The Waters of Atlantea Chapter 3
Author's Notes: I got lucky and got some time to finish this normal-sized chapter. They should all be like that, except probably for the finale. It's shaping up to be a long one like the final chapter of the first story. thanks for all the great reviews and comments on Chapter 2 of my Atlantea sequel of my anthology.
...ZPD Headquarters...
Bogo was as overwhelmed by information on new incidents rapidly happening across the city as he was last night. He was in a conversation on the secure line with the policemammal who discovered the hospital killings by the reindeer, "Are you sure your team secured the hospital, Officer Lincoln?"
"Yes sir. We've tripled the guard with a couple of off-duty teams who owe me. I'll make sure everyone else guarding perps gets the word to match snouts with ID cards and witness – and match - all meds being administered."
"Good work Officer. Thanks to you, those suspects are going to live, in spite of their own mammal colleagues."
Lincoln replied humbly, "Well thank the resident doctor, Chief. He discovered the fake doctor before he could try to kill the other four suspects here. And even he's injured - gored by the reindeer before he committed suicide. Imagine a reindeer killing a red panda, a bobcat, and nearly killing a jaguar."
In his own state of unbelief, Bogo sighed and asked, "Try to find out how he killed them."
"We think he injected them with some kind of heart stopping drug that he used on himself. We recovered several syringes from the body full of this weird yellow-orange goo, but not the syringes that killed the two suspects. It's like nothing that the pharmacists have ever seen and they've already called the Bio Lab at the University for analysis."
The Chief shook his head, "Great. Just… freaking… great… Now we have mammals waging biological warfare on their own kind. Who knows if we're next? Thank you, Officer Lincoln. Amazing work. Carry on."
Bogo signed off and glanced at the latest promotions and bonuses list on his desk, and moved Lincoln to the top of the ledger, added another $200 from his own manpower reserve bonus fund, and approved it instantly. Lincoln's wife had just had an unexpectedly big litter only 3 months ago, and knew the Officer could use the extra money for diapers.
But after that, Bogo put his horned head on the desk blotter, and moaned. He was mentally and emotionally exhausted already. It was barely past noon and he'd had one a helluva day. He'd been up all night waking judges and attorneys getting search warrants approved, made his statement to the press with all he dared say at this point, then had the totally unexpected verbal battle with the Council Chairman. The loud-mouthed hippo's unreasonable demands were more about politics than justice, including the impossible deal of immunity for his Detectives in exchange for what would be very public and very embarrassing testimony.
Not only that, he'd just gotten off the phone and had been 'ripped a new one' by the grand jury foreman with orders directly from the Zootopia Supreme Court to stonewall the Council's requests until a complete – and confidential - deposition about the conspiracy to the grand jury could be conducted. Bogo now was squarely between the proverbial 'fireplug and a feral canine' deciding which branch of government to infuriate more – the legislative or the judicial bodies of Zootopia.
To top it all off, this new crime threat was in full swing. Conspiratorial forces lurking in the City's shadows were trying to wipe out the Society that tried – and fortunately failed – to wipe out the Zootopian government. The Assembly Hall assassins' reward for failure was to be wiped out themselves by their own mammals.
Bogo wished he could return to the everyday, mundane activity of traffic citations, thefts and robberies, and helping wildcat kits get down from being stuck in trees.
"And I thought yesterday was the worst day of my life," he lamented to himself. It would be very hard for things to get worse.
But they did.
His secure phone rang. It was Doc Blevins. He took it immediately, "Sir, sorry to bother you, but we just had an incident involving one of our staff and the Assembly Hall detainees. It was just like the hospital incident only it was one of ours trying to do the killing. A ZPD nurse appears to be one of them.
Bogo's eyes upon hearing one of ZPD's own had committed a capital crime, and he hissed, "Who?"
Blevins sighed, "Corporal Vixen."
Bogo knew she was one of the more accomplished nurses on the staff and had years of patching up criminals injured from fights between inmates inside the prison or just from accidents. Reindeer had a natural penchant for care-giving. At least normal reindeer.
He blurted, "Unbelievable! She's one of the best first responder nurses we have."
The ZPD Med Center leader tried to assure his boss, "Yeah. I thought so too. We've secured the facility, and she seems to have acted alone. She's locked up in the isolation cell and on a suicide watch in case she's trained to end herself like the hospital killer if she failed. I suggest you secure the jail too."
"Thanks Doc. Good idea. I will. Keep me informed."
"Yes sir."
Nurse Vixen may have acted alone, but Bogo was learning the hard way that the agents of 'them' never acted alone. If they'd infiltrated his police medical staff, then 'they' were elsewhere in ZPD. And in other City departments.
…Arnold and Annie's apartment…
Arnold snorted and gasped awake, and could feel the lingering excruciating pain in his chest subsiding and felt his pulse again. He was surrounded by a half dozen cardiac trauma EMTs.
A female voice said monotonically, "His heart rate is stabilized, sir. The stomach pump and the heavy stimulants countered most of the poison."
