A Close One

"Great Plan" said Chance as they stood at a bus stop outside the entrance to Megakat Courtlands with Cody next to them. "I thought you'd figured some way to get us a car and keep Cody safe at Callie's house, but oh no, we're going to take the bus. You realise the 53 only goes to the Bayside Bus Station, and we'll have to change there, don't you?"
"I had a thought. What if they're tracing calls to that refinery, to try and catch people trying to connect Xenon? They might have traced it back to Callie's house, in which case, we need to be out of there as soon as possible. We can't risk leaving Cody alone while we go after Xenon."
On hearing mention of Xenon's name Cody squeaked up at them "Xenon... Daddy..."
"What, Xenon is your father?" asked Chance, nonplussed. Cody nodded.
"That's Strange" Jake said, "The file didn't say Xenon had any children. Still, we'll find out more when we get him back."
"But first we've got to get back to the hangar" said Chance, underlining the fact that the bus was now due, but was nowhere to be seen.
As they sat in the roadside shelter (it seemed Megakat Courtlands' residents deserved a decent bus stop), they became aware of approaching sirens. Throwing nervous looks at each other, they moved closer together in an effort to hide Cody. It wasn't long before the source of the sirens was evident. A veritable phalanx of Enforcer patrol cars, armoured vehicles, SWAT vans and Tanks, all augmented by several helicopters overhead, hurtled past and into Megakat Courtlands. The last car to pass, they noticed, was the Commander's special patrol car. The vehicles headed up to Callie's house, which was higher up the hill than most of the rest.
Jake threw an "I told you so" look at Chance, who turned away feeling sheepish. As he did so, he spotted the number 53 approaching from up the road.
"About time" Chance said, standing up and flagging down the bus. They boarded, and Cody excitedly took the front seat on the top deck as the bus pulled out.

---

Steele screeched to a halt outside Callie's house in Commander Feral's car. Many of the troopers in the raid nearly saluted, thinking their commander was back, but they returned to their tasks when they saw Steele emerge from the vehicle. Steele marched straight over to the paddy wagon parked outside the house and flung the back doors open, expecting to see two arrested mechanics and the kid inside. He was positively apoplectic with rage when he found the vehicle empty, and rounded on a sergeant who was passing.
"What is the meaning of this?" Steele bellowed, "Why are there not prisoners in custody? I send you to do a simple job you bunch of..." but Steele was cut off before he could finish his expletive.
"They weren't here" announced the acting-Lieutenant, walking over to Steele.
"They made the bloody call to the bloody refinery from this bloody house you bloody cretin! Of course they were here" Steele replied.
"Use of the past tense, Steele. 'Were' here. As in, 'were here before, but are not here now'. If you had acted sooner then perhaps we might have apprehended the suspects" the Lieutenant said, smug that he could talk this way to the arrogant little tosspot. Lieutenant Felina Feral herself had appointed him to the post, and had given instructions that he not be removed from it, so Steele had little recourse against him.
Steele looked as if he were about to launch another tirade, but instead he stalked into the house, where the three troopers from earlier were consulting the readout from a Geiger Counter-type device.
"Well? What does it say?" Steele barked at them impatiently, his joust with the Lieutenant having bruised his ego somewhat.
"They were here" the leading trooper told him "we've picked up traces of Katalyst 101, its faint, but if we get a chopper with one of these fitted in the air, we could use the greasy isotopes emitted by that staff to track it. That is, if they've not dumped it."
"No, they've not dumped it, that kid was raised with the thing, he'd never let it go voluntarily" the second trooper said.
"Look, its moot anyway sir, we can't track it over long distances, the isotopes only remain greasy for a matter of ten minutes or so before they dissipate, unless we have some idea where to search for it, it's useless" added the third trooper.
Steele was silent for a moment, before kicking the glass coffee table over in a fit of rage. It didn't smash, so Steele brought a side lamp crashing down on top of it, which did shatter the glass. Satisfied, Steele wondered over to the window, which looked down to the road.
"I wonder how they got away?" one of the troopers said.
Steele ignored the question staring out of the window. He watched as a number 53 bus from the Bayside Terminal pulled up outside the Courtlands and disgorged a group of kats from it.
"Damn it!" Steele yelled as the bus pulled off towards Megakat Biochemical. He slammed his fist down on the windowsill, sending a spider web of cracks scurrying across it. "The bloody bus again! That's how they got out!" he shouted, grabbing the Geiger counter from the troopers and running down to the road.
When he reached the bus stop, he activated the machine and consulted the readout. Sure enough, it showed they had been there.
"Right, where could they have gone? Where do the buses go?" Steele demanded of the troopers, who had followed him.
One went over to the bus stop, and consulted the timetable. "The only bus through here is the 53, goes to Megakat Biochemical that way, and to the Bayside Bus Station that way" he said, gesturing in each direction.
"Right, get a chopper down to the bus station with this thing, and track it" Steele ordered. As the troopers ran back to where the helicopter had landed, Steele grabbed the leader's arm "don't fail me again" he said.