-5:50pm, July 31st, Precinct 1 -
Precinct 1 was a buzz with activity this morning. It had been days since the bombings but fresh reports of suspicious devices left all over the city kept the department on their toes. The ZFD had only just concluded their own investigation into the device left by the French Resteraunt that had caused a building to collapse entirely. A strangely powerful device, and one that had never been seen before, but alas, the bomb maker was still breathing through a tube and wasn't much use to anyone at the moment, thanks to Charon.

Alex's wound were only just beginning to heal properly and was informed by his doctor to take it easy for a week or two but he was not fortunate enough to be given a break. Chiefs Bogo and Rockford had requested Team Howlett to attend a meeting. But with two of its members still recovering in hospital, only Jay, Jack and Alex himself were able to attend.

The three mammals were seated just outside Bogo's office, staring down into the lobby below, buzzing with activity. A heafty sized line was slowly forming at Clawhauser's desk but the over-weight Cheetah appeared to have it under control.

Alex was the first to break the awkward silence emanating between Jack and Jay.

"Soooo... you two know each other?"

Howlett let out a grunt before replying. "Unfortunatly... I worked a case in Animalia alongside him... remind us how that ended?"

Jack face palmed, hard. "Ugh you cant let that go can you... Il skip the boring details right to the end. Essentially Howlett and I had a perp cornered in a warehouse, he had taken a hostage and was armed with a pistol. Howlett engaged him, trying to grab his attention while i got into position with a long rifle. After a few minutes I couldn't get much of a shot on him so Howlett coaxed him out a little more, a more aggressive stance makes for an easier target. I aimed for his leg to incapacitate him but... heh..."

Howlett began to chuckle a little. "HA oh no continue, this is the good part"

"I was a little off target... the suspect moved out of shot a split second before I took it. The bullet grazed the thigh of the hostage and... hit the suspect... in the..."

"AAAAHAHAHAHA lets just say we hope the guy got plenty of use out of it before they were shot off!" Howlett laughed hysterically by the conclusion of the story.

"Oh come on, it wasn't that funny..." Jack defended himself to no avail, even he though his misplaced shot was something to laugh about, considering who it was.

"Sorry Jack but that is pretty funny" Alex couldn't help but crack a smile at the tale. Crossing his legs as he pictured the aftermath of the poor mammal.

Both Jack and Howlett immediately stopped laughing, their ears shot up, followed closely by their bodies. Both mammals stood at attention, leaving Alex still seated wondering what was going on. Just then however, both Rockford and Bogo emerged from the Buffalo's office.

"I can hear you three cackling from outside! Show a little professionalism before I put you and your team on PARKING DUTY!" Bogo snapped as he turned the corner.

Upon hearing the Chief's voice, Alex tried to stand as quickly as he could before being seated again with a paw placed firmly upon his shoulder by the wolf.

Rockford spoke up when Bogo was done chastising Howlett. "Alex, how are you feeling?"

"Fighting fit, sir" the Coy replied as he saluted the Chiefs from a seated position.

"I hear your wounds were severe, shouldn't you still be in the hospital? Rockford asked, with genuine concern in his voice.

"The doctor gave me the all clear, so long as i take my meds three times a day and don't fight ninjas, sir" he joked, trying to lighten the mood a little.

"I can tell you are gonna be annoying for me in the future..." Bogo said as he held the bridge of his nose and motioned the mammals into his office with his other hoof.

-

Bogo's office was exactly as it always has been, almost to a point of being scary in just how little it's interior changes. The blinds were half cocked, allowing a miniscule amount of sunlight to illuminate the room... or perhaps illuminate is the wrong word. The only other source of light was from Bogo's personal computer, its blue glow casting a shadow against the wall in the shape of a severely pissed off Buffalo.

"Well?... What's the progress?" Bogo barked towards the three Team members. His expression changing only slightly from 'Angry' to 'Mildly Angrier'.

Howlett, being the senior member of the team, was the first to apply his extensive research... which amounted to almost nothing.

"Sir, there is a reason why he is called 'The Ghost'… he's damn near impossible to locate. There haven't been any suspicious deaths or any other markers implying a sniper was involved. All information regarding him is at my disposal but... he's still in the wind"

Jack was the next to put in his two cents. "My contacts in Major Crimes haven't been able to dig up any dirt on the rabbit either, he is very, very good at covering his tracks"

Bogo simply grunted at the lack of Intelligence gathered by the most experienced team in the building. "And what do you have to say, Officer Hunter?"

