Chapter 8

Chase awoke from his bed with an intense start, standing shock-still and staring forward with terrified brown eyes. His heart was beating fast and his muscles were tense. He needed to find Skye and stop Swift. He couldn't let anyone get away with so heinous of a crime as this, even if it was his own brother.

Chase looked around to see if anyone else was up, and only saw Miracle awake. She lay in her house and her eyes had bags under them. He quietly started to walk out of his doghouse, only to get a painful reminder of his drugging and causing the loss of Skye.

"Chase, are you okay?"

Chase looked over at Miracle, whose concerned bark had broken the silence, "Uh… Hey… Y-yeah, I'm just eager to get this going."

"Oh… Well, I hate to break it to you, but they've already left."

"They what?"

"Yeah, and they-" Miracle was interrupted by a brief yawn. "They left me in charge of you."

"They-? Ugh… So I'm guessing that's their language for saying they don't want me to go."

"Well, in their defense, you still need to recover."

"But I'm fine."

"Five broken ribs say otherwise."

"They barely hurt," Chase lied. In reality though, they were killing him."

"Sorry, but we're not going to risk it."

Chase sighed, "Did they at least take a rig?"

"No, I don't think so."

"In that case, I better drive a couple to them."

"No, you are in no condition to even be walking, let alone driving."

"Darn," Chase muttered.

"Chase, I know how much Skye means to you, but right now, you'll have to trust the others to get her back."

"Alright, alright, fine."

"I can, however, get you something to eat."

"Could you get me a bone?"

"No problem. I'll be right back," Miracle said before walking toward the elevator.

Chase waited for Miracle to be out of his sight. Once the elevator was no longer visible, Chase got into his doghouse. Almost immediately after, he walked out in his spy gear.

"Super Spy Chase is on the case…"

Meanwhile, the other PAW Patrol members, Ryder, and Pace were tracking Swift's scent. "He wants to be found..." Pace noted.

"How can you tell?" Ryder asked.

"He would've gone in that stream and washed off his scent." Pace pointed to the stream nearby, "This is part of his plan."

"Why?"

"I don't know..."

"Think about it," Rocky said, "Chase would have tracked Swift down by now if we allowed him to come with us. He wanted to make it easy for Chase."

"Good thing Chase isn't here then..."

"Agreed. Maybe we should check in with Swift."

"And get Marshall and Skye back," Rubble added.

"Yes, so we'd better get back to work." Pace got back to sniffing.

Chase tore down the dirt road in his spy rig. After Chase's failed attempt to sneak up on Rocky, Chase requested a more spy-esque variation of his rig and spy equipment. (Well, actually, it was after he had just watched a spy movie…) Hopefully, he can get Marshall and Skye out of there before Swift even notices he's there. Maybe he could zip line in? No… that'd be dumb. Maybe he could grapple them in? No...they'd be too heavy… Besides, there's no telling what could be waiting for him. He'd need a plan, but he'd need to know where he was keeping them.

He spotted the group just ahead and slammed on the brakes. He couldn't let them see him, there'd be issues, he'd have to sneak around… Maybe if he slowly drove through the trees? Maybe, but there's still the bulk of his vehicle, but at least it's not nightfall; the green glowing stripes on his vehicle would give him away. Maybe he should just park it somewhere and abandon it, but what if Swift gets a hold of it?

'There's just no way to win,' Chase thought. 'Good thing I brought the spy trim, I guess, but that won't be enough.' He started looking around on the dashboard when… 'Wait, what's this?"

He pressed the yellow button that read "CLOAK," before he along with his entire vehicle went invisible.

'Okay… Don't know how I didn't see that earlier, but this works.'

And with that, Chase follows the group from the distance.

The elevator door opened as Miracle walked back into the hangar. She started to walk forward when she saw that Chase's doghouse was missing. 'That's odd,' she thought, 'There's no way his doghouse would be missing… Unless… Oh no.'

"Ryder, come in."

"What is it, Miracle?"

"It's Chase, I think he's gone! His rig's not here."

"Are you positive?"

"Yeah, he took his vehicle with him."

"Got it. We'll keep an eye out for him."

"Ryder...I smell something… smells like gasoline..." Rocky said.

"Is it Chase?" Miracle asked, hopefully.

"I can't tell, it-" *woosh!*

"Ryder? Rocky?! What happened?"

"Car drove by, guess that was the gasoline we smelled..." Rocky sounded disappointed.

"It's alright, you're doing your best." Miracle hoped to provide Rocky with some level of encouragement, even if it was over the radio.

"Thanks Miracle."

"You're welcome. Let me know if you see Chase or Swift."

"You got it."

Chase breathed a sigh of relief. He was glad that the pups couldn't smell him, though he was surprised. Even his father couldn't smell him, and he had the best nose around. Then again, he has inherited his father's nose. This spy rig was better than he thought.

