"'ee ha' a deal, 'Walski!" the younger Rico shouted angrily as he was half dragged into the interrogation room. "Wha' y' gonna do? Try 'ee fo' mur'er? Y' ain' gon' 'et a chance ta pu' me 'n a cell!"
"Which is why you're going to talk very quickly." Kowalski replied. He glanced at his watch, "Now, I know one of those cops who brought you in is on Alius' payroll – statistically speaking, at least one of them should be. Now, there's no phones down here, so I figure right now he's headed to one of the upper floors where he can make a quiet phone call. That should take him about three minutes."
'M dea' 'lready." Rico muttered, "'ll never ge' outa th' city."
"Ma'be, bu' I'd say we' y' bes' bet." The team's Rico answered quietly. He hadn't liked the idea of Kowalski breaking the deal, but the damage had been done the moment Kowalski had shouted out Rico's name to the office. "Escapin's sorta a' spec'lty."
"Still, you don't have much time to cooperate. All you have before even we don't have a chance of protecting you is well, now, about one and a half minutes and however much time it's going to take Alius to drive down here." Kowalski added, "So, let's see what you know about a reporter named Pete Peters." Rico nodded as though he vaguely remembered, "Now, describe exactly how and why Alius killed him."
"Bu' 'ee didn'?" Rico countered, looking slightly confused, "Th' rats 'id tha', 'ee turn'd up 'oo late."
"No Alius did, and you saw him."
"I wa' 'n town, 'eah, bu' I only hear' 'bout i' on th' news. 'nyway, i' wa' th' Rats."
"But the Rats never took responsibility for it. Y'know, every second you hold out you decrease your head start on your old boss."
"Why 'ould the'? 'Ee wa' jus' a disgrace' news r'porter?"
"I will personally hand you over to Alius when he arrives…"
"Look, 've a'ready go' a mur'er charge hangin' o'er 'ee. 'f th' Pen'uins ha' 'nything ta do wi' it, I'd ha' told oo a'ready!" He exclaimed desperately. Oddly enough Kowalski didn't seem surprised. And suddenly it dawned on him exactly what Kowalski wanted him to do.
"How did it happen?" Kowalski asked again calmly.
"Y' nee' a re'ent crime 'n 'im, don' ya? Fine." Rico paused to piece together a decent story.
"Private, switch the intercom back on and tell Shauna to start taking notes." Kowalski ordered. "You were saying?"
"'Oo weeks 'go I wa' in N'York 'cause things wa' gettin' kinda diff'cult in Chi'ago. 'd decid' ta stop 'nd talk ta Pete…"
"Make sure every last exit is covered, and I want that second perimeter three blocks away." Kowalski ordered as he surveyed the towering skyscraper, "I don't want anyone escaping through the tunnels."
"Tunnels?" Private questioned, "What makes you think there's tunnels?"
"That's what I'd do." Kowalski replied, "At times Alius can be so easy to predict, all I have to do is think what I'd do with a few million dollars." Kowalski might have continued to criticize the enemy's intelligence when a car raced around the corner, skidding to a stop next to the police vehicle Kowalski was stood next to. Two men leapt out, the first Private recognized as his cousin and the other in a few seconds he'd presumed to be the young Penguin Agent who currently controlled the Blowhole case.
"You've been taken off the case, Kowalski." Van Dorn spoke. "I just got word from Rockgut. I'd say within the next twenty four hours you'll be turning in your badge and gun." The former private agreed grimly, but Kowalski just smiled, a tad arrogantly, in Private's opinion.
"I don't think so." Kowalski countered, "Since Rockgut's probably going to change his mind when he finds out you've just been arrested. Suppressing evidence, among other charges, in the Peters case? I couldn't believe you were capable of it." He added mockingly. Van Dorn stared at him in utter confusion.
"What are you talking about?" he demanded, but Kowalski had already produced the tape recorder and hit play.
"… But he'd have needed a man on the inside. That shell casing should have appeared in evidence, and somebody had to have given up the witness's name."
"'Course 'ee did. 'S practic'ly go' one a you' agen' on sal'ry."
"Who?"
"'oo else? Spec'al Agen' Va' Dorn."
