John Reese (Person of Interest)
20:47 o'clock, Hopps-Wilde's apartment (work room)
"The caller ID identified the mobile number of Evelin Hopps in Bunnyburrow, so he used his victim's device. No GPS data available, but the cell-tower triangulation is still going-on, done in ten minutes! Right now trying to access the device via remote commands, but it seems that the batteries were removed" Bradley announced while Marki was still on the radio. In parallel he identified the account number being related to a foreign bank in the Caribbean. "Samaritan will need about an hour to lodge itself into the banking servers, creating the virtual transfers will take additional ten minutes".
"Two mobile task forces are on standby in about five minutes, also a helicopter with a thermal imaging camera is ready for operation. As soon as we have an approximate location from the cellphone, team alpha is send out to comb the district" Marki explained.
Nick was still sitting on the floor in their bedroom, quietly listening to the voices outside of the room. He was doubting that the first tac-team would produce any results: The kidnapper would not have used the phone at the same location he was keeping hold of Evelin. But even when: A location by triangulating the signal from the cell-towers would produce a radius of several hundred meters and they had no clue for what they are searching. An apartment building? An old factory or warehouse? Some kind of basement? The thermal imaging camera was of no use, too, unless there is nothing but Evelin and the kidnapper in the whole area, maybe deep in the woods in a cottage. But there was no clue suggesting something like this.
And with the banking tracer… the kidnapper could be accessing the account from a totally different location again, maybe even sitting in a Starpaws drinking some coffee while checking the account balance regularly. Even if the tac-team would be able to catch him, they still had no idea where Evelin would be. And interrogating him could take hours, if he (or she) has a good lawyer probably with even no result.
Nick's stomach was convulsing – he just couldn't see how this whole operation could end in a positive way for his friend and sister-in-law. And paying the kidnapper? Nick already calculated several times their savings, possible credits and people he could ask for a loan – but a quarter million Zollars was way too much. Except… the new thought he got caused even more pain in his stomach: Asking Mister Big for help. But even with Judy being the godmother of his grandchild, how should they ever pay him back? As being ZPD officers the fox could imagine what the Mafia don would demand in return. They would be completely and utterly at his mercy, nothing he could consider seriously.
But then, he saw Evelin's beautiful face again – nothing too hard to imagine, as he just had to raise his head to look at sleeping Judy. It was a rogue image when he thought about the younger sister, maybe she was just now being tortured or even worse. The awkwardness was paralyzing him and he could hardly breathe, the panic slowly choking on him.
"Sir, I've got a location via triangulation for the phone call. It was located in the Canal District, near the Kapok Street cornering the Coconut Avenue, in a radius of four city blocks" Bradley said to Marki, who immediately grabbed his radio again.
"Operational command for Tac-Team Alpha, 11-98 Canal District, code 11, over!"
"Tac-Team Alpha for Operational command, confirming code 11. ETA in twelve minutes. Over and out!"
Marki turned to Bradley again: "Send all tactical information including street and underground maps to our channel and order two untagged operational vehicles to the helicopter airfield in the Canal District."
"Sending information now on our secure channel, access code is '10-Brake-Alpha'. The car pool at the CD airfield reports two untagged vehicles are on standby for Team Alpha."
"Okay, I will drive to the HQ and meet with Tac-Team Bravo, how much time is left until the banking tracer is ready?"
"Thirty-Six minutes left, the virtual transfers are already prepared" Bradley said after checking a few applications on his notebook. "But we have to wait for someone accessing the banking account to get their location data".
"I know, but I'm counting on the impatience of our kidnapper and that he is checking the balance regularly" Marki was nearly out of the door when he paused for a moment and turned his head back to Bradley: "And keep an eye on Wilde, I don't want him to put his oar in on the operation!"
When Marki finally left the apartment, slamming the door shut, Bradley noticed that Nick was standing in the doorframe that's leading to their bedroom. "Don't take it personal, Nick" he said with a soft smile. "Marki may seem to be rough, but he is one of our bests".
"He's behaving like a bull in a china shop" Nick muttered quietly. He poured some water into a glass and knocked it back. "I worked already several times with Marki, but since the bombings he's treating me different. And now he even stunned a helpless victim only because he didn't want to bother with him anymore? That was totally unneeded and excessive, I don't know what to make of this, Brad". The fox sat down beside the jaguar with a sigh. He and Bradley got to be friends half a year ago when Nick worked in his forensic department for an advanced training.
"Marki never was a convivial mammal. And maybe he was acting somewhat impulsively when he stunned that rabbit. But he is one of our best profilers and tacticians". Bradley said while checking the status of the tracer.
"Just be honest with me, Brad… what are our odds to find Evelin on time?"
"I don't know, Nick. I have seriously no idea. You know that Forget-me-not kidnapper better than me, I'm just the IT guy playing with the computer" Bradley sighed. "If he just makes a quick-check for the balance of the account, maybe he will let her go and we can even arrest him based on the tracer-data".
"Would you do this?" Nick asked weary, already knowing the answer.
"No" his colleague answered with a sigh. "I would transfer all the money immediately on different off-shore accounts so nobody can find it, accessing the bank account via an open WiFi connection of a library or something similar".
"Yeah, thought so" Nick let his head fall down onto the table, being a picture of misery.
"Chin up, when the water's up to your neck – like my wife always say to me" the jaguar put a paw on Nick's shoulder, smiling encouraging. "Our best team is working hard to bring Misses Brooks back home".
The computer beeped and a small popup was notifying about a new mail with an 'urgent' flag. Bradley typed in a few commands, then opened the message. "Mh, the results from our forensics lab about the evidences".
"Something enlightening?" Nick asked in a hopeful way, watching his colleague carefully while he was reading the reports.
"There was a greasy residue on the mouflon's strand of fur, some old industry oil. And we found some rust particles together with shingle and clay on your doormat within some big cloven hoofprint. But we have no timing classification for it".
"I cleaned-up the whole apartment, including the doormat, on Friday morning before our guests arrived. We had no big animals or mammals with cloven hoofs as guests since then" Nick said with a more attentive look on his face.
Bradley made some notes, then continued: "The bloodstain is indeed from a female rabbit, hormone level indicating a pregnancy, the DNA is not registered in our database. I guess we can be sure now that it is the blood of Misses Brooks. The short hairs within the blood are light grey and also from a female rabbit. Then we have a 0.5 mg solution of Etorphine – apparently your olfaction was absolutely right that there was a chemical substance on the carpet. We can assume that the poor rabbit was hit by a sedative dart. That dosage made her pass out within seconds, she had really no chance" Brad sighed.
"Wait, that's not the same narcotic substance we are using in our tranquillizer guns, right?"
"No, the ZPD and other official forces are only allowed to use Acepromazine as it's less dangerous and easier to dosage".
"Maybe we can identify all buyers off Etorphine within the last few weeks, that list shouldn't be very long. Also we should check burglary reports from pharmacies and hospitals!" Nick saw a dim ray of hope on the horizon.
Bradley was already typing on his notebook, sending a message to his lab. "Great idea, I have assigned a comprehensive research and cross-check to our experts. See? We are making progress" Bradley tried to cheer Nick up.
"Anything else?" the fox asked eagerly.
"Just a handwriting analysis report for the poem. The cursive writing is identical to the specimen of the previous letters. Just… mh…" the jaguar paused and read a paragraph he only skimmed again.
"Just what, Brad?" Nick was getting edgy.
"There is a small divergence in the type face for the word 'bunny'. It's still the same handwriting, but the lines are more fringed".
"And only for the word 'bunny'?" Nick asked frowning and Bradley nodded. "No idea, doesn't seem to be helpful at all. The best trace seems to be the Etorphine. Keep me informed about everything new, okay?"
"Sure thing, Nick" Bradley checked his banking tracer and sighed – still twelve minutes left until he could start the transfers. "How is Judy, by the way? She really didn't look too well when we arrived. Hope she is okay?"
"The whole pregnancy is very exhausting for her, especially as her broken ribs are still healing. Then she didn't get a lot of sleep this weekend and now the shock with Evelin's kidnapping. It was all too much, but our Doctor said that everything will be okay again and gave her something to relax. She is sleeping right now, it's the best in her current state anyway" Nick sighed. "I will have a look after Sven, call me if you get any news!"
Bradley was already typing on his notebook again to forward the forensic reports to the team and just nodded as an answer.
21:39 o'clock, Hopps-Wilde's apartment (guestroom)
Nick was sitting on a wooden chair in the corner of the guestroom, typing on his phone that was occasional vibrating to notify about new messages. He was trying to get in touch with some of his former contacts and whistleblowers, but didn't received any viable information in the last twenty minutes. Doctor Alisson had injected Sven an antagonist for the narcotic drug and went back to Judy after a short talk with Nick. Evelin's husband didn't tolerate the Acepromazine very well and was still groggy, dozing off frequently.
It knocked on the door and Bradley entered the room. "Team Alpha couldn't find anything suspicious in the Canal District, but will still stick around. Also Samaritan finished its work and the account balance is now showing five incoming money transfers, each with 50.000 Zollars. But no activity, yet".
Nick nodded slowly and asked with a short look to his phone: "Any news about the Etorphine?"
"Not yet, sorry" the jaguar shook his head, then nodded in Sven's direction. "How is he?"
Nick stood up from his chair, putting his paws into his pants pockets, and walked up to the bed, looking down to his brother-in-law with a sad face. "Just like a rabbit that had a terrible day and was stunned. He's only occasionally conscious and then always muttering something about Evelin". He made a short pause, then mumbled: "They don't deserve this. They are just hard working country mammals, settling down to family life and trying to make ends meet".
"Nobody deserves this, Nick. And don't give up, yet. We still have quite some traces to follow and will find your sister-in-law" Bradley said quietly. He wasn't very talented in finding the right words, working with computers was more his bag. With nothing more to say he quietly left the room again, closing the door behind.
Nick walked slouchy to the window. It was already dark outside and a colorful sea of lights composed of lanterns, cars, advertising panels and the illuminations of all the buildings. In the distance the Rainforest District was visible as a dark jungle, the slow motions of all the trees made it appear like a silent ocean. The nightly sky was star-bright, in a few days they would have a new moon. Somewhere out there in this big city was Evelin held captive, probably full of fear, maybe even injured, her life at stake.
"Nick…" Sven was speaking quietly with a toneless voice. Nick closed his eyes and shivered, he was totally able to relate to the rabbit, remembering how weak and helpless he was feeling himself while Judy was sitting in that car with the bomb's timer running down merciless only a few weeks ago. But at least he was able to talk and assist her in that situation. Sven was not even able to do anything to support his wife right now. His low voice beyond all hope when he uttered Nick's name made the fox feel like someone was clawing at his heart with a deathly cold paw.
"Hey, Sven. Good to see you awake again" Nick said turning around with his best deadpan he could pretend. Actually he wasn't glad to see him awake, the rabbit couldn't do anything right now and while asleep he didn't have to suffer from the darkness at least.
"Anything new?" the rabbit asked with this quiet and toneless voice that was giving Nick a chill.
"The kidnapper had called us about one-and-a-half hour ago. Some tactical teams are combing the area from where he called and we faked the money transfer. There is nothing we can do but wait right now" Nick tried to use a warm and comforting voice, holding the rabbits paw tightly in his own. "Maybe Detective Marki was behaving like an insensitive troll when he stunned you, but he is also one of our best tactical officers and will do all in his power to get her back".
Sven just nodded weakly, holding Nick's paw and turned his face to the window, watching the hardly visible sickle moon. "I cannot lose her, Nick. She means the world to me, I don't know what I will do if I lose her".
Nick's phone vibrated silently and the fox starred on the display with a deadpan. He unclasped Sven's paw, made a few steps away from Sven's bed and finally accepted the call: "Wilde".
