thanks to any and all who have made it this far, please review as i'd love to know what im getting wrong (and right (mabe(please)))
Protestors have gathered in heat street, Sahara Squair, and are refusing to move on despite police orders. They intend to force the cities paw in its decision to expose Sahara Squair to 90 degrees Celsius tomorrow. Fringe Political groups are up in arms as ...
Back at the hospital nick and Judy were greeted by a solemn looking Orax in scrubs. She held her hooves clasped in front of her, a pose nick recognised as a universal omen of bad news. He allowed his eyebrows to raise a little as they approached.
"Officers theirs been a complication; we couldn't save Mr Vayu's leg."
"Is he OK" gasped Judy, her voice full of concern.
"You'll have to ask him that, please follow me." She led the officers to a private ward guarded by two dingos' in hospital security uniforms. Before entering she knelt to the officer's level, half whispering.
"You'll have to be brief; He's dosed up on morphine. I don't how much you'll get from him, be gentle, he's got a lot of grief coming his way."
Nick and Judy nodded before pushing the ward door open and slowly approached the bed. The antelope was in a poor state. His torso and right arm were encased in gauze bandage, the tip of his right antler was missing and a cage under his blanket kept the fabric from weighing on his raw stump.
He looked utterly defeated at the sight of the officers.
"Mr Vayu, were sorry we have to do this at such a time but do you mind answering a few questions." Judie began, her voice gentle, sympathetic but firm.
"I suppose I have little choice" slurred Vayu.
"You received a payment of ten thousand over the dark web last month," what was this for?
"To leave a door open"
"I'm sorry, Mr Vayu?"
"Leave a door open for fifteen minutes to the wall storage facility, no questions, money in the bank. I figured everything that goes in and out gets checked out thoroughly before use so harm no fowl; they probably just wanted to steal some parts. There's a lot of very expensive machinery in there. When I went to check the next day I was right, a hundred sets of titanium ring bearings, gone, they go for twenty thousand a pop."
"Has anything else been used from the stores since then."
"Not much, just the…" his eyes widened. "The crane; they overhauled the crane last week, new runners, new cables."
He looked like he was about the thump the table, but as he raised his fist he instead clutched his head as a wave of dizziness overcame him.
"Damn, damn, damn." He breathed.
Judie glanced at nick, her eyes wide with triumph before quickly returning to Vayu, a picture of concern.
"And could you tell us who planted the bomb."
He looked up at them still cradling his head. "No, I never knew anything about this. There was no way anyone could have made it from storage to the hall undetected. You think ten thousand is worth a bomb?"
The nurse came in to the room looking concerned; "Mr Vayu's heart rate is high. I'm going to have to ask you to leave officers."
"One last question" retorted nick. "Who paid you?"
"I never met anyone important; I was put on to them by a friend."
"Some friend," said nick
Vayu hung his head, his arms flopping to the bead covers; "put me on to a guy in Sahara Squair, palm view. Who set me up on the net; I got orders and money from there, nothing else."
"Can you describe him?"
"Bactrian Camel, skinny, wore a Hawaiian shirt and white shorts, smoked a role up. I was told to call him Jimmie."
The nurse move forwards, but Judy turned first, "that will be all, thank you Mr Vayu." She and nick proceeded out the door; leaving the nurse to attend her patient.
Walking out the hospital lobby Nick pulled out his radio, "dispatch, wild, I need an ID and locate on a Bactrian camel. Goes by the name Jimmie, casual dresser, smoker, skinny, operates out of Sahara Squair providing hook ups. Dark web links."
"It's in the computer now," came Clawhouser's voice.
And get forensics to check the Crain for sabotage, added Judy.
"Shure thing," replied Clawhouser,
As they climbed in to the cruiser the clock ticked over to nine pm They had only been up ten hours but it had been full out. nick gave a wide yawn, rolling his tongue and showing his teeth as he stretched back in his chair a wine escaping his throat while Judy typed up an interview summery. Nick sat back watching animals walk in and out of the building.
"So" said Judy looking up from the dash screen
"Obstruction in trunk" called nick, smiling and waving to a disgruntled looking elephant
"What's a camel doing sabotaging the climate wall."
"Mange, and bad" nick hissed through his teeth, recoiling slightly
"NICK,"
"Sorry,"
"What's - a - camel - doing - sabotaging - the - climate - wall."
"He likely has no idea what his employer is in to, He may be from out of town or just heartless, probably all three." Nick said offhand leaning forward in his chair, enjoying his new game. "used to be impossible to stay anomalous in the underworld now anyone can be anywhere and no one knows who you are, on the bright side that means no back up and no friends when the fuzz come a-knockin."
