Vanessa and Raphael were patiently waiting in the study. Psych pushed open the doors and gently closed them behind him, garnering the attention of the others in the room. 
“They made it out. That’s all I know for now. The routes gone dark.” Psych informed them. 
“Well, we can only wait now.” Raphael stated, folding his paws on the desk. After thirty minutes they could hear footsteps approaching the doors to the study. Eric and Tommy opened them wide, letting Nikolai, Shea, the cheetah twins, three wolves and Scout inside. They looked quite roughed up, but still alive, and dangling in Nikolai’s massive paw, was the head of a coyote. 
“Mission accomplished, sir.” Nikolai announced, placing the severed head on his desk. “The head of Alistor Makai.” 
“Well now.” Raphael raised the head to meet him face to face. “Looks like you should have taken my gracious offer after all, mutt.” He gloated, discarding the head in the bin. “Nikolai, Scout, Shea, all of you. You have done fantastic work tonight, I’m very proud of all of you. With the Makai family out of the way, there’s nothing standing in our way anymore. We’re clear to begin operation apex.” 
“Which is?” Psych questioned. 
“It’s on a need to know basis.” Vanessa touted. “And you don’t need to know.” 
“Boys.” Nikolai turned to his crew. “You’ve had long nights. Drinks on me tonight, yes? Go celebrate, I will be down soon.” Nikolai ushered all but Shea out the door. “Scout, you especially. I’m so thankful.” 
“It was nothing bud, I owed you one.” Jason replied. They traded paws on their shoulders before allowing Scout to leave to join the others and closed the doors. 
“Well, good to see you home. Since this operation apex doesn’t involve me, I’ll see myself out.” Psych huffed, heading toward the door. 
“Psych, come back.” Raphael sighed. 
“Aye, come on Psychey boy.” 
“What, if he wants to leave, let him.” Vanessa lightly scoffed. 
“Can you do nothing more than spit garbage from your mouth, Carvelle!?” Nikolai growled. 
“Niko?” 
“I’m sick of this, how you call it, feuding! All you do is snap snap snap, I’m tired of this bullshit.” 
“Aye. I’m no gonna lie, I’m getting tired o it as well. Raph, why havn’t ya told Psych bout the big one comin up?” Shea protested. 
“Well, to be honest. I was still uneasy about his son.” Raphael answered with a good long breath. “But he is adjusting well, Patrick, Nick and Finnick have actually done very well heading up the street side of the job. Bryan has been a fine addition to the build team and Aiden is even more talented at hacking then I remember.” 
“Now who’s buttering up who?” Psych interjected. “Tell me about this job.” 
“Operation Apex is more than just a job. We are changing the game.” Raphael stated, rising from his seat. “On August 4th, at 5AM the shipment of a new weapon will be arriving at Rapidton Shipping. You see, when I first heard about the weaponization of Nighthowlers in Zootopia, it intrigued me. To have something that could turn civil creatures into mindless savages. An interesting weapon to say the least.” 
“So we’re bringing in Nighthowlers?” Psych suggested. 
“No. While savage, the nighthowlers had their limits. Tranquilizers and tasers could bring them down, sufficed to say I was not satisfied with such meager capability. Reginald Steer-helm and Shelly Yorik have been refining a new concoction. One that can aerosolize and hit entire city blocks, districts even. The victims are still somewhat aware, but they become savage nonetheless. To make it even more potent, it throttles their dopamine and adrenaline levels so they don’t feel any pain, the adrenaline acting as a method to counter any tranquilizers as well. A relentless, unstoppable wave of savage mammals, ripping each other apart at the blast of a single bomb. They call it, Bloodlust. That, is what we are getting our claws on. With this weapon we will have this city by the throat. We’ll make a small demonstration of its effectiveness, setting it off in downtown Pantharia.” 
“It could kill hundreds, maybe thousands. But something doesn’t add up, how can a body tolerate that level of psychosis?” Psych wondered. 
“It doesn’t. It varies between species but eventually the heart gives out and the victims die. But not before inflicting a massive amount of carnage.” Barone noted. “One demonstration is all it will take. The PPD, the mayor, all other crime factions will bow to us. We will own this city.” 
“Hmm.” Psych hummed. 
“What?” 
“It’s very ambitious. What part do I play?” Psych questioned. 
“I’ll need you to help keep our tracks covered. Monitor the PPD and ZPD, make sure none of them know about the shipment before it comes in. We’ll also need you there the day we go to retrieve it, I want the perimeter secure and good communication between all parties monitoring the docks.” Barone explained. 
“I see.” 
“Is something wrong, Psych?” Barone asked, folding his arms. 
“The fox getting a yellow belly?” Vanessa sneered. 
“Christ lass, shut yer gob! Didn’t we jus talk bout this!?” Shea barked. 
“Enough!” Psych yelled at the top of his lungs. “This is what I’m concerned about. Raphael, if we really are going to step up to this level. This team has to be united and focused on our goal. Between the four of us we can cover a lot of ground but, we can’t even stop fighting amongst ourselves.” 
“Agreed.” Raphael nodded, taking his seat again. “I need to know that I can trust every last one of you. We may also have a need to elect a few extra mammals to our ranks. Perhaps you have one from each of your groups you can trust with this?” 