22:11 o'clock, Hopps-Wilde's apartment (bedroom)
Nick had asked Doctor Alisson to have a look after Sven. He changed his clothes after she left the bedroom as he was still wearing his Red Paws shirt from the game this afternoon. When the fox walked over to Judy's side of the bed he kneeled down and took the paw of his sleeping wife. Her skin was soft and warm, and when he slowly leaned forward he burrowed his nose into Judy's fur, taking a last deep breath of her scent. After a few seconds he reluctantly lifted his head again, stroked with his paw slowly over her cheek and whispered: "I will do all that is necessary to bring her back, I promise carrots…" – closing his eyes he gave her a soft kiss. He lingered over some thoughts, eventually pulled off his wedding ring and put it down on Judy's nightstand beside her alarm clock. When Nick stood up again, he quietly said "I love you" before finally turning around and walking out of the door, not noticing that Judy had opened her eyes somewhat.
"Nick…?" she said still sleepy, but he was already gone and closed the door, leaving her behind alone in the dark room.
22:19 o'clock, Hopps-Wilde's apartment
"You shouldn't leave the house, Nick. Where are you going?" Bradley asked when Nick walked into the hallway and put on his coat.
"I'm just getting something to eat for us, we only had a light lunch today. This is probably going to be a long night. Pizza is okay for you?" Nick smiled lightly.
"Sure thing, good idea. I will call you immediately if I get some news in the meanwhile!"
"Thanks, I'll be back in about twenty minutes, tops" the red fox waved goodbye and quickly left the apartment. When he entered the elevator he took his phone and removed the battery – his contact always was a shady and paranoid mammal and made it clear, that he would only speak with Nick in private. No phone that could be wiretapped, no police and no other tricks. Nick had only worked once with Ferris five years ago; this ferret was giving him the creeps – but also had the best connections on the black market in Zootopia and selling those to whoever could afford it. That also meant, that the former hustler had to make a short detour before he would meet Ferris in the Nocturnal District…
22:31 o'clock, Hopps-Wilde's apartment (bedroom)
Judy was still feeling dizzy, but her body wasn't aching anymore. She fumbled for her alarm clock on the nightstand; it was half past ten, not quite two hours of sleep. It took a while to remember all things that happened this evening in detail, her brain still working slowly like being wrapped up in cotton wool from the drugs. She remembered that she arrived together with Nick and Finnick at their apartment. Sven was waiting in front of it because Evelin wasn't answering the door. There was quite a mess in their living room and they found a ransom note. Henceforth her memories were only vague, remembering only small fragments: Marki's and Wolford's voice, a discussion to call Doctor Alisson, Nick's voice singing her a lullaby, someone talking about a problem with her blood, the soft touch of Nick's paw stroking over her face. But everything seems so unreal: Their birthday party yesterday, the baseball game today and only at the split of a second later everything had changed when they realized that Evelin was supposedly being kidnapped. Just a few weeks ago she escaped death by a narrow margin when someone blew up their police rover – only to discover some days later that she was pregnant from Nick with two kits… it seemed as since she rushed into marriage five weeks ago her complete life was like riding a rollercoaster without safety bars.
Her mind drifted slowly away. Judy's last ride on a rollercoaster was a few months ago on the carrots fair in Bunnyburrow. She had a great weekend with Nick and a few dozens of her siblings. There was still a photo hanging on their fridge door; it showed Evelin and her, screaming with cheers while sitting in the first wagon of the coaster, dashing down after the looping. Judy smiled at the thought of it, but the mental image suddenly changed into something dark and scary, the screams now with panic-stricken fear. Out of a sudden the wagon was hurtling towards a massive brick wall with Nick standing right in front of it. His eyes were blazing in red, baring his teeth and blood all over his body…
Judy woke up again, soaked with sweat and with a racing heart. It took her a few seconds to realize where she was and the details of the nightmare were already fading away. The door of the bedroom was teared open, the bright light from the hallway was blinding – and then someone was clawing at her! She started to flail in panic, screaming for help…
"Breathe deeply and try to calm down again. It's only me, Doctor Kathrin Alisson. You had a nightmare, Judy…" the other rabbit tried to reassure her, gently holding her patients paws. She and Bradley ran into the bedroom after they heard a sudden scream seconds ago. The jaguar stopped in the doorframe with a worried look, but when he was sure that Judy only had a nightmare he backed out tactfully, giving his colleague and friend some privacy in her own bedroom.
Judy was breathing heavily, her eyes wide open, but eventually stopped flailing after she had recognized Doctor Alisson. The older rabbit was still talking soothingly, feeling her pulse on the neck.
"Are you okay again?" Kathrin Alisson asked, feeling Judy's cheeks and forehead with the back of her paw.
Judy nodded slowly, muttering: "Just feeling somewhat giddy…"
"You were hyperventilating, take a slow and deep breath…" Doctor Alisson said slowly, then continued after a few seconds, "…and breathe out again… inhale… and exhale. Good" she smiled softly. "Your pulse is already near to normal again. Do you have any pain right now?"
The younger rabbit was pondering for a moment, "Just a light prick in my chest".
Doctor Alisson nodded slowly and reached for a glass with water on the nightstand. "Here, you should drink something".
Judy slowly sat up in her bed, took the glass and had a sip. Her nightmare was nothing more than a vague feeling by now and she looked around. She was still in her bedroom, but the shadows on the wall seemed to be somewhat minatory. When Judy glanced at her alarm clock it displayed 23:08 o'clock. With a last gulp she emptied the glass of water and handed it back to Doctor Alisson.
"Can you give me a roundup what happened? I vaguely remember that I passed out after we noticed that Evelin was gone and we found something like a ransom note; and that I insisted on calling you instead of a doctor on call. But everything else is blurry".
Doctor Alisson put the glass back on the nightstand. "I examined you and we talked about a few things regarding your pregnancy. Nothing too important right now, we can go through everything without ruffle or excitement on your next regular visit in my office. I also gave you an injection with some vitamins, something to regulate your IgG level and also a light sedative for your pain and to get some sleep". She paused, then seemed to be uncomfortable out of a sudden. "Regarding the events around your sister… I don't think that I'm the right person to talk about that with you, Misses Hopps-Wilde. I'm just your doctor and only overheard a few scraps of conversation".
"Of course, sorry. Maybe you can ask Nick to come? I'm sure he stayed on top of everything" Judy smiled weary; in secrecy she had expected his face to be the first thing she would see when opening her eyes, and now she was somewhat sad that he still wasn't present. Much to her surprise Doctor Alisson was hesitating and not replying to her question. Actually, the other rabbit was now avoiding to look in her direction. Judy's facial expression was getting more vigilant and her ears bopped up. When she noticed the nervous heartbeat of the rabbit sitting opposite, her muzzle started to wiggle nervously. "Doctor Alisson? You are keeping something from me, what is it?"
22:46 o'clock, Nocturnal District
Nick was walking through a small passage in the Nocturnal District, a shady place even in the daytime as it mainly consists of a long and extensive network of caves, caverns, tunnels and passages. It's extending for kilometers underneath the main city and into the outlying regions around it like the Meadowland or the mountainous regions flanking Zootopia. Most of its residents were law-abiding and friendly citizens: mammals like stoats, bats, badgers, opossums, tapirs or raccoons were not only living but also working here. But its location and structures also made it an ideal place for less legally deals and activities.
Almost twenty years ago Nick and his mother had a small two-room flat down here for a while as they had hardly any income and the rent was comparatively cheap. But today he was in a much darker area of the district with only a few residences and small stores that all had closed by this time. The sound of a distant bar was reaching his ears, but ranges were difficult to estimate as there was a lot of echo. Even his excellent night vision was of no big use as the small tunnels and passages were often highly branched.
Ferris had a luxury flat by the local standards, but the entrance was hidden and unremarkable in one of the smaller side-passages. Nick had to keep his head down when he entered the low passage – a nearly invisible sign, a crescent within a rhomb, was worked into the wall near the floor to mark the right one for privy mammals. The humid and moldy air was raising his hackles. The fox wanted to make fast work of this visit, hoping that Ferris really had some information about someone who recently bought some Etorphine on the black market like he suggested on the phone. Nick was really reluctant at first to write a message to the ferret, but eventually had to admit that he was still the best chance for Evelin he knew of right now; when anybody could tell him who bought that forbidden drug, it was Ferris. After just a few meters the door of Ferris' residence became visible behind some creepers. With a deep breath he knocked on the wooden door and after a while he heard at least three locks before the door opened slowly. A coyote was eyeing him suspiciously, a second coyote was visible a few meters further into the hallway. Both were dressed in brown and black clothes, each having a baton on their belt – and Nick was sure he recognized also some sort of gun under the jacket of the first coyote.
"I'm Nick, I have a meeting with Ferris" the fox said in a low tone, mustering the first guard carefully.
Without saying a word the coyote stepped aside to let him pass and closed the door again with a menacing click of the locks. The second guard was going ahead, leading the fox into a small and sparsely furnished office. While Nick was sitting down on one of the armchairs, both coyotes were taking up position in front of the door. Even in Mister Big's office the atmosphere wasn't as cold as here – and his was in Tundratown after all!
"Long time no see, Nicholas" a soft but all the more threatening voice was coming from behind and Nick turned his head. The ferret had ash-gray but groomed fur, wearing an all-black suit with an olive-green tie.
"Businesses, you know" Nick said with nearly no emotion but slyly smiling somewhat.
Ferris walked past him, sitting down on another chair. "Heard you abandoned your career as an iceman? Your long-eared friend was seen with some other rascals lately".
"It was time for a change. I'm working on a new long-time hustle now, but none of your beeswax. You said on the phone that you would have the information I asked for?"
"I also remind that I mentioned a price it would cost" the ferret smiled shifty, folding his paws together.
Nick wanted to reach into his jacket to pull out an envelope, but he couldn't even grab it before one of the coyotes was standing beside him out of nowhere, grabbing his arm vicelike.
Ferris hold up one paw: "Move slowly… Pascal can be quite nervous with foreigners" he smiled softly. The coyote was slowly letting go of Nick's arm again, still watching him attentively.
Nick rolled seemingly bugged with his eyes and carefully pulled his jacket aside. "See? No weapons". With his other paw he pulled the brown envelope out of the inside pocket. "Eight thousand Zollars as agreed" he said while giving the envelope to the coyote, who checked the content and then passed it to his boss.
Ferris took the money out of the envelope and counted it with quick fingers. When he made sure that the amount was correct, he gave it back to Pascal who walked up to a small cabinet and locked the wad of notes away. "Nothing personal, Nicholas. But I know how bad you are at math".
"I kept my side of the bargain" Nick snarled quietly. "Now for the requested information".
"Why in such a hurry…" the ferret was now talking markedly slow. "I'm curious, since when are you interested in drug dealers?"
"The dealer doesn't interest me in the slightest. I want to know the name of the buyer".
"Ahh… right. Even more disconcerting. What was it – Etorphine? That's some dangerous stuff, Nicholas. And even more are those who are buying it backhandedly".
"You are asking too many questions, Ferris. I'm the one who asked for information and already payed for it".
"Sorry, just a bad habit. At least I'm dealing with information" Ferris answered. "But you are right, a deal is a deal". He pulled a small note out of his jacket pocket and leaned forward, handing it Nick.
The fox took and unfolded the slip of paper – 'Bud Ramstad' was written on it in small letters. "It was a pleasure as always to bargain with you" he muttered and got up from his seat, putting the note into his pants pocket.
When Nick had nearly reached the door, Ferris raised his voice again: "Just a last question, Nicholas". The fox turned around with an annoyed look of inquiry. The ferret was still sitting in his chair with crossed legs and his paws folded together in his lap again. "How long exactly are you working as a cop now?"
That question was totally unexpected and touched Nick to the quick, raising his hackles. He couldn't even think of a reaction yet when out of a sudden a sharp pain flashed through his head, knocking him out immediately. Pascal was standing above the inanimate body of the fox with his baton while Ferris slowly walked up to them.
"How unfortunate for you that somebody else also offered a high reward for anyone asking about Ramstad or Etorphine, Nicholas. As I said, it's really some dangerous stuff" the ferret said with a sly grin to the passed out fox, then made a gesture to his guards. "Call the client and arrange the handover with that timber wolf. I want to get over and done with this transaction as quickly as possible and get shed of that pig again".
