Larry was in the van with Raul and Lucas as they made way to Savannah Central. At times, Larry glanced at a folder in his paw. Raul and Lucas were going to meet a jackal who lived somewhere at Berry Lane for business, and Larry had asked Lucas to take him along and drop him at ZPD headquartes to submit a missing mammal case. Yet, Larry still felt uneasy about asking for ZPD's help to find Gary, and the three of them spoke nothing of it until they reached ZPD and Larry was hesitant to alight.
"Something wrong?" Lucas asked.
Larry didn't reply as he reached for the door handle, but he was hesitant to open it.
"You're still not sure about asking for ZPD's help, are you?" Raul surmised.
"Well," Larry the opened the door and stepped out, "Sorry, I shouldn't be holding you up like this."
"If you're not sure about this, then don't do it."
"I just need some push to do this, I guess. You go ahead and take care of the supplies."
"If you say so."
Larry closed the door, but didn't take a step away from the van. Raul watched with concern.
"Larry?"
Larry merely glanced back and waved at Raul and Lucas as he began walking towards ZPD. Raul waved back before Lucas drove off. As Larry paced forward, he was drowning in thoughts. It had been about a week since Gary disappeared, and the pack had been scouring Tundratown empty-handed in-between taking on jobs. There was also one time when the pack took a mission at around Haymarket, and Larry spared some time to search for any sign of Gary, again fruitlessly. Gary had left his phone behind, so contacting him was not an option. And the few times the pack howled trying to find Gary, he was never the one to reply. ZPD would be Larry's last resort to find Gary, even if he disliked that option.
Larry stopped short of his destination, then opened the folder he was carrying. Inside it was a photo of him and Gary, clipped to a piece of paper with some information that he planned to show the ZPD so that they could take the case. Larry then closed the folder and slid it into his jacket, then resumed his walk towards ZPD. And yet mere few feet away from the entrance, he shook his head and left, heedless of a few civilian and police officers who probably looked at him, deciding to not submit the missing mammal case after all.
Larry didn't count the minutes he had wasted sitting on a bench in a park near ZPD, his mind still wandering. It was just like what Raul pointed out; Larry was still not sure about asking for ZPD's help to find Gary. Gary is one of the pack, one of the family, so he'd rather continue searching for him without outside help. Especially considering that they had been in jail before; getting ZPD involved in this might complicate things instead. Larry then pulled out his phone and started texting Raul to pick him up, and the two wolves arrived in a little over thirty minutes.
"You're fast," Larry asked Raul once he got in the van.
"That jackal is our best supplies partner at the Savannah. Should you be surprised?" Raul replied.
"True," Larry gazed around the van to see food supplies and combat gears, no doubt from the aforementioned jackal, "Still, sometimes I think Berry Lane is very far from here."
"Shortcuts," Lucas said. Larry worriedly began imagining Lucas driving the van through the back alleys.
"We also saw Dr. Madge at home earlier," Raul spoke.
Madge, the badger doctor who was with them back at Cliffside Asylum. Larry understood that his packmate Wilfred sometimes met her to practise first aid and such, especially since Dr. Madge kept a few medical devices at her home that Wilfred could use as practice. Another packmate, Connor, was also close to her, though given his overall friendliness it was nothing special. Larry then realized something.
"You stopped by her to say hi and you still managed to pick me up this fast?"
"Well, I did say hi," Raul waved his phone.
Oh, so he merely texted her as they went past.
"Anyway," Raul continued, "you've decided not to enlist ZPD's help this time?"
Larry was silent.
"So what's next?" Raul inquired.
"Maybe I'll get a good rest first tonight before making plans about Gary tomorrow," Larry replied.
Larry's phone then beeped, and he took it out to find that Connor had sent a message.
"Hi, still at ZPD? Just saying, how bout we try this cafe called The Alpacas by the Prairie tomorrow night to relax a bit? You've been looking so stressed you know. Anyway, what do you say?"
"Well, that's interesting," Raul mused as he read the message.