“James Howlett.” Nikolai nodded firm. “No question, a fine wolf, good mammal.” 
“I quite agree.” Barone approved.
“I’m not ready to pick yet.” Vanessa shrugged. “Tasha and Sasha are both incredibly skilled, I’d need to test them a bit more.” 
“I dun think Jared or Brendon are ready, tha lazy cunts jus do at they’re told. But ol Bryan’s got some brains. Jus needs to learn ta hold his liquor better.” Shea chuckled. 
“Aiden is my choice of course.” Psych proposed. 
“Not Nick?” Vanessa questioned. 
“No, not Nick. He’s learning, but has a ways to go.” 
“Fine choices all around.” Barone approved. We have two weeks until the shipment arrives. Psych, I’ll have all the details you need ready tomorrow. For now, I have to make arrangements for the boys pay tonight. They did a good job and it’s fair to say, they’ll be getting a good bonus for bringing in the head of Allister Makai.” 

“Shoot shoot!” Max exclaimed, the controller in his paws nearly tossed in the process. The two were playing a hockey game in Max’s room. The young tiger was lucky enough to have a gaming console and a large TV to play on. Max having the most experience playing was leading 6 – 2, and of course Jake was still trying to get the game mechanics down. “Come on!” 
“How do I hit again?” 
“Have to hit A.” 
“Oh ok.” Jake hit it just in time to knock the net out of place forcing a whistle. “Ok what the hell?” 
“Dude you checked the net. Try aiming for a player.” Max chuckled. (“And the net is off so we’ll be going to a faceoff.” “That’s right Bob, the Comets have got to start winning more faceoff’s if they want to turn this game around. Only one more period to go and they don’t seem to be making an effort.”) 
“Wow, this guy on here is an asshole.” 
“Hahahahaha!” Max burst out laughing. “I’m surprised they do so much commentary on here. You can turn it off in the options menu though.” 
“Rather kick him in the balls, if he had any.” 
“Won again.” Max quipped, winning the faceoff and trying for a quick shot. “Keep this up, it’s gonna be 7 – 2.” 
“You’ve had like, a billion more hours on this game than I have; I’m surprised I got two in.” Jake scoffed, trying to check him again. (“And play is whistled down for the offside.”) “What’s that mean?” 
“Means you did something right, you basically broke up my play by checking my guy over the line. See?” Max pointed out. 
“Oh ok cool.” Jake happily smiled. Max heard his phone buzz and snatched it up to check it. It was a message from Mia and he took his time reading it. Jake won the faceoff and with a quick sneer to the screen Max paused the game and carried on reading. Whatever it was, it was clearly upsetting him. “You ok?” Max tossed the phone to the bed and sulked back down on the carpet. 
“No. Fucking sucks.” 
“What?” 
“Mia, my friend my school.” Max began. Jake had recalled a previous talk they had about her and nodded. “She and her family moved to Zootopia right? But like, she said she was coming back to Auburn Fang.” 
“Ok.” 
“Well, she says her dad just registered her for school in Zootopia. So she won’t be coming back next year.” He sighed. 
“Oh. Well that sucks.” 
“Royally sucks!” Max fumed, tossing the controller. 
“Jeez chill out.” Jake folded his ears back at the outburst but began figuring out why he was so upset. “Oh wait! I get it, you liked her liked her, didn’t you?” 
“Shut up.” Max brushed off. 
“Come on, Max admit it. You liked her.” 
“Seriously.” 
“Max it’s cool. I get it. Isn’t this like, when you’re supposed to be getting girlfriends and stuff? Makes sense you’d be sad if she isn’t coming back.” Jake carried on. 
“Well, I didn’t not like her.” Max confessed. “It was just, she was one of the only mammals at that school that didn’t treat me like a freak.” 
“Why would they treat you like a freak?”
“When you’re the son of someone like my father, you get a lot of attention. Most of it bad. Everyone was even thinking the coach only took me on the team cause of him.” 
“Oh, so they’re scared of you.” 
“Yeah.” Max sighed. 
“Well, I’m not.” Jake shrugged off. “You’re cool with me.” 
“Yeah, you act normal around me too.” Max smiled. 
“Yep, guess I’m just cool like that.” Jake sighed, lying down on the carpet. 
“Or we’re both freaks.”
“Eh, where’s the fun in being “Normal” anyway?” Jake brushed off, with a wave of his paw. After a few seconds he could hear the game unpause and his eyes bloomed wide. “Oh no you don’t!” (“Scores!” “That was a dead giveaway, his team just stood still in front of the goaltender and the puck just sailed right through finding nothing but net.”) “Oh I’m sooo getting you back for that!” Jake eagerly jumped up, snatching his controller. After a few minutes of playing, a gentle knock came at the door and opened. 
“Max?” Vanessa quietly asked. 
“Oh! Hi Vanessa!” Max warmly greeted. 
“Hey handsome, whatcha playing?”
“Hockey of course.” 
“And kicking my butt at the moment.” Jake commented. 
“Oh you’re not his only victim on this game. I keep trying to play him as the Predaton Hurricanes but he whoops my butt every time.” 
