Chapter 10 – Just Married

Judy slept in, a luxury she hadn't had since nearly four years. She enjoyed a long bath in the luxurious tub, then dressed in a short skirt with a pair of leggings underneath and a shirt that accentuated her figure. The weather was nice, the sun was out, but a chilly breeze was coming from the sea. Judy got three helpings from the vast breakfast buffet, then she left the hotel and strolled through the streets close by the river. In a small gift shop she bought a tiny bottle of a strange white foggy liquid after she had asked the shop attendant for advice.

Judy walked happily across the bridge to the Speicherstadt. The fresh, cold sea air filled her lungs. This dangerous mission felt like a holiday, but of course she knew this feeling would not last long.

When she reached Karl's workshop, the old fox was already waiting outside, a happy smile on his face.

As she gave him the present, he smacked his lips in exactly the same way Nick did when he was about to eat or drink something he liked.

"Thank you, Judy!", Karl said, "I like this stuff, but it is a bit too expensive for me to enjoy every day!"

When they walked together in his workshop, he urged her to the small table inside.

"I have a surprise for you, too!", he said, "I have searched half the night for it, it's been ages I have looked at it, but I wanted you to see it…"

He lifted a heavy object out of a bag, wrapped in a cloth. He unwrapped it and Judy looked at an ancient looking book, the title was in strange letters Judy had never seen before.

"What is this?", she asked.

"This is a book about Vulpine. These letters are Vulpine runes, these runes had been used by foxes to write down the history of our species. The oldest texts mentioned in here were written 2,000 years ago!"

Fascinated Judy opened the book very carefully.

"I wasn't aware of the fact that Vulpine has his own letters! In the text book I have, everything was written in our normal alphabet", Judy said.

"Yes, when all mammals started to live together, the latin alphabet was used for every species and the old runes are nearly forgotten by now…"

The old paper was brown and thick. There were texts in runes in there, but also in latin alphabet.

"The Vulpine texts are old legends of the past. The other text is German, there are translations in there, but it also teaches you to write in runes!"

"This is so amazing…", said Judy.

"This book was printed over three hundred years ago! It's an heirloom of my family, one of my ancestors helped writing it!", Karl said full of pride.

"Wow…"

Karl looked at the little bunny, her paws carefully carressing the ancient paper, her mouth and eyes wide opened, her nose twitching of excitement. He knew instantly, he'd made the right decision.

"It is yours", he just said.

"What? No! Karl, I can't accept it!", Judy said shaking her head vigorously, "This book is thousands of dollars worth! And you said yourself, it's an heirloom of your family, your son should get it!"

Karl shook his head, "For him it's just a book of gibberish. He would probably sell it right away. But you are about the only mammal I know that will really appreciate it… even though you can't read German…"

"Oh, I will learn it, make no mistake about that!", Judy shouted full of excitement, "Nick will freak out when he sees this! Are there Robin Hood stories in it?"

Karl grinned, "Several!"

Judy looked at Karl and tears started to run, "I… I… I just don't know what to say… I mean, 'thank you' is simply not enough for…"

She jumped up wrapped her arms around him and pressed her face to his breast. Karl smiled while petting her long ears, chuckling, "You bunnies… so emotional…"

Judy giggled, "You and Nick, you must be related somehow…"

Suddenly, Karl hit his forehead with his paw, "Shoot, I nearly forgot…", he rummaged in his pocket, "here, I made this for you… spent the entire morning… it's just a small thing, but maybe you like it…"

He gave Judy a round wooden object. It was a small disk, with fine carvings in it that made…

"A fox!", Judy said, "It's a fox's face!"

"Turn it around!", Karl said.

Judy turned the face upside down and suddenly…

"Now it's a bunny! Here are the ears and here is the nose… This is amazing!"

"You could wear it as a necklace, I drilled a hole in it…"

"This is so beautiful! And all I gave you was that lousy bottle of schnapps…", Judy said, but the old fox just laughed.

With Karl's help she packed the book carefully in a cardboard box.

"I can't take it with me", Judy explained, "it's too valuable and I don't know what will happen… I'll send it to my parents' farm!"

It was hard for Judy to say good bye to Karl. When this was over, she needed to come back to this place with Nick and the kids and visit him. She just hoped he would still be there. After several hugs and a lot of tears from the emotional bunny, she finally managed to get away. She posted the package at a post office and rushed back to the hotel. She needed to wash her face after all that crying, Jack would arrive in half an hour.

