From somewhere deep down, Catspaw became aware of the gawdawful jangling noise. As it often happened the sound became a part of his dream, a nightmare really. In his sub-conscious, 42 lunatics played "License to Kill" on tiples. Abruptly he awoke trembling. The jangling sounded again and he turned to see it was the phone. At this stage of his life he had to admit that the steady diet of hallucinogens 30 years ago was probably not a good idea, but the Bacardi made the flashbacks bearable.

The damn phone kept ringing. Whoever this was, they were serious and the sound was killing him. He looked at the Glock and thought about shooting the phone. It wouldn't have been the first time. again it rang and Catspaw reached over and lifted it to his ear. A voice he knew well, a baritone with a nice edge began speaking rapidly asking who this was.

Who do you think it is you dumb bastard? This better be good.

Colonel Rick launched into a diatribe that Catspaw tried to follow. Finally he couldn't take it anymore.

YO! Colonel! Enough already. Look, before you go on with this, I have a question.

The voice on the other end sounded exasperated as it ask what the question was.

Yeah, well......What day is this?.........Yeah, okay, now why don't you take it from the top again and try to slow down and make this more coherent huh?

After 20 minutes Catspaw had the story. He didn't want it but he had it. It was amazing to him that they would even allow him to be involved after the episode with Chelsea. He knew Sgt.Kat well. In the years before she had been one of his "Angels" and her reputation had grown greatly over time. Catspaw's on the other hand had been shoveled down the gutter through various indiscretions. The Chelsea debacle was bad enough but he had still been acknowledged as the best in the world with explosives and rockets. Then that evening a few years back in the throws of a drunken stupor, he had been jackassing around with his latest stealth missile design with the residue free explosives. He'd never forget it. Long Island had seemed like a good place to play with his toy and he'd launched it never seeing the 747 til it was too late.

Okay....I'll do it. But we need the professor. I got an idea and you got Leej already, but the Prof is a must.

Catspaw hung up and reached for the pale green bottle. What a mess. It could work though. Maybe. He began to think through the details.

Spaw