After some time walking through the bustling streets of Boroughton, remembering Avery's orders, Chase finally made it to the restaurant that he was ordered to go to, noticing a charismatic looking man wearing a suit along with a flat cap out front smoking a cigarette.
"What are you looking at, mutt? Get lost!" The man yelled out as he whiffed in the air, signaling for the Shepherd to leave.
Chase scoffed quietly as he turned to the alleyway, noticing the small makeshift shack with a small light emitting from it.
The Shepherd approached the small opening where the light was escaping from and peeked inside, he didn't see anything but a couple of bowls and a guitar?
The Shepherd was confused at this point, was it a ruse, deception? Only one way to find out.
Chase entered the shack and sighed, realizing that there was nobody, at least so he thought as he was knocked to the ground.
"Woah! Hey!" Chase yelled out as the unknown assailant pinned him down and started putting pressure on him.
"Who the hell are you and what're you doing in my home, you Shepherd bloke?!" The dog asked.
"Ju-just hold on, I'm not the bad pup here, I'm not with the McAllisters!" Chase tried defusing.
"You better start talking or I'm gonna gut you like a fish! Did Ajax send you to kill me?! You better not fucking lie!" The dog threatened for an answer as he placed more pressure on the poor pup.
"No! Of course not! I was sent here by a mutual friend!" Chase yelled out.
"Oh really? How do I know that you're not a fucking lying prick?!" The dog asked.
"Avery sent me! He said you needed help with a job!" Chase basically said the magic word at that point as the dog got off of him upon hearing the Greyhound's name.
"Ah shite, why didn't you say so to begin with?" The dog got off of Chase and lent out a paw to help him back on his paws.
Chase accepted the gesture and dusted himself off as the dog walked over to a small water cooler and placed two bowls near them.
"So you're Spencer, right?" The Shepherd asked as he looked at the dog, it was a Border Collie, a big one.
"Yeah that's right, Spencer, at your service." Spencer smiled as he passed a bowl of water to the Shepherd. "So you must be Avery's friend, right? Well, I'll try not to hold that against you." The Border Collie stated.
"What's that supposed to be mean?" Chase asked, taking slight offense.
"Nothing to you, it's just most of the mutts over there are nothing but slimeballs, too shady to work with." Spencer kept going on, with Chase paying attention to everything, at least for now. "A few weeks ago I bump into this big black Husky, didn't like the look on his muzzle along with the others he was with, felt like they were gonna kill me and take my stuff right then and there." Spencer explained. "You know, my mother, god rest her soul and everything..."
Chase started to zone off, Avery didn't mention that Spencer was this excessive with the talking.
Moments passed as the Border Collie kept going on and on, Chase barely paid any mind to the British dog, at least until he had a feeling that the conversation was over.
"...and I know to this day that I won't trust most of them and I never will!" Spencer finally finished ranting.
There was an awkward silence between the two until Chase spoke up seconds later.
"So...what is this job that you need help with?" Chase asked as he leaned down to drink the water from the bowl that Spencer handed him.
"Oh yeah, forgot about that." Spencer chuckled. "Alright, every other week or so, Avery and I move stuff around Boroughton and leave them in designated spots for his people to come collect, a dead drop, so to say." Spencer explained. "There's been a problem recently where one of my spots has attracted some unwanted attention, I want you to head there in a couple of hours and get the drop, if those wankers are over there, take care of them. Other than that, just get the drop back to Avery so my head doesn't go on a pike." Spencer finished.
"I didn't sign up to get rid of some nuisances." Chase stated.
"You won't have to, hopefully." Spencer hoped. "Start heading there once the sun starts getting low. It's in an alleyway off of Griffin Street, about a block or two from Stagg Hotel." Spencer briefed.
"Got it." Chase nodded but what was the pup going to do now? Take a stroll outside or just relax in Spencer's place until night comes.
"So, why do you have a guitar? Us dogs can't play those kinds of instruments, at least not without help." Chase chose the latter as he conversed with the Border Collie. The Shepherd glanced at the guitar and had memories of when he and the pups were playing in a band together, good times, but he brushed it off as the Border Collie spoke up.
