Panthera Spelaea Ch. 61-70

We moved to his private dining room for lunch, just aft of his office. The four switchers in the world right now sat down at the small table. We were heading southeast at high speed, and it was too windy on deck for comfort. Art waited until we'd been served, then told the stewards to remain out until he called for them. "There's one more thing we need to talk about."

"The Eagle," I replied.

"Yes. You did well in collecting it and returning it to us. I'm curious why you didn't have one of your girls touch it, especially Svetlana with her injuries."

Duncan looked at me from across the table. "I'd like to hear this as well. I don't know if I could have resisted if it had been Olivia."

"When I stuffed the carcass into the backpack, I didn't know about Svetlana's gunshot wound. When I did, I was too focused on stopping the bleeding. Honestly, I forgot about everything else for the moment, including Ekatarina's eagle. I wanted to get her to the Doctor, and we did that."

"What if she was too wounded to pull through surgery?"

I shrugged. "If there was no other choice, I might have done it. I was confident that if Doc could stabilize her, I could heal her. That's what happened, so what-ifs are meaningless."

Edward was shocked by this. "You wouldn't want her to be a Switcher like you?"

I thought about it for a moment before replying. "It's a little selfish, but no. Svetlana already has most of the benefits; she will live without aging, can't get sick, and her injuries today will heal as if they never occurred. The only thing she doesn't have is a beast. I could see how flying around would be fun once the minds melded together, but what about my Lion's reaction? Would he still be mated to Svetlana, or would her Eagle choose another?"

"I don't know," Art said. "There's never been a mating of two Switchers."

"That we know of," Edward added. "It's not like our history is well-researched."

"And it doesn't matter now. Svetlana is healing up, and the Eagle is in the freezer." I went back to eating my prawns in red chili sauce; the chef on board was fantastic.

Art picked up from there. "That is the opportunity we've never had before, gentlemen. Until now, changes in Switchers have been the result of luck," he nodded to me, "or proximity to a family member when the switcher dies. The Eagle represents an opportunity to select the next member of our exclusive group."

"John was the one who recovered the Eagle; by all rights, he should select the next recipient," Edward said.

"This isn't a contest," Duncan replied. "The Eagle deserves a new host. The longer we delay, the more of a chance there is that we lose control of the choice. Ten million dollars was enough to flip loyal family members. How much more would Mikhail offer for that backpack?"

"As much as it takes," I replied. "I agree; the backpack is both an opportunity and a risk. We should get a new host before we have another Todd situation."

"I hate fucking Todds," Edward agreed. "But who? The only people on board are Art's family. I'm sure there are good choices, but I can think of several candidates. I'm sure Duncan can, too."

"I have some ideas," Duncan agreed. "John is right; we need to take advantage of this opportunity to bring in a Switcher who makes our group better. The real question is, what do we look for?"

"Looking around the table, I've learned a lot from how you've all lived," I said. "Ekatarina and Edward are loners, never mated, and moving around. Both made enough money to live comfortably, but what did they accomplish? Is the world as a whole better because of you, or did you exist?"

"That's a little unfair," Edward said. "My first responsibility is to myself, and then to this group. It's not easy living without aging. Avoiding notoriety and moving every decade or two keeps the secret."

"It does, but shouldn't there be more to immortality than existing?"

"I've built up a family empire and fortune," Art said. "I can't save the world, but I've done my best to make sure my family had education and opportunities. Thousands work in my companies, even though I have to work and live like a recluse. Doesn't that count for something?"

"Family is how the rest of the world seeks to live beyond their lifetime," Duncan said. "It rarely extends beyond a generation or two. Olivia and I have dozens of children and hundreds of grandchildren and beyond, but only two know we are alive. We don't get to share in their accomplishments, but we know they are making the world better."

"I'm a scientist," I said. "Paleobiology can help us understand what happened in the past, but it isn't much for our future. I think Svetlana and Anna, both nurses, have a better shot at making the world a better place than I do. What can they do with immortality? Both can become doctors, maybe researchers? How much could a medical professional learn in a lifetime, much less multiple lifetimes? That's what I'm getting at. If we're going to pick someone, we should choose a person who can help us AND the world."

"Someone with morals and a desire to help others," Edward agreed. "Someone willing to work together with us."

