Ch 10 Max

“I aint know nutin’!!” Manny declared as soon as they were left alone in the interrogation room.

“But I didn’t ask you anything yet.” Anya said.

“Yeah but I know what you want, you want me to tell you where I got all that nip you brought me in for from. Well I’m letin’ you know right now I ain’t know nutin’!”

“This isn’t about catnip.”

“Well what the heck do you want?”

“Do you recognize this cat?” Anya asked sliding a scent stamp across the table.

Lenny sniffed it. “Hey! That the bastard that ripped me off!! If he’d the one you’re tryin’ to catch then if you promise to put him in the same slammer as me then you’ll have my full cooperation! I still haven’t gotten around to paying him back yet.”

“Oh I think you’ve already had the chance to pay him back plenty.”

“Huh?” Manny looked puzzled. “What’re you talkin’ about?”

“Lenny’s dead Manny, he’s been murdered.”

“Well then what am I- waitaminute, you don’t think I killed him do you?”

“He was killed on the top floor of the Geltempo Bank in the middle of an armed robbery. You’re a janitor their and I spoke with your boss and
you just happen to be assigned to the top floor, exactly where he was killed.”

“But I didn’t- I wasn’t even there, Harry was covering for me, I didn’t do it! I swear on my mother’s grave!”

“Well considering the fact that you attempted to sell your mother’s oxygen tank for catnip, that doesn’t mean much to me.”

“. . . Well you gotta believe me this time I didn’t do it.”

“You said you had a friend cover for you?”

Anya stared Manny directly in the eyes. Trying do detect any sings of lying. Finally she said “Alright, but if I find out you’re lying to me, I’ll personally see to it that you rot in jail till your whiskers fall off your face! Do I make my self clear?”

Manny gulped and nodded.

“Alright then, we are done here”


She wanted to believe Manny; it would have made things a lot easier. But Manny was a convicted felon and she knew she couldn’t go on just his word alone. She needed more proof and there was only one other place that could possibly offer any more clues.
She entered the autopsy lab to find a chiwawa in a lab coat berating a Saint Bernard who had dropped a tray full of tools. “Rufus you big clumsy oaf! Why don’t you watch how you handle the surgical equipment!”

“Sorry Eeny.”

“Sorry? Is sorry going to get my scalpel clean?! Oh hello Anya what can I do for you?”

“Is the autopsy on Lenny Shohair is done yet? I could really use it now.”

“Oh yes I did the autopsy on him a few hours ago.”

Eeny walked over to the wall were the bodies were kept. “Yup he was a real nasty one. Rufus!”

Rufus brought Eeny a stool which he climbed up on in order to reach the tray he was trying to get at. Eeny pulled a tray with a body on it out.

“Died from excessive blood loss from them wound on-”

“Uh, Eeny?” Anya said.

“What?” Eeny snapped annoyed at being cut off in mid sentence.

“Lenny was a cat right?”

“Yes. You’re point is?”

Anya pointed to the body on the tray. “That’s a ferret.”

Eeny looked at the body, sniffed it then checked the body tag. “Woopsies.” He said slamming the tray back in. “Rufus you put the stool in the wrong place and got me all confused!”

“Sorry Eeny.”

“Hang on here; I think I got the right one now.”

Anya now got to get a closer look at the cat. He was black all over except for his feet and chest. He laid there motionless on the cold metal slab.

“Now the strange thing about this that usually in a clawing this deep you might find tiny claw fragment in the wound. In this case, there wasn’t a single one and I searched the wounds for a good hour. So that led me to believe that whatever sliced through him wasn’t organic. Of course that
just a theory though.”

“Knife maybe?” She suggested.

“Yeah but why take four slashes when just one would do the job?”

“Maybe he really had it out for him.” Anya shook her head. “Are you sure this isn’t a clawing wound?”

“Like I said before I’m not entirely ruling out the possibility. I’m just saying that if our perp did claw him some how the claw he used weren’t
organic.”



Suddenly the door at the entrance was kicked open slamming against the wall. Two creatures, a toad and a large salamander both wearing fedoras and trench coats, entered the Mill pond.

“Alright which one of yiz iz Swamper?” The salamander demanded loudly.

“Is that the amphibian mafia? What business do they have with you?” Marty asked.

