"Alright, Carrots. You ready?" Nick asked.
Judy took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves as she looked up at the fox. He looked back at her with something resembling indifference, though she was sure that was more because of who stood before them than anything. A cheetah - tall and slender, in a tan suit with a white undershirt - holding open the door to a black SUV mini-limo. The interior was a smooth, black pleather, with matching carpeting and tinted windows.
The rabbit nodded, taking a deep breath. "Alright, then, ladies first," Nick said, gesturing to the door. Judy glanced at him in time to see the faint hint of a smirk on his muzzle appear, before she climbed into the vehicle. Nick followed right behind her, and the cheetah behind him. Nick sat beside Judy, buckling himself in as the cheetah sat opposite them and tapped on the window that separated them from the front seat.
The vehicle rumbled and hummed as it left for its destination. Initially, the trip was made in silence, but finally the cheetah spoke. "I'm assuming you know what you two are being sent out here for?"
Judy pursed her lips, remembering to let Nick do most of the talking, seeing as he had much more experience in this than she did. "We had a vague idea, but is there anything specific we should know before meeting with Mr. Sanchez?"
"I'm sure he'll tell you anything you don't know himself," the cheetah replied. "But I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell you, the boss has been on edge lately – very on edge. I wouldn't make sudden movements if you want to keep your heads."
"Noted," Nick said calmly, glancing to Judy. She gave a nod, before turning her gaze outside the window, watching the frost on the windows melt away as they traveled to the warmer district. Nick and the cheetah continued the occasional idle chat, but it was little more than comments about sports or business. It seemed to her that they were somewhat in the same position for their respective bosses.
Their journey came to an end when the SUV rolled to a stop in a surprisingly busy part of town. The cheetah stood up before the engine shut off and walked to the door, peering outside of it before shoving it open. He stood outside as the fox and rabbit jumped out after him, both giving a surprised gasp at the heat. In the distance, Judy could see the massive heaters that kept this region so warm, the air between her and them shimmering from the heat.
"This way," the cheetah instructed, gesturing behind him. Judy turned to see a large three-story building, bright lights and a sombrero slowly rotating on its roof.
"We're going to... A casino?" Judy asked, walking in that direction.
"Well, yeah," Nick said, offering a quiet laugh. "One of the legal ways to scam hundreds of mammals all at once. Lose a thousand bucks, get ten thousand back."
"While I'm sure our boss would describe a casino another way, you're not wrong," the cheetah commented. "The legality of the casino ensures some protection from the ZPD."
"But from what I've heard, that seems to be an issue now, isn't it?" Nick asked testingly. The cheetah offered a grunt in response, leading the way without another word. Judy continued to walk alongside Nick, tugging at the collar of her shirt. She had quickly come to the decision that she did not like suits – though she liked dresses even less, they offered more mobility and weren't nearly as hot. Nick glanced down at the rabbit as they neared the entrance, and she looked up at him curiously. Nick looked away without saying anything, giving a nod to the lion that held the door open for them.
The air inside was surprisingly cool, and Judy gave a slight shiver as the temperature suddenly changed. Despite the large amount of mammals inside of the building, it was kept at a cool temperature that felt just right. The inside was bright and loud – flashing lights and screens were everywhere, and it seemed that each light was accompanied with its own sound effect. The inside was loud, as well – louder than Judy would've expected. From slot machines that rang out buzzes or the ringing of coins, to table games like blackjack or poker where mammals cheered in victory or defeat, it was as loud as one could expect. An unexpected amount of mammals were present during this time.
The cheetah continued to lead Nick and Judy along to one side, stopping at an elevator and pressing a button to call it down. The three waited in silence before stepping onto the elevator once it arrived, the cheetah pressing a button for the top floor. The silence persisted as the three rose up, and continued as they stepped out of the elevator and into a short hallway. At the far end was a set of wooden doors, and beyond it was something of a conference room, complete with a long table and nearly a dozen chairs. An ashtray was the sole ornament on the table, positioned by the chair at the front of the table. Three of the room's four walls were composed of glass windows, letting those inside peer out and into Sahara Square. The city below was swarming with life, with mammals going about their day and cars driving along the roads.
