Chapter 39

It was the week following Thanksgiving, and Marty and Kelly had been doing some shopping for their upcoming wedding. They had decided to be married before Christmas and would honeymoon on Maui over Christmas and New Year's. Although virtually the entire firm would be out there, too, it was the only place they wanted to go.

After the five-man attack on them, the press and the TV stations gave a big play to the young women and their protective tigers. KNBC, of course, had the exclusive because of Ann Henry's arrival on the scene. However, when her footage aired, substantial portions were electronically obscured because three news people had become violently ill just viewing the unedited tapes.

It was now generally conceded that even the most dim-witted, ill-informed felons in the land knew of the dangers of attacking any woman accompanied by one of the Royal Bengal tigers. As a result the girls now took it for granted that they could go anywhere at any time in complete safety. Now it was late — after eleven — and they were in a rather seedy part of the city. It was, in a word, a slum.

As they walked along the sidewalk with King pacing ahead of them, they were engrossed in their conversations and didn't notice that there was no one else in sight on the street. Coming to an intersection, they were waiting for the light when they heard a scream of pure terror that sounded like it was coming from a woman. Marty pointed to the right and the two women sprinted towards the next block.

When they reached the intersection with the parallel street, they looked down the block and were horrified. There was a black woman, absolutely naked, lying on her back in the middle of the street. Two young black men were guarding the block at the intersection to head off any cars that might turn into the street, while two others were in sight at the other end of the block doing the same thing.

Surrounding the woman were about ten other black men talking loudly as if they were bragging to the whole neighborhood. They heard one say, "Gloria, you're not going to disappoint us like the last one did, are you? We have you figured for at least three rounds apiece, and we've only done one."

Then shouting to the houses he said, "What's wrong, folks? Have you called the cops yet? Because they won't come! We own this city! We do what we want. Now we want to fuck the ass off this dumb broad."

Then to the woman he said, "Give me your hand." The woman slowly lifted her right hand. The thug took it and then stubbed out a burning cigarette in her palm. The girl screamed in pain while the man shouted, "See how environmentally aware we are? We don't just drop cigarettes on the street. We put them out first."

Then to the girl he said, "On your knees, bitch! I want to take you from behind this time." The girl moaned but rolled over on her stomach, then slowly raised her body to a kneeling position with her knees spread wide and waited.

Marty looked at King who was looking up at her, while obviously shaking with rage. She said fiercely, "Get 'em, King! And make a big mess!"

The huge cat was off with a bound. The two guards at the girls' end of the street were standing close enough together that King could reach them both. Leaping with his paws out and his claws extended, he raked both men from head to waist but didn't even slow down. The man who had been doing all of the loud talking had just dropped his pants and was taking his position behind the crying woman when, with a terrifying scream of sheer rage, King clawed him and took a huge bite from his neck at the jugular.

In the next seconds the girls, who were still standing at the end of the block, could only see furious flashes of gold and black as the tiger slashed and bit at anything within his great reach. In just seconds, all ten of the men were down and King proceeded to dismember their bodies with his slashing claws. The two men guarding the other end of the street had enough sense to run away as fast as they could while the tiger was occupied with his victims.

Finally, with blood running in rivers towards the curb, King stood up on his hind legs, pawed the air, and let out a thunderous roar of rage and victory.

Now for the first time there were sounds of windows opening along the street and people began to look out. Most ducked back inside as quickly as they could when they realized that large pieces of bodies were lying all over the street.

Meanwhile, Marty and Kelly ran up the street to the naked girl who was still lying with her face on the street and her hips in the air waiting for the next vaginal assault.

"My God!" Marty cried as she realized that the inner surfaces of the woman's thighs were bloody and blood was continuing to run from her ravaged sex. Dropping to her knees, she ripped off the windbreaker she was wearing, then gently lifted the woman from the street.

After slipping the jacket over her shoulders she took her in her arms and held her tightly. "You poor thing," she murmured. "They hurt you so terribly!"

The woman lifted her eyes and saw Marty for the first time. "You're a golden angel! And you rescued... me?"

"No, dear," Marty said softly. "I didn't. King did. If you want to thank someone, thank him." By this time King had padded back and was looking at the woman with deep sympathy showing in his eyes.

The woman looked at the tiger and just managed to say, "Thank..." when she lost consciousness.

"Can ... Do you think ... Will they be able to save her, Mistress?" King asked. "I tried my very best..."

"King," Marty said softly, "you were utterly perfect! If anything happens to this woman it would only be because we didn't get here soon enough. Darling, they did nothing to her — nothing at all — from the time we arrived on the scene."

By then the sounds of approaching sirens could be heard coming from all directions. In moments police cars converged on them from both ends of the block. Marty and the woman, along with Kelly and King, just stayed where they were, although they were now illuminated by the headlights of six patrol cars.

Only then did Marty realize she was kneeling in a giant pool of blood as she held the girl in her arms. Then she realized she really didn't care. Nor did she care at all about the gore all over the area, nor about the body parts spread around the block. It did not affect her in the slightest. As she knelt in the street, she could hear more police cars arriving every moment, but she didn't care about that either.

Then she said, "Kel, why don't you take King home as soon as you can? I'm going to stay with this girl. Okay?"

Kelly started to protest, but just swallowed hard and nodded her head.

When she looked up, Marty found herself looking into an array of drawn handguns. "Hey, guys! How about holstering the hardware and getting an ambulance here, fast? This girl has been raped by ten different guys. She's bleeding profusely from her vagina and is in very bad shape."

Then her voice became harsh and commanding. "Get off your dead asses and move! She's the victim, for Christ's sake!"

Then she could feel the girl in her arms begin to regain consciousness. "It hurts..." she murmured. "Oh, dear God! It hurts so badly..." When Marty whispered in her ear that everything would be all right, the girl's eyes cleared and she asked, "But you're still here! Why are you here? Who are you, anyway? You're a golden angel come to earth!"

"Honey," Marty whispered, "my name is Martha Bradford and I'm as far from being an angel as a person could get. I am a lawyer. In most people's regard, we rank right down there with skunks and sharks ... But I think I've met much nicer skunks and sharks..."

In spite of her pain, the girl giggled. Then she managed to say, "You're the funniest lawyer in the world." After pausing to build her strength she added, "But lawyers aren't supposed to be funny..."