As always, I own nothing much here. :) Nothing, that is, except a fondness for Bing Crosby/Bob Hope road shows...

The Road to Zanzibar

The sunlight danced through the hangar, momentarily blinding me. The rest of the Rangers appeared, lugging various bags and things. At the sight of the Screaming Eagle II, dazzling black in the sunlight, its name and Rescue Rangers insignia proudly gleaming, they stopped.

Dale's jaw dropped. "We're….we're riding in this?!"

I giggled as I dashed past him, pulling loose more lines holding the Eagle in place. "Unless you'd rather take the Ranger Plane."

"No…no, this is fine…" He gulped for a few moments, then his senses returned and he lugged the two duffel bags he was holding up the waiting ramp.

As I finished pulling loose the lines, Monty stopped me. "Gadget-luv, it's bonzer. Yeh're dad would be proud."

I hugged him. "Thanks."

Zipper nuzzled my cheek affectionately, buzzing his astonishment. I laughed as his wings tickled me, and patted his head. "Thanks, Zipper."

Chip appeared beside us. "Speaking of your dad, Gadget, are we bringing…?"

"Yes! Is everyone in here ready?"

Dale stuck his wide-eyed face out of the Eagle. "Gadzooks, Chip, have you seen this thing? And yes, we're ready…"

"All right, everyone in!" I cried, and pulled on Chip's jacket. "He's in the Mobile's garage. The keys are in the ignition."

Chip's face broke into a grin. "Thanks," he said and ran out the open hangar door and descended the tree to bring the newly christened Geegaw out of the garage. The Rangers seated themselves somewhat uncertainly in their new chairs, eyes wide. I pressed the button and the ramp retracted halfway. With a deep thrum, the Eagle rose several inches off the hangar floor and glided out of the hangar. The Geegaw's cage was resting on the branch just outside the hangar. Carefully, I maneuvered into position above it and picked it up. It swung slightly, and the Eagle lost a little altitude.

"I'm ready, Gadget," I heard Chip's voice crackle through the microphone hanging off my console.

I caught Monty grinning at me as I picked up the mic and put it on. "Roger than, Chip. We're coming down."

Monty, Zipper, and Dale all stood up and leaned out the windows as I lowered the Eagle until the open cage was at ground level. The old remote control Hummer, now the Geegaw, roared to life and emerged, glistening, from the garage.

"Rangers, meet the Geegaw, our newest Ranger Mobile."

"It's a Hummer!" was Dale's astonished remark.

"The Geegaw?" Monty repeated. "As in-"

I glanced back at him. "Yes. Chip named it." I couldn't help flushing with pride as I watched the Geegaw roll forward.

"This thing is excellent," Chip laughed through the microphone. "How do I get in into the cage?"

I flipped a switch and the cage's ramp lowered. "Hop in."

The Geegaw rumbled out of sight and into the cage. A few moments later I heard scrambling and turned to see Chip climb aboard. "He's in the cage."

Another flip of the switch and the cage closed, another button and the ramp was safely tucked into the Eagle's floor. Chip slid into the co-pilot's chair, beaming at me. I grinned triumphantly, fighting down the urge to cheer. "The Rangers are ready when you are, Chief."

He looked back at the others. As if on cue, they all shouted together.

"Rescue Rangers away!"

The wee hours of Wednesday morning found the Rangers and me sleeping off jet lag on flight 1701 from Paris to Zanzibar.

"Hey guys…wake up." Chip was calling us, and my head slipped off the headrest, slowly sliding from the Chip in my dream to the Chip standing beside me in the Eagle. Behind me, I heard Monty, Zipper, and Dale mumble as they slowly came to.

"Come on, it's been two hours," Chip said. "We'll be there soon, and we need to be awake."

"Awake bein' a relative term," Monty yawned, stretching hard in the seat behind me. "'Oi 'ave to say though, Gadget-luv, these seats is much more comfortable fer sleepin' in than them in the Plane."

"Thanks," I mumbled, rubbing my eyes. I sighed and popped my neck, trying to clear my head. I watched Dale as he nodded and nodded, asleep at the Research Station, until he tumbled to the floor.

"What? What's goin' on? Where are we? Oh -" he blinked in surprise as the rest of us and climbed back into his chair.

I swiveled back to my controls and began pressing buttons. The Eagle awoke more quickly than the rest of us. Looking out the window I could see the Geegaw's cage next to us on the plane's cargo floor. Given how groggy everyone was, I was glad I had debriefed them on the Eagle's various stations before we'd all fallen asleep.

"What was the name of the mouse who is supposed to meet us in Zanzibar?" I asked, busily running through my pre-flight check.

"Endesha," Monterey remembered, leaning to the front seat. "A Kidari guide, by the sound of it."

"Whuzza Kidari?" Dale asked, also leaning forward.

"Them's the locals, pally. They live in the area o' the film set. Endesha was the guide and interpreter for the movie crew our Sophia was workin' on."

"I don't know," Chip said guardedly, making sure the GPS was operational, "after hearing Jake and Sophia talk about witches...it seems fishy to me."

"Sounds scary to me," Dale answered flatly, likely remembering his run-in with Winifred.

"Come on, Chip," I reasoned, finishing the pre-check. "You've been a Rescue Ranger long enough to believe in witches. I mean, look at it: we've met a genie, a ghost, a banshee, a mummy, a seer, and a witch. After all that you can't go and say you don't believe in witches."

