Chapter 4
The door opened rapidly and three mammals quickly entered the office, not leaving any time for the porcupine to react. He was too far away from anywhere to do anything. He couldn't grab his small firearm in one of his desk's drawers. He couldn't use his another pistol, hidden in the locker. He couldn't try to jump out of the window. He only stood there, shocked.
Then one of the mammals spoke:
"Didn't expect that, huh?"
He was a slim panda, unlike most of the other pandas. He wore a flight jacket, unzipped so that the porcupine could see a bulletproof vest on his chest. He also had a big knife attached to his thigh part of his worn jeans. Apart from that he also wore some in various places on his body. But not only knives. The porcupine also spotted a P226 on his other thigh. By looking closer he saw the end of the barrel of some other gun behind panda's back. By looking at him you could wonder how was he dealing with police patrols.
There also was a grey wolf who wore a black leather jacket and an orange scarf around his neck, probably overlying a medallion, without a rifle, only with a pistol on his right thigh. And a weasel, with the same look. Only his fur was brown. Not grey.
"W-what are you looking for?" the porcupine asked "Y-you want m-money? I've got m-money! You w-want information? I-i got it t-too!" he couldn't stop stumbling nor hide fear in his voice
"Cut it off and don't play the fool. You know why are we here." the weasel said
"For w-wh..."
"Oh, just show him the files! He's playing on time! Henry?" the panda interrupted him
Henry nodded "Show him Ned." he told to the weasel
Ned just took them and threw on the big desk in the middle of the room. Then he looked left.
"What are we doing with her?" he asked his colleagues, pointing at the cat behind the desk full of various papers
"What do you think? Let her go. What can she do? We're too far away from any ZPD patrol." Henry replied and immediately lost any interest in the feline
He focused on the mammal who pretended to check on the file the weasel gave him. But Henry saw what he was really doing. His brown eyes looked at one of the drawers in his desk.
The wolf motioned the panda and he moved towards the porcupine. When he got close enough to grab him the porcupine opened the drawer and pulled out a small pistol. It could work if he only had been a bit faster.
The panda didn't even speed up. He just threw a knife at porcupine's direction, perfectly tacking the pourcupine's paw to the big, brown leather chair.
The porcupine cried in pain. He dropped his pistol and tried to get the knife out, doing his best. He did it, but again - too slow. The panda was already close to him, flipping his butterfly knife. He kicked the mammal trying to stop the bleeding from his paw and then cut his face with his knife. Then he kicked him in his belly and laid him down.
He kneeled next to him "You still wanna do it the hard way?" he growled "You want me to beat your fat ass? You want to fucking die?" he shouted loudily
"Okay Max, that's enough. You may want your personal vegeanance, but now we need him alive. Or at least able to speak." the wolf reminded the panda
It worked. Max made some steps backwards and stood there, looking on the porcupine only with conpempt. Meanwhile the weasel moved towards the locker at the second end of the room and started to snoop around.
"So, Jack..." Henry approached the mammal on the floor "Was it worth it? Was it worth breaking a deal?"
Jack stopped whining "L-listen I-i..."
"You are not only unthrustworthy Jack. You are also stupid. What have you thought? That we'd give up on it? Have you even considered why would we? You are a stupid mammal Jack. And the thing what is going to happen isn't called survival of the fittest. It would be survival of the smartest. You failed." Henry said nad stood up "And now you can enjoy Max beating you up. Trust me - he won't stop fast..." the wolf laughed mischievously
The panda started to slowly walk towards the porcupine, who started to move back, with fear in his eyes. He saw the flames in panda's eyes. But he didn't remember him. He peobably wanted revenge, but he wasn't certain for what.
Then the weasel who poked around his files in the locker stopped the panda "Wait... He still might be useful..." he said with an absent voice
Max stopped, apparently annoyed "You told me he'd be mine. What is it?"
