Author: Hooray! We're into to double digits!

Chapter 10: Covert Operation

The three men approached the cage. Julien quickly scampered out of sight. Alex still felt a bit apprehensive towards them. Alex's cage was first to be loaded onto the cart. He was taken to the same platform they had boarded the ship from. The men left and Marty soon joined him. With grinding gears and clanking chains the platform lowered on the dock. Alex examined his surroundings. "Hey, Marty!"

"Yeah, Al?"

Alex lifted his eyebrows, "Isn't it amazing! I had no idea the water in New York was so blue!"

Marty smiled, "Must be some new pollution act, or something."

Alex laughed, "Ah, libertarians." The men loaded them onto the cart, once again, and rolled them to the side. They climbed onto the platform, and, again, ascended to the deck.

Marty cocked his head to the side, "I didn't know there were palm trees on Staten Island."

"Hmm... must be arbor day, or something," Alex attempted to explain.

Marty remained befuddled, "I didn't know arbor day was in June..." Marty trailed off.

"Well, it must be," Alex answered simply.

Marty shook his head, "I don't know, maybe-"

"Marty, you're worrying too mu-" Alex was interrupted by the clank of the platform descending once more. It was Melman.

"Oh, guys. Good to see you. I don't think we've ever been separated that long before... except for that time I went to get my 3-dimensional bone model done," he reminisced, "I can feel the radiation to this day..."

The men returned to the boat on the make-shift elevator. Alex chuckled, "If you were exposed to enough radiation to feel it for a year, you'd have leukemia by now."

Melman gasped, "Oh, god, you're right! As soon as I get to the zoo I'm requesting Urgent Care!"

"Good to have you back, Melman," Marty smiled, forgetting his suspicions.

"Hey, fur-ball, how you holding out?" Alex asked.

The muffled voice replied from within his hair. "Never better!" Finally Gloria came down. Marty shouted up to her, "Well, our quadrio is complete!"

"Marty, I don't even think that's a word," Gloria commented from her lowering cage.

Marty denied, "I'm telling you, it is!"

Alex mulled it over, "Yeah, it's a quartet."

"Fine," Marty surrendered, "But I think quadrio sounds better."

"Sounds like the name of a cough suppressant," Melman added. He imitated a T.V. narrator's voice, "New 'Quadrio'. Stop the cough before it comes. Side affects may include: dry mouth, diarrhea, nausea, depression, stomach ache, and pregnancy."

"That's one hell of a pill !" Gloria reacted, now on the deck with the others. The others laughed, happy to be united. The men stayed on the deck this time, the one with glasses staring at Alex fearfully. Alex's mane moved slightly. The man rose an eyebrow in suspicion. Two more men came from the other end of the dock, also dark skinned.

"Man, no one looks like boatmen here," Alex pointed out.

"What. You think all boatmen are white geezers," Marty snapped, being slightly offended.

Alex threw up his hands, "Why are you getting offended?"

"Half my stripes are black!"

"I didn't say anything racial or derogative!" Alex stood his position, "Besides, your a zebra!"

"Always bringing up my species!" Marty shot back.

Alex grew annoyed, "Ok, now your just arguing for the sake of arguing!" Their feud was interrupted when the platform rose again, but this time without the men. "...what about the penguins?" Alex asked.

Meanwhile on the boat, Private was asking himself the same question. "Skipper!" he shouted, "Skipper, wake up!"

Finally, the penguin arose. "Oh, what is it, Private?" he grumbled holding his head.

"We made it to New York!" Private cheered, but his enthusiasm faded to worry, "But, they loaded all the other ones down, and not us."

Skipper was not bothered, "Worry not, my feathered friend. I see some people coming for us right now." Sure enough, two men (different than before) approached the cage.

"Est-ce que nous prendons les penguins?" the first man asked.

The second one answered, "Non, ils sont a l'antarctique." They walked away and around the corner, vanishing from view.

Skipper thought, "...l'antarctique...antarctique..." his eyes widened, "Antarctica!" he shouted, "Private! They're trying to send us to Antarctica!" he panicked. "Oh, god, I can't go back!"

Private was equally panicked, "Wha- what are we gonna do!" Kowalski awoke in all the fuss, followed by Rico.

"What's going on, sir?" Kowalski asked dazedly.

Private answered for his superior, "Kowalski, they're taking us to Antarctica!"

"NO!" Rico and Kowalski shouted.

Skipper, "Ok, their has to be a way out of this mess..." he tried to think, "Rico, hairpin!" he ordered. Rico coughed, but shrugged.

"No hairpin, sir," Kowalski answered for his mute companion.

"Come on, Skipper, think!" he yelled to himself. An idea came to him, "Rico, katana!"

Rico leaned back and pulled the sword from his throat. Skipper took it, "Stand back, boys." They obeyed, pushing their backs to the cage bars. Skipper stepped forward. With a flick of his wrist and a flash of light, the bars were cut. "Ok, boys, move out.!" he ordered. One by one they left their cage checking any and all corners.

They were almost to the head of the boat. Skipper could see the platform up ahead. But then he saw the men. "Halt!" he ordered his followers, "We can't let them see us." He looked around a bit looking for a mode of disguise. His eyes stopped on a storage bin. Without speech they flipped it upside down over their heads. Wobbly, the bin worked its way towards the platform. Suddenly, they were stopped! Someone was holding the bin. Before they could think, it was lifted off their heads.

"Qu'est-ce que c'est?" the man asked. He saw the penguins. "Ay! Les pen-!"