“I don’t know but I ain’t sticking around ta find out. None of y’all seen me today got it?” With that Swamper ducked under the bar.

“C’mon Louie,” Phil, the frog snapped. “Ya gotta brain, why don’cha try using it for a change. He's da bartender here so where do ya think he’ll be?
Behind da bar dat’s where!”

Louie squinted at the bar. “I don’t see nobody”

"Wella course! He’d hafta be as stupid as you ta stick around after da big entrance you done made ya big nincompoop.”

“Well you da one dat kicked da door open!”

Swamper attempted to hop for the backroom without being seen as the amphibians bickered. He had almost made it, but he spotted a fly hovering over the bar. His tongue involuntarily snapped out at it.

“Dere!” Phil exclaimed. “Ova dere I saw a tongue.”

“Dang fly.” Swamper muttered.

Louie bounded over to where Phil pointed, reach behind the bar and yanked Swamper up and over it by the collar.

“Uh heh heh, evening boys” Swamper said nervously. “I wuz just polishing da floor. What kin I do forya?”

“You know whatchu can do and ya better do it to if ya know what’s good for ya.”

Swamper gulped “I really don’t know whatcha talkin’ about!”

“Gonna play dumb eh? Well-“

“Louie” Phil interrupted.

“What?”

“Shaddap.” Then addressing Swamper he said. “You’ll have ta excuse my associate, ya see he spent his tadpolehood inna swimming pool and all
dat chlorine musta shrunk hiz brain. But anyways da Toad Syndicate is suppose ta receive some protection money from you about two weeks ago but for some reason you ain’t in da record books yet. So we’re here ta see what’s da big holdup.”

“B-but I thought, I thought dat Mista Toad said dat amphibians didn’t hafta pay!”

“Doncha read da papers? Mista Toad had a little accident. Got tipsy on da wine at hiz party in da penthouse, thought he could fly and jumped out
da window.”

Louie looked puzzled. “But I thought we-Ow! What didja kick me for?”

“So anyways Toad Hall iz unda new management now, and new management sez all da joints hafta pay or else we blow dem ta kingdom come.”

“Hey! What’s a guy gotta do to some service around here?” A loud voice demanded. The amphibians’ eyes turned towards the speaker. It was a flying squirrel; he was much smaller than David had guessed from the voice. He wore a shiny black jacket and was using a switchblade to pry open a walnut.

“I’ve been sittin’ here for five whole minutes and I still don’t have a drink” He paused to stare at Phil “And what are you looking at?”

“Listen pipsqueak I donno who da heck ya think ya are but you gonna hafta wait ‘cause Swampa occupied wid more important matters at da moment. Now shaddap before I make ya sallow alla dem walnuts whole” Phil responded

The squirrel jumped off the stool. “Whatchu call me?” he asked his voice trembling with rage.

“I said pipsqueak.” Phil was one to talk, being about as tall as the squirrel. But that didn’t stop the squirrel from getting angry.
He brought his face as close to Phil. “Call me a pipsqueak one more time.”

“Alright since ya asked so nicely; pipsqueak, now if yaw don’t mind, me and Swampa here are in da middle of somtin’ so butt off!“

The squirell's paw lashed out and caught Phil in the face. He stumbled back surprised. “Alright you asked for it.” He said angrily. He drew a gun only to have it snatched out of his hand by the squirrel who moved surprisingly fast. He whacked the frog in the head hard with the gun. The blow dazed Phil and the squirrel started hitting him again. I . . . am . . . not . . . short . . . you hear me? You hear me?!!!” he said punctuating every word with a punch. Phil couldn’t answer though because he had been knocked unconscious.

At this point it occurred to Louie that Phil might need some help. “Well you may have gotten Phil but I’m gonna squash ya like a bug!” He said tossing Swamper aside and charging.

The squirrel turned towards Louie. “Bug? Are you calling me little too?”

This time the squirrel turned, snatched a bottle off the bar and ran.

Louie assumed this to be a sign of fear. “Get back here ya liddle shorty! Ya can’t run from me!” Though considering the distance he had
already put between them he could have kept it up for a while. But he stopped at the piano and climbed on top of it. The rat glanced up briefly and then continued playing.