Arnold distantly heard a family but very fearful and stressed voice that belonged to to Annie, "I need to see my husband."
The head EMT stated as the team stepped away a moment, "OK ma'am, but we have get him to Emergency as soon as we can."
She pushed her way past the EMTs, kissed her husband, cried, and clutched him, stating urgently, "Thank goodness! You're awake. You're alive!"
Arnold asked in a daze, "Uh. Yeah… What happened to me?"
Annie answered, "It seems that your tough old body is as resistant to whatever Donner did to you as you much as you resisted the bat sedatives."
Age jokes were a constant subject for teasing for the couple. Arnold was nearly a dozen years older than his wife. They fell for each other while being teammates on a company flag tuskball intramural team. Their coach scolded them for being too eager to tackle each other in a 'touch-only' sport and the relation bloomed from there.
Arnold couldn't grasp being attacked by one of his colleagues, "Donner… did something to me?"
Annie explained, "Yes. He came to visit you, and gave you some booze. Poison booze. It's on the shelf over there. It even smells and looks bad. Dear, why did you ever drink it?"
He lamented, "I was uh… thirsty, Annie. And mad. At everything."
It was too easy for the city employees to overhear their conversation. One of the EMTs motioned to another and she took the open bottle for analysis.
"Those are really bad reasons to drink bad booze, husband," she snapped.
"Why would he poison me?"
"To keep you from talking about what happened last night, I guess," she speculated.
The wolf couple didn't care that the EMTs were overhearing everything.
Arnold was incredulous about the situation, "Why would our friends want to do that to us? I would have never squealed."
Wolves in fact were physically unable to squeal. And wouldn't even if they could. It was a 'prey' thing.
"Until now," Arnold thought.
"Maybe the 'friends' you had only wanted to use you and throw you away after they got what they wanted." his wife chastised him.
He shook his head, "That can't be right. We don't believe in taking each other out. 'We had each other's backs' they promised. 'We all believe in ridding the world of mixed species' they said. Together. Then we'd take over."
Arnold looked away from Anne, who was shaking with shame and dejection. He felt totally betrayed and very angry. He considered Donner a friend, and Duke. Now he felt like their stooge. Getting rid of him and the others after 'the dirty deed' was done was totally planned. And Annie knew it too.
The she-wolf lectured him, "It appears that someone in your precious Species Purity Society wants to be rid of you guys doing the operation. I told you never to do anything like this. You're in way over your head, sweetheart. These are truly evil mammals. I never liked any of them. Especially that 'Duke' guy."
All of the EMTs were listening.
Arnold knew he was completely wrong, "I know. I'm sorry, honey. At least I… Wait! Holy shit! Donner said he was going to see how the other escapees were doing."
"To kill them too," she finished his sentence for him.
He was frantic, "They're my friends. My real friends."
"Do you want to save your friends?"
"Absolutely."
She encouraged him and motioned toward the EMTs, "You have to do something right now."
He hesitated, "But I'd have to tell the police that we were all involved last night."
Annie challenged her husband, "Do you want your friends to be free or to be dead? Besides, how do you know Donner - once he learns he didn't kill you – won't come back to get you, or send someone else to take care of the job?"
Arnold sighed, "You're right. I want to live to see my first kits."
He rubbed her belly gently with his paw, and her tears streamed, placing her paw over his, "Oh my dear sweet Arnold…"
With resolve, Arnold drew himself up and stated, "I need to talk to the police. Right now. They have to get Donner before he kills someone else. I have to talk to Nick and Judy Wilde."
That surprised Annie so she asked, "Really? Them? They are not gonna be happy to talk to you. Last night you tried to…"
Arnold interrupted her in front of the EMTs, "I only respect those two even if I despise what they believe in. They were totally outnumbered. They stopped us cold. That demands respect."
Respect in battle for worthy foes was drilled into him because he was former member of the Zootopia Defense Force.
The lead EMT delicately said, "Umm. I'm sorry to listen in here, but I can get in touch with Officers Nick and Judy for you ma'am and sir."
His badge said Alan.
"You know Nick and Judy Wilde?" Arnold asked with combined hope and worry.
Alan answered carefully, "We're… errr... colleagues here downtown."
He didn't elaborate that he was a lot more than just a colleague of Nick and Judy or that a lot of the criminals Nick and Judy arrested usually had to receive medical treatment from Alan and Ted first before going to jail.
Arnold, asked, "I want to tell them something. Only them. It's urgent."
Alan knew the subject but made no judgmental comment. He tapped his direct line to Judy and handed the nervous wolf the microphone.
…
In Bogo's office, Nick and Judy were chatting with their leader and the ZPD Chief Counsel about their requested statements to the City Council, but were getting nowhere.
She read the display on her comm piece and held up a paw, "Just a minute, gentlemen. It's Alan. He'd never call casually in mid day."
Bogo encouraged her, "Go ahead Officer."
She listened intently through her earphone only at Alan's request.