“Hurricanes suck.” Max quipped. 
“Yeah yeah, smarty pants. I could use your help real quick though.” 
“Whatcha need?” 
“Psych showed you how to get on the jam cams right? Think you could get my computer on there?” Vanessa requested. 
“Oh, sure! Why not ask him though?” 
“The usual, I think the old fox is taking my teasing a little personal.” She giggled. “But I wanted to check on something Tasha tipped me off about.” 
“Sure, I’ll give ya a paw.” Max agreed, letting the game go. 
“Gonna let me score on ya?” Jake snickered. 
“Give ya a fighting chance.” Max snickered right back. 
“Come on hockey legend. You can whoop some fox tail after.” Vanessa laughed clasping his shoulder and ushering him out the door. 

Max was parked in front of the laptop on the table in Vanessa’s room. It didn’t take too long for Max to get on the jam cams. Sure enough the new sign in that Psych had created worked just fine. 
“See, easy peasy.” Max proudly touted. “So what do you have to look for?” 
“It’s gonna take me a while to find. How do you navigate this thing?” Vanessa asked. 
“Simple. The side bar there, shows the date and times of recordings right? At the top here, the drop down menu, shows you like what camera you’re on and which one you wanna search. I think Psych said they keep video on file for like a month or so. Anything with a JC means Jam Cam video. You wanna see any cruiser or lapel cams, you gotta use a special sign in and I don’t know it. You definitely need Psych for that one.”
“I should be ok with just the street cams.” Vanessa agreed. 
“Wanna save it, you right click the video and click save video as and then pick like anywhere on the computer.” Max explained. Vanessa pulled him in for a quick hug and kissed his head. 
“Muah! My little computer genius nephew!” 
“Vanessa!” He giggled. Helping him up, she ushered him to the door. 
“Come on, that fox probably got a few goals on ya by now. Go kick his tail.” She winked. 
“Psh, as if!” Max laughed off. 

Psych and Nick were seated in Aiden’s car, as he drove off into the late evening through the city. Nick withdrew the phone from his pocket and sighed reading the date and time. July 29th, 10:54PM. 
“Supposed to be there for 11:30.” Nick commented from the back seat. 
“I know.” Aiden quietly replied, gesturing to the laptop. “Psych, we clear?” 
“Yeah, we’re good. Signal is doused and the jam cams are blind.” 
“And Barone?” Aiden questioned. 
“Told him we’re checking out an anomaly we spotted on the networks in Fairways.” Psych answered, leaning back into the chair. “Should be fine. He’s been far more trusting lately.” 
“Not still having second thoughts, are you?” Nick perked up from the back. 
“Nicky, don’t.” 
“Dad, I mean it.” 
“Just.” Psych cut him off, fluttering his paw between the seats. “Just drop it. Between you and Aiden I’ve been given a compelling argument to stick to it. But I don’t have to fucking like it.” 
“Ok.” Nick hesitantly approved, returning his attention to the phone. They drove out of the city and headed north toward Fairways before veering off and aiming to a vast forested area known as The Lynxwood. A popular area for camping amoung the locals in Fairways, Psych and Jack Savage agreed to meet here one last time before the deal went down. Driving into a small campsite, the two rabbits were already there in their black truck and headlights off. Psych, Aiden and Nick all stepped out to a rather nervous Jack and Gabriel. Jack wasn’t shy about showcasing the fact his paw was on his gun. 
“Well, aren’t we edgy?” Psych quipped, standing at the head of the trio. 
“You armed?” Jack questioned right away. 
“Of course.” Psych casually replied with a wave of his paw. “But something tells me that’s not what you’re worried about.” Gabriel stepped forward and spoke up. 
“Nick, have you heard anything from Zootopia?” 
“What? No, I don’t watch a lot of news lately. Why? Did something happen to Judy?” He questioned urgently. 
“Well yes but, she’s ok.” Gabriel assured him. “But I’m sorry to have to tell you. A friend of yours was killed recently.” 
“Who?” 
“Kate Rosa? Is that name familiar?” 
“Kate!?” Nick gasped, clasping his paw to his chest. “Oh no. What happened to her?” 
“We’ll discuss that later Nick.” Jack cut in. 
“Jack!” Gabriel huffed, slapping his hands on his waist. Not wanting to incite anymore anger from his boyfriend Jack composed himself. 
“I’m sorry. That was, inappropriate. Nick, I’m sorry for your loss. But we have other matters to attend to. Psych, did you bring the information we need?” Tapping his arm, he waited a moment before replying. 
“No.” 
“No?” Jack threw up his brow. 
“Precisely, no.” 
“We had an agreement, Wilde.” Jack began to raise his voice. 
“Do you think I’m a fool!?” Psych fired out. “Hand over all the information before you seize Barone and us in the process. What’s to stop you from wringing our hides out with his if I just hand it over today?” 
“You had our word.” Gabriel protested. 
“Your word isn’t good enough. I didn’t survive for decades from crooked cops to be out done by a pair of rabbits.” Psych dismissed. “I have a proposal.” 
“You’re not in a position to be making deals, Psych!” Jack argued, taking a stand right in his face. “Have you forgotten what we’ll do if you betray us.” 