Chip frowned. "I didn't mean fishy that way, I meant that if Fat Cat really is here, and is responsible for Sophia and Jake, then he's teamed up with a witch. That seems to be really stooping low for him. He seems desperate."

"It still sounds scary," Dale reiterated.

I thought about it for a few more moments and stared at the GPS screen across from me. Fat Cat was definitely the most intelligent of our foes, and he was capable of running a big-time operation. But Chip and Dale were right. Pulling in a witch was desperate and terrifying. And the only reason he would target Sophia was to lure us in. But how would he know about Sophia knowing us? And not just knowing us, but being my friend – to the point that the Rangers would drop everything and come get her again. Then again, we had in the past gone to help her without knowing her. And even then, the only reason we had gone that time was because Sophia's butler, Jules Crissen, had been in with Bubbles and wanted to knock me off...

But Fat Cat didn't need an informant to tell him to target Sophia. He knew we would come because that's just what we do.

"Chip, you know this is a trap, right?" I asked him quietly.

He glanced back at the other three before responding. "Yes." He waited for a moment, then fished in his jacket and brought out a very worn casebook, full of his conspiracy scribblings. "I've been thinking about it, Gadget... Have you noticed that while we've seen Fat Cat off and on over the past couple of years, he hasn't necessarily seen you?"

I mulled this over for a moment. "So –?"

He looked at me carefully. "I think he thinks you're dead."

That caught me off-guard. "Wait. Just because he hasn't seen me, doesn't mean he thinks I'm dead. I don't think he pays that much attention to us individually anyway. And the only people who think I'm dead are Bubbles, and Jules, and those creepy ninjas."

"Exactly. Jules."

"And he might be dead, Chip. Monty and Dale knocked a safe over on him. And if he is alive, how on earth would he fall in with Fat Cat?"

Chip grabbed my paw and went on, his eyes a little darker than usual. "Sophia said she thinks she saw him. It's possible, Gadg. We need to be careful."

Our tet-a-tet was interrupted by a voice announcing our arrival at the Zanzibar airport. Chip let go of my paw and pocketed his notepad. The plane was about to drop its landing gear, and I needed my wits about me. This was the first time I was going to drop out an airplane without a rocket.

"Is there going to be a rocket this time?" Chip asked, sounding almost bored.

"No," I answered, surprising him, and flipped a few last switches as the sound of the plane's hatch opening filled the cockpit.

"That's got to be a first," he said.

"Are you all right? I thought you didn't like the rockets."

"Well, you haven't killed us yet...and it was exciting."

For a moment, neither of us spoke then on cue, both of us burst out laughing, much to the dismay of the other three in back.

"Great. She's rubbin' off on 'im," Monterey muttered, and cinched his belt tighter.

Chip was about to retort, when the cargo bay was suddenly flooded by light. I gave my customary warning of, "Hold onto your goggles!" then engaged the engines and hovered upwards to retrieve the cage next to us. I took a deep breath, sending up a prayer to whatever it was out there that might look after five small do-gooders.

The Eagle hovered above the opening for a few seconds as I watched the distant tarmac below us whipping by. Then, holding my breath, I released hover mode and put the proverbial pedal to the metal. The Eagle and it's swinging cargo easily matched time with the airplane. We dropped lower, and I eased back on the throttle, letting the bigger plane pass the Eagle and touchdown.

Behind me, Monty chuckled. "I 'ave ta say, Gadget-luv, that's a big improvement over th' rocket."

"It's not as fun," I bemoaned, glancing back at him.

For some reason, this amused him. "Remoinds me 'a the firs' time I got inta Geegaw's plane. 'Don' scream', 'e said – 'laugh.'"

I smiled. "He told me that, too."

We hovered low over the sand just west of the tarmac. Chip leaned forward and searched the ground. "I see a mouse over there…yes. Lower the ramp and I'll help him in." He rose and crept carefully down the lowered ramp. I heard him shout something, and a few moments later he reappeared, with a dark mouse in tow. I retracted the ramp and turned to look at him.

The dark mouse, lean and slightly older than myself, smiled broadly at us. "I am Endesha. I am here to meet the Rescue Rangers," He grinned and winked congenially at Chip.

Chip shook his paw. "I'm Chip, and you found us all right. This is Dale, and Monterey Jack, and Zipper, and Gadget."

Endesha smiled at all of us, his teeth incredibly white against his black fur. "I am pleased to meet you. You wish to go to the Kidari village where your friends are?"

"Yes," Dale said, bobbing up and down somewhat anxiously.

"If you'd like to sit up front, you can show us the way," Chip offered, and led Endesha to the copilot's seat. He took it, and looked over the controls.

"This is marvelous, Rangers," he said quietly, looking curiously at everything.

"Compliments of our resident inventor," Chip said, nodding toward me.

"A true marvel!" Endesha reiterated, nodding vigorously at me. "Much better than our old crop dusting planes. And now, I will show you how to reach the village. It is near the Olduvai Gorge – do you know it?"

Chip leaned past him and pressed a button on the GPS. A line from our position in Zanzibar appeared, and stretched northwest out of view. "353.07 miles," a stilted female voice informed us.

"Three hundred and fifty three miles!" Dale exclaimed, rising from his chair.

"Don't worry," I said. "The Eagle has a top cruising speed of 65 miles per hour. We should get there in five and a half hours."

This did not seem to mollify Dale, who turned dejectedly back to the Research Station. Three minutes later, when Dale realized I had left the smartphones's MP3 capabilities intact, I realized it was going to be a very long flight.