Disclaimer: Zootopia stories, characters, settings, and properties belong to the Walt Disney Co. This story is written under Fair Use Copyright laws.

The Fire Triangle—A Zootopia Fanfiction

Part One:

Fuel

Chapter 10 –When A Fox Goes Rabbit
(Continued…Pt. 4)

Judy Hopps cracked open the door to Chief Bogo's office—and immediately squelched a groan. What was that she'd said to Erin on the phone a few minutes ago…something about a meeting between her, Nick, and the Chief?

Ehhh, wrong!

"Sweet cheez n' crackers, it's packed like a clown car in here," Judy marveled as Nick followed her through the door. Right away she saw Rudy Gamsbart, Attorney General Sayarov and George Schatten, (the latter banished to a chair at the back of the room.) Also in attendance was Jorge Reyes, the jaguar who'd brought Conor down to the precinct lobby, leaning against a wall with his arms crossed. Bob Sparks, the donkey who'd been on the reception desk the previous evening, was here as well …fidgeting constantly and looking at his watch. Claire Swinton was also present—no surprise there, since she'd been the one who'd uncovered Conor's escape—and Albert Tufts was once again perched on a makeshift seat atop Chief Bogo's desk.

There was exactly one unoccupied chair left in the office but, fortunately for Nick and Judy, it was large-mammal size—big enough to share. Otherwise, one of them would likely have been left standing.

"Probably me," Judy thought to herself, a sardonic smile etching its way across her features. (Casual chivalry had never been a certain red fox's long suit.)

Several nods greeted them as they entered, with maybe a grunt or two thrown in. And then Chief Bogo picked up from where he'd left off when the door opened.

"I simply can't believe this," he said, pressing his half-moon glasses against his face; scrutinizing the document in his hooves as though the writing was barely legible, "If I didn't know better, I'd swear this was the genuine article. Look at the details, every date and time stamp is right on the mark. Even the seal for the Clerk of the Zootopia Supreme Court is correct; how the devil did the Phantom DO it?"

"Even for him it was a fairly involved process," Albert Tufts chittered, pointing at the papers, "He went to a lot of trouble to create that forgery."

The head of the ZPD Cybercrimes Unit looked particularly haggard this morning—but also equally determined; Conor Lewis and his mentor might have won this round, but they weren't going to win the match, not if he had anything to say about it.

"First," the Kaibab squirrel explained, "the Phantom registered a fake website, an exact duplicate of the Zootopia Supreme Court web-page, but with a slightly different web address."

"You can DO that?" Judy Hopps asked, incredulous. Tufts responded to her question with a look that had 'dumb bunny' written all over it.

"It's actually a pretty common web-scam," he said, "There's even a name for it, typosquatting. Anyway, in the next step, the Phantom used his duplicate website to forward that bogus document the chief is holding to the city jail office. I think you all know what happened next."

Bogo slapped the paper down on his desk, "I still can't credit it," he grumbled, to no one in particular. If Lieutenant Tufts looked drawn this morning, the Chief looked positively bedraggled, (but then he knew something the others didn't; Conor Lewis's escape from custody might be the least of their worries right now.)

"It's been done before, actually," Claire Swinton put in, raising a pair of fingers, "at least twice that I know of; I heard about it from my Lieutenant, back when I was working corrections, First one happened over in the UK. A bank hustler named Neil Moose somehow managed to get his hooves on a smartphone while he was behind bars. And then using that phone he was able to build a duplicate website for the Southpaw County Court. And then—see if this sounds familiar—he used it to send an e-mail to the Fawndsworth Prison Administrators, saying he'd been granted bail. They let him out, and the scam wasn't discovered until three days later when some lawyers showed up to interview him."

Everyone regarded each other for a second; a smartphone… it was that easy? Chief Bogo was staring at the pig-cop as if she'd dropped dead right in front of him and then come back as a ghost.

"You said it's been done at least twice before; what was the other time?" It was Rudy Gamsbart.

Swinton's face hardened and her features darkened, "That time was a lot more serious, a couple of felons serving time in the Furrida State Pen, Joe Lekins and Charles Pawlker; they managed to get out on a fake release-order, too." She began to unconsciously massage her knuckles. "Unlike Neil Moose though, they had some help. One of the other inmates taught them how to create fake documents on the prison's time-share computer, and they had someone on the outside to deliver it to the prison office." She let out small snort. "In Pawlker and Lekins's case, though, it wasn't just a release on bail; they were let go free and clear. The cops finally caught up with them in a motel room about month after their escape…before they could hurt anyone else, thank God." She looked directly at Bogo. "These were two very bad individuals Chief. Forget Neil Moose, he was only a bank-scammer; those Furrida jerks were both doing life for Murder-1."

A chorus of horrified gasps filled the office—none louder than from Chief Bogo himself. A pair of convicted killers had managed a prison break by way of a forged release order? If someone that dangerous could get away with it…suddenly Conor Lewis's escape from custody seemed a great deal less implausible.

And yet…

"And the prison authorities just accepted the order without question?" Bogo was even more incredulous.

