"Why would he do this?" Maurice asked weakly as shi sat down as shi looked at the photos that had been emailed from Paris. Hir voice sounded half sad and half enraged.
"Are you okay?" Raul asked slowly. feeling the stress that Maurice was radiating off of hir, "What do you know about your brother?"
Ronnie...?" Maurice answered, "Ronnie's my younger brother. He had some interest in science, but it was more casual for him. To a great extent he was more interested in various religious things... and not always the same religious..."
"That doesn't sound too bad," Raul commented.
"Normally it isn't... but he... you all know that I was... am a bit of a hippie, right?" Maurice said slowly.
"That's why I love you," Snowy said to hir, and brought hir body alongside Maurice's and to purr, so that Maurice could feel hir love, and the unborn kitten in Maurice's womb would also feel hir father's love.
Maurice gave a bit of a smile, "I know... but Ronnie was never into that. He frequently said all of that was weak and wishy washy and distracted things from what was important."
"But Maurice was more successful than Ronnie was," Snowy commented, "back when we were starting the old Chakat Industries... we brought him on board because he'd been down on his luck... and figured that since we were wanting to put an end to war and make a utopia, we figured it'd be a great reward for him."
"I take it he was also involved in the research the way Nikole was?" Raul asked.
"No, Nikole served as a secretary and assistant," Maurice answered, "Ronnie... Ronnie was given the opportunity to provide suggestions, but mostly did delivery work."
"Where was he during the Fee City outbreak?" Raul asked.
"He volunteered to deliver some of the Virus out for us before we started the outbreak in Fee City," Snowy admitted, "after that, between the chaos and admitting... that what we were doing was wrong... he just dropped off the map."
Raul gave a heavy sigh. Maria was busy helping Jess get Christine and Chris settled into one of the homes that had been built for the UN staff in Janace.
"You've said that you'v had suspicions of a spy in your old business?" Raul asked for a moment.
Maurice and Snowy both nodded.
"I think, Maurice, that your spy might have very well been your brother," Raul said slowly.
"But... but why?" Maurice asked, "Yes, he didn't like that I was a hippie... but we'd gotten along quite well for years..."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Meanwhile, Talia and Midnight slowly walked through the streets of Fee City. There were a great deal of differences between Fee City and many of the other places that Midnight had been since hir transformation. The city was populated entirely by Kats, but only Chakats or Foxkats. As shi walked with Talia, shi also found that there were also large numbers of Kats that were only six years old or maybe a month or two older than that, about the same age as Janice, Pinkie, Snowflake, Silky, and Foxy back in Janace. Some had begun to wear some of Danna and Mikkie's clothing designs, but to Midnight's great surprise, many went about their business completely naked, and having sex in public was nothing unusual there. Some of these things were understandable to Midnight. Shi knew Charlie and Sally had sex all the time, even while Charlie was pregnant with Fluffy and Mary. The other adult Kats also enjoyed mating with each other when they had the free time, but Midnight had not seen much of that in Janace, though mostly due to humans moving there as part of the UN mission.
"It would seem that Snowy and Maurice's vision of a free love driven world did come true here," Talia commented as shi looked watching a pair of tiger based Chakats, both heavily pregnant walking together on the other side of the street.
"Yes," Midnight commented, "and it's become a bit of a nudist colony it seems."
"Probably the rapid result in which all of the city became either a Chakat or Foxkat before your friends invented their clothing line," Talia commented, "Come along... we have our mission with the old Chakat Industries Labs..."
Midnight nodded and slowly followed Talia.
"I'm still not sure what we're supposed to find," Midnight commented, "the FBI seized EVERYTHING when the old Chakat Industries was shut down. There is no lab there, and Maurice and Snowy have both said that many of the Kats here didn't like having their choice in what they were to be taken from them. They love each other... but they don't love Snowy and Maurice."
"I'd think the idea is to get some clues that were the spy was," Talia commented.
They made their way along the streets and ultimately came to the old Chakat Industries building. It was still there, but looked as though no one had been there since the facility had been seized by the government. Windows were broken and the building looked like it had been in a general state of disrepair. As Talia looked up she saw a flash of movement up on one of the upper floors, which caught hir by surprise. Why would there be someone in a closed building. Shi immediately spread hir wings and flew up toward the level and entered through an open windows, only to see a shadow disappear down a doorway. Shi moved after it, but as shi arrived, shi found hirself looking down three separate hallways, and to make matters worse, the same scent went down all three hallways. Talia stood puzzled for a moment until shi heard Midnight's calls coming up behind hir.
"Talia! Talia, where did you go?" Midnight called.
"I'm here!" Talia called back, "I saw something... but whoever it was gave me the slip."
"Who could it be?" Midnight wondered, "This place is a dump and likely to fall apart... or become a "Life after People" episode."
"I do not know," Talia said slowly, "Other than that he is male and is not a Kat or a Taur."
"Not a Kat or a Taur?" Midnight asked as shi finally arrived.
Talia nodded.
"Where did you see him?" Midnight asked.
"Right over there..." Talia said as shi pointed to the window that shi came into.
They both approached the area and then looked to see a door was open. Midnight was the first to enter, and found that it was an old office, and it looked slightly better than the rest of the building did, other then the scent of candles and permeated the room and the sight of smoke damage to the ceiling titles. Both also soon found clothing laid about the room and a sleeping bag and a pillow set up in one point. Someone had been living there, and apparently for quite some time. It made little sense, and the two began looking for clues as to who the squatter was and why he was there. Eventually, Talia found a small notebook and ballpoint pen underneath the sleeping bag. Curious she opened it, and found that it was a journal. It read:
"Monday... Maurice keeps insisting on this hippie fantasy of his. As if the sins of the flesh shall set everyone free and make them happy. All he's doing is sending them to hell. I wish I could persuade him to turn back from this and embrace the Truth as it was written...
Wednesday... Met a strange Chinese man today, he seemed rather spiritual and talked a lot about Taoism and Buddhism. It made for interesting conversation, though I found little that might convince my brother to abandon the idea that SEX will set people free. Though I must admit that I did not hide my jealousy well and he realized my personal issues with Maurice. I tried to reason that all I wanted was to get him to see the light, but that he wouldn't listen. Then the Chinese man said something very telling... sometimes we must be burned by our own mistakes and flaws to realize what we're doing is wrong.
Thursday... I called the Chinese man again, and asked him about what I could do to help convince Maurice that his idea is wrong and sinful. He repeated the message that he must see his idea be a force of chaos and inspiring hate to get him to abandon it. I told him I do not want to hurt my brother, but the Chinese man was quite certain that if I did not do as he said, that Maurice would turn the whole world into sex driven freaks and they'll end up damned eternally. I want to save my brother...
Saturday... I've agreed to do it. It's taken some soul searching, but I've been unable to convince Maurice to turn back. God forgive me for what I am about to do... and the betrayal of trust I'm about to commit... but I'm doing this to save my brother before he is lost..."
At that Talia closed the journal, "The spy was Maurice's brother..."