“Did you not hear what I said to your idiot friend?” He kicked of the wall and launched himself high in the air almost bumping his head on the ceiling. He spread his wing flaps and glided towards Louie

Louie stopped and blinked trying to process this. The squirrel broke the bottle on his head as he passed over him. He then did a midair summersault and landed. “I AIN’T short!!!”

“Oooh! Pretty stars!” Louie said. Then he flopped on the ground unconscious.

The squirrel angrily waved the gun. “Now if I hear the word pipsqueak one more time I promise I will use this thing the way it was meant to”
But seeing the fight had ended the bar patrons had already turned back to their business.

Swamper picked himself up. “Ya idiot! What didja hafta do dat for?”

“What? I saved your butt didn’t I?”

“I wuz handlin’ it! Now dey’re only goin’ ta wake again, only dis time dey’ll be madder and dere’ll be no negotiating with dem!”

“Well they called me a pipsqueak, you heard them. I had to set them strait.”

“Whateva, better hope dey didn’t get a good look atcha cause dey’ll be after ya.”

The squirrel gave Louie one final kick and returned to his seat at the bar. “Let ‘em come, I happen to have an endless supply of butt wuppins”

“Yeah yeah well I guess I better get da dough ready for dem.” Swamper retreated to the back room to begin the painful task of removing money from the safe.


Marty spoke. “Hey Pipsqueak."
The squirrels whirled around. “Aright whose the wise guy- Marty!Ya old stuffed shirt, How ya been?”

“Fine if you can call it that.”

Max then noticed David. “Who’s this?”

“Oh yeah this is David . My roommate”

“I think you told me about him. You’re Marty’s new sidekick.”

“Excuse me?” David asked feeling somewhat insulted.

“You know you really oughta see grandma,” Max said to Marty not noticing. “She’s been going on about how you haven’t been by to visit.”

“Yeah well I’m not really in the mood to spar with her yet, my arm is still healing up from last time, how is she by the way?”

“Well considering that she almost dislocated my shoulder the other day, so I’d say she’s doing pretty well.”

“Wait a minute,” David interrupted. “You two are brothers?”

“Yep.” Marty said.

“But you’re two entirely different species.”

“We were adopted, duh!” The squirrel said. He was about to say more but Marty shot him a look.

“That’s a long story for another time.” He said quickly. “Now let’s get to the present business at hand. I'm going to see Baldy.”

“Baldy? You mean that little freaky looking rat thing?”

“So you’ve know him before.”

“Know him of course I know him he the most powerful kingpin in Geltempo! What are you seeing him for?”

Marty slid the note to him. Max seemed to sober up for a little bit when he read it.

“Thinks it’s a trap?” He asked.

“Most likely, but it’s the biggest lead I got on this so far so I can’t just ignore it, that’s why I’ve asked you along.” He paused. Then turning to David he said, “You coming?”

David had to think about it. His life had been pretty boring until he met Marty. He had a dead end job working at the cockroach plant until he had lost his temper and quit. Then he just wasted the days away licking himself in front of the TV. Marty was a change of pace for him. He felt drawn to the sense of danger and mystery Marty seemed to bring with him. It was a bright light in his dull grey life.

“Sure.” He said. “why not.”


Ch 11 FOG

The restaurant was located on the docks of the Geltempo Bay. They drove in Max’s car. Marty seemed mildly surprised Max had a car and asked where he got it but Max pretended not to hear him and change the subject.

A rabbit hastily blocked they’re way as the entered. “Uh, excuse me sirs,” He said looking them up and down disdainfully. “But in case you haven’t noticed this happens to be a fine dining establishment and you must be wearing the proper attire. I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to leave.”

“Baldy happens to be expecting us.” Marty said “I really doubt he’ll be too happy to find out you’ve sent us away”

The rabbit gulped. “Are you Marty Mask?”

“Yes”

“Alright then you must enter but your friends must wait at the door, Baldy specifically requested that you come alone.”

“What kind of idiot do you take me for? You think I don’t suspect he’s got some kind of ambush waiting for me in there? Now get outta my face before you really tick me off. ” He roughly shoved the protesting rabbit aside and they entered the dinning area.

Macgregor’s Garden was the exact polar opposite of the Mill Pond. It was where the high society creatures of Geltempo dined. Every one was expensively dressed. Males wore fine tuxedoes and the females wore beautiful evening gowns. The gold floors had had been polished so that they gleamed brightly. A large bay window provided a breathtaking view of the Geltempo Bay.