23:18 o'clock, Hopps-Wilde's apartment (work room)
"What do you mean, he is also vanished?!" Judy was yelling at Snarlof, only wearing the too long baseball shirt of the Red Paws. When Doctor Alisson had confessed to her that Nick left the apartment nearly an hour ago to get something to eat, but didn't return and also didn't answer his phone, Judy bounced out of the bed against the doctor's orders and ran into the living room. Bradley was working focused on his notebook while Grizzoli and Snarlof, two polar bears and also officers of the ZPD, were talking with each other.
"What I just said, Hopps" Snarlof answered with a tight voice. "He told Bradley that he wanted to get some pizza for dinner. That's more than an hour ago now and when Bradley couldn't reach him on his phone after waiting for nearly forty minutes, he immediately reported a 10-57 and 11-99. The whole night shift is searching the area for him right now, but Wilde seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth".
"In the true sense of the word!" Bradley interrupted them with a sudden exclamation. "'Trinity' just identified him via face recognition when he entered the Nocturnal District via the South-East-Gateway near Acacia Street forty-two minutes ago. I'm trying to find some newer footage now!" Trinity was a surveillance software that sorts through all available digital information, for example the footage of the security cameras all over Zootopia, police reports and usage of public transport. It supports the ZPD and other authorities with a heuristic search, using face and license plate recognition and machine learning algorithms to process the big data of all sources. It was developed by the software company ECT after the Nighthowler case proved, that the huge amount of security cameras cannot be sufficiently monitored manually.
"Nocturnal District? Are you sure?" Judy asked skeptically and ran over to Bradley to have a look on his monitor. Grizzoli was forwarding the new information via radio, asking the dispatcher to inform Precinct 29, too, as the Nocturnal District was in their area of authority. Snarlof was talking on a different channel in the meanwhile with Marki, also informing him about the new information. The timber wolf was still with Tac-Team Bravo on standby, waiting for results of the bank account tracer.
"The system identified him with a probability of 92%, but have a look for yourself" the jaguar typed in a few commands and the archived footage of a security camera at the said gateway became visible on the screen. Judy's chest was aching again and she also got a headache, making it difficult to concentrate on the video. But she recognized Nick's gait and posture at once.
"That's him, no doubts" she sighed puzzled. "What for carrots sake is he doing down there?!"
"No idea… wait a second, I try to backtrack him from there" Bradley typed in a few more commands and based on the found hit the system started to analyze nearby cameras. With a confirmed match the heuristic was able to improve the recognition, now finding more results with a high probability for which the face recognition alone wasn't sufficient. "Okay, here are a few more hits: He walked through Downtown, using apparently quite some backstreets with only few security cameras".
"It nearly seems to me that he was anxious to avoid them, see how he looks over his shoulders?" Grizzoli said with irritation, standing behind Bradley and Judy by now.
"I have no account for his behavior, too" Judy was supporting herself against the tabletop with hypoventilation and closed her eyes.
Bradley put his arm around her back to prevent her from collapsing again, "Are you okay, Judy? Maybe you should lay down again".
"I can't breathe" she whispered in panic, feeling dizzy again.
"I'm calling the Doctor…" Grizzoli said worried and headed to the guestroom, but Doctor Alisson was already entering the living room, supporting Sven. "Ah, you come in at the right moment, Hopps is feeling off-color again and cannot breathe!"
Doctor Alisson searched the room for Judy with an alarmed look, then turned around to Sven. But even before she could say something he was already making a quick gesture: "I'm okay, go and have a look after Judy!"
00:03 o'clock, unknown hideout
He was surrounded by darkness, unable to see even a single contour and there was only a quiet but constant hum in the distance. Feeling weightless and at the same time paralyzed, floating just like some insensate object in zero gravity, the endless void sucking him under. Piercing cold. A sensation of giddiness. After a few seconds, minutes or days – he had completely lost his sense of time – the quiet hum got louder and a dull pain was slowly pervading his whole body. Within the darkness a small bright light emerged, getting bigger and brighter with every second; and with it the pain intensified. He was slowly drawn towards that light, the dizziness getting even worse, and suddenly he was falling and rotating uncontrollably…
When Nick slowly opened his smarting eyes, his vision was only blurred. He also had a sharp headache and a metallic flavor in his mouth, the latter reminding him on the side effects of drugs like chloroform. His feet were strapped to the legs of a wooden chair he was sitting on, his paws were handcuffed behind his back. While trying to take a deep breath he suddenly noticed that he could barely open his snout, being also muzzled. He couldn't neither move nor speak and his first reaction – a light panic – was quickly replaced by anger and the fox started to struggle and teared at his bonds, but to no avail.
"Ah, I see that our main guest is finally awake" a cold an unpleasant voice came out of a dark corner of the room. "Don't waste your energy, you are still going to need it". A ram in a dark-grey and dirty overall made two steps forward until he was visible in the dim light. "I already feared you wouldn't drop in and I had to party with the bunny all alone" the ram smiled maliciously while walking over to the other side of the room.
Nick was champing with rage and gazed after the ram who walked to another dark corner of the room. His eyes were still smarting and he could only vaguely recognize some silhouettes. When the ram switched on another light directly over a wooden table, the fox screwed up his eyes in pain from the sudden light. But some muffled screams constrained him to reopen them: The ram was standing beside a large wooden table with Evelin laying on top. Her mouth was gagged, arms and feet strapped to the table with some thick rope. She was still wearing her beautiful dress but the mortal fear was writ large in her face and her eyes tear-dimmed. Nick started to struggle and tear at his own bonds even more furiously, but the ram just laughed quietly and slowly walked up in his direction.
Nick was breathing heavily through his nose, his arms and shoulders were already hurting from all the struggling, but it was to no avail. For a moment he was glad that Evelin was in fact still alive and at least superficially unharmed. But the cold and smugly grin on that rams face was ominous. This behavior was complete uncharacteristic in accord with the profile of the Forget-me-not kidnapper, he never had two victims at once and only hijacked small and female prey – Nick being neither of it. Was he closing in on identifying him and the ram felt constrained to kidnap him, too, to prevent this? But it would have been much easier to just kill him or even Evelin and clear out. Also the whole appearance of the ram wasn't that of someone who was in panic – didn't he said, that he waited for Nick to arrive? The only consequence of this was, that Ferris phone call and offer to help was a trap to get hold of him. And following from the foregoing Nick arrived at the conclusion that this wasn't the Forget-me-not kidnapper and that he just mimicked his behavior to… wherefore?!
"Keep calm, fox. You will have your chance to rescue that rabbit, I promise. Well…" the ram had walked over to another small table and smiled frostily. "…as a matter of fact, only one of you will be released. And as the smart and predominant predator you are, unlike us poor prey, you are going to decide how all of this will end". Nick tried to yell something angrily, but his muzzle was preventing him to speak and the ram laughed. "Just listen carefully and I will explain your options. See all those neat little tools I brought just for you?" the ram waved with his hooves over the table.
It was only now that Nick took a closer look at that table. A clutter of different things were laying there: knifes, needles, a copper pipe, pliers, some glass vials with unknown liquids, wire cable, a car battery, a cattle prod and even more things he couldn't identify.
"Your option number one is, we both are going to have a great time. Indeed, you will die in agony eventually in a few days, but I promise that I will spare the bunny. That is, if she survives this long without food and water". Nick could hear Evelin starting to sob hysterically, but his own eyes were only fixating angrily the ram. "Or you can also plug into option number two anytime: You just have to kill the bunny and are released immediately. You're a predator, so it's in your nature anyway, but I also have a nice injection of this Nighthowler serum prepared just to make sure you don't have second thoughts".
Nick could just stare at the maliciously grinning ram, even without the muzzle he wouldn't know what to say. He already had met psychopaths like Adrian Bale and read about other types of mentally disturbed personalities. But he never understood the desire of some mammals to hurt others – not with the intent to get some information or as a punishment, but just for fun and their own sadistic amusement only. But even if he was able to bear the torture, the longer he would stay alive the greater was the risk for Evelin for dehydration; providing their kidnapper would keep his word, something far from likely. The thought was turning his stomach and Nick couldn't think straight right now, panic flooding his body again.
"Well, as long as you are evaluating your options, I will kill some time meanwhile…" the ram started to hum quietly, looking over the tools on the table. He finally decided for some heavy knuckle-dusters, put it on his hoof and strolled over to the restrained fox – battering him in the gut without showing any hesitancy, making him heaving a loud and tormented groan.
23:58 o'clock, Hopps-Wilde's apartment (living room)
Grizzoli had brought Judy to the couch after her qualm and Doctor Alisson examined her blood pressure, temperature and other vital signs again, giving her some quick-acting drops against the dizziness and also the pain. Sven was still somewhat weak-kneed and he and Judy were comforting each-others now, holding their paws and nestling their heads together.
"You should probably go back to bed, Misses Hopps-Wilde" Doctor Alisson said with a worried look. "You're still weak and I strongly recommend to have a few more hours of sleep".
"Are my kits endangered?" Judy lifted her head and asked quietly.
The doctor slowly shook her head and sighed. "They are not in imminent danger, but I'm also worried about your wellbeing".
"Maybe you should listen to her, Ju" Sven cradled his sister-in-law. "Your colleagues promised to inform us on news, you cannot do anything right now. I will wake you up as soon as…"
He couldn't finish his sentence because Judy's ZPD colleagues were agitatedly putting their heads together out of a sudden. Judy wanted to leap up from the couch again, but Doctor Alisson had foreseen that reaction and hold her back.
"Don't rush things again, Miss Hopps-Wilde! It's no use to pred or prey if you are collapsing again, you really have to take things easy now or I have to sedate you – for your own good!"
"You wouldn't dare!" Judy answered angrily, but her desperate facial expression and her trembling paws were indicating that she wasn't really able to react against anybody right now.
"Judy…" Sven put his paw on her arm, speaking with a quiet and sad voice. "Please, try to keep rational. The deep anxiety about Evelin and now Nick as well… I cannot handle all of this and be scared for you, too". There was something pleading in his voice, just as he was mustering his last energy to not collapse and burst out crying.
Judy was slumping down and put her paw on Sven's. She had to admit, that she was at the end of her rope, just like Sven. Just sitting here and thinking about what maybe happened to Evelin or Nick gave her a feeling of being totally helpless; but at least she could assist her brother-in-law in this situation. She felt her little kits kicking softly, apparently not even they were having a nap. With a soft smile Judy took Sven's paw and put it on her belly for him to feel it, too. The rabbit was hesitant at first, but eventually smiled somewhat when he felt the little kicks. Without saying a word he leant his head against Judy's and sighed, crawling over her belly absently.
00:19 o'clock, Hopps-Wilde's apartment (work room)
Grizzoli and Snarlof were standing behind Bradley, watching how the IT guru was flipping through different applications and typing new commands faster than they could read. About fifteen minutes ago the tracer reported an access to the banking account and since then the jaguar was following its digital routing through the World Wide Web.
"Whoever is sitting on the other end of this, he is really good" Bradley muttered sour.
"Keep at it!" Snarlof exclaimed. "Our search parties still couldn't find any new trace in the Nocturnal District of Wilde and we have no other clue than this banking account to the kidnap victim!"
"I know how to do my job, Snarlof!" Bradley said with a snarl. He knew that his colleague didn't mean to urge him, but he was just stressed out. He had finished his shift and wanted to leave the office four hours ago when the emergency alarm for another ZPD officer came in. Recognizing his friends address immediately, he volunteered to take care for the IT forensics on-site – and by now he was working for more than thirteen hours at a stretch. But even worse than his depletion was the lack of helpful evidence in this case. And when finally someone accessed the surveilled account, his tracer seems to run in an endless loop, returning no result! Either there was some very uncommon bug in the software – something he could foreclose with almost dead certainty – or some very talented hacker was actively misleading the algorithms of Samaritan, which was nearly impossible without knowing the source code; and that was a classified information. Although being the head of the IT forensics department, even he had only limited access to it. So, theoretically it should be impossible to bypass Samaritan; but practically a simple trace-route operation, that shouldn't run for more than a few seconds, was running for seventeen minutes now and still lasting!
„10-36 for Officer Grizzoli, 10-23 for Charlie One, over" Grizzoli's radio was crackling out of a sudden.
