the weapons, all of y'all!" shouted Mr Capri.

"You heard him," said Bogo to his officers. "Holster your arms, everyone."

Everyone turned their stun guns off and put them back in their holsters.

"Now get Clayton Cosgrove down here!" shouted Mr Capri. "Do it or I swear I'll fry the kid!"

"NO!" wailed the mother. "PLEASE, MY BABY!"

Nick was behind the open door of his squad car. He looked to the left of the scene. There was an alley beside the building with a side entrance that stood ajar.

"Hmm…." he thought.

Very quietly and stealthily, Nick walked away from the scene, keeping behind the police cars. He got to the end of the block and ran around the corner, his mind devising a plan.

"Cosgrove keeps bungee cable in there, I know it," said Nick to himself. "Finnick and I borrowed some once, without him knowing it. And if it's still there…"

Running around the block, Nick got to the back of the Cosgrove building. He quietly sidled along the wall until he got to the side door that stood ajar. He could see the police barrier and hear Mr Capri making demands.

"...and I want a written apology from Clayton Cosgrove! In his hoofwriting, none of that computer printed rubbish! Written and signed by Cosgrove himself!"

"Okay," said Nick to himself as he dashed into the building and raced up a stairwell. "Third floor, left, fourth door."

Nick walked into a storage area with a single window. There were large boxes of supplies on aluminium shelves, and ladders to reach the upper ones. And near the window…

"Bingo!" said Nick, taking several lengths of bungee cable with hooks on the ends out of a box.

He strapped himself securely in the cable and walked to the window. From the window, he looked directly down at Mr Capri. He had put the child on the sidewalk but was still aiming at her with his taser.

Nick looked up and saw a flagpole just above the window.

"Double bingo!"

Quietly, he opened the window and threw the other end of the cable at the flagpole. The hook latched onto it securely.

"Okay," said Nick to himself. "Geronimo!"

He jumped out the window! The sidewalk sped towards him and he could feel the wind in his face. Just as he was about to hit, though, the cable pulled him back. Nick came to a stop for a second, right beside the child, and right between the child and an astonished Mr Capri.

"Going up!" said Nick, snatching the child safely in his arms before the cable pulled him back up.

As Nick bounced back up, he hugged the child safely in one arm and held onto the flagpole. Then, with an agile leap, he jumped back into the window and landed safely inside.

"You're safe now, angel," said Nick to the child, cradled in his arms. "I'll take you back to mommy."

While Nick walked back down the stairs and out of the building, Mr Capri was apprehended by the ZPD officers. But not before he shot his taser at Anderson.

While the paramedics assisted Anderson, Bogo himself zapped Capri with his stun gun and the goat fell to the ground.

"Günter Capri, you are under arrest for assault, both verbal and physical, hostage-taking and assaulting of an officer of the law," said Bogo as he cuffed the perpetrator.

"Drop dead, copper!"

"You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…"

Nick walked to the front of the building with the leopard child in his arms. The child was at ease now, clinging to Nick.

"MY BABY!" wailed the mother, running past the police barrier and towards Nick.

"Back to mommy now, angel," said Nick, giving the child back to her mother.

"Oh, Officer Wilde!" said the mother, hugging Nick in a smothering grip. "You're a saviour! Thank you so much!"

"Just doing my duty, ma'am," said Nick. "Let me get you some ice cream over there at Dairy Dee's, you both had a traumatic experience. Our police counsellor would be very happy to assist you. Her name is Opal…"

Nick walked into the briefing room. It was packed and noisy as usual. He took his usual seat.

"Hey Wilde!"

Nick turned around and saw Fangmeyer and Wolford. He knew what came next.

"It's really hot!" said Wolford.

"What's hot?" said Nick

"What we got!" said Fangmeyer.

"Really hot!" said Wolford.

"You'd better run away before you're caught!" said Nick.

"AWOOOOOO!" they howled, standing on their chairs.

"Alright, settle down, everyone!" said Chief Bogo, walking into the room.

Everyone sat down to listen.