Claire Swinton's expression turned lopsided.

"With all due respect sir, corrections is a whole 'nother ballgame from police work. If you're correctional officer and you get a written order from that high up the chain of command, your only answer is, 'Yes, sir, yes sir, done and done, sir'…unless you want to a take quick trip to the superintendent's office." She looked over at the jaguar, parked against the wall, "Am I right, Reyes?"

"What she said, Jefe." the jaguar answered, nodding in the Chief's direction.

"Well, thank God we've got you on our team," Rudy Gamsbart said, offering Swinton a thumbs-up, "or we might not have caught THIS escape until later."

Claire Swinton had arrived back the precinct at about 6:00 that morning, having spent the night on a stakeout up in Old Growth City. (Someone had called in a tip that a gang of burglars was planning to hit a coin exchange…a washout, the thieves never showed.)

Crossing the Precinct-1 lobby, on the way to the locker-room, the pig-cop had been surprised to see Benjamin Clawhauser, heading in the opposite direction. What, now? Wasn't this the time when that plus-size cheetah usually arrived for work?

"Hey, Clawhauser, where you going?" she'd called out to him.

"Home," the big cat yawned, nodding over his shoulder at the hippo behind the reception desk, "Higgins is covering for me today."

"Really, how come?" Swinton had asked. Benjamin Clawhauser usually missed work about as often as the Palm Hotel lagoon froze over.

He yawned again, wider this time.

"I had to pull a double shift last night. Grevy called in sick with laminitis and the Chief asked me to fill in for him down in the property room."

"Ouch, dullsville," the pig-cop had winced; she'd been assigned to the property room once and found it about as interesting as counting marbles in a jar.

"Oh, I don't know, I kind of enjoyed it," the oversized cheetah had said, "and it wasn't all just paperwork and inventory. Did you know they let the kid who bit Nick Wilde out of jail last night?"

"They did WHAT?" Swinton had squealed, drawing stares from several of the other animals in the lobby. She hadn't cared; she had worked the Lewis case, she had been there when they'd taken him in…and now they'd up and let the kid walk, for what possible reason?

"They let him go—why?" she'd demanded. Caught off-guard by the vehemence of her response, Clawhauser hadn't answered for a few seconds. When he did, he'd sounded as if he were trying to excuse his own behavior in returning the young fox's belongings.

"There was an e-mail from the clerk of the Supreme Court…" he'd said, and that was all it had taken to arouse Claire Swinton's former-correctional-officer's instincts. She'd immediately gone upstairs to the youth jail and asked to see the release-order. Luckily for her, the Lieutenant in charge had been an old friend from back in the day, and had happily printed out a copy for her.

At first, everything had seemed to be hunky-dory, the e-mail had looked completely genuine, with many pointed references to the details of the case, including one or two that Swinton hadn't known before. (Judge Schatten had ordered the Lewis kid put in V-3 restraint? Sheesh…she'd only seen that done to a prisoner once in her entire career…and that individual had sent two other officers to the ER, and a third one to the morgue.)

Even so, the document had seemed to be in perfect order…and yet there was something wrong with it, some tiny, itching detail the pig-cop couldn't quite nail down.

She'd been just about to give up when she'd spotted it…the URL at the top of the page, http; .ztp./clerk/

Waaiiiit a minute; shouldn't that have been city. gov?" Borrowing a computer terminal she had entered the web-address, and immediately gotten a '404 Error' message. That was when the memory of Neil Moose and the two Furrida inmates came flooding back into her head…and she'd known at once what had happened.

The Lieutenant's phone had had a direct line to Chief Bogo's office, and this time Swinton didn't bother asking; she had called the Chief immediately and given him the news point blank; Conor Lewis had escaped from jail, using a fake release order. Making that declaration on such scant evidence had been a bold, perhaps even reckless move on her part—but when you had a fugitive on the run, every second counted.

And in the end, her gamble had paid off; the clerk of the Zootopia Supreme Court had since confirmed that no such release order had been forwarded from his office. Yes, yes…a motion to dismiss had been filed, but the court had ruled against it.

"Fine," George Schatten's exasperated voice burst from the far corner of the room, "but those other three fugitives were all adults, the Lewis boy is just a kid."

Albert Tufts gave the woodchuck an almost pitying look.

"Well, yes…but then Mr. Moose didn't have outside help and the Furrida boys had only very limited computer access." He lifted an eyebrow at the woodchuck "Don't tell me you've already forgotten who the Lewis kid was working for when we nabbed him."

He had assumed his most patronizing manner—and for once almost no one had a problem with it. They were all of one mind where the Honorable Judge George Schatten was concerned, 'If YOU hadn't put that kid in V-3 restraint…!"

"All right, fine, but a dismissal of all charges?" The woodchuck refused to back down, "I can see the Lewis boy getting out on bail or a writ of habeas corpus, but conning the city jail mammals into thinking the charges had been dropped? I'm sorry, that's completely unacceptable." He said this while looking at Jorge Reyes, the only correctional officer present.

