All Up in the Fur

Chapter 10

10

"Okay, listen to me," Judy told her two companions. "We can't rush in there guns blazing. Someone needs to check out the perimeter to make sure it's safe."

Jackson looked back at her over the headrest. "We're professionals, Hopps. We know what we're doing."

"Then you know you risk loads of lives by just letting the SWAT team run in there?"

"The SWAT team won't just run inside. They need to set up the lights first," said Wolford. "Calm down, Hopps."

She slumped back into her seat and looked out of the window. "I'm sorry, I've never been sent on a SWAT mission before."

It felt very quiet. There were no mammals hovering around the Canyonlands except the lone police car she was sitting in and Finnick's van – still unnoticed – beyond the greenery. She desperately wanted to get out of the car and find out what the fennec fox was up to, but she couldn't risk getting herself into trouble again, or Finnick and Flash for that matter. That was if Flash was even there; Finnick had said he was driving the sloth back home.

"Please let me go out there," she said. "I'm small, it will be easier for me to hide and let you know what the situation is."

Jackson shook his head. "I don't think so. If they see you, you'll blow everything. Plus, if you get hurt-"

"I'm wearing my police armour," she said. "I'll be careful, trust me."

Wolford looked at the tiger and shrugged his shoulders. "She has a point. She is small, and there's enough rocks and coverage. It would be easier to hide her than either of us out there."

Jackson exhaled through his nose and waved a paw. "Fine. But take your radio and fill us in. Understood? If we let you mess this up, the Chief will have all three of our heads."

Wolford sighed. "Tell me about it. I really don't want another tail kicking off him again."

Judy thanked them and slipped out of the car, closing the door as silently as she could. It was so hot, and it wasn't even close to noon. She understood why most mammals in Sahara Square opt to become nocturnal and spend all day inside air conditioned homes. Compared to Downtown it was deathly quiet.

She threw the tranquilliser gun onto her back and crept along the road, keeping herself low while keeping one eye on the warehouse. It too appeared empty, the windows either boarded up or covered with blinds to keep out the sun and heat. Like the other buildings in this area of Zootopia they were a rustic orange-brown, the stonework worn from violent sandstorms. The crags from the Canyonlands were also heavily weathered, smooth unlike the kind you'd find in a mountain.

She dropped onto her hands and feet and scurried along the outcrop until it ran out, then launched herself behind a tough shrubbery. Her paws struck something soft and she went rolling tail over head with her limbs locked with those of another small mammal. Her unsuspecting victim hissed at her to get off and she pulled herself free, crouching a mere few inches away from the rather irritated fennec fox.

"Finnick?" she hissed back at him. "What on earth are you doing here?"

"Rescuin' Nick," he whispered. "And it was goin' fine until you tackled me."

"It was not going fine. There are an unknown number of armed mammals inside that warehouse. You're going to get yourself killed!"

"Relax, I'm wearin' a bullet proof vest under my shirt."

"But it's not exactly covering your head is it?"

She shook her head and pulled the shrubbery apart with her paws to see beyond it. She had a clear view of the door. One cat sat beside it with a shot gun resting against his legs. One guard. That couldn't be right. If Marcello had sent information back through the wire tap, shouldn't there be more of them?