The Police Chief's Secret
Snake, Piranha, Shark, and Tarantula all did their anxious bits. Webs tried to get in touch with Wolf or Diane, not knowing that being near the electronic disruptor's blasts had made their phones useless. Snake gently rubbed Doris's fur while on the couch. Shark and Piranha paced back and forth in front of him. Snake groaned, "Would you two stop with the pacing, already? They're going to be fine."
"How do you know that?"
"I just do," Snake replied to Shark. "You really think Diane would let Wolf die like that? Nah, I'm sure they're-"
Just then, the secret entrance to the lair opened up. The slightly beat-up black car rolled into view. The gang crowded around Wolf and Foxington. "You're alright!" Piranha exclaimed.
"Barely," Wolf grumbled, "Lambs wasn't trying to kill us."
"Nearly did though," Diane sighed, dusting her grayish blue jacket. "She gave us a folder with a number on it. Webs?" She tossed the folder over to the spider. "Think you can figure out what code that is?"
"Huh," Webs turned the whole folder around, looking at the GR-888 number. She did a few taps on the computer and a resounding beep made her frown. "Nothing on the surface, but I remember Officer Bill and Officer Bob showed me some files trying to figure out Lambs. This looks like a police record."
"Can you find anything?" Wolf asked, sitting on the couch as Doris curled into his lap. Tarantula furiously tapped along the keyboard, but each time a defeated beep rang out from the computer.
"No."
"Bob and Bill might know something about this," Diane said. "Why don't we give it to them."
"Let's find Luggins first before we do anything with the folder," Wolf suggested, "But don't tell her we know anything about the folder. I have a sneaky suspicion that Lambs is trying to blackmail Luggins for something and the only person who can give us some more answer is Luggins," Wolf grumbled. "Come on, let's see what Officer Perfect has to say about this." The team looked at each other. A worried silence grabbed hold of them.
"Why don't we rest for the night? We've had a long day, Wolf," Snake said. Wolf glanced down at his friend with a bit of disdain. Finally sighing, the wolf relented. "We have a bed made for you, gov. Don't want to have Lambs find you two driving back at night."
"Thanks, that'll be fine," Diane smiled. Everyone went back to their places to sleep, but Wolf's glare never rested. As Wolf showed Diane to her temporary room, she gave a large sigh, turning back to Wolf.
"I really hope you don't let your anger get in the way of this."
The dark gray canine's hard glare suddenly snapped soft, like he realized Diane was there. "Come on, Fox," Wolf smiled. "I'll be fine."
"You're not convincing me," Diane said plainly.
"I'll be fine," Wolf said more seriously. "I won't let my beef with Luggins get in the way of this." Diane nodded and watched Wolf close the door behind him as they all went to sleep.
The next day, the entire gang drove to Luggins' house. It was a quaint, two-story baby blue house with a closed garage on the right side. Wolf groaned under his teeth. "Hey, you cool?" Snake asked.
"Huh? Yeah, yeah, I'm cool."
"Because we need you to be cool."
"I'm cool. I'm cool," Wolf smiled briefly. They knocked on the door. The door slowly open by itself. They walked inside to see a frantic Officer Luggins packing her stuff. "Where are you going?"
"I'm leaving."
"Why?"
"I don't have to answer to you," Luggins shot at Wolf.
"You do have to answer to me, Luggins," Diane marched up. Snake suddenly slithered around the officer's suitcase, closing it shut.
"Dah! Get away from there."
"Not until you answer the gov some questions," Snake hissed.
"What do you want?" Luggins grumbled.
"Why did you give me the watch if you knew there was a tracker in there?" Wolf grunted.
"What makes you think I knew?"
"Lambs says you gave her the slip with the watch."
"And you believe her?"
"She's a lot more believable than you are right now," Diane spoke up.
"You wanted her to kill me!" Wolf accused.
"She wasn't going to kill you," Luggins said, rolling her eyes, "Once she saw who you were, she wouldn't have killed you."