Or…not quite; there was also a former correctional officer in here—and she didn't much like what she'd just heard.

"Lekins and Pawlker pulled it off," Claire Swinton reminded him sharply, "as a matter of fact, they got out on a something even crazier than a Motion to Dismiss, a Motion to Correct An Illegal Sentence."

That finally did it; George Schatten took his seat again—and Rudy Gamsbart took the floor.

"Even if the Phantom is behind that fake release order…all right, that explains why it looks like the real deal, but it still doesn't tell us how he knew so much." (In the wake of Conor Lewis's escape, everyone had taken to calling the young fox's mentor by his old, original name.)

He held out a hoof in Bogo's direction, motioning for the document the Cape buffalo was holding. When he had it, he held it aloft like exhibit 'A'.

"I mean…have you read this thing; The Phantom knew almost every single detail of the case. Heck, he even…" he stopped and looked around the room. "Were any of you aware that when the Lewis kid first came to Zootopia, he arrived here by plane…and that he claims to have had an encounter with Judge Schatten during that flight? No? Neither was I until now—but the Phantom knew, and where in all creation did he get that from? Where did he get any of it?"

It was a rhetorical question and it was greeted by an appropriate silence, finally broken by Attorney General Sayarov.

"Well, it's fairly obvious isn't it?" the ibex said, throwing up his hooves in frustration, "He hacked into the ZPD database, most likely my office's database too….and the Supreme Court's database, while we're at it."

Chief Bogo immediately shook his head.

"But there're items in that document he could only have learnt by accessing the secure database." He waved a hoof at the document Gamsbart was holding, "For example, Officer McHorn's admission the Lewis boy likely didn't hear his order to stop. How did The Phantom manage to get hold of that information? The ZPD's secure database isn't connected to the internet. Err, what was that word you had for it again, Lieutenant?"

He was looking at Albert Tufts, who avoided his gaze for a second, and then cleared his throat.

"Uh, the word you're looking for is 'airgapped' Chief…but, um, as far as how the Phantom got into the secure database, I-I'm afraid my department has to take responsibility for that one."

All eyes turned to the Kaibab squirrel. Judy nudged Nick in the ribs, giving him a quizzical look. Albert Tufts….accepting responsibility? That was like Benjamin Clawhauser turning down a fresh box of doughnuts.

He only glanced at her and mouthed the word, 'Later'

Tufts, meanwhile, was wringing his paws like a schoolkit who hadn't done his homework and was about to be called on by the teacher.

Finally, he said, "Remember that disposable cellphone the Lewis kid had with him? We could never figure out why he didn't break it as soon as he knew we were onto to him. Our best guess was it was his only link to The Phantom, only…that didn't quite wash because he also had that laptop with him.

He sat back and shut his eyes tightly for about three seconds…and then opened them again, looking at nobody.

"Well-l-ll, now we know why he didn't destroy it; it seems that cellphone was infected with malware—and when we monitored the Lewis kid's phone-call to his lawyer, it jumped onto our system, and…"

He had more to say, but was cut off by a chorus of groans, growls and bugles. Nick Wilde fox-screamed and Claire Swinton's squeal was like a tire burning rubber.

"Of all the…!" Chief Bogo seemed to have inflated to half again his normal size, "You didn't scan that phone for worms before you let the boy use it?"

"Uh, 'virus' Chief, not 'worm'," Tufts corrected nervously, "Worms are spread via the internet, not though physical…"

"Worm, virus, I don't care!" Bogo slammed his hoof down on the desktop. "How the deuce could you possibly make such a basic mistake?" He was looming over the hapless squirrel like a thundercloud, (much to Nick Wilde's delight, Judy couldn't help but notice.)

"How the heck were we supposed to know?" Tufts had already recovered some of his composure. "No one's ever pulled a stunt like that before."

"You knew you were dealing with The Phantom's go-fer," the big Cape Buffalo was having none of it, "and you knew how clever he was. Why didn't you…?"

"Excuse me…Chief?" Rudy Gamsbart was on his feet again, "With all due respect sir, playing the blame-game will get us nowhere."

"Hear, hear," the ibex seated next to him concurred, "Let's worry about recapturing our suspect first, before we start pointing fingers."

Bogo gave them each a simmering look, but yielded with a reluctant nod. For once, he wasn't the ranking mammal in here; Attorney General Sayarov held that distinction, (and besides that, he was right.).

"Well, okay, that's how he got into the ZPD computer, but how did he get into the secure database?" Nick Wilde spoke up for the first time. Was he serious Judy wondered, or was he only trying to tighten the screws on Lieutenant Tufts? She finally decided it was little bit of both.

"Well…" if the Kaibab squirrel had been wearing a collared shirt, he'd have been tugging at it with a finger, "that's where we keep the records of all monitored phone calls, so…"

"Right," Chief Bogo snorted "Give us the details then, Lieutenant, the bare bones if you please. After that virus got loose in our database, what happened next?"