Before he could say 'Les penguins' Kowalski already secured a blow over his back. The man fell. Luckily, there were no others around. Ditching their cover, they made their way to the edge of the boat.

The ship horn sounded. The boat begun moving! Quickly, the boat edged from the dock revealing the blue waters directly below. Skipper warned, "Already, boys, we're going to get a little wet." Without disagreement, they plunged into the water. Naturally designed for it, they glided through the harbor water with ease. Making sure no more people were approaching, they climbed onto the dock, and shook off any remaining droplets.

Private looked around, "Where now, Skipper?"

Skipper spotted something,"There!" he pointed to a semi truck. The cages were being loaded into it. "Ok, boys, we're going to have to move it, and fast!" As quickly as they could manage, they waddled to the revving truck. But, Private was standing still, staring at something. "Come on, Private! Let's go!" Skipper called. Private snapped out of his trance and they approached the semi. The last cage had just been loaded. Stealthily, they shot past the man and into the trailer dodging the closing door. Slam! The door shut. Darkness consimed them.

"Hey, Skipper," Alex called out in the blackness, "Is that you."

"You can count on it, kitty," he answered.

Private checked everyone, "Is everybody here?"

"Yeah." Every chimed in turn.

Skipper chuckled, "That was fun, like a covert operation."

Alex prodded his mane, "Hey, Julien! You can come out now."

A rustling was heard, "Thanks heavens!" Julien coughed, "I thought they'd never leave! I started breathing in fur!"

Alex felt around, "Marty?"

"Right here, Al." he answered from the left side of him.

"Ok. Just checking where they put you," Alex answered his friend. He couldn't stand to ever be away from his friend. "Hey, Marty," he called out.

"Yeah, Al?" he acknowledged.

"Will you be happy here?" Alex asked sincerely.

"Of course," Marty reached out, found his friends tail and patted it reassuringly.

Melman sneezed, "Oh, man, it's dusty in here."

"It's not exactly Buckingham Palace," Gloria admitted.

Alex nodded to himself, "Yeah. We're celebrities! We should be getting first class treatment."

"A limo would be nice," Marty laughed.

"It is nice of them to put us in darkness," Melman commented. No one much followed. "If we had windows we'd watch cars zooming past us, and that is one think I don't need right now," Melman complained, "You guys have almost sent me into pulmonary arrest about five times now."

"Us? what about those creepy people?" Alex scoffed, "They're pretty rude. We haven't had any water since we got on the boat."

Melman shot up, "I could die of dehydration."

"Worry, not," Julien comforted, "I have plenty Winoki juice left."

"Oh, don't say that!" Skipper shouted, followed by a splashing noise.

"They didn't leave us with any food either," Alex added. He knew everyone was looking at him, or attempting to, anyway. "Don't worry. I've got it all under control."

Marty patted his friend on the back through the cage bars. "I know you do. But how's it doing?"

Alex turned to the zebra. "It's still there," he replied, "But, I think it's weaker now."

"Um, guys?" Melman asked, "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing, Melman," Marty answered followed by a long pause.

Julien broke the silence "I'm so excited! I've never gone more than ten or twenty miles from the tree,"

"Yeah. It'll be an opposite experience for me," Alex described.

Marty sighed, "That was a fun vacation." Suddenly, the truck stopped, and the engine noise diminished to nothing. Once again, Julien scattered into Alex's mane. The penguins dived behind Gloria's cage The truck door opened. Light streamed in blinding the animals.

"Alors, on va!" the man said. One by one the cages were unloaded. Gloria was left. The penguins made sure to move only when the men were distracted. Alex blinked trying desperately to adjust to the light. Gloria's cage was finally set onto the ground. The penguins hid underneath the huge semi. One of the men held out a controller. With a click of a button, all the cage doors unlocked except for Alex's cage. The others stepped out of their respective cages trying to look around, but the change of light had still left them disorientated.

"Alex?" Marty squinted at Alex's cage, trying to bring things into focus.

"Marty, it's locked!" he explained. The man pressed another button. Alex's door unlocked. "Oh, here we g-" A short hissing noise pierced the air. Alex stopped and felt his upper arm. He made out the familiar shape of a tranquilizer dart and passed out.

"Alex!" Marty rushed over to his friend.

"Nous avons fini?" the man asked.

"Oui," the truck driver answered. They got back into the truck and drove off, narrowly missing the penguin's heads. The truck soon disappeared out of sight.

Marty removed the dart from Alex's shoulders, "Man, they're going to kill you with these things," he said to the sleeping lion.

Distressed, Julien climbed out from the fur, "One of these fays, they're going to hit me!"

Melman blinked. He could see better now. But what he saw wasn't brick enclosures and green grass. Instead, tall yellow grass as far as the eye could see, "Where are we?"

Skipper stepped forward, "We're not in New York, that's for sure." The other animals gasped.

"What? We have to be in New York! Back on the dock we saw buildings!" Gloria tried to explain.

"Every city has buildings, doll," Skipper rebutted. He looked around. No buildings remained in sight. Just grass and a few thin trees scattered about, "Does anyone have any clues to where we are?"

Slowly, Private stepped forward.

Skipper nodded at him, "Yes, Private?"

He took a breath. "When we were getting on the truck, I saw something."

"And, what did you see?"

"I saw a sign. It said 'Mombasa' on it," he told them.

Skipper closed his eyes and sighed. "Mombasa... the docking capital of Kenya..."