Chapter 21: The Lion
Bogo calls in some reinforcements for the team. Jake talks with a wannabe hooker, what is it about this coon and cats?
"Where the hell has Runnel gone now?" Chief Bogo yelled at the fox. "You were supposed to keep your eye on him Wilde."
The team was standing in the Integration Room and they were looking at the black piece of quartz that was lying on the table.
"He said that he was tired and was going downstairs to lie down and get some sleep," Officer Bob Johnson yawned, the lion almost roared as his jaws opened and he shook his thick brown mane.
"Geeze dude, talk about cat's breath!" Degato laughed, as the other lion leaned back in his chair and adjusted his weapons belt. Chief Bogo had called the two partners in as backup for the team.
"Smells like smoke trout and pickled turnips," Wolford answered as he looked at the lion in expectation.
"Score another one for the K-9 Unit," Bob laughed as he pointed at the wolf. "Damn it must suck to be a wolf when you visit Little Amir. I was eating at a restaurant there and they had this nasty smelling blob of junk they called stinky tofu. It smells like week old burning garbage dipped in rhino piss."
"Hey I like stinky tofu," Nick objected. "Sure it stinks, but the taste is creamy, especially dipped in soy sauce. Carrots won't let me have it anymore, she says my breath smells bad enough when I eat tea smoked fish."
"Enough about your culinary explorations officers," Bogo snapped. "Johnson, go with Wilde and get Runnel."
"Sure thing boss," the fox said as he stood up and gave the cape buffalo a two fingered salute, before slinking out of the room.
The lion followed the smaller fox as they made their way into the back of the station and to booking. "Rudy, how's it hanging?" Nick greeted the middle aged and slightly overweight warthog that was sitting at the desk.
"Still got both of them fox," the boar chuckled. "The wife hasn't castrated me, what about you and Judy? Has she snipped yours yet?"
"Only idle threats my friend," the fox scoffed. "Have you seen a ringtailed bandit roaming around here lately?"
"He's down the hallway, he said he needed a nap," Rudy shrugged. "I told him to pick a cell and make himself at home, Runnels been here enough in the past to know which cell has the best cots."
As the fox picked up the keys and let himself into the hallway leading to the holding cells, the lion leaned against the wall. "Much traffic tonight?" he inquired.
"Nope, slow night so far," the boar sighed. "A few hookers and a biker chick on the ladies side and her partner plus a couple of shoplifters locked up on the other."
"Hey Rudy, I thought you said Jake was here?" Nick asked as he walked back into the room.
"He was?" the warthog confirmed. Then both he and the fox looked at the other door leading to the female cells. "That little bastard, I should taser his scrawny ass for going in there!"
"Ah if you've got the keys, how did he get in and out?" Bob asked.
"We're talking about Runnel and that coon can get into anywhere he wants to!" the angry boar squealed and he stood up and reached for his baton.
"We'll go get him!" Nick quickly said. "Sit down and calm down, Bogo needs him alive."
"He's hell on my blood pressure!" Rudy snapped.
"Come on fuzzy, you're with me," the fox chuckled as he opened the door and looked down the hallway. They could hear a male voice talking from inside a cell.
"Shhh!" the lion hissed as he grabbed the fox's arm with his paw.
"You're telling me you were pimping yourself just to buy a dress?" Jake said in an incredulous voice.
"It was a nice dress and we don't get too much money in the swamps," a feline voice answered. "So I figured that a few quickies and I'd have the money."
"It doesn't work that way!" the raccoon protested. "You're lucky Catpone's guys didn't catch you, that's their territory and you're not one of his girls. They might have beaten you up or even fed you to the alligators."
"I'm a swamp cat, so I know a thing or two about gators," the feline said. "All bite and no brains."
"If you're going to go into the business, you've got to find the local pimp and get a contract," the raccoon admonished her. "You just can't go out and do it without having someone protecting you and you can't take your underage teenage sister along either."
"I wasn't gonna do nothin', a younger voice protested. "I wasn't even gonna watch."
"You sure know a lot about being a hooker," the older cat observed. "Are you a pimp or a hooker? I heard there are males that do it too.
"They're called giegallos or something," the younger cat added.
"They're called gigolos and no, I'm not one of those or a pimp," Jake sighed. "I have friends who are prostitutes down on River Street."
"So you pay for pleasure!" the older cat said with a jubilant voice. "Maybe we can do it right here for the money to buy the dress. We best hurry before Skeeter gets here with bail."
"You're sister is here!" the raccoon protested. "We can't do it in front of her!"
"I'll look the other way," the younger feline voice said.
"No, we aren't going to do anything. Also there are cameras up there," Jake yelled. "Besides, who's Skeeter."
"She's Bobby Joe's boyfriend," the younger cat replied. "He's already going to be pissed at her."
"That bulge in your britches tells me you're interested," the older cat chuckled.
"Again, there are cameras and your sister!" Jake protested. "Move your paw, it's not helping matters."
"Just screw the bitch!" another deeper voice brayed. "You three are giving me a shitty headache, damn preds."