Alex looked up towards the hulking mammal, right into the Chief's eyes. Every muscle in his body was shaking uncontrollably but he tried his best to hide his anxiety.

Before Alex had the chance to speak, a softer yet louder voice from the corner of the room piped up in his place.

"Give the boys a break, Bogo. Can't you see they have all been through a lot in the past few days. Remember when you were a rookie? and I was your superior, hmm? I couldn't keep you out of trouble! And now look at you... Chief of Precinct 1 no less. You set the team a goal and a time limit, what more can you expect of them, going up against a world class assassin... need I remind you the Ghost has been in Zootopia before and you didn't even catch a glimpse of him!"

Chief Martin Rockford may have been a strict, no nonsense detective in his prime but in his twilight years he has been known to be a softie at his core. Aided by his cane, the aging Lion made his way over to a couch sitting against the side wall of Bogo's office and proceeded to plant himself as if he weren't about to leave ever again.

Bogo had nothing further to say on the matter of the Ghost, instead turning his focus to the recent terrorist attack in his beloved city. He cleared his throat and returned to his dead-eyed staring contest with Team Howlett.

"As it stands, I have my best Officers looking into the attacks, why the ZPD were targeted primarily and why your team was a difference circumstance. Officers Hopps and Wilde have been assigned to investigate the attack at the..." Bogo reached into his pocket and produced a small notebook, flicking through the pages until he found what he was looking for. "…'Le Trou D'arrosage'… I hate the French... Howlett... Do you think this may be connected to Ghost?"

"Honestly, I have no idea. It is a possibility but it isn't in his style. He never uses explosives and he always acts alone... but serial killers have evolved their styles before I guess..." Howlett was unsure. For the first time since Alex had known him, he had never known the Wolf to be unsure about the Ghost before.

"The only way to know for sure is to investigate further" Jack chimed in. "Shall we discuss tactic perhaps?"

"Sounds like a plan to me" Rockford agreed with the rabbit, knowing full well there wasn't much else that could be done at that moment in time.

- 5:36pm, July 31st, War's Warehouse -

War's old compound was barren, all containers and wooden pallets had been moved to another location, or perhaps several. His plan had begun to take effect and the city was no longer safe. There were very few items left at the old warehouse, just some personal items to be collected at a later date. a few wooden shipping boxes scattered throughout the open plan warehouse.

To a select group of mammals, this place had been called 'home' for a number of years, ever since War had bought each and every Jackal out of slavery and into his own personal army. Every one of them had pledged allegiance to the Rhino, in varying degrees, but all of them lived under the same roof as their master. Niki was no exception. But now he found himself in a most precarious position.

For the past 20 hours the young Jackal had been submitted to various tortures, performed by those that he once called friends. Niki had been tied to a chair and beaten to within an inch of his life, left to recover a little then beaten some more. The canine had lost a lot of blood but refused to simply give up and die, despite the thought running through his mind a few times... just to be with his beloved. No. That's not what Addison would have wanted! That one thought was what kept Nikola going strong.

The jackals that had pummelled Niki so badly had decided to take a break for a while, much to his delight. This meant he could continue his escape plan. For hours now, he had slowly and carefully pried a nail out of the wooden chair using his now bloody and deformed claw. This nail would be his salvation. With this nail his reach was now long enough to touch the ropes that bound his paws. With the tip of the nail he grinded the fibres away, piece by piece for as long as it took.

After 50 minutes all hope had left the broken canine. His plan to break the rope appeared to have failed. He lost the last hour of his life in a futile attempt at freedom. Wait... YES! The nail had worked! Niki shed a tear of joy and cracked a smile for the first time today as the ropes that held him to the chair fell free and he could sit up. even the feeling of being able to stretch his arms felt amazing.

But now isn't the time to celebrate... "Come on Niki, how do I get out from here?..."

He reached down to his ankles and undid the rope, finally allowing him to stand, albeit a little unsteady on his feet. The jackal took his first careful steps around the small room. The space that he was kept in for the past day was tiny, little more than a storage room for mops, buckets, cleaning products and such.

"Perfect!" He thought to himself as he picked up one of the wooden mop handles and snapped it in two. He then proceeded to pick up a bottle of extra strength bleach from one of the racks and a squirt bottle full of window cleaner from another. He poured half the bottle of cleaner out into a bucket and mixed the bleach into the squirt bottle until the consistency was correct.

