Chapter 7: Schemes

As they flew across the city, Gadget was curious about Chip's thoughtful, slightly worried expression. "Chip, darling, what's up? Anything wrong about this case?"

"More than you expect, Gadget. More than you expect. It disturbs me to no end."

"What disturbs you, Chip? Please tell me, don't keep it to yourself."

"For a start, this isn't a usual way for us to get a case. Allan isn't even involved in it. So why would he come and have us track down his brother?"

Tammy supposed, "Maybe he's doing it for fun. To pull a prank on him."

"Don't think so," Chip denied. "Francis is a crook. Allan knows that, and now he knows that we know it, too. Besides, spying after one's brother for some twenty years and then sending us after him is an awful idea for a practical joke. I should know it after all the practical jokes Dale and I have pulled on each other over the years. This is way beyond what I'd call funny."

"What is it then?" LaWahini wondered. "Revenge?"

"That's far more likely, LaWahini. I can imagine how Francis might have done something to Allan sometime in the past. Or Allan is simply ticked off about being the only honest of three brothers." Chip stared ahead into the Rangerwing's flight direction. "Now he's using us as an instrument to pay everything back. And he was lucky enough to catch us in this case, so we haven't got a choice of whether or not to play along in his game. We've promised to bring the gems back." He leaned back on the co-pilot's seat. "He caught us in this weird case. He caught us, and this bugs me even more."

Gadget did not quite understand. "So he caught us, okay, but how does that bug you?"

"He fooled us all into his dirty little game. He fooled me into his game, me who should've known better. We could've had it so easy. We could've snagged the gems back right away and brought them back to Roy Clutchcoin. We were so close to them! But no, we didn't. We followed Allan's plan, and now we have to chase them all the way to Las Vegas—and even then we still have to find them."

"Chip." Gadget laid a hand on his arm. "Being a Rescue Ranger doesn't always mean going the easy way. This you should know well, too, you were one of the first two Rangers. And don't worry about him tricking us. It's not like he has lured us into a trap."

"What makes you so sure there's not a trap waiting for us in Vegas?" Chip asked with a much firmer voice. "Gadget, are you protecting him? Although I could understand if you did."

"What do you mean, Chip?"

"C'mon, don't tell me you haven't noticed the way he looked at you."

"Golly, Chip, you're jealous!"

"Of course I'm jealous, Gadget! I've fought for you for 18 years, I've kept Dale at a distance which wasn't easy and didn't always work, I've taken you to 500 dates and tried to tell you how I felt, I've spent sleepless nights after so many dates on which I didn't tell you, do you believe I let that bloke snag you away from me after all that effort?"

"Chip, calm down, please." Gadget let her hand slide forward and took Chip's hand in a soft, gentle grip. "Chip, I love you, and you know that. I love you at least as much as you love me. And I've struggled for telling you about my feelings and finding out about yours as much as you did. Not all that long, but I did, and it wasn't easy for me either. I promise you that nothing and nobody will ever come between us."

These kind words brought a smile of both relief and affection into Chip's face. Still holding the bottle cap yoke with one hand, Gadget leaned over and kissed him. The three passengers on the back seat watched them, and Sparky and LaWahini secretly exchanged glances.

"I'm sure this wasn't our only encounter with Allan Capone these days, though," Chip said. "I really wonder what he's up to now."

Allan was on his way back home. "This is going ahead surprisingly well," he said to himself. "These Rangers are better than their reputation. So eager for a good case, and thus so easy to control. With their assistance, I'll finally make the good victorious over the evil. But if they think they've seen me for the last time, they'd better reconsider. For I'm going to Vegas, too, to make sure that they, well, solve their case. Yes, and to spend some time with a certain mouse in lavender." He turned back to where he came from. "Sweet dreams, Francis. Your next one will be a nightmare."

Francis woke up in a gloomy alley. He felt woozy from whatever he had been knocked out with, figuring he had certainly been knocked out. He felt chilly from lying there in his underwear, discovering most of his clothes piled up next to him. And he was all alone, the mouse in red was nowhere in sight. "What's going on here?" Slowly, the idea came up in his mind that this gorgeous mouse was the same as the one he met almost two decades ago, shortly before the human he worked for went to jail after her friends had played their super-spy game. He asked himself what made her so young, given that was the case, since cosmetic surgery was unknown in the rodent society.

He stood up and put on his clothes, wondering what had happened while he was unconscious, and if his two goons were still where he left them. And indeed, they were there as he found out when he returned to the sidewalk. He had no clue what time it was as it had already been fairly dark when he met that mouse. But the faith of these two rats amazed him ever and ever again.

"What was your date like?" Louie asked as soon as he and Moe spotted him.

"Date? What date?"

"But you said yourself you were going on a date with the mouse in red!"