"Well, I have to admit it was one cleverly constructed piece of malware," Tufts sounded almost envious of his phantom opponent. "What it did was search for any files containing the keywords 'Conor' and 'Lewis', not just in our database but the AG's office as well. As you know sir, the two systems are interconnected. Anyway, it ordered the computer to make the backup copies of all these files, and then tagged them for easy recovery." He glanced over at Igor Sayarov. "That's the one weakness in our secure database, Mr. Attorney General; it uses cloud storage for all backup files, All the malware had to do was put a tag on each file as it was uploaded, which it did, and the Phantom was able to retrieve them from the cloud with no difficulty."

Another round of groans swept the office, and then Gamsbart had a question for the squirrel.

"May I assume that the secure database wasn't the only one The Phantom was able to penetrate?" There was no sarcasm in his inquiry, no acid, but Albert Tufts grimaced as the chamois had just stepped on his tail.

"Yes sir, it infiltrated both the ZPD and the AG's office mainframes." There were more groans but not as loud this time; by now the Kaibab squirrel's revelations were no longer coming as a surprise.

"And…the Office of the Clerk of the Zootopia Supreme Court?" Igor Sayarov prompted.

"Yes, but that was hacked separately," Tufts responded...very quickly. "We believe the Phantom got into that database through the use of a phishing e-mail. In any event, it had nothing to do with us."

That may have been true, but the ibex was far from satisfied.

"All right, but where did he get the information Rudy Gamsbart was referring to just now…about the Lewis boy claiming to have met Judge Schatten on an airline flight?" He glanced briefly in Chief Bogo's direction and then looked back at the squirrel, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but that wasn't in any of our databases, am I right?"

Tufts began to fidget again.

"No, uh…it wasn't; that was probably something The Phantom made up." It was a half-hearted conjecture at best, and Nick Wilde was all over it in an eyeblink.

"Actually, I don't think so, Lieutenant." He raised a paw and then stood up, "I think that info's for real. And I'll bet I know where it came from too—from Vernon J. Rodenberg's computer."

Once again, everyone was looking at each other, but this time half in contrition. Of course; that fake order to let Conor Lewis go had supposedly come in response to a motion filed by his attorney. Why wouldn't The Phantom have targeted the grey rat's computer—because they were supposedly on the same side? Get real!

"Mmmmmm," Chief Bogo was frowning deeply, "Ah, yes…Mr. Rodenberg. D'you think he might have had anything to do with this?"

It was a question directed at Nick Wilde, (the diminutive defense attorney's former client,) but it was Rudy Gamsbart who answered it.

"He says he didn't and I believe him," the Zootopia Deputy Prosecutor said, drawing curious looks from several of the others.

It did not escape the chamois' notice, and he stood up and spread his arms.

"Look, there's probably nobody in this office who despises that rat as much as I do, but even I have to admit…that isn't the way he rolls. When I told him his client had gone rabbit on us—I beg your pardon, Officer Hopps—he was absolutely floored by the news. He's convinced he could have beaten the case if the Lewis kid had stayed put." His hooves went into his pockets and his mouth twisted sideways, "And truth be told, I'm not so sure he was wrong about that."

He said this while looking at Nick—and that brought Jorge Reyes into the discussion.

"Lissen zorro, I don't think you did this, but there something I gotta know." He leveled his gaze at the fox and lowered his voice slightly. "That deposition you're s'posed to have filed with the Supremes, saying you dunno for sure if the kid bit you on purpose. Thass fake too, right?"

"Yep, that's right I had nothing to do with it," Nick answered him, taking no offense. (Judy even thought he looked a little bit relieved, grateful to finally have it out in the open.)

"Kay, that's all I wanna know." The jaguar said. raising a paw, "No hard feelings, amigo?"

"No hard feelings," the red fox answered, happy to let it drop.

"What I still can't understand is this," Chief Bogo was trying to put the discussion back on track. He motioned for Rudy Gamsbart to return the documents, studied them for a second, and then slapped them with the back of his fingertips, "How in blazes did he get the signatures right? I should have sworn that every single one of these is the real thing."

"That's because they are," Albert Tufts piped up, wisely eschewing his air of superiority for once. "They're real sigs, copied and pasted from other documents; we see it all the time in online fraud cases." There were nods of understanding from several of the others, and a rare look of discomfiture on Chief Bogo's face; he should have figured that out for himself.

"So….the kid gets the release order," Attorney General Sayarov had taken over, "They clean him up and bring him down to the property room, where he gets everything back, including that laptop of his. Err, did you have any luck in cracking the encryption code by the way?" He was looking at Albert Tufts, who shook his head and chittered.

"No and we were never going to; the Lewis kid probably hit the kill switch as soon as he realized we were tailing him…and that laptop was so heavily encrypted the ZSA couldn't have broken it open."

"I see," The ibex answered him, "While we're on the subject, have we made any progress in figuring out how the Lewis boy came to realize we were on to him?"

"We're still looking into it, Mr. Attorney General," Tufts informed him blandly.

"In other words, 'no.'" Nick whispered in an aside to Judy.

For once, the doe-bunny didn't shush him. Something was going on here that she didn't quite like—but she was hanged if she could put her finger on it.