Confident that they didn't know, Chase sped on towards Swift.

"John Jacob Eingerhiemer Schmidt, his name is my name, too. Whenever we go out, the people always-"

"Enough!" Swift snarled at Marshall, "I swear, if you sing one more line, I'll kill you!"

Marshall gulped, immediately stopping the song.

Skye remained in a tiny ball at the back of the cage. She wanted to be as far away from Swift as possible. It was hard keeping her mouth closed, considering the heat and the fact that she hadn't had a drink for over a day. It amazed her how Rocky was able to talk, much less sing.

"Skye?"

Skye looked up, and saw Marshall laying on the other side of the cage. "Are you okay?"

Skye didn't know what to respond with. Was she alright? Of course not, but she couldn't tell Marshall that. She didn't want to scare him. Finally, she settled on a "Y-Yeah. I-I'm fine."

"Oh, uh...okay..." Marshall was about to leave, when he said, "They'll save us, you know."

Skye couldn't reply.

"They'll save the day," Marshall panted, "Though it might take longer, since you're not with them."

The little compliment brought a small smile to Skye's lips. "Maybe..."

Marshall looked back at Swift. "Anytime now..."

"We're getting closer," Pace noted, "Should be there in five minutes."

"Good." Ryder replied.

Swift's odor stung at Chase's nose. He was close. Very close. He stopped the vehicle, only to find out that the cloaking only works when he's in the vehicle. 'Well, that complicates things.'

He decided to follow the scent as far as he could until he could see Sky, Marshall, or Swift. He tried to move as quietly as he could, though it's easier said than done when one has to work around his injuries, especially five broken ribs. Luckily, the bushes were able to serve as effective cover. Still, it's better to be safe than sorry.

He carefully peeked over one of the bushes. The first thing he saw was Skye and Marshall sitting there in a cage. Both of them had to be starving after being in there at least since the report of them being abducted. He quickly ducked his head under the bush, remembering to lower his tail lest Swift should see it by chance and give him away.

There was no telling what those two have gone through, and Chase didn't want them to have to stay in that cage any longer. But he couldn't just jump in and attack, he needed to tread quietly and carefully. The wrong step, and Swift would know he was here.

Slowly, carefully, Chase inched along. He could only get so far with bushes before he would have to step out into the open. When he did, he would need to find some way to divert Swift's attention, though he was surprised that Swift hasn't caught him yet. He could thank the wind for that.

Suddenly, Chase heard a noise. He peeked up over the bush hoping that Swift wasn't standing directly over him. He wasn't. So where did the nose come from? He surveyed his surroundings and spotted a familiar face.

'Dad? Ryder?'

Swift stood up and looked at his father. A smirk crept upon his face as he walked up to the duo. "Well, this is a surprise," he said, "I didn't expect you to show up. I guess Chase isn't dog enough to save his Señorita ."

Skye swallowed.

"You're mistaken," Pace said following it with a snarl, "We had to put him on sick leave due to the injuries that you gave him."

"Temper, temper padre."

"Actually, he has every right to be upset with you," Ryder added, "You have gone too far. Now release Skye and Marshall right now."

"I can't do that, not without Chase."

While Swift was conversing with Pace and Ryder, Chase took the opportunity to walk up to the cage. The moment he found the opening, he heard Skye almost yip, "Chase!"

He quickly signaled for Skye to keep her voice down as he examined the lock.

"Aren't you supposed to be resting?" Marshall asked.

"Let's just say that I needed a sick leave from sick leave."

Chase carefully, slid one of his claws into the lock and began picking at it. Hopefully, his claw would be strong enough to mess around with the mechanism and allow him to unlock the cage.

Meanwhile, Ryder happened to notice Chase as he was picking at the lock. He wanted so much to tell Chase to get out of there, but saying something to him would immediately put Chase, Skye, and Marshall in even more danger than they were already in.

"For the last time, I'm not releasing them without Chase."

Pace rolled his eyes, "And just why should we believe you after what you did to that other pup?"

Swift's eyes narrowed in on Pace, "That is none of your concern."

"Isn't it? You're my son, and-"

"No! Don't call me that. I am not your son!"

"And you nearly killed your own brother. You need to stop this right now."

"Why? Once I have revenge on Chase, I'll be done. I will be fulfilled."

"And then what?"

Chase continued to fiddle with the lock while Marshall look at him with a bored expression. "Any minute now," he said flatly.

"Almost got it," Chase said.

"That's what you said a few seconds ago."

"Well this time, I've almost…"

Click!

Chase snatched his head toward the other three. Nothing. Not even an ear twitch. He looked back at the two captives. "Got it." He pulled the door open and landed on his forelegs.

Big mistake.

The pain that resulted from the landing caused Chase to let out a painful yelp. This alerted Swift as both Ryder and Pace look with pale expressions on their faces.

"Well, well. Looks like you delivered," Swift sneered.