"Look." the weasel replied, throwing a file to the panda
He picked it up and opened it. It was about Perry Felix's drug cartel. Max knew him only by sight. Like most of the mammals. Perry was a mysterious wisent. Always wearing the same clothes - a worn flight jacket, probably remembering the battle of England, a tracksuit bottom, which was hard to examine, because of its dirtiness, a cowboy hat and a bandana. He almost always took a part in every crime related to drugs. The leader of Night guardians was an absolute king in that business. He also was very revengeful if anyone would butt into his racket. That certain revengefulness was the reason of the case the ZPD led. Although it happened twenty years ago effects still could be seen. When the wisent found out about the Prides started to compete in his manor he went compeletely nuts. He promised their leader he would pay. And he did deliver.
In his anger and with help of his gang members he blew up the biggest school in Zootopia. The number of casaulties was unspeakable. Over fifty dead and two hundred injured kits. Probably that was the start of the five conference, the biggest agreement of the five main crime lords in Zootopia. Those crime lords divided the city into five shperes of influence. Each one for each organisation. Since then everyone who wanted to do something on someone's else manor had to get an approval. It seemed inpossible, but it worked. Many criminals had enough of endless fights and being at each other's throats.
"Yeah, I know about it. He blew up the school, parents got mad and ZPD found out about us." Max said, unwittingly moving his paw towards his medallion "But why is this sooo important?"
"Those aren't common files about that case. Those are files ZPD made for the city council! These files are like the rarest in this city. I NEED to know where the fuck has he got 'em."
When the two mammals countinued to discuss Jack decided to use this advantage. He started to slowly move towards his accountant's desk. She was packing her handbag, probabl prepairing to get out of the house.
The porcupine didn't care much about her right now. The thing that mattered to him was the gun he hid in the lowest drawer of the accountant's desk. It was on his right, less than a meter away. He carefully looked on the weasel, heavily arguing with the panda.
Yeah, keep doing it motherfuckers. We'll see if you get out of here alive... Or if I will... he thought very concerned
He really had nothing to lose. The panda was winning the argument and looked like the wolf didn't even want to listen to it. So neither he wanted to join it...
"The fuck are you doing?" panda asked Jack when he saw him reaching for the pistol
The porcupine didn't listen. He just pulled the pistol out, took off the safety and tried to stand up. He immediately regret that decision.
The panda bobbed up, tore the gun from Jack's paw and kicked him in his solar plexus. Porcupine panted for breath and fell down on the floor.
"Wanna play? Or you had enough?" the panda asked and kick the porcupine once again "Answer me!" he kicked again
"Max, enough." Henry said, moving towards the panda "He might still be useful. And I don't think you can talk with the dead. Can you?" Max didn't answer "Exactly. So stop kicking him and prepare him for the drive..."
Jack looked at the wolf with fear in his eyes "What do you mean by..."
Thud!
Panda's fist going fast against his face was the last thing he could remember. Then his body fell on the ground, like a sack of potatoes.
Wolf looked at him emotionless. He didn't react when the panda 'acidentally' hit porcupine's head aginst the desk. Max had a right to hate that porcupine. And Henry's goal was to get Jack alive. No one mentioned about his state.
When Max exited the room, carelessly carrying the porcupine, Ned packed all the files and got out too Henry looked at the accountant who was still there. He sighed and spoke to her:
"What is it?" he asked
"What?" she replied
Even though Henry was never interested in music, opera and other similiar things he had to admit that that cat's voice could easily compete with many other voices.
"You didn't leave when we told you to. You only waited there when you packed your things. That leaves me with two possible scenarios. Or you hated your employer and wanted to see him beaten up, but that's less possible because you are still here or you want to talk with me." he leaned in to her "So, what is it?"
