Chapter 20 - Arrival

Nick opened the door to his tiny 3rd class cabin and switched on the lights. He quickly looked around, just to check that nothing lying around here could give away anything Tracy should not know. But she had already squeezed inside and giggled.

"Wow, this place is even smaller than I have imagined it!", she said.

"Yeah, but just right for my purpose", Nick smiled and opened the door to the adjacent shower and toilet. Here, he quickly checked that no laundry was lying around, in case Tracy wanted to use the room, when he suddenly heard a whooshing sound.

He twirled around to Tracy… and froze open mouthed.

The sound had come from Tracy's dress, it had fallen on the floor. Underneath she wore absolutely nothing. She stood in front of him, naked, her eyes wide open. Nick noticed she was panting and now he smelled the pheromones she produced.

"Tracy…", he said.

"Nick…", she replied and her voice was very soft now, "Please, Nick, I want you to be my first real lover. I've said it before, I never met someone like you. I love you, I really do!"

In this moment, she looked so vulnerable, so adorable, if Nick would not be so experienced, he might actually had fallen for her show. But he was quite sure that she did not feel real love for him, he was much too old for her. She was bored and yearned for protection and an adventure. Nick made a mental note to himself to be extremeley careful with that vixen. Constant vigilance was necessary. But for now, her desires played in his cards. He had to use her as an entrance to Maybach's palace, maybe he would be able to smuggle Judy and Jack in there, too. So, he approached her with a warm smile and embraced her.

"And I love you, my dear", he whispered in her ear, "If you take an old fox like me for your first lover, I would be honored!"

She giggled, "Sorry, Nick, I'm not laughing at you… but why does it always sound so stupid when two mammals talk about love?"

She started to undress him, "I don't care. Take me. Do whatever you want to me", she said.

Nick lifted her up carefully and laid her down on his small bed.

Meanwhile, in the Honeymoon Suite, Judy and Jack played on with her show of excitement. As soon as Judy had lifted her lottery ball with the correct number, they both had to play an overjoyed couple, had to endure countless congratulations, a kiss from that despicable wild cat, the Captain had smacked Jack's shoulder so hard that Jack was sure the imprint would last forever.

After some bottles of champagne, they had been finally allowed to retreat to their 'love nest' as that bitch Xenia had called it.

They 'celebrated' for another hour in order to not cause any suspicion with those guys who were watching them 24-7, before they finally went to bed and switched off the lights. They embraced each other in order to start a whispered conversation.

"They know it", said Judy, "they know everything. We could as well have spared us the entire show in the room."

"Maybe, maybe not", Jack said, "But better be safe than sorry."

"It was a trick! That bitch officer had not drawn the ball out of her bowl, she had it in her paw all the time! It was totally warm when she handed it over! Our win was staged!"

"Not so loud, dear", Jack warned, "Yes, you are right, that would be much too much luck to have. On the good side, we don't need to sneak inside Maybach's palace, we just can walk through the front door!"

"So, you want to walk open eyed into the trap?"

"What alternative do we have?", he responded, "If we refuse, they might kill us right away. I wonder how they have recognized me. There are no pictures of me around and I even went through the ordeal to dye my fur. No one in the Secret Service knows about the mission, except…"

"Except your boss, D!", hissed Judy, "Do you think, he might be…"

"… the mole? No, impossible. He is… like a father to me. No, impossible. The first law of the Secret Service is to trust no one, but he is out of question."

Judy was silent, but she was not hundred percent satisfied. In the end, that D was the only person who knew about them. Maybe it had been her trip to Nick's cabin that gave them away. But as Jack did not mention that option, she wouldn't, neither.

Nick, who did not know about Judy's and Jack's big win, was lying in bed sleepless. Tracy was next to him, she breathed slowly, but Nick was not sure if she really was sleeping. He had forgotten how messy vulpine sex was. In the beginning of his relationship with Judy, she had often complained about the amount of body fluids produced by him, but that was nothing against what a vixen left on the sheets. The mix of Tracy's pheromones and the stench of their fluids filled the entire small windowless cabin.

Nonetheless, a hundred plans were forming in his head, he carefully evaluated each and every one of them before he discarded most of them. How tight was the security in Antarctica? In the tourist resort? In Maybach's palace? How close would Tracy get to him? Was there any chance to bring Judy, Jack, or both inside?

