Chapter 13: Camping

As Nick sat unmoving on the bench hearing the birdsong flying between the crowns of the tall trees and feeling the gusts of fresh, refreshing wind, it seemed to the fox that he had managed to fall asleep through this melancholy of sounds. He considered this because when he opened his eyes back up, there was practically no one in the park and judging by the position of the sun in the sky, he had taken a few minutes nap. Nick was surprised at how calming the nature of the forest could be, after that short nap his head seemed lighter, his mind was fresher and he actually felt better. He closed his eyes again, hoping to be able to stay in this state for a while longer. His plans changed when he felt a heavy touch on his shoulder.

"Good morning Nick" a low, thick as well as calm tone rang out next to the sitting fox. The fox opened his eyes to see Commander Bogo, who looked like he was about to go on duty. He recognized it from the commandant's uniform with the gold badge on his chest.

"Good morning Commander...what are you doing here?" Asked Nick surprised. This place would be the last place for Nick to think of if he had to guess where the Commandant was supposed to turn up. Bogo generally wasn't seen too many times anywhere other than the police station. For many police officers, the commandant's private life was virtually unknown.

"Like you, I wanted to spend some time in the park, I like to sit on a bench sometimes and relax..." The commandant began to tell the story, when he looked at the fox's eyes that told him straight to his face that he was not telling the truth the commandant sighed heavily wiping his eyes with his fingers.

"What I'm really looking for is you. How is Judy?" Asked the Commander seriously, changing his voice to classically low and serious.

"Well... you know, her condition is not the best, she is still waiting for a liver to be transplanted, but it is not known if she will be found" communicated the fox. The commander nodded with a motion of his head, then reached into his back pocket, rummaged around in it for a few seconds, then took out a neatly folded piece of paper that looked like some sort of document, which landed in the fox's paws a moment later.

"What is this?" Asked Nick curiously, trying to guess the contents of the card, which was bent so that nothing could be seen.

"Here, this is for you," said the commandant handing the card to the fox.

"Listen, the situation is what it is, we have to be prepared for every possible situation. Anything can happen and you need help..."

He continued Bogo's argument further as the fox unfolded the card. His eyes showed no small amount of surprise when he noticed the contents of the document.

"Wait a minute...is that..." Nick interrupted dramatically bursting out in surprise. After unfolding the card, he noticed that it was the exact same document he had received from Judy when they had solved their first case together.

"Is this a listing for a new partner?" Finished Nick after a moment. He read the contents of the document calmly, he could tell with certainty that this was the document that informed him of his partner's assignment.

"I don't want to deceive you...you also know what her condition is...I've spoken to her doctor, it's bad" replied the commander. Nick continued to sit staring at the document. He guessed why just now the commandant had decided to give it to him.

"But that doesn't mean it's a sure thing now..."

"I know Nick, but that is my duty, and your duty is to choose a new partner for the future...in case you know what happened" explained Bogo. Although his voice was calm and low toned, you could read from his expression how depressed he was about the whole situation. Besides, he wasn't the only one, Nick was moved strongly by the fact that they were slowly starting to cross Judy off.

"Please be positive, it will be fine," Nick said, although his voice sounded like he didn't quite believe his own words.

"We're all...I have to go now, I'll meet you next week when everything is clear" Bogo communicated. He patted his friend on the shoulder, then started walking towards the gate.

Nick sat on the bench for a few more moments contemplating the document he had received from the commandant. He was still in shock that he had been given such a document. It already meant that the police command had deleted Judy, which hurt Nick badly. Such an action by the command made him lose faith a bit himself. Time was running out and he still wasn't even on a sure path that would lead him to Jack. However, his thinking completely did not share the thinking style of the police. He felt that it wasn't over yet and that everything would be okay.

'I'll do whatever it takes,' thought Nick. He put the document in his pocket and then headed for the exit.

A few hours later

When 5 p.m. struck, Nick, according to what he had overheard the day before during James' conversation with Dominic, was already in the Rain Forest area waiting in his private car a few dozen metres away from the alley James would most likely be leaving. His car being parked by the nearby houses didn't cause any suspicion, and from here he had the perfect vantage point to see when James would be passing by. As the fox sat in the car and waited patiently he could admire the sunset, which combined with the light rainfall looked downright magnificent, yes the white clouds hid the outlines of the sun gently, but the rays effectively pierced through this barricade giving an excellent sky effect. Fox could stare at this picture for a good few minutes listening to the raindrops hitting the body of his car, but he had to stay focused on his suspect. It was soon to be 6 p.m., so the fox assumed in advance that James would soon be leaving for a visit with his friend. In the meantime, the fox read again the contents of the document he had received a few hours earlier from Commander Bogo. Reading that scrap of paper was already causing him a kind of pain that was making the nick feel weaker. It was a prophecy of sorts, an announcement that Judy's life was slowly but inexorably coming to an end already, which was not comforting news to the fox.

As Nick became absorbed in his reveries, a black, battered Cadillac managed to pull out of the overgrown road with difficulty. The fox quickly started its engine, then after waiting a few seconds, slowly moved after the suspect. He wanted to keep a comfortable distance to make sure James didn't realise he was being followed by a police officer. Fortunately for Nick, the wolf's pace wasn't the fastest allowing the fox to transcribe the car's registration numbers onto his phone having further evidence in the case.

