A current of cool air flowed through the Chief of the ZPD's office. Its source, a small, electric fan set upon the desk beside the large cape buffalo. A small smile grew on the buffalo's face as he scratched marks onto the blueprints he was examining with a red pencil, marking out the main entrance and exit points to the building and deciding how best the raid might proceed.

His gaze traced along the map of the Erkin Enterprise building, and then his radio beeper buzzed beside him.

He reached out a hoof automatically and pressed the respond button. "Yes?"

"Chief," he heard Clawhauser say, "it's Wilde on the line."

"Well tell him to get down from there, damn it."

"Erm... no, sir. I mean on the radio."

"Oh." Bogo was silent for an instant, then, "well, put him through then."

"Right, sir."

There was a click as the line was changed.

"Chief," Wilde greeted.

"Officer Wilde," Bogo responded, "how goes business? I trust Officer Hopps is with you?"

"Actually, sir," Nick said, scratching his neck, "she had to visit the ladies room."

"Very well. You call in to report you have Nyilas, I assume?"

"Well, not exactly sir, no."

"...pardon?"

"In actual fact, sir, we, actually, sort of, lost him, sir, actually."

"Say, that, again."

"What I said was, sir, we... we lost him."

A single second passed. A second which, in the mind of the fox, lasted as long
and slow as the changing of the season. After an eternity of listening to nothing but the sound of his own rapidly beating heart, Bogo's voice broke the silence.

"...I see."

A shiver ran down the fox's back and all the way to the tip of his tail. Bogo was never this calm; only when he was very, very angry.

"I'm sorry, sir," Nick said suddenly, "it wasn't our fault. Nyilas managed to set the fire alarm off, he grabbed an extinguisher, and-

"I'm sure it wasn't your fault, Wilde," the chief said, calmly, "it was my fault for believing you and officer Hopps could handle it. I'm-"

"Hey," Nick cut in, his voice sharp as a razor, "now you can not bring Judy into this. She works harder and longer then any other officer in the ZPD and you know it. Punish me for this by all means, but don't even think of-"

"Only someone very brave, of very stupid, stands up to their Chief like that. Fortunately for you, Wilde, I know exactly which of the two you are."

"Sir," Nick said, "I-"

"Know that there is nothing directly personal in this, Wilde, but if you and Hopps are unable to detain a goat in his seventies then this throws serious doubt upon the wisdom of promoting the two of you to Detective Inspector."

"Chief-"

"And while I do appreciate the faith you have in Officer Hopps and admire, somewhat, how readily you stand up to her at a moments notice - even against your own boss - you must remember that her safety and yours are my chief concern."

The fox sighed. He may not have liked it, but it was true.

"Call me mean if you must, but it is imperative I do not overestimate yours or Hopps' abilities. And I cannot have detective's who fail to apprehend elderly don's. The two of you are supremely capable, yes, but you do not have the experience to go with it."

The fox opened his mouth; Bogo talked through him.

"Whatever the excuse may be, I am legally obliged to reconsider. Do you understand the position I am in?"

"I guess."

"Do you understand!"

"Yes, sir."

"Good." Bogo paused for a moment, sitting slowly back in his desk. "Now, Wilde, answer me honestly: are you and Officer Hopps capable of getting me this warrant?"

"Of course, sir."

"But are you also capable of doing so without being putting yourselves at an unnecessary amount of risk? With assurance you will show restraint and the ability to control a difficult and dangerous situation?"

"Sir," Nick said, bringing all the self-assurance into his voice as he was able, "you can count on us."

"Alright, fox," Bogo shot, "but listen. I am putting a tremendous amount of trust in your and your partners abilities here. You must get us this warrant legislated tonight and within the appointed time else word that we are onto them may somehow reach gangs ears. They will relocate, and there will be even more crime on our streets. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. There have been enough drug-related deaths in the past few weeks without adding more to the list." Bogo grunted, grimly. "If only I had spotted the signs sooner, moved in and quell this before it began. All the same, if you and Hopps are unable to see this through, well... it'll be more then just your promotions that'll be brought into question."

The fox forced down a gulp. "Understood, sir."

"So you failed to arrest Nyilas. I hope to hear you found something from your investigation at Registry House wasn't all wasted?"

