When the police column arrived at Lemur Bank, a crowd of onlookers had already gathered there.
The bank’s security, consisting of only two wolves and the same number of hyenas, was trying with all their might to drive the crowd further away from the bank.
Someone in the crowd was talking on the phone, spreading rumors about what they had seen; someone, trying to get a better angle, was filming everything on their phone.
What surprised Chief Bogo the most was the presence of a haphazardly parked local news truck.
“Damn them!” he thought displeasedly.
“It feels like they’re in cahoots with the criminals!” “Eric, Jonsi — get the press out of here!” Chief Bogo shouted displeasedly.
“All onlookers — behind the perimeter, let’s work.
Move it!
Go, go, go!” Chief Bogo shouted these words as he jumped out of the jeep.
Amid the general noise and din, the police column quickly spread out across the square right behind him.
Law enforcers instantly emerged from the parked cars.
On the orders of the command, a perimeter was established, and all onlookers were pushed further back.
While the special forces were doing roll call, a group of mole sappers ran past Chief Bogo.
Two squirrel snipers took positions in the nearest trees.
A pair of martens conducted visual surveillance of the bank.
In all this commotion, the police chief was nearby at a table with a building plan, wearing headphones with a microphone for quick communication.
“So, where’s the security?” he shouted.
“Who was the last one in the bank?” “Here, sir,” a jaguar responded, pushing a nervous wolf closer to the buffalo.
“The bank guard.” “Spill it,” Chief Bogo said assertively.
“Well…
it’s…
there, sir,” the wolf began, trembling from shock.
“There, this…
the day was going as usual…
then suddenly this crocodile…
and he grabbed…
there’s also a bomb on him…
and…” Nick and Judy, having gotten out of the car along with the attached wolves, stood next to the chief, watching the wolf mumble and how it made Chief Bogo start to get furious.
“Stop mumbling!” he couldn’t contain himself.
“Can you speak clearly?” The shouting made the poor guard feel uneasy, and he became even more flustered.
On top of everything that had fallen on the poor guard, his gaze fell on the contemptuous looks of the wolves Keks and Zerni, who were standing behind Nick and Judy.
“That’s it, the tears are coming now,” Nick whispered to Judy.
An expression of regret immediately appeared on Judy’s face.
And the emotional part of the rabbit immediately took over, but Hopps didn’t have time to open her mouth to deliver a touching speech before Nick interrupted her, not letting her utter a sound.
Chief Bogo was at the peak of his explosion, but then the fox’s voice intervened.
“Wolf!” Nick shouted.
The attention of the tense wolf immediately switched to the red fox, as did the attention of everyone present.
“Was the crocodile with the bomb alone?” Nick asked loudly and calmly.
The wolf nodded in response, sniffling slightly.
“How many hostages with him?” The wolf’s head, along with his paws, showed a gesture from which it could be understood that he didn’t know for sure.
“More than ten or less, roughly,” the chief continued in a calmer voice instead of Nick.
“Something like that,” the agitated wolf replied.
“You’re free!” Chief Bogo commanded.
“Right.
I need to know what’s going on inside there.
By any means necessary, from snipers to tapping into the security cameras.
Technicians — get to work!” The two pigs standing nearby rushed to carry out the order.
“Where’s the negotiator?” “I’m on it, boss!” an old lemur behind the chief called back.
He held a notepad and pen in his paws, along a megaphone.
The lemur, shaking his head slightly, slowly made his way toward one of the cars serving as a “barrier” between the police and the bank entrance.
“Isn’t he a bit old for this?” Nick said doubtfully.
“You kidding?” Judy replied.
“He’s a living legend, a professor of psychology and the best negotiator on the force.
I’ve admired his work since the academy.
Don’t worry, he knows his stuff.” Judy finished speaking and headed toward the table, closer to the chief.
“The best negotiator,” Nick repeated.
“Is that because he’s outlived everyone else?” A light chuckle came from Kex behind him, who immediately corrected himself and coughed seriously.
“Right.
You, Hopps, take your partner Wilde, plus Kex and Zerni as backup, and get to the back entrance on this side,” the chief jabbed a finger at the map, and Hopps’s gaze followed.
“Guard the exit in case the criminal tries to escape through it.
You guard the exit, and the boys guard you.
Don’t enter the building without orders.
Remember, the crocodile is very dangerous.
Now go, move!” All four of them rushed to the indicated point.