"That's crazy!" The Penguin exclaimed, "I had nothing to do with that case! I don't know how you bribed him or threatened him into saying that, but…"
"I'd really take advantage of your right to remain silent." Kowalski interrupted, "Well, Commissioner, I'd say you'd better arrest him." The former Private glared at Kowalski, but quickly realized he didn't have a choice. He muttered a quiet apology to his framed colleague, and Kowalski's attention returned to the building with the familiar drone of the Miranda Rights being read behind him. There was nowhere else Blowhole could be, if his body hadn't already been disposed of. The moment he'd taken Rico's 'statement', he'd gotten a search warrant and frozen any of Alius' accounts he knew about. He'd immediately ordered a search on every property Blowhole could likely be hidden in, calling in just about every favour he'd ever been owed, but Blowhole wasn't there. There was only one place left to search, and that was Consolidated Amalgamated, the glamorous headquarters of Alius' front company.
"I certainly hope for your sake you know what you're doing, because there's no telling what Alius will do these days." Jones spoke behind him, interrupting his train of thought. "Your guardian angel won't always be there for you." Kowalski scowled. The commissioner was referencing an event in which Kowalski had been captured by a number of Alius' men, had been knocked out, and when he recovered consciousness, had been entirely unharmed, while his captors all represented various states of significantly harmed.
"I'm a genius, of course I know what I'm doing." Kowalski replied, then noticed his handcuffed colleague, "By the way, you might have realized this but, if you were looking for Rico in Chicago, you were looking in the wrong place. I wonder what Alius will think about that kind of incompetence."
The moment the car had driven away, Kowalski started towards the building. He was going to give Alius the chance to give Blowhole up before he levelled the block. The team strolled calmly towards the unsuspecting façade down the eerily empty streets. They were about half way across the road when the doors opened and Barry Malone, one of Alius' lieutenants stepped out, followed by, much to Kowalski's surprise, two military policemen.
"I've got a search warrant for this building." Kowalski spoke, though he was also getting the feeling that Barry seemed just a little bit too happy.
"Good luck." Barry replied smugly. Kowalski took a step forward and so did the MP.
"Sorry, sir, you don't have the security clearance." He stated simply.
"I've got clearance, I'm Penguin." Kowalski countered.
"Oh, I know your clearance." Barry replied. "And you need just one level higher to search this entire building." Kowalski ignored him and spoke directly to the soldier.
"I'm happy to leave the classified labs alone and get someone with a higher clearance to check those for me." Kowalski replied, "I'm part of a murder investigation, and I've also got reason to belive I'm about to prevent another one."
"You have my assurances there is no illegal activity on the premises. But your men need to stand down immediately."
"Sorry, Kowalski," Barry replied, "but you should have anticipated this when the boss bought that aerospace firm. You'll find his assets are unfreezing as fast as you froze them for the same reasons. Can't have vital work disrupted."
"Yeah, well, some things he does like killing defenceless women and hiring Hans' second in command are just too depraved for me to even think of." Kowalski snapped back. He didn't even hang around for Barry to deny that he'd ever heard of Hans. And Kowalski didn't want to make too much of an enemy out of him. After all, the first time he and Alius had met, Alius had nearly killed him, so there was a chance he could be turned. At least, Kowalski told himself that so he wouldn't punch the little man in the face right there.
"We've only got one option." Kowalski spoke, looking from Private to Rico, daring them to back down, "We've got to break him out again."
"Fro' where?" Rico asked.
"Consolidated Amalgamated." Kowalski replied.
"But he isn't there." Private countered, "We don't know where he is."
"The only place he could be is Consolidated Amalgamated." Kowalski countered, "We've looked everywhere else."
"But Kowalski, they promised that Blowhole wasn't being held on the premises. Perhaps Alius is holding him somewhere you haven't thought of."
"I've thought of all the possible locations." Kowalski replied as if this was an insult to his intelligence. "And I also heard one of them say it would serve Blowhole right to be experimented on by one of his old prisoners, so maybe he's in there and they're turning a blind eye. Right," Kowalski resumed his pacing, "I say we use disguises to get into the building…"
"Thi' a ba' 'dea." Rico interrupted, "We' be messin' 'ith th' wrong 'eople 'oo soon 'oo blatan'ly." Kowalski looked to Private so he could claim two against one, but the boy's uncomfortable expression, he was about to refuse too.
"Really? You back out now?" Kowalski demanded in outrage, mostly because they had a point. If they got arrested, there'd be no one left to avenge Doris. He turned on his heel and stormed towards the lab, "Well, then, I'll find a way a little less 'scary' for you two."
