Asprin, Robert Lynn – Catwoman – Tiger Hunt (With Lynn Abbey)

Catwoman wasn’t listening. She was busy following Bonnie’s suggestions, turning all the heads toward the mutilated door once Bonnie had photographed them. It was taking a long time, but it would be worth it. Then Catwoman heard sounds coming from the front door.

Mother of midnight—Eddie Lobb was coming home!

Bonnie was already packing her cameras. The midwesterner’s eyes showed white all around and her breath was coming in panicked little gasps, but she managed to keep moving. Catwoman knelt beside her, passing lenses and film canisters in rapid succession.

“I’m scared,” Bonnie whispered in the smallest possible voice.

“You’ll be fine,” Catwoman hissed as the apartment echoed with the sound of a metal bolt withdrawing from a metal socket. “Go down the hall, get out the window. Go to the fire escape and climb to the roof—just the opposite of how we got in here. Can you do that?”

Tears dribbled out of Bonnie’s eyes as she nodded solemnly.

“Go. You’ll be fine. Wait for me.”

Catwoman turned off the lights, pulled the door shut, and guarded the hall. A second lock chinked free. They still had time. Nobody, not even Eddie himself, could get into this apartment quickly. She heard the drapes rustle and an involuntary yelp as Bonnie went out the window. Neither sound was loud enough to penetrate the living room. Catwoman held her breath, waiting for another sound, hoping it wasn’t the sound of something heavy hitting something hard. It wasn’t. She started moving backward down the corridor. She was in Rose’s bedroom—damn, they hadn’t gotten a picture of the Siberian tiger box that started it all—when the front door opened. She was scuttling along the ledge below the window when it shut.