love to have a fellow basement-dwelling nerd to catch my references and chuckle along with me."

Nick didn't know what to say. Neither did Judy.

"There," said Garth. "Shipping manifest. Delivered at 8423 South Limpopo Avenue."

"Hey!" said Nick, remembering something. "That's old Cosgrove's place."

"Cosgrove? The one that was bought out by Terra Firma?" said Judy, her ears perking up. "The same place where Mr Capri was arrested?"

"The very one!" said Nick.

"What was the old saying? Hide in plain sight?" said Garth, pulling up the location on Zoogle Maps. "Looks like these guys have taken that adage to heart."

Nick and Judy looked at the picture of the building on the screen…and then at each other.

"What do you say, Carrots? We already committed information theft and illegal infiltration of encrypted data today," said Nick with a wry smile. "Wanna add break-and-entering to the list?"

"That's a D and an E and an 'efinitely!" said Judy, high-fiving her favourite fox. "We're gonna find out what they're up to and put them out of commission!"

"And that's the bottom line! 'Cause Stoat Cold said so!" bellowed Garth, standing on his chair in a dramatic pose.

It was quiet for a Thursday afternoon. Judy sidled along the wall with Nick close behind. There was nobody in sight, but still she strained her eyes to see if there was anybody hiding in some shadow of the alley. All was clear.

"Okay," she said. "You've been inside this building."

"A couple of times," said Nick.

Judy stopped, turned to him and stared.

"Um…disregard that last comment," said Nick sheepishly.

"I think I will," said Judy, trying hard not to imagine Nick's past exploits before they had met. "So, any security cameras to worry about?"

"Two," said Nick. "One in the front entrance, the other in the receiving bay."

"That's it?"

"Old Cosgrove was pretty lax on security, that's why Finnick and I…"

He stopped.

"I can't seem to get my foot out of my mouth, can I?"

"Water under the bridge, hun," said Judy. "So we're clear?"

"Yup," said Nick.

"Okay, here goes."

Judy took a small kit out of her pocket and opened it. Inside were several lock picks. She approached the side door and got to work.

"Keep an eye out," said Judy. "I'll open this."

"Roger that," said Nick, his ears perked up and his eyes scanning the alley for any sign of witnesses.

After a minute or so, the lock clicked and the door opened a fraction.

"Got it," said Judy, stashing her lock picks in her pocket and carefully sneaking into the building. Nick double-checked to see if nobody was watching, and followed her.

The familiar stairwell met his eyes. Judy stood there, waiting for him to guide her.

"Where to, slick?"

"Let's check the receiving bay, I'm sure whatever they ship comes in through there."

He led the way up two flights of stairs and through a door. Carefully, they tiptoed down a corridor, heading towards the back of the building. At a doorway, they stopped and listened. Nobody could be heard. Judy cautiously peered around the doorway and beckoned for Nick to have a peek.

"Looks like Garth was on the money," whispered Judy. "That's a heck of a lot of chemicals."

Large kegs and boxes marked 'Hazardous Material' were neatly stocked in the storage area beneath them. Judy tiptoed into the storage area along a walkway that ran close to the ceiling, counting the kegs and looking at their names.

"They're all here," said Judy, taking out her phone and filming the room. "Somehow, I doubt this stuff is used to raise good crops. Looks more like herbicide to me."

"Carrots!" whispered Nick.

Judy turned to see him pointing at a door near the end of the room below. It was marked 'LAB'.

"Alright!" said Judy. "Maybe we can find out what they're making."

They found the stairs that led to the floor below and carefully entered the lab. Everything was clean and pristine. The glassware was neatly arranged, the tools were polished, and at the far end, Judy spotted a refrigeration unit.

Carefully, she approached the refrigeration unit. With her paw tucked in her sleeve, she opened the door of the unit, careful not to leave any prints.

Judy and Nick saw several sealed test tubes filled with glowing orange liquid. It was somewhat viscous and shone brightly in the light of the refrigeration unit light bulb.