"Indeed," Larry smiled, "I guess it doesn't hurt."
"Strange that he just said this only now. Makes me wonder why he thought that."
"We'll find out later. Better yet, we'll all discuss this together with Wilfred and Boris later as well."
"Ok."
Larry texted back to Connor as the wolves just went into Tundratown.
Gary was sitting on across a desk opposite of an old sun bear in an office room. A female bear with glasses, his daughter, sat on the desk, at times looking at her nails. Behind the older bear were two leopards, his personal guards. It was almost sundown outside.
"So," the old bear spoke, "basically what happened yesterday at Watering Hole was that you suspected someone was following you and you scoured entire blocks to find the culprit, only to end up alerting the Street Ursines and you had to take a detour to deliver that suitcase three hours later than scheduled?"
"Yes," Gary replied as calmly as possible.
The old bear sighed.
"At least our partners got the documents," the female bear spoke, "but now they have to reschedule a few things."
"Indeed, Iryn," the old bear concurred, then turned again to Gary, "This job should have been easy if you were just to focus on delivering instead of snooping around too much."
"I'm sorry for being too cautious, Sir."
"Nevermind. We'll make do with what we have," the old bear then signaled to one of his guards, who then produced an envelope and gave it to Larry while the bear continued, "Take that pay of yours this time. You are dismissed."
Gary then left the bear's office building, a nondescript ten-storey office complex at the edge of Downtown district. As he skulked southward under the setting sun, he reminisced on the bear, who said he was enemies with some southern-area gang named the Street Ursines. The bear briefed Gary that whenever he needed to liaise with his partners, he usually hired other mammals to do everything to minimize contact with the Ursines, from mission briefing to delivery. It was like what the bear complained about; Gary was too observant to potential hazards during his task that he ended up alarming some Ursines who proceeded to try apprehending him for nosing around their neighborhood. Gary managed to elude the Ursines after a brief scuffle and get long enough lead until he was satisfied that his pursuers had broken off the chase and he could finish the delivery.
As Gary walked southwards towards the coast, he recalled how Larry sometimes praised his alertness during missions, as he was often the first to notice suspicious events. However, he also recalled how at other times Larry chided him for responding hastily to potential hazards, causing problems during the assignments. He imagined Larry would get upset whenever he caused hassle to the pack by going off-path to investigate, or accidentally bringing unwanted attention. Gary drifted back to the savage mammals case, a significantly major mission compared to the previous few they had taken before. They had been able to follow Mayor Lionheart's orders for two weeks, but that howling on that fateful night must have eventually tipped off the ZPD somehow. He cursed himself for that fiasco. Had he not been so noisy, or perhaps had he not been there at all, their capture and imprisonment wouldn't have happened. It might have been better if Larry were to take his time choosing better partners. There was a time that his mistake failed a job and cost the pack income. That time at the asylum, his carelessness cost them so many months in jail. Next time, what?
For some reason Gary stopped as he gazed upwards towards the violet sky. The building he's looking at appeared vacant, although he surmised there were probably someone who lived at the ground floor flats. He suddenly thought about climbing up there; perhaps the vista up there might help him relax. Once he was sure nobody was watching, he quickly made his ascent via the outside stairs all the way to the roof. There, he gazed towards the sea, mild breezes occasionally whisked by. Gary just stood there, watching the city at night from the rooftop. Maybe he should take a rest up here instead of his flat just for tonight. Or maybe once he's done with the scenery-watching, he'd take the rooftop path back.
"Table for six, under the name Connor," Connor talked to the llama receptionist of The Alpacas.
"Please wait," the receptionist checked on her computer, "According to your reservation, you would like a table at the rooftops. Therefore we have prepared table number 8 for you."
"Thank you," replied Connor as he saw Lucas and Boris on their way from the parking lot.