She could feel her nose twitching…

"All right," Sayarov was saying, "so next they bring him down to the lobby, but he can't leave until his legal guardian comes to collect him. The dispatcher makes a call to inform the animal…errr, what was his name again?"

It was an open question and Rudy Gamsbart answered it.

"Ruiter sir, Ton Ruiter…he's a PI, does work for Vern Rodenberg now and again—and for the record he wasn't involved in this either; he even has an alibi."

"Then who the devil was dispatch talking to?" It was Chief Bogo, speaking to Albert Tufts

"We don't know," the Kaibab squirrel admitted, "But whoever it was, he'd tinkered with his phone so that Officer Sparks could barely hear him and had to take most of it as a text message."

"So that Sparks wouldn't be able to tell the difference between his voice and whoever showed up to claim the kid," Claire Swinton grunted and folded her arms, "Clever."

That was Rudy Gamsbart's cue to ask the $64 k question.

"All right, so if it wasn't Ton Ruiter who came to pick up the Lewis boy, then who the heck was it?"

Once again, the answer came from the Kaibab squirrel seated atop Chief Bogo's desk.

"Zuber driver named ehhh, Dominique Boischatte…or however it's pronounced. He's a meerkat, emigrated to Zootopia from Praiti a little over year ago."

That was good for an angry bugle from the Chief.

"What the…he wasn't even the same species as Ruiter?"

"No sir," Lieutenant Tufts answered, patiently, "but he was close enough for nobody to notice; the only difference in appearance between a meerkat and a yellow mongoose is that a meerkat has stripes on its back…and with a shirt on, they're not visible."

"But they still can't smell the same." Bogo was becoming exasperated. "Reyes, where's Reyes? Blast it, how could you have missed something like that?"

"Chief, please," the jaguar responded in a meek, wheedling voice, "I never even seen a yellow mongoose before; how'm I supposed to know what they smell like?"

"He's got a point, neither have I." Nick muttered in another aside to Judy. That was one the few drawbacks of living in a city as large and diverse as Zootopia; you could go through half a lifetime without knowing certain species even existed….even though you might pass within three feet of one on a daily basis.

"So what's the story with Mr….Boy-Chat, or whatever his name is?" Igor Sayarov had taken over again. "Am I right to assume he was an unwitting participant it in this business?"

"Yes you are, sir." Tufts nodded deferentially "He got a message from Zuber dispatch, at approximately 15:30 yesterday afternoon, requesting a pick-up here at approximately 21:00 that evening and to expect a phone call about that time, telling him it was a go. It was a priority run, pre-paid deposit, and with a nice tip promised afterwards if he could manage it. He agreed and I think you can guess the rest; Zuber dispatch says they never sent any such message."

"I see, but how'd we catch up with Mr…er, Boischatte so quickly?" Sayarov had an ear cocked as he asked it.

Tufts' tail flipped up and down a couple of times.

"Even the Phantom doesn't get everything right Mr. Attorney General; he hacked into Boischatte's cell-phone and switched the info on his phone ID for Ton Ruiter's vital stats. That's why Officer Sparks there accepted it without question."

"That an' his eyes are goin'," Jorge Reyes interjected, "I must have told him twenny times, he needs to get himself some bifocals," He stopped, seemed to realize something and then looked mournfully in the wild ass's direction, "Sorry amigo, but it's for your own good, you know?"

"I understand," Sparks answered, looking anything but understanding, the only words he'd spoken since entering the office.

For her part, Judy Hopps almost wanted to scream. The officer on the reception desk when Conor was let go just HAPPENED to have eye problems? Sweet cheez n' firecrackers, it was as if all the gods of misfortune had conspired to help that fox-kid make his escape.

That was when it hit her, the source of her uneasy feeling. She and Nick Wilde had been central to this investigation from day one…but since their arrival in the Chief's office, neither one of them had been asked even a single question; it had all been Tufts, Tufts, Tufts.

"Nick and I are nothing but spectators here," Judy realized with a sudden, fierce clarity. And the most likely reason was something the doe bunny didn't want to think about, but that she knew she couldn't avoid…

Thanks to Conor's escape from custody, the Attorney General's Office had more than enough to lock him up, with or without Nick Wilde's testimony. They didn't need the red fox anymore.

"Or me," Judy swallowed hard at the thought. The memory of her and Nick's exchange with Rudy Gamsbart in the courthouse annex now felt like a giant albatross around her neck. "Ohhh, why couldn't we have been more tactful?" she fumed at herself—but then she remembered her session with Dr. Hind.

Nope, not again; when the time came, she would make the case for her and Nick not to be frozen out of this—but at the same time she wouldn't make an issue out of it.

She would NOT rush in to try and fix this.

In the meantime, Lieutenant Tufts was explaining the Phantom's mistake; he'd forgotten to restore the original stats on Mr. Boischatte's phone after the meerkat left the precinct. When the Zuber driver had noticed the alteration, he'd returned at once to the ZPD to report the hack. (He had walked in right when Claire Swinton had been on the phone to the Chief.)