"How do you know?" Diane asked. Luggins bit her lip down like she had to swallow hot spicy pepper without flinching.
"Alright, alright," Luggins grumbled. She took a seat on one of the kitchen stools next to the counter. Wolf couldn't help but notice several wine bottles, mixers, and special drinks in Luggins' kitchen. But they looked like they hadn't been used in a while.
"Lambs is... an outright methodical killer that tends to play with her target before killing them," Luggins explained. "I had to go deep undercover to try and find her. Doing that kind of work, you don't know who you can trust or where you're safe. But Lambs is the mercenary type. She's deadly, and she won't stop until I either die out of exhaustion trying to escape her or until she kills me."
"Why does she want you?" Diane asked.
"The last time we met, I managed to gain her trust. But I turned her in. But shortly after that, she broke out of prison. Killed a lot of my friends," Luggins sighed. "So, I went into another police division for cover. Things seemed to settle down... until now."
"You didn't have to change your name?" Diane asked. She knew some protective services did that.
"I did."
"What was your original name?"
"It doesn't matter now," Luggins waved off. "What matters is that I need to get as far away from her as possible. Do you understand that?"
Diane glanced at Wolf who made a deep sigh. "Alright, we get it. Lambs is dangerous."
"I'll meet up with Bill and Bob and see what they can do on their end. Wolf," Diane pointed directly at him. "Promise me that you'll protect Luggins."
"Grrr, I promise," Wolf grumbled under his breath. "Guys, help Luggins pack."
"No! Absolutely not!" Luggins shouted.
"Why not?" Wolf gruffly asked.
"The more people involved, the more likely she'll kill all of them just to get to her target," Luggins said. "And I don't need more people's deaths on my head."
Though mildly surprised that she cared about what happened to them, Mr. Wolf couldn't help but feel like it was fake. Maybe it wasn't. Wolf sighed again, "Alright, then. Shark, Snake, Webs, Piranha, go with Diane and tell the other police."
"You sure you'll be okay, Wolf?" Snake whispered over to him. "I don't know if I trust you protecting Luggins with... good intentions."
"Hey, it'll be fine, alright? If she gets too rowdy I'll just leave. Just like she wants me to," Wolf grumbled.
"Just... keep your cool. That's all I ask," Snake said as he slithered out of the door and into the car with the rest of the team. Diane and the others drove down the road.
Wolf looked around the place a bit more.
There were no pictures or memoirs of Luggins to be seen anywhere. In fact, the only thing really screaming unusual was the minibar near the kitchen. "Hey! Are you going to gawk there all day or are you going to help me," Luggins shouted. Taking a deep breath, Wolf bore a gritted smile and helped the difficult officer with her packing.
"What's with the minibar?"
"What's it to you?" Luggins grumbled, forcing another set of clothing into the bag.
"Doesn't look like the city's top Chief would drink anything other than holy water," Wolf smirked.
Luggins groaned, "If you must know, I used to do a bit of bartending before I became a police officer."
"Really? Wait, how old are you?"
"That's none of your concern!" Luggins shouted.
"Okay, okay," Wolf grumbled, grabbing one of the officer's pants and neatly folding them. "So... what was Lambs like?"
"I already told you."
"No, I mean, what was she really like? Not many criminals make you start packing your bags for Timbuktu."
"Well, she does," Luggins brushed off.
"Still, she seemed... nice."
"And I seemed like a normal ordinary cop before I started 'working' with you," Luggins actually threw a smirk. "Not everything is as it seems."
The canine bit back a grumble. "That doesn't answer my question. What am I up against?"
"One of the best merchants in the world," Luggins sighed. She shook her head and quickly folded another set of clothing.
"Was that a fact or flattery?" Wolf joked. Luggins glared hard at the wolf, making him raise his hands in defense. "Geez, touchy."
"Lillia Lambs is not to be messed with, understand?" Luggins grunted. "Just get your lazy tail to work and start helping."
Wolf slowly went back to folding.
Continued...
