Judy confidently led the cops up to the canopy. “I thought this was just a missing mammal case, but it’s way bigger. Mr. Otterton did not just disappear. I believe he and this jaguar...they went savage, sir.”
Bogo scoffed. “Savage? This isn’t the Stone Age, Hopps. Animals don’t go savage.”
“I thought so, too, until I saw this.” Judy turned the corner where she had handcuffed Manchas—but he was gone! Even the handcuffs had vanished.
“He was right here,” she said, confused.
“The ‘savage’ jaguar,” said Bogo, scoffing once again.
“Sir, I know what I saw. He almost killed us,” said Judy.
“Or maybe an aggressive predator looks savage to you rabbits,” Bogo said. He called out to the other officers, “Let’s go.”
“Wait—sir, I’m not the only one who saw him!”
Judy called to Nick, but before he could explain, Bogo said, “You think I’m going to believe a fox?”
“Well, he was a key witness, and I enlisted his services,” Judy said.
Bogo shook his head, annoyed. “Two days to find the otter...or you quit...that was the deal. Badge,” he said, waiting for her to hand her badge over.
Nick watched Judy stare at Bogo’s outstretched hand. “Sir, we...”
“Badge,” said Bogo firmly.
Judy slowly reached for it as Nick spoke up. “Uh, no,” he said.
Bogo glared at Nick. “What did you say, fox?”
“Sorry, what I said was ‘no.’ She will not be giving you that badge,” said Nick. “Look, you gave her a clown vest and a three-wheel joke-mobile and two days to solve a case you guys haven’t cracked in two weeks? Yeah, no wonder she needed to get help from a fox. None of you guys were gonna help her, were you?”
Judy stared at Nick. She couldn’t believe he was sticking up for her. Bogo stood silently.
“Here’s the thing, Chief. You gave her forty-eight hours, so technically we still have ten left to find our Mr. Otterton...and that’s exactly what we are gonna do. So if you’ll excuse us...we have a very big lead to follow and a case to crack. Good day.”
Nick turned to Judy. “Officer Hopps?” He guided her to a passing gondola, leaving Bogo and the rest of the officers stunned.
“Thank you,” she said as the two sat in the gondola while it soared over the Rainforest District.
“Never let them see that they get to you,” said Nick.
Surprised, Judy turned to Nick. “So things get to you?”
“No...I mean, not anymore,” said Nick. “But I was small and emotionally unbalanced like you once.”
“Har-har,” said Judy.
“No, it’s true. I think I was eight, maybe nine, and all I wanted to do was join the Junior Ranger Scouts.”
Nick decided to tell Judy a story about when he was a kid. “So my mom scraped together enough money to buy me a brand-new uniform.” Nick explained how badly he wanted to fit in—even though he was the only predator in the troop. “I was gonna be part of a pack,” he said.
Nick described the scene. He was taking the oath with the scouts when the other kids suddenly tackled him, yelling, “Get him! Get that pred! Muzzle him!”
They strapped a muzzle onto his snout and continued to mock him. “If you thought we’d ever trust a fox without a muzzle, you’re even dumber than you look,” one of them had taunted.
When they finally let him go, he ran away, limping, with his uniform torn to pieces.
“I learned two things that day,” said Nick, lost in the terrible memory. “One, I was never going to let anyone see that they got to me.”
“And two?” Judy prodded.
“If the world’s only gonna see a fox as shifty and untrustworthy, there’s no point trying to be anything else.”
“Nick,” said Judy gently. “You are so much more than that.” She touched his arm as the gondola pierced through the clouds. They gazed down at the busy city buzzing below.
“Boy, look at that traffic down there,” said Nick, changing the subject. “How about we go to Chuck in Traffic Central,” Nick continued, pretending to be a cheesy radio announcer. “Chuck, how are things looking on those Jam Cams?”
“Nick, I’m glad you told me,” said Judy.
“Wait! The Jam Cams!” said Nick urgently.
“Seriously, it’s okay,” said Judy.
“N-no, shh-shush! There are traffic cameras everywhere. All over the canopy. Whatever happened to that jaguar—”
“The traffic cameras would have caught it!” said Judy, excitedly, suddenly realizing what Nick meant.
