9

Bogo paced back and forth on the other side of the desk while Judy and her two friends watched him anxiously. They'd explained everything, although the water buffalo had cut Finnick off on more than one occasion and had politely asked Flash to remain silent. He'd wanted to hear everything Judy had to say, and for her to not miss out a single detail (which she hadn't). It was clear from the look on his face that he wasn't the least bit impressed.

Finally, he turned to face them with his hooves still fastened behind his back.

"I distinctly told you to stay on parking duty," he said. "Especially since your partner wasn't in work! It is much too dangerous for a lone police officer to handle potentially dangerous criminals, and since these are kidnappers that is exactly what they are!"

"She wasn't alone!" snapped Finnick.

Bogo rounded on the fox. "I told you to stay quiet!"

"No, you told Flash to stay quiet."

"Well you can stay quiet too!" Bogo turned back to Judy and sighed. "You already know this is a dangerous case, Hopps. You've already lost Nick by taking matters into your own paws! Whether or not he wanted to disprove foxes are guilty of this is irrelevant! He's a good mammal, and I know for a fact he himself had nothing to do with the kidnappings! But if what that margay..." he quickly checked his notes, "Marcello said has any truth behind it then we cannot rule out a risk that he may in fact be helping them."

"He ain't helpin' 'em!"

"Will you please shut up, fox?! Or I'm going to have to have you detained until you calm down?"

Finnick slumped in his seat and folded his arms.

"Listen to me, Hopps." Bogo leant forward on his desk. "I can't ignore what you've done. Not only have you endangered your own life, you've also endangered two civilians, despite how talented they might be at... wielding a bat or... driving at high speeds." He gave the two somewhat nervous mammals a sideways glance. "This isn't an action movie, Judy. This is real life! You or someone else could get killed, and you run that risk since this gang are now clearly aware that there are police close to discovering their hideout and crimes!"

"So you think Nick is being used against us?" she asked.

"If he wasn't before, he certainly will be now." Bogo rose up again and folded his arms. "Did you even think to check that feline for a wire tap?"

Judy's purple eyes widened. "He was wired?"

"Of course he was wired. You really think an organisation like this isn't going to keep tabs on their kidnappers?"

Judy stumbled over her words as she tried to string all this together. How much information had been fed back to the gang's leaders? Probably too much. She'd never felt so small and helpless in her life.

"Look, Hopps. I can understand you wanting to look out for your partner and his job, I really can. You might not think you were trying to act the hero, but sadly that's the case. You can't be a hero in this job, you have to act sensibly! And right now, you're looking at the likelihood of being fired while Nick is looking at being reassigned a new partner. One of you two might even be a potential candidate." He looked over at Finnick and Flash.

The sloth's jaw dropped slowly while Finnick stood up in his seat and waved a paw at the Chief.

"Hey, I might've been Nick's partner for years, but that don't mean I wanna be no cop!"

Bogo made a thoughtful noise and shrugged. "I suppose on second thought you might be a little too impulsive." He turned back to Judy and frowned. "I'm going to give you one chance to redeem yourself, Hopps. You can either fix all this, or stay out of it. But I want no more impulsive behaviour from you. You know where this base is, and you have a choice. Take a team with you to find it - who I shall select - or you go back to meter maid duty while my team goes without you. Your two friends are to go back to their ordinary lives, where they'll be safe. You will not endanger anyone else, you understand me? And once this case is brought to conclusion, you and I will have another little chat about where you stand. Understood?"

Judy stared silently at Bogo and nodded.

"Now." He leant forwards slightly with his arms crossed. "What shall it be?"

...

Judy stood outside the ZPD while she waited for the rest of the SWAT team to gather themselves together. She didn't recognise most of the mammals. The members she'd spent every morning grouped up with were police officers, not trained specialists with dart guns, sniper rifles and full body armour. She watched one particular rhino, most of his body hidden behind a sheet of perspex. She didn't think for one minute she'd be able to lift up one of their shields.

The revolving door creaked and she turned as Finnick and Flash emerged from it. The small fox looked rather irritated while Flash gave a small glance back at the building and joined Finnick at her side.

"Can't believe he had a wire," Finnick muttered. "I'm sorry 'bout all this, Hopps."

"Don't be," she said. "I'm the one who roped you two into it. How was it? Was he mad?"

"He just kept pointin' out how we shoulda 'left it to the real cops'." He raised his claws in an air quote.

Judy glanced down at her feet. Somehow she felt that was Bogo's jibe at her for being such an idiot.