"Grizzoli for Dispatch, 10-4, over and out!" he answered the radio and looked puzzled to his partner. As he was coordinating the search for Nick most of the evening, some confidential information that couldn't be transmitted via radio was maybe worrying in this context. But that even Chief Bogo was on his way to them personally was quite alarming.
Snarlof shrugged with his shoulders, but before he could say something his own radio – adjusted for a different channel reserved to communicate with the tactical teams and Marki directly – crackled: "11-15 for David One, over!" – "Team Alpha on stand-by, over" – "Team Bravo on stand-by, over".
Snarlof looked questioning to Bradley who just shook his head, then replied into his handset: "ID still UTR, code 500. Waiting on arrival of Charlie One on-site with a 10-36, over".
There was a short pause on the radio, then Marki's voice crackled again: "10-09 for ID, over"
"ID UTR, code 500" Snarlof repeated his message as requested, "Also awaiting arrival of Charlie One on-site with a 10-36, over".
"10-04, David One over and out" Marki answered, his tension was noticeable even on the radio. He never was the most social colleague, but since the bombings the timber wolf was continuously bad-tempered. Now he was the team lead for the kidnapping, but instead of making progress an officer went missing, too, the IT wasn't producing any results and now even Chief Bogo was joining in.
"Do you think we should tell Hopps that the Chief is on his way?" Snarlof asked with a frown, but Grizzoli shook his head.
"She will ask why, we would tell her that he has confidential information, and as we have no idea if Bogo is willing to tell her more, she will eventually tick him off and one of us will have to pay for spilling the news to her without permission".
"Got him!" Bradley suddenly exclaimed and in the same moment the doorbell rang.
01:12 o'clock, unknown hideout
Evelin was squinting her eyes shut, she couldn't bear to see Nick being beaten over and over again; first with some knuckle dusters, then with a long metal pipe. But she couldn't close her ears, though, and the muffled screams and hitting sounds were causing her heartache like never before.
After what seemed like an eternity she could only hear Nick's heavy breathing and no more beating. When she forced herself to open the eyes again, the view of her brother-in-law and close friend being covered in his own blood was turning her stomach. Bent-forward the fox was breathing heavily and Evelin could hear him wheezing every now and then – the same sound Judy made on her first day in the hospital a few weeks ago, meaning some of his ribs were broken and pierced his lungs; she cursed her excellent sense of hearing right now. Nick slowly turned his head in her direction, the former emerald colored eyes seemed to be dull and one eye socket was already swollen. But the fox still managed somehow to smile encouraging to her. The rabbit started to weep again, knowing that Nick was enduring all of this to save her; just one word would stop the torture for him if he would agree to sacrifice her. But even if Evelin wouldn't have known that he would never do this, his small but encouraging smile was trying to assure her that he was okay, never considering that option.
In the meantime, the ram quietly started to whistle again some odd child song. He slowly walked back to Nick and arranged himself behind the chair, some tool in his hand the rabbit couldn't see clearly.
"Ready for another round? You should smile a bit, we are recording some souvenir picture, too!" the ram giggled while grabbing Nick's snout from behind and pushed it upwards to face a small webcam on a computer monitor in the back of the room. Slowly leaning forward he whispered into Nick's ear with a sly smile: "You can stop this with just a single word… what do you think?"
Nick said quietly with a boldfaced smile: "I'm waiting for the 'punch'-line…"
The ram just smiled even wider. "You'll soon be laughing on the other side of your face, pred-scum. Let's start working on your manners…" he replied, concurrently taking one of Nick's fingers between the collet jaws of a pair of pliers.
Nick's howl with pain was not as horrible as the cracking sound Evelin could clearly hear, making her scream hysterically into her gag, struggling desperately with her ropes.
00:46 o'clock, Hopps-Wilde's apartment (work room)
While Grizzoli had opened the door for Chief Bogo, Snarlof was talking on the radio with Marki giving him the address of an abandoned warehouse in the meadowlands as the location the tracer had finally returned. After he finished he turned around to Bradley again:
"Both tactical teams are on their way, Marki is accompanying Team Bravo and they will arrive in about seven minutes at that address. Any additional information you can provide us with can be helpful, Brad".
"I'm already working on it as fast as I can. However, there is something very strange…"
"More technical problems?" Snarlof asked dejected.
"No, quite the opposite. The Samaritan program was manipulated and fooled by some of the most advanced hacking techniques I ever saw. But the finally identified IP address isn't secured at all: I'm nearly done acquiring full access to the corresponding computer, that's way too easy. I have a bad feeling with this, you should inform the teams about a possible ambush or trap…" Bradley seemed seriously worried.
"Did you find them?" Judy asked with a weak but excited voice, standing in the doorframe to the work room where her colleagues had arranged themselves more than four hours ago. Sven stood beside her, holding her paw and looking scared to the jaguar and the polar bear behind Nick and Judy's desk. Doctor Alisson got another emergency call from a patient with premature labor and had left them ten minutes ago, not without screwing the promise out of Judy to take it slow. She also promised to return afterwards and asked to not hesitate calling her in an emergency.
"We have a result from the tracer that observed the banking account" Bradley explained without interrupting his work, while Snarlof was talking with Marki and explained the potential risk of an ambush. "Our tactical teams are on their way right now, but as you can hear from Snarlof, I'm somewhat worried and assume that this location might be a trap for our teams".
Judy sighed, "Did the kidnapper already noticed that you were just faking the money transfer?"
"When the tracer started its work, only the balance was checked. That shouldn't have revealed our trick".
The pregnant bunny nodded slowly, then asked another question: "We heard the doorbell a few minutes ago and someone is talking in the guestroom. I could only identify Grizzoli's voice on the fly, do you know who is with him?"
"Presumably the Chief" Snarlof answered after he finished his report to Marki, then turned to Bradley. "The first helicopter will arrive in three minutes, Team Bravo is about two minutes behind them. Any updates, yet?"
"I have full access…" the jaguar finished typing a last command and continued after it completed successfully, "...now! Analyzing the hardware… no webcam or microphone available, scanning the hard disk for personal files".
The guestroom door was opened and a few moments later Chief Bogo stood behind the two rabbits in the doorway to the work room with Grizzoli. Snarlof saluted, but Bogo just nodded quickly and turned to Judy.
"Hopps… sorry that we have to meet again so quickly under these circumstances", he snarled as always and his rabbit-cop nodded acknowledging. "Mister Hopps-Brooks…" Bogo looked over to Sven and handed him his hoof. "I didn't know that it's your wife that is kidnapped, I'm really sorry".
"Thanks, Chief" Sven said wearily.
"Hopps, can we talk for a moment in private?" Bogo turned back again to Judy who nodded with a frightened look, holding Sven's paw even tighter. She leaded the way into the living room, starting to feel dizzy again.
While being at the police academy they trained how to tell someone that his partner, child or another member of the family had died in an accident or as a result of a crime; but when the casualty was another ZPD officer, it was the Chief's duty to inform the bereaved. As their tactical teams were still following the traces to Evelin and they hadn't heard any news from Nick since he disappeared in the Nocturnal District more than two hours ago, the bunny was assuming the worst when Bogo suddenly arrived. Sven noticed that his sisters-in-law shaking was intensifying, put his other arm supporting around her back and helped her finally to sit down on the coach again. He wanted to retreat but Judy quickly grabbed his paw again.
"Please stay…" she begged with tearful eyes.
Sven sighed, holding her paw with a firm grip and looked questioning to Bogo.
"I would prefer to talk with Miss Hopps one-to-one" he said. The male rabbit nodded slowly but when he tried to break loose from Judy, she started to whimper. Chief Bogo muttered something and rolled his eyes, being on the edge. "Okay! He can stay, Hopps, but please calm down again!" He slowly had a seat in one of the two armchairs opposite the couch. "What I'm about to say is supposed to be confidential" Bogo said in a lower voice while Evelin's husband was sitting down beside Judy and cradling her soothingly.
It took her a few seconds, but when she composed herself again she asked bewildered: "Wait… confidential? Are you implying…" Judy sat up, wiping with her paw over her eyes and nose, "You… you are not here to offer your condolences?"
"Why should I offer …" Bogo looked puzzled at his rabbit officer, then it finally sunk in. "Wait, you thought that's why I'm here?" Judy nodded slowly and the buffalo seemed startled, continuing in an unusual soft voice. "I'm so sorry, Judy. I really didn't mean to increase your worries even more. No, I'm not here to offer my condolences. Admittedly we haven't found Wi… (coughing slightly) Nick, yet, but we are still searching by all available means".
The news took a load off Judy's mind and she took a deep breath, whispering 'Thank heaven!' while Sven hugged her softly. "Okay, what else do you want to talk about then?" she asked, now being curious and eager to help.
"Grizzoli is leading the search for Nick and within this context he requested the telephone record of his mobile. It's just a routine method, but I was called at home by Detective Blackide from our internal affairs department. It seems that your husband tried to get in contact with some registered criminals within the last hour of his disappearing, primarily text messages asking for information regarding an illegal drug named Etorphine and the name of mammals who recently tried to buy it".
"What is Etorphine?" Sven asked puzzled.
"It's an opioid with an efficiency a multiple of thousand times higher than morphine. In the past it was used in tranquilizer guns, but it turned out to be too dangerous when not measured out correctly for the individual size and weight of the mammal, right?" Judy tried to remember the details she had read in a history book about past police practices.
Bogo nodded, "Yes – and small traces of it were found in your apartment. Delgato and Wolford are assuming that Misses Hopps-Brooks was sedated with it by her kidnapper". Judy looked saddened to Sven who had closed his eyes, breathing slowly, but his paws were shaking. "Nevertheless…" Bogo continued, "It wasn't Nick's phone that was monitored, but he was in contact with someone who is related with some other investigations Blackide is leading. When Grizzoli requested Nick's telephone records, the numbers were automatically collated by our systems with current investigations. As that specific contact was flagged as being monitored by internal affairs, the whole document was marked classified as a result, reporting it to Blackide".
"And he finally called you…" Judy concluded and Chief Bogo nodded. "But when the internal affairs department is monitoring this contact, doesn't that mean that someone of the ZPD is in close or regular communication with him? What is the name of the contact Nick talked with? And did you get more information from Detective Blackide so we can interrogate that suspect at the ZPD?"
"Whoa, slow down, Hopps" Bogo grunted. "I'm actually here to ask you if you know any of the mammals Wilde had contacted today" he took a list with numbers out of his pocket. "But I know neither which of those contacts are flagged nor I'm allowed to give you any more information about those internal investigations. Also it's an ongoing undercover investigation, so neither you nor I can talk to the monitored suspect at the ZPD". He handed her the computer printout of Nick's last calls and messages.
Judy read through the whole list, noticing a few contacts they had used as tipsters in the past, mostly gougers and small-time crooks. Nick's shady past proved to be useful from time to time when they needed some insider or underground information. But there were also some she didn't recognize, including a few numbers that called her husband shortly before his mobile went offline.
"And you never heard of those and don't know how Wilde is connected with them?"
Judy slowly shook her head, but got an idea. "No, sir. But I know someone who can help us with this list for a certainty. I can contact him immediately if you agree!"
Bogo was skeptical about the idea to share those information with another stranger, "Are you sure that your informant is a trustworthy source and has useful information?" When Judy nodded confidently, he sighed. "Okay, Hopps. You can call him, but I want to meet him in person. Don't tell him any further details on the phone!"
"I…" Judy hesitated, then finally nodded. "Okay, but I don't know if he will listen to me on the phone. It would be easier to persuade him face-to-face. He is currently close by, I can be back in maybe ten min…"
"No way!" Bogo burst out, interrupting her. "That way we already got lost of Wilde! And for all we know, you were the essence target of the kidnapping. You are going nowhere right now, and even more not alone! Just write down the address and I'm going to meet him!"
"Sir…" Judy sighed. "He wouldn't talk with you, let alone trust you when I'm not present. And even then it will be difficult enough for me to persuade him to help us. But I guarantee you that it's worth the risk, he knows each and every contact on this list, I'm sure!"