"Mr Capri is in custody, there were 73 witnesses, I'm sure the case will be clean as they come. Congratulations for a job well done, all of you," said Bogo. "Stay on your toes. There are bound to be more disgruntled employees who were laid off in the past month. They might want to pick up where Capri left off and we might not be so lucky next time. That's the end of the debriefing! Off you go!"

Everyone got up and started to walk out of the room.

"Wilde!"

Nick turned around. Bogo was looking directly at him from the podium, which added several inches to his already enormous height.

"A word, if you please."

Nick walked closer to the podium, wondering what Buffalo-Butt had in store for him.

"My felicitations," said Bogo. "You handled the situation well. It is not often I am at a loss, but this morning was one of those occasions. If it hadn't been for your astute handling of the situation, I don't know what the outcome would have been. I'm glad to have you on the force."

He gave Nick one of his rare, barely visible smiles.

"Just doing my duty, sir," said Nick, saluting.

Bogo nodded in acknowledgement.

"You can clear off, now," said Bogo, his usual gruff expression returning.

"Thanks, Chief," said Nick and he headed towards the door.

The rush of pastry smell and freshly ground coffee beans was always a treat for Nick's nostrils when he opened the door to Mollie Moo's shop.

"Morning, Mollie!"

"Good morning, Officer!"

"Carrot cake doughnut and coffee for one, please."

"Oh, Officer, I'm very sorry, but we're out of carrot pastries. Can I get you a cinnamon roll or Danish?"

"Sure, cinnamon roll is fine," said Nick, sitting down at a table his size and setting his sunglasses next to the sugar bowl.

"There's been a carrot shortage for almost a week now, Officer," said Mollie as she brought him his order.

"Carrot shortage?" asked Nick. "First I hear of it. Who's your supplier?"

"Old Hearn's Farm Fresh Produce," said Mollie. "My sister told me they're being bought up by another company."

"Really?" asked Nick. "That's kinda sad. They've been around since I can remember. Have things really become that bad for them?"

"It would appear so," said Mollie. "Things are tough lately, for some reason. Old Cosgrove was bought out too and the new company laid off the entire staff overnight."

"Yeah, I heard," said Nick, remembering the incident that morning.

"Business is a dog-eat-dog affair, Officer," said Mollie. "I sure am glad I'm a quaint little coffee shop owner with no worries besides baking tasty things for you kind police folk."

"That makes two of us, Mollie," said Nick with a kind smile.

"Well, better get back to the kitchen. The next batch is due in a sec," said Mollie. "Enjoy, Officer."

"Thank you."

As Mollie walked away, Nick took a bite of tasty cinnamon roll and thought about what he had heard.

"Carrot shortage," he said to himself. "Hmm."

He thought of the fields filled with ripening carrots of Bunny Burrow as he enjoyed his freshly-brewed coffee.

The workday ended and Nick punched out. As he walked home, he stopped by a bodega to get some groceries. Grover, the owner of the bodega, was watching a small television screen on the counter. His antlers could be seen behind it, making it look like they were the television aerials.

Suddenly, Nick thought of something.

"Any fresh carrots, Grove?" asked Nick.

"Sorry, Officer. We've been fresh out for a week," said Grover without looking away from the telly. "We should get a new shipment next week, Tuesday-ish, give or take."

"Hmm…" said Nick. "I wonder what's with the carrots playing hooky."

"You and me both, Officer," said Grover.

Nick paid for his purchases and walked the rest of the way home.

He got into his apartment and walked to the kitchen, setting the groceries on the counter and going to his room to change into something more comfortable.

As he was unbuttoning his uniform, his phone rang. The ringtone gave away the caller.

"And IIiiiiii….will always looove yoouuu, oooh…"

Nick chuckled and answered the phone.

"Who could be calling at this hour?" said Nick.

"And who else could it be, my dear, but the one and only, little ol' me, your bunny lord," said Judy's voice.

"And to what do I owe this honour, oh Lord of the Fluff-tails?" said Nick.

"I didn't know you were a circus star, Mr Wilde," said Judy's voice. "That was some

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