"Hey, don't take it personally," said Finnick. "He was right, we ain't real cops, but you are. You help that team go and rescue Nick and all the others and prove to him you're as much a cop as any o' them ginormous mammals. Right?"

An involuntary grin spread across her face and he returned it and gave her a thumbs up.

"Alright, I'm gonna give Flash a lift home so don't worry 'bout him. Take care o' yourself, fuzz."

Before he could turn away, she dropped onto her knees and pulled him into a tight hug. The small fox wriggled with a shout of retaliation then sighed with defeat, briefly wrapping his arms around her neck.

"Okay, Hopps," he said. "I told you I don't do cushy, so that's enough."

She gave a small laugh and released him.

He took a step back and cleared his throat before turning back to his van. "Come on, Speedy. Let's get you home."

Flash watched him strut towards his van then turned to Judy.

"I'm... sorry... you got... into... trouble."

She opened her mouth to apologise herself, but he cut her off as he continued, pulling a card from his pocket.

"But... if you... need... anything... call me... I'll... be... there... as soon... as... I can."

She waited patiently for him to finish handing her his business card before she took it. A small tear had formed in her eye and she wiped it away briskly.

"Thank you, Flash. But I can't risk putting you in danger again. Bogo was right, it was foolish."

"Maybe... so. But... I was... happy... that... I... could... be of... help... to you."

He turned away from her and moved towards the van. Finnick watched him through the wound down window from behind a pair of sun shades. She thought he might have looked at her for a moment but it was hard to say.

Two large shapes appeared beside her and she looked up at the tiger and wolf sent to accompany her.

"A sloth and a fox, huh?" Wolford shrugged. "How did that work out for you?"

"I'd say impressively with the amount of information they found out," said Jackson. "It's a shame they don't work for us." He looked down at Judy and raised an eyebrow. "So. What else can you tell us about this group before we go driving into their hideout?"

She found a tranquilliser rifle thrust into her paws and she stuttered.

"I think we told the Chief everything we know," she said. "Coyotes and wildcats, all armed."

"No idea what the warehouse looks like?"

"We didn't get chance to check. He called us back before we could scope it out."

"Probably not a bad move," said the tiger. "An unarmed rabbit wouldn't have post much of a threat, especially not at night. Come on, let's get a move on."

She watched after the two larger officers for a moment then trotted to catch up. As she climbed into the back of their car, she heard a bang as Finnick's van backfired before pulling out from his parking spot. The exhaust fired again as he zipped past them, not so much as giving her a glance as he drove past.

She couldn't help feeling a little sad as she watched the colourful vehicle vanish around a corner, out of sight.

...

The sun was rising, and bringing with it the immense heat that Sahara Square was known for. Fortunately Wolford kept the windows up and the air conditioning on as they drove along the sandy roads past the sandstone buildings and vibrant entertainment. Most of the casinos, clubs and theatres were now closed, or closing, their visitors making their way back home for bed. Some of them already had shades and sun hats on to protect them from the oncoming blaze of heat and threat of sandstorms.

The Canyonlands poked up on their far left just before the horizon and Wolford turned the car towards it, all the time nattering to the tiger. Neither of them had said a word to her about being called out when they were meant to be at home in bed. Neither of them seemed to object, being as pleasant as they often were to her. Both of them, however, had expressed pity at her situation. Not to mention some level of understanding, but they both agreed strongly with Bogo that she should have requested back up much sooner. She felt a little sick with the welling guilt that she'd put many mammals out with her impulsive plan of action.

She also didn't know what to expect. All that talking Marcello had done had seemed more like a way of intimidating her and her two friends, but he'd clearly been sending information back. The more she thought back at it, the clearer it was. He'd even gone so far as to single out their individual species. The mockery he'd thrown at her about 'going rogue' would also have indicated to his boss that there was only one police officer and two other mammals that weren't part of the force.

Had his rant about Nick actually been a way to single him out to the rest of the gang? Her stomach knotted as she tried to suppress every single worst case scenario that threatened to play out in her mind.

'Think positive, Judy. You're going to rescue Nick and every other mammal in that hideout.'

Her mental pep talk made her feel a little better, but she couldn't help still feeling a little anxious.

The warehouse came into view beyond the crags of the Canyonlands, and just beyond it, hidden behind sparse greenery and seemingly unnoticed by Wolford and Jackson, was the tell-tail paintwork of Finnick's trademark van.

She gulped.

Okay. Make that incredibly anxious.