It struck Judy that none of them knew what was going on. That there was a massive system of crime bosses among them, that they were unknowingly helping to support said bosses. Or, if they did know, they didn't care. The rabbit tilted her head slightly as she peered outside, watching as a rhino couple exited their car and meandered towards the casino, talking and laughing. She formed a small smile as she watched them, before turning around at a hiss from Nick. The red fox gestured for her to get onto the seat beside him, before he turned a to face the doorway.
Judy scrambled into the seat beside Nick and began to idly look out the window. A moment later, the doors opening drew her attention back to them. Nick shot up and straightened his back, and Judy followed an instant later. A sheep, dressed similarly to the cheetah who had accompanied Nick and Judy, walked into the room and stood to one corner, facing Nick and Judy. The bunny leaned over to Nick and quietly asked "Is that Mr. Sanchez?"
"No," Nick whispered back.
Next walked in a coyote in a similar suit, and he stood in the corner parallel to the sheep. Again, Judy leaned over to Nick, asking "Is that Mr. Sanchez?"
"No," Nick hissed back.
The third mammal to walk in was a grizzly bear, dressed in the same tan suit as his fellow mammals, who stood just to the left of the center chair at the opposite end of the table. He stared down and inspected the rabbit and fox quietly and, despite this, Judy leaned over and asked again. "That has to be him, right?"
"Stop talking, stop talking, stop talking," Nick hissed.
Judy listened and sat up again, staring ahead. The grizzly bear pulled the seat next to him back and turned it around, and Judy watched it bounce twice before the bear turned it around again. In the chair sat a sand cat, roughly as tall as Judy, wearing a comically large sombrero. His face seemed somewhat smushed and his cloudy blue eyes were almost hidden under the rim of his large hat. His cream colored fur stood out in comparison to the black suit he wore, a white shirt and red tie making him stand out from the other mammals in the room. He stared over at the rabbit and fox, almost glaring, as he gnawed at the lit cigar in his mouth. With a sigh, he took it out and set it in the ash tray, leaning forward and clearing his throat.
"Ah, Señor Wilde. A part of me had hoped I would meet with you. Though I was unaware Señor Big had enlisted the aid of a rabbit..." Much to Judy's surprise, his voice was light and a bit cheerful. She had expected something more akin to a smoker's growl or, similar to the fennec she had arrested, an ironically deep voice.
"She's been with us for some time, and has proven herself a valuable addition to the family," Nick reassured the crime boss.
"I will trust your boss' judgement then. Let's waste no time, sí?" The sand cat made a small passing gesture, and the sheep from the corner walked over to Nick and Judy and slid a manilla folder to them. Nick set one paw on top of it and drew it closer, but left it unopened as the sheep returned to his position. With a nod from Diego, Nick opened the folder and began to take out the small stack of papers.
He glanced over them briefly, before passing each one to Judy. She took each paper and read over it more carefully, spending more time on each. There was fourteen pages in total, each one detailing certain aspects of Diego's problem. From how he was losing ground within the district, to how some of his closer business allies were disappearing or being found dead in their homes with no sign of foul play. There were a few images, one of which caught Judy's eye – a picture of a hare, dressed in a fine suit, with distinct zebra-like markings on his cheeks and ears. It was hard to make out any specific details beyond this, as the image was from a CCTV camera, and very blurry.
"As you can tell from the papers," Diego suddenly spoke. "This is something that has been tricky for us to deal with. This new family, the dolor that they are, has been slowly moving in on our territory. They have been taking our business and our business partners, and either killing the ones who don't join, or ruining their lives. And as I'm sure you can imagine, that isn't very good for business."
"It never is," Nick sighed. He was going through the papers a second time, this time going through them slowly and taking in all the information. He gave an occasional nod or some small sound of intrigue as he went through the papers.
From what Judy could tell, while there was evidence to support Diego's need for support, it wasn't as clear that it was for the reason he'd said. A brief glance to Nick told her that he felt the same way and, through an unspoken agreement, he began to speak. "Well, Mr. Sanchez, while I see evidence enough to say that you could need our aid, I can't say that there's enough to warrant me telling our boss that we need to risk the lives of our own family members." Judy couldn't help but notice the flickers of anger and fear that flashed in the mob boss's eyes as he sat back in his seat, a somewhat defeated expression coming across his face, as if he knew where Nick was going with this. "Would you mind if we took these with us to let Mr. Big himself review them and judge our involvement? I'm sure it wouldn't take long, no more than a few days, an-"
Nick's voice was drowned out by the sound of glass cracking behind them. In that instant, everyone in the room ducked down. Judy shot Nick a panicked look, who motioned for her to stay down. As the glass cracked again, she winced. One of the mamamls on the other side of the room was saying something. "Sir, we have to get you out of here!"
