Chapter 38: She Died Before Her Time

"Time line?! This is no time to argue about time! We don't have the time!" - A drunken Commander Deanna Troi in Star Trek: First Contact.

Lisa and Jack dig up Judy's grave, but things take a turn to the worse for the two agents.

Present Day

It has been scientifically proven that that a wolf can smell something long before he or she sees it and that a rabbit, or a hare like Jack Savage, can hear someone before seeing him. However, Agent Lisa Longears was a fox and one of nature's almost perfect hunters. So, both her nose and ears warned her about the two other agents that were trying to sneak up on them from upwind.

"Agent…" Jessie began to say, the grey fox had also detected their stealthy approach and was turning his head towards the intruders. "Mumff!" he groaned as the vixen grabbed his shirt and locked her muzzle onto his in an apparent passionate kiss. His eyes widened in surprise and then he realized that she was not looking at him, but behind him.

Breaking their kiss, the small vixen leaned against his chest as if she was snuggling him, while her tail wagged behind her. He forced his tail to also wag, which was easy because he truly was content with her attentions. "Sorry, but we've got company and I wanted to watch them without their knowing I was looking. When we break our embrace, I want you to wave and say goodbye…"

"I can't…" he began, but hesitated when he realized where she was going with her request. There was more than a grain of truth in the old stereotype that foxes were sly and sneaky, that was what made them such dangerous hunters or gamblers.

"Go down the street until you are past the old warehouse," she continued to whisper as she pressed her face against his chest. "I need you to make us foxes proud by then prowling through the tall grass, without being seen, until you reach my motorcycle."

"Sure," he huskily answered.

"The guy who is hiding by the switch has a rifle, can you line up the motorcycle so that the sidecar is pointing at him? Don't let him see you!"

"Why?"

"Hush!" she whispered. "When I scream, push the red button, not the black, but the red." She looked up into his eyes and he realized that she was both scared and desperate.

"Okay, push the red button when you scream," he answered. She leaned up and gave him another kiss.

The two agents, who were hiding along the tracks, watched as the foxes parted ways and that the grey fox seemed to have waved goodbye as he walked one direction and the vixen another. "One less target to worry about," the woodchuck the black suit whispered to his taller partner. The zebra just grinned as he kept his rifle trained at the kit fox, who appeared unaware of their presence as she walked over to the huge backhoe.

It took Lisa several minutes before she could get the machine started and then she climbed into the tractor's cabin and began driving it down the street towards the field. The tractor made both a loud rumbling noise from its engine and metallic clanking noises from the metal treads rolling along the asphalt. The vehicle slowly creeped its way over to where the hare was sitting and after she arrived, the fox jumped out and removed her satchel out of the way before climbing back up into the tractor's cabin. After a few attempts, she finally brought the large scoop down into the dark rich soil and began to dig.

Both of the other agents hiding down by the railroad were watching the vixen and the hare, so neither noticed that the grey fox had backtracked and was now slowly stalking through the weeds and tall grasses until he reached the motorcycle. Carefully, Jessie nudged the machine so that the sidecar was pointing at where the zebra was hiding. Then he slipped back into the tall grass to hide once again.

After a few minutes, the vixen cut off the engine and jumped out of the cab to peer down into the hole she had created. "It looks like we're going to have to use a shovel from this point on," Lisa grumbled as she stripped off her black jacket and dug around in the back of the tractor for the right sized shovel. Then she picked her bag up and unzipped it, leaving it sitting on the large tractor's tread. Looking over at the jackrabbit, she grinned as she added, "Too bad your arm is busted, because I understand your species just loves to dig holes."

"Ha…ha!" Jack softly groaned as he looked down into the grave and then briefly from the corner of his eye, he looked towards the train tracks. "Just get to work and let's see if Wilde hid the watch inside."

The vixen with the shovel dropped into the hole and out of the view of the other agents, then she looked up at Jack and whispered very softly, "There are two guys watching us on the tracks. Jessie should be by the cycle awaiting my signal."

The hare didn't bat an eye, but suddenly yelled, "Can't you dig faster!" He adjusted his sling slightly and gave her what appeared to be a knowing wink.

After several shoves full of dirt and gravel, there was a soft thump, "Ah! I think I hit…" Lisa began to call back to the Jack, but then there was a cracking of rotted wood and she fell into the dirt and bones. "Oh yuck!" she exclaimed as she finally stood up and tried to brush off the dirt stains from her once white blouse.