The wolves were then guided to their table by a llama waitress, and shortly after they began browsing the menu. Connor helped the others decide what to order, saying that he and Wilfred had perused the menu online yesterday. Lucas and Boris were quick to decide on drinks, but took their sweet time for the meal. Wilfred chose a few salad and fruit platters, very much unlike Raul. Larry's mind wandered in between reading the menu, and he settled on his dish last.
"So, how did you get wind of this place?" Boris asked Connor.
"Some jaguars were talking about it two days ago when we went to Swine&Elephant," came the reply.
"When you and Wilfred bought soap," Lucas chimed.
"Yep," Connor nodded.
Boris then happened to look at Larry and thought something was wrong.
"You're fidgeting, Larry."
Larry realized that Boris noticed his restlessness despite his very minimal gestures.
"I know you thought you should have asked one of us to accompany Gary that day," Raul spoke, "I wish I were home when that happened."
"I was careless," Larry murmured.
"Well... no use to sulk about it right now. Once we calm down, we can think of our next step," said Wilfred.
"Looks like the appetizers are here," Boris pointed out.
The wolves then began their dinner.
Gary looked at his wallet. All those jobs he had been taking so far had helped him survive, but he always felt like he was at the brink. He hadn't been eating as much as he used to, and buying that duffel bag three days ago felt like buying a car, although it certainly was useful. He was at least pleased that his flat was comfy and secure enough for the fee, since he was sure he would unlikely be able to afford anything pricier.
Gary then gazed out the window, and suddenly he thought about home, the Tundratown base. He sometimes asked himself if leaving was the right choice. He remembered that he joined Larry's pack, whom Larry mentioned he established not long prior to their meeting, maybe two months before the Night Howler incident. They had been doing mostly well as mercenaries; for all the peace and order in Zootopia, there were still those who'd rather handle things outside the reaches of law. Still, Gary sometimes imagined how much better off the pack would have been if not for him. Probably they'd have already been the most reputable wolfpack mercenaries in Zootopia.
Gary shook his head. Too much thinking would do him no good. He then browsed his phone. There were pictures of ads for various ad-hoc jobs he had been snapping, most of which were taken earlier today. He figured that if he were to focus on only bodyguarding jobs, he wouldn't make enough for a living. However, none of the advertisers had given any positive reply, so he deleted those ads. There was a hello message from Marco some time ago, which he had replied with a smiley. Then there was a new message from someone named Serfin. Gary raised an eyebrow trying to remember who this could be as he read the message.
"Heard about you from Iryn. Could you take me to Barclwas at Lions Gate and back? If yes, meet me at my house, 23 East Baobab Lane. Will give you the details later."
A friend of the daughter of the bear yesterday. Gary smiled and decided to accept the request. After he's satisfied with Serfin's briefing, he decided to survey Lions Gate, taking the southern coastal area to reach there.
The wolves except Connor were at the rooftops of The Alpacas, satisfied with their dinner. The rooftops faced the southern coastline directly. To the left was the sea, dark except for some dots of yellow and white from some boats and yatches. To the right were residential buildings which were rather quiet, their residents perhaps having gone to bed.
"Nice view," said Lucas.
"And nice restaurant too," Wilfred added, "No wonder those jaguars were gushing over this."
"That was a nice dish I had there," Boris spoke as he licked his muzzle, "Maybe I could do with a second helping."
The others giggled as mild sea breeze came by, just as Connor came over to them.
"Okay, bill's settled," he chimed as he sniffed the breeze, "though, yeah, I kinda agree we should stick around for a while."
"Agreed," Raul concurred, "I'm surprised this place isn't so warm. Well, still not as wonderfully chilly as Tundratown."
"I guess because it's night," answered Wilfred.
"Hm, hm."
The wolves then turned towards Larry, who soon realized he was being stared at.
"Well..." Larry was not sure what he should say.
"Just say you enjoy, Larry," Lucas prodded, "Or you don't?"
"Thanks for the night, guys," Larry smiled.
"That's better," Raul smiled back, followed by the others who cheerfully high-fived one another. Connor then started a howl, which prompted Wilfred and Lucas to join in.
