Bogo had been bracing himself for days. They'd been betrayed from within before. His neck had the scar to prove it. But Bogo had not braced for the betrayal to come from within like this.

Mrs Chase, a cow from Savanna Central sat at the table wringing her hooves, her dark fur shining grey in the harsh overhead ceiling light. Her husband, Sergeant Chase, was in another room undergoing an interrogation of his own, but Bogo doubted he knew anything about this. Forensics were still rooting through the details, but the gist of it was that Abigail Chase had slipped a flash drive into the sergeant's office computer, a flash drive containing some rather intrusive malware, and long story short her sloppiness in the endeavour had been her undoing.

McHorn and Higgins were sitting on the opposite side of the table, their massive forms making the cow look paper thin in comparison. Bogo couldn't see their face from this angle, but their posture told him all he needed to know about their temperament.

"You're in a lot of trouble, Mrs Chase." McHorn said after an intentionally long silence. "Do you have any idea what charges your husband would have faced if anything had happened to Wilde? And he was held responsible for the fox's location getting into the paws of payback-hungry terrorists?"

Chase tried to speak, but the duo weren't done as Higgins said his piece. "And what about Hopps, huh? One of our own. Your husband uses the desk right next to her. Did you know they would go after her, too? Tell us, how much did they pay you to not give a damn?"

Chase slightly shrank in on herself, looking even smaller than ever. "They told me they wanted something stricken from their criminal record. Didn't say what. They paid enough to settle the last of the mortgage. With interest." She smirked humourlessly.

"Who told you?" McHorn kept his voice low.

"Just a guy. In a suit."

"What species?"

"Horse. Brown with big white spots."

"You're gonna hafta give us more than that. Any distinguishing features, like a scar or something?"

"… Nothing really interesting about him. I ran into the guy at the local Snarlbucks. He talked to me about my husband. Offered me money. It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Trunchbull and his Madame Mayor probably thought the same thing about Project Twilight, Bogo thought. And everyone knew about the bloodbath that had ensued.

McHorn sighed through his nose. "What you did wasn't just wrong. It was stupidly wrong. What if they decide you and your husband know too much?"

Bogo watched her squirm without one iota of sympathy. She'd endangered the entire force with her little act of espionage, maybe even endangered all of Zootopia. There was no excuse for what she'd done.

The realisation of how badly she'd screwed up hit her like a brick. She gripped her chest and began to hyperventilate. While Higgins walked around the table to ease her out of her panic attack, Bogo straightened his collar and chose that moment to leave. The description of the horse was a lead, but that was all they were going to get out of her.

That was one case closed, at the very least, and despite his fears it hadn't been another case of police corruption. He didn't think he could have handled another betrayal. Cunninghorn alone had been bad enough, but Trunchbull too…

Stop thinking about him, Mansa!

Sergeant Chase wasn't too far, but it hadn't been long since Bogo had last checked on him. Instead he'd go back to the office, maybe try and get some Z's before getting started on the paperwork. He'd also have to get in contact with Hopps, and hear her answer if she had one. Witness protection wasn't ideal, but he'd do what he could to protect her and Wilde.

He sat down in Trunch-his office and buzzed the front desk. On his instruction they rang Hopps's number, and it went straight to voicemail.

That didn't bother him at first. Hopps not answering her phone was a rare occurrence according to her colleagues within the ZPD, but not rare enough to raise any alarm bells. Chances were she was in the shower, or driving. Or cosying up with Wilde on the sofa.

Where did that one come from?

Bogo shook off the puzzling thought and considered calling another number, the one for the boys who currently had Antlerson in their custody. He decided against it. They'd promised to relay any information they gleaned from the guy if it pertained to the attack on Hopps and Wilde.

He napped for half an hour, then had the front desk call Hopps again. Nothing but a recorded message. This time that raised a major red flag. Everyone in the precinct knew better than to ignore a call from the big cheese once, let alone twice. On any other day he'd be pissed, but today a cold hand was clutching at his heart.

After another missed call, he called and ordered dispatch to send a patrol car over to Hopps's residence. In the background he heard mention of the aftermath of a violent incident that had been discovered in a gas station just outside the city. He didn't realise its relevance until almost an hour later, when the Precinct received an update from the patrol officers who had examined the gas station security footage.

Bogo took a spare patrol car and sped out the city as soon as he was notified. He had to see for himself. It was nearing sundown when he finally got there, and spotted the yellow tape stretching across the entrance to the gas station. Two patrol cars were present, as well as an ambulance. No coroner van yet. The car came to a stop on the other side of the road, just missing the curved black slid marks leading from the parking lot.

Bogo stepped out and rested his large arm on the door, staring at the crime scene in disbelief.

"What the bloody hell happened here?" He breathed.

The gas station was a wreck. The front of the store was obliterated, reduced to a carpet of broken glass beneath the twisted metal of what was once the door and window frame. The contorted remains of a newspaper stand lay before the carnage, its contents strewn all over the place. A crumpled newspaper lay beside Bogo's feet- on it was yesterday's headline. He crossed the road and flashed his badge at the bovine officer who came to greet him.

"Chief, we weren't expecting you to come all the way-"

"Well, I did." Bogo said curtly. "From what I've heard, we've got three mammals dead and one of my officers was involved. So spit it out."

"Two unidentified mammals with guns, and one cashier in the restroom. It looks like the cashier was dead before Hopps and her friends showed up."

"Friends?" Bogo frowned at the plural word.

"I'll escort you inside and you can see for yourself."

"Damn right I will."

