Chapter 3 - A Trap
Diggs' POV
Butch and I were now in Director Lou's office after we received a tip to the location of Mr. Tinkles' and Kitty Galore's hideout. "It could be a trap, Director", Butch said, "we don't know where the message came from".
"We should still check it out just to make sure", Director Lou replied, "as of right now, it's the only lead we've got".
"We'll gather a few more agents then", I said.
"Can I help?", a female voice behind us asked. Butch and I turned around to see Catherine standing there. "Catherine?", I asked, "what are you doing here?".
"I am the ambassador from M.E.O.W.S.", Catherine answered, "I overheard that you were given the location of Mr. Tinkles' and Kitty Galore's hideout, I would like to volunteer myself to help apprehend them if the tip turns out to be true".
Butch and I turned towards Director Lou to see what he had to say, "it's your team", he said, "you pick who you believe would be best".
"You're in", Butch and I said in unison.
"Great", Catherine replied, "when do we leave?".
"As soon as we find a few others who will help us", Butch answered.
ONE HOUR LATER
Catherine, Butch, and I, had gathered a few other agents and we were now sneaking towards the location of Mr. Tinkles' and Kitty Galore's hideout. It looked to be an abandoned warehouse, but the entire roof was blown away, and I could barely make out a christmas tree logo on the front. "What's the plan?", I asked Butch, once we got into position.
"We have six agents, including yourself and I", Butch said, "You and I will go in through the main entrance and draw Mr. Tinkles' and Kitty Galore's attention to us, Catherine and another agent will sneak to the west side of the building, while the other two agents sneak around to the east side".
"What are we supposed to do once we're in position?", Catherine asked.
"Capture Mr. Tinkles and Kitty Galore", Butch answered, "preferably before they kill us".
"What makes you think that they'll be focused on you two?", Catherine asked.
"I helped bring in Mr. Tinkles", Butch explained, "and Diggs helped bring in Kitty Galore, so they hate us".
"And we're dogs too, so…", I added, "they hate us even more because of that".
"Alright, but be safe", Catherine said, "I don't want to explain to the kittens why their Uncle Diggs isn't coming home".
Catherine and the other three agents left and we started creeping towards the main entrance. "Uncle Diggs?", Butch asked.
"Long story", I said, "didn't I ever tell you about it though?".
"I think I would've remembered you being an uncle to a litter of kittens", Butch said.
"Oh, well, remind me to tell you later", I replied, then we continued making our way towards the main doors. We hid behind the doors and tried to listen for any movement on the inside. "It's quiet", Butch said, "almost too quiet".
"You ready?", I asked.
Butch nodded, then we kicked open the doors and walked inside, keeping an eye out for anything.
Mark's POV
My fake message had worked, five agents from D.O.G.S. and one agent from M.E.O.W.S. had arrived and two of them had just come through the main doors. I snuck around to the east side of the building and came across two of the agents from D.O.G.S., "now…", I said, getting their attention, "we can do this the easy way or the hard way".
"Who are you?", one of them asked.
"Who I am is not important right now", I said.
"Fine then, whoever you are, this is restricted business", the other agent said, as he approached me, "so, I'm going to ask you to lea-".
As quick as lightning, I grabbed his neck in my jaws, then snapped it and the agent fell to the ground dead. The first agent stared at me with shock and fear, "h-how did you do that so fast?", he stuttered.
I smiled wickedly, "simple", I said, then snapped his own neck before he could blink, "just like that".
Butch's POV
Diggs and I were now standing in the middle of the empty warehouse, everything had been cleared out since Lou and I were here last. "Well, well, well", Mr. Tinkles' voice cackled from above, "did you miss me?".
"You were doing just fine in the tropics, Tinkles!", I shouted, "what made you come back?!".
"It's Mr. Tinkles", Mr. Tinkles snapped, "and to answer your question, I had a little convincing from a third party".
"Come out and show yourself!", Diggs shouted.
We heard distinct whispering and the sound of claws raking against wood, and suddenly we saw Mr. Tinkles flying down from the rafters, screaming. He landed with a painful thud, "ow", he muttered, then we heard a zipline coming from the rafters and looked up to see Kitty Galore descending towards us.
"Glad you could make it", Kitty Galore said, as she landed on the floor, "we didn't think you were going to come".
'This was a trap', I thought to myself.
Catherine's POV
My partner and I were in position and we just saw Mr. Tinkles and Kitty Galore descend from the rafters, or more accurately, Kitty Galore kick Mr. Tinkles down, then descend to the floor. Butch and Diggs were standing in front of Mr. Tinkles and Kitty Galore, when I noticed a white husky slowly approaching them. "Who's that?", I asked.
The D.O.G.S. agent studied the white husky and I noticed him pale, "something wrong?", I asked.
"We need to get them out of there", he answered, "now".
Butch's POV
I heard pawsteps behind me and stole a glance to see a white husky standing behind us. "Diggs?", I asked, getting his attention, "I think we need to get out of here".
"It's two on two and we're the larger ones", Diggs said, "we can take them".
"You forgot to look behind you", I replied.
Diggs turned around and saw the white husky, "uhh, maybe you're right", he said.
"Most don't even know who I am", the white husky said, "but if I had to take a guess, you probably know who I am, or at least what I'm capable of, because I must've accidentally left someone alive at that prison and they described me".