She barely made it, the train arrived just the second she did. Mammals were already pouring out of the train and Judy hopped on a bench to have a better look. Many bunnies were there, but Jack being much taller than the average should be easy to spot… when she finally saw him, she gasped. As his cream white fur with the tiger pattern would be way to flashy for a secret undercover mission, she had expected him to dye his fur, too, as she did. But now, he was pitch black.

Judy had to suppress a giggle, she jumped off the bench, squeezed through the crowd until she reached him, jumped right into his arms and kissed him. Jack's body stiffened and he stared at her. Judy pressed her face against his ears, whispering, "Hey, we're newlyweds on our honeymoon, did you forgot?"

Jack gave an unsure smile, "No… but… I hadn't expected… I mean, it is very unlikely that someone is watching us right now…"

"Well, then I was practising. And, wow, you'll need a lot of practise!"

Jack didn't know if she was just mocking him or if she was serious about that. However, it felt good… he shook his head, no, this is not supposed to happen, it had happened once, and now he was on the edge of being an emotional cripple.

They walked to the hotel. Jack tested the room with his ancient looking phone, but there were no bugs or cameras.

"I have not expected to find any", he explained, "if I had found one, that would mean they are already on our trace, no sense to board the ship when they already know about us…"

"But Jack, really, black? Isn't this… I mean, you stand out so much…"

"Yes, dear, sometimes the best disguise is the flashy one… no one thinks someone looking this suspicious may do anything bad!"

Judy remembered Nick saying exactly the same when he explained about his earlier 'business', as he still likes to call it.

"I wouldn't call black 'flashy'… you look like the Black Bunny of Inle himself", Judy giggled.

"However, have you managed to find a proper cover story to explain your absence at ZPD?", asked Jack.

"Oh, yes, Nick came up with a good one. Officially, we take part in a police exchange program with our partner district in Japan. We have even arranged that the chief over there will confirm any inquiries, just in case someone asks."

"So, how many people know the truth?", asked Jack sorrowful.

"Just one. Kitty has arranged everything. She had planned such an exchange program for months, she was happy to use it, even if it is just a cover story. She booked airline tickets and talked to the japanese chief…"

"Kitty? You mean Katherine McMahon, that feline dangling from Bogo's tie?"

Judy's face became hard as granite, her paws went to her hips, "Yes, she is Deputy Chief of ZPD district one, she is not 'dangling', whatever this was supposed to mean! Hell, Jack, it is not easy to sneak out of police duty for several weeks! Even Bogo does not know the truth and Kitty is a hundred percent reliable, my best friend, my bridesmaid, godmother to my kids! I would trust her with my very life!"

Jack nodded, "You already did. Don't look at me that way, I didn't want to insult your friend, but felines are not known for being good secret keepers… and there is the old saying that three animals could keep a secret if two of them are dead!"

Judy was still furious, "Maybe you should overcome your prejudices against certain species!"

Jack sighed and lifted his arms, "Maybe you are right. I am sorry. I don't know her good enough and I am nervous. I've been on undercover missions often enough, but this time I have no backup whatsoever, I am officially on sick leave and I have to take care of you…"

"And vice versa!", growled Judy.

"I just wanted to say, that even you are a number one cop, you are not a trained secret agent. But as I said, I am sorry, so please stop looking at me as if you want to swallow me alive. Get your bag, we'll need to walk over to board the ship. I know that we were scheduled to board tomorrow morning, but the travel agency has called me that they want to depart at 5 am as bad weather is coming this way. So we will sleep aboard. Our luggage is already in our suite, seven suitcases, I hope I have guessed your sizes correctly. And I hoped, I have not forgotten anything… you know, I never went shopping for… a wife."

Judy had to laugh when he turned away shyly, but Jack was happy that the tension was gone.

They just had to cross the street and walk for two minutes to reach the pier. The MS Germania was sparkling in the sunlight, white as snow. It was the biggest moving object Judy had ever seen in her life. Several cranes were busy to load the mighty ship while long queues of animals stood before the check in counters.

Jack walked past the queues directly to the VIP check in and Judy followed. She had already noticed, that the check in personnel were exclusively felines in rather sexy uniforms. The VIP counter was under control of a snow white cat with long fur that shimmered like silk. Her teeth were flawless when she smiled at them.