Max sniffed in disgust. “I can’t wait to shoot this dump up.”

“Remember, no shooting unless I shot first. I mean it, not on bullet” Marty reminded him.

“ Yeah, yeah, well something better happen tonight or you’re going to have one pissed squirrel on your paws.”

“Now let’s see if we can find Baldy, a naked mole rat shouldn’t be too hard to find here.”

“Is that him?” David asked pointing at a table in the corner on the wall opposite of the window.

Sure enough Baldy was sitting there, speaking with someone on his cell phone. One look and David was able to guess why he didn’t take too many pictures in the paper. Naked Mole Rats weren’t exactly the prettiest of species. He had unsightly dull grey slightly spotted skin and was grossly overweight. To large front teeth protruded from his snout. Altogether he looked rather hideous. He wore a dark pinstripe suite. While crunching down on a platter of scarab beetles, (considered a rare delicacy among insectivores) he was talking on the phone.

“It is well past the due date. The materials won’t be available for very long. I need that cash! They’ll be meeting at the Welter Warehouse at twelve tonight. Send Canis in to see what the hold up is.”

David’s heart almost stopped when he heard the name. Max froze and seemed scared for the first time. Even Marty, whose face rarely displayed any emotions, seemed shocked.

“Impossible! He was executed wasn’t he?” David whispered.

“Probably another Canis. Besides why would he be working for Baldy?” Marty answered but he didn’t seem so sure.

Baldy, who hadn’t seemed to notice them yet, was silent for a few seconds listening to other end. Then grinning disturbingly he said. “Yes I know, that’s the idea.”

Baldy then looked up and saw them. Not seeming the least bit startled he said to the phone. “My guest have arrived. You have your orders. Goodbye”

“Marty Mask!” He said folding the phone and slipping it in his pocket. “So glad you could make it. I’ve heard a lot about you. I hear I have you to thank for many of my operations being bungled.”

“You know who killed Nora Whiskers?”

“Yes my resources had recently told me she was mating you around the time of her death. I thought you might be interested.”

“I want to know what you know and how you know it.”

“A bit demanding aren’t we? I mean it’s only fair that if I give you information that you provide me with a little as well.”

“What could you want from me?”

“Oh, I just want to ask some questions, that’s all. I understand Nora visited the New York ruins. I also know that she brought a little . . . souvenir back with her. Did she by any chance happen to show it to you?”

Marty pause for a minute, as if deciding whether or not he should answer the question. “No” He finally said. “She very protective about scoops like that.”

Baldy dipped a scarab in a bowl of expensive cheese dip and popped it in his mouth crunching down on the exoskeleton. “Tell me Marty,” He said after swallowing. “Do the letters FOG mean anything to you?”

Marty drew his gun. Max excitedly followed suite.

“Alright you’re going to tell me how you know about FOG now!” He said pointing his weapon at Baldy

“I take it she mention it to you.” Baldy said calmly as if noting happened.

“Yes I heard it before but I don’t know what it is. Nora mentioned that name so if you know about it then there a large chance you’re involved some how. So you tell me everything you know about this now.”

“No I think not. I had no intention of telling you anything anyway to be truthful with you. I just needed to know what you know about FOG though I don’t think it matters now seeing as you’ll be dying now.” He clapped his paws together twice and a collection of gasps and screams arose all around them. David looked around to see what the commotion was and quickly wished he hadn’t. About half of the dinning guest had drawn an assortment of nasty looking gun concealed in their dining jackets and pointed them all at them.

“You seemed to have forgotten I have a gun pointed you’re head.” Marty said. “Now if you don’t want to contract a nasty case of ‘hole in skull’ then I suggest you tell your thugs here to drop their toys.”

“Thanks but I have my own method of preventing that.” He clapped his paws again and a badger at a table next to them tossed an object their way.

“Smoke grenade!” Max exclaimed as it spun around on the floor issuing smoke like a fissure. Within seconds David could see nothing but a thick white mist. When it dispersed a little Baldy had disappear. Soon shot were being fired.

“Behind here!” Marty shouted. He had kicked the table on its side and was ducking behind it. David and Max dove for the cover.