Nick waited anxiously as the unheard conversation with Alan went on for some time. At a certain point, she gave her partner 'that look' and he nodded. He had no idea what kind of call he was going on, but he trusted her judgment, especially if one of their best professional friends was on the other end asking for help.
After several minutes of just listening, she responded, "We'll be there in a few minutes, Alan. Seventh Avenue is right down the street."
She cut the transmission and explained, "Finally! A break in the case."
"What?" Bogo and Nick asked simultaneously.
"We're gong to go arrest one of the attempted killers from last night that escaped being arrested and is hiding out at home. The perp asked for us by name to turn himself in."
"Really?" Bogo raised a suspicious eyebrow.
Nick noted with equal skepticism, "How do we – and Alan - know it's not a trap?"
"Because another killer almost killed the suspect not 15 minutes ago. Poisoned. Sound familiar? This time it was in a bottle of liquor, according to Alan."
"Damn…" Bogo winced, and wondered how deep this web of deceit and destruction by the Species Purity Society and "them" could possibly go.
"The guy survived that stuff?" asked Nick in disbelief.
Judy further explained urgently, "Just barely. Alan's team is treating the escapee in his apartment and he's talking. Apparently there's a Society hit squad killing all their survivors who aren't in ZPD custody. The hit squad nearly killed this guy but his wife called for help instantly. This guy has a constitution like a stainless steel boiler according to his wife. The suspect thinks the assassin mammal is going to take out all six that fled last night. Alan is getting the names and addresses. We have to go now!"
Bogo was very firm, "No. You're not. I'm not letting you guys forfeit your lives tracking down each and every one of them when they were all hell-bent on killing you last night. I am not letting you go anywhere for as long as I say so without armed escort, Officers. Nick's right. This could be a trap. How do we know there isn't a sniper on the roof across from this guy's apartment just waiting for you to show up?"
Bogo was in complete 'conspiracy mode'. It was actually reassuring to them.
Judy was short with her boss, which was really easy since he towered over her, "Alan says he won't talk to anyone else but us, Chief. His pregnant wife convinced him to turn himself in. I'm sorry, sir, but we can't help being really visible to the public."
Bogo crossed his hooves over his massive chest and gave the lagomorphs an icy stare, "No. I forbid it. He'll have to surrender to someone else. The only place you're going in a squad car is back to the hotel. You're supposed to be protected witnesses. I am not going to let someone try to kill you again."
Nick bristled and pushed back, "Oh? You'd rather these jerks take a pot shot at one of our colleagues, Chief?"
Bogo got very defensive at the fox' accusation, but realized how bad that sounded, "I didn't say that."
Judy added, "We're wasting time arguing. More of them could be dead already with this guy on the loose and every second we delay. Besides, boss. We're a lot more likely to die of boredom or bad room service food a lot sooner than we might get killed on the street, sir."
The Chief knew Nick and Judy were right and observed their pleading stares, and he acquiesced, but drew out his extreme displeasure at Nick and Judy putting themselves at risk, "I don't like this. I don't like this… one… little… bit."
Judy was firm, "You don't have to like it, sir. It's a break, sir. We can round up this guy that got away, get the killers' killer, round up the other the escapees, and keep them alive. And maybe we'll get the Chairman off our backs, right? Besides. We all know who the assassins' assassins really are, don't we sir?"
The determined little rabbit was absolutely right, but with his snout completely screwed up in anger and frustration, Bogo sighed in resignation, "I know, I know. But this is all so wrong. I've never seen so much mammal-against-mammal violence in my whole life and you two young Officers don't deserve to be the focus of it."
"We can take one more step to end this violence," Nick added.
Bogo grimaced and an angry lowing sound formed in his throat.
Judy insisted, "But you're not going to say no, are you, sir?"
Bogo whined, "No. Get going. Before I change my mind."
Nick noted, "Thank you, sir."
The Chief grunted as only perturbed cape buffalo could be, and he gave them his typical nasty scowl, and muttered, "Good luck, you two."
"Same old Chief," Nick snickered as the fox and rabbit pair suppressed smiles rushing out of his office.
Bogo knew he'd been 'played' as only his star detectives could do it, and actually smirked without them seeing him as they left. He wished he had a hundred 'Nick and Judy's'.
…
Five minutes later, Judy double parked the ZPD SUV at the curb of the wolf's apartment complex and left the lights and engine going. She locked it or it might not be there when they left. This was a particularly nasty neighborhood.
The fox and rabbit ran to the open door and asked, "Where's the patient, Alan?"
Ted and Alan motioned them to the bedroom. They stood at the door.
Nick stated seriously, "Detectives Nick and Judy Wilde are here. I believe, sir, that you asked for us."
Arnold smiled nervously, "Thanks for coming here Officers. Yes I did. You have to stop… my 'friend'."
"Why?" asked Nick.
Arnold confessed, "Because we're both members of the Species Purity Society and we were both involved in attacking you last night. He's killing the others – like me - who escaped Assembly Hall last night without being arrested."