"Well, since we can't play it like how humans play it, I figured out a way to play it to the best of our abilities." Spencer walked up to the guitar and held it upright. "You hold it like this and use your paws to strum it, it's a little difficult at first but you get the hang of it." Spencer started playing a calming tune for the Shepherd. "It's gonna be awhile so just sit back and I can teach you a thing or two about playing the guitar." Spencer smiled as he handed the instrument to the Shepherd.
"So here's what you do first..."
"This ain't good, mate." Decker pressed his forehead with one of his front paws.
"He really did it..." Marshall said as he looked at the freeze frame of Chase chasing Deacon.
"I got to call this in." Decker pressed his pup tag. "Sir, Ryder, we got confirmation that it was Chase at the Stagg Hotel. We're looking at the footage right now and there's no doubt about it, that's Chase." Decker stated.
"Acknowledged, take the footage and bring it to us, as soon as possible." Agent Rich ordered. "We take the footage and keep it away from public eyes. They can't know that a pup from the Paw Patrol was involved, even if they don't know exactly who they are, it'll come back to bite them later. Trust me on this and get the footage back here." Agent Rich ordered.
"Yes sir. Marshall, are you okay with staying at the safe house until I get back?" Decker asked as he got the drives containing the footage out of their slots and into his pack.
"Yeah, I'm okay with it." Marshall smiled. "What about these guys?" The Dalmatian asked.
"What about them? We'll tell them as much as we can." Decker answered.
"Alright." Marshall agreed.
As the two walked out of the room, the two hotel workers asked them a question.
"So, you pups got what you needed?" Price asked.
"Yep, thanks for your assistance. Come on, M." Decker refrained from saying the pup's full name.
Marshall followed the Aussie Mix for some time as they finally made it outside the hotel, letting some distance between them and the building, not noticing a dog eyeing them from a distance.
"Let's head back to the safe house." Decker advised.
"Right behind you." Marshall nodded as he soon followed.
The duo's lead into the investigation had almost skyrocketed, almost everything was piecing itself together, but one question still lingered through the Aussie Mix's mind.
Was the dog that Chase killed connected to the McAllister brothers?
Laughter was heard throughout the small shack as untuned notes were heard playing from the inside.
"Come on, kid, just string up a few more notes." Spencer smiled.
"This is way harder than it looks." Chase returned the smile. "Drums were a lot easier than this."
Spencer was taken back. "You played the drums?"
Chase smiled as he thought back to those times again. "Yeah, my friends and I were, sort of, like a band. I always played the drums and I was pretty good at it." The Shepherd boasted.
"Maybe next time we meet, that's not a job, you can teach me about it." Spencer smiled. "You can teach an almost old bloke like me new tricks after all." Spencer laughed as he glanced outside and noticed that the sun was starting to set. "Ah, bollocks, the sun's starting to set."
Chase handed the guitar back to the Border Collie as he set it down. "It was fun while it lasted, right?" Spencer asked the Shepherd.
"Yeah, where's this spot again? I should start heading there now before it gets dark." Chase stated.
"Right, it's over near the Stagg hotel, on Griffin street." Spencer began to explain in detail. "A block or two from the hotel, there's going to be this run down store, in the alleyway is where you'll find the stuff. Get it back to Avery and hopefully that'll calm down Ajax enough for him to not kill me."
"Alright, it was good meeting you, Spencer." Chase nodded.
"Likewise...uhh...I never got your name." Spencer stated.
"Isaac, it's Isaac." Chase lied.
"Isaac, good to meet and...um...thanks for not killing me, I was certain Ajax would've ordered someone to do his dirty work eventually." Spencer thanked.
"Yeah, I'll be seeing you, Spencer." Chase waved as he finally left the premises and headed out to the spot.
Once again, the Shepherd was on his own, determination filling his soul as he was going to do whatever it takes to not only get that drop for Avery, but to make it eventually lead up to him taking care of Ajax and Alistair once and for all. For now he just had to stay patient to achieve his goal.
After some time, Marshall and Decker finally made it back to the safe house, with Decker letting the Dalmatian in and calling over one of the agents that were ordered to stay at the safe house.
"Hey! Contreras! I need a ride back to Agent Rich and the others, he ordered me to deliver some footage to him." Decker called from across the room.
"It's going to take some time to get there but come on, I'll take you. The Dalmatian is fine with staying here?" The agent asked.
"Yeah, we'll be back as soon as possible, Marshall." Marshall nodded as the two left, being by his lonesome for once.