“Now this is more like it!!” Max gleefully exclaimed firing back.

Max and Marty had incredible accuracy. A goon seemed to drop every time the fired their gun.

“Hey you got a piece dotcha? Use it!” Marty shouted at David. David was so terrified he had forgotten he had a gun too. David always thought he was a good shot. He did fairly well at the shooting rage when he visited. But he found that in the heat of battle, it was a different story. His paws shook throwing his aim off. He barely hit anything. After a bought six or seven shots, nervously ducking behind the table after every shot, he finally was rewarded with the sight of a skunk fall from behind a pillar clutching his shoulder in pain. Suddenly he felt a sharp sting on his left arm.

“REEOW!” He screeched in pain falling back.

“You got hit?” Max asked.

“What do you think?” David grunted.

“Lemme see.” Marty said inspecting the wound. “It only grazed you you’ll live, at least for moment”

A bullet whizzed uncomfortably close over his head. “Where the heck are the dogs anyway? They should have showed up here a long time ago!” David said.

“Baldy meant for us to die here! You think he’s going to let the police interfere?” He paused to fire a few rounds and then ducked back down. “He probably had all the phone lines cut already. The dogs aren’t getting here anytime soon.”

“Y-you think we can hold them off?”

“Not a chance” Marty said grimly shooting a weasel... “We’re way too outgunned here. The only way we’re going to get out of this fix alive is if we get out of here somehow sometime soon.”

“Awe see there you go again!” Max complained. “Just when I’m starting to have fun, you wanna leave! Happens every time!”

“Well if you want to stay here and get your dumb self killed be my guest.”

“So do we make a run for the exit?” David asked.

Marty fired some more shots. “If it was that simple we would have been out of here by now! If I know Baldy, he would have made sure we don’t get out of here alive. He’s got a sniper watching the exit, I’m sure of it. The moment we set foot outside we’re dead.”

“Then what the heck are we supposed to do?”

“Right now you can shut up and let me think.”

David fired some more but failed to hit any one. The thugs were getting closer. One fox tried to charge them but Max stopped him in his tracks with a bullet to the head.

“Of course!” Marty exclaimed suddenly. “Okay everybody listen up. I think I know a way out of here but it’s kind of risky; When I say now you’re going to start running in that direction as fast as you possibly can.” He said pointing to the side at the bay window on the wall adjacent to them. Most of Baldy’s thugs shoot like crap, so if you run fast enough you shouldn’t get hit!”

“But how are we-“

“Now!”

Marty and Max took off towards the window. Cursing himself for getting in this situation, David dropped to fours and followed. Marty reared up to grab a chair and flung it at the window. It shattered into a million pieces. They all jumped through.

“I can’t believe we made it out there alive” David exclaimed

“We ain’t outta the woods yet.” Marty said. “They ain’t gonna let us merrily
skip away just like that! We need to get to the car fast.”

They dashed for the parking lot. David snuck a glance behind them behind
him. Hired thugs were spilling out of the window onto the lawn that gave him an extra boost of speed. They made their way to Max’s car.

“Get in! Hurry up!” Marty said.

David didn’t need to be told twice. Max started the car. The engine seemed to be reluctant in starting. A bullet ricocheted of the hood.

“Gee Max, you think you could have stolen something that actually works?”

“He this ain’t as easy as you think you take what you can get- Hey how’d you
know I stole it?”

“This really ain’t the time; we need to get moving fast.”

“Okay okay, just give me a sec,”

The engine finally came to like. Knocking a few other cars out the way, they
roared out the parking lot.

Max drove at frightening breakneck speed narrowly dodging car and other obstacles. David began to wonder if he was better off stuck in the restaurant as they hurtled down the street.

“You think you could slow down a little? I think we should have lost them by now!” David pleaded.

As if to contradict him, the rear window was destroyed by a spray of bullets... David chanced a glance behind him before ducking down quickly. A black car was behind them matching their speed two ferrets were leaning out the widow with machine guns blazing away.

“Dang!” Marty cursed. “If there’s one thing to say about Baldy’s goons is that they sure are persistent.”

“I’ll handle them, gimmie my gun.” Max exclaimed excitedly.

