Max followed Claire as she quickly shoved her files into her case and ran to the parking lot, he barely had enough time to run around to the passengers side and get in before she spun the car around and headed out of the factories grounds. It wasn't until she reached the highway roughly a mile down the road that she put the unmarked cruisers lights and sirens on and she started to force her way through the traffic, the scene of the attack was halfway across the city and with the traffic being as heavy as it was due to rush hour it would take them at least half an hour if not longer to get there. Max turned the agency radio on and there were calls from agents who were already responding to the scene, they both recognised one of the voices and Claire breathed a sigh of relief,
"Sounds like Liam's taken charge for now, he's more than competent to sort this out "
"It's in good paws then"
Max looked at Claire as she waited with growing frustration for a big rig truck to move out the way for them to pass, he could see the cogs turning in her head as she listened to the radio and tried to assess the best way to deal with what was happening.
"What was that back there?"
Her brow furrowed for a moment as his questioning through her off her train of thought,
"What was what?"
"That place, that meeting. Who the hell are these people, and that Lynx, everyone looks terrified of him"
"He's an important figure"
"So who is he?"
"I don't know"
"You don't know?"
""I don't. When I took over from Jack Director Joey brought me here, one of the conditions of me keeping this position is that I work with the committee and for the Lynx. He only goes by the title of overseer"
"No name, no uniform. Sounds like a spook to me. What's with the command centre, no way that's new"
"It's not, it's been there a long time it just gets updated"
"They look like their monitoring a lot of mammals, a lot of places on their maps are from where TUSK hit but I don't recognise some of the symbols"
"Their tracking markers, they monitor a lot of suspects at all times"
"So is this where we were getting a lot of our intell?"
"Some of it, they helped fill in the blanks"
Max snorted and bit his lip for a minute before asking,
"Are they following me?"
"Wha..Why do you think that?"
"Those trackers I found, the guys in our labs said they were sophisticated and not something you can get on the civilian market, no identifying markers or serial numbers on them, nothing to lead to a user. Sounds a lot like something a secretive group would use don't you think"
Claire didn't answer, she looked like she was going to say something but as soon as she saw Max's face she clamped her jaw shut,
"They did didn't they, it was their gear I found"
"Max"
"It was, and you fucking knew it"
"Max I"
"Don't even think of lying to me Claire, I can see the guilt in your face. When did you find out?"
Before she could answer he pointed one of his fingers close to her face so she could see it out the corner of her eye while she was driving,
"Think carefully before you answer"
There was quiet for a few moments before she mumbled,
"I knew all along"
Max's eyes went wide and he looked at her with a stunned look that was quickly turning to anger,
"You what?"
"I knew all along"
"You gotta be kidding me"
"I didn't have much choice, the Overseer said"
"That fucking lynx, I was right not to like that guy I ought to knock his teeth out"
"Max please listen to me. With what happened with Sokolov, and with you going off reservation when you killed Victor and Angie, it made a lot of mammals in high places worried. They thought you may end up like him"
"So my hunting him for years, not to mention every minute I've been here, means nothing to them?"
"They don't know what you've done before coming here, as far as they're concerned its all made up to cover your tracks"
"I. Am. Not. Sokolov!"
"I know that, but they don't. They haven't seen you like I have, like our team has, they didn't want to take the chance. The committee wanted to lock you up so they could find a way to kill Sokolov easily, I showed them all the help that you given us and I put my neck out for you. All I could do to persuade them to leave you out of jail was to have you monitored"
"They're worried about me being their enemy then locking me up is the worst thing they can do"
He kicked the foot well of the car and slumped back in his seat as he rested his chin on his paw.
"So that's why you insisted I come with you everywhere, so you could monitor me"
"I didn't see another way out. I didn't want to see any harm come to you and I still don't"
"I'm used to being watched Claire, it happened every day back home and it happened when Jack was alive""
"Then what are you angry at?"
"Because you didn't tell me! Since I came here I have trusted you, admittedly at first I was reluctant but over this last year I trusted you. You and I have been on the front line, when the shit hits the fan all you have to rely on is the trust in your colleagues. You lied to my face, covered up the truth. How can I trust you now when you so blazingly tried to keep me in the dark?"
The radio went off again with Liam calling out for any commanders on the net, Max picked up the mic before Claire could say anything and responded,
"This is special advisor Langdon, the Director and I are en-route. ETA 30 minutes"
He hooked the mic back on its stand and gave Claire a disgusted look out of the corner of his eye before staring out of the window, even from where they were they could see smoke in the distance from the second explosion. Claire was lost for words, it was the first time that Max had snapped at her like that, and he had never looked at her like that before. She needed to think about how to fix this but for now she had bigger concerns, she put her foot down and hurried to the scene.