"You might need an accountant like me." she replied
Henry grinned and stood upright "Me? I'm a primitive criminal! What can I possibly want from you?" he said sarcastically
She ignored it "Jack actually said much about your organisation. You are the Phoenix. The most organised and disciplined crime group in whole Zootopia. You are like a small army. Even like a very, very small country. You are wealthy. How could you manage with your incomes and expenses without any accountants? You are primitive criminals after all!"
"You are smart. It's valuable today. You really can be useful." all of previous sarcasm in wolf's voice dissapearred "Only thing that concernes me is how did you get that information?"
The cat smiled a bit "When Jack was drunk he always talked much. Like his tounge was itching. Mostly about the Phoenix. But there were other topics. Like..."
"Not interested. But, if you are interested in working for us then follow me." the wolf interrupted her and went out of the room
The cat followed him.
So she's or desperate or stupid or she knows what she's doing. Henry thought and almost hurtled together with Ned.
"Whoa! Watch it dude!" the weasel said
"I could say the same to be honest." the wolf replied "Is everything set?"
"Of course. You know me!" Ned replied
"Perfect. You know what to do."
The weasel nodded and went to the upper floor. Meanwhile Henry and the cat went downstairs. Out of the sudden the wolf spoke:
"What's your name?" he asked the cat
She just blinked "What?"
"Your name. Haven't you got any?" he asked
"Whitney. Why do you care?"
"Good name. I like it." the wolf replied
They walked to the exit door in silence. When the wolf got there he opened the door and muttered something what probably was 'Ladies first'. She walked through the door and saw the moose tied and proopped up on the brick fence.
"Don't ask." the wolf told her passing by
She did what he told her. She just passed the moose, praying he would be okay. The wolf entered a car parked just before the house. It was a yellow SUV, in shade that didn't bring any unwanted attention.
She entered it just after him. The panda and the porcupine were already there. She noticed a bag on porcupine's head. Her eyebrows widened, but she didn't say anything.
Suddenly the panda spoke:
"You know what Henry?"
Wolf's ears perked. He finished belting up and replied.
"What is it?"
"You surprise me. You should be in the worst mood today."
"Why?"
"Well, from what I've heard from Gerard you drank preety much yesterday night. And your mood wasn't great before either, so you should have a hungover that would make you the thousant percent more Henry we know."
Henry smiled "Well, Gerard didn't get laid last night and I've taken some meds. Combine this and you have brand new, not mean Henry!"
"Well, that explains a lot indeed." Max answered
Their talk was interrupted by Ned who just got into the car. He sat on the driver's seat and turned on the engine.
"Is everyting set?" Henry asked
The weasel nodded "Yeah. I set the timers to explode..." he looked at the clock "...now."
The cat prepaired her for a loud explosion. But it didn't happen. She heard nothing.
"Okay. Let's go." Henry ordered
The car drove off with a terrible screech of its tires.
"What have exploded?" Whitney asked
"Incendiary bomb." Ned replied with a tone that made her stop the discussion
She decided not to speak until they get in their destination and looked at the floor.
A grumpy water bufallo put his glasses on the desk. He yawned and took a large sip from one of the many cups on his desk. He was very tired. Through the night he searched through all the files about secret drug cartels and he still couldn't find nothing the anthelope was talking about. He made up his answer to the anthelope. He just didn't know about it.
"How bad will it be?" he asked himself when he thought about the next day
Nothing indicated that it was going to be a good day. Three new recruits, probably some journalists due to the shooting on that parking and interrogation with the Phoenix anthelope...
Bogo didn't have good memories with the Phoenix. He resembeled them as killers, robbers and simply said 'bad guys'. His experience didn't let him underestimate any of the 'Phoenix crime organisation' members with a vial containing night howlers. He remembered well the night when one of his best friends, a very good cop died one night while trying to catch one of them. He remembered well the zebra who injected a blue liquid into his veins and then became a killing machine.
Even though he and probably anyone else of his friends didn't know about the night howlers, by putting two and two together he didn't need to be a genius to know that the zebra used night howlers.