"Well finish digging around," a voice answered and she looked up to see Jack standing there with this paws in the air and a woodchuck in a black suit was holding a gun at him. "But, first you are going to slowly toss your gun up here or Savage gets it!"

Lisa looked over at Jack who nodded and she drew and tossed her gun onto the dirt by their captor's paws. "Good," he chuckled. "I understand you foxes like to dig, so get at it." She nodded and picked up the shovel and went back to work digging up around the broken coffin.

"What's all this about Woodstock?" Jack asked the woodchuck. "Why are you here? This is my department's investigation not the Homeland Defense Bureau's."

"Aw come on Savage, we know all about the watch and how it can do time travel," the agent chuckled. "Our team wants it."

"So your department has gone rogue?" the hare snapped back. "The Director will have your hides when this gets out and it'll start an inter-agency war."

"Who says it'll get out?" Agent Woodstock laughed and then he glanced down at the vixen. "Pull those boards up carefully and don't try anything. I've got back up watching and you'll be dead before you can swing that shovel, so be smart."

The vixen nodded and seemingly trembled as she pulled back the boards and tossed them aside to reveal the bones of a long dead rabbit, scraps of rotten cloth and some tufts of fur. "Where the hell is the watch?" the woodchuck snarled as he leaned over to look into the hole. "There's nothing down there but bones!"

He swung his pistol towards Lisa, who raised her arms and cried out, "ADOLF!"

"Who's Adolf?" Agent Woodstock asked in confusion and then he saw something leap from the tractor tread. As he looked up, the six legged robot firmly grabbed the agent's muzzle and drove two of its venom filled needles into the woodchuck surprised face. The falling agent's gun fired and the bullet just missed the vixen as she grabbed the hare's feet and yanked him into the grave with her. He fell into the bones just as she gave out a blood curdling yowl.

At the sound of the vixen's cry, Jessie leaped from his hiding place and lunged towards the motorcycle. The fox saw that the zebra in the black suit had momentarily stood up and was looking at what was happening at the graveside in confusion. Then the agent noticed the fox and quickly lifted his gun as he turned, but Jessie slammed his paw onto the red button before the agent could fire.

BURRRRAAAPPP!

The machine gun inside of the sidecar rattled, sending round after deadly round slamming into the agent and throwing the now bloody zebra's body back onto the railroad tracks below. Jessie had jumped away from the motorcycle in surprise when the gun fired and stared with wide eyes at the smoke, which smell a tad like fireworks, that was coming out of the front of the sidecar. "Damn!" he exclaimed.

"Good shooting!" the vixen called out to him as she crawled out of the grave and picked up the shovel. "Now come over here and help me get Agent Savage out of this hole!"

Jack leaned over and dug around with his good paw, shoving the dirt and bones around as he searched. "Nothing!" he huffed out in anger. "Just nothing!" Standing up he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and made a phone call. "Armageddon!" was all he said before he hung up and tossed his phone into the grave. "Toss your phone into the grave too!" he commanded. "And then get me out of this hole!"

"What's going on?" Lisa asked as she tossed her phone into the grave. She gave a small smile as ADOLF climbed onto her shoulder and Jack could have sworn that the little robot was protectively looking around with its one beady red dot of an eye as if it was expecting more danger.

"The Agency is going to war with itself," the hare softly answered as she pulled on his paw, helping him climb out of the dirty hole.

Jessie finally made it to the grave site and he looked down at the woodchuck, who was now lying on the ground giving an unblinking startled looking stare up at the sky above. "Is he dead?" the fox asked.

"Not yet," he's just paralyzed," the vixen replied as she picked up the shovel and returned to where the agent was sprawled. "Threaten to shoot me!" she snarled as she waved the shovel menacingly over the woodchuck.

"Agent Longears!" Jack exclaimed. "Just what do you think you're doing?"

"Oh, I was just contemplating about one of the many ways I could use this shovel to make sure that our friend here doesn't get away when the toxins wear off," she sweetly answered. Then she saw the disapproving look the hare was giving her and tossed the shovel down. "Fine, have it your way."

Jessie was leaning over as he pulled something out of the dirt, it was a little black plastic box. "Hey, is this what you are looking for?" he called out as he held it towards the hare. "It must have been buried on top of the grave."

Jack hesitated as his ears shot up straight and then he suddenly looked skyward, "Take the box and let's get to the motorcycle…NOW!"

Lisa glanced up at what he was looking at and saw that a large military blimp was churning its way towards them. "They have a war blimp?" she growled as she and the grey fox tried to drag the heavy woodchuck with them across the field.

