Chapter 40: Gas

The night for Judy and Nick was quiet considering what had been going on for the last few days. They were too tired and busy to have any time to themselves, mainly due to the fact that they were called to the station extremely early and had no moment of rest, they had to be on alert all the time. Judy was additionally tired of thinking about Caroline and about the fact that she might take Nick away from her. Although the fox reassured her, she continued to have suspicions about her, but after last night's conversation she decided not to be jealous or at least not to show it in public so as not to be perceived negatively. She understood the fact that she was Nick's former girlfriend, but the sight of her, her pretty snow white smile made her herself unsure if she could trust Nick, but she was doing it. No matter what he might say Judy believed him, she herself didn't know if it was because of his character and looks or the skill of persuasion the fox had in him since their first meeting. It was hard to really make that clear.

The next day, as Nick and Judy drove towards the station, the fox recounted exactly what had happened during his meeting with Caroline. Every time the doe heard her name she felt a little tipsy, but she didn't show it, just continued to listen with great attention to what her boyfriend had to say about it.

"So some fox walks around talking to guests and then just leaves like that? Quite strange...restaurant security doesn't react?" Asked Judy after listening to Nick's story.

"Well, apparently not...anyway, there's no reason to stop him. He's not behaving very...suspiciously. Yes, walking between guests is not something every customer does, but it's not grounds for arrest," Nick replied. Judy nodded with a movement of her head. She wondered in her mind how they could catch a guest that most likely already knew they were looking for him? They'd had one chance, which apparently hadn't been taken.

"We agreed yesterday that we would hide near the restaurant and when he entered we would step in and stop him," Nick added.

"How can you be sure he will? After what you guys did he might not come in anymore..." Pointed out Judy.

"We have to try Judy...we have to try" sighed Nick heavily.

On reaching the police station, Commander Bogo was waiting as always in his office where he spent most of his day. James, the young aspirant indicated his location as always being behind his desk, since Clawhauser has been on leave the main hall has become suspiciously quiet and peaceful. There was always the sound of crushed petals when walking down this corridor, or the high-pitched voice of a cheetah telling his jokes to passing police officers. That was missing now, and everyone seemed to have managed to take notice.

"When will Clawhauser be back?" Asked Nick as he approached James, who was tapping away at his keyboard as he did every day. He raised his eyes lazily and looked at the fox.

"He should be here tomorrow. I really don't understand how you can work like this," James replied. He took a sip of coffee then returned to his work.

'Good thing Clawhauser will be back soon' thought Nick. He didn't have anything against the young man, but he seemed a little...stiff. Nothing personal, but James seemed like someone who preferred to be alone.

When Nick and Judy knocked on the door of the commandant's office, they heard an invitation to enter. The commandant was already waiting in the office, holding two small suitcases on his desk, which made the two officers curious at the entrance. Nevertheless, they sat down in their seats listening to what Bogo had to say.

"Listen. Nick knows exactly what happened yesterday and I have some rather important news for you. I had a conversation with the mayor last night, he doesn't like the fact that...you can't see the results of our work"

"Let him give us some time! We've been working on this for days!" Exploded Nick, the commandant showed his hand to calm down, then continued.

"I know how you may feel. But we've decided to enter the reaction action phase. Today, if you see him, you are to catch him and bring him here" The Commander communicated. He slid two black briefcases, which looked quite elegant, towards them.

"Please open them" the commandant asked. Nick and Judy opened the folders and were then stunned by what they saw inside. In the sponge that was inside part of the briefcase was a pistol, a silencer and fox gas. Nick indignantly took out a small vial then set it on the desk top with a bang.

"Nick..." Said Judy quietly, but Nick was in a trance of indignation. Angry fox eyes looked at the commandant, who was calmly surveying the officers.

"What is this? You seriously think he's going to use that?" Nick growled.

"I'm sorry Nick, we received instructions from above that this was to be a successful operation. You have to have it," replied the commander, but Bogo's answer didn't satisfy the fox one bit.

"Listen Nick..."

"No! He won't use it, no way" replied Nick angrily. He remembered the scene where he had noticed a similar spray in Judy, he looked at her with his eyes pointing at the vial. Judy analysed the situation for a moment. She knew that persuading Nick wouldn't help here, the fox could be monstrously stubborn to his point as this time she had no other choice, she also removed the vial from her briefcase placing it on the desk top.

"We can do without the spray, Commander. Please don't worry" Judy communicated calmly. The Commandant looked at Nick's gaze, it was still angry, but now there was a kind of certainty to her decision.

"If you say so...you have to bring him here, alive" Bogo communicated.

"We can do that" replied Judy closing her briefcase. Nick still with fire in his eyes closed his briefcase as well and together with the doe headed for the exit.

"To think I would have to use fox spray! Can you imagine that? A fox would use it on a fox! Paranoia..." Said Nick as they left the office. Judy stoically nodded with a movement of her head, she knew what Nick was feeling at that moment. Although maybe the others didn't think about it seriously, fox spray is something to be humbled by. Granted, after Nick became a police officer it's not used as often, but it's still an effective safety measure in case some fox attacks.

"I know Nick that it upsets you, but not everyone knows that this is a poor way to settle a dispute." Replied Judy calmly, trying to explain to Nick that not everyone can feel it like a fox. Unfortunately, though, anyone who hadn't been in the fox's shoes had no comparison to what a fox could feel. It seemed to actually help because the fox sighed heavily, lowering his eyebrows, then nodded with a movement of his head.