He sighed. He simply had not enough information to create a proper plan. He would have to made up a plan as it went. Just when he was on the brink of sleep, Tracy said "Are you awake?"

"Yes."

"What will you do as soon as we arrive in Antarctica?", she asked.

Nick hesitated. Should he immediately suggest his plan? Was she serious about him? When he asked her to stay with her, she might as well laugh out loud, saying that he was just an adventure for her (and a part of Nick would not be sorry if she did just that!)

He decided to approach her with a question himself.

"So, do you still want to see Viktor Maybach and check out was he has in stock for you? I mean, a new job, modeling, you know."

Now it was her who hesitated, "I am… I mean, I think… yes, I still think I want to do that. You might not understand, but he is the first person who really thinks that I could be more than just a pretty sneaking thief!"

"Oh, I understand you better than you might know!", Nick said, thinking of Judy in a meter maid uniform standing in front of the elephant's ice cream parlor.

She sighed, "Yes, I think you really do understand me!"

"Tracy…", Nick started, "I… I would like to go with you. And I have thought of a plan that would allow me to stay with you…"

She jerked upwards so quickly, that Nick nearly fell out of bed.

"You… you really want to do that?", she said gasping with eyes wide open, "Oh, Nick, I never would have dreamed of that! I thought you were just using me as a toy, having some fun with that dumb little vixen…"

Nick pouted, "What have I done to deserve such a bad reputation?", he asked.

Tracy laughed, embraced him and kissed him.

"Nothing, darling, nothing. It's my fault. I would be glad if you come along with me. To be honest, I am afraid. I never have done anything like this my whole life. What if that Maybach guy talks to me and sends me away?"

Nick smirked, "Then, I would consider him clearly out of his mind!"

She giggled and pressed her body angainst his. Nick noticed a change of smell in the room. Did she wants again… She panted hard and attacked the lower half of his body ferociously. Well, obviously, the next days would result in hard work for him.

When Bogo, Kitty, Jasper and Tony finally stood on the small airfield on Fawcett Island, all they wanted was sleep. In Buenos Aires, they had to ran to catch their plane to Ushuaia and when they made it to the desolate town, they had to wait in the pouring rain for three hours for their connection to Fawcett. The plane was tiny, only two seats barely big enough for Bogo and Tony. The pilot (the only crew member) exhaled in surprise when he saw the two of them.

Kitty had had the feeling that the small plane needed the entire runway (and a bit more) until the wheels finally disconnected from the ground. The flight was unpleasant, very bumpy and rough, the air in the small plane was stale and hot and smelling of kerosene. All four had to fight against nausea and headache.

Bogo tried to get out of his baby elephant snow suit, but every time he moved, the plane tilted from one side to another until the pilot yelled at him to stop rocking or if he wanted to kill them all.

But now they had arrived and Bogo and Kitty waited for their luggage (or Kitty's luggage, to be exact) while Tony and Jasper walked to the village looking for accommodation.

There were no luggage carts and Bogo carried three suitcases while Kitty heaved the smallest one herself. Bogo was drenched in sweat when they finally met the other two.

"We have good news and bad news…", Tony started and Bogo grunted.

"Good news is, we found two double rooms – the last they had. The hotel, if you want to call that place a hotel, is for preds only!", he explained.

"So that's the bad news?", Bogo said.

"No, that's still good news!", Tony replied.

They walked for ten minutes until they reached a shabby two story building.

When they entered, a wolverine, looking as shabby as the rest of the building, greeted them with laughter.

"My, my, looks like the circus is in town!", he said and cackled at his own joke.

He was distracted by Bogo's flashy snow suit but then he snorted.

"Hey, what kind of mammal are you?", he said, "some kind of buffalo? Can't you guys read? This hotel is for preds only!"

Bogo stepped forward, "And what do you think I am?", he said.

His voice was low and full of anger, but the wolverine seemed to like a dangerous life.

"You are a fucking piece of grass eating prey, so piss off. We don't want to have that vermin in our clean rooms!"

Slowly, Bogo took the bell from the reception desk and squeezed the metal into a tiny ball.

"So, prey am I?", he said slowly while the wolverine stared on what had been his bell five seconds ago, "Then, why don't you eat me?"

"What?", the wolverine spit out confused.

