometimes when the family wasn’t around, Rukan talked on the phone about overthrowing the government, creating confusion and terror, that sort of thing.”
    “Chaos. This is ze Director and her group’s specialty.”
    “I could tell from the leaflets. A few weeks after I helped thwart the bombing in DC, I spied Rukan working at the airport, when I was dognapped. He’s plotting something, I know it. Hehad an operative on the plane. So I must get back, to alert the K9 Service.”
    “Purrhaps these are connected. When ze angry man was talking about you he grumbled, ‘I take care of it myself.’”
    “But I’m a nobody, just one of the team. Many operatives, two and four-footed, have been working to catch him.”
    “But it was your photo in ze newspaper. If this Rukan is caught, this could disrupt ze local anarchists, oui ?”
    Shudder. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
    He purrs, “I will help.”
    “Great!”
    Léonce tugs on another serving, then I help myself to a tiny bit more. It’s quiet so I fill in. “Dee-licious. My sister April likes raw mole, rabbit too, but never shares. She just growls, mostly at me. Dad’s real glad she likes mole because it saves him lots of work.”
    “ Oui . Cemetery workers discuss this also, ze destruction. If I leave a carcass, they offer me treats. But I never eat them. Could be poison.”
    “Dad says the bad thing is moles cause lots of hidden damage because you don’t know about them until it’s been done.”
    Idea! I scramble to stand.
    “Headquarters talked about a mole but I couldn’t make sense how a mole would live there, or the airport either, with floors and concrete and all, but maybe they didn’t mean a real mole, maybe they mean like a mole. Maybe it’s a way todescribe something, or some one … Yeah. Someone with access to sensitive material, acting incognito.”
    My mind whirls while Léonce begins post-meal cleanup.
    The administration training assistant eyed me when I checked in, but… How much sensitive material