Kowalski had almost slammed the door of the lab behind him when the door to the office opened and Fred poked his head in.
"Hey, Kowalski, I didn't want to interrupt you with something tiny like this, but this cop says he just arrested a guy fittin' your description for Dr Francis Blowhole Jr. for tryin' to buy a newspaper with a subway token, then pulling a gun on the guy when he wouldn't take it. I'll tell him it's a matter for the local police, I'm sorry I interrupted all of you…"
"No!" Private yelled and Fred just about jumped out of his skin, "Oh, sorry. Um, would you please tell the officer to send Blowhole up as quickly as possible? It's most important."
It had taken him what felt like hours, but he'd finally gotten the blindfold off, thanks to it becoming accidentally hooked on a rusty nail in the wall behind him. Being able to move his head and being able to see again he proudly categorized as a win-win. However, he quickly realized there wasn't all that much to see other than that he was in a non-descript town house - abandoned, judging the state of disrepair – built sometime in the late last century. It was very quiet and the distance he'd been driven made him think he wasn't in Manhattan anymore. The occasional shadow under the half rotted door across the room from him and the muffled voices indicated his captors (so far he'd made out three of them, though the third he hadn't heard for some time) were in the next room
"…Do you think they'll be looking for him…?" Blowhole managed to make out, as he began, having conquered the first challenge, to start on the knots that held his wrists.
"…Nah, for now probably just that Kowalski guy who has the case…" Their conversation drifted again to more mundane topics. One thing that was getting to him was the lack of intelligent conversation. He cursed wood's inability to hold together like metal as the shard of broken wood he'd found and tried to lever the knot apart with slipped and left a porcupine of splinters in his wrist. How had Skipper gotten out of things like this so effortlessly with seemingly nothing? And why hadn't he thought to hide a knife or something up his sleeve like Hans?
"He's been out for a while, maybe we should go check on him…?" That knocked Blowhole out of his relatively leisurely musings. Before they'd given him a drink of rusty tasting water but after he'd taken his second nap he'd started on a list of reasons why he might be more useful to Alius alive than dead, but he couldn't recall them. That was right, because there weren't any. Well, he could promise to falsify evidence or sabotage Kowalski's investigation or something. It was thin, but it was worth a try since he was dead anyway.
"… Do you really think this'll work? I mean, we're ransoming the guy to the police…" Police? Blowhole's heart practically leapt ten feet with joy. All he had to do was sit quietly and he'd be let out. That was actually a better deal than he'd had in prison.
"Relax, he ain't seen our faces…" That put an entirely new spin on both accounts on Blowhole's perceived fortune. He searched desperately for that rusty nail to try to hook the blindfold on it again and pull it back up. Where were the rusty nails when they were needed? He wondered if it was worth shifting to face the wall or the floor and promise not to look. But if he was going to die, he'd do it with more dignity thank a small child reluctantly accepting a time out.
As expected, things went south pretty fast after that.
"But he's seen our faces!" The two men in ratty little grey suits had repeated like two broken records the moment they'd seen Blowhole. Well, after a brief pause where he'd stared at them and they'd stared at him.
"Well, it's not the end of the world," Blowhole had tried to argue, "I mean, if we can all think calmly and logically perhaps we can organize a mutually beneficial solution."
"What's the King going to say when he finds out about this?" The first rat, Blowhole had decided they looked like rats, fretted like Blowhole hadn't even spoken, "I mean, he's seen us…"
"Who's 'the King'?" Blowhole asked.
"Now he knows our boss!" That could have gone better, but a scientific mind like his was endlessly curious.
"The Rat King can't find out about this." The other one spoke. So they actually called themselves 'The Rats'. Kowalski had told him about them briefly, a fairly minor street gang that seemed to be gaining strength. The rat looked at Blowhole, then appeared to have an idea. "I've got an idea."
"Good." Blowhole encouraged. "Let's focus on solutions."
"We can say he tried to escape, we had to shoot him…"
"Wait a minute, let's not be too hasty. Who's this Rat King? I honestly haven't a clue what you're talking about – I'm kind of new here, and honestly, my English isn't what it used to be…"
"He's got a point…" The first began.
"They've got our mug shots, you idiot, Kowalski will identify us!" Blowhole winced. "The faster we get rid of him, the better."
"Can we just discuss this a moment…?" But that point had clearly been left in the dust some time ago.