Upon this admission, the other three very hulking ZPD officers who were there – on Bogo's orders - more to protect Nick and Judy than to make arrests, drew their tasers on the wolf.
Judy advised, "You know sir, that you are under arrest yourself now."
Arnold admitted, "I know. My wife Annie and I decided it's for the best. As you guys put it 'to protect and serve'. I have friends to protect whether they want to be protected or not."
Annie nodded, "My husband Arnold won't hurt you. He nearly died because of his 'friend'. And he knows he was wrong now."
Judy nodded and understood, "That was just a precaution. Officers, put your weapons away, please."
Nick responded, "We'll get the guy, but we have to understand who we have to protect and where they live."
Arnold gave him a list and stated, "Here's who escaped last night and where they live. The guy who nearly got me could be at any one of their homes by now. We all live nearby. Please help my real friends. I… I'm sorry that we attacked you."
Judy tried to be as compassionate as possible with someone who truly was remorseful, "We forgive you Arnold, but what you did is a crime and the law will have to deal with your crime. Your admission and help will help. Believe me.
"And our testimony in support of you, too," Nick added with a reassuring smile, hoping to encourage Arnold's cooperation.
Judy said, "We'll be on our way, Mr. Arnold. We'll do our best to protect your friends, and get… umm…"
Arnold answered, "Donner. He's a reindeer."
Both fox and rabbit raised an eyebrow at that new fact, and turned to depart.
Nick instructed their friend, "He's all yours, Alan. Keep him alive."
"No problem, Nick. We have to stop meeting like this," he quipped.
The fox suggested, "Agreed. Friday night. You and Stephanie and we go out for a couple of brews. This protected witness thing is stupid."
Alan teased, "We'll see if Chief Bogo lets you out of that five star hotel."
"If not, then the party's in our suite. There's an extra bedroom."
Their burly EMT friend grinned, "I like the sound of that!"
"And I know Stephanie will too," he thought.
Nick and Judy left in a hurry to stop the hit squad killer.
On their way to one of Arnold's colleagues' homes with a couple fellow Officers, Judy commented, "Wow, fox. A full admission to a crime? And an apology for attacking us? That's never happened to us before."
Nick snickered, "I keep telling you, Carrots, No one can stay mad at a cute little bunny rabbit for long."
Judy rolled her eyes at her husband, pressed the accelerator on the ZPD SUV, and roared off to the nearest address with the SUV's lights and siren off to keep the surprise.
…
Back at the apartment, Alan said to Arnold, "And now sir, can we take you to a safe hospital just to make sure that stuff you drank doesn't have a lasting effect?"
Arnold agreed but asked, "Ok. I guess I don't have any choice do I?
Ted answered, "Well. No."
Arnold worried, "And then you're going to put me in jail, right?"
The officers who stayed behind said compassionately, having heard everything, "Yes sir, it's not up to us to let you go. The judge and jury have to do that."
Arnold sighed and took Annie's hand, "It'll be worth it."
"You've done the right thing, sir," Alan assured him.
…
Riding in the ambulance with his wife, Arnold admitted, "Nature forgive me. I tried to… to end them. Sure I can't stand what they believe. They don't deserve to die for it, and I don't deserve their forgiveness. I was wrong to be in such an extreme group. It warped my mind to reality, and now Im going to pay for it for a long time."
Annie tried to assuage her spouse's concerns, "Honey, we'll see. You're helping the police. They need mammals like you to end this nightmare."
It had indeed become a nightmare, more for the conspirators than for their intended targets.
Arnold noted, "Which is why mammals like Donner are killing us, so we don't 'help'."
Annie took his hand and gripped it strongly.
Arnold confided to Annie, "I really hope what I did there will save my friends, and get Donner. That bastard. I really hope that our friends will forgive me for 'narcing' on them."
His wife tried to comfort him, "If not now, they will later, especially when they find out why you did. You're doing them a favor - to save them from Donner and anyone else like Donner from eliminating them."
"I wonder. I hope we acted in time."
"Sure you did Arnold. At least you acted fast enough so that you're just going to jail instead of being dead. Now you won't miss your kits growing up. I couldn't raise a family without you, dear."
"Sure you would, Annie. This is going to really hurt the family. I can see them at their show and tell: 'My daddy was part of the biggest conspiracy in Zootopia history'."
Alan interjected, "For awhile maybe, Mr. Arnold. You're a good mammal who got mixed up in something very, very bad."
"You're Nick and Judy's friends aren't you?" Arnold realized.
"Yep. And we know they've forgiven you already. There's never been a more generous fox and rabbit."
…A Little Further Downtown Residential Area…
Donner knocked on Alfred's door, the coyote that was supposed to help block the banquet room doors, but got cold paws and quit. He was at the top of Duke's list to 'destroy at all costs' list for his cowardice. No one answered. The reindeer tried to stare into the window. No one was there at all. There was a mess of personal items strewn about inside the room. Donner clearly could tell Alfred hastily grabbed some things and went into deeper hiding. Duke explicitly told all the server/assassins able to go home if they were able to escape arrest. What Duke didn't tell them was that order was to make sure that they'd be easier to find by the exterminators when their time ran out.