“You insisted on driving so drive! The last thing we need is for you to wreck this thing trying to shoot behind you and drive at the same time. Leave them to me, besides anything you stick out there is going to get a bullet through it faster than a squirrel on a sugar rush. Now do exactly as I say, when I say now I want you to make a sudden right turn- NOW!”

Max yanked the steering wheel sideways. The tires squealed in protest and David was thrown against the window as the car barely made it into a nearby alleyway. The car behind them managed follow them but the ferret on the left had stuck too much of his long lanky body out the window and was slung out of the car by the momentum of the turn.

“See those dumpsters up ahead? I want you to drive by them as close as you can”

Sparks flew as Max drove by them. The remaining ferret in the other car saw what was about to happen and tried to pull himself in quickly but he wasn’t fast enough. His face connected with the dumpster with a loud whack. He was thrown out the car.

“Ouch!” Max remarked.

“Well, that takes care of the machine guns I think. Now the driver’s going to get desperate and start shooting at us.”

Sure enough a possum leaned out the driver’s side window and began firing on them with a revolver.

“Oooh I got this, I got this!” Max said excitedly unbuckling his seatbelt. “I’ve been itching to try this for years.”

“”Whoa waitaminute, just what the heck are you about to do? Stay here I can handle this g-“ Max had already vanished out the window.

“I really wish he’d warn me when he decides to pull that kind of stuff.” Marty muttered quickly slide over to the driver’s side of the car.

“Where the heck did he go?” David asked.

“Look out the window I think you’ll see your answer.”

Max had launched himself from the top of the car, and was sailing through the air, wing flaps extended.

He landed on the windshield of the other car and pressing his gun against the window and motion to the driver to pull over. The car came to a screeching halt almost throwing Max off the windshield.

Marty stopped the car and strode over to him. David follow, relieved to be touching solid ground again. Marty yanked the car door open. The possum had slumped against the steering wheel completely motionless.

“Did you shoot him?” Marty asked.

“No, he just flopped down after he pulled over.”

Marty seized the possum by the collar and slapped him hard in the face. He remained motionless.

“Oh well.” Marty sighed. “Better get rid of this body just to be on the safe side. Max, go get the gasoline and matches out the trunk”

The possum suddenly came to life. Breaking free from Marty’s grip, he made a desperate dash for the streets.

“Thought so” Marty said. Not making any attempt to chase him, he raised his gun and fired. The possum collapse into a squealing ball of pain on the wet dirty cement.

“Quit whining like a kit will ya?” Marty said strolling towards him. “I wasn’t aiming to kill, you won’t be using that leg for a long while but other that you’ll be fine; That is-” He place a foot on his chest. “Unless you fail to give me the information I want.”

“What do you want?” The possum asked his voice trembling in a failed attempt to appear calm.

“You can start by telling me what did Baldy want, what was the point in having me come all the way down there? If he only wanted to kill me he could have simply sent some of his thugs to do it.”

“I don’t know”

“Wrong answer.”

“Please they’ll kill me if they find out I told you!”

Marty fired the gun, the bullet chipped the concrete just inches from the possum
head. “I think you have a more imminent threat to worry about.”

“OKAY, okay, okay, Just please do tell anyone I told you this. I think he wanted to see if you knew, if that reporter lady told you about it.”

“Told me about what?”

“FOG”

“What is this FOG?”

“I don’t know, Baldy doesn’t talk to us about it much. Its some the she found
in that human city. He said something about creating a new word with it.”

“A new world? What kind of world?”

“I don’t know, I only work for him, he doesn’t talk to us much about this kind of stuff. I told you all I know, I swear!”

Marty thought for a moment”Your wallet”

“Huh?”

“Give me your wallet.”

“You’re robbing me?”

‘Just give it to me.”

The possum nervously did as he was told.

“Marty opened it up and inspected it. Then he took a small notebook from his pocket and scribbled on it.

Tossing the wallet on the ground he said. “Now I know where you live. If I find out you know more about this, or that you lied to me, I’ll be back and I won’t be as nice.” He removed his foot from his chest and picked up the possum’s gun which he had dropped as he tried to run away.

“I hope you have some bus fare.” Marty said, before shooting a tire on the car. ”Can’t have you following us again.”

“Max next time you get the urge to pull some stupid stunt like that at least warn me.”

“Hey I stopped him didn’t I?”