Bogo took another deep sip and then looked at his computer screen. No new emails, except some spam. When he decided to find out more about the drug cartel anthelope was talking about he thought it wouldn't be so hard. But it was hard. Extremely hard.
Bogo wasn't an amateur. He had long-time experience in almost every aspect of police work. He knew how to interrogate, how to get hostages out of kidnapper's paws, he knew how to fight drug cartels and he knew how to look for information. But this time... Nothing.
He had never seen anything like it before. His best sources of information knew nothing. All the others, even the illegal ones too. Nothing. Totally nothing.
The water bufallo took another sip of his coffee and put the cup in the trash can in the corner of his office. Now he was in a muddle. First time in his career he had no ideas. Even during thr night howler case he had some, maybe not so good, but he HAD ideas. Now...
Okay. Let's get things sorted out. I need to make a plan. First - a sheet of paper, second - a pen.
He picked those things from the drawers in his desk and closed his eyes thinking. He remained in that state for a while and then started writing. When he ended he put the pen down and drummed his hoofs on the desk. Now he knew what he should do.
He opened ZPD's database and searched in it for a while. He stopped when he found what he was searching for.
"There are you." he said with a satisfied grin on his face
He stood up, took his notebook, wrote something in it and went out of his office. He passed by some sleepy mammals and then went down the stairs. He entered ZPD's archive, shown his badge to the old, grying bear behind the desk on the right of the entrance, passed by many shelves and stopped before a metal gate.
He took his magnetic card and preesed it to the sensor. He waited some time and after a short beep pushed the gate and entered 'covert' part of the archives.
He sneezed strongly. This probably was the least attended part of precinct one. Only him, some other cops and mammals with his permission could enter in there. And that happened rarely.
He put a handkerchief against his nose and mouth. He could barely breathe.
"I totally should let here vacuum more often..." he muttered
Soon after that he found the shelf he was looking for. He took a file out of a cardboard box and blown off the dust on it. He looked on the title of the file. It was it. Perry Felix's criminal activity.
He looked at the notepad and then at the file again. It was it. Same code.
Bogo sneezed once again, this time even stronger. He shouldn't have blown. Now the dust was everywhere.
The bufallo put the file in his other hoof and went towards the gate. He closed it and then again passed by multiple shelves.
When he got in his office first thing he had to do was to make more coffee. Bogo felt dead. He hadn't slept for almost thirty hours. He really needed to go back home and get some deserved rest. The bufallo decided to start reading the file while waiting for his coffee. He opened it and saw multiple photos of the same mammal - a wisent. On the top of the page there was a writing. He didn't need to read it. He already knew what was written there.
'JOHN PERRY FELIX'
He also knew two first pages of the file. He even knew how he could make it from two pages to ... sentences. It was something like this:
'Perry Felix, wisent, origins unknown, parents unknown, age 51. No criminal activities untill eleven. Wanted for multiple extortions, burglaries, drug cartels and (most importantly) creating an organised crime group in Nocturnal district.'
Yeah, Bogo knew that mammal. Not all the details, but most important facts. However, if his suspicions were true he needed details. But not from first two pages. He needed to dig in.
He didn't even realise how much time he had been reading until a clock on his desk rang. He set it up in case he would fall asleep. It was 7:30.
Oh god. And I'm not even in the middle... he thought Okay. Not now. Now I should focus on today's announcments. Three new recruits... Check. What was that weasel's name? Roy... Wenson. Yeah, so Wenson's case will go under Hopps and Wilde... the bufallo planned the announcments on his clipboard Rest as always... Wait. What is that?
He felt his phone vibrate a bit. He put it out of his pocket. Two new messages. One from his wife - Bogo sighed. He really wanted to go home soon... But the second one was from officer Rhinowitz.
The bufallo frowned. Rhinowitz decided to take Francine's night shift, so she could go to her brother's wedding... The bufallo didn't expect any messages from the rhino. He took that shift in specially quiet area. How many years have passed after lastest robbery there? Ten? Twelve?