As usual, this one didn't follow orders. Donner sighed, and vowed to gut him personally with his sharp rack rather than send him to eternity painlessly with the biogenetic poison. It would be worth watching. The other mammals assigned to block the doors died horribly by the throngs crushing them because Alfred's absence caused them more work. It would be worth it to see him writhe in pain like they did.
Donner turned away from the building, and looked down at the next name on his list. He shifted his hip pack of booze flasks.
When he looked up, he gasped. He was face-to-face with none other than Nick and Judy and two other very burly officers all with their tasers drawn at him.
Judy informed him grimly, "You're under arrest."
Donner looked for a chance to bolt by leaping over the fox and rabbit and somehow take them out in doing so.
The reindeer played it cool for a moment looking for that opening, "For what officers? I haven't done anything wrong. I'm just minding my own business. I live here. You got something against reindeer, Officers?"
Nick accused him, "Umm. I think not. But we know you don't live here. This is Alfred's place, Donner."
He flinched inwardly, but replied somewhat calmly, "What's your complaint against me?"
Judy was clear, with her taser still aimed right at him, "Attempted murder of Arnold. We have it from an eyewitness. You left something behind. I'll bet it has your paw prints, and it looks a lot like those."
He pointed to the three other pints whose bottle necks peeked out from under his carrying bag.
"Damn," he stammered.
In his haste, Donner hadn't taken the bottle with him, and somehow the shot of poisoned whiskey hadn't killed him. It was formulated for compatibility nearly every mammal metabolism. The seals had assured him of that.
In utter desperation, the reindeer tried to leap over them and was shot by four tasers. He dropped instantly in a cloud of blue lightning, an unearthly sizzling sound, and the smell of singed fur.
Nick and Judy gave each other a couple of very suppressed smiles, and would never admit they enjoyed dropping the felon, but they did. It felt like a little payback for 'the good guys'.
Nick communicated with Bogo on the secure line, "We just got the reindeer, sir, just outside the apartment of one of the other escapees. One brave mammal came through to protect his buddies from this killing squad mammal and not just his own butt."
"My respect for the Species Purity Society just went up," Bogo reflected.
Bradley gave his boss a nasty look, but then Bogo realized what the fox and rabbit had just reported, "Wait. What species did you say the killer was?"
"A reindeer sir," Nick responded.
Bogo pondered, "The Precinct 6 Deputy Chief. Corporal Vixen. The dead assassin in Zootopia General. Now this guy. Finally it makes sense. But only sort of. What's the connection for an unholy alliance between seals and reindeer?"
He quickly told Nick and Judy, "Now that you got him, I'm ordering you back here to make your arrest report and then go back to the hotel. Your little patrol is over."
"But what about rounding up the others?" Judy asked anxiously.
Bogo was precise, "You have two other good officers with you to do that."
Nick and Judy knew that this was not worth arguing about, "OK, Chief."
Their colleagues smiled and stated, "We can take it from here, Detectives."
Bogo concluded the short conversation, "Good job, Officers Wilde. Now I have a pressing call to make. See you back here soon."
"Yes sir," Nick confirmed.
On another secure channel, Bogo called the hospital detail, "Officer Lincoln?"
"Sir?"
"Still on duty?"
"Yes sir. Pulling a double shift sir, per Lockdown Zulu protocols."
Bogo offered a rare apology and requested, "Sorry about that Officer. Thank you for your service. Get hold of your details in the other hospitals. Have them go to the hospital security departments and look at the video footage at the same time you took down the reindeer. I need you to look for something."
"What are we looking for sir?"
"Other reindeer. Looking suspicious."
"A herd of reindeer as 'hit mammals', sir? Isn't that a little far-fetched?" Lincoln asked, and onlhy thought, "but they're prey."
Bogo was firm, "I can't make this up, Officer. It wasn't that long ago that sheep were the bad guys."
"Point taken, sir."
"Bogo out."
Sure enough, as each of the hospitals, Officers watched the surveillance cameras, an hour before the first poisoning, reindeer with matching shoulder bags were seen entering the hospitals with the arrested, injured server/assassins. ZPD had great images of their snouts and racks, which were as unique as hoof prints. That would be sufficient to search criminal record bases for criminal records. It was another break.
With the latest panic over, Bogo went on to the next crisis. He made another difficult decision, and punched the intercom, "Officer Clawhauser?"
The Dispatch Officer promptly responded to the call, "Yes sir?"
"I want to put an 'all points bulletin' out For Precinct 6 Deputy Chief Corporal Rudolph. I suspended him and demoted him, but I want him brought in now. No. Wait. I'm his boss. Dispatch a team quietly to find him, then tell me, and stake him out unseen. It's time for a quiet little an unmarked vehicle ready for me."
"Yes sir."
Bogo didn't want to make any presumption of guilt or his motives if Rudolph was confronted, but the cape buffalo made sure he holstered his high power personal taser, and took a second pair of large mammal cuffs.