The Dalmatian let out a sigh as he laid down on his small temporary bed. "I just want things to go back to normal." He said to himself as he let the thought of being back at the Lookout with everyone process through his mind.
The pup lowered his head as he pressed his pup tag to call one of his pup friends.
"Hey, Marshall, dude! Everything alright?" Zuma asked with slight worry.
"Hey, Zuma." Marshall smiled. "Nothing, I just wanted to talk, I was having thoughts of everything being back to normal, all of us were happy again."
Zuma stayed quiet, he was never really the pup to talk to about stuff like this but during the whole investigation, the Chocolate-colored Labrador learned over time. "I know how you feel, dude, we all just want things to go back to normal but we need to find Chase in order to do that. The FBI will handle everything else." Zuma reminded.
"We went to the hotel where the incident happened and it turns out that Chase was there, along with some other dogs that helped him out. Decker is heading back there right now and handing over the footage to-." Marshall stopped himself as he heard a faint noise.
"Marshall? Dude?" Zuma called out.
"Hold on, Zuma." Marshall stayed silent as he tried looking for the source of the noise.
He couldn't make the sound out but as he got closer to the door, he realized that it was scratching.
Marshall stayed silent as Zuma barely heard what was going on.
"Dude? What's happening? Everything alright?" Zuma asked with worry starting to overtake his voice.
"Yeah, everything's fine. I think I just found our ticket to finding Chase or the ones he was working with. I'll call you back." Marshall hung up and heard the dog say something.
"Hey, Dalmatian! Look, I'm not here to hurt you! I think I might be able to help you find the suspects who threw that dog off the roof of the hotel!" The stranger stated from outside.
Marshall opened the door and was face to face with the stranger.
"Who are you and how'd you find me?" Marshall asked.
"I used to work with the dog that got thrown off the hotel, his name was Deacon, asshole got what he deserved. Anyway, before he went splat, he mentioned to my buddy and I about some spot on Griffin street a couple of times. Saying that the dogs he was working with had secret stashes around the city, maybe one of the suspects could be there." The dog explained.
"Why are you even doing this?" Marshall asked, still not putting his trust into the stranger.
"I guess, I'm just tired of being a bad pup, things never worked out for me so I thought it was best to just leave it while I'm still kicking." The dog truthfully answered.
Marshall really had no choice in believing the dog or not, there was really only one way to find out.
"Alright, get out of here, you don't want anyone seeing you here." Marshall ordered as he locked the door behind him with his collar.
The dog left the Dalmatian and now Marshall was left with a goal just like Chase.
The pup called Zuma back and was hit with a question.
"Dude, what happened? Everything alright?" Zuma asked through the tag.
"Everything's fine, a dog stopped by and he told me about a spot that Chase or the other suspects might be in." Marshall answered.
"You're not going there all on your own, are you?" Zuma asked.
"What other choice do I have?" Marshal replied. "This is our best shot we have right now."
Marshall heard the sigh of disbelief from the Labrador through the pup tag. "Dude, even if it's true, you can't venture out alone, it's too dangerous!"
Marshall gave it some thought, Zuma was right after all.
"I'm taking that chance, this could help us and the agents out." Marshall stated.
"Marshall! We already lost Chase, I don't wan-!" Marshall turned off his pup tag, not wanting to hear how right his friend was, the Dalmatian was in denial but he didn't care, he had too good of a lead to find Chase and that's what he was going to do.
Chase kept to himself like usual as he trekked on to the spot he was ordered to go to.
The pup saw the Stagg hotel being lit up in distance as did the other buildings near him. As the pup crossed the street, he felt something wet hit his fur, that's when he realized that rain was starting to set in.
The pup had to hurry in case it got worse, so his walking turned into a jog as he made it past another street, seeing the run down store close by.
The pup went into the alleyway and looked everywhere, in the trash cans, behind some bags and such but couldn't find anything. He noticed a dumpster at the end of the alleyway and upon checking around it, he saw a small leathery bag, which he automatically assumed was the drop that Spencer left for Avery.
But as the pup picked up the bag, he heard voices approach him.
"Look what we have over here? Another stray taking the wrong turn." The leader of the group smiled.
"Hey, wait a minute! It's that stupid Shepherd that we ran into last time!"
To be continued...