“Make all the little threats you want, but here’s how it’s going to go.” Psych leered right back. “Raphael, Shea, Nikolai, the bitch and especially Max. All brought in, alive.” 
“We can’t guarantee that.” Jack shrugged. 
“Find a way.” Psych snapped. “You blackmailed me into this, you stole my sons away from their families and shoved me back into the only one that ever gave a shit about me, just to betray them.” He concluded. 
“He’s not wrong.” Aiden spoke up, pulling both Gabriel and Jack’s attention. “Look, I don’t give a shit about Barone, or Carvelle for that matter but. You can’t prosecute a corpse. We have a plan for getting them brought down when you guys move in.” 
“How’s that?” Gabriel questioned. 
“Tranqs, stunners and if need be a few non-lethal shots. We’re also going to make sure Max is out of the picture when it all goes down. Nick took in a kit that Max has taken a shine to.” Aiden explained. 
“Gonna get him to keep Max preoccupied until you hit the house. After that, he’ll tranq Max and stay with him. He’s a fox kit, hard to miss.” Nick threw in. 
“And the intel?” Jack demanded, folding his arms. 
“Full delivery upon their incarceration. We have everything you need.” Aiden assured him. 
“Why should I believe you after the three of you pull this stunt on me now?” 
“You know.” Nick wagged his finger. “I spent a good part of my life believing that so long as the world just saw me as shifty and untrustworthy, there’s no point in trying to be anything else.” 
“And?” 
“There’s someone waiting for me back home. Someone who turned all that around for me. Now I’m going to do the same for my friends. But dad’s right, there’s no reason to trust you when you pulled them in like this. But there’s good reason to trust me. To trust Fangmeyer. We’ll get the job done, and you’ll have all the evidence you need, to stuff Barone in a box the rest of his life. But it’s your turn to extend that trust to us.” 
“I think the family of Howard Llane and Tony Furr, would disagree.” Jack sniped back at him. 
“Accepted.” Gabriel bellowed. “As long as you provide the evidence we need, we’ll hold up our end.” Jack sneered back at him. “Don’t fucking look at me like that, Jack. You’ve done your fair share of shady shit during this whole ordeal. Want me to tell him about Hopps?” 
“What!? What did you do to her!?” Nick barked. 
“If you harmed her.” Psych growled. 
“Whoa whoa, calm down foxy boys.” Gabriel cut in. “She’s fine, but my Jackass back here told her you were killed.” 
“What!? Why!?” Nick exclaimed, pulling on his ears in frustration. 
“It was the only way; she’d stay away from Predaton.” Jack confessed. “Can’t hunt for your husband if he’s already dead.” 
“It was sleazy as hell.” Gabriel growled before turning back to Nick. “But sadly, I think he was right to tell her that. Your girl was willing to go to the ends of the earth to find ya, Nick. If she came to town and blew your cover, I think Barone woulda done far worse than kill you.” 
“Maybe.” Nick submitted. 
“August 4th, 5:00AM at Rapidton Shipping. It all goes down.” Psych declared. 
“Right. We’ll be there.” Jack agreed. 

Aiden pulled up to the house and let Nick and Psych out of the car. Walking through the front door, they were surprised to see that Vanessa had been waiting for them on the stairs. She sat with her arms crossed, tapping on her forearm. 
“Where’ve you been?”
“None of your business.” Psych casually shrugged off. 
“Oh but it is.” 
“Relax kitten.” Nick smiled, strolling passed her. “Dad and I just wanted to go for a ride, clear our heads.” 
“Bullshit.” 
“Vanessa.” Psych cut in with a more serious tone. “Operation Apex requires us to make sure that everything is set, correct? It turned out to be a dead end, but we were investigating a potential leak coming out of Fairways.” 
“A dead end though?” Vanessa questioned. 
“Dead end. Just some idiot using apex operation in his network ID.” Psych dismissed. “Now if you’ll excuse us, it’s been a long night. I could use a good sleep.” 
“Hmph.” Vanessa brushed off, heading up the stairs to her room. “Trust me, fox. I’m gonna hunt those jam cams night and day and find out what you are up to.” Once she got inside, she cracked open her laptop and waited for it to load. Getting onto the jam cams the way Max had instructed she started scouring the city to try to catch a hint as to what Psych might have been up to. Sure enough, there was a blackout path. Several of the cameras leading out of the city were down for several minutes. “Pah.” She brushed off, leaning back in her chair. Scratching her chin, she tilted forward and resumed her search. “Well, maybe something else will turn up huh, what has little Nicky been up to hmm? You been a bad boy?” She pondered to herself. 
After a few hours and some strong coffee she did manage to find something that caught her interest. On one of the jam cams she spotted two cops stopping a small fox. She dug through the drawer in her room to find a pair of ear buds and plugged them in. It was faint but she could hear portions of the conversation.
“He’s one of Barones.” She could make out from one of the cops. 
“Nothing to say to pigs!” Jake bellowed. There was more static cutting it off, but the word orphanage came through along with send you back. 