Bogo muttered only to himself, "I'm sorry Rudolph. I really hope I'm wrong about you."
The Chief's hunches were usually never wrong. Especially the hunches about bad stuff.
…A old, run down business area…
Deep in inner city in his father's dilapidated, abandoned gym, Officer Rudolph sat and brooded in a broken chair that was his as a child watching. He listened to police scanners for any hint of progress. These public channel devices were the only form of communication now that he was suspended from ZPD, and things were pretty quiet. He suspected Bogo had directed everyone to use the guard channels since it was an emergency. Rudolph already been bitterly disappointed to get the texts on his personal phone that his colleagues had aborted termination procedures at two hospitals because of the not-yet-public news about the failure of Blitzen's attacks and his required suicide in ZPD General. He drained another drink of gin and tonic and his nose got a little redder. He would never admit to his drinking problem. At least Donner was on track with his rounds with the other lucky enough to escape the police but not the wrath of the reindeer death squad.
He looked at the empty gym, and saw in his mind the ghostly images of him and his friends in younger, simpler days when Donner and Blitzen and the other members of his gang of eight tiny reindeer played games together here in this very gym. Life was so simple until his dad died, and then his life became meaningless and despondent but for the daily routine of his police work while tried unsuccessfully to keep the gym going in an empty death bed promise to his dad. His heart wasn't in it.
But things never changed more than the day he met two visitors from out of town - Naaman and Nemo – who were turning laps in the once-thriving gym's swimming pool, now a stinking cesspool. Weeks later, after many clandestine meetings, when Nemo asked Rudolph, "Rudolph, won't you pull my sleight tonight?', life changed forever from his lifelong dream of 'just being a good cop'.
His mental image got much darker in a hurry. The memory returned of his first secret operation running over one of Nemo's enemies in Tundratown pulling a big red sleigh with his other reindeer friends. The sight of blood in the snow was still exciting and it made his heart race. The ZPD badge he wore got continuously heavier ever since that first secret illegal assassination for 'the Movement' in whose cause he so deeply believed. He wished his affinity for the booze hadn't come with that day.
Day after day since, he was training with all of his childhood friends in this closed down gym. They got more and more proficient at the highly clandestine ancient martial arts and high tech combat that the Movement favored against the establishment, fighting secretly against the rapidly spreading, vile, mixed species-equality societal beliefs of Zootopia, taking it all down from the inside.
… ZPD Headquarters…
No sooner had Bogo talked to the City Jail Superintendent to put extra guards on the server/assassins incarcerated there, to be on the watch for 'unusual visits' from lone ZPD Officers, along with increased security in the hospitals, he could see on the TV in front of him breaking false reports of death by allergic reactions to bat bites. He looked at his cell phone. Snoutbook was also wall to wall with hysterical posts about the bats poisoning the Assembly Hall attackers, accusing ZPD of atrocities to citizens which were as heinous as the attack itself. These conspiratorial mammals were good. They were high tech, expert killers and propaganda experts too. They manipulated mammals' deep rooted feelings. ZPD was actually more on the defensive now than they were last night. And not doing their investigative jobs to unravel this grime.
But ZPD was better. Fortunately, thanks to Officer Lincoln, the Zootopia General resident doctor, the Med Center ZPD guard, and a reluctant killer's near death and confession, they were several steps ahead of the game.
The PR head Sergeant Bradley barged into his boss' officer, and blurted, "Sir, did you see Snoutb…?"
He interrupted, "I sure did. Counter it, Sarge. Release the official report that a fake doctor killed an intern, then 'murdered the helpless hospitalized suspects, and then cowardly killed himself when he was cornered'. Take the moral high ground here, Bradley. And when we have the reindeer hit squad guy in behind bars, release that story too. Mammals have to know that it's not the bats. We are not going play into the Council Chairman's claims. The Species Purity Society hold-outs need to know it's their own mammals killing them. Not ZPD."
Bradley realized his boss just dictated the text of the post. The chief was much better at this sort of thing than he would ever admit.
"What else, sir?"
"I'm going to have Sheldon find their damn server and shut it down. We can play the social media game as well as they can and we can wage a little cyber warfare."
The PR weasel cautioned, "That's a pretty sensitive report, sir. And alarming. Do we know the guy killing suspects was from the Society?"
Bogo fumed and ignored his PR manager, "That wolf said that reindeer was one of their own, but frankly I don't care if he was from the freaking Fraternal Order of Police. Do you want the bad reports on Airborne One to get totally out of control? Half of them are dead because of their lifesaving sacrifices and they don't deserve any of this negativity. I don't want the Council pointing their paws in the wrong direction and demanding another instant answer that I can't deliver."
"Yes sir. But what about the Zootopia Surgeon General? Telling every mammal in the City that there was a killer running loose in General Hospital killing perps by poison injection and another roaming the streets tracking down others and poisoning them is not going to go over well."