"Come on you bastards!" Niki thought out loud as he waited patiently for the guards to come back to the room to finish him off. He didn't have to wait long however. Just 3 minutes after arming himself, he heard the clicking of the locks on the other side of the door.

Two jackals entered the room, laughing and joking to themselves about what their next form of torture would be while eating a sandwich. Damn that sandwich looked tasty...

Niki shook his head to get the thought of food under control as he readied his bottle and make shift baton.

One of the jackals finally took notice to the empty chair in the middle of the room surrounded by blood. He spat out his sandwich as he made for his pistol. The second one was a little more perceptive as he noticed the blood trail ran behind the door. As he swung the door back around he was met with a prolonged spray of diluted bleach to his eyes.

"AHHHHH..." Was the only thing he could say as he dropped his keys and staggered back, tripping over the other jackal's foot and falling to the floor. The second jackal reacted to the sudden commotion and swung his pistol around towards Niki but the young jackal anticipated this and blocked his arm, holding it up towards the roof and used the splintered end of the wooden shaft to impale the guard through the stomach.

The guard dropped his pistol as his legs gave way beneath him. He was still alive but required urgent medical attention. Niki took the other end of the mop with him as he scooped up the keys and ran out of the room. Before he closed the door, he peeked through the door and said "I'm so sorry..." Before closing the door and locking it from the outside.

"Okay... in the hallway... this looks like the living quarters... perfect" he thought to himself as he ran down the narrow corridor hoping that none of the other guard in the area, if any, had heard the struggle.

Eventually he reached the communal sleeping area, ducking behind one of the beds to remain undetected. He slowly peeked out from behind his cover to look for guards. To his surprise there was no one there. All the other jackals must have been moved to another compound by War. Lucky me!

He made his way over to a small ventilation cover in the north most corner of the room, having to slide a storage trunk out of the way to access it which wasn't easy to do with broken ribs. The pain had begun to set in as the adrenalin diminished. His wounds had begun to catch up with him. He used the keys taken from the guard as a flat headed screwdriver to open up the vent and slide the cover off, setting it to one side but easy to get to from inside the vent.

Niki made his way into the ventilation system, taking some time to close the vent up after himself to cover his tracks. He crawled through the darkness for a good 40 feet, right turn, another 20 feet and another right turn. This final turn lead him to a small duffle bag, purposefully left there for him by the previous 'Death' who had intended its contents for both Niki and Addison...

The Jackal took a few seconds to collect himself at the thought of his mate possibly still pinned to the wall but unfortunately, he was not in the position or physical state to help him down or bury him... All Niki could do was run... and that thought destroyed him inside...

He shimmied the bag out of the way and slowly but carefully undid the vent cover at the end of the shaft. He turned back around and grabbed the bag and dragged both it and himself out of the vent.

This final cover lead to the outside but he wasn't out of the woods just yet. There was still a 20-foot wall to climb and barbed wire on top before he could take freedom. True freedom. The first time out in the real world when he wasn't under War's direct orders.

The jackal took a quick glance left then right and pulled the bag over to himself. Out of the bag he took a length of rope with a hook on one end and a series of knots at 12-inch intervals. One more check, up and down the courtyard to check for guard. Looks like his luck had run out. There were 4 guards patrolling the area, two of which had automatic rifles. This was defiantly not looking good for the poor canine, he needed at least 2 minutes to set up the rope and climb to safety, never mind the broken ribs and other injuries, hell it may take longer. How was he supposed to get over the wall now...

"Theres... there's no way that still works..." He thought to himself. This new plan however had risks of its own...

He silently crept his way back over to the vent and crawled back inside it, leaving the bag at the entrance to the shaft. He shimmied his way back down the vent and into the sleeping quarters once again. It wasn't long after reaching the room and diving behind a bed for cover that he noticed 2 more guards were now walking around and between the beds.

"Hey, wonder if that little traitor is dead yet?... wanna check?" One of the guards spoke softly to the other, grinning menacingly as he did.

"Come on, we have a job to do, don't do anything to get us in trouble, ya' hear!" the other jackal snapped back, almost to the point of ignoring him if he wasn't so stupid.

"Ugh fine, this is boring..."

"Yeah I know but still..."

Niki quietly slipped underneath one of the beds in the nick of time, just as the guards passed by. He really hoped that they wouldn't notice the vent cover had been removed and was still open for the room to see.