“No!” Jake shouted, most of what he said after was inaudible aside from “Butt fuck.” The cops put him down and let Jake escape. They had a quiet conversation between each other before getting back into the cruiser and driving off. Vanessa tried to take a sip from her mug, but it was empty. 
“Ugh.” She fumed. “Not exactly much to go on. But hmmm.” She pondered, downloading the video. She opened up a simple video editor and devilishly rubbed her paws together. “Now, what if the audio just happened to go missing. I bet that might look a bit more, incriminating.” Vanessa plotted, inserting the video track, she put the sliders audio to zero and tried listening now. With no sound, it looked a whole lot more damning for Jake, bellowing something at the cops who just happened to let him go. Vanessa, satisfied with her little scheme saved the new video. “If I can’t get at that old coot, maybe I can rattle him up by playing the street mongrel as a leak. That should cast a little shade on him” She smiled, interlocking her fingers and cracking them. “Ahh, I think I’ll showcase this to Raphy tomorrow. For now, some much needed sleep.” 

The next evening, Patrick Finnick and Bryan had everyone over in their room for a game of cards. Having brought up a poker table from the basement and a few extra chairs, there were no shortage of drinks, laughter and money being exchanged. Bryan, Finnick, Nick, Aiden and Psych on one side while Patrick, Scout, Max and Jake on the other. Shea was happy to offer up his services in dealing in exchange for tips and of course, extra booze. 
“Alright lads, tha ante be 2 bucks so toss er in.” He announced. 
“How do you know how to play poker?” Scout asked Max. 
“Oh please, I’ve been playing for a while. I just never get to play with money!” He laughed. 
“So how does this work again?” Jake wondered. 
“I’ll coach ya after this hand, ok?” Nick offered. 
“I’m out.” Finnick tossed his cards. 
“Yep, me too.” Bryan as well. 
“I’ll put in five.” Aiden threw in. Everyone else at the table stayed in and Shea dealt out three more cards. 
“So what did you do that got those Makai guys to shoot at you?” Scout wondered. 
“Oh that? You know Natalia Makai?” Patrick smirked, toying with his chips. 
“Yeah, Alistor’s daughter.” 
“She was looking to pick up a few refills, but was short on cash.”
“She was buying from you?” Psych cringed. “Isn’t that against her family’s whole, creed?” 
“So is giving me a BJ to pay for em.” Patrick snickered. 
“What’s a BJ?” Jake perked up. 
“Something I will never explain to you.” Nick brushed off. 
“Hahahahahaha!” Finnick slammed the table as he laughed. 
“We doing this?” Bryan indicated, pointing at the table. 
“I’ll do 20.” Patrick raised. 
“Psh.” Nick shook his head. “No, fuck that.” 
“20, and 10 better.” Aiden answered. 
“I’m in.” Psych agreed, along with everyone else. Everyone checked on the next round, but on the final card Aiden put it up again. 
“I’ll do 20.” 
“You got fuck all.” Patrick laughed. 
“Put it in.” Aiden suggested. 
“Call.” Patrick agreed. 
“Call.” Psych, Max, Scout and Jake all put in. 
“Trip aces.” Aiden touted. 
“Fuck you!” Patrick blew off. Psych, Jake and Scout tossed their cards but Max threw his down. 
“Full house! Aces over sevens!” He proclaimed. 
“Whoa!!” They all exclaimed. 
“Haha! Good hand boyo! Good hand!” 
“Oh yeah! Come to papa.” Max chuckled, reeling in all the money. 
“I call shenanigans. Barones table, he rigged it.” Patrick laughed, taking a swig from his beer. 
“Shoulda folded like us.” Finnick said with a tip of his beer. 
“Kk, Nick you gotta coach me on this one.” Jake pleaded. 
“Yeah yeah, here deal me out.” Nick tossed in his ante and scooted in closer to Jake as Shea got ready to deal the next hand.
Back at Barone’s office, Vanessa came tapping at the door. 
“Come.” He called. Gently pushing it open with her laptop under her arm, she closed it behind her smiling as she approached. 
“Hey baby.” She cooed. 
“Hey.” He smiled right back. “What brings you here?” 
“Complaining?” She tipped her head. 
“No, not at all.” He chuckled, gazing down at the paperwork in front of him. “Know, I should really get myself invested in one of those computers.” Waving a paw at the powered off one at his desk. “I don’t know how father put up with this old paper system.” 
“Well, funny you mention that.” Vanessa tipped her head, setting the laptop down. She opened it up and waited for it to start up. “I have news. Something I found on the computer last night.” 
“Oh? Haha, trying to replace Psych are you?” 
“Well. I figured I should learn at some point, right? Max was the one who taught me how to get on the jam cams.” Vanessa confessed. 
“Oh boy. I asked Psych not to teach him that.” Barone smiled, shaking his head. “Knowing him, he’s probably trying to see into mammals houses or searching up naked girls.” 
“He is almost a teenager.” Vanessa chuckled, patting his paw. “Gotta learn to deal with that at some point.” 
“Eh.” He shrugged off. “So what is this you want to show me?” 
“Well, it’s not good.” Vanessa sighed. Clicking on the video she let it play and turned the screen to Barone. He watched it intently, recognizing the fox in the video. Seeing him yell at the cops something before they let him go and he scurried away. Barone leaned back in his chair, tenting his paws and closing his eyes. 