Bogo snapped, "Let me deal with Dr. Suzanne. Besides, letting any remaining Species Purity Society members know that there is a 'death squad' inside their own organization that is hell bent to eradicate anyone still alive involved with the attack last night is going to make someone else besides Arnold who got away last night surrender and 'sing'."
Bradley liked his leader's confidence, "I hope so, sir. And dealing with Surgeon General Suzanne..." the weasel stuttered, thinking about how prickly she was, "Well, Chief… better you than me, sir."
Bogo rolled his eyes, "Thanks, Sergeant. It's my job to deal with difficult city officials. Don't be one of them. Now get on it."
"Yes sir," he whirled around and left the Chief's office.
Bogo sighed. For a precious moment it was quiet in his office. He hoped that he'd finally covered all possibilities and offered the incentives to keep the remaining suspects alive and safe for questioning and get their testimony. He was dealing with a very sophisticated foe that planned for every eventuality, but he was pretty smart too, and he was really riled up, he admitted only to himself.
Never had these kind of procedures been implemented so thoroughly across every aspect of ZPD. Bogo wondered if anyone in the entire city government organization could be trusted. The hospital had been infiltrated, and now a turncoat Med Center nurse had been discovered trying to kill incarcerated Species Purity Society members. Escapees were being hunted and killed one by one until now, but Bogo worried there were other hit cells. Bogo hated that he had to think with such paranoia about his Department and other City departments. He was increasingly haunted by the elderly fox and hare couple's advice that 'they' could be anywhere at any time. In point of fact, 'they' were everywhere, and he was just very lucky to be slightly ahead of them.
That secret knowledge from an elderly fox and hare who everyone thought were incinerated and survived three decades was the only thing keeping him ahead of 'them' to keep the surviving of server assassins alive so they could be interrogated and brought to justice.
Chief Bogo took a sip on his stone cold coffee, and couldn't even remember what day it was when it was poured. He grimaced and drained it. Caffeine was caffeine.
His comm unit buzzed. Bogo keyed it and asked, "What is it Officer?"
The leader of the detail sent to find the suspended Precinct 6 leader said grimly, "Corporal Marion here sir. Sergeant Rudolph is not at his home."
"Keep searching."
"Yes sir."
Behind him, his desk phone rang. It was the Council Chairman, which he let it roll over to voicemail. At the same time a text popped up on his personal cell phone from the Mayor: "Hope you're hanging in there, friend. I see all the new stuff. They're killing each other. Maybe we should just let them."
The Chief chuckled with the truth of that, and read the last line of the message, "Tell me what I need to do to keep the assholes out of your mane."
That conjured an image that was simply disgusting but he laughed anyway. Leodore had made him laugh since high school.
"Help getting the truth out, and keep the Council off my back."
"Easier said than done, but you got it."
He thought, with some comfort, "Thank goodness for top cover from the boss."
But the feeling didn't last long. Sheldon ran up to his office door, and knocked urgently. He was panting.
Sheldon nearly shouted, "Sir! I have some vital data whose importance outweighs all other considerations!"
Only Sheldon would take 12 big words to explain something that anyone else could do with three. With a pained look, the Chief dismissed the IT wizard, "I'm sorry. Not now, Sheldon. Can't you see I'm busy? All hell is breaking loose again. Now these killers are killing each other. Later, please, Sheldon."
He didn't think Sheldon had a breakthrough despite his claims. He'd been working on the machine language translation for days now fruitlessly. Bogo turned away from his IT genius, and shut his office door in his face. Sheldon was a shy mammal and would not press his imposing boss, especially with him this upset and overburdened. Sheldon was really disappointed, and turned around, dejected.
He turned the corner from Bogo's office and heading back to his cubby hole, Sheldon nearly ran right into Nick and Judy who were returning from their arrest of Donner.
Sheldon sighed, "Hey guys."
"Whassup, Sheldon?" Nick asked cheerfully.
Sheldon complained, "I was trying to see the Chief but something big has his attention."
Nick and Judy were amazed Sheldon was totally unaware of all the incidents this morning.
Judy tried to be helpful and sympathetic, "What is it? You can tell us. We'll help you tell the Chief later."
Sheldon stood proudly and stated, "I solved the binary 'base e' code."
"What?" Nick exclaimed.
Sheldon answered, "There's a message buried in the code. A call for help."
"A message?" Judy asked, perplexed but curious.
"Read the translation," Sheldon urged.
Judy enunciated the words from Xobar carefully:
"The answer to everything is in Atlantea."
Both fox and rabbit shuddered.
Nick responded, "This is exactly what Joe Camel told us with his dying breath."
Judy saw the symbol on the reconstructed purchase orders, and suddenly the stylized 'A' necklace/key around her neck felt like it was going to burn through the fur on her chest. The logo on the purchase order and the necklace pendant Joe gave them matched perfectly.
Nick gave Judy a very concerned look of disapproval.
Judy sensed the unsaid disagreement and informed their colleague, "Uh… Sheldon. I think Nick and I need to talk to each other on this before we all go see the Chief."
Oblivious to subtlety, Sheldon asked, "Why? This is really important. We have to let the Chief know right away."