“Bingo!” said Nick.
Judy chucked him on the arm, impressed. “Pretty sneaky, Slick.”
“However. If you didn’t have access to the system before, I doubt Chief Buffalo Butt is gonna give it to you now.”
“No. But I’ve got a friend at city hall who might!” Judy smiled, feeling hopeful again.
朱迪自信地領(lǐng)著警察們到樹(shù)冠處的高地。“我原先以為這就是個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單的動(dòng)物失蹤案件,但后來(lái)發(fā)現(xiàn)實(shí)際比這嚴(yán)重多了。奧獺頓先生不僅僅是失蹤,我相信他和這只美洲虎一樣……都發(fā)狂了,長(zhǎng)官。”
牛局長(zhǎng)揶揄道:“發(fā)狂?現(xiàn)在不是石器時(shí)代好嗎,動(dòng)物是不會(huì)發(fā)狂的。”
“我之前也是這么覺(jué)得的,直到我看到了他。”朱迪轉(zhuǎn)向她將麥岔銬起來(lái)的那個(gè)角落——但他居然不見(jiàn)了!就連手銬也消失了!
朱迪疑惑不解地說(shuō)道:“他剛剛就在這兒的!”
牛局長(zhǎng)接著揶揄道:“就是那只‘發(fā)狂’的美洲虎?”
朱迪答道:“長(zhǎng)官,我確定我看到了,我們差點(diǎn)死在他手上!”
牛局長(zhǎng)說(shuō):“在你們兔子看來(lái),也許稍微兇一點(diǎn)的捕食者都像發(fā)狂一樣吧。”然后他對(duì)著其他警察說(shuō):“我們走吧!”
“等等,長(zhǎng)官!不止我一個(gè)人看到了他!”
朱迪叫來(lái)尼克,可還沒(méi)等他開(kāi)口,牛局長(zhǎng)便說(shuō)道:“你覺(jué)得我會(huì)去相信一只狐貍嗎?”
朱迪說(shuō):“他是重要的目擊證人,是我找他幫忙的。”
牛局長(zhǎng)搖了搖頭,生氣地說(shuō):“我們之前說(shuō)好的,兩天之內(nèi)找到水獺……不然你就辭職。警徽。”牛局長(zhǎng)等著她交出警徽。
朱迪盯著博格伸出的手,尼克看著朱迪說(shuō):“長(zhǎng)官,我們……”
牛局長(zhǎng)堅(jiān)定地說(shuō):“警徽。”
朱迪慢慢地抬手去取警徽,這時(shí)尼克開(kāi)了口:“不要!”
牛局長(zhǎng)怒視著尼克道:“狐貍,你說(shuō)什么?”
尼克說(shuō):“不好意思,我剛剛說(shuō)‘不要’。她不會(huì)把警徽交出來(lái)的。你想想,你給了她一件巨丑無(wú)比的馬甲和一輛可笑的三輪車(chē),就讓她用兩天時(shí)間去辦一件你們這些人兩個(gè)星期都辦不好的案子,對(duì)吧?是的,難怪她要向一只狐貍求援。你們這么多人沒(méi)一個(gè)人幫過(guò)她,是吧?”
朱迪望著尼克,她沒(méi)想到尼克會(huì)站出來(lái)為她說(shuō)話。牛局長(zhǎng)站在那兒,沉默著。
“長(zhǎng)官,情況是這樣的。你給了她48個(gè)小時(shí),所以確切地說(shuō),我們還有10個(gè)小時(shí)的時(shí)間來(lái)尋找?jiàn)W獺頓先生……而這也是我們將要去做的事情。所以,很抱歉……我們還有重大線索等著我們?nèi)プ粉?,還有一樁大案等著我們?nèi)テ平饽?。再?jiàn)!”