"Hopps…" Bogo clenched his fists and tried to stay as calm as possible. The rabbit's disobedience was routinely setting his teeth on edge but he tried hard to keep his temper right now, not wanting to escalate the nerve-racking situation even more.
Judy was already getting up from the couch, looking at him unflinching. "I will try to reach him on the phone, but when that comes to nothing I'm going! You can accompany me, Chief, but I have to urge you to keep a low profile. I don't want to risk the only opportunity we currently have to find Nick!" she turned around without waiting for an answer and quickly walked to her bedroom.
"How dare her!" Bogo snarled scarcely audible, but needless to say that Sven could hear him.
"Please indulge her, Chief…" the rabbit said quietly, slowly getting up from the couch, too. "Judy did mean no harm, she is merely a bundle of nerves tonight, feeling just use- and helpless. So am I. But I will talk to her…" he turned around and slowly followed his sister-in-law to the bedroom.
Chief Bogo was snorting with rage, gazing after the rabbits without saying another word.
"Chief Bogo!" Snarlof hurried into the room, a strange but urgent undertone in his voice.
"Not just yet!" Bogo snapped at his officer without turning around, still unsure what he should do regarding Judy's informant.
"This is really important, chief, you have to come with me!" the polar bear was urging him.
The Cape buffalo sighed annoyed, was everyone disobeying his direct orders today? Bogo turned his head around to call his officer to order, but paused when he noticed the disturbed facial expression of his subordinate. "What's the matter, Snarlof?"
"We've got something new regarding Wilde and the kidnapped rabbit. But you should see for yourself…" Snarlof said in an unsettled voice, then turned around and hurried back to the work room.
01:12 o'clock, Hopps-Wilde's apartment (bedroom)
Judy was sitting on the edge of her bed and trying to reach Finnick on his phone when Sven knocked quietly on the door. "Come in" she called and hang up with a frustrated sigh.
"Are you trying to reach this little fox who accompanied you earlier today?" Sven asked tired and closed the door quietly.
Judy played with Nick's wedding ring he had left behind on her nightstand between her fingers and sighed. "Yes, but he isn't answering the phone. How did you know about who I'm trying to call?"
Sven smiled weary and sat beside his sister-in-law. "You introduced him as a long-term friend of Nick, mentioned that he doesn't like cops, he said in turn that he wants to sleep it off in his van that I assume is parked in front of the house, and you just said to your chief that your trustworthy informant is nearby". Sven slowly put his paw on Judy's leg, nudging her with his elbow. "Maybe I'm just a dumb bunny and not a police officer, but I can put one and one together".
Judy had to smile, "Sly f…" she paused and lost her smile again at once. "Sorry… I mean…" she started stammering, but Sven just gave her a soft hug.
"It's okay, you also remind me of Eve all the time", the rabbit whispered.
She returned his hug and sniveled, "They will find them both and get them back to us, for sure".
"I know, Judy" he replied blandly, holding her tight. "I know…"
01:14 o'clock, Hopps-Wilde's apartment (work room)
"What …" Bogo started, but paused again. He wild stared on Bradley's computer screen, watching a video that was playing on it. "Is this live?" he eventually gasped.
Bradley nodded slowly. "The tactical teams discovered the traced location, an abandoned warehouse in the Meadowlands, but only found an improvised desk with a computer and a satellite dish to connect it to the internet. During my remote analysis of the hard disk, I found a video file that was still increasing in size. I intercepted the transferred data on the network connection and discovered this live stream".
"You mean, someone is not only streaming but recording this? Can you wind the video back to the start?"
Bradley nodded and started to type in a few commands, switching from the live stream to the still growing video-file. He had to turn the volume up again so Bogo could listen to the introducing talk of an unknown ram, walking around in the room. In the top right corner a table was only just visible, a pregnant rabbit being confined to it. In the middle of the screen they could identify Nick sitting also confined and with a muzzle on a chair. The ram had just explained the two alternatives for the fox, now hauling off for his first punch with the knuckle dusters. Grizzoli and Snarlof were looking the other way and Bradley winced, quickly turning down the volume again.
Bogo watched the scene for a few moments without showing any emotions, then said in a whisper: "Fast forward…"
After a few minutes they reached the end of the recording and the video continued in real time to play the live stream. The ram had just broke the third of Nick's fingers when the screams fade away and the fox eventually passed out.
"I want you to analyze every frame of this video for hints where this is happening, trace every single bit of data manually to its source if necessary! Call in every colleagues of the IT department you need to assist you" Bogo commanded astonishing calm to the jaguar, then turned to Snarlof and Grizzoli. "Marki should comb the whole area with his teams, maybe they are not too far away. Also demand support from the other precincts to support the search: Everyone should contact their informants, call in favors if possible". His voice got something sinister when he pointed with a hoof to the screen: "This dirty bastard is not only threatening the life of a colleague and his family, he is mocking us! This is our top priority and our only case until we could arrest him!"
In the meantime they had to watch on Bradley's monitor how the ram was playing around with a cattle prod, giving off electric sparks that were causing a blue coloring to the picture. "Another thing, for pity's sake!" the chief slowly averted his eyes from the screen. "No word to Hopps or the other victims spouse about this video, even better you turn off the volume completely. Organize some undercover officers in front of the house and uniformed colleagues in the hallway twenty-four-seven. Also inform the responsible precinct in the Tri-Burrow-Area about the situation, they should keep their eyes open. Someone really is on to the Hopps' family – I want to know why, and I want no additional incidents!"
01:33 o'clock, Hopps-Wilde's apartment (hallway)
Chief Bogo left the work room in a really bad mood, but now he definitely wanted to talk to this informant Judy had mentioned. There were four incoming calls half an hour before Nick's phone was turned off, Nick could have been kidnapped when he wanted to meet any of them. He had to find out to whom those phone numbers belong and would leave no remedy untried to get this information after what he saw a few minutes ago on Bradley's notebook. Judy didn't return to the living room, yet, so he walked up to the bedroom door and knocked. Nothing. He knocked again and after waiting a few seconds, he opened the door with a queasy feeling: Some bedside lamp was switched on, but the room was empty. He ran back to the living room, cursing this pigheaded bunny, but at the same time being angry with himself – he should have known her better that she wouldn't just sit still.
Bogo grabbed his radio and headed for the front door when Sven suddenly encountered him in the hallway. "Don't get mad at her, chief… she is still on this floor, right over there at the elevator". The rabbit blocked the passage through the door, pointing along the hallway to Judy, who was quietly talking with someone who preferred to stay in the elevator. "Her contact was only willing to come here if they could talk in privacy and I was only willing to support her when she would stay within sight".
"Just get out of my way, Mister Hopps-Brooks. I want to talk with this informant for myself!"
Under normal circumstances, Sven would never had the courage to breast a much larger mammal, let alone an authority like the chief of the ZPD. But it was Nick's and Evelin's life that were at stake right now and all of these ZPD officers were still poking around in the dark after all. After several tries Judy had finally managed to reach an overtired and chippy Finnick on the phone, and like she predicted he didn't took a dim view of coming upstairs in an apartment full off cops and wanted to leave the area already with his van. It was Judy's veiled threat, that she could describe his car as well as his license plate very well, and that currently every single officer of the ZPD was on the streets searching for two missing mammals. Finnick was yelling at her and probably wouldn't condone her for this, but eventually he was willing to meet her upstairs – but he wouldn't leave the elevator and only talk to her alone. Sven wanted to object to this plan and talk with Bogo in advance, but Judy could persuade him that they had no time and couldn't risk to lose this unique chance. He insisted that she took her stun gun along and that he would keep her in view while waiting at the apartment door, but promised to make sure that neither Bogo nor another ZPD colleague would interrupt them.
"I'm sorry, chief. But I'm really unable to let you pass" Sven quickly pulled another stun gun from his pants pocket that he had found on Nick's equipment belt, holding it up with trembling paws. "You can arrest me for all I care after this, but right now I cannot allow you to interrupt this meeting!"
Chief Bogo was staring at the rabbit that pointed the stun gun at him. He could probably overpower him, but Evelin's husband was unstrung to a high degree and would probably injure them both; not to mention that the turmoil would scare off the informant for sure and Hopps would follow him without a second thought, something falling beyond the pale. He must try to de-escalate this situation somehow…
"Mister Hopps-Brooks, I don't want to arrest you" Bogo started, being as calm as possible. "I know that you are desperate, and maybe we gave you the impression that we are not doing everything possible to find your wife. It must be really hard for you to just stay here without being able to do anything but wait. But I assert you, that right now every single officer that is available is working on this case and doing their best to get your both' spouses back. Just take also in consideration that Judy isn't herself and not making rational decisions! I'm just trying to save her from getting up to mischief that would not only risk her career but also everyone's life!"
Sven was breathing deeply, blinking nervously along the hallway – but Judy was still standing in front of the elevator and talking with Finnick. Out of the corner of his eyes he noticed Bogo moving carefully, so he turned in his direction again, determined to impede him as long as possible.
As being empathetic didn't seemed to work, Bogo decided to try something more aggressive: "Mister Hopps-Brooks, please… you are threatening the chief of the ZPD at gunpoint with a stolen stun gun of a police officer. Until now no harm was done and we still can settle this privately. But you have to put this gun down immediately and let me do my job!" When Sven didn't move, he added: "You are causing a lot of trouble for Officer Hopps and Wilde, as this is one of their duty weapons! They could be suspended for allowing you to use it or just for leaving it lying about!"
"She has no idea that I took it…" Sven muttered, but Bogo shook his head.
"That doesn't matter! I have to arrest you both if you don't hand it over to me immediately!"
"When we can save Evelin or Nick, I'm willing to risk this" Sven suddenly lowered his voice: "But you will not sanction Judy for anything that's happening here right now, she is pregnant and already in frail health".
"Then just give me this stun gun, and I will forget about it!" Bogo said with some urge in his voice.
"You don't understand, chief! While standing here and keeping an eye on Judy, I overheard your conversation in the work room; its right behind this hallway wall, and you were not really talking quietly!" Sven was getting really pale, as he was not only holding the ZPD chief at gunpoint but now even decided to concuss him to save Judy. But Bogo's verbal commands to his colleagues were not the only thing he overheard fifteen minutes ago, and that ultimately convinced him that he had to do this now.
"What are you talking about?" Bogo said slowly, that rabbit actually caught him off-guard now.
"I'm talking about some kind of video you have found and want your colleagues to keep as a secret from us".
"You don't know what you are talking about…" Bogo wanted to object.
"You are right, I cannot look through walls, but we rabbits have a really excellent hearing. You don't know what I'm talking about?" Sven hold the gun now even tighter, his face was desperately twisted with pain and on the verge of crying. "I'm talking about some blood-curdling screams and some piteously crying, for carrots sake!"
Bogo didn't say anything. He wasn't sure how much that rabbit really could hear, but obviously it was enough to count one and one together. Saying anything wrong now could make him ultimately freak out, getting the whole situation out-of-control.
"The only reason I'm not intending to say Judy anything about this, is that she already passed out more than once this evening. Her doctor warned me in confidence to keep all further excitement from her as it would endanger her pregnancy and could result in a spontaneous abortion. So I'm just asking two things from you right now…"
"That is?" Bogo said in a low voice.
"First of all… tell me the truth: Evelin and Nick, are they still alive and do you think there is a realistic chance to find them early enough?"
"Yes, both of it" Bogo muttered. "You have my word of honor".
"Well, okay. Then the only other thing I'm asking for are just a few more minutes for Judy… let her follow through on her conversation with that informant. You can arrest me afterwards, I will not spill any word to her. But give her the chance to help Nick and Evelin".
The Cape buffalo thought about Sven's words for a moment. Then he nodded slowly and took a step back. "Okay, let's hang tide… but I ask you to lower that gun before you are going to hurt anyone".
01:44 o'clock, Hallway in front of Hopps-Wilde's apartment
"And that's everything you can tell me, Fin?" Judy finished some notes in her notepad and blinked along the hallway to her apartment. She heard some distant talking and discussing for more than ten minutes, presumably Sven trying to hold back Bogo from interrupting her talk with Finnick. But for a few minutes it was quiet now, she only saw Sven's head looking in her direction every now and then.