"Shall we take one?" asked Judy.

"We shall," said Nick.

He took his handkerchief out, grabbed one of the test tubes and wrapped it safely. Then Judy reinforced it with hers.

"Okay," said Judy, filming the lab and each of the machines. "Now let's go upstairs and check…"

But a loud noise cut her off! The noise of the receiving bay doors opening!

The corrugated metal shutters made a loud noise as they slowly moved up. Judy knew she and Nick had a few seconds before bad became worse.

"Come on!" she whispered urgently and grabbed his paw, dashing for the door.

They sneaked out of the lab and hid behind the large boxes of chemicals, waiting and peeking from between the gaps. A delivery truck slowly backed closer to the bay doors until it reached the unloading position. It stopped and a large caribou jumped out of the driver's seat, followed by a bear.

"Is this the last delivery, Al?" asked the bear.

"Yep," said the caribou, opening the back of the truck as the bear walked into the building to get a pallet jack.

"Poker at Joan's with the boys tonight?" asked the bear.

"Yep," answered the caribou.

They unloaded several boxes of chemicals, arranging them on the far side of the room. The bear went through a checklist and verified that everything was accounted for.

"Well, that's the last of it," said the bear.

"Yep," answered the caribou.

"Same time next Thursday," said the bear, checking his list.

"Yep," said the caribou.

"Alright. Let's get outta here."

The two delivery workers closed the bay doors, got in their truck and left.

"Whew!" said Judy.

"Yep," said Nick.

Judy fake-elbowed him in the ribs playfully.

"That was a close shave," she said.

"I think we should call it quits for now, Carrots," said Nick. "We can come back tonight, when nobody is likely to burst in with cargo."

"I'll drink to that," said Judy as they emerged from their hiding place. "Let's go show this to Garth."

They returned to the stairwell and reached the side door to the alley. Nick was just about to open the door, when….

"I assure you, sir," said a jittery voice on the other side. "Everything will be arranged according to your plan."

Nick bolted around, picked up Judy unceremoniously and flew up the stairs, his tail disappearing around the corner just as the door opened and a mole walked in, followed by two thuggish grizzly bears. He was talking on the phone with his boss.

"Yes, I'll look into it and make sure all the arrangements are made," said the mole. "Yes, I'll call you immediately as soon as it's done."

The boss hung up. Mr George Jenkins, the mole that Judy and Nick had met earlier at the Terra Firma headquarters, walked up the stairs followed by the two bodyguards.

"Okay, Rosco, you empty the storage on the third floor. Butch, you come with me, I can't lift those kegs to save my life," said the mole.

Judy and Nick listened as the bear walked up the stairs towards them. They quickly and quietly ran into the third floor corridor and into the storage room where Nick had been in just a week before.

"Déjà vu," said Nick as he and Judy walked in.

"What now?" asked Judy.

"Bungee cables. Window. Escape."

Judy understood. She helped Nick quickly attach a few lengths of bungee cable into a long rope. Nick walked to the window and threw the cable at the familiar flagpole overhead. It latched on securely.

"Hey, this is almost like the ending of the movie we watched last night," said Judy as Nick took her safely in his arm and she hugged him firmly around the neck. "You know, when the hero and the girl swung down from the exploding airship?"

"One of these days, Carrots," said Nick with a mixture of grin and frown. "You and I are going to sit down and have a long talk."

Nick gripped the end of the cable with all his might and jumped out the window!

The cable pulled back just as they were two feet above the sidewalk. Nick let go and landed safely, and the cable bounced back up.

As the cable bounced up, the hook detached itself from the flagpole and the cable fell to the ground. Judy quickly snatched the cable and rolled it up, taking it with her as she and Nick dashed away from the building.

"This might come in useful again," said Judy as they ran across the street at a corner, heading back towards Garth's place.

Garth watched the videos from Judy's phone carefully on his computer screen.

"It all seems to indicate that the agricultural firm is a front," said Garth. "They're secretly purchasing chemicals and storing them in the warehouses they bought

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