"Well, you are pred, I am prey. So hunt me, kill me and eat me!", Bogo said.

"I… but… I mean… you can't come in here and…"

"The keys! Now!", Bogo said.

The wolverine gulped, "Well… I think we can make an exception in this special case…", he said slowly while handing over the keys.

Silently, they carried their luggage to the second floor.

"Tony, you haven't told us the bad news yet", Kitty said.

Tony gave her the saddest grin, "Well…"

He unlocked the door and opened it.

"You must be joking!", Bogo said, "That's a closet!"

The room was tiny, a single chair, no table and a tiny bed, at least for Bogo and Tony.

Kitty tried to think positive, "At least it's much cleaner than I expected…"

"And they only got two rooms?", Bogo asked again.

Tony nodded.

"Okay", Tony said, "it is pretty obvious that me and the Chief can't share a room, we wouldn't even fit in here together…"

Bogo nodded, "Fangmeyer, with me, then!", he said quickly and stared at Tony as the giant tiger shook his head.

"That won't work, Chief… you know pretty well that felines move around quite a lot in their sleep. I would squeeze Kitty to death if I roll on her and wouldn't even notice. Jasper here is much bigger. And water buffalos don't move during their sleep, correct?"

Bogo started to sweat. Everything Tony had said was right. Due to his horns, he could only lie on his back and could not turn his head.

"I could sleep on the floor…", Kitty suggested.

"No!", yelled Jasper, Bogo and Tony in unison.

"Well…", Kitty said slowly while looking in any direction except towards Bogo, "then…"

Quickly she grabbed the key out of Tony's paw and marched off.

"I'm tired", she said, "I need to sleep now!"

Shyly, she turned around and her sapphire eyes glowed when she addressed Bogo.

"Do you come?"

Tony vanished quickly into his room pulling Fangmeyer with him and closed the door. Bogo, suddenly left alone, gulped and without a word followed the tiny feline. He had no idea how he could handle anything the following night would bring.

Arrival! The ship's horns blared full power and it seems all passengers stood on deck watching the harbor of what Maybach had named 'Burrow of Inle'. The weather was a bit misty, but not so cold as most mammals would have been expected from Antarctica. A pale sun was blinking through the mist. The tourist resort behind the harbor looked splendid, polished glass surfaces everywhere.

Behind the resort, however, was Maybach's palace. It was a bit away from the shore, so the true size of it was not showing from here, but Judy and Jack had seen the pics and knew how big that building really was.

The ship moored and deboarding took several hours, but Jack and Judy were one of the first to step on land via the front gangway while some 800 feet behind them, Nick and Tracy did the same on another gangway. The two foxes had been ushered in front of everyone due to Tracy's special status.

Nick's feet felt wobbly when he did the first steps on land again. Tracy grabbed his arm. A ferocious looking siberian tiger, a female, stood in front of them holding up a sign reading 'Whitney'.

"Remember the story we agreed on!", hissed Nick.

Tracy just nodded, looking nervous.

They approached the tigress who showed huge teeth while smiling at them.

"Hi, my name is Natalia Andrejewna, please call me Natalia. You must be Tracy, correct?", she said with a heavy russian accent and gave Nick a puzzled look, "And who might that be?"

"Oh", said Tracy and giggled, "this is Nickolas Whitney, my father. He's with me."

The tigress looked at her clipboard.

"But my papers say nothing about…"

"Oh, please, let me explain!", interrupted Nick quickly, "It's all my fault, you know. I was against the whole thing, travelling so far away… she is still so young, you know. Well… we had a fight and…"

"… and I ran away!", Tracy fell in. The Natalia's head jerked from one to another like during a tennis match. She was confused and exactly that was what Nick had planned.

"Yeah, so I took all my money, flew to Ushuaia, borded the ship using a false identity…", Nick went on when Tracy interrupted again, "… yeah, he tried to convince me to come back, but then…"

"… well, we made up and I agreed to let her look at this place… as long as I may stay with her!", Nick concluded.

They both looked smilingly at Natalia who was at a loss. This was a situation she had not expected. Nick remembered what Jack had said about the girls Maybach hired, very young, beautiful, but not the brightest. This was one of them, no mistake.

"Erm… wait a sec… I need to make a phone call", she said quickly and left them alone.