"What took him so long?" George Schatten demanded grumpily. That earned him another condescending look from the Kaibab squirrel.

"Who looks at their ID when they pull it out anyway?" Tufts asked him with a rhetorical shrug, "The only reason Boischatte even caught it is that when he tried to use his cell phone account to pay for a coffee at a Snarlbucks, the register kept rejecting it."

"What else did he have to say?" Igor Sayarov asked, after a quick scowl in Judge Schatten's direction.

Tufts brushed at his muzzle for a second.

"He says he dropped the Lewis boy off at the Palm Hotel Metro station at exactly 23:16 hours." He shifted uncomfortably in his chair, "and…that's where we lost him; no sign of the kid since."

Chief Bogo stared incredulous. "Not ONE of the station security cameras caught him?"

"Well we're still reviewing sir, but so far, nothing," Tufts was speaking in that 'mea culpa' voice again. "You have to remember that the Palm Hotel station is the third busiest metro-stop in the city…especially at that time of night, with the casino action starting to heat up. It would have been easy for a mammal of the Lewis boy's size to lose himself in the crowd. After that he could have boarded either a yellow or red-line train—or taken the Oasis Loop to the Agave Avenue station and snagged a blue-line train from there."

Judy Hopps immediately raised her paw.

"Lieutenant, I think I should point out that the Palm Hotel Station is the last stop the Bunnyburrow Express makes before it leaves Zootopia—and there would have been one running about that time."

"You think our little runaway might be trying to make for Bunnyburrow?" Nick Wilde asked from beside her.

Judy half shrugged, half shook her head,

"I doubt it, but it's a possibility we can't ignore," she said. "We know that he has …friends there."

She had deliberately avoided mentioning Erin's name; the last thing she wanted was for kid her sister to be dragged into this mess. As things stood anyway, Judy was going to have to call home to the Burrow and give the younger bunny a heads-up—just in case Conor did try to make contact with her. It was not a task she was looking forward to.

Then Nick stood up, "After the driver dropped him off, my guess is that the Lewis kid took the most direct route available to wherever he was he was going, and that he changed trains as few times as possible, if at all."

He was answered by a caustic look from Lieutenant Tufts, but Chief Bogo seemed intrigued.

"Why do you say that, Wilde?"

"The security cameras," the red fox answered him, "It's fairly easy to dodge the ones on the train-cars, but the ones on the station platforms, not so much. They're a lot tougher to spot—especially since the City started camouflaging them."

"Then our boy probably didn't take a blue-train," Claire Swinton offered, "He'd have had to change stations, just to get to it."

"Still possible that he did, but I think you're right," Rudy Gamsbart nodded approvingly…while completely ignoring Nick Wilde. He seemed wholly unaware that Swinton was only expanding on the fox's suggestion.

Chief Bogo, however, was willing to give credit where credit was due. "Right, I want the Burrow County Sheriff's office alerted immediately; I don't think our young miscreant is headed there either, but as Officer Hopps just said, we can't ignore the possibility. Also, I want a full review of all Metro Station security camera footage from last night, starting at 23:00 hours. Red and yellow lines first, and then the blue line if nothing turns up; yes, Lieutenant?"

Albert Tufts had his paw up.

"Sir, we can shorten that search considerably by using Impalto…but I'll need your authorization first." Like many another police department, the ZPD kept a tight rein on its facial recognition software; the potential for abuse was simply too great for anything else. (Some cities, such as Boarlando, had even quit using face-recognition tech altogether.)

Chief Bogo spent a short, sulfurous moment, considering the squirrel's request, and then reluctantly nodded his assent.

"Right then, I'll agree…but only for this one application. And I'll still want a manual search of that security footage."

"Yes sir," Tufts agreed, obviously unhappy with the big Cape buffalo's compromise decision. "On the subject of searches, I also think we should get hold of the Zootopia Health Sciences University genetics lab and instruct them to put the Conor Lewis DNA match on the fast-track."

Rudy Gamsbart blew an incredulous note.

"You haven't done that already?"

"We would have," the Kaibab squirrel responded with an insouciant shrug, "but ZHSU charges an arm and a tail for that service. Authorize the funding and it's a done deal, but until the city…"

"Authorized!" Igor Sayarov practically shouted, coming halfway out of his seat, "Find out who that kid really is…I want to know yesterday!"

"Done and done," the Lieutenant nodded, pleased…while Nick and Judy regarded each other with looks of consternation. More and more, it was beginning to appear as if they were being shut out of the loop.

Still, even Judy had to admit that the DNA match offered the best chance of finding and apprehending the young silver-fox.

"In the meantime, we'll be interviewing all of Mr. Lewis's known associates," Tufts was saying. And then turning in his chair, he fastened his gaze on a thoroughly nonplused Nick and Judy, "starting with you Officer Hopps…and you, Officer Wilde."

Judy swallowed hard…not for herself, but did those 'known associates' include her younger sister Erin? She prayed to God that the answer was no.