"And someone who can handle both the Eagle and immortality," Duncan said.

"And someone who can disappear from the world while the Gift works," Edward added.

The challenge was apparent to all. "Look, I'm the new guy. I can't make this choice alone because I'm not the one who knows what to look for."

No one said anything for a bit as we thought about it. Art finally spoke up. "What we're talking about is a job interview. We bring in candidates, test and interview them, and select the best person for the job. What if each of us picked one male and one female candidate. My people will bring them here, and we can go from there."

"And John gets to pick," Edward asked?

"No," I answered. "I would prefer a consensus, but we should at least have a majority vote of the immortals on board."

"Not switchers?"

"The seven of us," meaning the four switchers and the three mates, "are the ones who will be working with the Eagle in the future. I know this gives my triad three votes, but it isn't enough to force through a candidate alone."

Edward nodded. "I can live with that. It's better than having it all on you."

There was some discussion over leaving the mates out for fairness, but Art eventually agreed. "Get me the names of the people you'd like to propose, and I'll start bringing them in. We deal with Mikhail first, and then we'll have time to do this properly."

There was a knock on the door before Olivia came back in. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but Anna wants John in their cabin for the next (air quotes) 'treatment.'" The others broke out laughing, knowing what that entailed. Even Olivia couldn't help laughing with us.

"We can't go against the Doctor's orders," I said with a grin. "I'll be back later."

"Take your time," Art said. "Talk to the girls about candidates, and spend the afternoon with your mates. They need it after this morning."

It was good advice, and I would.

Four hours later, Svetlana had Anna screaming out her fourth orgasm as she sucked her last medically required 'treatment' out of her. By then, the gunshot wound healed up except for the scar, and Svetlana was both thankful and horny. Anna had been servicing me without reward all day, and the two of us decided to change it. I had the girls go into a sixty-nine on the bed, then pounded Anna from behind to two orgasms before coming deep inside her on her third. Svetlana rolled Anna under her, then dove back in. She had been licking her the whole time and doubled her efforts to clean it all out. By the time she was clean as a whistle, she'd cum one more time and collapsed back onto the bed.

I'd recovered enough to enter Svetlana by then, and we made love in the missionary position next to her as Anna recovered. When I'd taken good care of both of my mates, I laid on my back and pulled them into my sides. "Any ideas on candidates?"

I'd talked to them about the meeting and the decisions we'd made. "I have no idea," Anna said. "I can think of Medical School Professors or Doctors I've worked with, but I don't know them on a personal level."

Svetlana snuggled in. "I'd say my parents, but I know I'm selfish. I don't want to lose them as time goes on. It would be awkward watching them age in reverse until they look like my classmates."

"I know what you mean," I replied. "I love my Mom too, but family means everything to her. If I picked her, she'd have to watch us and her grandchildren grow old and die, and she'd hate that. My Dad doesn't work with me now, so he's out. Patrick and Melanie are still in school, but Melanie might be a good choice."

"She's in graduate school, right?"

"Yes, she's at the Wharton School of Business. Melanie's good with people, honest, and intelligent. She's the best choice to take over the family business."

"And Art is already our business guy," Svetlana said with a sigh.

"Yeah. In Melanie's favor, our family loyalty is already in place for me, and the Gift won't change her appearance enough to require changing identities soon."

"I'm good with Melanie as our female choice, and now we need a guy," Anna said.

"Jason Mamoa would be good," Svetlana teased. "Maybe Jeremy Renner? Hawkeye would be cool as an Eagle Switcher."

Anna smacked her arm. "No one famous, remember?" We still hadn't picked out anyone before dinner.

Ch. 67

The seven of us gathered after dinner in Art's office to go over our nominations to take the gift Ekatarina once had. I liked Ekatarina, though I'd only had a little time with her before Todd took her from us. The others had known her for decades and were still recovering from the shock. I could tell each of us had given our candidates a lot of thought.

Art nominated two people. James Winston was an unmarried Acquisitions director in his company and a grandson, forty-four years old and divorced, no kids. "He has an eye for identifying opportunities and the courage of his convictions. I can only imagine what he could do with his youth restored." The second, Louisa Karpen, his last daughter his mate bore before her death. "She's studying International Relations at Oxford. Exceedingly bright, personable, and intuitive. She's the kind of person people gravitate towards."