“Next,” Bogo continued commanding through the comm system, “right, you, Rick and Morty, your assignment is…” The chief’s voice faded as our team took their position to the left of the main entrance.
Hidden behind the body of a parked car, Nick, Judy, and the two wolves began watching the metal door of the emergency exit closely.
Their deployment spot was on the left edge of the building, at a considerable distance.
A small alley behind our heroes led to one-story houses.
Dense vegetation covered the rear of the concealed operatives.
Only a yellow tape, carefully stretched from one alley post to the other across the entire width, blocked the path of a small crowd of onlookers from the nearby houses.
They waited impatiently for further developments.
Among them, beavers, martens, and a couple of squirrels stared intently.
Even a small group of rabbits, cautiously pointing fingers at Judy, whispered among themselves.
“Look,” Nick said to Judy’s ear, nodding toward the crowd of onlookers, “your fans have gathered.” Hopps was distracted for a moment, sweeping her gaze over the crowd.
“The main thing is that no one gets hurt,” she worried aloud.
“Maybe we should drive them farther back?” “Now’s not the time for that,” one of the wolves said dryly.
“And I thought we were in charge here?” Nick was surprised.
“Yeah, a fox and a rabbit in charge of wolves,” Kex insisted.
“That’ll never happen!” “Shhh!” the second wolf, Zerni, hissed.
Kex looked displeased at his fellow wolf but didn’t argue, obediently turning his head and fixing his gaze on the door.
“Some partners you’ve got,” Nick summed up.
Judy could only sigh softly in response.
Pressing a finger to the earpiece in her ear, she listened intently to the negotiations.
Nick realized he shouldn’t distract her and, following the example of his wolf-pack colleagues, drew a tranquilizer gun from his holster and was about to aim at the door.
But before he could turn toward the door, the bushes closest to their post rustled, and a tripod with a microphone attached to it emerged from them like a snake.
Nick immediately remembered the news reporters’ truck parked not far from the bank.
Most likely, they’d been driven away from the main entrance and were now trying to approach from the rear.
“Hopps?” Nick said, looking at the microphone near the bushes.
“Nick, not now,” the rabbit hissed.
“We’ve got…” “Nick, not now, the negotiations are about to start.” Nick was just about to deal with the ambush in the bushes himself when suddenly the empty space next to Judy began to shimmer violently.
Nick immediately realized what was happening, but it was too late.
As if out of thin air, shimmering with different colors, a chameleon appeared, wearing a ridiculous reporter’s tricorn hat, shabby corduroy trousers, a rumpled jacket, and a bright green tie.
“Miss Hopps, I’m a reporter for the local program…” The poor reporter didn’t have time to finish his name before Judy took him down.
The rabbit, absorbed in the negotiation process, was so startled to see a reporter appear next to her as if from nowhere that she screamed loudly.
And, as a well-trained police officer should, she reflexively grabbed the chameleon by the wrist.
Jumping up, she wrapped her strong hind legs around his arm and, throwing him to the ground, applied a joint lock.
This time, it was the chameleon’s turn to scream.
All this commotion drew the attention of both the wolves and the crowd.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Judy began to apologize, realizing the situation; she loosened her grip and let the reporter go.
But no sooner had he escaped one hold than the chameleon fell into another.
The unflappable Kex instantly grabbed the reporter and pinned him to the ground.
The unfortunate chameleon was simply pressed into the asphalt.
The bushes from which the microphone protruded rustled noisily, and a squirrel ran out of them, waving her paws.
Abandoning all her equipment — the camera, tripod, and microphone — she fled, screaming: “Police brutality, police brutality!” When the chameleon’s accomplice disappeared into the crowd, all attention fell on the reporter.
“And who are you?” Judy asked the chameleon lying on the asphalt.
“Mei…” the reporter wheezed, trying to say his name while licking as little asphalt as possible, where his muzzle was pressed.
“Mei Darwinov,” Nick continued for him.
“He’s the reporter from the local channel.” “Uh-huh,” Darwinov nodded in reply.
“Well, you’re caught, Mei!” Kex said coldly, lifting him off the asphalt.
“For trespassing and assaulting…” “Quiet,” Hopps interrupted him; she had cleared the channel on her external radio: the negotiations had begun.
Kex’s muzzle showed slight displeasure.
But he didn’t argue and, holding Mei by the scruff, listened intently to the radio, one ear raised.
Not losing hope while everyone was distracted, Mei quietly pulled a small voice recorder from his trouser pocket and pressed the record button.