They tread carefully across the remains of the store, past a cluster of crumpled shelving units that looked as if they'd been shoved into a corner by a particularly persistent bulldozer and crushed against the wall. Bogo's first deduction was that the perpetrators had ploughed their car straight through the window, a reckless but common tactic used by robbers. There was cheap merchandise all over the place, along with the bodies of two mammals dressed similarly to the would-be abductors of Hopps and Wilde. A boar and goat lay dead by the entrance to the male restroom with suspected gunshot wounds. The speakers in the ceiling meekly belted out one of Gazelle's lesser known songs, a halloween special ironically praising the smell and colour of blood. Oddly enough, the scent Bogo detected was more fruity than metallic.

So much for last ditch.

They entered the back office where the security monitor was kept. It was dimly lit, but untouched by the carnage outside. The other officer sat at the desk, a pig illuminated in white by the monitor.

"Play it." He ordered.

The officer obeyed, pressing a couple of buttons and starting the footage to an hour before the attack.

It all began with an empty store, the only occupant being the bored cashier playing with his phone behind the till. The officer sped up the footage until the cashier left his post and disappeared into the men's restroom. That was when the boar walked in. Bogo recognised him as one of the bodies back in the store area. He weaved through the shelving units and entered the restroom himself. Bogo grimaced. There was no sound, but he already knew what had happened in there. The boar stepped out less than half a minute later and then strode out of the camera's line of sight along with his comrade.

"We think this is where they find somewhere to hide, 'cause nothing happens until Hopps and Wilde show up." Bogo kept his eyes on the screen as the pig sped up the feed once more, stopping just before the moment his officer and her friend entered the store. They split up almost immediately, Judy going to the till to find the cashier, Wilde picking up some candy and a beer on his way to the restroom where unfortunate mammal was hidden. He entered the restroom while Judy continued to look around for the missing cashier. Her ears stroked the bottom of the monitor as she went behind the counter- her small white paw came up to rub one one them when she didn't find the cashier there, either.

She was walking into the snack aisle when she froze, her head and ears swivelling to the male restroom door. Wilde had almost certainly discovered the body. She crossed the store and strode inside. Wilde came out and stood by the restroom door, looking like he'd sensed an unearthly presence. That was when the boar and goat emerged from the bottom of the camera and approached the fox from behind.

Hell broke loose very quickly from there. The boar grabbed Wilde and covered his mouth to keep him from warning Hopps about the goat advancing into the restroom to apprehend her. The camera angle provided no view of what exactly happened in there, and without Hopps's testimony they probably never would, not if they didn't find her alive-

She is alive. Hopps is no easy prey.

As Bogo watched, Wilde smashed the beer bottle he'd been carrying and stabbed his captor with the broken end. The instant he was released, Wilde dived into the restroom after the goat, only for the visibly angry boar to lunge after the fox drag him back out by the tail. As he was yanked across the floor, Wilde rolled onto his back. Bogo had a second to register the gun in his paws before he opened fire in a blind panic.

The boar went down. Bogo swore under his breath. The fox in the video stared in blank shock at the fresh corpse in front of him.

"Jesus." The pig breathed.

Wilde turned his head sharply to the direction of the store exit, dropped the empty gun and ran into the restroom. "This is the part where the rest of the perps attack the two waiting in the car outside. We'll show-"

"Finish this one first." Bogo said sharply.

Hopps and Wilde barged back out the restroom, the former sporting a bloody nose. She spun round and fired her dart gun through the open doorway, but Bogo doubted she'd hit her target. Sure enough, the goat came charging out after them wielding a rifle. Hopps and Wilde threw themselves behind the counter to avoid the bullets, bottles and crisp packets exploding all around them, and that was when the rear of the car smashed violently through the window. The goat was hit head on, sliding to a bloody stop beside the boar. Bogo did not shy away from the carnage.

When the car finally stopped, it's body riddled with bullet holes and grazes, the head of a mammal he recognised as Gabriel 'Gabe' Mossberg poked out the driver's window. He shouted at Hopps and Wilde, who wasted no time breaking cover and diving into one of the other smashed windows. The car drove straight over a giant bottle of soda on its way back out, splashing lemonade all over the debris. That explained the fruity smell. Just like that, the car was gone, taking Bogo's officer with it.

"And that's that. A van full of college kids showed up a little later to to refuel and called us in."

"I didn't see a van full of college kids outside."

"We let them go once we took their statements."

Bogo straightened up and turned away from the screen, thinking of the last moment before the car took off. He hoped to God they got away.

"Nothing in this video reaches the news, do you understand? Don't leave anything out in your reports, but far as any of you are concerned, Hopps and Wilde were never here."

He didn't see their reactions, so he turned back around. Both of them looked wary of the order. Bogo pointed at the screen between them.

"What you just saw there was an ambush planned hours, probably days before it happened. People will want to know why. The last thing we need is the tabloids sticking their noses in our case."

"It's the Nighthowlers again, isn't it?" The pig said quietly. "Someone we didn't arrest."

Bogo let his silence answer the question for him.

"Ok, we get it." The bull said. "Robbery gone wrong it is."

"Good answer." Bogo said. "Leave Hopps and Wilde to me. You two stay here and make sure no-one gets inside and touches anything."

"Understood sir."

"One more thing. What was the name? Of the victim?"

"Daniel Mink, sir."

"Thanks."

He returned to his car and began the long drive back to city central, thinking over the list of calls he'd have to make. The new Commissioner. The family of the late cashier. Hopps's parents in Bunnyburrow. Mayor Elba. Ben.

Bogo squeezed the steering wheel as the city came back into view. The pig was right. Someone from the Nighthowler Conspiracy, someone they missed, was coming for Hopps and Wilde. And it was only a matter of time before they went after the rest of them.