"Leave him behind or we won't make it out of here. Just get the motorcycle going and drive like hell!" Jack yelled as he unceremoniously fell into the sidecar. "DO IT!"

The vixen kickstarted the motorcycle and they roared away at full throttle down the street away from the cemetery. "What about the other guy?" Jessie cried out as he held onto Lisa with all his strength. "We left him still out there!"

There was a series of loud booms and Jack winced as he looked back at the fiery explosions behind them. "It's too late for him, he was going to kill us anyways!" the hare called back. "They zoomed in on our Agency issued phones and have just blown the whole damn place to bits."

"We're not going to be able to lose them!" Lisa howled out as she drove down a side street at breakneck speed. "They have to be tracking us."

There was a roar overhead as four missiles streaked by and slammed into the large armored airship, flames poured out of the behemoth craft as it began slowly burning and losing height. Lisa stopped and looked back as the fiery ball crashed into the river. "What just happened?" she asked.

"The Homeland Defense Bureau may have control of the blimp, but our department controls the drones," Jack answered. He had adjusted himself into the seat and was scanning the sky. "Find someplace to hide out and then let's see what's in this box."

As Lisa drove them down the trash and rubble strewed Main Street, she heard Jessie tell her, "The old hotel, the Buckhorne Inn, is a meeting place for the Snapper's Gang and a safe place." The vixen nodded as she pulled off the street and down a dingy alleyway. "Park inside of here," the tod added as he pointed to a ramp that led under the building.

Once parked, the vixen dismounted and drew her pistol as she searched around for danger inside the seemingly empty building, all traces of the once glamorous hotel were long gone and only the peeling wallpaper and stained rotting carpets were the last vestiges of long ago grander time. Jessie had stayed outside to assist Jack out of the sidecar and finally the senior agent and the male fox followed her inside. "Come on," Jessie called back as he quickly walked down a hallway, past some fallen wood and into a room. "In here, it's safe!"

Jack held the black plastic box with his one good paw as he followed Lisa, who was cautiously following the tod while looking and sniffing for danger. They entered the room and were surprised to find a cheery looking well lit interior with antique mahogany chairs and a long table. "It's Catpone's old safe room," Jessie said with a grin. "Walls of solid concrete and a steel door which only opens from the inside, we added a more modern electrical generator a few years back."

"So you belong to a street gang?" Lisa inquired as she holstered her pistol. "I've heard of the Snappers, they fought Catpone and even the city police." ADOLF stayed perched vigilantly on her shoulder.

"It's more of a social club nowadays," the tod shrugged. "Even Wolford is a member and he was once a cop too, every candid in Happy Town is born a member."

"So where is Catpone's real vault?" the vixen asked as she looked around with curiosity at the old antiques. "I remember my mother talking about they had a television special before I was born when they thought that they had found it under the old Pawsington Hotel in Zootopia. You know they had that special with that talk show host…what was his name? Geraldo…something?"

"Yeah everyone around here still laughs about that fiasco, how they did all that hype and then the hidden room turned out to be empty, except for an old bottle or two!" Jessie snickered. "There is no secret vault around here, at least not one which anyone in Happy Town knows about."

Jack sat down on a lush purple and brown fabric chair and set the sealed black plastic box onto the rich dark brown mahogany table. He looked it over and it was glued closed. After fumbling around in his pocket, he withdrew a pocket knife and then looked at the box again before he let out an agitated sigh. "Agent Longears, come over here and let's cut this box open!" he called out to the vixen. "Hopefully, this is what we came for."

"What did you really come for?" a voice asked from the doorway. Lisa turned and quickly drew her pistol, only to see a wolf in blue police fatigues standing there with his arms crossed over his chest.

"What the hell have you gotten us into Savage?" the hulking rhino in police riot gear, who was standing behind the wolf, added as he stared down at the agent. "There's a war going on out there."

"Uh-oh, I think we're in trouble now!" the vixen mumbled as she lowered her gun. She was embarrassed that the intruders had snuck up upon them.

Jack leaving Agent Woodstock behind was a practical decision. He knew that there was no way they could save the rogue agent and still survive what was going to happen.

Okay, I have to poke fun at TV personality Geraldo Rivera and his infamous live prime time special called The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults, which aired back in 1986. An estimated audience of 30 million people, including this old goat, watched the overly hyped up two hour special as they dug into what they claimed was a secret vault in the Lexington Hotel. Capone had used the Chicago hotel as a base for his criminal enterprises from 1928 until his arrest in 1931. The room the crew discovered was empty, except for a few old bottles.