Bogo unlocked his phone and read the message. With every word his eyebrows widened. When he ended he nearly dropped the phone. He remained in shock for a little time and then fastly took his clipboard and reassigned Judy and Nick.
"They're my best detectives... Other officers can deal with Wenson's case... But I don't think they'd deal with that..." he muttered and looked at the clock
It was already 7:41. Bogo decided to stop reading the file now and took a sip of his coffee.
"I'm gonna or work to death or get shot one day." he made a statement and took another sip of his coffee
Clawhauser laughed. Nick patiently waited for the cheetah to stop and then spoke:
"What about this one? A bunny walks into a bar..."
"Speaking of the devil..." Clawhauser interrupted him still chuckling a bit
Nick turned around, only to see Judy entering the building. She didn't look like she sleep well. Her fur seemed a bit messy and her eyes were half-open. When she approached the fox he spoke:
"Morning Carrots. You look like you could use some coffee." he said
Judy just yawned "Some genius got an idea to tap dance from midnight to the sunset and hy head still hurt a bit, so good luck with that." she replied
"Not good." Clawhauser admitted
"Wany some coffee?" Nick asked the bunny "I'm going to go get some."
"Yes, please." Judy replied smiling "I'd love to."
Nick nodded and went to the coffee machine in the corridor on the left. It wasn't like other terrible cheap ones. Whole pretinct one dubbed up for it. And everyone knew it was worth it. During long night shifts no one wanted to go long way to their offices to their offices just to get some coffee. So one of them proposed to get a good coffee machine. And no one protested.
Nick put two coins in and then waited. A delicious aroma wafted in the air. Nick inhaled deeply and clised his eyes. Yeah, that's going to be a good coffee.
He waited untill he heard a quiet 'ding' and took two cups with steaming liquid inside. He walked to the rabbit again and gave her one cup.
Judy smiled "Thaks Nick. I owe you one."
Nick grinned "Not a problem Fluff."
"Have anyone told you that you are adorable together?" Clawhauser asked
"Well, there's a one chubby cheetah..." Nick answred
Judy took another sip from her cup and looked at her clock. Her eyes widened.
"Oh my god, Nick we'll be late for today's announcements! Let's go!" she said nervously
Nick smirked and turned his head to Clawhauser "You see what a good coffee can do? See you later pal." he said and went towards the door leading to the briefing room
The duo entered the room. It was like always in here. All the officers talking, laughing and joking loudly. Judy saw only Francine and Rhinowitz were absent. She also saw three new faces.
First she saw a lion, sitting near the wall, talking with Fangmeyer. His mane was rather short, but she saw some medium plaits here and there. When she looked at him she immediately thought of native African tribes. It looked like he was proud of his ancestors and kept the memry of them.
He did look unusual, but she remembered the street where she went with Nick during one of their cases. Well, comparing the lion to some mammals she saw there he was one hundred percent normal. Some of those weirdos even appeared in her nightmares...
Second new mammal she noticed was a female eland. She looked very common. Probably lived in Zootopia since she was born.
Unlike the lion she seemed not to care about her ancestors. Not even a bit. Looked like she didn't care about her species past or how her ancestors wore, ate and live.
Third new mammal was a black wolf. She barely spot him, because he sat in a place she wolud never look. It was very possible that if Nick hadn't shown her she would have missed him. She didn't have much time to look at him.
She hopped on the chair she always sat on with her partner. She looked at the clock and sighed with relief. They barely made it on time.
"Atten-hut!" one of the officers shouted when he saw the door opening
The reaction of almost all the officers was the same. They all started to roar untill Bogo got to his platform.
"Okay, okay, SHUT IT!" the water buffalo outshouted his subordinates
They all did what he said. Their chattering was a sign of a respect the had for their chief. That's why they immmediately stopped when he told them to.