As they came down the off ramp from the highway they were directed by local officers who had cleared a route for arriving emergency services. Claire continued to drive at speeds well over the limit as they passed where Fabienne Growely had been reporting from, which was now inside of an extended cordon that covered at least eight city blocks. The side street where the second blast happened was blocked by fire trucks as they tackled a roaring blaze that was billowing out thick black smoke. She didn't slow down until she spotted Liam's cruiser among others from the ZBI parked next to two ZPD mobile command trucks. Close to at least a hundred officers were securing the area as SWAT teams went into every building one by one and made sure that there were no other attackers waiting for an opportunity while paramedics and fire department personnel tended to the wounds of those mammals who hadn't yet been able to be taken to a hospital. As soon as the cruiser came to a stop Max got out and took in the scene, it wasn't as bad as the attack that he had seen last year on the TV but there was a large hole in the ground of the park that was clearly visible from where he was standing over a hundred yards away. An officer called into the back of one of the command trucks and Liam quickly came down the steps to great them, he shook Claire's paw,
"I'm glad you're here, ZPD isn't playing ball with us and I could use your clout"
"I'll set them straight, what have we got?"
"Bit's and pieces, the place is a mess"
He went to call overt to Max but he was already walking away from them towards the crater that a small group of crime scene officers were beginning to analyse.
"Where's he going?"
"Leave him be"
Liam looked at Claire with a puzzled look, she looked like the wind had been taken out of her sails,
"Are you alright? Did something happen?"
"It's complicated and between Max and myself. Give him some space"
He looked unsure at her but nodded after a couple of seconds,
"OK, let me show you what we have so far"
They stepped inside out of sight, Max hadn't heard anything that the two had said, he was too focused on the scene. He took his ID out of his pocket and hung it by its chain around his neck, despite having been given a ZBI badge when he was first accepted as being an ally once the ISB had been dealt with the administration had felt that they had given him too much authority and so they took away his agent status and made him a civilian advisor only. Although this position still gave him certain privileges he was no longer given the same level of freedoms that he had earlier such as carrying a firearm, now he was the only officially unarmed mammal in the ZBI investigations teams and although Claire had tried to have him re-instated her paws were tied as the order came down from far up the chain. She did manage to procure a gun for him, without higher authority knowing, but he was only to use it as a last resort, no more going off on his own like he did last year and taking the law into his own paws. He had started to feel like a servant again, useful only when somebody needed something taken care of and dis-guarded otherwise. And now the only person who he believed truly was looking out for him had turned out to be using him as far as he was concerned. He mumbled to himself as he approached the technicians,
"Things may have been better back home, at least I knew who the enemy was"
The two technicians were in full clean suits and they were even wearing gas masks, so when Max started coming closer to them in his suit and with no face protection the smaller of the two mammals, a pig, quickly scampered over to him and help out both his arms to stop him from coming closer.
"Sir don't come any closer we haven't opened the site yet, who are you?"
"Maxwell Langdon, I work with the ZBI"
He held the ID so that the pig could see it clearly, although he couldn't see the majority of the pigs face he could tell by the pigs eyes that it wasn't happy.
"Why are you here?"
"Oh because I fancied going for a stroll in the park on such a nice day"
"Huh?"
"Sarcasm obviously isn't one of your strong points, look I need to get a closer look so if you could just step aside"
He went to walk around the pig but it stepped along with him and blocked his path again,
"Shortstop I've had a bad day, I suggest you step aside and let me do my job"
"This is a police investigation and as such"
"That's where you're wrong, this is a terrorist attack and so it becomes the jurisdiction of all law enforcement agencies. The MBI being one of them and therefore the jurisdiction of the ZBI as well, so you have no authority to stop me"
The pig reluctantly let his arms drop by his side. Max stepped past him towards the larger of the two technicians, a cow, who was taking photos of evidence markers next to small pieces of what looked like shrapnel. The cow stopped what she was doing and took a couple of steps towards Max but she didn't try to stop him,
"I see you've met Alastair"
"Yeah. Is he always like that?"
"Pretty much, he's a prick to everyone. Thinks the sun shines out of his ass"
"I hope you're not like that"
"Far from it, I'm Shirley by the way"
She held out her hoof to him and he shook it, her grip was firm and she looked him in the eyes as she shook.
"Max. So, what have you got so far?"
"A few bits and pieces. A few small fragments moving out in all directions from the blast crater, a couple of short wires and what looks to be organic matter, possibly from one of the officers who was stood next to the bomber when it went off"
"There were officers next to the bomb?"
"According to the news, I haven't seen any witness reports but that's what they are reporting"
"Any lead on the explosive?"
