“Yes?”
“Look at your feed.”
“Oh, no. Not them again.” The driver slammed on the brakes and caught the live feed in the corner of his rear view mirror. “They’re always causing trouble.”
“What if they find out we entered Jelly in the Star Cat Trials, mom?”
The driver reversed from the road and threw the stick shift into first gear. “What’s your son talking about?”
“We got Jelly from PAAC,” Emily asked. “I know that man with the blue hair. Does this happen often?”
“Yes, all the time,” he chuckled and floored the gas pedal.
“What are you doing? You’re not taking us closer to them, are you?”
“Nothing to be worried about.”
The female animal rights terrorist realized that Remy would never open his pet’s cage. Handax pulled out a pistol, scaring the crowd back a few feet.
“In the name of science and humanity, if you choose not to let animals live in peace, then we want no part of the planet.”
He placed the barrel of the gun to his head and threatened to shoot himself.
“Person, please,” the security guard said. “We’ll save you the bother. Lower your gun.”
“The statement needs to be made.” The female activist turned to the crowd and then up at the drones. They buzzed around, trying to get a good view of the stand-off. “Do you hear us, USARIC? You’re responsible for this…”
The female protester snarled at the camera and yanked the chain away from her vest.
“Everybody down.”
The security guards hit the deck. The crowd did the same, trampling over one another, causing some serious injuries – which surely wasn’t PAAC’s intention, after all.
KA-SNAP-PAP!
Instead of detonating, several party poppers and harmless incendiaries exploded into the sky, in and out of the hovering drones.
The girl laughed as loud as she could and dropped to her knees.
The fake sticks of dynamite released the pretty array of fireworks into the sky.
The security guards made a beeline for her and scooped her up from the floor. They escorted Handax off the premises to a wave of whoops and hollers of approval from the crowd.
Dreenagh looked at her camera-drone and breathed a sigh of relief. “Well, you saw it here first.”
“You haven’t heard the last from us,’ Handax yelled as the guards marched him away from the crowd. “Freedom for the animals!”
Jamie and Emily’s limousine rolled up to the red carpet at the front of the arena.
The crowd bent over the railings trying to catch a glimpse of the people inside the car.
“Mom, I’m scared,” Jamie shot her a look and grabbed Jelly’s cage handle.
“Me too, poppet,” she said over Jelly’s whining from within the cage. “But we have to go, right? We can’t very well have the driver turn around and take us back to the hotel, can we?”
Jamie shook his head enthusiastically. “We’re here to win. We’re going to win, aren’t we?”
Emily smiled. She knew she had to fabricate the truth and keep her son’s spirit up.
“Brits? Second to a Russian? We already had one cold war,” Emily snorted and kicked the back door open. “And I’m all for doing it again if they want to mess around with us.”
“Wait,” Jamie called after her as the crowd whistled at her. “What’s a cold war?”
“Doesn’t matter, poppet,” Emily pointed at the crowd behind her, “Bring Jelly out. Let’s show these Americans that victory always begins at home.”
Jamie didn’t know what his mother had meant by that, but he trusted her enough to jump out of the car to an adoring crowd.
“We love you, Jamie,” screamed a bunch of similarly-aged American girls from behind the railings.
“Jelly! Jelly! Jelly!”
Dreenagh clapped and whistled along with the crowd. “There she is, little Jelly Anderson all the way from the United Kingdom.”
Jamie marveled at the sheer enormity of the crowd. A first taste of super-stardom which overwhelmed him to the point of hysteria.
“Hello, everybody,” Jamie waved as he and his mother walked along the carpet.
This time, security came running over to greet and escort them. “Mrs Anderson?”
“Ms Anderson, thank you very much,” Emily said, walking alongside them toward the arena doors. “Take us inside, please.”
“Yes, of course,” the security guard walked with her, trying to remember the name of her contestant. “As soon as you’re in, we need to take, uh…”
“—Jelly, mister?” Jamie corrected him.
“Yes, Jelly,” The guard turned to Emily and ushered her forward. “As soon as we’re through the doors, we’ll get you and your son in makeup. An official will take Jelly to the prep room.”
A teenage Star Cat Trials official named Lindsey ushered Jamie through a tunnel. He’d been separated from his mother.
“Where are we going?” Jamie asked, suddenly aware that he was on his own.
“We’re going to the main stage. You’ll get to meet the finalists. Won’t that be fun?”
“Why are you talking to me like I’m a child?”
“You are a child, aren’t you?” Lindsey spat, looking up the length of the corridor.
“Yes, but I’m not stupid,” Jamie raced forward, catching up with Lindsay.
“No, of course you’re not.”
The audience hubbub came from behind the walls. It felt like there were at least a million people in attendance.
Anxiety rushed through Jamie’s body. “I want my mom.”
“No, sweetie. She’ll be in the audience. You’ll see her in the family and friends section.” Lindsey clicked a button on her headset. “Approaching door B-Two, now. Are the others ready?”
“Yes, they’re waiting for you, now,” came the response. “Five minutes till show time.”
The stage music and audience commotion grew louder and louder as the pair approached a set of double doors.
Lindsey reached the door handle and grabbed it, shooting him a smile. “Ready?”
“No.”
“Honestly, there’s nothing to worry about,” Lindsey chuckled. She developed a soft spot for the kid right there and then. “We’ll walk in and Gunnar will introduce you all. Just do as he says.”
“Okay.”
The stage doors flew open.
Lindsey and Jamie approached the arena’s central stage to overwhelming applause. Music played amid an array of fireworks.
Jamie looked up and saw his name and nationality on the mega-screen. He looked at the audience. Most were in pitch darkness due to the colossal stage lamps shining in his eyes from the gods.
“And finally,” Gunnar said from under the spotlight, “All the way from the United Kingdom… Jamie Anderson and his contender, Jelly.”
Another spotlight shone down on Jelly, who sat patiently at the right of the stage. Next to her was Bisoubisou, the Russian Blue. Next to her sat a white American bobtail. Each had a plastic tie around their necks which shackled them to the wall. They were very unhappy about the restriction.
The audience continued their adoration as Jamie made his way to a marked-out area in front of a grid of twenty-four panels, measuring five-by-five feet.
“So, we’re down to three. The cream of the crop,” Gunnar said over the music as Jamie, Remy and a girl each took their respective grids. “Just two more rounds in the finals of the Star Cat Trials, here we go…”
The music thundered across the arena as the lights dimmed down, forcing everyone to focus on the mega-screen.
Three handlers unfastened the plastic shackles on each cat and carried them over to their respective grids.