Edward's nominees were both retired now. Clark Maxwell, a former neighbor in Saskatchewan, Canada, and Professor of Agriculture at the University. His wife passed from cancer ten years ago. "One of the most brilliant people I've ever met, a real pioneer in the development of drought-tolerant crops. Give him youth and time, and he'll make a dent in world hunger." His second nominee, Edith Poole, ran a battered women's shelter in London for decades. "I picked retired people because we don't have to speculate on what they would do with their lives. We know their choices and their characters, and we can give them a second chance to continue their work."

Duncan nominated two of his children that believed them to be dead and buried long ago. Lieutenant Colonel Hunter West, United States Marine Corps, was an active-duty fighter pilot, Naval Academy graduate, and veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. His wife was killed by a drunk driver last year, and they had no children. The second daughter was a retired schoolteacher in Colorado whose husband had died of a heart attack a decade ago.

I nominated my younger sister Melanie, pointing out that as a young person, there would be no history or identity to change for a decade or more until her lack of aging became too obvious. "She's the choice to take over my father's company, and she deserves it. With two Switchers in the family, my parents and brother will protect the truth. It gives us a way to 'alternate' ownership down the road." My second nominee was a surprise to all; it was Doc Margaret. "I know I was supposed to nominate a man, but Doc would be a good choice too."

Art nodded his thanks. "I'm impressed. You've chosen good people for this. I'll come up with a suitable reason to invite them to Croatia to meet us and make the arrangements."

Duncan looked up. "How are we going to handle the interviews? My nominees both believe us to be dead."

"I think it would be best if the nominators weren't part of the interviews with the nominees. We can have you watching from another room."

I didn't agree. "We have identities to protect, and in my case, I'm too well known. Have one interviewer, with the rest watching remotely, at least until we've narrowed it down to two or three candidates."

"Good idea," Duncan said. "We should figure out what kind of standardized tests or interview questions we have for all of them, and we can feed questions on the fly by computer."

With that, Art's team started their work. His people had been busy baiting the trap. Art had talked to his friend on Svetac Island, asking to use it starting tomorrow "to let his pets out for a run." His mole was now working for us, so Zach and his security team could hide what we needed and let Mikhail's people intercept what we wanted them to.

Meanwhile, Art's agents had already reached the island and were establishing surveillance positions. They verified no other people were there; although posted as private property, boats sometimes came ashore to explore the ruins. They would have one patrol boat circling the island to make sure people stayed away.

They also found a stand-in for me. To get an animal the size of me in the Moscow photographs, you couldn't use a male African lion. Instead, they obtained a male Liger on the black market. The offspring of a male African Lion and a female Bengal Tiger, the male was much bigger than both. Where a male Lion might reach five hundred pounds, this one was almost nine hundred. He also lacked the shaggy mane of the African Lion male, making him a closer match to the photo. Most 'experts' consulted on the Moscow sighting had called it a Liger based on these two characteristics alone. A cargo helicopter had just delivered the sedated animal to the island.

Zach briefed us on progress. Our plan was simple; release the Liger and wait for Mikhail to show up, then kill them all and bury the evidence at sea. "We know from the helicopter attack that Mikhail's team won't come in until it is safe. So, we drop off John during a brief stop as scheduled. John, you make your way to the abandoned church, where our people will be waiting with the Liger. You go in, they let the Liger out, and we wait for his people to show up and kill it. We expect that once the Liger is dead, Mikhail will arrive to touch it. That's when our people move in and take them out."

"When do we arrive at the island?"

"Just before sunrise. It won't take long to get the launch in the water and deliver you to the beach," Art said.

Zach laid it out. "Our boat will drop you off; you'll have a bag with camo gear, food, water, binoculars, cellphone, and a handgun. Once we get the all-clear, our patrol will come in and clean up the evidence while we wait for another boat to get everyone off the island. Our teams will drive you to Sibenik to meet up with us."

It all sounded good. "I better get my sleep, then," I said as I thought about the early wakeup.

Art pulled me aside as we broke up the meeting. "Melanie just boarded a private jet to take her from Philadelphia to Halifax, and then another is bringing her to Split Airport. That's an hour or so south of Sibenik. She'll be here tomorrow afternoon."

