Chapter 10

"What is that?" Judy quickly played dumb, but Mr. Big must have seen through her attempt and shook his head at her.

"My child, your dishonesty is quite rude and insulting to a shrew of my age."

"We're sorry, sir!" Nick wiggled in the ropes. "But we have no idea what you're talking about."

"Well..." The shrew sighed frustratingly. "If you have nothing to say, then I have one request..." His evil grin returned to his face. "Say hello to my late Grandmama!" He turned to Raymond. "Lower 'em!"

Judy and Nick struggled and squirmed as Raymond lowered them more and more. The dry ice was centimeters from their faces at that point, and they cautiously shut their eyes tightly.

"Is this Kingzoo worth burns and eventual death?" The shrew condescendingly questioned. "Is it truly worth dying for? Whatever they pay you I can pay double!" His tone turned more threatening and aggressive. "What is it?!"

"We know nothing!" Nick lied loudly, clutching his wife's paw.

"Let us go!" Judy squeezed Nick's paw so hard that both of theirs were red. This was it.

They suddenly stopped. No gas burned them. No fall startled them. No shrew continued taunting them. Judy opened one eye at Raymond and saw the polar bear... smirking.

Then, they heard a clap. Then another. Soon, they heard someone clapping enthusiastically. Nick opened his eyes and looked up. There, beside Mr. Big's table, was Bogo, clapping and smirking at the pair. He wore a cast. He nodded at Raymond, and the polar bear gently set them on safe ground and untied them.

"Congratulations, agents." Bogo gave them a rare, fatherly smile. "You passed. I cannot express how proud I am and how proud Chris Wilde and Bonnie Hopps would have been."

xxx

"What happened, Chief?"

"Do not worry, Mr. Wilde. I'll explain everything later."

They followed Bogo to McHorn's tech room. One screen showed Mr. Big interrogating the panicky Leo and Felicia. Both Judy and Nick shared amused looks.

"I see they're taking their test," Judy noted, gesturing to the screen. Bogo's smirk widened.

"Gazelle and Clauwhauser passed theirs," Bogo explained. "I thought you two wanted to see these two." The three of them watched Felicia and Leo fail the test. The agent who recruited them, a warthog named Carl, barked at them as they left.

"I can't believe you two! How could you? You both were so close! I'm telling your father about this, Leonardo!"

The grumbling lion suddenly dropped to the ground and groveled. "No, no, NO! Please don't tell him!"

Felicia just rolled her eyes and angrily slapped Kevin, who had secretly checked her out. "My eyes are up here, loser! Let's go, Leo!" She was the first to leave. Carl, with Leo clinging to his back legs, trailed after her.

"Don't!" Leo whined. "Don't! Don't! Don't!"

xxx

A few hours later, McHorn called the top four and their mentors to his office.

"Angelica." He politely nodded to the leopard who had recruited Gazelle and Benny. "Bogo." He nodded to him as well. "Your recruits have performed exceptionally well. But, I have noticed their flaws concering missions, and I believe each pair should have a different mission that focuses on these faults.

Gazelle and Benjamin? You both take action and can improvise under pressure wonderfully, but you need to focus more on research and seeking information pragmatically and efficiently. An agent heavily relies on his or her research. You will work with Angelica and me today. We need to find more information about our newest target.

Judith and Nick? You do the opposite: focus on the facts and tend to ignore the action and the need for improvisation. With Bogo, you will pose as a singer, bodyguard, and manager." He turned to his computer and, after a bit of typing, showed them a picture of a smiling sheep: the former assistant mayor Dawn Bellwether.

"This is our target. The singer's name is Josie. A bunny." He nodded to Judy. "We sent a request, and she has invited you three to a lovely dinner tonight at her mansion nearby." He gave them all a stern glance. "Josie generously agreed to donate a billion dollars for her cause."

Judy cocked her head. The former assistant mayor was behind all this?

"What cause?"

McHorn typed some more, and a video appeared and played on the screen. In the video, Bogo was questioning a black panther when suddenly the panther brutally attacked him and injured his arm. Luckily, Bogo sedated him before the panther could escape or hurt him more.

"Bogo? I've done some research myself. Your cult idea was correct."

"And this sheep and her tiger are the leaders of it?" Nick asked incredulously. "But she's just a nice old sheep, the kind with a gigantic home."

"She will be the leader. That's why she has been kidnapping all these well-known and famous animals, mostly prey animals. The panther is a professor named Mr. Manchas."

