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The gun must have dropped from his hand, for he tried to wrench us off with both hands. But cats are like the Canadian Mounties. We always get our man! And we don’t let go, no matter what.

“Max, Dooley,” suddenly a soft voice spoke.

It was the most wondrous sound in the world. The sound of my human.

“You can let go now,” said Odelia.

And so we did.

Epilogue

A week after the harrowing time we’d lived through at Newtmore Cottage, we were in Scotland, enjoying a leisurely time at Balmoral Castle, the Queen’s favorite getaway.

The royal Numero Uno had invited us all up there to recover from the shock of the recent events. Tessa and Dante were there, along with Angela. Jeremy and Jennie had also arrived, with the kids, and the Queen had organized an actual feast in her backyard, complete with a grill for one of the guests of honor: none other than Tex, who’d been flown in on the Queen’s private jet with Marge and Alec. In other words: the gang was together again.

Tex, aided and abetted by one of the Queen’s very own chefs, was flipping burgers on the grill, while the rest of the family had put its feet under the table. The Queen—or Lizzie to us—was enjoying some leisurely time with her kids, grandkids and great-grandkids, while the rest enjoyed the great food.

Meanwhile, a separate table had been set up for the pets, which comprised Dooley and me, Harriet and Brutus, Fluffy, of course, and the Queen’s corgis, who had since become a little less frosty about the prospect of breathing the same air as cats. Though they still didn’t seem entirely happy about sitting at the same table with us.

“So is it true you guys attacked the bad man?” asked Sweetie.

“That’s right,” I said. “I went for the face and Dooley went for his gun.”

“That’s the way to do it,” growled Fr?ulein, punching the air with her paw.

On the table in front of us the most delicious food had been set out. Liver p?t?, peanut butter and bacon treats, organic chicken strips, cat donuts with bacon sprinkles and lots and lots more. A regular royal feast!

“We couldn’t have done it without you, though,” I said.

“The moment I saw that guy, I said, that’s the kidnapper!” Molly cried.

“But why did the Queen suddenly decide to get on the phone with Tessa?” asked Harriet. “That’s what I don’t understand.”

“She must have realized that what we were yapping about was significant,” said Sweetie. “And she wanted to talk to a fellow dog person.”

“The Queen understands us,” said Fr?ulein. “I don’t know how she does it, but it’s true.”

“You mean the Queen can talk to her pets, like our humans can?” asked Dooley.

“I’m not absolutely certain, but she is very intuitive. Like when I fell through that hole in the ice last winter. She knew something was wrong, and she’d fished me out of that pond before I was going down for the third time.”

“The Queen is amazing,” Sweetie confirmed. “She is. She loves all her animals, from her Shetland ponies to her horses to her corgis to the bagpipes that wake her up every morning.”

“Bagpipes are an instrument, not an animal,” Fr?ulein pointed out.

“But she loves her subjects more, right?” said Harriet.

“The three corgis laughed. “I wouldn’t be too sure!” said Fr?ulein.

“Well, I’m glad it’s all over,” said Fluffy. “The tension was killing me. It’s no fun knowing that there’s someone out there trying to kill your mistress.”

“I can only imagine,” said Fr?ulein, shaking her head. “That must have been terrible for you.”

“It was,” confirmed Fluffy. “And if it hadn’t been for these hero cats, the bad guys would have succeeded, and I’d be an orphan now.”

The dogs all stared at us, then Sweetie said, holding up a piece of chicken,“I think it’s high time we salute these brave cats.”

All paws went up, and then Fr?ulein said, “From now on we declare you honorary dogs.”

I grimaced. It’s not a big honor to be an honorary dog, I meant to say. But I’m sure they meant well, so we all smiled and thanked them profusely.

Tessa’s cousin had been arrested, though later we were told he needed stitches, which actually gave me a twinge of pride. His associate Otis Robbins had also been arrested, and both men were going away for a long time, to a place called Belmarsh, which didn’t have the same ring to it as the Tower.

The Queen had come down in person that night, without her corgis, and made Tessa and Dante promise that next time something like this happened, they had to tell her immediately, and not keep anything from her ever again.

She’d also invited us up to Balmoral, and told Gran she might not be able to become Queen of America, but she was always welcome to visit so they could chat over tea. I’d never seen Gran so over the moon as in that moment.

We spent a couple of days in London, seeing the sights, or at least the humans did, and then we all traveled down to Scotland on the Queen’s personal train—yes, the Queen has her own private train!—so here we were.