Diggs and I widened our eyes in shock, 'well, so much for him being all brawn and no brain', I thought. I glanced up and I saw Catherine and the other D.O.G.S. agent sneaking through the rafters.
Mark's POV
I signalled to Mr. Tinkles' and Kitty Galore to attack and I watched as the two D.O.G.S. agents fought for their lives against the two crazy cats. Suddenly, the M.E.O.W.S. agent and the other D.O.G.S. agent dropped down from the rafters. The M.E.O.W.S. agent joined in the fight against Mr. Tinkles and Kitty Galore, while the third D.O.G.S. agent faced me. "You are either very brave or very stupid, if you think you can face me", I growled.
"You don't remember me, do you?", the agent asked.
"I don't know", I said, "have I threatened you before?".
Mr. Tinkles and Kitty Galore had fled and the other three agents were facing me as well, 'cowards', I thought to myself.
"You three get out of here!", the agent in front of me shouted, "you go after Mr. Tinkles and Kitty Galore".
"You don't give the orders around here", one of the other D.O.G.S. agents said.
"I said, go!", the agent shouted, "I'll deal with Mark here".
The other agents widened their eyes, "we better go after Mr. Tinkles and Kitty Galore", the M.E.O.W.S. agents said, "if they escape, we'll be back to square one".
They left, leaving the agent and I alone, as we circled one another, "you know, this isn't very agent-like", I said, meaning the way we were about to fight.
"I don't care", he replied, "you killed my family and I want my revenge".
"You know you can't win", I said.
"At least I'll be with my family again", he said, then lunged at me.
Diggs' POV
"So, tell me", I said, once we left the warehouse, "what was that all about?".
"He didn't tell me", Catherine answered, "but I would gander that he has a past with 'Mark', I think he said his name was".
Butch nodded, "anyway, where's Mr. Tinkles and Kitty Galore?", he asked.
"They're probably long gone by now", I said, "I think I'll stay and keep watch on this place, we know this is their hideout, so maybe they'll come back".
"Who's to say that they'll even return?", Catherine asked.
"It's at least worth a try", I said.
"Diggs is right", Butch said, "and besides, we should at least have someone here to watch where this 'Mark' goes, he seems to be behind this whole thing".
"What makes you say that?", Catherine asked.
"He single-pawedly broke Mr. Tinkles out of his imprisonment and left none alive", Butch explained, "why would he do that if he didn't have an ulterior motive?".
"Fair point", Catherine said, "we should report to the Director".
"Agreed", Butch said, then he and Catherine left, while I found a good position to watch the warehouse from.
Ashley's POV
I arrived at M.E.O.W.S. and one of their agents greeted me at the entrance. They gave me a story about how Diggs got stuck in the entrance tube on his first visit, thankfully I didn't have the same problem, since I had a more flexible spine. The agent led me to an office, "this is where you'll be for the duration of your visit", she said, "there's a secure link between the computer in this office and D.O.G.S. for when you ever need it".
"Thank you", I replied.
"Anything else you need?", she asked.
I shook my head, "nope, this is good", I answered.
"Well, let me know if you need anything", she said, then walked off. I entered the office, then went to the computer and booted it up. It was a lot smaller than what I was used to, but I quickly figured it out and placed a video call to Skye. The M.E.O.W.S. logo appeared on the screen and shortly after, Skye's face appeared, "Ashley, how's it going at M.E.O.W.S.?", she asked.
"I'm settled in now", I answered, "the cats here seem quite nice, when they're not trying to kill us".
Skye chuckled lightly, then grew a serious expression, "you know what you have to do, Ashley", she said.
"Understood, Skye", I replied, then Skye ended the call. I pulled out a USB stick, which had an algorithm that Skye designed to copy M.E.O.W.S.' files and send them off to Skye's computer at D.O.G.S., then plugged it into the computer. The algorithm immediately began its work and started copying M.E.O.W.S., starting with the smaller ones and gradually working its way up. A progress bar on the screen said it would be six hours until it's finished. I knew that if I was doing it myself manually, it would've taken me more than ten years straight. I chuckled lightly, 'Skye sure knows how to speed things up', I thought to myself.
Director Lou's POV
I was getting ready to go home, since it was almost nighttime and my wife doesn't like it when I get home late, when Butch came in. "Better make it fast", I told him, "I'm just about to leave".
"The tip turned out to be true", Butch said, "but they were waiting for us".
'A trap?', I thought, 'why didn't I see that coming?'.
"Did you at least find Mr. Tinkles and Kitty Galore?", I asked.
"We did", Butch answered, "but we also found Mark".
"Who's Mark?", I asked.
"The white husky that broke Kitty Galore out of prison", Butch answered, "we probably wouldn't have escaped if it wasn't for that agent".
"Which agent?", I asked.
"Apparently one of the agents we took with us had a past with him", Butch explained, "we can only assume that he's dead now...along with the other two".
"Where's Catherine?", I asked.
"She's reporting to Tab Lazenby about what happened", Butch answered.
I sighed, "we lost three agents to that husky", I muttered, "where's Diggs?".
"He's watching their hideout", Butch answered, "specifically to see where Mark goes".
"He better stay out of sight", I said, "I don't want to lose another agent".
"Nor do I, Director", Butch replied.
"Well, I'm going to go home now", I said, "the wife doesn't like it when I'm home late and after the last time, I don't really want to be late again, if there's any developments, let me know".
"Of course, Director", Butch replied, as I left the room, "have a good night".