"Not at all, sir," he said, "in fact, we had some quite interesting results."

"Enough to have the warrant put through?"

"Oh, err, not quite, sir."

"Then what have you found," Bogo roared.

"The management," Nick said, hurriedly, "the management of the company's changed but it's still down as being owned by the same mammal. Pretty suspect, huh?"

"...that's it?"

"Well, sir, I-"

"You honestly think a minor administrative error like that is going to convince a judge to sanction a search warrant?

"But-"

"No, Wilde! Follow your original orders as planned. You have three and a half hours, and counting."

"Sir," Nick said, "I have some ideas in how we might-"

"I don't want ideas, Wilde, I want results. We - you - are rapidly running out of time in this matter and I need to know, without a shadow of a doubt that, that you will be able to get me this warrant in to me on time. Am I clear?"

"I-"

"Good!"

The line went dead. The fox stared down at the lifeless radio in his hand. He sighed, and pulled himself to his feet. He gazed about at the empty lecture hall he was in - the students and teachers still fussing over the report of a fire - before slowly pacing his way towards the door. He pulled it open a notch, whistling softly to the rabbit waiting patently outside, sat on the bench like a misbehaving schoolgirl about to receive a telling-off, with her ears slack and her head drooped; her legs swinging slowly back and forth on the high chair.

As he whistled, one of the rabbit's ears pricked up and Judy turned to him and smiled sadly, but fondly, as she stood and walked over towards him.

"How did he take it?" she asked softly as she came in.

"As well as could be expected," the fox replied, flopping back down on the office chair and smiling at her easily. A beat past, and then Nick's set smile twitched, for a moment, info a frown. "Not to bore you with details," he added, his voice cracking just a little, "but, suffice it to say, that promotion might be out the window by this point." His forced smile broke as his gaze fell to the floor and he raised a paw to rub his eyes.

The rabbit took the fox's paws in her's, waiting until his gaze rose to meet hers again. "Thank you," she said, "for making that call for me."

The fox looked on falteringly for a few moments, but then a smile, a true smile this time, broke upon his face. "It's alright, Hopps. Anything for you. You know that."

"Yeah," she grinned, "I know."

Her main desire in that moment was to crawl up into the fox's lap and simply stay there for as long as she could, but she knew she had a job to do. Not only that, but they had to get back into Bogo's good books. She shuddered visibly. If our promotions are already on the line, what's gonna happen if we mess Bogo's warrant up? If we're the reason for the raid falling apart? The reason for-

The fox squeezed her paws, reassuringly. "I'm here, Fluff," he said, earnestly, "we'll make it through this, whatever happens."

Her gaze returned to his as she took in his warm expression and she breathed the sweet scent which filled her nose. A different desire made itself known to her. Damn Heat, she muttered internally. With a tremendous display of emotional strength, she managed to hold down the desire - telling herself they could sort everything out in a few short hours after the raid - and spoke to the fox, formally.

"So, what are our orders?"

"Well," Nick said, "turns out a, so-called, 'minor administrative error' isn't nearly enough to get the judge to ordain a warrant. Perhaps if we had more time-"

"There's no point in thinking of the might've beens, Nick. Let's just focus on the here and now."

Nick nodded. "We're to follow our original orders as planned. Find a way to infiltrate the warehouse without being seen, find incriminating evidence, photograph or record it, and get it back to HQ."

"So was the trip to Reg' all a waste of time?"

"I've been thinking about that one, Hopps. It might be a bit of a longsot, but it might just work."

"Well, what is it?"

"I'll explain on the drive over. Bogo want's us back by four and it's half past ten now. That only gives us three hours to work with - if you count the time it's gonna take to get us there and to the ZPD HQ - so we'd best get a move on."

"Okay," Hopps said, starting to make her way from the lecture hall with the fox following behind, "I'll drive again, and you run me through your plans."

"Follow me, Hopps," Nick said, "I'm right behind you."


Side note: in the previous chapter there were seven flights of seven steps, five flights of eleven, three flights of thirteen and two flights of seventeen. Arrange these into numerical order and you're left with: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13 and 17. In other words, a list of the first seven prime numbers.

Oh, by the way, happy Friday the Thirteenth everybody.