"Hmm," Judy sighed, wondering if this would be another dead end.
"Ha," nick pointed and laughed at a deer in a tux, supported by two similarly drunken bucks clambering out of a taxi, a toilet seat jammed firmly round his antlers. Judy supressed a chuckle as she felt her phone vibrate bringing up a drivers photo showing a seedy looking camel in his mid-forties, named Jimmie Lawrence. Known for debt collecting and "outreach activities" for gangs. A note attached said he lived in Sahara Squair and had been confirmed evacuated. The photo was being sent to the hospital to be confirmed by Vayu.
"To the rainforest then" nick said. Pulling out of the multi-story and taking a right towards the flyover that passed through one of the great columns of rock that separated rainforest from desert. "You think gazelle has finished yet"
Driving through the rainforest district there was a strange mood. Thousands of cars stacked high with belongings sat along the roadsides broken only by first aid and food tents, children played on disused scraps of ground giving the district the overcrowded and temporary feel of a refugee camp. Yet organised lines of mammals waited patiently outside regiments of porta-loos, yawning in dressing gowns and pyjamas. While down on the banks of the districts numerous canals thousands more colourful tents were pitched, glowing from within. All reminding Judy of the music festival her family's neighbours hired fields out to every summer. An observation that could at least in part be put down to Gazelle, who had apparently commandeered a cargo barge and had invited just about every music talent in the city to contribute to what was quickly becoming the free party of the century.
Following the coordinates sent to their GPS by the traffic centre, nick and Judy followed a road through the curve of an underpass and pulled up a few car-lengths behind their mark. They stepped out the cruiser, the stifling humidity of the night air rolling over them. The two small cops moved over to the parked car, paws on Tranquilisers, nick made a shush sign to a group of goat kids playing on the pavement who grinned back mackling excited little gestures at the sight of the cops. Judy edged round to look in to the front. The camel was asleep and snoring, his seat reclined as far as it would go. Judy nocked sharply on the passenger door, the camel jumped and stared at Judy before regaining his composure, smiling pleasantly at the officer without the slightest hint of warmth.
"Yes officer," he drawled.
"Jimmie Lawrence, you're under arrest for conspiracy to commit sabotage."
The smile dropped. He jumped for the driver door only to be met by a fox wearing a grin that left words unnecessary. "Please try and run; I need some entertainment." The look was meant to intimidate, it usually worked; Not this time. Lawrence kicked the door causing Nick to stumble back. Nick saw Judy go for her tranquiliser. Knowing having an unconscious perp would set them back hours Nick jumped, bouncing off the car's trunk and grabbing on to the fleeing camels neck. Clinging with one arm nick grasped for the small pink canister on his belt. Scrunching his eyes he reached around and sprayed point blank in to the camel's eyes; Lawrence face-planted spectacularly with nicks weight on his back thoroughly winding him. Rolling off the camel on to all fours Nick began shaking his head and snorting through his nose trying to dislodge the agonising mixture of creosote and ammonia designed to disable foxes. He really needed to get some standard issue pepper spray.
After that Lawrence came without a struggle. As Nick read him his rights, Judy waved off bystanders trying to photograph the fox, who was standing on tip toe to reach the camels wrists with cuffs.
Back in the cruiser nick and Judy turned to face the larger animal, his face had returned to the same lazy half lidded calm Judy couldn't help but recognise from a certain fox; a confident, unconcerned look that masked any underlying turmoil.
"Those were some smooth moves back there fox, was that personal flair or is kamikaze standard practice for such, "vertically challenged" officers." His voice dripped with the same false nicety as before, but the blatant insult betrayed his insecurities. Judy ignored him, not playing his game.
"Mr Lawrence, we have you placing one Charles Vayu in contact with a dark web client, the result of which is you and every other inhabitant of Sahara Squair spending the next few days on the roadside."
"We have a team going through your computer with a fine tooth comb so don't lie," added nick
once again the façade dropped, ("Amateur" thought nick), it seemed Laurence he was genuinely shocked. "She was just some petty crook, what's she doing blowing up the climate wall."
"Then what did you think she wanted contact with a crane technician for?"
"I don't know, I find the people other people are looking for, I put them in contact and leave well alone."
"So, you meet your clients?"
No
"Say carrots, you reckon Mr big is still up."
"Ok Ok, I may have met her. She was an odd one, she didn't seem particularly familiar with underworld etiquette, so to speak, but she was interested in getting access to the stores. I assumed she wanted to pull off a robbery."