"Oh, I have quite a lot more to say to you, but let's defer this to later. Just never threaten me ever again, or you will be sorry" Finnick snapped at her, unlocked the stop-button of the elevator and pressed the button for the ground-floor.
"Thank you Finnick, and please take care of yourself!" Judy said with a sad smile. She hoped that their little friend would forgive her behaviors after a while, but she really had no choice. At least she didn't had to threaten him with arrest; after explaining the situation that Nick also vanished and now was most probably in trouble, too, Finnick tried his best to answer her questions.
"Just get that moron of a red fox back…" the lift doors were closing slowly. "Good luck, Hoppsie-Copsie!" Finnick said with an unexpected friendly smile, then the doors snapped shut and the elevator was driving downstairs again.
Judy sighed relieved, that ran better than expected and maybe Finnick wasn't really holding Judy's behavior against her by now. At least Nick was his best friend, too. With the list of contacts and her notepad in her paws, she walked back to her apartment with quick steps.
01:48 o'clock, Hopps-Wilde's apartment (hallway)
When Sven heard Judy's footsteps along the hallway, he breathed deeply, handing the stun gun without a further word to Chief Bogo. The Cape buffalo grabbed it quickly, made sure it's secured and put it in his belt with an angry grunt.
"I got all needed information, those should prove really helpful!" Judy entered the apartment with a small smile on her face and wagging with the notepad in her paws.
Sven smiled and hugged her softly, sniveling quietly. "I knew it all along that I can count on you! Now let me just ask you to keep it easy and take good care of yourself…" he gave her a kiss on her cheek and stepped back again.
Judy frowned somewhat. "Yes, of course. But why do you say that?"
"Don't worry about me right now, there are more important things" he said and turned around to Bogo. "Okay, we can go, I will make no resistance".
"What are you talking about, Sven?" Judy made a leap forward, now standing between Sven and Bogo. "What is happening here? Chief?"
Chief Bogo straightened himself, eventually coming to a conclusion. "Nothing. Let's go into your living room and see what you got there, Hopps, and if it was worth all the trouble".
02:06 o'clock, Hopps-Wilde's apartment (living room)
The Cape buffalo was writing down some notes on his own while Judy reported all information she got from Finnick. Most of the unknown numbers were only petty criminals: scalping tickets, pirated movies, product counterfeiting, pickpockets … but the fennec fox knew most of them long enough to be sure that they would never go as far as dealing with drugs or even helping in kidnapping a cop. But one single contact was sticking out of that pattern – and Finnick was really feeling uncomfortable to talk about him, being even more surprised to learn that Nick was in contact with Ferris, a ferret and black-marketer of the deepest dye.
"I was informed, that this Ferris has connections to arms smugglers, contract killers, organized crime, drug dealers, blackmailing … he was never arrested as he is keeping his hands clean, officially only bargaining as information broker. But my informant was sure, that when anyone on this list would consider to threaten or even kidnap a cop, Ferris would do so without hesitation – if the price is right. Also he is living in the Nocturnal District, near the South-East-Gateway Nick used, too!"
"Sounds like he is our wanted mammal. Do you have an address? Maybe we should pay him a visit…" Bogo grunted.
"There is no exact address, but I have a description" Judy handed Bogo a note with a sketch of a few side-passages, including the sign that looked like a crescent within a rhomb. "I know you won't let me accompany the task force…"
"You are damn right about this, Hopps!"
"…but I beg you to let me know about anything new you find out".
Chief Bogo nodded, took the note and got up from his seat. "I will send Fangmeyer together with a special forces unit that is able to operate in those dark and small passages within the Nocturnal District". He walked up to the work room, leaving the both rabbits alone, but eventually paused again and turned around: "And Hopps…"
Judy raised her head, "Yes, sir?"
"Good work!" Bogo suggested a smile, then nodded to Sven and disappeared in the small office.
Sven sighed, "I hope they will find them in time".
"Don't worry" Judy smiled somewhat more optimistic now, "As long as they don't find traces indicating otherwise, we should assume that they are both alright and healthy".
"Yeah…" Sven twitched nervously on his shirt. "I will make us some herbal tea, okay?"
02:27 o'clock, Hopps-Wilde's apartment (work room)
"Anything new from our tactical teams, Snarlof?" Bogo asked after he had made sure the door to the work room was closed.
"Only some strange coincidence", the polar bear said.
"I don't believe in coincidences, what is it?"
"We had an attempted bank robbery a few months ago we could prevent. Most members of the chartered gang were killed and we could arrest two insiders. The gang leader did escape despite a fine-meshed computer-aided search, a timber wolf named Vlad Below".
"I remember that case, a chartered cracksman was murdered in the hospital before he could made a testimony. Did you find any hints that Below may be involved in this kidnapping?"
"Not directly, sir. But the abandoned warehouse… it's the same that Below used as a hideout back then. And it was Hopps' plan that got his insiders arrested and defrauded him of a spoil worth more than 300.000 Zollars".
Bogo thought about it for a moment, "This could really be just a coincidence, but you should command a few officers to check for more connections nevertheless".
"Yes, sir!" Delgato took his radio, asking the dispatcher for a connection to Rhinowitz.
Bogo took his phone from his pocket, he didn't want to spoil the raid on Ferris' hideout via the public radio. If that ferret was really as well informed as Judy's informant told her, he didn't want to risk to forewarn a possible snitch in his own rows. Arresting Ferris could bring some trouble with internal affairs anyway, but right now that investigation was only second priority to him.
"Fangmeyer? This is Chief Bogo. I have a new task for you and your special operation taskforce: A raid in the Nocturnal District to find and arrest an armed and dangerous ferret named Ferris. We believe, that he was Officer Wilde's last contact and wanted to meet with him." – "Yes, use of live bullets is permitted, but we need Ferris alive by all means!" – "As soon as you can mobilize your taskforce, time is of the essence! I will upload all available information onto our secure server. Access code '95-Over-7-Blue-5', the operation is classified as secret, only report directly to me" – "Good luck!"
As soon as he ended the call, Bogo turned to Bradley. "I need access to upload a classified mission order…"
02:57 o'clock, Hopps-Wilde's apartment (living room)
Judy was laying on the couch, starring at the ceiling. Sven was kneeling on the floor, cleaning up the blood stains on the table and floor with some hot water and a sponge, after asking one of the two polar bears – he didn't remember their name – for permission. When he walked back to the kitchen to put the cleaning supplies away again, he viewed the photos on the fridge: Nick and Judy dancing under a tree surrounded by cherry blossoms, Judy and Evelin cheering while driving a rollercoaster, a picture of Violet, Stella, Merlin, Alisha and Harry – the youngest litter born this summer of Stu and Bonnie Hopps, a photo of their shared wedding and a picture of Judy's last ultrasonic examination.
"Excuse me…?" a lion in a police uniform had quietly entered the living room.
"Yes?" Judy got up immediately.
"There is a female rabbit at the door, she said her name was Doctor Kathrin Alisson and she wants to meet with you, Officer Hopps".
Judy looked somewhat irritated, neither had she saw that officer in her apartment before nor had she heard the doorbell. "Yes, of course, she is my family doctor. Sorry, but who are you?"
"My name is Officer Randy Pawstrike, I keep guard on this floor tonight" the lion said, then left the room again.
"Did you know that the apartment is guarded?" Judy asked Sven and frowned.
"No, but it stands to reason for me", he walked back into the kitchen and started to boil some more water for a fresh tea.
"Good evening, Misses Hopps-Wilde. I wasn't sure if you are still awake" Doctor Alisson said with a soft smile when she entered the room. "How are you? Did you had any more sudden feelings of faintness?"
"Hello, Doctor Alisson. I'm fine, but thank you for visiting" Judy said weakly and yawned.
The older rabbit walked up to the couch and watched her patient closely. "You didn't had some sleep, did you?"
"Every time I close my eyes I got some nightmares. Also I prefer to stay awake to be informed as soon as there are any news".
"Any more dizziness, nausea or unusual pain?" Doctor Alisson asked but Judy shook her head. When Sven brought a can with fresh tea and a third cup, she turned around. "What about you, Mister Hopps-Brooks?"
Instead of giving an answer Sven just shrugged, put the can with tea down on the table and sat on the couch beside Judy again. The doctor sighed and shook her head, sitting down herself on an armchair. It was obvious that both rabbits were frazzled, physically and mentally. But Judy's bloodshot eyes and jittery pulse were still somewhat worrisome.
"I do understand that you are both stirred up and sorrowful. But be careful that you are not biting off more than you can chew, in particular you Misses Hopps-Wilde! You are in frail health and the pregnancy is also more stressful than normal, leaving hardly any scope for additional stress factors. This can lead to really dangerous complications for your pregnancy after all". Judy winced a bit frightened and Doctor Alisson sighed again. "We will work it out somehow, but only together. Come on, I want to examine you more thoroughly to make sure that everything is really okay".
03:15 o'clock, Hopps-Wilde's apartment (work room)
"Okay, good job. Bring Ferris directly to the mentioned safe house, we will meet there to interrogate him. All arrested accomplices are hold incommunicado, no phone call or contact to others for the time being! I don't want anyone to be informed about the detention" Bogo ended the call and wanted to leave the work room.
"Chief!" Bradley exclaimed suddenly, sounding alarmed.
Bogo already had his hoof on the door handle and turned around impatiently. "I'm in a rush, what is it?"
The jaguar was typing furiously on his keyboard, "We were trying to trace the encrypted video signal back to its source, but every time we are on the point of identifying the source-IP, the encryption key changes as well as the used proxy servers and we have to start from scratch".
"Are you saying that the whole IT Forensic Department of the ZPD isn't able to track the source location of a video signal?" Bogo asked rabidly. "What about image analysis? Any saliences or other clues to limit the location?"
"We are still working on it, there are no identifiable serial numbers, no environmental sounds and there is no natural lighting through the only cellar window visible during night hours".
Bogo muttered something and wanted to leave, but Bradley hold him back again: "This wasn't what I wanted to show you, chief! The video wasn't visible all the time as I was working on the tracking, and I switched off the sound as suggested. Hence I didn't notice immediately…" he typed another command and the screen turned black.
"What happened, where is the video stream?"
"That's what I'm trying to say, the transmission was aborted on the source-side and we have no further possibilities to trace it now".
"Can you playback the last recorded minutes?"
"Just a moment, I'm currently trying to recover the video file, its header was corrupted when the transmission aborted" Bradley said while typing something into a hex editor, modifying the saved video file directly.
Bogo took a look on his watch and grumbled, he wanted to interrogate that ferret as soon as possible but the aborted transmission could also be important.
"Okay, that should do the trick…" Bradley started the video, breathed deeply and rubbed his eyes.
"Are you okay?" Bogo asked with another look to his watch. "Your shift started more than sixteen hours ago, maybe you should alternate with a colleague and take a rest".
"I'm going nowhere until we have rescued them… sir". Bradley said a bit too rough. "Sorry, I just need another cup of coffee. Okay, I'm forwarding to the last five minutes of the recording now".
03:02 o'clock, unknown hideout
Nick was on the verge of unconsciousness again, having no idea how much time had passed already. He couldn't reckon that the ram really would let Evelin go once he was dead. Of course, he would never consider to kill her – or anybody else – to safe himself, even if he would believe that he was released afterwards (what he didn't). But as long as he could stick it out, Evelin was kept alive, forced to watch him suffer continuously. He could only guess that this mental torture was originally planned for Judy and her sister being kidnapped was indeed a mistake.
Evelin's sobbing was rather quiet. She had cried and shouted her head off during the last hours, having red eyes and a sore throat by now. Feeling dizzy and trembling from coldness she was drained and passing out repeatedly. She couldn't think straight by now, without her gag she already would have begged Nick to do whatever needed. A short pain from a neck bite would finally end all of this, including her own mental pain – the thought was more and more tempting to her by the minute.