“Let’s get back to the Mill Pond. After all that I need a drink.”

“I’m going to need several.” David muttered.

Chapter 12 Canis

“You boyz look like hell.” Swamper complimented as they returned. “Oh yeah, da amphibian mafia lookin’ fer ya by da way, At least Phil said dey were gonna be.”

“Just gimmie a shot willya? Amphibians ain’t that good at smelling so I’m not overly worried.” Max mumbled. “So Marty, you think Baldy did it?”

Mary sighed. “It’s very possible. I probably would have killed him if it weren’t for his thugs. Though it might have been for the better anyways now that I think about it. I’ve let my emotions get the better of me. I always come to regret what I later when that happens”

Baldy knew about FOG when he first said those letters I was positive he did it, though now I realized now that other than that, I have hardly any proof. As a detective I learned that you must always be one hundred percent sure before you act.”

“So what is this FOG anyway?” Max asked

“It’s some type of ancient human technology, that I’m sure of, what it’s supposed to do is the mystery. Nora did mention those letters to me when she found it, that’s why I got a little overexcited back there.” Marty answered.

“According to that possum Baldy was planning to change the world.” David said.

“Yes, that’s what concerns me he humans were pretty powerful beasts. We can’t even imagine their technological accomplishments. If their technology is somehow involved here Baldy might very well be able to do some heavy damage.”

“Maybe we should go to the police?” David suggested.

Marty snorted. “And what are they going to do about it? Baldy’s a pretty powerful creature in this city. Crankjaw’s too afraid of a lawsuit to launch a major investigation on him. I will get to the bottom of this myself. I intend to find out what this FOG is and then I will avenge Nora.”

They sat there for a while Marty and Max were catching up on old times. Marty offered to pay for the drinks which puzzled David because the raccoon was a real penny pincher.

Max took full advantage of this by ordering drink after drink. David was amazed at all the alcohol the tiny squirrel could consume. Soon the inevitable happen. Max's words became more and more slurred and started making less and less sense. Soon he toppled off his stool.

“About time” Marty muttered. “Thought he’d never conk out.” He got up and slung Max over his shoulder.

“You planned this?” David asked

“Why did you think I offered to pay for the drinks? It’s the only way we’re gonna be able to ditch him. What I’m about to do next may require sitting very still for a long period of time. Considering the fact that he has the attention span of a gnat I don’t think he’ll do to well in that department. So I'm going to drop him off at Grandma’s.”

They exited the Mill Pond. Marty buckled Max’s limp form in the backseat of his stolen car.

“Where are we going? David asked.

“Were do ya think? To the Welter Warehouse.”

David then remembered the conversation Baldy was having on his phone. Then he remembered something else that sent a chill down his spine. D-do you think Canis will be there?”

“Well he was executed publicly in front of hundreds of witnesses.” Marty said. “The possibility of him showing up tonight will be very unlikely.” Marty spoke with confidence but there was a crack of uncertainty in his voice.

Seven years ago Geltempo city was terrorized by a psychopathic wolf named Canis. A staggering number of about 75 creatures were gruesomely murdered by him. Finally he was cornered by the police. After a very bloody battle in which he killed five dogs with his bare claws and fangs, he was finally captured.

After several months on Lonely Rock Island, an inescapable prison 50 miles out in the Geltempo Bay, he was executed by electrocution. Hundreds of creatures took a boat out to Lonely Rock to witness the death of the infamous wolf. They all saw him die. But very recently bodies have been turning up. They had been mutilated in the same style Canis murdered his victims. The police assured everybody that it was just mob dealings, pointing out that most of the victims had some kind of criminal connection but some of the more superstitious residents of Geltempo began spreading rumors that Canis had came back from the grave.

Marty pulled up in front of an old looking house on the Westside of Geltempo. At first David thought it was abandoned, the paint was peeling away and the lawn was overgrown with weeds. But after a closer he noticed the faint glow of a TV inside. Marty carried Max inside the house. The Living room was barren except for a couch and easy chair on one side of the room and a TV on the other. A large gym mat dominated the rest of the room. What caught David’s attention was what was decorating the walls. All kind of weapon, Guns, swords, knifes, all matter of weapons hung from it.

“Thi-this is all your grandma’s?”

