LITMIR.BIZ

       Chapter One

       The tortoiseshell kitten with one good eye and a limp awoke first, emerging from the ball of fur comprised of his three siblings. Light from the setting sun filtered into the abandoned room as he moved toward his mother, eagerly awaiting the quick bath she gave him every day. She was still asleep so he nuzzled her chin.

       She didn’t move.

       He bumped her with his head. Still nothing.

       Her mouth hung open. She wasn’t breathing.

       And she was cold.

       His heart rate spiked as he went back to wake his siblings.

       The three kittens stirred from their slumber and moved toward their mother.

       The tabby knew it was in trouble.

       The black and white tuxedo kitten felt pangs of hunger.

       The Russian blue kitten’s eyes filled with fear.

       Suddenly a nearby noise grabbed the tortoiseshell’s attention. His ears perked up. He couldn’t see very well or jump, but he was blessed with a very loud voice.

       He began to cry.

      My face tightens as the construction crew chief hands me and my photographer a hard hat each. “Do I really have to wear this?”

      The construction foreman nods. “Sorry, Miss Shaw. Unless you want a block of concrete falling on your head. The stadium is about to come down without the help of our demolition crew.”

      I roll my green eyes as I put on the plastic yellow hat, mashing my salon-perfect copper curls. “My two hundred dollar hair appointment this morning, shot to hell.”

      My burly, middle-aged photographer shakes his head. “Awww, poor Madison and her six-figure salary. Careful you don’t break a nail, Network.”

      Yeah, that’s my nickname, which I hate. Even though I’m a network television reporter.

      The foreman laughs as he puts his hard hat atop his thick gray hair. “High maintenance, huh?”

      The photographer nods. “She’s raised it to an art form. Who else wears four inch heels to a demolition story?”

      My jaw clenches. “I wouldn’t even be covering this if Joe wasn’t out sick. I am a national political reporter in case you forgot.”

      “How could I forget when you remind the newsroom every single day?”

      I shoot him my patented death stare as he moves in front of me and aims his camera. He turns on his light, walking backwards as I follow the foreman into the condemned structure, navigating my way through oily puddles. (Hey, don’t give me that look. Fine, so he was right about the heels. But they take me up to six-foot-two and since I’m one hundred forty-five pounds of solid muscle I like being the Amazon of the newsroom.) “Okay, we’re rolling. So, Mister Richards, tell me why demolishing a building with explosives is such an art?”

      “Well, you’ve gotta place the dynamite just right—”

      He stops walking so I do the same. “What?”

      He puts up his hand and points at a door. “Hang on. You hear that?”

      I lean toward it and listen. “Yeah. I think it’s coming from that room. You think someone’s in there?”

      “Not someone.” He pulls out a flashlight, turns it on and opens the door to a dark office. The high-pitched noise gets louder. “Well, well, we still have a few residents, I see.”

      “What, rats?”

      “Nope.” I follow the beam of light and see an old cardboard box filled with a bunch of crying kittens.

      And a mother cat that is obviously dead.

      The photographer aims his light at the box, brightening the room so we can see better.

      I move forward and crouch down to take a closer look. “Poor little guys. The mother cat died.” I look around, find a clean box and start to place the kittens inside. “You’re a lucky bunch of kittens. You almost got blown up.”

      And then one of them claws my brand new Prada jacket, pulling out a thread.

      “Sonofabitch! My brand new jacket!” I put the kitten in the clean box and shake my head. “Can this day get any worse?”

      “Uh-oh,” says the photographer as he turns to the foreman. “You might not need the explosives. Mount Madison is about to erupt.”

      “Bite me, Ed.” I lift the box and stand up, then hold it out toward the foreman.

      He furrows his brow. “What do you want me to do with these?”

      “Find homes for ‘em. Your construction site, your kittens.”

      He shakes his head. “Sorry, young lady, but I can’t stop this project to take care of a bunch of orphaned cats. I love animals as much as the next person and I’ve got two cats at home, but I’m stuck here all night. And it’s obvious they

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