"Could you describe her?"
"Slender undulate, really small, bout your height, didn't catch species, wore a blue robe, big sunglasses. Met in a herbivore restaurant acacia avenue. That's all I got."
"Well" finished Judy brightly, turning around and punching the engine start while nick snapped his note book shut. "Your "robbery" resulted in a crane accident that destroyed the replacement pump in the wall and took off Vayu's leg. So I'd advise you rack that brain of yours, because until you can cough up some better evidence I don't see the court taking too kindly to Mr "didn't catch the species.""
The camel slumped starring intensely out of the window; it seemed either they had exhausted his knowledge or he was a harder nut to crack than they expected. That wasn't their problem now.
Dropping Lawrence off at the local station to be formally interrogated they headed for the wall. While they had made progress they had no idea who had set the bomb. Forensics had been on sight all day and so they were headed back to see what more they could glean regarding their mysterious bovine.
Back through security the couple met with, much to nicks amusement, a rabbit in a bunny suit. He was in his forties and had an unusually Squair jaw that made Judy suspect there may have been some Hare somewhere in the bloodline. "Rich cotton", he offered a paw, Which Judy shook enthusiastically. She had followed cottons career a little closer than she would care to admit.
"Great to meet you sir, you've been a real inspiration. Shut up nick" she anticipated the Growing smirk on the muzzle just above her head.
"Hi Rich," said nick his usual instant familiarity kicking in, offering his own paw. "Don't mind carrots, it's not like she has a scrap book of your newspaper cuttings or anything." He sidestepped, successfully dodging a punch to the rib cage. "So what we got?"
"From the start; we had a bomb tech have a look at the blast damage and he reckons were looking at ANFO. It's a cheap and nasty explosive, but, and here's the clever bit, it could be made entirely from ingredients already in the wall: Liquid Ammonia, liquid nitrogen and machine oil. Whoever was brewing it never had to bring anything through security. They must have been at it for weeks to avoid detection. But were still trying to sniff out where it was cooked; we brought in a wolf from the bomb squad but he nearly broke down and cried with all the ammonia still in the air.
"it was an inside job", concluded nick, sending Judy a significant glance, her ears drooped, knowing that the case against Izzy didn't look good.
"What about the ghost?" asked Judy, hoping for some chance at redemption. Nick however braced himself for the deathblow to Izzy's innocence.
"Ahh yes, your ghost in core five." Said cotton, pulling a sheet from his case file "Well, it seems ghosts shed." He passed the sheet containing a photo of a short piece of fur to Judy who held it up for nick to see. "We've sent it of for DNA but it looked like bovid fur, savanna dwelling by the colour. Nicks eyebrows shot up, Izzy had been telling the truth. He instantly felt a swell of regret and confusion. Judy meanwhile smiled despite feeling that twinge every cop new as a trail went cold.
"Any sign on the CCTV?" she asked
"No, the coverage is poor, only showing entrances and a few wide shots, nobody ever expected intruders to get in. As for the transponders; their meant for rescue work, so are only accurate inside the pipes. Thus we don't know who was near the compressor. Furthermore, we have no idea how our intruder got out, or in for that matter," Finished Cotton.
"Haven't you been searching for them, we don't know they got out?" asked nick
"Yes but we don't stand a chance without a sense of smell; Theirs five hundred miles of piping accessible to a medium size mammal in here; A thousand to someone the size of Mrs kingdom."
"As for the Crane, your right, the wheels are shattered. Someone implanted blasting caps in to the metal; only weigh a few grams but pack a hell of a punch."
"Thanks Mr Cotton" concluded Judy, fighting to keep her brow un-furrowed. "You've given us a lot to think on."
"I'll bet I have officer," he chuckled, "and By the way, the kits back home are far more excited for you than an ol bunny suit here," he said. Shaking her hand and saluting nick before turning back to his team who were still crawling all over the empty compressor mounting.
Judy shaking her star struck head looked back to nick, "welp, this is getting weird."
"You don't say, we have a bomb specifically designed to be convenient for an inside job, and an outsider breaking in by bribing another inside party with neither inside party seeming to know the other. Then we have another break in around the time of the bombing, possibly our bribing mastermind, if the fur matches up." nick reeled off, "It looks like we have some full scale Moriarty going on here." He said, frowning as they walked towards the staff room where they could pick up a coffee before filling their reports.
