The next morning dawned with a few stray clouds threatening rain but the sun still managed to poke through them in places. Her heart light from her formal commitment to Abi, Callie felt no qualms any longer about what she was planning to do this morning.
Not heading for her office first thing as was her wont, she made for the prosecutor's office, located on the fifth floor of city hall. The secretary was making coffee and was very surprised to see the Deputy Mayor appear at her desk. She left the pot on the counter and hurried over.
"Good morning, Ms. Briggs. How may I help you?"
"I need to see Mr. Jaystar immediately," Callie said briskly.
"Yes ma'am. One moment." The secretary beat feet away down a small hallway where several offices were. Opening one at the end and peering in, she saw he wasn't there so went back up two offices and opened another door.
There was the prosecutor and his assistant plus the Chief of Detectives and her assistant discussing a case. Frowning at the interruption, the prosecutor looked over at the door and asked, "what is it, Alice? We're pretty busy right now."
"I'm sorry to interrupt, sir, but Deputy Mayor Briggs is here to see you and says it's urgent."
"What the heck?" District Attorney Whitetail muttered giving his boss a confused look.
"Don't look at me. I have no idea. Wait here, I'll find out," he sighed, annoyed at the interruption but concerned as well as the Deputy Mayor was a very infrequent visitor. He followed his secretary out to the front office.
"Ms. Briggs, what brings you to our busy hive?" he asked, politely.
She gave him a grim smile. "Something that will shake our city to its foundation. Let's go to your office."
Eyebrows raised in surprise, annoyance gone, he turned around and lead her to his office. At the door, he opened it and gestured her to precede him. She nodded and stepped into a comfortable but obviously well used office.
Books were in three bookcases along one wall, there was a filing cabinet, two comfortable chairs and a large desk filled with reports bearing a computer perched on one corner and a phone beside that with a comfortable swivel chair behind the desk which he went to sit in as she took one of the guest chairs.
"So, what is so earthshattering?" he asked.
Opening her briefcase, Callie removed the folder then pulled a copy of it out, handing it over to him.
Burning with curiosity now, he quickly skimmed the highlights of the report. In less than a minute, his eyebrows had climbed to his hanging bangs, minutes and several more pages later, he jerked his head up and gaped at her in stunned shock and rising anger.
"You've got to be kidding me? How could this have gone on for years with no one realizing it least of all you?" he hissed, tapping the report as if it were some offensive piece of garbage.
"By never being told when I took office that such a law existed! Believe me, I would have welcomed that kind of double check system. As it was, Manx insured I was constantly swamped with all his expensive and grandiose plans at all times so I never had the opportunity to know about this at all," she snapped.
He frowned darkly at that information but she wasn't finished yet.
"Add in Feral being hamstrung by two opposing needs: wanting justice but also needing to keep the city safe. If he'd pursued his suspicions and exposed this years ago, the omegas would have used the resultant chaos to sweep in and take us over without any effort, so he was forced to sit on it then add the fact Dr. Sinian wasn't told of this requirement when the old archivist retired and you get the mess we're in now," she finished, bitterly.
"Damn! And Manx used that to his advantage which meant he knew about the requirement and deliberately kept everyone in the dark so he could do what he wanted which was to rape and pillage the city's treasury," Jaystar growled, furious such malfeasance went on so long.
"Yes and we would have continued blithely going on not realizing our system of checks and balances was not working at all which is how the omegas were able to repeatedly damage and harm the city over and over again coming closer to taking over. And there was Manx and his cronies helping it along. Failure of our whole system was just months away according to this report." Disgust dripping from her voice.
Jaystar could only shake his head, eyes flashing with barely restrained fury. "The bastard! To think, the pain and suffering this city has endured was all due to that fool's greed and need to be top Kat. And he nearly got away with it!" He stared at her intently. "When this gets out, all those Katizens whose families have suffered losses in jobs and loved ones from the omegas attacks that could have been prevented will be out for his blood."
"Definitely and its only what he deserves. However, cleaning house will also mean you and I will be nearly buried beneath the Katizens civil suits against the city. It's going to take a lot of hard work and long hours to repair all the damage and even then, the people won't be trusting us for a long time after that," she said soberly, sitting back in her chair and crossing her arms over her chest."
