Chapter 70: Traceable


Sometimes you just can't hide.


Whaaap! The bull's kick glanced along the red-furred police detective's shoulder and sent the much smaller fox in the dark blue pinstriped business suit stumbling in pain across the room and into the wall. Snorting, the angry mob enforcer turned to face the two uniformed cops and lowering his head, Maxie Feldstomper charged towards the smaller of the two officers, a tan furred jackal who dove out of his way. Instead of hitting his intended target, the bull's horns smashed into the blue impact plated vest that the beefy rhino standing behind the other officer wore.

Shaking his head, the fox named Nick Wilde tried to move his arm and draw his tranquilizer gun, he was fairly sure that his shoulder was out of joint. From the corner of his eye, he saw that the jackal had already drawn his gun but had hesitated shooting because the large rhino had already slammed his huge hoofs into the attacker. It was a classic one-two punch and the bull fell backward with a groan. With a grunt, the rhino named McHorn shoved the stunned bull's snout into the cold rough concrete floor of the warehouse as he yanked the criminal's hoofs behind his back and then slapped on a pair of cuffs. "That's how you do it shrimp!" the larger officer scoffed to the fox.

"I'm not a behemoth like you…" Nick tried to joke, but instead, he gave a short whine from the pain. Then remembering that he was a detective-in-training, he quickly added. "What I meant to say is thank you for catching the suspect and good job."

"Those on-line management courses are paying off fox, you're even starting to sound like a real detective," Officer Mbweha laughed as the jackal holstered his gun. Then looking back at the fox, he frowned. "Are you okay, Wilde?"

"My collarbone is really smarting," Nick tensely replied. "I'll have it looked at back at the station."

"Nope!" McHorn interjected. "We're going to swing by the hospital to drop you off, I'll come back to check on you after I make sure that Rudy down in processing finds a dank and dark cell to toss this sleaze bag into."

An hour later, Officer McHorn still hadn't returned as Nick sat waiting for his ride. His right arm was in a sling and he clutched a bag of medication in his paw, looking up he saw a familiar raccoon strolling into the room. "So the nurse says you dislocated your shoulder?" Jake called out as he stood looking down at his best friend. "They reset it, but it must have hurt like hell!"

"How did you get someone to tell you all of that, you're not family and they are not supposed to be telling you about my medical condition?" Nick asked with a slight smile. Then his eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Jake, what did you do?"

"I pulled a hustle on the nurse, just like you taught me," the raccoon answered with a grin and a shrug of his shoulders. "I convinced her that I was with internal affairs and investigating a shifty fox cop. I guess you taught me too good, because she didn't even ask to see my badge." Then putting a digit to his muzzle he acted like he was pondering something before he added, "Or maybe you do look shifty after all?"

Nick sighed and shook his head. "The doc said it'll take a few weeks of limited mobility if I use ice, keep it in a sling, and go to physical therapy. At least that is what she ordered."

"But you're Zootopia's own self-proclaimed super cop. I'll bet that you were planning to go back to work, instead of taking a the rest of the day off like you are supposed to do? That is why I came to get you instead of McHorn or Mbweha, sometimes I think that all you cops are too stupid to use common sense."

"You mother me more than Judy. I'm a grown fox, older than you coon!"

"Of course I do, Nick!" Jake said as he sat down next to the fox. "Judy is just as bad as you are when it comes to working while hurt, just ignoring her pain and you would be fussing at her if she was the one hurt today. Speaking of which, why didn't you call your wife?"

"How did you know that I didn't?" Nick asked in surprise.

"I know you Nick, you didn't want to worry her at work," Jake scoffed. "If you had, she'd have come running and would have already been here with you."

"Now that she is a lead detective with the Fifth, she does have a lot more responsibly than she did when she was a sergeant downtown."

"Still you should have called her."

"Hey, just how did you know that I was hurt?" Nick asked as he sat up with a wince. "Someone at the station called you, was it Claws?"

"No, Clawhauser didn't call me! That high-security office complex across the road from the warehouse where you got hurt is under contract with my company," Jake answered. "My guys saw you on the cameras as you dragged yourself back to the car and called me because you looked hurt. Once they locked onto you, they kept watching your patrol car until it reached the hospital. The DOT's traffic cameras are now publicly online and so it wasn't that hard to electronically trail you."

"It's getting so that it is almost impossible to hide," Nick chuckled. "Carrots and I once used those cameras to track down where Mayor Lionheart was stashing the missing mammals, but we had to use Bellwether's computer."

"Now with all those doorbell and home wireless cameras around, it's harder to hide than before. Although I worry about someone like Jerry, who can hack almost every brand out there on the market today and some still in development. That little mouse is scary smart with all this high tech stuff and so I'm glad that he works for me and is no longer loose on the streets."

With a grunt, Nick stood up with Jake's assistance and let out an agitated sigh when he realized that the raccoon had picked his pocket when he helped him up. "Here, call your wife!" Jake commanded as he plopped the fox's cell phone into his paws. "You do it or I will!"

With another sigh, the fox made the call, "Hi Carrots, I kind of got hurt today…nothing major…no, Jake is here with me…no, there's no need for you to leave now…I'm just a little sore, that's all…sure, I love you too."

"There, that wasn't that hard, now was it?" the raccoon said with a smile. "Now come on, let's get you home."