The jackal lay there underneath the bed for a good few minutes as the guards did their rounds and began walking towards the door and finally... left the room entirely.

Niki didn't have time for this. He slipped out from under the bed and dashed across the room as quietly as possible, reaching the far wall in record time.

"Gotta be quick about this..." He said out loud as he removed the pin from the fire alarm and pulled the lever down. The building erupted in a deafening siren that could be heard from a few blocks away.

Niki used all his strength and endurance to dash back across the room, before the guards returned to the room, and dove head first into the vent. He crawled as fast as he could down the tight space, right turn, then another and finally he reached the exit. Quickly he grabbed the duffle bag and rope, had a quick look around the courtyard and took a sigh of relief. Finally, a spot of luck, the 4 guards had went back inside to investigate and he was free to get to the wall.

A quick sprint later, Niki found himself staring into the sky at the imposing mass of brick work and cement before him. He took the rope in one paw and began to swing it around and around to build momentum. When he achieved the desired force, he let go and the hook shot skyward, up and over the wall and catching on a lamp post on the other side. Niki took a second to catch his breath, holding his side in excruciating pain as he began to cough. he held his paw up to his mouth to muffle the sound a little but was horrified to discover a significant amount of blood had been coughed up as well. "Shit..." The canine thought to himself...

Niki looked up at the rope and took his first step to freedom. He grabbed the rope and forced his body to climb, using the knots as foot rests. Every pull was agony, every inch excruciatingly painful but the thought of his mate guiding him forward pushed him forward.

After a few minutes he finally made it, sitting atop the wall while rummaging through the duffle bag for the next item in his escape, wire cutters. Just as Niki had his paw on them the fire alarm sirens had stopped. The canine took a look around to see if he was compromised and to his horror, from the main entrance to the warehouse came the 4 guards from before, armed with their rifles and walking right towards him...

"HEY! STOP THERE!" One of the jackals shouted as he and the rest of his group charged towards Niki, guns raised and ready to fire.

This sudden turn of events caused the duffle bag to slip from Niki's paws and fall to the concrete below. His entire escape hanging in the balance and with no way to cut through the barbed wire safely, Niki had no choice but to do the unthinkable.

The guards began to shoot at Niki, who was a sitting duck perched atop the wall. It was like shooting fish in a barrel, so to speak. The bullets whizzing past and hitting the brick work just inches away from the canine.

Niki closed his eyes, having no other choice he grabbed the barbed wire, ripped its foundations from the wall and used the razor sharp makeshift rope to descend the wall. Every inch down was by far much worse pain than on the other side. His paws being cut to ribbons before he crashed to the ground, safe on the other side. But this jackal was smart. He wasted no time at all to pull himself to his feet and sprinted out towards the city. Sprinting towards the neon lights of Zootopia. To safety.

- 6:45pm, Precinct 1 -

Howlett, Savage and Hunter had concluded their meeting with Rockford and Bogo. The mammals had spent the best part of an hour bringing all parties involved up to speed about the ongoing investigations in both Precinct 1 and 5.

Alex opened the door of Bogo's office and stepped out onto the balcony overlooking the lobby to get a breath of fresh air. After all he had been in there for quite some time and with a nose as sensitive as his, he couldn't stand smelling Bogo's breakfast any longer.

"And Howlett, I expect to see some results from you very soon, I want you to keep in mind you have until October to find the Ghost, am I clear?" Bogo barked orders as usual, he liked to hear the sound of his own voice sometimes. Something about it giving him a sense of power and authority.

"Of course sir, we will report in when Bixby and Benson are discharged from the hospital" Howlett saluted the Chiefs, a sign of respect that was hammered into him from his time in the Animalia Police Department.

"Uh, Jay... You might wanna see this..." Alex shouted over to the Wolf Hybrid, a slight tremble in his voice as his eyes were locked on a mammal in the lobby below. The smell of blood filled the young Coyote's nose.

"What is it?..." Jay asked as he too looked over the balcony in disbelief at the sight presented before him. "What the hell..."

Downstairs, in the lobby not 40 feet away stood the broken and bloody form of a Jackal, mid twenties and deep lacerations to his paws and thighs, blood pouring from his mouth and a face that looked as if he had just gone twelve rounds with Officer Fangmeyer.

"I NEED TO SPEAK TO DETECTIVE HOWLETT, NOW!" Niki protested out loud for all to hear before collapsing from exhaustion to the cold marble floor.