"Herzlich Willkommen! Sie müssen unsere Frischvermählten sein!", she said with a purring voice.

"Yes, I am Mr. Jakob Kreuzberg and this is my wife – she speaks only English!", said Jack.

"Oh, of course, sorry, Mrs Kreuzberg, a warm welcome for our newlyweds!", the cat said in perfect English.

Jack handed over their fake passports and the tickets. The cat swiped them over a mobile scanner and looked on a tiny screen.

"Your luggage had already arrived and is in your suite. Sorry for all the mayhem here…", she pointed at the crowds, "… but we have learned about our early departure only this morning! We need to hurry to have everything onboard in time – and our 15,000 passengers, of course! But don't worry – you won't notice any difference in our service!"

She handed them a folder with information and put bracelets on their left arm.

"These bracelets are coded. You can open your cabin door with it, just wave your left paw in front of the little blue sign. It also opens your private safe in your cabin and every other door to areas you have access to. You can also pay with it in all of our stores and in the wellness area, too, so you won't need any money on board. You can not take it off without breaking it, if that happens, please contact us immediately, you will get a new one and we will shut down the old one, so no one can misuse it."

The bracelet was so light, Judy could barely feel it, but it was strange that you were not allowed to take it off. The cat smiled when she saw the expression on Judy's face.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it in no time, they are very comfortable. Martina will be your responsible purserette, you can ask her anything and anytime. She will be here any second and guide you to your love nest!"

Another cat, a petite tabby, approached them, smiling like crazy and taking Judy's paws in hers.

"Congratulations! To your wedding of course, and in addition, that you will spend your honeymoon on the pride of the Maybach fleet, the MS Germania! I am Martina, when you dial the 9 on your cabin phone, you'll reach me directly!"

Her English sounded a bit funny, but Judy liked her. She was vivacious and pointed at the ship as if it was her private property. Obviously, she was very proud of her job.

Judy was excited when they crossed the gangway and entered the large ship. They walked through some corridors and Judy would never had found the way out again.

"Oh, don't worry, it seems a bit confusing in the beginning, but after two days you will know exactly where anything is. And here we are!"

She opened a huge door with a code card bearing her picture and they stood in a luxurious living room.

"Here is your bathroom, complete with tub and jacuzzi and over here", she opened another door, "is the room you'll spent most of the time I suppose!"

A large bedroom with an oversized heart-shaped bed in the middle made Judy gasp. Jack looked a bit embarrassed by the cat's comment.

"You have your own private balcony outside the living room. Please be advised, that the captain may forbid it's use in bad weather when this lamp is flashing red!"

Suddenly, she jumped to Judy, taking her paws again and gave her a wide smile, her eyes wide open.

"It's so exciting! I am so happy for you two guys! Call me anytime! Oh, and dinner is served between 18 and 21 o'clock in the main saloon on this deck. Or", she gave Jack a naughty smile, "you can call me and I arrange a private dinner right here!"

She winked at Judy and vanished.

"Wow!", said Judy, "Either she is a very good actress or she is really happy for us! What did she mean by 18 o'clock?"

"Oh, the Germans call 6 pm '18 o'clock'. Just subtract 12 hours for the pm period."

Jack fidgeted with his cell phone. They had agreed that he would praise the WLAN quality if he found any bugs or cameras.

"Judy, the WLAN here is excellent!", he said and a cold shiver ran down Judy's back, especially when he added, "I never had such a good WLAN quality!"

That meant that the place was bugged completely – and that also meant that they had to play the newlywed couple all the time including in the bedroom.

Jack sighed and put the phone back in his pocket. "Why don't we walk around a little?", he said.

"Sure!"

The ship had everything you could want and even more. Jack and Judy walked hand in hand (which seemed to bother Jack quite a lot) through the giant mall, the casino, the spacious pool area on deck, the gym, the sauna (Jack reminded Judy that Germans usually were naked when doing sauna) and the wellness area. Everything was built to accommodate mammals of bunny size (the smaller mammals had their own scaled-down decks). There were numerous open areas to walk or to rest. At the rear end of the ship, directly below the oversized german flag sporting the colors black-red-gold and the coat of arms with two bunnies, there was a very small deck with some twenty deck chairs. Jack told Judy to sit down and checked his phone.

"As I thought! There are cameras here, but no audio devices. When the ship is at sea, it will be quite loud here as the propellers are right underneath. So, here we have a place we could talk."