“This must be a joke.” He whispered. 
“I don’t like it either. I wasn’t able to get any audio but, it doesn’t look good.” Vanessa explained. 
“I should speak with Psych about this right away.” Barone nodded. 
“Psych is a thousand times better with computers than either of us. He could just edit this to make his little kit come out smelling like roses.” Vanessa countered. Raphael took another good long sigh, before returning his gaze to Vanessa. 
“I’m not sure about this. I usually prefer something more concrete to go on than a video like this before I remove someone.” Raphael stated. 
“With the shipment coming in so soon, I don’t think we can risk a leak at this point.” She retorted once more. “I don’t like it either, but we can’t have any liabilities.” 
“You don’t like it.” He scoffed. “You despise him, don’t you?” 
“We fight.” She acknowledged. “Don’t see eye to eye on a lot, but you said it yourself we need to count on each other. If that kit’s double dealing, we can’t count on them. What else could he have said that would make them let him go?” Barone leaned back in his chair and wiped his face. He gave it some time before giving his answer. 
“Make it quick for him.” 
“Yes sir.” Vanessa complied, closing the laptop and leaving it on his desk. 

Vanessa walked out of the office and down the stairs toward the hallway that lead to Patrick’s room. Opening the door, she spotted Max and smiled. 
“Where ya headed?” 
“Bathroom.” Max chuckled ruffling his paws. “I’m cleaning up in there, you should see me!” 
“Nice job kido.” She winked, passing him by. Inside the room the guys were in the middle of another game. Nick with his paw over Jake’s shoulder. 
“I’d say raise 5.” He whispered. 
“Raise 5!” Jake proudly stated. 
“Ya know, coaching him is kinda against the rules.” Psych pointed out. 
“Hey come on, he’s a newbie. Let’s cut him a little slack.” Nick insisted. 
“He’s already down like 60 so far.” Finnick laughed. “Can’t do much more damage.” 
“Call the 5.” Aiden agreed. 
“Yep, same.” Bryan chipped in. 
“20 better.” Patrick threw in. 
“Ooo.” Nick cringed. “Going for that straight are ya?” 
“Straighter than you.” He quipped. 
“Hahahhaa!” Bryan laughed aloud. 
“I’ll do 10 better.” Scout tossed in. 
“Should I call?” Jake wondered. 
“Well, let’s see-“ Nick was cut off by the door being flung open. Carvelle leaned on the frame and peered inside. 
“Something wrong, Vanessa?” Psych questioned. 
“Aye lass, ya joinin? I’m sure tha boys here could use yer money!” Shea laughed. 
“Actually, we have a leak.” Vanessa stated. Everyone got up out of the chairs, seemingly ready to roll out. 
“Alright, where we headin?” Patrick spoke up. 
“Nowhere, stand still.” She answered. With a swift draw, she produced her handgun and fired two rounds at Jake. He screamed as he fell to the ground, everyone in the room stunned as to what had happened. 
“You bitch!!” Psych screamed, pulling out his gun along with several others as they opened fire. Carvelle dodged the first barrage, but the ones coming through the wall found her shoulder. 
“Jake!!” Nick cried out, picking the kit up in his arms. One hit him in the upper left portion of his chest, the other just south of his right lung. He was gasping and crying. 
“What did.. I do!?” 
“Hang on to me!” Nick cried. 
“Aiden! Get your car! Nick let’s go! Boys, keep our backs covered. Kill that bitch on sight!!” Psych ordered. Nick scooped up Jake and carried him out the door. Max had just come out of the bathroom and wondered what all the noise was. He saw Nick rushing out with Jake in his arms. 
“Jake!? Jake what happened!?” He cried out. 
“Keep moving! Come on!” Psych encouraged, heading toward the door. Aiden rushed to the garage and snagged his car while Psych and Nick made it outside with everyone in tow. Max came over to Jake’s side and saw what had happened, the blood soaking through his shirt. 
“Jake!! No! Jake hang on!” Max cried. 
“We’ll get him to a hospital.” Psych assured him. 
“That fucking cunt!” Patrick bellowed. 
“I see her, she’s dead!” Finnick threw in. 
“Wha!?” Max gasped in awe. 
“She shot him. That bitch, Carvelle. She gunned him down in the room.” Scout announced. 
“No. No she wouldn’t. Why!? Why did she do that!?” Max cried out. Aiden finally pulled up as Nick rushed into the back seat and Psych to the front. 
“No one do anything till we get back! That’s an order!” Psych bellowed, as Aiden peeled out of the lot and out passed the gate. 
“AHH, AHHHH!!” Jake cried out as Nick kept pressure on his wounds. 
“Dad, he’s gonna bleed out!”
“Here it is!” Psych produced his first aid kit from the glove box and unwrapped a strip of gauze and handed it to Nick. “Keep pressure with this, push it in if you can.” Nick did as he was told as Jake cried out in agony. 
“Please make it stop!” Shortly after he started coughing up spatters of blood that hit Nick’s face. 
“Sh sh sh, I got ya, hang on. Dad, we need to do it. Call it in. He needs extraction.” 