Jaystar groaned, momentarily hiding his face in his paws. Looking up at her again, he sighed, "crud, you are so right about that...what a mess. We'll be lucky to hold onto our jobs when all this hits the fan but there's no choice in the matter. This stops now!" he said straightening and already planning what he needed to do next.
She gave him a small smile. "Glad to see you are taking this so well. Realize, I will be required to take his place until formal elections can be held. Until that time, I want every honest Kat to stand with me when Manx and his cronies are arrested and facing trial. The complete list of those we know about and are certain were in on this whole scheme is at the end of the report," she said when his eyes narrowed questioningly.
He quickly flipped to the rear of the file and found a list of names, hissing at who was on it.
"Yes...you can see this is going to be a really big mess so it's important that all of us who haven't been tarred by that particular brush, stand united so the Katizens can see not all their governing body has been corrupted. We'll tell them we uncovered this mess and we'll clean it up immediately."
He nodded at her while making some notes. "I'll get my whole office on this as soon as we're done here. I take it you want this to be a coordinated effort...taking them all out at once?"
"Yes. That way none of them will escape our net. It will show conclusively to the public that we mean business."
"Good idea. So, let me and my staff go over this file with a fine tooth comb and insure there are no loop holes then get a judge to issue warrants for arrests to be made by tonight as well as set an immediate court date due to the volatile nature of this case."
"Perfect. I suggest Judge Birman...he's trustworthy," Callie said, sighing inside that things were in good paws with Jaystar.
"I would have used him in any case. He's always been a straight up guy and he's just right for this kind of case...not afraid of controversy and this case is going to be a truly media nightmare from start to finish."
"Especially since I intend to have the media present for the arrest of Manx and all the others involved in this scandal. When you are ready to serve the warrants, call me and I'll get a hold of Ann Gora then we'll all go to see our former Mayor," Callie grinned with grim anticipation.
"This is going to take some tight coordinating to insure we serve all those involved at the same time. I take it Commander Feral is standing by to assist us at a moment's notice?" he asked, realizing he would have to request overtime for his staff if they were to get this done by tonight.
"Yes. Just ring him up when you're ready," Callie smiled, wolfishly. "The ball is in your court now, I need to get to my office before his honor wonders where I am."
Jaystar snorted at that. "By tomorrow the only thing he'll be wondering about is what he'll be eating for breakfast in jail."
She gave him a huge smile then nodded farewell before rising and leaving his office. Things were now out of her paws and she would have to handle the fallout of her actions but she felt ready for that.
To Prosecutor Jaystar this was going to be an amazing and hectic day. He took the document and slipped it into a folder and went back to the office he'd been in when Ms. Briggs had arrived.
"So what did her honor the deputy mayor want," Tyler Whitetail drawled, sitting behind his desk, going over a case file they'd been discussing before his boss had to step out.
The Chief of Detectives Rose Redfur and her top detective Douglas Furbanks eyed him from their position on the long black leather couch.
"Only a bomb that will set this city on its ear for years to come," Jaystar said cryptically as he stood before them. "The Chainsur case is on hold as this has priority and is really hot.
"What could be more important than that damn gang lord? An omega?" Furbanks hissed, annoyed to be losing the prosecutor now when they were so close to putting Chainsur away.
"How about his honor, the Mayor?" Jaystar asked, eyes glittering coldly. A grim smile tugging at his lips at the sight of the dropped jaws.
"You're shitting us?" Captain Redfur blurted in disbelief.
"Nope! This folder holds a document that gives all the dirty deeds he's committed since taking office ten years ago as well as a list of councilkats and others in the government that are in his pocket," Jaystar assured her.
"Crud! All his terms? Wow, that's going to piss the people of Megakat City off something fierce. I take it we're supposed to take him in today, eh?" Redfur asked.
"That's my orders. I need to brief my whole staff, put cases on hold, and Tyler and I need to go over this to insure there are no loop holes. Chainsur can cool his heels in his cell for another day, this takes priority. Feral is going to send you on one of the warrants, I'm certain Rose. We're going to be serving warrants on quite a lot of people all at once and Ms. Briggs is going to have the press record it all."
"The press? Crud, she's not pulling any punches is she," Redfur said more than asked.
"She just doesn't want the people of this city to think we're trying to sweep this under the rug so the whole thing will be done by the book and very, very public."
"Shit! That's going to cause a mini-riot at city hall and in the street when people learn of it and try to take a piece of his honor's fat ass."