He rubbed his forehead, "There is not a single spot inside our cabin without camera and bug coverage, so we must be extremely careful. I receive tons of signals everywhere, so I suppose all first class cabins are heavily bugged. I bet they have an army of mammals hidden somewhere below deck to watch all the surveillance!"

"How can they do that? Do you really think someone is sitting down there watching every move we make or listening to any word we say?"

"Probably not. I mean, it is easy to hide, let's say, 1,000 mice someplace that do the job, but I think, the cams and mikes are computer-controlled. They will only produce footage when there is movement or noise. Maybe they even listen for keywords, like 'secret', 'attack' or even Maybach's name."

Judy sighed, "Speaking of Maybach, this guy loves to see his picture! His face is everywhere! Creepy!"

Jack nodded, "Okay, it's half past six. Let's walk to the dining salon and have a meal! But before, we should put on evening clothes."

Back in their cabin, Judy started unpacking the large suitcases. She never had owned so many beautiful clothes, but of course, she couldn't show her excitement. She choose a black, shoulder free dress, that fell down to her ankles. Jack had also bought some shoes, mainly high heels, but she didn't felt like that. The dress was long enough to hide her bare feet. Jack dressed in a cream colored tuxedo and now he really looked like an agent from a Bond movie. Judy played her role and did, what a wife would do: she arranged his bow tie and kissed him, what earned her a puzzled look. Judy sighed silently and did hope that the cams are not high-res, otherwise it might look suspicious.

The dining room was vast and luxurious. At the entrance Martina awaited them, beaming and greeting them with "You two look really awesome!". She lead them to a round table with six chairs, but only five places had been laid out. Martina told them, that she was responsible for three first class cabins and they would seat together with the passengers from the other two.

Judy and Jack took a first trip to the vast buffet. When they came back, Martina arrived with three other guests and introduced them.

"This is Frau Kleefeld and her daughter. They have the cabin to your right. And this gentlebunny is Herr von Lohdorf from the cabin to your left. And this charming couple are our honeymooners, Herr und Frau Kreuzberg, she is from the U.A.K., so I hope you won't mind speaking English?", Martina asked the three newcomers.

The friendly looking Herr von Lohdorf bent down to kiss Judy's paw and said, "Not at all, of course!"

His English had a hard german accent, but he looked like a good natured granddad and Judy immediately liked him.

The two does seemed a bit reserved, maybe they were not so comfortable talking in a foreign language.

During dinner, they warmed up a little. They immediately agreed on using first names, the elder doe was named Patrizia and her daughter Viktoria ("But you can call me Vicky!", she piped in a high pitched voice). It turned out, that Mr Stefan von Lohdorf was actually the fiancee of Vicky and that they made this voyage to "get more used to each other", as he called it.

That sounded quite strange to Judy. Patrizia looked very strict, like she never had a day of fun in her life. Her daughter was rather plump and part of her face was covered with scars and Judy noticed that her left eye was not moving at all. Her ears were drooping all the time.

When everyone got up to check out the buffet, Vicky stayed back and Judy decided to postpone her trip so the shy girl won't sit alone. Judy found out that Vicky was only 15 years old. Her English was not very good and she didn't spoke Lapine at all, but Judy was under the impression that Vicky was much more talkative when her strict looking mother was not present.

During dinner it was rather quiet, but every time Judy looked at Vicky, the girl gave her a wide smile that looked a bit eerie due to all her scars.

When they had finished, Judy and Jack retreated into their luxurious cabin, where they unpacked their luggage, a task that took them more than one and a half hours. As the ship would leave port at 5 am and they expected to wake up, they decided to go to bed at 10 pm. Judy changed into a silk night shirt while Jack tried not to look. They used the bathroom together and again Jack tried to hide his awkwardness with random conversation about their neighbours. When they went to bed and Jack had turned off the lights, Judy put her arms around him and pressed her face against his breast fur, a position she used to have with Nick. Jack was stiff as a board and whispered, "What are you doing?"

"It's called cuddling", Judy whispered back, "Married bunnies are doing it like that, you know. By the way, the guys watching us will wonder why a newlywed couple won't exchange a good long good night kiss…"

They kissed and Judy had to suppress a laugh. This felt like back when she was a ten-year-old kissing a class mate during a game of truth or dare. Jack might be one of the best agents in the world but he definitely needs kissing training. Well, they'll have ten days left…