“What!?” 
“Psych, the phone!” Aiden pointed to the hidden phone in his console. 
“Right right, of course, sorry!” Psych urgently hit the small keypad and produced the emergency phone he could use to contact the ZIA. Cracking open the laptop, he also started signing in to the jam cam network.
“It hurts! It hurts so bad! What did I do, dad!? What did I do!?” Jake whimpered as Nick clutched him tight. 
“This is agent Mckinnon.” A voice replied. 
“This is Parker, we need an immediate med evac right now. We have a mammal down, double gunshot wounds, one in the chest.” Psych informed him. 
“What’s your position?” 
“Heading north out of the city toward Fairways.” Psych informed him. 
“No, head to Lynxwood. Same spot as last time, we’ll send a quad chopper out asap.” He informed him. 
“ETA?” 
“Don’t worry, it’s fast. Tell your buddy to put the pedal to the metal, we’ll be right out!” Gabriel assured him. 
“Right.” Psych agreed, hanging up the phone. “Aiden, same campsite. Don’t be afraid to floor it.” 
“Got it.” 

As they drove out of the city and into the country side, Jake began trembling in Nick’s arms. It seemed he was going into shock and was having a great deal of trouble breathing. 
“Daddy.” He whimpered. Nick leaned down and kissed his muzzle. 
“I’m right here kido, it’s gonna be ok.” Nick tried to console him. His paws were caking in blood as he did his best to keep pressure on the wounds.  
“I’m.. s-scared..” Jake stammered. 
“Shh, it’s ok. Just keep focusing on your breathing ok? Big breath in, big breath out, alright?” Nick attempted to instruct him but Jake started coughing up blood once again. 
“What... Did I do?” He cried. “I.. I was...good.” 
“You were good.” Nick assured him. 
“You are good, hell, you’re great.” Psych chipped in. “You just gotta hang tough a little longer ok? We’re getting you outta here.” 
“I... It hurts, so much.” He shivered. 
“I love you.” Nick kissed his muzzle. “Just hang on.” 
“Aiden! There!” Psych pointed out. Aiden spun the car into the campsite as a black stealth quad chopper loomed overhead. The belly opened up and along three lines came a pair of ocelots and Gabriel Mckinnon. Getting out of the car, they waved down a stretcher to carry up Jake. 
“What happened!?” Gabriel demanded. 
“We don’t know! Carvelle just came in and gunned him down, we have no fucking clue why!” Psych explained. 
“Stretcher! Now!” The ocelots ordered. Nick rushed him over and set him down on the stretcher. The ocelots tied him in and gave him an injection in his arm. “Going into shock, we gotta stabilize right now.” 
“We’ll I.D the blood type and have a transfusion ready for him back at base sir!” Swiftclaw informed Gabriel. 
“Excellent. Let’s get him to doctor Crowley, tell her we might need a stasis chamber.” 
“Right!” 
“Daddy.” Jake moaned. 
“You’ll be ok, Jake. I promise. I love you, son.” Nick assured him. 
“Love... you..” Jake said as he passed out. 
“Jake? Jake!?” Nick cried out. 
“Yeah hi, step back fox!” Swiftclaw pushed him back. “Chopper 3, this is agent Swiftclaw, we are green for extract.” Gabriel rushed over to his line and hooked in. 
“We’ll handle it from here. Remember what I said about this kinda thing, Psych! Do what you gotta do!” Gabriel ordered as the line carried him up. Nick gazed up with tears in his eyes as the chopper lifted up higher into the air. Tilting forward it flew off with a rather impressive amount of speed off toward the north. Falling to his knees and eventually the ground he really let loose with the tears. 
“Nicky.” Psych breathed, reaching down for his son. Aiden joined him at his side and kept a paw on Nick’s back. 
“He’ll be ok, Nick. He’ll pull through.” 
“I don’t understand.” Nick carried on, pounding the ground. “Did she find out?” 
“I don’t know.” Psych sighed, shaking his head. “But let’s get a little dusty here.” 
“What!?” Nick exclaimed. 
“Remember, anyone who goes to the base? They’re dead to the mission. We have to go back and tell them that Jake didn’t make it. That he died on the way to hospital and we buried him out here. Gotta keep our story straight.” 
“Right.” Aiden approved, rising to his feet. “So dad. Still having those pesky second thoughts?” Psych rose up to his feet and examined the blood on his paws. 
“Aiden, Nicky. I’m sorry you were both dragged into this. No, I have no more doubts. No more sympathy in me for him. Barone will pay for this.” Psych clenched his fist. “But the jobs not over yet. Nicky, come. We should at least make it look like we dug a grave.” Psych insisted, patting his son’s back. 
“Ok.” Nick finally consented. 

Pulling up to the driveway, Aiden let Nick and Psych out before taking the car to the garage. It was a rather somber walk, pushing the door open they drew Max’s attention as he rushed over to meet them at the foot of the stairs. 
“Well?” He asked nervously, his voice trembling. 
“Nicky, go back to the room. I’ll handle things from here.” Psych insisted, kissing his son’s cheek. “Go on.” Nick walked by Max and down the hallway to his room. Psych approached Max and placed a paw on his shoulder. “I’m sorry Max. We lost Jake on the way to the hospital. We buried him out of town.” 