"So if the bomb was set by someone on the inside why did someone else need to set the charges on the crane" asked Judy,
Mabey they didn't want to draw attention to themselves, spread the blame," said nick
"It seems odd though that they would go to such lengths to pay someone else to open the storeroom when they already had someone else plant the bomb. Perhaps it was a specialist job"
"Nope, blasting caps are pretty easy to set, just a little volatile, not at all hard if you're making home brew in the meantime."
"Nick?"
"Another time carrots," He dismissed her suspicious glair. "It's as if the bomber had no idea that the crane would malfunction."
"Meaning that we really do have a Moriarty," Judy stroked her chin "but then we have an entirely different motive for our bomber, if their plan went through then the wall would have been fixed before this happened. Who could possibly gain from a flash in the pan?"
"Hang on, we could still be talking bribery and blackmail here." Countered nick
"But nothing showed in the financials,"
"There's more than one way to blackmail carrots, all it takes is a few naked phots and the threat of social media and any respectable citizen is putty in your hands."
"I somehow doubt it, anyway we don't even know who the ghost is yet, or when they got in, they could still be responsible."
As the conversation approached full circle the officers reached the breakroom as a familiar stoat exited the door, a comically large wrench slung over her shoulder.
"Hay Izzy" called Judy. Izzie looked up, waved and smiled. Seeming far more upbeat than when they left her back at her flat despite the tired droop in her tail.
"How's that political shitstorm coming along Goggles?"
"Great, George Buck just tweeted his resignation." She gave thumbs up before slapping her free paw back to her shoulder to steady the wrench.
"How's everyone else holding up."
"OK, were all just a bit shell shocked after Charles got carted off; how is he?" She looked up hopefully. Judie's ears dropped,
"What is it," gasped Izzy
"Izzy, Charles is fine, "began Judy, holding up her paws to calm Izzy" we've seen him awake but they had to take his leg." Izzy seemed to simply stop, her face becoming a mask as she stared passed judies concerned face; she blinked heavily and walked off as if she suddenly had something important to do. Judie followed cautiously behind, while nick, who was still mid guilt, trip pursued the pair.
Cassie had made for core five and was leaning against its pipework, feeling its rumble through her paws, breathing erratically when she felt a small fuzzy paw on her shoulder.
"What's wrong" repeated Judy, her eyes wide with sympathy.
"I did it," replied Izzy. She felt the rabbit flinch but the paw on her shoulder didn't tighten or retract as she expected it to.
"I'm sorry?" asked Judy
"I set the bomb"
Surprised by the sudden confession Judy stepped back ready to take action. But then, like a bolt slipping in to place in her brain, she understood everything. A wave of sympathy washed over her as she brought her arm around Izzy, who was firmly refusing to cry but instead was doing her best to melt in to the floor. Judy's training kept her very aware of the set of teeth next to her head but the show of affection was very real.
"Let's get you upstairs" she said softly.
In the break room Judy and nick sat across from Izzy; who seemed amazed that she wasn't yet in cuffs. Nick and Judy were playing it safe, wanting to extract as much information as possible before the stoat went in to emotional lockdown.
The interrogation was traumatic for all involved, Judy had come to consider the stoat as a friend and even though nick had held her at emotional arm's length throughout the investigation judy had known he was fond of the perky predator ever since he'd christened her goggles.
Upon catching a perp Nick usually turned his smug up to eleven. This time however he seemed to be showing more regret than Judy. Once Izzy's failing front had dropped an even more regretful animal had emerged.
"We know you didn't do this alone" said Judy, "you were manipulated, you had no idea how far this would lead. You just wanted to scare the city council in to approving the walls upgrade; no one was supposed to get hurt."
"You wanted to keep quiet but you're too good a person for that." continued nick" Now tell us, who suggested the bomb."
Izzy's jaw hung open, amazed they knew so much, her ears began twitching nervously. "Sara, Sara put me on to it."
"Roommate Sara?" asked Judy
"Yes,"
"Anything more than Sara to go on?" asked nick.
"Ugh," Izzy stuttered, her eyes darting around the room as she searched her memory, panicking as she realised how little she knew. She pulled out her mobile, opening social media, "she must be in here somewhere." Nick hoped up and checked over her shoulder; making Shure she wasn't messaging anyone.
After a few minutes searching her heart sank as she found nothing, carefully she locked her phone and placed it face down on the table, "No I don't know anything."
"Second name, species?"
"Mouse-deer, but I only ever knew her as Sara"
"And you let her convince you to plant a bomb." Nick raised an eyebrow .
"We always got along, we went out for meals, went bowling. You don't spend much time at home in an apartment that small. She knew I worked in the wall and we talked about it and she saw my leaflets and suggested a bomb as a joke and I guess it snowballed."
