I stepped out from the shadows where I was hiding and unsheathed my claws. I had been waiting for my suspect for a while, and was almost tired of waiting. He had come into view however, and I started the hunt. Tonight was pretty much the same as the others. I had found him. I knew that he was wanted for a string of crimes. These crimes, however, were against children. This guy was a child molestor. The very thought of the crime made me want to disembowel him. I could not going to do this however. My job was to merely subdue him and package him for the police.

As I got closer to my victim, I made sure that I was downwind of him, so he would not scent me. Occasionally, one of my targets would pick up my scent and take off. I got to within striking distance, and I waited a bit more until the time was right. At just the right time, I sprang and caught him square in the back, knocking him down. he went to scream, but I had him flipped over and a massive paw over his mouth before he could finish taking a breath. his eyes went wide with fear. I smiled at him, unsheathing my claws on my free paw. I smelled the oder of urine coming from him, and I knew that the smile had done the job. The guy fainted, probably from the fear of my eating him. I never had, and never will eat human flesh. The idea is repulsive, even to my tiger instincts. I picked him up, flung him over my shoulder, and went to the nearest police station. Before I dropped him at the station, I tied him up, left my note on him (a tiger paw), and knock on the door and ran off to a safe distance.

I went to the alley where I started, and I heard a voice. "Congratulations. You've taken a dangerous and sick person off the streets."
"I would have rather disemboweled him, but I'll let the prison inmates do that for me. It's a fitting punishment for him." The voice stated, "That's fine and well. I've got another job for you as well, but it's not due for a few weeks, so you'll have more time to get information on this one."
"Fine. What is this one?"
"Well, this one is a rapist who preys primarily on young adults just older then 18."
"What is the method?"
"Any you like. Dead or alive, the bounty is $10,000."
"OK. I'll take it." Send the information to the usual address."

I went home, and shifted back to my human form. I normally slept by day, and hunted by night. "Home" this morning was a hotel at the edge of town, and one that I was friendly with the manager. I slept in until about noon. I got up, dressed, and went to the mail box I kept in this town. There were two letters for me there, one with my pay, and the other with details of my next "job". I cashed the check, went back to the hotel. I read the details of the job, and got ready to go to the town that he was staying at.

I got on my pride and joy, a 1999 Harley Davidson Soft tail. I got it from one of my first victims, a nasty specimen that was in the middle of mugging an old lady for the sheer pleasure of it. the lady was completely freaked out at me, and fainted. I was gone by the time she woke up.

I paid the hotel bill, and hopped on the bike to travel to the next city. I got up there about three days early. I got a hotel room, ate some food, and staked out the area where the victim was going to be in. My information stated that he was armed, so I made sure that I had ammo for the 44 Magnum I had gotten from the same creep that I got the bike from.

Night time, two days later

I was waiting in a tree. Tigers are natural tree climbers, and I had climbed up earlier that night. I know the victim had gotten into town, and I was waiting for him to show up. He showed up some 20 minutes early, and was directly under me. I quietly unsheathed my claws, and got ready to drop on him. I got the drop on him, alright. the branch decided that having my 400+ pounds on it was more then it would handle, and it broke quite loudly. Great, there goes the surprise. I cursed under my breath. the victim started running, but I was a bit quicker. I leapt off the falling branch, and just barely caught him on the back, clawing him rather well. I grunted in pain as I hit the ground, and got up just in time to see him pull a gun out.I started to run at him. He then turned and shot at me. I felt the bullet hit me and bounce off my bone armor. I ran faster at him, dodged two more shots, and leapt at him with all claws out.

I hit my victim with enough force to shatter his spine. he was quite dead when we hit the ground. I realized that the police would show up shortly, so I started to run back to the hotel in such a pattern that it would throw the dogs off the scent. I made it to the hotel, and grabbed my stuff. I checked out that night, and booked it out of town. I didn't get too far, sadly. They stopped me about two miles from the city limits. It seems that they had been watching the sight as well, and had set up a trap for me. Right down to the tranquilizer darts. I woke up in a cage, two officers pointing rifles at me, and a third one sitting in a chair.