"Shut your stripped pie hole!" the older feline voice hissed. "I'm fixin to come over there and scratch you three ways to Sunday."
"Try it and I'll stamp your swamp pussy…" the other voice began to yell back.
"Jake what the hell are you doing in here?" Nick laughed as he stepped into the room. Bob was right behind the fox and wanted to laugh when he saw the raccoon lying on the bench with his head in a wildcat's lap. She was dressed in a plaid shirt and a very short pair of cut off jeans. One of her paws was scratching between his ears, but the other was between his legs. Standing in a corner was a younger cat in a faded old t-shirt and a pair torn jeans.
"Shit, I didn't know this damn city could get any worse!" a rough looking female zebra grumbled. "Now they let a candyass fox become a cop."
Nick casually leaned against the wall and smirked at the zebra. "Nice tattoo on your arm, it looks familiar doesn't it Officer Johnson?"
It took the lion a moment longer to suddenly remember the photo. "Why yes Officer Wilde, that looks just like the one in the photo from the Quick Pick Mart's camera. You know of the zebra who shook down that poor elderly wallaby a week ago," he replied. "I guess we need to call the detective in charge of that case. Oh, you'll like him sweetheart because he's a cougar…a cat like the ladies and me."
The zebra replied with some very unladylike curses.
"I guess it's time for me to go," Jake sighed. "Nick, do you have the key or should I just let myself out?"
Johnston followed the now squabbling fox and raccoon back into the interrogation room. I think it's naptime for both those two, he thought to himself. We all thought that Judy was just a public relations stunt when he was assigned to the unit. But we were wrong about Judy and soon found out we were wrong about the fox too. Jake on the other paw, well it will be interesting to see how long he stays on the straight and narrow. I hate for Nick's best friend to end up back in jail.
Officer Bob Johnson was a second generation cop. His father had retired after over thirty years in the ZPD and his older brother Captain Ronald Johnson now serves with the Twelfth District. When he graduated from the academy, the lion worked as a patrol officer with the Forth for three years. He and his usual partner, the big tiger Hal Jackson came to Bogo's attention when they talked down a street fight between a gang of Tigers and a group of Black Bears. Because Officer Jackson was a tiger, he wasn't trusted by the bears but Johnson was and the two brokered peace between the two species. Soon afterwards, both officers were transferred to the First and Chief Bogo's Special Unit. He and Delgato had recently worked with Frangmeyer, Wolford, Wilde, and the late Officer Phillip Barsto hunting down an elusive war criminal, a tiger who went by the name of Birendra. Their case ended with the tiger's death and the subsequent murder of Officer Barsto. The spotted hyena's murder still remains unsolved because the case was reassigned by the mayor to the ZIA, much to the anger of the unit and most of the ZPD.
"So I reckon that this is a larger conspiracy than we all thought was going to be," Detective Oates reported. We've got three raccoons sacrificed, Jake kitnapped, and then there were two attacks on our team by the jackals. In addition, there are a couple of badly burned folks from a supposed bonfire incident in the Canyonlands, but I'm fairly sure that is somehow tied into Jake's being up and taken."
"Just what is this stone supposed to do?" Fangmeyer asked as he poked at it with a pen.
"The stone is supposed to bring down the fiery wrath of a snake god called Ouroboros," the horse replied. "Some old god feller who's be plaguing mammal kind since the dawn of time. The story goes that the stone can fire some sort of black lightning."
"I wouldn't write off this as a story," Jake added and then shrugged. "I'm just saying that they've been after this stone for a long time and have been killing raccoons every twenty-one years. This needs to be brought to an end and if the ZPD can't do it then I will find someone who can."
Chief Bogo glared down at the raccoon before answering, "You are not going to take the law into your own paws, understand Runnel!"
"They killed Jasmine…they killed Sandy…they killed a nun…all because they were raccoons," Jake snarled back at the much larger buffalo. "When you do bring someone down for this, I'm expecting it to be treated as a hate crime too!"
"The District Attorney makes those calls," Bogo answered. "You and I don't!"
The lion watched with amusement as the raccoon jumped up on the table across from where the cape buffalo was sitting and started to angrily march towards the larger mammal.
"JAKE RUNNEL!" a female voice yelled, catching everyone's attention. The raccoon froze and looked down at the rabbit, who was looking up at him. "Get off that table and sit down now!"
"But!" Jake began to protest.
"NOW!" Judy snapped.
With a sigh, the raccoon walked back across the table and jumped down onto his chair.
"How many times have I told you to fear the fluff?" Nick added. He was casually leaning against the wall with a smirk on his muzzle.
"Ah reckon, we can get back to business," Oates said as he continued his briefing.
The lion cast a look over at the raccoon and could see the little guy was still seething, but had calmed down enough.
Officer Phillip Barsto was the ZPD's first and so far only spotted hyena. He was one of Judy's classmates in the Mammal Inclusion Initiative and he was murdered as part of an ancient honor killing due to his late father's actions in the Western Cape Republic. For more about Phil Barsto, read Sins of Our Fathers.