Jack had to admit that Alyssa's sleeveless red turtleneck sweater looked quite fetching on her.
Three weeks after their reunion, they were sitting on different coloured beds in a cheap hotel off the coast of the City of Rosa, each with their own laptop computer. The vixen was quiet and miserable, and Jack knew she was unhappy about leaving Von Croy behind. With ten unhealed sutures in his arm, both interior and exterior, they hadn't had a choice in the matter. As for Winters, she was sitting at the desk giving Miss Morton an update on the situation, while simultaneously tracing the tracker Alyssa had planted in the box.
Sending Charles Kroft's prized ship to the bottom of the Bay of Moray hadn't come without consequences. They'd spent the better part of the first week as fugitives, unable to return to either of their respective hotel rooms for fear that Kroft's men would be waiting for them. Instead they'd used the last of their fuel to reach a small coastal town south of the bay and dropped off Von Croy at the nearest hospital with a false name and some vague story about an attempted mugging, confident that he'd recover quickly and make his own way back to ZI6 once he'd dealt with the local authorities. Then they'd taken a taxi to the popular tourist destination of Cabo de Bullas, and from there they were able to finally get in contact with ZI6. ZI6 was considerate enough to transfer enough money to Alyssa's account for three plane tickets to Liondon, and promised to make arrangements to retrieve Von Croy safely. They'd spent three days in Cabo de Bullas without incident and reached the safety of ZI6 headquarters by the beginning of the second week.
The second week had passed by peacefully. ZI6 had courteously put him and Winters up in a decent hotel in the heart of Liondon, the only downside being that neither of them were permitted to call anyone or leave the building without supervision. Every other day, a representative from the ZIA had come by, asked them if they needed anything, and assured them that they would be back in Animerica as soon as possible.
For almost an entire week Jack had heard nothing from Miss Morton, until the sixth day, when the ZIA rep brought a laptop with her live image on it. She'd asked the same questions ZI6's interrogators had asked him and Winters, making no time for any small talk whatsoever. She made Jack and Winters go over each of their stories in turn. What had happened at Moroo Island. Why Kroft would set a trap to capture him. Who he believed had paid Kroft to set the trap. Why he was positive that it was Theodore Swinton. How Jack had escaped captivity. How the ship had sunk. When he met Agents Skyefall and Von Croy.
With no indication whether she believed them or not, Miss Morton had ended the call with a vague promise to hasten their departure. The second day of the third week, that promise was fulfilled when ZI6 deemed it fit to let them leave.
There was a condition. Somehow Alyssa had managed to convince both Miss Morton and her own boss that the black box bearing the Swinton crest was something worth pursuing. The Swintons had proven themselves to be a family of many secrets, many of them illegal and dangerous. Who knows what last, dangerous secret they'd been keeping in that shiny black box?
Now they were conducting a joint operation to find the box and uncover its contents.
As of now Jack was scouring the internet, in particular centuries old scrolls and books, for all possibilities as to what the agents of ZI6 had found in the sunken wreck. As he read the text on the screen his blue eyes kept flicking to Alyssa. It was strange. They hadn't seen each other for two years, but he didn't feel the emotional distance between them. Granted, their last interaction together had ended on a positive note, with them agreeing that a relationship wasn't on the table. So far as Jack knew, that was still the case.
"It's a codice."
Jack looked up at Alyssa to find her staring back at him above her screen. The light from the laptop tinted her arctic fur with a faint, icy hue. "It's a Jagan codice."
"What's a codice?" Jack asked.
"You know what a codex is, right?"
"Yes." Codexes were the ancestors of modern-day books. They resembled books, but instead of paper they were made from papyrus and other materials. Jack had seen his fair share of codexes in various museums he'd visited from childhood to adolescence, before becoming a full-time agent. At least, the museums that he didn't need his parents to drive him to.
Alyssa turned her laptop around. She'd maximised a Zoogle image of a series of ancient pictures. They looked like hieroglyphs, but they sure as heck weren't the kind he knew from The Cat Mummy. "Codices are similar, except they'd folded, sort of like a leaflet or a map."