"Is there any chance she knew about this before meeting you" asked Judy
"Yes, we've been going at city hall for years"
Neither nick nor Judy needed to explain the situation; it was all too blindingly obvious.
"Right, we need as detailed description as possible to plug in to the system" said nick, breaking the awkward silence.
Half an hour later when it had been time to leave they had, with heavy heart, cuffed Izzy; who came without a word and now sat in the back of the cruiser. They phoned a description off to Clawhouser who began grinding the gears of the ZPD database.
Judy and nick understood her frustration, while funding at the ZPD was far from short, they were always clamouring for more. They could only imagine doing the same to maintain a multi-billion dollar machine; let alone upgrade it.
As nick took the cruiser towards tundra town station Judy sighed; glancing behind in to the caged off rear seat to see that, despite her situation, the mechanic was fast asleep, bowled over by the day's exertions.
Back at precinct one Nick and Judy found themselves in the usual tumult of paperwork that accompanied police investigations. It was approaching midnight when they, along with the rest of their shift were ordered to get some rest, as they would be needed tomorrow to assist the displaced citizenry; the case could wait.
Exiting the break room where the two had been working on their reports and consuming coffee from elephant sized paper cups, nick and Judy found the station converted in to a rear staging post for the evacuation. The cube farm had been stripped out and camp beds for the various emergency services erected. Nick and Judy had showered and were getting ready for a power nap. Both according to Clawhouser, looking adorable, in borrowed ZPD gym shirts sized for wolves acting as night gowns. Their brains were still racing with sociopathic mouse-deer. But they, like Izzy, were flat, falling asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow.
It was five the next morning, the first light of dawn cut through the street lighting and fire chiefs cautiously watched thermometers rise as they withdrew their crews from Sahara square, tanks empty having doused the district repeatedly; knowing it could only offset the fire risk for a couple of hours.
feeling thoroughly unrefreshed after barely four hours sleep Nick and Judy pulled on their spare uniforms, for nick this meant neoprene and Judy dress shirt, bogo however ensured the tiny mammal wore her Kevlar vest over the top which, while non regulation, was deemed necessary in the turbulent environment around Sahara Squair.
"Judy! Nick!" called Clawhouser across the improvised dormitory, nick smiled as the cheetah ran towards them, apologising as he stumbled over mammals dragging themselves in to uniforms. Panting as he approached them he offered up a piece of paper; "we got a match on your description."
The paper showed a young orax with a severe expression. She wore a light robe, as was the fashion in Sahara Squair. "Sara Yetmgeta," began Clawhouser "hedge fund child. Saw her farther mauled by a wolf fifteen years ago on a trip abroad. She has no priors, but has been on a watch list as vocal a member of extreme anti-predator group, "New Chain"; that's chain as in food chain" he clarified, looking sad.
"Mauled by a wolf" asked Nick, obviously troubled at the thought of savagery, "nighthowler?"
"No, mob hit, he got himself deep in a bad deal and was made an example off. To some mammals that means a mauling."
"Mammals being the operative word" growled nick "not predators."
"Tell that to a twelve year old deer facing down a Siberian." Sighed Clawhouser.
"Why would an anti-pred group attack the climate wall?" Asked Judy; steering the conversation away from turbulent waters.
"That why we took so long to find her we spent all night going through the usual anarchist and oversees threats , they threw up nothing, so for due diligence we threw in speciesism and the system threw her up."
"But why" reiterated Judy,
"I duno."
Nick who had been silently staring at the profile perked up. "The ten-ninety ratio everyone always talks about is a generalisation. Everyone knows that tundra town is predator central. The arctic is naturally Pred heavy, and most of the herd animals like to live in the meadows. At the inter borough rugby game the Sahara's would always make a great buffet for the tundra's. If you don't like Preds you don't like tundra town."
"Then why go for the wall, they lost their bet on taking out tundra town." rebutted Judy.
"I'll bet they knew Sahara Squair would get it. They want to make the city council look anti prey."
"So what happens when nothing happens and everyone returns to their melted bath curtains unscathed."
Nicks ears dropped, "they won't leave that to chance."
He clicked his fingers at Clawhouser. "Ben, I need Bogo on the line, this isn't over."
dun dun dun
Will Sahara Squair burn to the ground?
What is nicks mysterious background in explosives?
And dose sun-tan cream even exist in Zootopia (OMG they don't need sun tan cream)
Probably find the at least one answer in the next instalment of...
Mystery, stoats and thermodynamics.
(organ music fades)