Geronimo Stilton: INTERPOL-The Christmas Chase

A Rude Awakening

Under Hwy 45-Interstate 104 interchange
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
0037 hours

While James had already arrived at the meeting point, the rest of us were still on Highway 45 on the way to his location and a SWAT team had been dispatched to James's twenty. In the meantime, we all eyed him closely through the cockpit camera feeds to watch his back and to get progress. It was dark and all with no lights from the outside of the McLaren he was driving in, nothing but the headlights shining forwards on the ground, so I remotely turned on the infrared light.

"Alright James, I want you to call him ad tell him that you're there," I instructed.

"Just what I had in mind," he replied. He took out his iPhone, looked through the contacts list and found Black Jack's number, and pressed 'call'. He waited for the kidnapper to pickup and for us to listen to the call, he turned the loudspeaker on.

It was a few beeps until Black Jack answered. "Black Jack! It's me! James!" he started nervously.

"Ah! Jimmy! Just the mouse I wanted to see!" said Black Jack. He had a mid-pitched Boston accent, so I assumed that he was part of one of the mafia mobs in New Mouse City.

"I have the money and I'm at the rendezvous point. Where are you?"

From the bumper camera, we all saw a pair of rectangular headlights being turned on opposite of the car as Black Jack continued; "Over here..."

James hung up while he stared up at the black Ford Ecoline van far to the front. He reached for the briefcase full of money on the passenger's seat and opened his dihedral scissor door to exit. He left the lights on, though.

He wore his hoodie back on to cover his head from the falling snow while still staring at the black van. He pushed the door back down to close it, then he walked to the front of the vehicles into where the lights shone. He was smart to step a little bit to the right so we could record everything on camera.

From the bumper cam, we witnessed the front passenger door swing open, and a pair of hind paws wearing snow boots stomped on the snowy ground from under the door. Next, he backed away from it so he could shut it, and he was revealed as whole. He stood about James's height, he wore a buttoned, belted, dark grey trench coat that covered all the way to his knees and the collar flipped up to cover his face but his snout, black gloves, black slacks, and a fedora of the same color of his trench coat with a single black ribbon tied around the hatband. As mentioned, his snout was uncovered, so his beige fur was seen. It was exactly the same color as James's fur.

He puts his paws in the pockets of his coat as he walks to James. "You have the five hundred grand?" asked Black Jack.

"In the briefcase," James replied, lifting up the case.

"Let me see the money..."

Meanwhile approaching the interchange, I instructed James on how to deal with Black Jack. "Demand to him that you want to see your family first," I told.

James took my words and transformed them into actions. "Not until I see my family first," he squeaked.

Black Jack smirked. "Vinny! Bring 'em out!" he yelled, turning back at the van.

One of his goons came out from the back doors, holding James's mother and his sister, Joanne by the arms in each paw.

James gasped in relief after seeing his family alive. He reached out his arm to get to them, but Black Jack extended his to block James. "Nah-ah-ah...money, first," he demanded.

Meanwhile, I was running facial recognition that I got from Black Jack's snout and we neared the empty hollow between the barriers of the interchange bridges. The two SWAT vans were following behind our cars, arriving since we passed the north-eastern on ramp. "This guy seems familiar," I indicated. The (two) results came a few seconds later, and we all were in a horrible surprise.