"Judy, grab the files, we're leaving!" Nick hissed. Judy quickly shot her head up from the chair and grabbed the folders, dragging them down with her as the glass behind them finally broke. Though she couldn't hear it, a quick glance behind her revealed the glass to have caved in in two spots, and in the center was a small hole. She didn't need her police academy knowledge to know it was sniper fire, and from the looks of it, one made it through.
The cheetah from before called out her and Nick's names, shouting for them to follow him. Nick slipped from his chair and, alongside Judy, the two ducked under the large table and followed the cheetah outside and into the hallway, the wooden doors being shut just in time to prevent a fourth sniper shot. Of the two elevators that led to their current floor, Nick and Judy were ushered into the one opposite of Sanchez. With only Nick and the cheetah in the elevator with her, Judy let out a shaky breath. The sudden gunfire had her startled, to say the very least.
A quick glance to the cheetah revealed him frowning and listening carefully to his earpiece. Without looking down, he spoke aloud. "Wilde, live fire below. Be ready. We're moving to my car, I'll get you two back to Mr. Big."
"Right," Nick replied. "What about Sanchez?"
"It's best to worry about yourselves right now," was the response.
"So you want us to help, but not tell us what you'll be doing with your boss?" Nick asked, a hint of disapproval in his voice.
The cheetah sighed. "We have several doubles on standby for this situation. We'll get one each into a different vehicle and disperse further into our territory from there."
"And I take it that was your plan, Mike?" Nick asked, a slight smirk tugging at his lips as he looked up.
Again, the cheetah sighed. "I may have suggested it after your conversation. But it was never seriously considered until recently. But yes, I was given credit."
"Atta boy," Nick grinned. Judy was still staring at the doors to the elevator when several clanks from both sides drew her attention. She looked at Mike to see that the cheetah was checking over a small handgun before moving into a combat stance. Beside her, Nick was doing the same with his own firearm – which she hadn't even been aware of him having. It was a longer black pistol, with what appeared to be a compensator at the end. The police part of her became curious as to how he aqcuired the weapon, as most lethal firearms were heavily regulated within the city-state. But the part of her that remembered her new affiliation told her that it was likely a common presence among the underground. Still, it made her no more comfortable than before.
"Shouldn't have brought that," Mike muttered as Nick slid the gun into a holster previously hidden by his suit's outer coat.
"Call it a hunch," Nick replied. "Every meeting we've been at has gone wrong. I'm not being caught off guard a second time."
"Fair enough,"Mike replied calmly. The ding of the elevator sounded just as the doors opened, and the cheetah stepped out, quickly sweeping the immediate area. Unlike before, now the casino was mostly vacated, save a large group of mammals in matching tan and khaki suits, a few of whom were leading one of several Sanchez-esque figures outside. With no time to waste, Mike led the two to an emergency exit, kicking the door open and sweeping the area outside. Judy and Nick stayed close behind, though due to Nick's clear experience compared to Judy's training, she stayed behind the fox. When Mike gave the all-clear, the two followed him outside and into the employee parking lot, and more importantly, his plain black four-door car.
They were almost to the car when gunfire broke out in the building. Neither Mike nor Nick flinched, unlike Judy, at the sudden sound. Whatever gunfight was going on lasted only a few moments, just long enough for them to enter the car, and by the time they were moving out of the parking lot the casino was quiet yet again. Judy was hesitant to think of the results, but Nick's sudden voice beside her was a good enough distraction. "Fluff, keep a hold of those papers. Mr. Big will need them to find out more of what we're dealing with."
"Got it," Judy said, taking a breath to calm herself down. Nick was calmly staring out the window beside her, and Mike's grip on the wheel was tight, but otherwise he seemed relaxed. That was, at least, until he looked in the rearview mirror.
"One of you, reach under your seat and grab the case. We're about to have some company."