"None yet, we have a chemical analyser back at the lab and we've sent samples for testing. Whatever it was was very powerful, the blast shattered every window that was facing the park"
She pointed to the residential complexes and Max followed where she was pointing to as she spoke
"Those complexes are over 150 yards away, and some of the victims told paramedics that they had been swept off their feet and flung around like rag dolls by the blast. It's a miracle that any of them survived"
"Hmmm"
Max started sniffing at the air, he could smell the blood from the wounded and the smoke from the fire, he could also smell the various scents of the mammals around him, but there was something missing, it was as if there was a piece of the puzzle missing but he didn't know what it was he was looking for. He pulled his radio off his belt and called into it,
"Liam it's Max, you there?"
"Go ahead"
"I'm at the first blast site with a CSI crew, there's no sign here of sunder being used"
"Are you sure?"
"Positive, there's no scent or visible residue left behind. Whatever it is that was used it's new to me, I can't detect it"
"Dammit, alright now what?"
"I'm going to lend a paw here and see if I can dig anything up, pass it on to the Director for me will you"
There was a moments pause before Liam responded,
"Will do, let me know if you find anything"
Max clipped his radio back on his belt, Shirley took her mask off and put it next to one of her tool cases,
"Sunder?"
"Long story. Need a paw?"
"If you know what you're doing then sure, there's spare gloves in the box"
Judy paced back and forth in the corridor of Zootopia Central Hospital, the only hospital in the Downtown district, as she waited for new about Nick. Luckily enough for them they were one of the first to arrive from the bombing thanks to Delgato's quick driving and so they were able to be seen very quickly, but now that more than an hour had passed it was quickly filling up with the dozens of injured mammals with various states of injury and the hospital was having to prioritize those with the most severe injuries which was causing a large number of distressed mammals extreme discomfort as the hospital staff had to organise their transfer to other hospitals outside the district. Judy looked at the clock on the wall for the fifth time in less than ten minutes, usually she was pretty good at keeping calm even in the most dire of situations that they found themselves in but this time she couldn't keep still, not long after they arrived Nick took a rapid downward turn and he was rushed into surgery before they knew what was really going on. The door to the surgery theatre opened and a german shepherd in doctors scrubs walked out with a clipboard in paw, as soon as she heard the door going Judy bounced over to it and the shepherd had to stop himself from colliding with her as he stepped out into the corridor, the shepherd could see the anxious look in her face and he put on a warm smile for her,
"Mrs Wildehopps your husbands surgery went well, he's asleep right"
"Oh thank you thank you, Doctor?"
"Just call me Lyle, I like to keep things friendly among my patients. How good is your husband at following instructions?"
"He can be pretty good, why?"
"Come sit with me for a moment, then I'll take you to the ward so you can see him"
Judy followed him down the hall to his office, he offered Judy a seat which she took and he poured a glass of cold water for himself and one for her before he sat down with the clipboard.
"May I call you Judy?"
"You may"
"Alright then. Judy I think it's important that I explain a couple of things to you before you see Nick, it would help you and him to deal with what's happened a little easier and it will come to less of a shock when you see him"
"What's wrong? Was it what happened when we got here?"
"The sudden downward spiral that came over him when he was admitted was blood loss and shock, we managed to deal with that with relative ease. What has me concerned is his eyes, I removed somewhere around 25 pieces of glass from in and around his eyes, some of which had gone pretty deep. The reason I asked about whether he can follow instructions or not is because of what he will have to do to recover his eyesight enough for him to comply with ZBI protocols"
Judy looked at him dumbfounded,
"I know who you two are, I think half the city does if not more. I also know he can be a bit of a less than adherent person when it comes to following orders. Which I s why I need your help to make sure that he stays the course of his treatment or he may permanently loose the sight in his eyes"
Judy took a big gulp of her drink, her paws were shaking and she almost spilled the drink on her as she looked down at her feet.,
"What does he need to do? More surgery?"
"I don't think so, if everything holds as we believe it will then it will be things you can do at home. Things like administering drops, changing bandages, taking the medicine we will be giving you, things like that. The largest change is that he wont be allowed to open his eyes when there is light around him. We had to cut a section out of his eye and at the moment it exposes too much light to the nerves at the back of his eye, it could burn them out"
"So he has to be temporarily blind to stop him becoming permanently blind"
"That's the easiest way of looking at it"
"How long will it take?"
"Depends on the patient, we'll have to do weekly assessments here but the average recovery time for this kind of operation is three months"
"3 months..."
"That's just to eyeball recovery, there will be further treatments he will need to go through but at 3 months he should be able to see"
Judy drank the last of her water and let out a low long sigh.
"I'll make sure he follows your instructions Lyle. Now I'd like to see my husband please"