"Yeah...you're probably right. Thanks for taking my side."

"You don't have to thank me...anyway, if I agreed it would show that I'm afraid of you"

"And are you afraid of me?" Asked the fox showing his ironic smile.

"Of your jokes" replied Judy with a quiet giggle poking Nick.

"You're too scared"

"Okay don't worry, let's go hunt for our suspect" replied Judy.

The surroundings of the restaurant did not stand out from yesterday, there were still quite a number of customers who met in the restaurant for their private meetings. In the city the sounds of the strikers were already less and less audible, over the last few days they had managed to stop their attacks and assaults, so that the larger group of strikers had been broken up or neutralised, now only the strongest and most persistent resisted, who sometimes even attacked the police to be able to continue their protest. Those who decided to end their protest actions were treated leniently, they only got a fine and a caution, which was an extremely small punishment for their behaviour. No less, the city was now almost free of clutter and attacks, making even a few entrances to the city open, so it was a good sign for the city, which could slowly breathe its full breath.

The sky had become quite cloudy and it had become quite foggy by the time Nick and Judy were waiting for events to unfold. The winter weather was making its presence known and over the course of sitting in the car, the weather went from being slightly cloudy to drab and gloomy. It even snowed for a while, which was not a good sign for the police officers, it was harder to carry out their duties. The snowdrifts got even bigger and the frost caused the water lying on the road to freeze and it was slippery on the roads.

Nick and Judy were, as planned, sitting in an unmarked black car which was parked outside one of the shops which was literally opposite the restaurant. Its tinted windows meant that the interior of the vehicle could not be seen, making it impossible to see if anyone was actually sitting in it. This meant that they had no more discretion than to sit in the car and watch for the suspect. Thanks to the sketch drawn up by Nick, they both knew what the fox they were looking for looked like, who had escaped for Nick and Caroline under suspicious circumstances a day ago. Their weapons were already waiting for them in their briefcases with silencers applied and magazines ready to fire. It was quite a difficult mission if they were to use guns. There are a lot of civilians in the restaurant and there was no question of injuring any. This was unacceptable and could not be allowed to happen. It wouldn't have been good for civilians or the reputation of the police.

"That's what I'm thinking now and I'm wondering, what do we do with him when we catch him? In the sense, if we catch him, what will he give us ?" Nick asked.

"I think it's simple, we'll try to get as much information out of him as possible. We'll find out why he's doing it, who's mainly responsible for it, what the purpose is and of course where the missing people are" explained Judy. They kept staring at the area around the restaurant, watching everyone who came in. Judy had to back up her drawing to indentify the suspect, the fox thanks to his memory was able to indentify the customer who came inside.

"What if he doesn't say anything? That's a possibility too," Nick asked after a moment's thought.

"I don't know, we'll keep looking...eventually he'll have to say when..." Judy interrupted suddenly when she saw a medium height fox with a sturdy, confident stature and blue eyes at the entrance.

"Is that him?"

"That's him," nodded Nick. The fox walked inside the establishment and as if nothing had happened started a conversation with the guests of the establishment again as he had last time.

"What can he want from them?" Judy asked.

"I don't know, but let's go before he gets away from us again" replied Nick hastily opening the car door. He took the gun in his hand, which he tucked into the waistband of his trousers, then he and Judy headed across the road towards the premises.

"Okay, when we see him, we immediately stop him and take him with us" The fox communicated as they paused for a moment before entering the hall. Judy nodded with a motion of her head at the fox's plan. They both felt a little stress before this task, but there was no time for that. Someone had to do it. After a moment, they opened the door of the venue and headed inside the restaurant.

When they stopped on the dance floor before entering they searched the room with their eyes and found that he was not there!

"Search the tables, I'll search the left side of the room you search the right" Nick communicated, to which Judy agreed. Making her way downstairs to the main part of the hall Judy walked between the occupied tables feeling the foxes gaze on her which was not friendly at the sight of her but she tried not to worry about that, she just wanted to find the suspect. There were quite a lot of guests, the space between them quite small, making it necessary for the doe to apologize several times to the guests so she could move on and even show her badge so the customers would respect her.

At one point the doe's ears were drawn to the sound of something bouncing on the floor, two objects rolled under the tables hiding in them.

"What is that..." Thought Judy startled by the objects. She felt a slight uneasiness, something told her it wasn't something good, but still, she decided to focus on her task and not panic unnecessarily. She decided to check what made the sound in the hall. She walked over to one of the tables so she could see what the object was. As she lifted the tablecloth and looked under the table, her eyes quickly opened wide and she lowered the tablecloth, but it was too late. White smoke filled the room after a few seconds, causing the guests to scream and rise violently from their tables in an attempt to escape, but the thick fog quickly filled the entire dance floor, which became a trap for the customers.

"Nick, don't inhale that! It's a poisonous gas..." Judy shouted, but it was too late. She had inhaled too much of the toxic substance herself, her sensitive nostrils quickly picking up the strong scent, making her weak after only a few seconds and a moment later she fell helplessly to the floor feeling that she was not the only one who had fallen. In the blink of an eye Judy began to have shortness of breath, her eyes involuntarily closing, she saw that in the puff of smoke practically everyone was falling inertly to the floor crying for help. Before Judy lost consciousness she noticed a figure being carried out of the premises.