Nick followed James all the time trying to maintain a distance of about 100-150 metres being sure that James did not suspect anything. Although he followed him trying to be unobtrusive, it seemed to him that any moment now James would suddenly speed up and realise the situation. Fortunately, for the time being, there was nothing of the sort, and together they drove into the grounds of the Zootopia Centre, which intrigued Nick. He was very interested to see where James would be staying, where they would get to. He expected it to be some old hangar or something like that. It was hard to really guess where the wolf might have stopped, so Nick kept his foot over the brake pedal the whole time to avoid getting too close to James. All the while, the thought kept popping into Nick's head that James would realise he was being watched, but still, everything was going the way of the fox.

As they drove out onto the busier streets of the city, Nick had a bit of a problem keeping an eye on James. Fox would sometimes let another car pass in front of him to separate him from the wolf car, but then two more would push in, making it impossible for Nick to see where James was going. He didn't hide his annoyance at the policeman using his horn in this situation, which annoyed the other drivers, but Nick didn't care too much, he had one goal to achieve - not to lose James.

After 30 minutes of driving through crowded Zootopia, they both came out on the expressway leading to the Sahara Square side, which intrigued the fox. It was a unique place in that there are virtually no hangars or warehouses that James had mentioned in the conversation.

All this time tracking James, the sun had managed to hide so far behind the horizon that it was necessary to fire up the lights in the car to be able to see the roadway. Particularly in Sahara Square this was important, as the sand often came out onto part of the tarmac, so that invading it would end in immediate loss of grip, something no driver here wanted who was speeding over the speed limit. It was a long straight where pseudo drivers tested their cars by accelerating them to full speed. However, James was driving slowly and calmly the whole time, which made Nick curious. He expected him to be speeding like crazy, especially on this road. However, he kept going at about 80km/h on the road. At the first exit he took, Nick followed the same road James had been on until James turned off onto a gravel road that led to a couple of caravan trailers that were visible far in the distance, but Nick managed to spot them.

"Bingo! I think it's here," thought Nick. So as not to cause any suspicion Nick pulled over into the car park outside the restaurant parking in the nearest vacant space. He turned off the car and, sitting in it, continued to watch the black Cadillac as it disappeared slowly into the darkness. Fox continued to sit in the car as he watched the car's red lights fade among the old motorhomes until they finally went out.

Fox prepared to walk towards where James had gone. From the glove box he pulled out his gun and his police badge, which he pinned to his chest. He sat for a few moments to calm his heart rate, which had jumped again, then got out of the car. It was now completely dark, the only source of light in the area being the illuminated logo of the restaurant he had stopped at.

'Alright, let's go,' thought Nick, then crossed the road to a sandy road that led to motorhomes abandoned at first sight. They were located half a kilometre from where the fox had stopped. All he could see were their dark outlines, which indicated that they were standing there.

The road that Nick was walking on was very loose and there were a lot of rather sharp stones on it, which meant that the fox had to blindly avoid the sharp objects lying on the ground.

"How does James' car stand up to such roads?" Wondered Nick in his head. On the one hand, he could see the deplorable state of his Cadillac, it was obvious that it had been through more than one adventure, especially its bodywork, which was battered on all sides. On the other hand, his tyres still looked very good, even though, judging that he drives on such roads, they should have been thrown away long ago.

Thanks to the cloak of night, which made Nick practically invisible, he had the ability to navigate the road so he didn't have to wander through other, judging by the surroundings even heavier terrain. Everything changed once he was close to the abandoned campsites where one of them had a light on.

'It must be them' thought Nick as he saw the light in the window. He quickly ran over to one of the carts, taking cover behind it so as not to be detected. The cart that James and Jack were most likely sitting in stood last in an endless circle of carts. Nick ducked under the cart so he could see which way would be safest for him.

"Circling all these carts should be the best solution" decided Nick while devising a plan of action.

A feeling of uncertainty and fear that something was going to go wrong accompanied his planning, from the very beginning of the plan he had the same feeling, which in comparison with Judy's was practically non-existent. Fox again compared himself to his friend, now in an agonal state - she knew what had to be done in every situation.

Fox shook his head vigorously, he knew there was no time for musing. Being gently bent forward Nick slowly took step after step approaching the next cart to pass behind it to get closer to his goal. Much of his movement was aided by the darkness which made Nick virtually invisible. Plus the black shirt he had changed into at home helped him.

His steps grew more sure as time went on, he had already passed the second cart, he still had to circle the 3rd. When he stopped for a moment to eavesdrop to see if anyone was around, he heard two men talking, coming from the cart.

"That's them, he recognises James' voice..." Nick thought with relief. He had some doubts that it was definitely them, but luckily, that wasn't the case. The target was a few dozen metres ahead of him. Even so, the fox was constantly focused on not making any loud noise that would cause him to be taken down. All the time he was careful with every step, he was maximally focused on reaching his target unmasked. If they saw him, his whole plan would be in ruins. After passing 3 cars he only had two left, the noises from the cars were getting louder, Nick could have stayed in this position, he could have heard them talking, but he wanted to be closer, he wanted to hear every detail. Once he was at the front of the car, Nick leaned out to see if he could be seen from the carriage windows. Fortunately for him, there were no windows on the outside of the ring, which meant that he could continue unnoticed. Finally, after sneaking around for a few minutes, he got under the suspects' car. He knelt against the wall of the car, put his ear to the wall and listened.