尼克轉(zhuǎn)過(guò)頭對(duì)朱迪說(shuō):“走吧,霍普斯警官?”他領(lǐng)著朱迪上了一輛纜車(chē),只剩下目瞪口呆的牛局長(zhǎng)和一眾警察。
“謝謝你!”當(dāng)他倆坐在纜車(chē)從雨林區(qū)上空劃過(guò)時(shí),朱迪說(shuō)道。
尼克說(shuō):“千萬(wàn)不要讓他們看出他們能影響到你!”
朱迪驚訝地看著尼克:“這么說(shuō),有事情影響到你了?”
尼克說(shuō):“沒(méi)有……我是說(shuō),我現(xiàn)在不會(huì)了。但是我也年輕過(guò),也曾像你一樣感性過(guò)。”
“哈哈。”朱迪大笑起來(lái)。
“不,是真的。那時(shí)我才八九歲,滿腦子想的都是參加蘭杰童子軍。”
尼克決定告訴朱迪他小時(shí)候的一個(gè)故事:“于是我媽砸鍋賣(mài)鐵湊了錢(qián)給我買(mǎi)了一套新制服。”尼克訴說(shuō)當(dāng)時(shí)他有多想融入組織,雖然他是部隊(duì)里唯一的食肉動(dòng)物。“我那時(shí)正要進(jìn)到一個(gè)隊(duì)里。”
尼克描述起當(dāng)時(shí)的情景:他正在與其他童子軍一起宣誓,突然其他孩子將他擒住,大喊:“抓住他!別放過(guò)那個(gè)捕獵者!給他戴上口套!”
他們給他戴上了口套,繼續(xù)嘲弄他,其中一個(gè)譏諷道:“如果你覺(jué)得我們會(huì)信任一只沒(méi)戴口套的狐貍,那你真是蠢到家了。”
最后他們還是放他走了,他一瘸一拐地逃跑了,新買(mǎi)的制服也被撕成了碎片。
沉浸在痛苦回憶中的尼克說(shuō)道:“那天我明白了兩件事情。第一,我不會(huì)再讓任何人看出他們能影響到我。”
朱迪提醒道:“那第二件呢?”
“如果這個(gè)世界認(rèn)定狐貍就是狡猾的、靠不住的,那我們?cè)噲D變成別的樣子也毫無(wú)意義。”
朱迪溫柔地說(shuō):“尼克,你比那強(qiáng)多了。”她碰了碰他的胳膊,這時(shí)纜車(chē)穿過(guò)了云層。他們看著底下忙碌地運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)著的城市。
“嘿,你看那邊的交通。”尼克換了個(gè)話題說(shuō)道,“我們?nèi)ゲ榭私煌ㄖ行脑趺礃?”他模仿著電臺(tái)主播的語(yǔ)氣,雖然裝得并不像:“查克,賈姆·卡姆那邊的交通情況怎么樣?”
朱迪說(shuō):“尼克。謝謝你告訴我這些。”
尼克忽然說(shuō):“等等,賈姆·卡姆!”
朱迪說(shuō):“可以啊,我說(shuō)真的。”
“不是,噓——到處都有監(jiān)控?cái)z像頭,空中到處都是,不管美洲虎發(fā)生了什么——。”
朱迪忽然明白了尼克的意思,興奮地說(shuō):“監(jiān)控?cái)z像頭都會(huì)拍到他的!”
尼克說(shuō):“對(duì)極啦!”
朱迪輕輕拍了拍他的胳膊,意味深長(zhǎng)地說(shuō):“你真聰明,老滑頭。”
“但是,如果你之前看不到監(jiān)控系統(tǒng),我覺(jué)得牛局長(zhǎng)現(xiàn)在也不會(huì)允許你看的。”
“是的。不過(guò)我有個(gè)朋友在市政廳,他可以讓我看到!”朱迪笑了起來(lái),感覺(jué)事情又有希望了。
瘋狂英語(yǔ) 英語(yǔ)語(yǔ)法 新概念英語(yǔ) 走遍美國(guó) 四級(jí)聽(tīng)力 英語(yǔ)音標(biāo) 英語(yǔ)入門(mén) 發(fā)音 美語(yǔ) 四級(jí) 新東方 七年級(jí) 賴(lài)世雄 zero是什么意思濟(jì)南市名悅山莊英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)交流群