“Damnit, they’re getting away,” I thought as I watched my [stalkers] chase the people who I was pretty sure weren’t sanitation workers down the tunnel.

  My [stalker’s] usual advantage of invisibility was negated by the small puddles of water that were ever present down the tunnels that criss-crossed below the streets in a haphazard pattern.

  Whoever had been in charge of planning out the streets above clearly had no say in how the drains got laid out down here.

  “Quick! To the pig’s knuckle!” one of the thugs shouted before the group of them made a sharp left turn.

  My stalkers skidded around the corner after them only to be met by the sight of a door that had been installed in the middle of a grate slam shut.

  “You might be hot shit topside, but down here, the Skisfinks are kings!” exclaimed the same thug before laughing and jogging down at a much more leisurely pace.

  “That can’t be legal,” I thought as I examined the iron door blocking my path.

  I ground my metaphorical teeth in frustration before telepathically reaching out to my scions.

  “Any luck on your end Carmen, Midnight?” I asked.

  “No such luck,” Carmen sighed, “same story as always. As soon as I catch a whiff of anyone down here, they’ve already left and taken everything that wasn't nailed down with them.”

  “Unfortunately, things are the same over here. I’m beginning to wonder if we haven’t been chasing distractions this entire time,” Midnight replied.

  “Well whatever’s going on, I’m calling it for the day. This place is freaking huge and we open in an hour. I’m sending over some recall crystals,” I said.

  Carmen, Midnight, and the stalkers all returned momentarily with disappointed looks on their faces.

  “No luck, I take it?” Selina asked as she rounded the corner with some towels.

  “Not a bit,” Carmen replied, accepting the towel with her telekinesis.

  “Are you okay, Midnight?” Selina asked.

  “I’ve been patient so far,” Midnight replied as he levitated the towel out of Selina’s hands, “at least we’re taking the fight to them now.”

  “Sounds like you might need to change up your strategy,” Selina said as she began drying off the [stalker's] paws.

  I sighed and thought for a second.

  “Well we’ve got a bunch of people who are using our new security system that have been harassed by the Skisfinks before. Maybe we can ask around and see if anyone knows anything?” I suggested.

  “Sounds like a plan,” Selina said, “now, I’ve heard from chef S’more that he’s got a few more menu ideas that he wants to run by you.”

  “Allright, I’ll grab a [cat-kin] and we can test them out,” I chuckled.

  ***

  “Hi, I’m here on behalf of Lucky Cat Insurance in regards to the security package you signed up for. We were wondering if you had the time to complete a quick survey,” said the [cat-kin].

  “Hmm, yeah I’ve got a few minutes,” said the dwarven shopkeeper who was sweeping the front of his shop, “what can I do for you?”

  “On a scale from one to five, with five being the highest, how satisfied are you with the security package?” asked the [cat-kin].

  If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

  “I’d go with a four. One of the big cats that popped out knocked over a shelf. Didn’t have to pay the Skisfinks any protection money, so they worked at least,” said the shopkeeper as he stroked his beard

  “On a scale from one to five, how likely are you to recommend the security package to another business owner?” asked the [cat-kin].

  “Oh a five easily,” replied the shopkeeper, “It works as advertised and you can’t beat free.”

  The [cat-kin] nodded, “last question, do you have any information on the individuals who accosted your shop?”

  The shopkeeper paused his sweeping and raised an eyebrow at this.

  “I can tell you that they showed up at the same time of the month like clockwork and from the western side of the road, but other than that, I didn’t bother to go chasing after trouble,” replied the shopkeeper.

  “Thank you for completing the survey. Lucky Cat Insurance thanks you for your help,” the [cat-kin] replied before leaving.

  “Just hope this whole thing doesn’t turn out to be a dark bargain,” muttered the shopkeeper before returning to his sweeping.

  ***

  “Well I heard from Gretta, or maybe Susan? No, I'm sure it was Gretta. Well anyway she said that she saw some of those nasty people crawling out of the sewers on eighteenth street. Or was it nineteenth street?” Anyways, it was somewhere around there…”

  ***

  “I heard it was a secret cult of mole people who were infesting the sewers in order to dig sinkholes below the city. That’s why I got levitation runes put around my house. Hey don't give me that look! Wait, where are you going?”

  ***

  “I'd tell you something if I knew anything. Sorry about that. I'm glad that someone is finally doing something about those gangsters.”

  ***

  “Look, I'm glad that this new casino is helping out around here, I really do, but I've got kids and I need to make sure that they stay safe. That means not getting more involved than I already am. For what it's worth, I hope you come out on top.”

  ***

  “WELCOME TO- oh one of the dungeon’s denizens. What can I do for Mr. House?” Spreen asked.

  “Might as well skip the survey. Spreen would probably want us to get to the point,” I said to my [cat-kin].

  “Mr. House is wondering if you have any information regarding the Skisfink’s main base of operations in the sewers,” my [cat-kin] replied.

  Spreen’s lips curled into a smile.

  “I thought you’d never ask,” she said before disappearing into the back of her shop.

  Several thumps, swears, locks turning, a figurine falling over, and more swearing later, Spreen returned with a map of the slums that looked like it had yards of red string attached to it just moments before.

  “I’ve been trying to find the location of their hideout for years. I haven’t found it, but I have narrowed it down to here,” Spreed said as her index finger thumped down on the map where she had drawn several circles.

  “That’s not all,” Spreen said with a wicked grin as she slid her finger to another section of the map, “I've narrowed down the neighborhood where the Don lives.”

  “Sheesh, it's a good thing Spreen hates Jasper or the two of them could take down the city,” I thought.

  “This information looks like it could be useful to Mr. House. How much would that map cost us?” asked my [cat-kin.]

  “So long as something awful happens to Don Skiskfink, I'll consider the debt repaid,” Spreen said with glee.

  “Well dismantling his criminal organization should do the trick,” I said.

  “Mr. House believes he can arrange something,” my [cat-kin] replied.

  ***

  “So it looks like we were in the general area, but this map really narrows it down,” Selina said as my voice and two scions studied the map.

  “And we also have the area where this Don person is supposed to live,” purred Midnight.

  “This should keep us from chasing our own tails,” Carmen added, “so Mr. House, what's the plan?”

  “Well ideally we should try and hit their hideout while Don is away” I began, “unfortunately we would need to find the location of Don's house and narrow down the location of the hideout more than Spreen has.”

  “We could set out patrols for Don and see if we can't find him that way,” Selina suggested.

  “That's a start,” I agreed.

  “We can send out a few lucky cats with the patrols. Perhaps we can speed things up with a bit of luck,” suggested Carman.

  “In the meantime, we should keep up the pressure. If we can tire them out, they'll get sloppy and make a mistake,” Midnight said.

  “Well it's not a full plan, but it’s at least a plan of action,” I shrugged as I assigned a few [stray cats] and [lucky cats] to the area where Don Skiskfink supposedly resided.