And before the others joined the howl, there was another howl somewhere from the coastal buildings.
Larry promptly banged at the rooftop railing to silence his howling packmates. Just as the howl faded, Connor nearly howled again, but Larry immediately gestured him to keep quiet.
"Heh, there are wolfpacks here," Boris mused, but he then saw Larry scrutinizing the coastal area.
"I don't think that was a pack," Larry replied. Where did that howl come from? And he felt that howl sounded familiar.
Raul guessed, "You mean..."
"Ok, Connor, try howling again," Larry said without looking away from the coasts.
Connor complied, and Wilfred followed. After they finished howling, the same howl was heard from the same locale, but it was abruptly cut off. Worry dawned upon Larry.
"Let's investigate," Raul initiated, "I know what you're thinking, Larry. We'll investigate."
Larry merely nodded as the pack quickly left The Alpacas, with Connor hastily saying thank you to the llama receptionist on the way out.
"Ok, Lucas, Raul, you get in the van and search the streets," Larry began issuing orders when they reach their van, "The rest, follow me on foot. Boris, you go with me and search by the coast. Connor, Wilfred, split from us and search the back alleys. Call if you see something important, and make contact in thirty minutes for rendezvous."
Gary was running in the back alleys as he let out grumbles from his muzzle, which he had forcibly clamped with his paw. Why did he answer another howl? That wasn't the first time he responded to a howl when he shouldn't have. He was a foreigner in this block; Wolfpacks here wouldn't necessarily appreciate his presence.
Gary cursed himself as he darted around in darkness. He was just about to walk out into the open coastal area when he heard the first howl. Part of him implored him to keep quiet, which he didn't do. As he began backtracking, he heard the second howl, and he forcibly silenced himself as he resumed his retreat. Right now, he hadn't run into anyone yet, but with shadows flickering at a distance and blurred figures somewhere far in sight, he decided to seek a hiding place. He recognized this particular spot; not far from where he lay under the sky last night. Perhaps whoever was pursuing him might not suspect that he might be hiding up there. He then wasted no time in grabbing onto the outside stairs and climbing all the way up, then he curled up under a nook.
He heard a few more howls, now coming from somewhere closer than the earlier chorus. For a second he thought the howl sounded familiar, but he chose to keep still and clasp his muzzle tighter. Don't respond, don't respond, don't respond.
"Everyone's here," Larry glanced at his pack as they gathered at a parking lot near the southern bay, noticing that Connor and Wilfred looked quite exhausted.
"Street's empty," Lucas reported.
"Didn't see him in the alleys," Wilfred added.
"Not around the coasts either," Boris concluded.
"But I heard a few howls from the alleys," Raul mentioned.
"One was me," Connor raised his paw, "I checked on one who replied, but that was a stranger. Thankfully non-hostile."
Larry sighed. Attracting attention in a foreign locale wasn't exactly a good idea in this situation, but that wasn't his biggest concern given that everyone was safe.
"What should we do, Larry?" asked Raul, "Should we search again?"
Larry struggled for words. He told himself that the howl came from Gary, and yet none of the pack managed to find him. Was he imagining things? Or had Gary indeed been hiding here at Savannah Central all this time? Moreover, that second howl stopped short; whoever made that howl was deliberately silenced.
"Larry?" Wilfred broke the silence.
"You guys ok if we try searching again?" Larry asked, "And if we still haven't found him tonight, you guys ok if we prepare to scour Savannah Central tomorrow?"
Everyone nodded firmly. Larry smiled.
"Thanks, guys."
"So what's the plan this time?" Raul asked.
"Boris and Lucas, take the van and search north. Raul and Wilfred, you go west. Connor, you and I go east. Meet back here in fifteen minutes."
The wolves then swiftly resumed their search.