"Well, you really manage to impress me, fox" the ram walked around Nick's chair, then slowly retracted a long needle out of the fox's shoulder who gave another wince of pain. "I had quite a few orders in the past years, some much more heavyweight than you. But only very few didn't pass out after puncturing their ulnar nerve" the ram snickered. "That's really promising, giving me the opportunity to try something new".
Nick was sitting slumped on his chair, not even raising his head anymore to look what his punisher was up to next. He closed his eyes and was imagining how he first kissed Judy in the Hollow bar, her dumbfounded but delighted face when he proposed to her in the cinema, the glint in her eyes when they tied the knots; this cute little bunny meant the world to him and he would give his right arm to see this lovely face just one more time. This thought was all that was still keeping him conscious right now…
The ram was standing beside Nick again, removed quietly whistling the muzzle and jerked the fox's head backwards by his ears. "You know, my grandfather was a successful dentist. While most other children are afraid to go to the dentist, I often sat in his medical office and watched him. It always gave me some sweet… sensation, watching those mammals full of fear when they sat down in his dental treatment chair. It didn't matter if it was a young sheep or an old hippo, once they sat down in that chair, they were nothing more than a picture of misery and my uncle would spell doom for them: Was it some tooth decay or even a hole in the tooth? The sound of his drill was fascinating. But I will pass a secret to you…" the ram lifted his right arm, holding a rusty pincers right before Nick's face. "I loved it the most when he had to extract a tooth! Of course he used a local anesthetic on his patients… but that's really overrated in my opinion".
When he grabbed with his hoof Nick's snout to open it, the fox started to snicker, making the ram pause for a moment with irritation. After a few seconds he even started to laugh quietly.
"It seems, someone really has a thrill of anticipation, mh?" the ram chuckled and wanted to continue, but Nick mumbled something undistinguishable. "What did you say, pred-worm?" he asked impatiently, but Nick could only whisper. With a curious grin he leaned forward so that the fox could whisper into his ear.
"I will claw out your eyes and will make you pay for this" Nick whispered with a lame voice and started to giggle again.
The ram straightened up again with a sardonic smile. "Will you, mh? You are dead-alive, still bound to a chair and your fingers are broken…" he snickered amused.
Nick was still giggling and said, this time loud and clearly understandable: "Right, and because of this it was no skin off my nose to self-broke my thumb and free myself from your handcuffs". He suddenly stopped giggling and with a blazing fast movement he stroke the thunderstruck ram in the face with his unbroken claws, making him scream in agony. The ram tumbled backwards, but Nick had already entangled the other arm around his neck, holding on to him with the claws buried into his fur. Angry and with a bleeding nose the ram turned around, knocking Nick down, but the fox didn't let loose and eventually managed to bite into his neck. Screaming with pain the ram ran backward against the wall several times, trying to shake off the fox but only shattered the chair thereby. With Nick's legs now being free, too, he kicked the ram into his back of the knees, causing them both to fall down. But several hours of torture had left some marks and Nick slide weakened over the floor. Angrily and on all fours the ram ran towards him, tossing the already abused body of the fox up into the air with his horns. Nick crashed against the wall, knocking down the notebook with the webcam and groaned with pain.
The ram pulled himself together, grabbed a large knife from the floor and yelled foaming: "You don't wanna play anymore, clever-fox? Okay, that's up to you!" With large steps he walked up to the still bound Evelin who had watched the fight, now being pale with terror when the ram winded up the knife, ready to slash her. "Game over".
03:26 o'clock, Hopps-Wilde's apartment (bedroom)
After Bogo had witnessed Nick's failed attempt to overwhelm their captor and the outage of the video stream, he had to take a decision. Nick's and Evelin's time was ultimately running out and he had not enough time to question the arrested ferret the whole night. He would need the help of an experienced interrogation officer for this, but wasn't sure who he could bring into the loop. Angry but also frustrated he left the work room, but only discovered Sven sitting on the couch in the living room.
"The situation has changed, Mister Hopps-Brooks. Where is Officer Hopps?" he muttered.
A few minutes later it knocked at Judy's bedroom door. Doctor Alisson had just finished her examination.
"Come in" Judy said tired while sitting on the edge of her bed, buttoning up her blouse again.
Sven opened the door, accompanied by Bogo, and both were looking really worried.
"What happened?" Judy asked in consternation even before the two could say a word.
03:54 o'clock, ZPD safe house, unknown location
"The captive target is in the next room, sir" Fangmeyer saluted when Chief Bogo entered the safe house.
Bogo grunted something, walked past his Detective and eventually entered the other room. Ferris was handcuffed and sitting on a chair, two more tigers in protective vests and dark uniform watching him. The ferret didn't seem to be really worried about the situation, leaning backwards and eyeing up the Cape buffalo.
"You must be the one in charge here" Ferris smiled. "Well, I'll have a 47's Château Cheval Blanc and a cheese platter to begin with. Oh, and do you have nigirizushi? Not this deep-frozen stuff, I'm talking about some freshly made one".
"Somebody here swallowed a clown for breakfast, mh?" Bogo smiled slyly, then turned around to Fangmeyer. "A funny guy you got there…" he chuckled for a moment, but out of a sudden he turned back to the ferret, leaned forward and supported himself snorting with rage on the table. "You think you are clever? Feeling secure and unimpeachable because of your contacts, huh? Must be a really big gun if you actually believe you can get away with killing a cop" Bogo's voice was low and threatening.
"You have got nothing on me, Buffalo Bill, but I will seek damages from you and every single mammal that charged my residence. Even your grandchildren will still have to pay for your little mistake here" Ferris smiled, still unimpressed. "And now I want to ring my lawyer. Dismissed, Sitting Bull".
Bogo straightened up slowly. "Do you see a phone in here?" he pretended to look around the room. "Or any of your friends? Not me! However, what I'm seeing are some loyal and faithful special forces in a soundproofed room, together with a sassy and smug ferret that killed a colleague of them, and sadly just disappeared without trace out of a sudden. Maybe you really have some influential friends, and when they are going to file a missing mammal report for you, I will promise them with my friendliest smile that we will keep a lookout for you. The partner of the officer you killed will be really eager to take care of this case! But eventually they will just assume that the floor was getting too hot so you decided to leave the country".
Ferris kept smiling at first, but Bogo's voice was cold and calculating and his smile getting more and more sinister during his talk. When the ferret finally replied, he wasn't smiling anymore and lost most of his confidence. "You are bluffing, you are a highly decorated cop, bubbling over with self-righteousness. Never would you overstep the mark. It would taint your oh so shiny badge…"
Chief Bogo seemed to think about the ferret's words for a moment, took off his badge and eyed it in his hoof. "Maybe you are right, it would taint the badge I swore an oath to. But do you know what causes an even worse taint?" he angrily closed his hoof, fiercely clenching the badge. "The pointlessly shed blood of my officers. Shed by some low life like you. I'm really sick of it and going to clean my city once and for all, at all costs!" Bogo turned around to Fangmeyer who had watched the talking blandly. "I count on you, dispose him afterwards at the usual location".
The tiger saluted and adumbrated a short nod to his both colleagues that were flanking the ferret. One of them put his arm around Ferris' neck, tightening his grip without hesitation, while Bogo left the room, shutting the door behind himself.
"WAIT!" Ferris yelled in panic, "We can bargain about this!"
"You have nothing to offer but your pathetic life" Bogo muttered without turning around, but still paused within the doorframe.
"I swear, I didn't kill the fox!"
"If you did it yourself or ordered one of your paid thugs to do it doesn't matter".
"No! He was still alive when we turned him in, it was just a paid job to kidnap him! We brought him to the warehouse that's under foreclosure in the 13th Fog Street in the Rainforest District!" Ferris was gasping for air as the tiger was still holding him in a chokehold.
Bogo hesitated just a short moment, "Forget about it, we already found it as well as Officer Wilde… or what was left of him. You are really a sick bastard" he turned his head slowly and flashed his eyes at the now frightened ferret. "But don't worry, we will grant you a merciful end – we are no monsters like you" Bogo snorted and finally left the room.
"Oh god, no! WAIT!" Ferris gasped for air again, struggling frantically. "I can give you the name of the contract killer who did this! And I can also describe you the client who paid for Wilde's abduction!"
Bogo allowed himself some time before entering the room again with a deadpan. After a short gesture with his hoof the tiger eased his grip somewhat and Fangmeyer left the room with a quick nod. The chief grabbed into his pocket and slapped down a notebook and a pencil onto the table. "You better not waste my time, or they can only identify you via DNA…"
03:22 o'clock, hideout in the 13th Fog Street, Rainforest District
Evelin cringed when she heard how Nick snapped his own thumb after the ram had removed the muzzle and while it narrated his little story about his grandfather. She didn't understand why he did such a thing until the fox tried to overpower their kidnapper out of a sudden. The fight was going on for several minutes, but the ram was not only bigger and sturdier, Nick's injuries were an additional handicap. After nearly ten minutes the combat was decided when the ram threw Nick through the air with his horns, knocking over both the table with the tools and also the computer. Evelin could hear him groan with pain, but their offender was already getting up again. With a large knife in his hoofs, he slowly walked up to the table she was still strapped onto. Pale with terror she watched with widened eyes how the ram was winding up the knife above her helpless body, a mad glint in his eyes.
"Game over" he ranted and let the blade whizzing downwards. Evelin squinted her eyes shut, made a quick prayer and eventually screamed into her gag with deadly terror, expecting the pain overwhelming her body.
But nothing happened, and after what seemed like an eternity she slowly opened her eyes again and her scream faded away. The ram had sunk onto his knees, rolled his eyes and finally collapsed passed out. Evelin had no idea what just happened and looked around. She found Nick, kneeling a few meters away on the floor and with something similar like a gun in his paw, breathing heavily.
"So, this is the effect of Etorphine" Nick said with a low voice, got up and walked limping up to Eve. "I wish he would have used it on me hours ago, his blathering was worse than the beatings" he mumbled.
Evelin was starring puzzled, then started to sob – but this time with a weak smile. In the meantime the fox took the knife and started to cut the ropes of her bonds. When he carefully removed her gag, she laughed quietly sobbing. "Even now you still have to yield a sly comment?"
"I'm just a dumb fox" Nick shrugged with his shoulders. "Stay lying down a bit more, I'm going to fetter this sadist and then will have a look after you".
"No offence, but maybe I should rather have a look after you" Evelin was still sobbing, rubbing her sore wrists. "Thank you, Nicky. I owe you my life and I will never ever forget what you did for me today" she sobbed.
Nick used the cut rope to bind the ram's arms and feeds together, suppressing to cry of pain because of his broken fingers and used his teeth as an aid to tighten the knots; Evelin already had to hear enough of his screams for tonight. "Don't get me wrong, but I would much rather that you would forget about all of this…" he muttered.
The rabbit was still sobbing and holding her belly when Nick was painfully getting up again.
"You should try to take a deep breath, Eve. He didn't hurt you, did he?" he viewed her worried. The question seemed ridiculous when asked by Nick: his fur was bloodstained, one eye and his lips swollen, burns in his fur from the cattle prod, limping, broken ribs and fingers, stuffy breathing and whistling respiratory sounds, … it was beyond Evelin's gasp how the fox with this bad condition was even able to stay conscious, let alone stand up and talk with her.
After being constrained on the table for nearly twelve hours in this cold and drafty room, wearing nothing more than a dress and crying for the last hours, Evelin was also shattered: Sore joints, aching muscles, trembling from hypothermia, tearstained eyes and a hoarse throat. She also had a recurring pain in her belly that started a few hours ago and was getting worse. But still she tried to keep a stiff upper lip despise being afraid, Nick already had done enough for her. "I'm… okay, Nicky" she spoke pressed with a pinched smile.
Nick couldn't smell anything with his swollen nose and his view was blurred, but it still didn't slip his attention that Evelin was in pain and nearly freezing to death. He looked around but couldn't find anything in the dimly lit room to use as a blanket. He sighed, but hesitated to touch Evelin's arm. "Eve, don't try and fool a former hustler." Nick was only whispering painful. "You are freezing and trembling in every limb. I would warm you up, but… I'm somewhat untidy and all this blood wouldn't be very pleasant for you" he retracted his paw again and looked like a dying duck in a thunderstorm.