"Commander Feral will have enough troops on paw, I'm certain, to prevent any problems. I think, though, it would be best if Manx was simply airlifted to Enforcer Headquarters and kept there until trial. Less likelihood of losing him to some hot headed Katizen with a gun. Would you ask Feral to do that, Rose?" Jaystar asked.
"Certainly. Now you've got me really interested in what's in that file. It's just gotta be some really hot shit and solid for you to even contemplate taking Manx in tonight," his assistant said, grimly.
"Oh, it is. Wait until you read it...better than any spy thriller since it's reality. Time's wasting, ...Andy, get our entire staff in the conference room now," he said to his assistant.
"On it, boss!" Whitetail grunted, reaching for his phone.
To the other two in the room, he gestured for them to come with him. The three headed down the hall and into the large conference room. Captain Redfur and Det. Furbanks took seats and waited. In very little time the room began to fill with confused and annoyed attorneys, assistants, and staff.
As soon as everyone were in their seats and the door was closed, Jaystar got their attention. "Listen up. The Deputy Mayor just handed me the biggest thing since the omegas appeared and our alien visitors arrived. This document..." he held up the folder in his paw and waved it, "...is filled with names, dates and events on everything Mayor Manx has illegally done since he took office on his first term til now. He is being charged with malfeasance and whatever else I find when I go through this more thoroughly." He paused a moment as his staff erupted in shocked gasps and cries of outrage.
"I said it was bad! Now Whitetail and I will go over the documents thoroughly and insure there are no loop holes. Once we've done that we need everyone to help get warrants written for..." he paused to silently count the number of individuals on the list "...for twenty people, all highly placed individuals in our government. A complete security black out is in effect. No outsiders must know about this until the warrants are served by tonight."
There was a renewed cry of shock and looks of consternation about the deadline. He smiled tightly. "You heard right, we have to do all of this by tonight, Ms. Briggs was adamant about that. My brief look at this tells me its iron tight and filled with hard evidence, nothing circumstantial here so it shouldn't take Tyler and I long to read through it." Tyler's face was grim as he made notes.
"So what I want all of you to do for the next two hours is get whatever cases you're involved in, finished or at a good stopping point. Insure you grab some chow then we'll get to the work of drawing up the warrants. I'll run them through the judge then we'll serve them. It will take nearly all of us to do that and we'll be accompanied by the Enforcers and the press. The warrants will be served at the exact same time so timing is critical," Jaystar said but was interrupted.
"Wait, how are we going to pull this off at the same exact time?" Whitetail asked.
"The lead Enforcer with your team will be in contact with Commander Feral and when he gives the word that's when we strike. Of course, you'll all have to be in place at that moment so each team must find their target and be in place by a set time which we'll inform you of later. Any further questions?" He asked. Heads shook in the negative. "Good! Then let's hop to it!"
The room emptied quickly. Captain Redfur lingered behind to speak with Jaystar for a moment before leaving. "I've made a list of officers I think will be right for the job ahead and will give it to Commander Feral as soon as I get back."
"Thanks Rose, I'm sure he'll appreciate that, though he may already have accomplished that. He's been waiting a long time to do this."
"I'll just bet he has and as soon as the people hear about it the city is just going to go apeshit! I don't envy you the paper mess side of this just as I won't be in any better position dealing with mobs of Kats who could decide to storm city hall in righteous anger. The omegas may be gone but we're going to be under siege for a little while anyway," she sighed, shaking her head. "However, in the end we'll have a clean government besides a safe city so I think I can handle a bit of city disruption knowing it will be so much better soon and I'm glad Briggs is going to be in charge."
"So do I. Things should start running more smoothly with her in charge," he said, smiling.
"I'd better be off. Have fun!" she said, facetiously, heading out.
Jaystar with Whitetail following headed back to his office where they immediately grabbed some coffee and began to pour through the contents of the folder.
Redfur and Furbanks headed for the elevator. They managed to catch a car with only themselves aboard.
"What I wouldn't give to take a gander at that file. Gotta be dynamite to get Jaystar so worked up," Furbanks commented.
"I've always suspected things weren't all they should be in the Mayor's office. Glad to see my instincts weren't off after all. Don't worry Doug...we'll find out what the skinny is soon enough."
"Yeah, but I would have liked to have known about it before it hits the fan," he grumbled.
Redfur just snorted and said nothing more on the subject.