Dim lights from the cloudy morning sky peeked from the curtains, and Gary woke up frowning. He was still stressed out from the ordeal last night, when he had to sneak back to his room via the rooftops while trying not to alarm unwanted mammals, making his way one roof-hop at a time every time he ascertained there was no one watching him. Although that was minor issue compared to having to stay absolutely still for he forgot how long until he heard no more howling or other commotion. As a result, he went to bed later than his usual time, and he spent a few sleeping hours alert and anxious.
Gary listlessly groped around his desk for his phone, only to realize after a stretch that he was still wearing the pants he wore last night and his phone was still in his pocket. He sighed, pulled out his phone and saw 11:32 on the screen. That was late. He forced himself awake to clean up and dress up. Maybe he should get himself some coffee before tonight's task.
Larry and Raul were analyzing a Savannah Central map in the briefing room. The two had spent the entire morning planning for the most efficient paths to traverse to hopefully find Gary at the Savannah, while Wilfred and Connor were preparing gears and supplies in the garage as Lucas and Boris were out in the streets. The map had been dotted with numbered stickers, with their impromptu rendezvous point last night being marked as 1 and the rest of the numbers meandering from there, with some numbers having letters A or B. Behind Larry was another Savannah map plastered on a whiteboard wall, the map having been scribbled all over.
"Okay, based on my current estimates, we should be able to cover all these points in two to three hours into midnight," Larry spoke.
"Agreed," Raul replied.
"But we also need to consider the terrains. Some of these points are likely connected via mismatched elevations and even impassable obstacles."
"I guess we can only start pinpointing those points once Lucas and Boris came back from surveying."
Larry nodded.
"Okay, we've moved the necessary gears and supplies to the garage," Wilfred interrupted as he entered the room followed by Connor.
"Thanks, both of you," Larry smiled back.
The two entering wolves positioned themselves surrounding the map on the table.
"So basically we'll start from our rendezvous point last night and fan out from there?" Wilfred inquired.
"The six of us will split only into two groups," Larry explained, "Remember last night, Connor? Assume we'll run into hostiles this time considering what we're doing, so it's best we don't operate as too many units, and to be more cautious in traversal and communication."
Connor sheepishly nodded. Larry probably thought his howling last night was careless.
"If you think Larry was angry that you howled last night, Connor, it was more because you were only with Wilfred and that we weren't equipped for that sudden search," Raul clarified, "Tonight is different."
"Oh," Connor smiled nervously.
"That's minor issue now given that nothing bad actually happened," Larry interjected, "and besides, I'm planning to sweep high and low."
Wilfred began fidgeting.
"Worried about something, Wilfred?" asked Raul.
"Well... nothing much really," Wilfred answered, "We haven't done much of this at the Savannah, so I'm just a bit nervous."
"Speaking of high and low," Connor uttered, "You're saying that we're gonna do some climbing?"
"Yes," Larry confirmed.
A sound of a car horn interrupted their discussion. Wilfred promptly left the briefing room to open the garage door, and a few minutes later he came back with Boris and Lucas in tow. Boris proceeded to pick a laptop, plugged his phone onto it and began presenting some images, mostly photos he took during his and Lucas' patrol. Lucas joined the rest over the main map as they continue their planning, now taking those latest information into account.
"Ok, so this will be the last version of our routes. We can confirm now that our plans for within three miles inland from the coast can stay," Larry concluded, "But anything beyond that has to be scoured either mostly on the grounds or from the last hour before midnight to minimize ruckus."
Raul nodded as he looked at the entire pack, "Now to split the team."
"I'll be on team A and Raul B," Larry began, "For route A, Boris and Wilfred will join me, so that leaves Lucas and Connor with Raul for route B. For team A, the paths will be mostly away from main roads, and in fact there will be a few rooftop traversals. For team B, Lucas will mostly remain on the streets while the others follow within fifty yards. There will be a few convergence points such as point 5 where we may rearrange our teams, so keep in touch to have both teams to be within a hundred yards of each other at those points. Any question?"
No one raised an objection.
"Ok. We'll make our last preparations before we depart for our starting point at 7," Larry concluded as his mind was filled with only one thing. Please, Gary, tell me it really is you.