"So, we have have the mighty 'Tigerpaw', the vigilante that can't be caught. We had a hell of a time tracking you down, you know that?"
My only response was a low growl.
"You do that again, and I'll have one of these fine officers shoot you."
I had no choice. I shifted to my were form, and stated, "I can't speak in my full form. I have enough problems talking in this form, but I don't want to show you my human face. What do you want with me?"
"Well, I'll make you a deal. Tell me what I want to know, and I'll tell you what you want to know. I might even let you go too."
I sighed. I looked a bit closer at the office in the chair. Not a city cop, but a federal agent. Damm. The federals had the upper hand, and I knew that they probably would kill me if I gave them any attitude. "Fine. Looks like I've got no choice anyway. What's first?"
"I need to know who has been paying you for these, uh, jobs. Not that we care, as you are taking the worst of the hardened criminals off the streets, others you are turning in to the police."
"And I wish I could tell you. the closest thing I can tell you is what his voice might be. The payments come in without a return address, as with the jobs. The first thing he told me to do to start was to get a P.O. box in Madison. That I did. I have family in Illinois, so I stayed in the outskirts in an apartment. Sometimes he'd meet me in an alley and talk. I never saw his face. I tried the first time. I heard footsteps, and the note I found in the payment said simply, 'don't try that again'. I never did. Sometimes he'd call me. Always from a pay phone, and never the same one twice in a row. That's the best I can give you. I'm sorry."

He finished writing notes onto a note pad. "That's fine. It give us at the least something to go on. How did he pay you?"
"Sometimes cash, if we met in an alley, but usually via a money order. Again, it was never the same location that he got it twice." I sensed what he was about to ask and I continued." The information that he gave me sometimes were photocopies of newspaper and microfilm articles from the Madison City Library. I already asked the library staff if they knew who this guy was, but they didnt know, or would'nt tell me. I am curious as to who wants me do do these, and where he gets the money to pay me. I'm not cheap."

"Hmm, I see. This will give us something to go on. I don't have anything else at the moment, but I can answer your questions now. We want to know if you'd be willing to assist your government. It'll pay better then what you get now, and it's all voluntary."
Voluntary. Right. And I'm a 'normal' fucking human too. "And If I refuse, my guess is that you'll either kill me outright 'as a service to the general public at large', or I'll stay locked in a cage for the rest of my days, Right?"
The officer did'nt skp a beat at that. "Well, I can't guarantee that. But this is, in a way, the proverbial 'offer you can't refuse'. and I'll start right now by letting you out of that cage." He clicked a button on a remote, and the cage door opened.

I down shifted to full tiger, and cautiously moved out. Both guards had their rifles squarely aimed on me. I found an extra chair and sat down in it. "So, what does this job involve?" I asked. "To be honest, I don't know. But I can bring in the gentlemen who does know."
"Well, let's see him."
I heard a ::CLANK:: behind me, and a oddly familiar voice.
"Well Done! You gave him just enough that they might have found me, even though I made it quite difficult." I jumped, spun around, and found myself face to face with a rather old werewolf. "You Bastard! You *KNEW* about this all along!"
"Yep. Guards, it's ok. He can't hurt me at all. He WON'T hurt me at all." the last words were said with an iron thickness in his voice. the claws I had out retracted, but my ears were still back in anger.

"Fine. What's in this new 'job' now, Jacob?"
"Well, You'll be getting paid a lot more, get to travel, and you'll get to use some of the most advanced weaponry on the face of this planet. I must ask two things though. One: How is your eyesight, and Two: How are your gun skills?"
"Well, my sight is fine, I can see that you are getting far too old to be doing my type of job, and You obviously have'nt see my recent marksman score at the range the last time I went a month ago."
"I see. so, what else do you want to know about this job?"
"Well, I want to know if I can refuse missions if I don't feel up to it. I also want a guarantee that I won't be locked up if I do refuse a mission."
"Done on both counts. I'll give you a week to think it over. I will contact you via our usual method."

I was released, and sent home. Home this time was Madison, and back in my apartment. I felt something uncomfortable in my ear though. I must've been too worked up to notice it when I shifted. When I got home, I looked in the mirror. I saw a metallic tag in my ear. the bastards had tagged me. There was a message on my answering machine. "Jack, This is Jacob. the Tag in your ear was NOT my fault. You can chalk that up to the cops. they have standing orders to tag all weres that they catch. We will see about getting it removed if you accept."

Damn amd Damm again. Now they really had me over a barrel. I sighed in resignation. At least the government paid well, and the benefits were good. I started filling out the paperwork...