Judy was a little more direct, "Because Nick and I have to know what we want to say before we tell the Chief."
Nick responded sternly and crossed his paws over his chest, "What's to say, partner? We're not going to Atlantea anymore, so there's nothing to talk to the Chief about."
Judy met his gaze with her own insistent expression, "Yes. We are, Nick."
Both the fox and rabbit narrowed their gaze at each other in a rare moment of anger between them.
Sheldon could see the argument brewing, was smart enough in his budding relationship with his girlfriend to know when to stop pressing, and suggested, "Uhhh… I think I'll come back later."
"Good idea, Sheldon," Judy seethed while she glared at Nick, "See you tomorrow."
Nick and Judy took the armed escort to their 'safe house' hotel. They rode silently and sat apart in the vehicle. It was truly awkward and tense.
Halfway back to the hotel, Nick attempted to broach the subject, "Judy. Uhh…"
Judy snapped, "Not now, Nick. Not here."
"OK," he answered.
Nick fiddled with his cell phone while Judy just stared seriously out the SUV window. The fox was frustrated to see all the reports about the bats possibly causing hospital deaths of the suspected assassins. Buried deeply in one post was a breaking story about a fake doctor suspected of causing the deaths stopped by ZPD and another about a killer trying to kill suspects in their homes and an appeal to seek help and protection. ZPD was starting to fight back, and he smiled weakly.
…Deep Sea Laboratory, Atlantea…
Naaman was watching with satisfaction the results of his recently-posted fabricated message about suspects dying in area hospitals after being bitten by the police bats, after having reassured himself that the server he was using was untraceable. The post, filled with half-truths, was going viral nicely and citizens on social media were panicking and demanding investigation of Airborne One and Bogo's secret tactics.
This paranoia was being amplified with real reports of a eyewitnesses to a couple of bat-bitten suspect deaths in one of the hospitals. Mammals in general hated bats. Especially vampire bats. Aided by his post and more to come, the idiotic media would blame ZPD for the deaths of the bad guys, especially by a secret police unit. It had all the attributes of a government conspiracy.
The pinniped smiled evilly. He knew that the most important thing was that in a short time, the surviving members of Species Purity Society – those that hadn't been drowned in the detonation of the underground sub berth - in the three hospitals and the city jail would be eliminated, so that no trace of the conspiracy would remain. The third wave of purges at survivors' homes was about to start that would all but eliminate the Species Purity Society and drive anyone left into silence and fear. No survivor would admit to being part of the conspiracy and the poisoned booze would look like heart attacks.
"It's all so brilliant," he smiled as he thought about his own cleverness, and knew it was working where Joe Camel's plan didn't, even with Duke's expert help. He was sorry to have lost a friend.
The actions of Naaman and his undercover mammals had Zootopia authorities confused, back on their fetlocks, and at each other's throats with all the finger pointing. No one would discover that Nemo's organization was at the heart of this.
Naaman knew that Nemo would be very pleased, and hoped he'd get a night with one of Nemo's dozen wives as a 'thank you'. He liked Helen especially, who secretly had a 'thing' for him too, despite the hypocrisy of being different species. Elephant seal females were more desirable in bed than his own species. He knew that personally.
He got up to give the latest encouraging report to the boss, but failed to see the first reports of ZPD stopping an impostor doctor committing murders of Assembly Hall suspects in Zootopia General Hospital, his capture, and suicide and an even newer report of a Society death squad mammal going after suspects in their own homes. The earlier report that the bats were responsible for the deaths was being repudiated quickly. In his haste to report the supposed success, Naaman also failed to see the texts from the two server assassins reporting to Donner they had to abort their hospital extermination missions, and other early indication that a roaming killer was stopped before he could kill other Society members in their homes.
It was too bad for overconfident Naaman, because Nemo was reading those latest articles at that very instant and watching ZTV break the story and had received the texts also. Naaman lost a tooth in Nemo's haymaker to his snout as he entered his huge lab office.
…Dusk. Zootopia's river…
The Zootopia River Police were making their normal rounds on the river on a 25 foot ZPD runabout. Despite the huge metropolis adjacent to the river, it was very clean because of the city's extremely advanced pollution control. The City Sanitation Department was so proud of their clean water efforts, they could drink it. But today, there was debris in the water. They put the runabout's powerful spotlight on something suspicious in the water.
The River Police boat Captain asked, "What's all this? It's like someone dumped a garbage scow."
A wooden blackboard bobbed in the water.
He ordered his Duty Officer, "Pick that up, but don't touch what's on it."
There was a collection of wood, and insulation, and sealed metal vessels bobbing with other debris.
"Oh my gosh!" exclaimed the boatswain, "Sir! Look!"
There was a mammal body, and part of another. In fact, there were a lot of mammal body pieces bobbing around them, and a trail of damage leading back toward the river wharf.
"Holy crap," the Captain shouted.
"Bo'sun, call the Chief. This isn't right at all."
"Aye, aye, sir."