"Okay. So. We have some new recruits joining today. I should introduce them, but... Well... I don't care." he said, followed by some laughters "Today's assigments. Officer Snarlov and Delgato... You will look for a little drug dealer in Canal district." ha gave a file to them "Officer Wolfard and Fangmeyer. You are going to investigate Roy Wenson's case." he gave them another file "And finally officers Hopps and Wilde." both the fox and the bunny jumped down their chair "You'll investigate the crime scene in tundratown." he gave them the file and continued. But both the fox and the bunny didn't listen.
After they thanked Wolfard who held the door for them, Judy and Nick went to their office and sat on their chairs. That was the thing they always did. They first planned what would they do and then started to solve the case. Judy opened the folder and frowned. There was almost nothing. No evidence, no eyewitnesses, no photographs, only an adress and a note from Bogo.
"What's wrong?" Nick asked
Judy handed him the file "Take a look." the fox took it and looked at it "See? Nothing."
Nick smirked "Ready to beat the record?" he asked
Judy blinked "Sorry, what?"
"When you took Emil Otterton's case it had a photo. Now it hasn't. So we can beat the record now." the fox explained
Judy chuckled "Are you serious sometimes?"
Nick nodded "Very rarely, but yes. Now, let's focus at the case, shall we?"
"Okay slick. So, where do we start?"
"I would read the note Bogo gave us and arrive at the adress which is here." he tapped the file "Then figure out what do we do next."
Judy nodded "Well, I can't figure out anything better at the moment right now, so let's do it!"she said with enthusiasm
"You really love your job, don't you?" Nick asked
"You know me!" Judy replied and jumped off her chair "Let's go now!"
She exited their office and headed for the elevator. Nick followed her. They entered it and the fox pressed the button for the parking. The elevator started moving smoothly and after some time they arrived at the floor.
When the door opened the duo exited the lift and passed by many police cars. After some time thet got to their vehicle.
"I'm driving today!" Nick said and quickly annexed the car seat on the left
Judy rolled her eyes and sat on the passenger's seat. She looked at the fox on her left. He looked like it was the happiest day of his life.
"Ready to go carrots?"
"Yeah. Let's go!"
Nick put his shades on, pressed the gas pedal and drove out of the parking. He overtook two cars and got on the road leading to Tundratown district.
Judy took a quick look at him. His fur and uniform were enlightened by the sun.
It looks preety darn sexy, doesn't it?
Heck yea he does... Wait, did I just...
She opened her eyes wide and turned around. Did she just confirmed what she heard in her head? Yep - she did. Was it true what she said? Yep - it was. Was it because of upcoming spring? She didn't know.
What should she do now? She wasn't sure if what she thought was because of her hormones. If it was - it didn't matter. She had some tested methods for this.
But if it was real... She had no idea what to do. She never had a crush. Not a real one. Her parents tried to set her up a few times, but when they saw it was pointless they just let it go.
She was afraid. Right now she thought every choice she would make would be bad. What if he didn't feel the same for her? What if that would break their relationship? Would she be able to live with it? Or would she take the easy way out?
But what if he did feel the same? How would it affect their work, their parents and the society? How would it end? A good way? Or a bad way?
"Hey, Carrots... Is something wrong?" Nick asked with concern in his voice
"Nah." she replied "I'm fine."
"You sure? You know, we are frinds, I can help you..."
"No, it's fine, I'm okay Nick. It's just... You know, my head hurts a bit." she told him
"Still because of that guy?" Nick asked
"Yeah. I hit that wall hard."
"There's a drugstore nearby. I can buy you some aspirin. You want to?"
"Nick, that's very kind of you, but you really don't have to. I'm tougher than I look anf you know it. A headache won't kill me!"
"If you say so..." Nick replied, not really convinced
How it's going to end... Oh god, I don't even wanna think...
With those thoughts on her mind Judy was sitting on the passenger's seat, driving towards the crime scene.
