Leaving their orders from Feral on the desk for Burke and Murray to see, Chance went out the office door and locked it behind him then joined his partner who was waiting in the small, slightly beat up sedan they used for errands.
"Okay, we're set."
"Roger." Jake was the driver and took off through the gate which had to remain open for Burke and Murray to deliver the city's salvage.
"Feels weird doing undercover work and being back in the Enforcers," Chance muttered, staring at the passing scenery.
Jake snorted. "Your real problem with this is not being a pilot. Remember, we did do regular police work on the ground first as rookies before we were promoted to the flight squadrons, buddy."
The tabby rolled his eyes. "Of course I remember and that's not the problem. And besides, I get enough flying time in the Turbokat. No, it's just the thought of trying to work with people who still think we're bad apples even though we never broke the law since we left."
"We were put out for being rebels, Chance, not for breaking the law," Jake reminded him. "That isn't something our peers would forgive or forget."
"And makes them distrustful of us . . . I know buddy. Which is why this mission makes me antsy since I can't be certain our support will be there for us."
"Then we don't rely on them except for those things we have to as part of the mission. We've learned how to be self reliant and if our backups won't do their job because of how they feel about us, then we fall back on ourselves," Jake said, flatly.
"Besides, we're just as good as black ops at sneaking around and digging out information the less than legal way. So this won't be any different except we won't be hiding behind our masks. However, to be on the safe side, we have our secret comm unit with Feral so if the worst happens and our backup fails, we can still get the valuable information to the right paws."
Chance relaxed and nodded. "Yeah, I nearly forgot about that route of communication. I'm glad I gave him one when we mated. He always carries it on him. So the only concern now is getting the dirt on Frostburn and getting it and us out of there with our fur intact."
Jake gave him a grim smile as he turned into the parking garage of Enforcer Headquarters. "You got that right, buddy."
~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~
Two hours later, Chance's jaw was beginning to cramp from how tightly he was keeping it shut so he wouldn't voice his growing ire at the nasty remarks being hurled their way, under many a soft breath because shouting would have been oh-so unprofessional, as they were being prepped for the mission.
As Chance had feared, none of their backup was happy seeing him and Jake nor about them handling such a sensitive op. It was plainly obvious they'd not been forgiven their disgrace and banishment from the Enforcers, nor, he was rather miffed and surprised to learn, about his mating with the Commander.
Crud! You'd think enough time had passed for that not to be an issue any longer, Chance thought, disgusted. But apparently, not by the way he was being given the evil eye.
The cold treatment had begun the moment they'd arrived in the parking garage. Jake had parked in the spot they'd been previously given by Feral. However, before they could exit their vehicle, they were surrounded by the black ops team assigned to this mission.
Signally for Jake to roll down his window, one of the team shoved two black ski masks through as soon as the cinnamon tom complied.
"Put these on then get out," the same tom ordered in a flat tone.
Without commenting, Chance and Jake did as ordered then climbed out of the vehicle and closed the doors. They were immediately surrounded and kept within the center as the group as a whole moved to the nearby elevator. Another member of the team was holding the elevator so no one else would use it or see whom they were escorting. All loaded aboard and one of them press a button for the lower levels of Enforcer Headquarters.
On arrival, the two were kept surrounded and walked down a corridor and stopped at a heavily guarded door. The leader of the group leaned close to say something to one of the guards who nodded and turned to use a special keycard to open the door. As soon as it slid aside the group hustled inside to the large strategy room but kept going until they reached a secured conference room. Once inside, one of them closed and locked the door.
For this mission to work, no one could know the pair had been reinstated so few knew they were here at all except for Feral, this ops team, and the RICO team at the mob boss' house.
The ski masks were yanked off rudely, nearly pulling ears off. They looked around, watching the team settle in chairs or stand against the wall, cold eyes watching their every move. At the far end of the conference table three technicians waited.
"Strip and put those on but leave the shirt off for now," a tom wearing captain's bars, snapped. The rest of the ops team sat in some of the chairs or stood against the wall. All eyes were hostile and cold as they watched the pair.
Without speaking, though they did trade an annoyed glance, Jake and Chance quickly did as ordered, leaving their own clothing on the table. The technicians came up and began fitting them with listening wires.
Chance had a hard time keeping his cool as he held the shirt he'd been given in a tight fist and stared at the far wall as one of the techs worked to make the wire as invisible as he could. All of them were treating him and Jake as if they were criminals and it sucked. Getting into a row might make him feel better but would waste valuable time.
At least, despite their cold manner, the ops team did manage to maintain a professional decorum and did their work briskly and efficiently, though that didn't stop the occasional nasty or snide comment being muttered from the more disgruntled members of the team.