“No.” Max stammered, covering his mouth. “No why did this happen!? Why!!?” He screamed. 
“That’s an excellent question.” Psych growled. “Carvelle could only do that if she had an order from your father. So I say we go have a word with him right now.” 
“Jake.” Max cried, covering his face. Psych pulled Max in for a good long hug before he ushered him up the stairs and toward his father’s study. In a fit of anger he kicked open the door and was greeted by all the generals gathered in the room. Vanessa had her arm in a sling with Nikolai standing by her. Shea was on the couch, eagerly waiting to hear what Psych had to say. 
“You two timing son of a bitch, what the fuck were you thinking!!?” Psych screamed. 
“Watch your tone with me, Psych!” Barone fired right back. 
“You had your little slut murder my adopted grandson in front of me, you better have a good fucking reason for it!” Psych carried on. 
“Because the little shit was a traitor.” Vanessa spoke up. Psych whipped out his gun and fired at Vanessa, just grazing her shoulder. “AHH! FUCK!” 
“Psych!! Stop it!!” Nikolai bellowed. 
“Stop, Psychey, enough!!” Shea joined in. 
“Vanessa! Are you ok?” Barone asked sympathetically. 
“Come, I’ll take you to your room.” Nikolai insisted, ushering her out. Barone scowled at Psych and let a deep growl loose. 
“You’ve gone too far this time!”
“You’re the one who ordered the kill on one of mine without so much as a word! That boy was under my protection!!” Psych countered. 
“I give the orders-“
“SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!” Max screamed at the top of his lungs. “WHY!! Why did you do it!! Why did you give that order! I want to know!! I demand to know!” Raphael composed himself a little more, going back to his desk, he spun the laptop that Carvelle left behind to showcase the video. 
“See for yourself.” He invited Psych and Max to watch. Both of them moved in, along with Shea to watch the video. After it ended, Psych noticed something right away. 
“Something’s off, you notice it Max?” Psych glanced to him. 
“Yeah, no audio.” 
“Carvelle said some of the cameras can’t pick up audio.” Barone stated, folding his arms. 
“No, they always pick up something. Wind, insects, traffic or sirens. You don’t ever hear nothing.” Psych insisted, clicking on the videos properties. Leering at the screen he turned to Max. “See what I see?” 
“Yeah, the file type is wrong. It’s .zvm instead of mp4.” Max nodded. 
“Exactly. This is edited.” 
“Psych, the lapel cams.” Max suggested. 
“Just what I was thinking. Why don’t we go right to the source huh?” Psych suggested. It took him a few minutes, but by tracking the date, time and position, they were able to hone in on the officers who had recorded it on lapel cams. “Well, here we go. Time to find out if you were right, Raphael.” Psych stated, clicking play. 
“Hold up there!” the officer stated. 
“Hey, put me down!” 
“Easy huh, where you going in such a hurry?” 
“Hey, I recognize this guy, he’s one of Barone’s little couriers.” The other cop stated. 
“Am not, even if I were, I’ve got nothing to say to you pigs!” Jake bellowed. 
“Is that right?” 
“Heard this little guy escaped from the orphanage. Maybe we need to send you back under much more strict care.” 
“No!! No way, I’m never going back. All that Boaragard asshole does is buttfuck the other cubs!” Jake shouted. 
“What!?” The first officer stated, dropping him down. 
“If you fuckers did your jobs, you’d know that. Now leave me alone!” Jake ordered, rushing off down the street. 
“You think he’s serious?” 
“If he is, that’s a serious problem.” 
“There were reports of suspicious behavior from cubs adopted from there you know.” 
“Come on, let’s pass this on to chief Kasi.” 
“Right.” And that was where the clip cut off. 
“Some leak.” Psych shook his head. “You were right Barone, he sure did leak. He told the cops about what was going on at an orphanage.” He carried on with no loss of sarcasm. 
“You didn’t...” Max trailed off. “You. You had him killed. You didn’t even try.” Max started stammering. “You didn’t even try to find out. You.. You asshole!” Max cried out before running out of the room. 
“Maxy!” Raphael called back. Huffing he fell back into his chair and slapped his head. “I can’t believe this.” 
“Raphael.” Psych spoke quietly, keeping his back to him. “What you’ve done. If you had done that to Aiden. I would have killed you.” 
“Psych. Look-“ 
“Just.” Psych cut him off with a wave of his paw. After a moment he continued. “I don’t know why, but even after this. I still love you little brother. But make no mistake; you have betrayed my trust tonight. I can’t even look at you right now.” Psych headed toward the door but not before getting one more shot in. “I’ve a family to take care of, I suggest you do the same, at least before you gun the rest of them down.” Psych slammed the door behind him. Shea shook his head before glancing at Barone. 
“Ya done fucked up good this time, Raphy. Ya let that harlot play ya like a wee fiddle. If ya can’t pull yer head outta yer ass on this one, ya should call off this deal.” Shea advised him, heading toward the door. “I need a pair o stiff drinks. One for meself and the other for the wee lad we lost.”