Read Online Highway Cats by Janet Taylor Lisle - Free Book Online

likely,” Shredder said.
    Khalia’s tail twitched. “You mentioned, I think, that Murray the Claw owed you a favor? Well, I’ve requested one on your behalf.”
    â€œWhat could Murray possibly do for us? He’s down on the highway with Jolly Roger, gorging himself on road food.”
    â€œExactly. In perfect position!”
    She’d spoken too loudly. Below her, the sleeping kits were disturbed. They lifted their tiny heads and looked directly at her, then they glanced around for Shredder. Discovering him right beside them, they reassembled in their luminous mound and fell back asleep.
    â€œWhat have you asked Murray to do?” Shredder whispered.
    â€œTo bring us disguises!” Khalia’s intelligent eyes glowed with pleasure. “Containers of all kinds, soup to nuts, cereal to cottage cheese. They’re down there on the highway, you know, by the hundreds.”
    â€œBut how…?”
    â€œScare tactics, Shredder. It worked once, why not again?”
    She had no more time to explain because at that moment a bustle of movement interrupted their conversation. The overburdened shapes of two large cats appeared. They entered the graveyard through a break in the stone wall, dragging a mass of stuff behind them.
    â€œMurray the Claw, is that you?” Khalia hissed through the dark.
    â€œYes, id’s me, who else?” came his nasty, nasal growl. “Where do you want us to dump this garbage?”
    Â 
    SCENE: Potterberg city hall, high up in Mayor Blunt’s office. His Honor stands at the window gazing at a distant cluster of roofs: the shopping center. He frowns and waves a hand in the air as he speaks to Chief of Staff Farley.
    Â 
    MAYOR BLUNT. So what’s the problem? There’s nothing up in that graveyard, is there?
    FARLEY. No, sir. Not that anyone can see. We’ve had a surveillance team watching it the past few days. All they’ve observed is a few stray cats coming and going.
    MAYOR. Well, let’s get a move on with this road project! Time is running out. The election is in a couple of weeks!
    FARLEY. Yes, sir. I’ve ordered the road crew to start up again. They should be going in this morning. They’re a little nervous, some of them, after that business with the ghosts or whatever.
    MAYOR. Ghosts! Bah! What nonsense.
    FARLEY. Right. Absolutely. But ( worriedly ) there have been suggestions put forward that maybe we should be thinking twice about—
    MAYOR. ( Cutting Farley off ) Building a road through a graveyard? Hogwash! I didn’t hear any protests when we laid out our plans. Nobody’s cared about that patch of brambles out there for fifty years! It’s the scaredy-cat road crew. Fire them! Get somebody in there that can do the job.
    FARLEY. Yes, sir! I mean, no, sir, this crew will do it. They’re starting this morning, like I said. The road is going through. We won’t have any more trouble.
    MAYOR. Good work, Farley. You’re my man. Now on to more important matters. Have my campaign signs been put up yet? “Blunt Is Better!” “Blunt Is Blunter!” “Blunt Gets the Point!” Which slogan carries my message best?
    FARLEY. ( Looking tired. ) All of them—you’re a winner for sure.

CHAPTER EIGHT
    T he sun had barely risen the next day when the startup roar of an engine ripped like an explosion into the peaceful hush of the little forest. It was joined by a second roar and a third until the air itself seemed to scream in pain.
    The noise came from the shopping center parking lot. A small army of men had gathered there during the predawn hours and was now ready, with a battery of earthmoving machines, to advance on the woods. The men’s boots were laced, their hard hats were strapped down and their faces were grim, as if they really were soldiers about to enter a combat zone.

    Khalia Koo, watching from the top of one of the tall pine trees that grew near the cemetery,