"But she's only advertising her blueberries -" Nick paused in mid sentence. "Wait a minute... Dawn's Blues... The blueberries Bogo had..." He pointed to the video. "The blueberries...

Benny's jaw dropped. "They're making the chosen go savage?!"

"We don't know her whole plan yet," McHorn answered impatiently. "What we do know is that her product is making animals go savage. Maybe they're just predators..." Nick growled to himself, and Judy took his paw. "Maybe all animals are in danger. That's why I need you and your recruits, Angelica, to come with me. My notes are in the tech room, and there are seats for all of you." And with that, McHorn left for his tech room. Angelica, Benny, and Gazelle followed him.

Bogo faced Judy and Nick with a grim look. "Okay, agents. You heard him. Let's get ready for dinner."

xxx

"Josie!" Bellwether squealed and kissed Judy's cheeks. "You're even cuter in person!"

Judy forced a laugh and patted the sheep's hooves. "Thank you for inviting us." They were inside the dining room with Nick and Bogo, waiting for Slayer to finish setting the table.

"It's the least I can do for such a generous bunny like yourself. You know..." Bellwether leaned closer to Judy and giggled. "Us little guys gotta stick together."

"Like glue," Judy joked, evoking a laugh from Bellwether.

"That's a good one!" She finally spared a glance at Nick and Bogo. "And who are your friends?"

Bogo walked up to Bellwether, knelt to her level, and shook her hoof. "Steve Smith. Manager." Nick instinctively wrapped an arm around Judy's shoulders and nodded.

"And I'm Josie's bodyguard, Peter Foxtrot."

Bellwether cocked her head. "Foxtrot, huh? Gosh, I wish Slayer was half as protective as you!"

Earning a stern look from Judy, Nick put some distance between Judy and him and coughed softly. "Well, I don't earn two hundred bucks a day to be lazy, do I?"

"Ignore him," Judy groaned. "He's such a child sometimes. His wife and I agree."

Bellwether chortled dramatically again, making even Bogo's eye twitch. Luckily, Slayer arrived just in time with their dinner.

"Do sit!" Bellwether insisted. "We're having blueberry pie tonight!"

xxx

For most of their stay, the dinner flew by smoothly. Bellwether and her assistant Slayer did not seem to suspect anything, and Bogo had tested everything and secretly informed them that nothing was poisoned. Nick was even tempted to have some blueberry pie, but Judy suggested otherwise.

"Once you start you can't stop," she reminded him sofltly. "And neither can I." Thus, they skipped dessert and let Bogo wolf down a piece of pie. (That did not mean Nick could not glare at Bogo.)

But once they finished dessert, Bellwether brought up something unnerving.

"Ever watch spy movies, Mr. Smith?" Bogo almost choked on his red wine, while Judy quietly clutched her armrest and Nick gave Judy an anxious look.

Bogo composed himself, instantly, however, and answered her question calmly. "Not really, Ms. Bellwether. They're pretty overrated if you ask me." Judy and Nick nodded.

Bellwether sipped her drink. "That was my dream job... being a spy."

"I prefer the villains, actually." Nick piped up nervously. "They're more interesting."

Both Bellwether and Slayer eyed him. "Really, Mr. Foxtrot?" His name rolled off her tongue almost mockingly. She took another gulp of her wine and swiveled it.

"Well, it's a shame we had to grow up. Isn't it?"

xxx

"Well?" Bellwether shut the door and turned to Slayer, who looked possessed with bloodlust.

"Rest for now. We'll find their little organization tomorrow." Bellwether watched the trio leave through her window. "Unfortunately, the bunny and fox did not eat the tracking berries, but the buffalo did. That's good enough."

xxx

"Well?" Bogo turned to the curious bunny and fox.

"Well, nothing. I think we did okay. We'll just gather our assumptions and present them to McHorn." He shrugged languidly. "That's all we can do."

Once they were in the car, Judy turned to Nick. "Foxtrot? Really?"

"Oh, like you could have thought of anything better!"

xxx

McHorn asked for Judy and Nick the following day. They found him sitting on the sofa of his room and drinking a cup of coffee. He nodded for them to sit down at the twin chairs beside him.

"Good morning." The returned the greeting with confident grins. Recruitment had to be around the corner.

McHorn extracted a gun from his jean pocket and aimed at Nick. The poor fox gulped and raised his paws. Judy stared at McHorn in shock. But then, the rhino chuckled and gave the gun to Nick.

His smile was replaced by a frown. "Shoot her." He gestured to Judy.