Opposites Attract

Chapter 15~Deals in the Dark

~Judy's POV~

The soaked ground squelched beneath my foot pads as me and Nick walked down the narrow alleyway. It was silent and cold, all you could hear was the patter of mine and Nick's steps hitting against the wet surface. The cold was good though, it kept me alert and on my toes. The sky above produced occasional rain drops that landed every now and then on the tips of my ears, also alert. It is the next day, with me and Nick returning back to work. Since this mission was happening at night, I had to use a flashlight as a guide down the almost pitch black-path. The rest of the team are waiting for us in big, undercover vans, close to the area and ready to go in as soon as we give them the OK - a big responsibility on our shoulders.

Soon enough this alleyway will lead us into a more spacious, and less darker section, which is a bin area at the back of a flower shop that had closed for the day, used by employees to empty out remaining store-contents at the end of their shift. As planned, this is where we're expecting our suspects to meet up; a gang of three, male, adolescent cougers dealing cocaine. With my hard work, I was the one who was able to track and find the location for today and if my timings are also correct, they should be arriving soon. As you can imagine, I was ecstatic to have this victory, as this is my first proper mission in a while - and I'm determined to succeed.

"So...have you thought about how you're going to tell your parents when your apartment has so called 'recovered' from this so called 'flooding incident'?" Nick inquires. "They're gonna ask...and they're gonna be relentless."

"Can we please not bring that up? Just focus on seeing our way through the dark!"

"Speak for yourself, Fluff. My night vision's working just fine." He replies, strolling next to me with his paws in his pockets.

I mutter curses under my breath in agitation. I hate lying. I hate lying to my parents even more. They're both strong believers that two mammals of the opposite sex shouldn't live with each other under one roof unless they're in a relationship. Especially if said two mammals are sharing a room... I could have been honest and tell them that I've decided to willingly move in with Nick as friends nevertheless, but then they'd ask me why - and that's where I'd be trapped in a corner. Saying that my room got mildly flooded from an unknown leak in my ceiling on a rainy night seemed good enough reason for them. But I felt sick to my stomach after ending the call.

Finally we step out of the alleyway and into the location. A grubby looking scene with pairs of dustbins lined along the sides of the area.

With a click, I turn off my flashlight and store it into one of my utility belt- pouches. "This is it. This is the place."

Nick and I use the opportunity to quickly run over to and hide behind one of the pairs of dustbins placed right next to eachother, which was close to and facing the back wall of the building- in order to stay hidden. As soon as we sit down, I alert Chief Bogo through the communicator. "Nick and I are in our positions."

"Copy that." Chief responds back.

"Aw man, you'd think they'd pick a better place than doing their dirty work behind the Flourist's..." Nick sniffs. "What are in these bins, rejected bouquets or something?"

"Why does that matter?!" I reply irritatedly, repeatedly peaking out of our hiding spot to see if they're coming.

"It's just my allergies..." *sniffs* "I'm really allergic to..." *sniffs* "petunias..."

My eyes widen. I quickly whip round to see Nick rubbing his muzzle and look above at our dustbins. Swiftly, I shoot back up to peer into one of the bins we're hiding behind and see that there is no lid, because there was an overflow of discarded flowers left over from the shop. And just our luck... a lot of petunias.