Even worse, now she knew for certain; the Conor Lewis investigation would henceforth be handled by ZPD Cybercrimes. She and her partner had been officially relegated to the sidelines.

Tufts, meanwhile, had already moved on.

"We've also contacted our consulting psychologist, , and asked him to work up a psych-profile on the kid," he said, speaking to the Attorney General. "I don't know how much he'll be able come up with, given the limited amount of information we have, but it's worth a try."

At this, even Judy had to nod her agreement, all too often in police work it was the longshot that crossed the finish line first. She looked sideways at Nick for a second; the fox's face was a waxwork mask, but his tail had turned into bottle-brush. He didn't like this any more than she did, but like her, he knew enough to save it for when they could see Chief Bogo privately.

The rest of the briefing went more or less by the numbers; instructions were issued to alert the other precincts, and Conor Lewis's picture was to be posted on the ZPD video kiosks, located throughout the city. Chief Bogo then issued an order that from now on, detainees housed in the city jail would no longer be permitted to make calls, using their own cell-phones.

"The ZCLU'S gonna LOVE that." Jorge Reyes observed with an acerbic growl.

"They can cry me a river," Bogo snapped, "The order stands."

"Are we going to go to the press with this?" Rudy Gamsbart asked, drawing an immediate scowl from the Cape buffalo. Like most police brass, Chief Bogo trusted the media about as much as he did an email from a Ligerian bank president. The fourth estate might agree to help out…or they might decide to give themselves a ratings boost at the ZPD's expense. 'Clever Young Fox Makes Chumps Out Of Cops,' he could just imagine the headlines.

Igor Sayarov, being a politician as well as a prosecutor, was somewhat less wary of the media—but only somewhat.

"Yes, but let's not give them all the down and dirty details." He said, "Send them the kid's picture, tell them he escaped using forged documents, and after that no comment. We want this to make the news, but not headlines."

"Well," Bogo's frown deepened, "I still don't like it, but honestly, I can't see how we're going to bring this boy—or his mentor—to justice without getting the public involved. So, all right, then."

"What about the Zootopia Banker's Association," George Schatten queried from over in his corner, "How do they feel about this?"

Judy Hopps felt her nose beginning to twitch again. As much as she despised this woodchuck, he had just raised a good point. The ZBA had been the driving force behind this investigation almost since day one; they were going to have some thoughts on the matter.

"They haven't been notified yet," Chief Bogo answered tersely, and Igor Sayarov nodded unsurprised.

"Better let me handle them then, Chief; I know how to talk to those mammals." His expression abruptly soured, "and they'll probably want to offer a reward for any—yes, I know!" he interrupted himself, noting the horrified faces, spread out, all around the room. "The last thing we need is a thousand-and-one crank phone calls coming in. That's why I should be the one to notify the Bankers Association."

"They're all yours, then." Chief Bogo told him, grateful to be relieved of the burden.

That was when Claire Swinton raised her hoof…addressing the possibility that had been hanging over the conference like a vulture ever since it convened.

"Someone has to bring this up, and it might as well be me," she said. "We all know the Phantom is the animal behind Conor Lewis's escape. And—forgive for saying this—there's only one sure way for him to be certain that the Lewis kid will never give him up."

A sickly silence filled the office. Judy was staring aghast at the pig-cop and Nick Wilde looked as if HE wanted to bite somebody. A flood tide of rebuttals came swirling into the doe-bunny's mind, but she was unable to give voice to any of them. Like it or not, Swinton was right.

"If that's the case," Rudy Gamsbart finally said, looking very grim, "Then we're probably too late already. If the Phantom's plan was to silence Mr. Lewis after helping him to escape, then once the boy was out of here, there was absolutely no reason for him to hesitate; in fact, the sooner, the better."

Judy stepped on her foot to keep it from thumping and bit her lip to keep from screaming; this was yet another unavoidable truth.

It was also the last point to be raised…and any doubts she might have had as to who had been in charge here were instantly dispelled when Igor Sayarov stood up to give the summary.

"I don't know why the Lewis boy chose to make a run for it, when he had a fair chance at beating this case. I don't know, and frankly, I don't care."

Judy stepped on her foot again; who was the Attorney General kidding? He knew why Conor had bolted—or at least he must have had an idea; everyone in this office was likely harboring the same thought.

That DNA test; when the results came back what would it tell them?

"What I do know," Sayarov went on, "is that this was not an opportunistic, spur-of-the-moment escape. It was planned in advance—well in advance. Even before the Lewis boy was taken into custody, the Phantom had the mechanism in place to set him free."

The corners of his mouth stretched backwards into a thin, flat line, and then turned downwards.

"And there is no way…no…way that Mr. Lewis was not an active participant in his escape from custody. He knew exactly what was happening when he walked out of here. When we get him back—and we will, make no mistake—the kiddie gloves are coming off. He'll get a plea deal if he gives us The Phantom, but he can forget about taking a walk. THAT possibility is off the table…and that is all I have to say at the present time."

When the meeting broke up, Judy lingered at the door, along with Nick, hoping to get a chance to buttonhole the Chief.