'Louie and Moe thought they had seen me while I was out cold. I was in my underwear when I woke up.' Slowly, Francis began to realize that someone must have taken his place. "Okayyyy... and what did I say and do before that?"

"Well," Louie explained, "you came with this diamond, you said the mouse in red gave it to you, and we gave it to the human." And Moe wondered, "Why, have you lost your memory on your date?"

"There was no date! The date was a fraud! I was knocked out, I believe it was those Rescue Rangers who did that, and someone pretended he was me! Where's the human?"

"He's on his way to Las Vegas with the stones."

"Wait. You wanna tell me that someone that looked like me came and completed my plan in my place?"

"Um... yes, I think..."

On the one hand, Francis thought, he should not have a reason to worry. After all, the missing diamond had found its way back into the collection, and if that other rat had resembled him so perfectly, the human hadn't been able to tell them from each other. On the other hand, it wasn't him, and whoever it was instead, he must have had a reason for doing that. Especially if the Rescue Rangers were behind it.

The remaining question was who that rat was. From his earlier encounters with the Rangers, he still remembered there was no rat in their team, at least none that had any resemblance to him. So he went through all rodents he remembered who could be mistaken as him by a human as well as by two retarded goons, and who would fit into his clothes. 'Rupert? Nah, if he ever got a diamond into his fingers, he'd never let it go. He'd rather try to get the other gems, too. Which only leaves...' "Allan!" he finally shouted out. "This so sounds like you. Whatever you're trying to achieve, you won't succeed, and you'll pay for what you've done so far, little brother. C'mon, guys." He motioned his henchmen to follow him.

"Where are we going, Francis?"

"We're paying my little brother Allan a little visit. I know where he's living, unfortunately... for him."

Led by Francis, the group of three made its way through the city, heading for the dwelling-place of who was regarded as the traitor of the family. Alleys and courtyards, in some of which garbage piled up and served as living-places and supplies for mostly mice and rats, changed with brightly-lit streets and places lined by office buildings and shopping malls almost entirely devoid of human life. In one of the latter sorts of street, stopping at the side of a street and waiting for a chance to cross it rather safely, they noticed a shadow covering them. They turned around and saw a tomcat of enormous dimensions, accompanied by four animals they had seen before.

"Why," Fat Cat almost purred, "who do we have here?"

Francis tried to convince himself that he respected, but did not fear the tabby gangster. "What do you want, Fat Cat?"

"Well, when you came to visit me earlier today, you were so kind and mentioned a number of gems. Now allow me to be so kind," Fat Cat grasped the rat by his collar and pulled him up, "and ask you where they are!" He pressed the tip of a claw under Francis' throat. "Otherwise..."

Francis forced a gulp past the claw. He had no other choice than telling Fat Cat. "I don't know where they are now."

"Wrong answer, rat!"

"They're somewhere on their way to Las Vegas! They shall arrive tomorrow! There, that's all I know, is it sufficient information for you?"

"Las Vegas? As in Las Vegas, Nevada? The gamblers' paradise in the desert? Is that the truth, or are you trying to get me out of town?"

"I swear it is the truth!"

Fat Cat glared at Francis for a few seconds, then simply dropped him onto the pavement. His face brightened. "I believe you. But only because I love the thought of seeing Las Vegas. And maybe getting one or two bits of inspiration for my own casino." He spotted a large public transit vehicle approach. "Oh, and how convenient, there's a bus coming that goes directly to the JFK airport." He and his gang ran across the street and jumped under the bus. As he clung to its underframe, he waved at the three rats and sang loudly, "Viva Las Vegas!" It wasn't quite the sort of ride he felt he deserved, not even closely, but it brought him closer to where he desired to go, and quickly so.

The rats watched them disappear, and Francis did so with not little concern. "Now they're on their way to Vegas... to steal the gems, I'm sure..."

"What shall we do now, Francis?"

"Well, for a start, we must do something. This rotten cat is certainly able to ruin the entire deal, and the human might very well end up getting busted and sent to a prison where we can't reach him. No, we need to fly to Vegas, too, and make sure they won't get the stones." Francis waved for a group of pigeons to land.

"But can we fly to Las Vegas on pigeons?" Moe asked.

"Of course not, you imbecile! The pigeons will get us to our flight."

"You want to catch the same plane as Fat Cat? Won't that be dangerous?"

"That won't only be dangerous, it'll also take too much time as the next direct flight will go early tomorrow morning. No, we'll take a late flight to the West, change planes, and take an even earlier flight to Vegas from where we end up tonight."

"And what if we meet Fat Cat at the airport?"

"In case you didn't know yet, this city has got more than one airport."

The pigeons landed and offered their services to the three rats. "Good evening," one of them said politely, "you want us to take you somewhere?"

"Yes," Francis answered as he boarded the pigeon, "get us to the LaGuardia airport."