"I've never heard of a codice." Jack admitted. As he talked, he began an online search for Jagan codices.
"Well, according to Zoogle many of them were destroyed by Conquistadors when they conquered the new world a few hundred years ago." Alyssa said. "Only a few survived that can be found in museums around the world. I think the Swintons had one of them."
"You're sure?" Even as he asked this the word codice was starting to ring a bell.
"The Jaga hieroglyphics look just like the pictures I saw on the codice in the black box. I just don't know how Kroft got his paws on it."
"When Mayor Swinton was in her coma, the family home was broken into." Jack said, remembering how he had heard of the incident from the news. "My guess is that Kroft was looking for antiques to sell on the black market and discovered the codice in the process."
"What codice?" Winters had turned around in the desk chair. The face of Miss Morton was on the her computer screen, coldly scrutinising Jack and Alyssa.
While Alyssa explained everything to them, Jack used his laptop to access the ZIA archives, and brought up the case file on the Swinton burglary. The ZIA had briefly investigated the burglary, in case the crime was a cover for the removal of evidence, but nothing of particular interest had been taken. The file contained a list of stolen items acquired from the ZPD archives.
"There's no mention of a codice being stolen from the mansion."
Morton scowled on-screen. "Really."
"That's odd." Winters said. "When I lived in Roarcadia, they did have a Jaga codice."
Winters set her laptop on Jack's bed where Morton could see everybody, then sat down on Alyssa's bed. Jack immediately took note of the psychological differences between the two females. Alyssa sat casually cross legged on the mattress. Winters sat on the edge with her legs practically fused together. Alyssa showed a noticeable amount of fur in her fashion sense. Winters showed little except for her hooves and face.
"You ever heard of Thaddeus Swineton? He was an ancestor of the Swintons from the seventeenth century."
"Swineton?"
"Before they altered their surname to Swinton when 'swine' was deemed a disparaging word. And don't interrupt me, I'm making our case."
Alyssa pursed her lips.
"When he sailed to the new world, he found an island that we know today as Roarcadia."
"I thought the Swintons took control of that island only a few decades ago." Jack said.
"They were taking back what they thought was theirs. Before they lost it all by tampering with genetics, of course." Winters sounded terse, like this wasn't a subject she wanted to bring up. "Anyway, he found a Jagan codice, and for reasons unknown ignored the Bishop's command to destroy it like they did all the others."
"Agent Llater looked into that, I remember now." Jack said. "They called it the Swinton Codice. Museums, historians and collectors have been after the artefact for years, but the family always refused to give it up. They never even put it in their private gallery. Eventually they stopped trying and everyone forgot about it."
"That's right." Winters said. "I don't know exactly when it was translated, but I always believed that they learned something from it that they wanted to keep to themselves."
Jack watched Miss Morton think it over. She took a long sip from her Minnie Mouse teacup. "Where is the codice now?"
"Last I checked it was in Bartoli, waiting to be sold at auction."
"When?"
"Tomorrow night."
"Bollocks." Alyssa muttered. "Wait. Bartoli. Is this auction taking place at the Italici estate?"
"I would believe so, yes."
"We have an informant who works for Mr Italici. He can give us the name of the buyer after the auction is over."
"And then what?" Miss Morton asked. She turned her keen eyes to Jack. "I don't want to risk an international incident over what could still be a wild goose chase. And until we know who ordered your abduction, I'm still not convinced about keeping you in the field."
"It would be a simple infiltration." Jack said. "We track down the buyer and convince him to show us the artefact. We record the pages, we translate them, and find out what the Swintons have been keeping from the public all these centuries." Jack glanced at Winters and chose his next words very carefully. "And if Radames's intel is correct, it could be in our best interests to retrieve the codice while we still can."
He locked eyes with Alyssa. She nodded wordlessly. Winters looked from one mammal to the other.
"I don't know what you are talking about but I'm going assume it's classified. Anyway, I'm with my partner on this one. I know enough about the Swintons to know not to make blasé assumptions. They didn't keep secrets because being enigmatic is hip, Miss Morton."
