Informal of or designating behavior like that of a cat toying with a mouse; specif., of or designating a strategy by which one repeatedly challenges an opponent while waiting to strike
See cat-and-mouse in American Heritage Dictionary 4
(kătˈn-mousˈ)
adjective
Playfully or teasingly cruel, as in prolonging the pain or torment of another: the cat-and-mouse tactics of the interrogators.
Of or involving a suspenseful and sometimes alternating relation beween hunter and hunted: “another cat-and-mouse thriller”(New York Times).