"N-Nicky, don't…" she grabbed after his arm, but only brushed him to not cause any pain. "It's n-not… I'm not d-disgusted, only worried to h-hurt you" Evelin tried to suppress the chatter of her teeth while speaking.
Nick slowly leaned forward, putting his arms around the rabbit's neck and shoulders. She hesitated but eventually put her arms also around his neck so Nick could lift her up carefully, pulling her body against his and cradling her softly. It was using the last of his strength and all of his willpower. Evelin's body was actually reducing Nick's pain somewhat by cooling his wounds, but that was also a bad sign as she was really hypothermic. It took a few minutes, Nick had laid beside Evelin on the table and embracing her with his arm, legs and tail, but as soon as she was feeling a bit warmer again, she started to sob uncontrollably. Her brother-in-law had closed his eyes, breathing really slowly and crawling soothingly her back and head. But the sobbing and trembling wasn't the only thing he noticed and after ten more minutes he sighed.
"How long, Eve?" he whispered.
She continued to sob and sniveled quietly, "What do you mean?"
"How long are you already in labor, Eve? Or do you think I cannot sense how you are jerking in pain every few minutes?"
"It started a few hours ago, but it cannot be, it's too early!" Evelin sounded frightened and started to cry quietly. "They will… stop again!" she grimaced again, groaning quietly.
"I fear not. Your contractions are coming with increasing frequency and you know it". Nick opened his eyes again and leaned his head backward to look Evelin into her eyes. "Listen Eve, I have no idea when someone will find us here. The door has an electronic key lock and I doubt that our captor will give us the code voluntary, let alone the fact that he is still stunned for a while. I couldn't find a phone in the ram's pockets when I fettered him and the notebook was destroyed when it absorbed my fall…"
"You want to say that we cannot expect any help for an indefinite time and we are on our own".
Nick nodded caring, "I know this was a terrible day, you are exhausted and probably afraid. But you cannot ignore your body now or you and your kits are at a serious risk"
"I'm really frightened, Nicky... it's getting really painful, and under these conditions…"
"Don't be afraid, I'm here for you…" he winked with his bloodshot eye. "And you can be glad of it because out of all foxes in Zootopia you could be locked-in with I'm most probably the only one who read a book or two about rabbit pregnancies recently".
Evelin stopped sobbing and laughed quietly. "I'm glad that you are here with me…" she cringed again, grabbing his paw. "I don't think there is a lot of time left!" Nick climbed down the table again and slowly undressed his shredded shirt. The rabbit smiled softly: "Not that I'm not appreciating this view under normal conditions, Nicky…"
The fox hinted a smile, too, then wiped with the piece of cloth his paws and the table as clean as possible and hold her paw again. "Everything will be alright, I promise you. We are now both going to breathe deeply… lay back and try to relax, Eve".
04:19 o'clock, Hopps-Wilde's apartment (living room)
Sven sat beside Judy on the couch together with Bradley, Snarlof and Grizzoli were standing near them; they all were listening unstrung to the conversations on the radio. Doctor Alisson had tried to persuade Judy that this was too stressful, but of course the rabbit had a mind of her own: About an hour ago Chief Bogo summarized what happened without going into details, finally asking her for some handy tips to interrogate Ferris as he couldn't risk to let any other officer in on his arrest and she was still one of his most talented officers when it came to questioning suspects. Judy's suggestion didn't please Bogo, but he eventually agreed that it was their best chance. Doctor Alisson made sure, that Judy was really able to support the Chief during this operation, but eventually she had to go home to get a few hours of sleep herself. Again she made Judy and Sven promise to call her in case of an emergency, leaving another small dosage of the light sedative behind for Judy – just to be sure.
While Bogo was driving to the safe house, Judy walked through the official profile of Ferris that Bradley had downloaded from the police database. The Cape buffalo was wearing a hidden earpiece when he started his conversation with Ferris, getting tips and instructions from Judy who was listening to it on the radio, sitting in her living room. Threatening the ferret with jail time would have been a waste of effort. The Chief of the ZPD was also a prominent mammal in Zootopia, Ferris would never believe that the buffalo would commit violence against him just to get a confession. Their only chance was to bluff, pretending that they already found Nick's corpse – and that his death was ultimately driving the upright character of the chief to extreme measures. Ferris was a gambler and an information-monger. If they could sell him that Chief Bogo was on a vendetta and had hired a loyal Special Forces unit to finally take the law into his own paws, Judy was sure that Ferris would try everything to bargain with him – according to his profile he was profoundly convinced that everyone was willing to bargain.
Judy's plan did work out and the ferret revealed the address of a warehouse in the Rainforest District. Bogo already wanted to abort the interrogation and send Fangmeyer's team, but Judy hold him back – she was sure that Ferris wouldn't bargain with his most valuable information on his first try. After Bogo said that Nick was dead the ferret would appeal reliable by telling them the address of the warehouse without having disclosed some really important information. So they had to up the stakes … and got the name of a contract killer – a ram called 'Bud Ramstad' – and the description of a Timber Wolf that paid for Nick's abduction.
Fangmeyer had left the safe house like preconcerted and was, together with his small unit, on his way to the named address. They had just arrived at the facility and started to search it with infrared cameras, but the warehouse was rather large.
"Main floor secured, now entering the lower basement" Fangmeyer radioed via their encrypted channel – only his team, Chief Bogo with his earpiece and Bradley's notebook could communicate this way.
Judy were huddling on the couch, Sven embracing her carefully. After the interrogation was finished, Snarlof and Grizzoli tried to convince her that she and Sven shouldn't listen to the mission reports of Fangmeyer's team. Nobody knew what they would discover in that warehouse but the last seconds of the video stream were ominous and they all wanted to spare the rabbits some bad news via a radio message. If they were still hold captive at that warehouse at all.
"We found a roosting place. It's abandoned. Still no heat signatures" another team member radioed.
Bradley's notebook played a notification sound and Judy could read a small popup on the screen before the jaguar quickly closed it. "What video are you working on?" she asked curiously – the only videos she knew of in this case were those of the security cameras. But the popup notified about a finished video segmentation analysis, a process of automatically analyzing every single frame of a video by their 'Trinity' software – something that is done with all videos of the security cameras nevertheless. That message indicated, that Bradley had uploaded a foreign video to their servers. But what kind of video?
"Just… a security camera feed we found in… the suspects house" Bradley disabled all further notifications on his notebook and brought the communication software back into the foreground.
Judy's ears twitched, not only was Bradley a really bad liar, the fact that he was obviously hiding some information was a bit alarming. "Brad, I just successfully beaconed an interrogation via radio, don't even try to lie to me!"
"Maybe you should relax a bit, Ju…" Sven interrupted her. "They are tracking down Evelin and Nick in that warehouse right now, who cares for an unimportant video right now".
Judy stared at him puzzled – why wasn't Sven also eager to find out more about a video that was related to their case? She could notice that he was getting nervous, too, but still pretend to not care …
"What are you talking about, Sven? Of course I care for everything that is even only slightly relev…" Judy began but was interrupted by the radio, much to Bradley's relief.
"We have a closed door, secured with an electronic key lock. Two positive heat signatures within the room, both on the floor, not moving. Trying to bypass the lock now".
"Sweet cheese and crackers" Judy gasped with her paw above the mouth. "They are really there, we have to go immediately!" she jumped off the couch and Sven followed her. But Snarlof blocked off their way to the hallway.
"We have orders to stay here, Hopps" he muttered.
"Get outta my way!" Judy said angrily.
"Hopps…" Grizzoli appeared at her side, impatiently rolling his eyes. He was always taking umbrage at hers and Wilde's rebellious behavior, and the fact that they got away with it most of the time. And he wasn't willing to disobey a direct order from the chief for them. "Please, sit down again. We are waiting for further instructions and until then neither you nor anybody else is leaving this apartment!"
"How dare you…" she snarled at the polar bear, but Sven put a paw on her shoulder.
"Judy, please. Just calm down" he said with a trembling voice.
"I don't …" she began, but was interrupted by the radio again.
"Using a Frisbee to open the door"
"Did they say a Frisbee?!" Sven asked puzzled and Judy sighed.
"A detonating cord, rolled up to a flat spiral with an adhesive film on one side. It's attached to a door or lock, causing a small but targeted explosion to burst it open" she explained, walking up and down the living room.
04:40 o'clock, hideout in the 13th Fog Street, Rainforest District
There was a loud explosion at the door that made Evelin wince, but Nick didn't move. He was sitting on the floor, leaning against some large pipe, and had embraced the rabbit in an attempt to keep her warm. But maybe ten minutes ago he stopped answering to Evelin and eventually got unconscious. When the door was forced open, Evelin was blinded by some flashlights and leaned protectively forward.
"One ram down, fettered and not conscious" one of the masked tigers in uniform said apparently to no one special, maybe into a hidden radio.
"There they are!" another tiger yelled, hurried towards them and kneeled down right beside the fox.
"Main targets found, standby" the first tiger said into his radio.
Fangmeyer carefully put his paw onto the trembling rabbits shoulder. "Don't worry, Ma'am. We are from the ZPD and want to rescue you. Are you okay?" Evelin nodded slowly without raising her head. "Wilde?" Fangmeyer turned to the fox, but got no answer. "Hey, Nick! Can you hear me, pal?" he took off his gloves and tried to feel Nick's pulse on his neck.
"He is alive" Evelin whispered weakly, this time slowly raising her head, "But he passed out some time ago and his breathing and heartbeat is fading away" she sobbed. Fangmeyer nodded and wanted to help her to get up, but Evelin just shook her head, leaning forward and embracing Nick again.
Fangmeyer pressed a button on his collar that apparently was some kind of microphone: "Misses Hopps-Brooks is alive and responsive but Officer Wilde is unconscious". He turned around when one of his colleagues came running with a first aid bag and gave him some place to examine the two victims.
"We secured the rest of the lower basement, no one else is here. The ambulance is arriving in a few minutes" the other tiger said while getting some gauze from the backpack and an infusion bag.
05:15 o'clock, in front of the warehouse in the 13th Fog Street, Rainforest District
When Snarlof and Grizzoli arrived in their police rover, two ambulances and several other police cars with flashing blue lights were blocking the street. The moment the car stopped, both rear doors flung open and Judy as well as Sven leaped out of the car and dash across the street.
In the first ambulance the ram was examined, handcuffed to the stretcher and one officer of Fangmeyer's task force watching him. Judy ran past it after a quick look, opened the backdoor of the second ambulance and leaped onto the footboard, Sven closely behind her.
"Nick!" / "Evelin!" both rabbits exclaimed at once.
Nick was laying down on a stretcher, most of his body wrapped up in extemporary bandages and an IV line in his arm. He was conscious again, but still too weak to raise his head. Evelin sat beside him on a bench, also having an IV line and wrapped in a heating blanket. She had tears in her eyes while a paramedic was taking her blood pressure, but when she turned her head to Sven and Judy she smiled happily.
Sven hurried to his wife, engulfing her in a firm hug with tears of joy in his eyes. "I thought that I will never see you again, whiskers!" he sobbed quietly.
"Hey, carrots" Nick whispered really quite and tried to smile at his wife.
Judy was white-faced when she approached Nick and viewed all his injuries, starting to cry. "Sweet cheese and crackers, Nick! What for blueberries sake happened to you?" She didn't even had the courage to touch him and tears were running down her cheeks – but Judy still smiled and was glad that he was alive after all.
"Just a small dissent with your little sister, carrots" Nick whispered and tried to smile even more.
"What are you talking about, dumb fox?" Judy laughed with a sob and wiped with her paw some tears away.
"Well, I held the view that a warm and cozy hospital bed will be the right place to give birth for a cute little bunny, but Eve decided that a cold and wet cellar room would be better" he coughed painfully, but then tried to smile again.
"W-what?" Judy asked with a puzzled grin.
Nick turned his head around to the two other rabbits, Sven looking as puzzled as Judy. Evelin snuffled with a sleepy smile and slowly pulled the heating blanket to the side, revealing four tiny, furless bunny babies that were huddling against her, sleeping peacefully.