"Thank you. I can't wait to see Melanie again." I collected my mates and returned to our room to sleep.

My Lion was nervous, and we both wanted to love our mates after everything that had happened. We finally got to sleep by eleven, which made the three AM wake-up tough to handle. "Stay safe," Anna said as I got ready to board the launch at the stern thirty minutes later.

"I will," I promised.

Svetlana didn't say anything; she hung on me like I was going to disappear. I kissed them both, then tossed the boatswain my bag and climbed on board. There wasn't much of a beach on this rocky island; most of the shoreline was cliffs and broken rock. The boatswain guided the rigid inflatable launch through the underwater rocks in a tiny inlet, and I jumped onto the boulders as it touched. "Welcome to Svetac Island. Good luck," he told me as he tossed me my bag.

"Thanks." I climbed up to the top of the rocks as he sped back to the superyacht. I waved at the girls, knowing they would be watching, and started the hike towards the ruins of the Crkva sv. Adrije. "Coming in," I warned them before I opened the ancient-looking wooden church door.

The rumble of a pissed-off Liger had my Cave Lion on edge.

Ch. 68

"Damn, he's a big boy," I said as I walked into the stone church. It was dark and gloomy, with weathered and broken windows and graffiti covering the interior walls. Built as a Benedictine monastery and abandoned in the early sixteenth century, the building had belonged to the Zanki family since 1760. The Liger was in a cage that barely contained his bulk, unable to turn around or raise his head. He sensed something in me, probably the scent of my cave lion, as he came forward to meet the challenge. "How did you get him in here?"

"With difficulty," the leader said. "I'm Mitch, that's Sven, and the guy at the window is Ole." I nodded at the men, who went back to observing through the windows. The way they wore their gear and carried themselves told me they were no strangers to violence. Each had on camouflage uniforms with vests and carriers for ammo. Scoped rifles leaned against walls near their positions. "You've been inside long enough, so it's time to let him go. The door will block to his right, and the cage door will block to his left. Hopefully, he'll go straight ahead and take off. If he turns on you, use this," he said as he handed me a cattle prod. "You're the one with super healing, so you get to open the cage door. Don't let him loose inside here, or we'll have to put him down. The owner of the big cat rescue said he doesn't get along well with people. His previous owner used this animal to kill those who crossed him. Makes a statement, doesn't it?"

I couldn't argue with his logic in giving me the most dangerous job. The Liger was ten feet long, over five feet at the shoulders, and had a huge head. He was a good match for my size, though the spray-paint job to hide the stripes on his chest, belly, and tail wouldn't fool anyone up close. Mitch opened the door, and I released the latches on the cage door and pulled it open, bracing behind it when it reached near the doorframe. The Liger stuck its head out, looked around, then bolted out the door and ran for the trees. The last I saw him, he was running uphill.

"Good job. Help me take this cage apart."

"What about the door?"

"Leave it open. If Mikhail is watching, closing the door would tell them someone else is here with you." We picked the cage up and walked it away from the door, soon getting it stacked against the stone wall out of sight. He handed me a small radio and a headset. "Don't transmit if you don't have to. We've got four people in sniping positions around the island keeping an eye on the Liger. Take that window over there and use binoculars to watch for helicopters and boats. Use that window, and I hope your eyes are as good as I've heard."

"Roger that." I settled in behind the broken windowpanes and started to scan for targets. Art's plan assumed that Mikhail's people would be watching and would bring him out to take out my Lion. What we didn't know was how long it would take to put a team together. The previous teams in Italy were fish food now, and we were in Croatian waters.

Mitch set a rotation to ensure we didn't get bored and sloppy with our observations. Every fifteen minutes, we'd shift around with one person taking a break. "Boredom leads to laziness," he told me. As the day went on, he coached me on observation skills. It was things like the importance of regular scanning, looking for objects out of place, and movement. That and stories about previous adventures broke up the monotony of the observation post as cool morning turned to a warm afternoon, then to a pleasant evening. The Liger had been exploring the island all day. He'd walked over the thousand-foot-tall mountain and was now moving along the cliffs on the opposite side. His options were limited as the entire island was just under two miles long and less than a mile wide. "Are your men going to be all right with that thing out there?"