Underdogs The First Stories - By Geonn Cannon Page 0,1

she had to deal with leering males of two different species.

Twal had been torn between his training and his animalistic instincts. Wanting to run her off while but also aroused by her mere presence. Ari let him get close enough to strike, and he had yelped as she pounced on him. After that, training took precedence. Protect the home. The scuffle was where her injured shoulder came from. She squeezed it with her hand as a pair of headlights swept across the dugout.

Ari climbed out into the night, assuming Dale had taken advantage of the empty streets to speed to her rescue. When she realized the new arrival was a police car, she was already exposed and it was far too late for her to run. She muttered a curse under her breath and held her hands out, palm-up, as she cautiously approached the cruiser.

The driver's side door opened and the cop stepped out. The door mounted spotlight rendered whoever it was into a vague silhouette against the slightly brighter night sky and Ari squinted into the light. "I can explain?"

The cop sighed. "Ariadne."

Ari closed her eyes and dropped her hands. "Officer Rios. You're back on the night shift."

The cop shut off the spotlight and Ari blinked away her sudden blindness. Diana Rios stepped forward and said, "It had been just long enough that I got the call and didn't immediately think you were involved. It never even crossed my mind when I heard a security alarm had been tripped and someone was seen fleeing into this field that my old friend might be sneaking around causing trouble again."

"Old friend?" Ari said. "Come on, we're more than that, right?"

Diana ignored her. "You didn't happen to be over by Bird Maintenance about an hour ago, were you?" She nodded toward the dead-end road nearby.

"You know, I was walking down that way not long ago. I saw a couple of dogs roughing each other up. They're probably what caused the alarm to go off."

Diana nodded slowly. "Sure, Ari." She turned on her flashlight and ran it down Ari's baggy army jacket and the ratty jeans. "Interesting outfit."

"You know me. Cutting edge of fashion."

"Interesting time for a walk, too."

Ari sighed. "What do you want me to say, Diana?"

"I want you to reassure me that you're not getting into trouble. But I also don't want you to tell me anymore lies, so I guess I don't want anything." She hesitated and then nodded toward the car. "You need a ride?"

Ari started to answer, but Dale chose that moment to pull into the gravel parking lot of the baseball field. Ari pointed at the car and said, "My chariot awaits."

"It's no use telling you to stay out of trouble, so I'll just ask that you try to keep out of it when I'm on duty."

"I'll do my best, Diana."

"Officer Rios," she corrected. "You gave up first-name privileges when you spent the night under false pretenses."

"My pretenses were good," Ari said. "I just took the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone."

"Yeah, the other bird being that you hacked into my computer and looked at sensitive information. I could have gotten fired for that."

Ari smiled. "Good thing the first bird made you really, really like me."

Even in the darkness, Ari knew that Diana was rolling her eyes and trying not to blush at the same time. "Go. Get in your friend's car. Drive away. Let me forget I ever saw you tonight."

"Thanks, Officer Rios."

Diana got back into her car, and Ari jogged across the field to where Dale had parked. Dale was wearing her horn-rimmed glasses instead of contacts, her red hair tucked under a baseball cap. She was still in her pink pajamas. Her face looked puffy with sleep as she unlocked the door so Ari could climb into the passenger seat.

Ari waited until Diana's car had turned around and left the lot before she spoke. "All right. Tell me what I did tonight." She could feel Dale's spidey-sense tingling, so she said, "I'll remember it all eventually, I just need a little help right now, okay? I'm fine. No more blackouts."

Dale said, "You're sure?"

"Positive," Ari said. The blackouts were the worst part of going canidae. Long stretches where the animal part of her brain completely took over and she wasn't aware of what she was doing or who she really was. They were rare, but troubling.

Dale finally said, "You dropped off a listening device in the offices of Bird Maintenance, the owner and