“Yeah, she’s colleted that stuff over the years.” Marty answered dumping Max on the couch. “Thank god she’s asleep. She would have insisted on sparing.” He nodded towards the easy chair where an ancient looking spider monkey snored loudly. Her tail was curled tightly around bamboo staff.

“That’s your grandma?!” David asked in disbelief.

“Yep”

They quietly slipped out of the house and back in the car.

“So your brother’s a flying squirrel and your grandma’s a monkey, I hope you don’t mind my saying but you have a weird family.”

“Like I said, it’s a long story.”

They pulled up in an alley in back of where the warehouse was supposed to be. It was in downtown Geltempo, where the every building extended into Upper Level. The Warehouse took up half of the first, second and third floor of the building. The Front half of the first floor facing the street was occupied by a Bob’s Bug Shack. The warehouse could only be accessed by the alleyway.

“You sure this is the place?”

“Well this is the address in the city book.” Marty said once again checking a large dog eared book.”
It certainly look abandoned. A large rusty automatic garage door was in the center.

“Smell that?” Marty asked as the exited the car
David sniffed the air. “Yeah some cats left their markings all over the places.”

“I recognize this scent.” Marty said. “It’s the Fishheads.”

David froze. “You mean the cats that robbed the bank?”

“Yep, I had a run in with them before.” Marty said gesturing to his shortened ear. “Remind me to tell you about it later.”

They walked around to the side coming to a broken window. “You can jump higher that me, hop up there and tell me if you see anybody.” Marty pointed to the broken window.

“Okay” David crouched on his hind legs, steadied himself and then like a coiled spring, he leapt to the window. He hung onto the ledge for a couple of seconds the dropped down.

“I can see anything, a bunch of crates are in the way, but I think Fishheads are there, I can smell them and I hear voices.”

“Good if you can’t see them that means they can’t see you. Here spritz on some of this.” Marty said tossing him a can of scent eraser.

“Ummm, you sure this is a good idea? I mean they’re the Fishheads.”

“As long as you spray that on and keep completely quite, they won’t see us. Go in there and see if you can find some rope.”

David was a bit hesitant about leaping into Fishhead territory, but he had come too far to back out now, he didn’t want to appear a coward to his roommate so he crouched and leapt into the building. He found some rope coiled up in the corner. Taking it, he leapt back to the window and dropped it down to Marty. Soon they where both inside. Marty peered out from behind the forgotten crates of Salty Sam’s then allowed David to have a look. There were five cats lounging around on dirty couches and chairs licking themselves and smoking catnip.

The door to the office flung open and a familiar scent wafted in. It was Dreadlocks, the Persian with the steel claws that had tried to threaten Marty off the case. “Just got off the phone with Baldy, he’s getting impatient. I swear when I get my paws on Gary I’m going to flay him alive. killing Lenny and running off with the money like that, should have never trusted that bastard.” He said flexing his paws so that his steel claws popped in and out.

“We been by his apartment. His sis said he ain’t there. He probably done left the city by now.” One scrawny tiger-striped responded.

Dreadlock studied his claws. “No he’s still in Geltempo. He’s to close to his sister to just leave her and I’m will to bet all my money she now where he is. I say tomorrow we pay her another visit. Then we’ll see if I can’t tickle it out of her with these claws.”

“That what I said we should do the first time” Another cat said.
David feared for Carla’s safety. “We have to do something!” He whispered. “We can’t let them hurt her-“

BOOM!

Something very large had struck the rusty metal garage door. All eyes turned towards it.

BOOM!

The metal had begun to buckle inwardly from the impact.

BOOM!

All the cats began to cautiously approach the door with their guns drawn.

BOOM!

Everybody was surprised to see a large bare paw had punched through the door. There wasn’t a single species in Geltempo that possesed that kind of strength. The cat began firing madly at the door putting many holes in it but it didn’t seem to effect whoever was on the other side as a deep bone chilling laugh could be heard from the other side.

BOOM!

Another paw broke through the door gripping the jagged metal edges of the hole the creature on the other side ripped the hole open not seeming to notice the deep gashes it made in his paws.

David’s heart almost stopped when he smelled the creatures scent as he stepped in, Marty’s breathing grew short. David recognized the scent from the many scratch and sniff wanted posters that were posted all over the city seven years ago . It was Canis, and he looked very much alive.