As things turned out, he beat them to the draw.

"Hopp, Wilde? Need you to stay behind for a moment," he said, when most of the others had gone.

As soon as he closed the door, they saw Bogo hunch his shoulders and his head lolling downwards; Atlas, failing in his effort to hold up the world on his shoulders.

"I know what you're going to say," the big Cape buffalo sighed, turning a weary face in their direction, "and I tried, I argued until I was blue in the mouth. It was no use, the Attorney General wouldn't budge; he wants ZPD Cybercrimes to handle this, and he's got City Hall backing him."

Judy winced as though stung. Technically at least, Albert Tufts had every right to demand that the Conor Lewis investigation be given to his department. The kid had escaped from custody by way of a forged e-mail and a computer virus—and that put his case squarely within ZPD Cybercrimes' field of operation.

But still—what about that malware his guys had found on Conor's cell-phone….after it had already infected several crucial databases? Lieutenant Tufts hadn't merely shot himself in the foot with that one, he'd just about blown it clean off.

And nobody knew that better than Nick Wilde.

"He wants Cybercrimes on this case or us OFF of it?" he growled, bitterly.

Judy stared at him, horror-struck. Oh boy, now they were going to get it.

Or…not; for once, Chief Bogo took no umbrage, responding to the fox's inquiry with an exasperated question of his own.

"Great buffalo chips, what the devil did you two say to Rudy Gamsbart anyway?"

"Nothing that wasn't the truth," Judy told him, defiantly jutting her chin. On this issue, she stood shoulder to shoulder with her partner.

But that, however, brought an even touchier subject to the fore, one that would require some serious tact.

"Chief?" she ventured cautiously, "You've always been straight with Officer Wilde and me, so please be straight with us now. Did that video…the one from Sahara Square have anything to do with this?"

She saw Bogo's head sag once again, and knew at once that she'd hit the mark…that video of her and Nick had had a great deal to do with why they were no longer part of the Conor Lewis case—except as witnesses.

'Attorney General Sayaraov never came right out and said it," he told them, looking from her to Nick and back again, "But yes, I should think it did; he's rather enamored of Mr. Hardesty's radio and television programmes isn't he?"

"So he's not even going to object to that hyrax running a police surveillance video on his show…without authorization?" Nick seemed to be barely keeping his fangs in check.

Bogo turned a slow face in his direction.

"As a matter of fact Wilde, the Attorney General's office was the first to demand that Fuzztube take down that video—so you can imagine how Mr. Sayarov felt about seeing it broadcast on cable." The Chief's voice was patient but his brow was flatlining; Nick was starting to push him towards the edge. "But that doesn't mean he's not been affected by what he's seen and heard…and it's not only about that video any more, you know."

"No Chief, it isn't," Judy Hopps admitted, intervening quickly before Nick had the both of them on parking duty—or worse. Just to make sure, she shot him a harsh look. He gave it right back, but at least kept his mouth shut.

"So ,what should we do?" she asked, speaking to Chief Bogo again.

He nodded towards the door.

"Go make y' statements to Lieutenant Tufts—and this time, at least try to be a little diplomatic with it." He said this while staring hard at Nick, and then repeated, "Go make your statements…and then go home. You've been at it nonstop for more than a week haven't you? So go home and get some rest. I'll see you at morning briefing, day after tomorrow."

Nick started to raise a finger, but then checked himself, (much to Judy Hopps' relief.) He seemed, at last, to have realized that he was treading on thin ice.

"Right, off you go, then." Bogo opened the door, holding out a hoof in the direction of the space beyond. He watched Nick and Judy trudge resignedly past him, and then closed it and returned to his desk, heaving another sigh as he heaved himself into his chair.

Cops didn't come a lot more jaded than Chief Bogo; in his years with the ZPD, he'd seen things that could make cynics out of visionaries. Nonetheless, it had never been in his nature to hold out on the officers who worked under him.

'You've always been straight with us, sir.' Judy Hopps had said. Yes, but he hadn't been quite so forthcoming just now, had he? No, not completely, not entirely. The truth of the matter was, he hadn't argued for Hopps and Wilde's inclusion in the Conor Lewis investigation even half so strenuously as he'd intimated.

Not because of Rock Hardesty or that surveillance video—not even because of their confrontation with Rudy Gamsbart. No, it was because, very shortly, he might need their assistance with something far more serious than Conor Lewis.

He glanced at the pile of folders, stacked up on the left side his desk.

FAR more serious…

Author's Note:
Neil Moore's (Neil Moose's) escape from Wandsworth (Fawndsworth) Prison through the use of a smartphone actually happened. Joe Jenkin's ( Lekins) and Charles Walker's (Pawker's) escape from the Franklin Correctional Institute in Florida was also an 'actual event', (as they say in the movies.) These were also fairly recent occurrences, taking place in 2014 and 2013 respectively. I have attempted to describe them here as accurately as possible.

You can find more information by Googling "Most Insane Ways People Have Escaped from Prison" and "Grunge".

Click on the first link and go to pages 7 and 9.