Nick and Tracy stood there and watched her talking agitatedly in a cell phone. Other passengers passed them by, all excited.

When the tigress finally hung up she looked furious. However, as soon as she turned towards them, she smiled.

"Okay, I checked it all with Herrn Maybach… he invites you to stay here. Currently, we have a bit more guests then planned, so you two have to share a room."

"Oh, no problem, I'm glad for Mr. Maybach's invitation, please tell him I'm sorry for all the confusion and extra work…", Nick said, but Natalia had already turned around so vigorously, her tail hit Nick in the face.

"Yeah, yeah… please come with me, Tracy… Mr. Whitney…"

Nick smirked, "Oh, please call me Nick!", he said.

The huge tiger walked ahead and the two much smaller foxes had to hurry up to stay behind her. They climbed in a small golf cart and the tiger drove them to the palace. From close up the view was much more intimidating. Nick noticed, that they did not approach the main entrance but a small conceiled door. Only the electric lock and the big sign 'Nur für Angestellte' (employees only) gave it away.

Natalia took a small tablet computer, a black model with a thick red stripe and swiped it over the lock. A small humming sound and the door was open.

Without a word they walked on, tunring right here, left there, while Nick tried to memorize the way. They stopped in front of an unmarked door.

"Here!", Natalia said finally, giving Tracy a white unmarked batch, "Wear this in here all the time. It opens your door. I'll get another one for you", she said in Nick's direction, "Your luggage will arrive soon. Refresh yourselves, Herr Maybach will have lunch with you in one hour."

She had said all this rather unfriendly, but suddenly her mood changed. With a smile she put her giant paw on Tracy's shoulder.

"I hope we become good friends", she purred, "You'll see, we are a great team, the other girls are nice, too, I hope you'll make a lot of new friends…"

After she had vanished and Nick and Tracy were alone in their comfortable room, Tracy shook her head.

"Wasn't that weird?", she said, "Her mood changed from pushy to charming in…"

Nick hold his finger in front of his snout and Tracy became silent. He looked around carefully and found at least one object that looked suspiciously like a camera. While he searched he started a harmless conversation with Tracy about how nice the room was and so on. In fact, it was really nice, a large living room, a separate bedroom with two single beds – Tracy gave him an evil smile. The bathroom was luxurious, with a huge shower and a tub.

They quickly refreshed and changed into more formal clothes, Nick wore an elegant black suit while Tracy changed into a white dress, simple, but emphasizing her tremendous figure. After that, all they could do was waiting…

Meanwhile, not so very far away, Judy unpacked her suitcase in an even more luxurious room. When they arrived at the pier, Judy had immediately recognized the beautiful lynx girl from Poland that Jack had shown her during his presentation. Her name was Agnieszka, Judy remembered, but the lynx had introduced herself as 'Annie'. When Jack's information were correct, she was only 16 years old, but Judy noticed that she was very confident and she was radiating pure happiness. She didn't look like a hostage at all. She had congratulated Jack and Judy over and over again and had been very nice to them while bringing them to their room.

Annie had offered to give them the big tour during the afternoon as Viktor Maybach would have dinner with them 'not before 6pm'. However, she had allowed them two hours to unpack and relax.

Judy put her cosmetic bag in the bathroom while Jack looked at his cell phone.

"Strange…", he said, "But I cannot detect any cameras or microphones in here!"

"Are you sure?", asked Judy anxiously.

"Yes, I even made a self-test in order to check if the detector is still working."

"I wonder if Nick had found out about our luck…", she said thoughtfully.

"I doubt it, especially if he stayed in third class", Jack said.

"So what will we do as soon as we meet Maybach?", asked Judy cautiously.

Jack exhaled loudly.

"We need to find out how much he knows. What does he want? Why hadn't he killed us or sent us off board as he did with the other agents? Let's see how the conversation will go this night", he concluded.

"Should I left the talking to you?", Judy asked.

"Hell, no!", Jack snorted, "You are the most clever bunny I ever met! I want you to talk to him, hell, flirt with him, if necessary, try to find out as much as possible!"

Judy gulped, "My head feels so empty right now…"

"You're just tired. Lie down, we still have 80 minutes until Annie comes back. Take a nap."

Judy thought she could never sleep in a million years but as soon as her head touches the soft pillow, her eyes shut and the fatigue of the previous days took it's toll.