The clothing they now half-wore, were ordinary to the extreme. This was what the thieves wore during the blitz raid some three months ago. The criminals had made themselves appear like the common folk so they blended in. But underneath their attire had been all the high-tech stuff they'd used to cause the ruckus that helped them escape so easily with their loot. Someone had thought out all the details of this caper very carefully. Which meant a really savvy and smart opponent. They would have to be extremely cautious and on their toes all the time to keep from being discovered.
The plan was for them to frequent some of the locations for recruitment they'd managed to squeeze out of only a few of the prisoners. To everyone's surprise, they were the most mundane of places: cafes, restaurants, pool halls that catered to families, pizza parlors . . . which would make infiltrating that much harder.
However, they did get one break. Some of the recruits came from Chance's old neighborhood. This gave him a way in that would seem natural and wouldn't take much time to spread the word about his presence and need for a job. It also was another reason his and Jake's return to the Enforcers had to remain secret as they would present themselves as still very disgruntled with being kicked out.
His mind was brought back to the present by a particularly loud mutter about 'using guys that couldn't follow orders', reaching his ears and making him grit his teeth anew.
We'll show them! He growled to himself. We'll get the job done so well they'll have to believe we're not the same rookies that left disgraced years ago. Especially when the rest of the force learns of what Frostburn's ultimate plan had been for their city. He and Jake would finally redeem themselves in their eyes and, hopefully, they would be better able to deal with the fact we are also the SWAT Kats and not freak out.
Jake wasn't any happier than his partner about their treatment but was better able to ignore all the hurtful remarks and just focus on why he was there.
The two of them were fitted with wires that Jake felt were woefully inadequate but he was smart enough to realize any suggestions on his part would be either ignored or taken as criticism and that he wanted to avoid. When they were out of here, he would quickly upgrade.
"Alright, they're set . . . say something so we can test it . . . " the tech announced.
"Ready to be done with this . . . " Chance growled.
"Testing . . . " Jake said more calmly, giving his partner a warning glance.
Sitting at a mini-command center set up in a corner of this room, another tech gave a nod and fiddled with the dials on his console for a moment before announcing, "We're live, quality's good!"
"Fine. Time for you two to head out then," Captain Refur said coldly.
They pulled on their shirts carefully and this time Chance made the effort to, at least, sound respectful when he responded with a brisk, "Yes, sir!"
The reverse procedure was followed, with their heads again covered with the ski masks, as they were hustled back out to their car. The team melted away quickly leaving the two to leave the garage and head out for the west end of the city. Chance took the wheel this time while Jake fiddled with their wires to improve their reception. Now that their words could be heard, they had to be extremely careful what they said to each other. However, since that could be problematic at times, Jake added a manual cut off switch so they could say something they didn't want any of the Enforcers to hear.
Now their biggest test was getting a job within Frostburn's mob. That was going to take some doing.
Their first stop was Pop's Newsstand. Jake pulled up nearby and waited for Chance to speak to his old friend.
"Hey Pop!"
"Chance . . . Chance Furlong . . . been a long time there, youngster," Pop said in a rather rough voice.
"Not really. Don't you remember, I was by getting my comic just last month," Chance said, smiling warmly at the oldster.
"Ah yeah, you were. But it ain't time for the next edition so what brings you here," Pop asked, sorting some magazines onto his counter as he talked.
"Well, you see, me and Jake need new jobs. We were booted out of the salvage yard and need a new place quick. We heard someone was hiring, some kind of easy work, good money . . . you heard about it?"
Pop stopped what he was doing and eyed the young tom warily and with some distaste. "Don't be looking for easy work . . . that leads to a road full of trouble. You were always a good tom, don't be turning away from that upbringing just cause times are bad for ya!"
Chance put on a fake look of anger and bitterness. "Oh yeah! And what did being good get me? A boot out of the military followed by shit job for something we didn't do. Have you heard about these people or now?" He growled, hating inside to be so nasty to the old tom.
Pop reared his head back and hissed. "If you want to die young than look no further than James Doogan's BBQ place down on 4th!"
Chance nodded his head and turned away.
"Think hard what you're doing Chance! There's no turning back from that bad place!" Pop shouted.
Chance ignored him and climbed into the car. Jake drove off quickly. Neither said anything for some minutes then the tabby muttered, "I hated doing that."
"Yeah, I know, buddy. But think how he'll feel when he learns what we actually did when it all comes out. He'll be grinning from ear to ear and shouting to one and all that he knew the SWAT Kats personally," Jake murmured, comfortingly . . . insuring the wire was off when he said it, first.
"Thanks, buddy."
Jake just smiled then turned the wire back on and continued to drive to their meeting with a possible mob connection.