"I agree." Miss Morton said. "Keep tracking the codice. Make sure it doesn't disappear again. You'll have my answer once I've made some calls."
Miss Morton ended the call, returning the screen to the digital map of Ewerope, and the red dot marking the codice's location in the southern end of Bartoli.
Jack turned the laptop towards himself. "Winters, do we actually have anyone in ZIA who can translate ancient Jagan?"
"What do you think?" She asked.
Alyssa turned her body on the bed so she was facing Jack directly. "I can't say that anyone back home does either, but I know a lass. She doesn't know how to translate Jagan either, but she can find someone who does."
"Discreetly, without alerting anyone else who may be seeking the codice?" Jack asked.
"Pretty discreet. We just don't tell her we're working with a sheep." Alyssa winked.
She got in contact with her informant later that evening. Jack didn't hear all the details, or the name of the informant, but a price was quickly agreed for the information; half would be transferred now, and the other half would be transferred once they had the buyer's identity.
The next day came and went, as the three mammals played the part of blissful tourists enjoying the pool and drinking their cocktails. Well, two of them did. Alyssa had spent the day in the hotel room, not wanting to attract any bigoted attention. Tame collars in Ewerope had been banned long before the States, and in that time, the pandemic of bloody murders the Swintons had warned of had failed to come to pass. But the invalidation of their self-serving prophecy had not swayed everyone.
The time difference between Rosa and Bartoli was minimal, so when nine minutes remained until the auction was to begin, Jack brought a sherry up to their room. Alyssa was on the balcony, admiring the beautiful city of white, pink and red architecture. A room service tray lay on the bed beside her closed laptop. She was wearing a short silk scarf. Red, as usual. It looked good on her.
"I just called our guy. He says the codice will be the thirteenth item on the list."
"What's the opening bid?"
"Three million."
"Impressive."
Jack set the sherry down on the round glass table beside Alyssa. She thanked him but didn't take the drink right away. Jack decided to take a gamble.
"How is Radames doing?"
"Still rehabilitating." Her tail partially curled around the table leg. "You were right."
"I am?"
"She had another psych eval last month, before me and Von Croy went on our mission. They're getting optimistic about putting her back in the field."
"That's good, right?"
"I thought you wouldn't be happy."
"She wouldn't have done what she did without Slothfeld corrupting her. As far as I'm concerned, it's his fault."
Alyssa rubbed her neck. Jack saw a hint of scar tissue peeking out from above her scarf.
"Did you ever find that thing that killed him?"
Jack took a deep breath. His brain conjured up the remains of that sadistic sloth against his will. "That's classified information."
"So, no."
"Forget it, Alyssa. It's nothing to do with us, now." Jack checked his watch. Six minutes remained until the bidding started.
Alyssa turned to look Jack in the eye. "But it's not the only loon unaccounted for. Is it?"
She picked up the sherry and drained it in one go.
Winters returned to the room almost half an hour after the auction began. An hour passed. Two hours. It was a crescent moon tonight, perfectly round, like a sickle. Three hours later, Alyssa received a call from the informant. She waved for Jack to pass her the blank notebook on the desk.
"You got the name? Alexander... Redwood... Deer... Middle aged..." She breathed a soft curse as she wrote it down. "That much? He's friggin' minted... What is it? Don't even think about raising the price." She listened for a few seconds, and her entire demeanour changed. "Did you get a name? Shit. Shit... Thanks for telling us. We'll transfer the money once we've confirmed the name is legit."
She ended the call and turned to the others.
"What's up, Skyefall?" Winters asked.
"There was another informant at the auction, keeping an eye on the Swinton Codice. Our guy saw them calling someone and giving the exact same information he gave us."
"Did they mention a name?"
"... Something Foxtrot."
"... Jesus Christ on a stick." Jack felt his ears drop behind his head.
"Look on the bright side." Alyssa said. "We have our proof that this codice is important."
Five minutes after checking the name their informant had given them, Winters volunteered to book the tickets for the next non-stop flight while the others started packing. They were going to Deerbrooke.