Chapter Five
By: Winston deLeon
It was nearly midnight before the Rangers quit scouring the museum and finally flew home. Tammy had considered staying the night at their headquarters again, because there was undoubtedly going to be a lot of investigation to do in the morning, but between the chloroform and the overall stressfulness of the whole series of events, she was exhausted and didn't want to spend the night anywhere but her own bed, where she could sleep comfortably as long as she wanted. She had the Rangers drop her off at her house on their way back home. When she entered the house, it was silent. Her mother and sister had gone to bed long ago. Following their example, Tammy crawled into bed and fell asleep quickly.
The next morning, she didn't wake up until about 10 AM. As she walked into the kitchen, her mother was already washing the breakfast dishes. "Good morning." She said. "You slept late today. Did you have a rough case? You were gone for a long time."
"Yeah, I guess you could say that." Tammy yawned. More like a disaster of a case, she thought to herself.
"I was worried about you. You didn't come home for almost two days straight." Her mother continued.
Tammy realized that she had forgotten to check in yesterday after spending the night with the Rangers. "Oh... I'm sorry." She apologized. "I meant to come home and tell you I would be gone, but we were pretty busy. Chip was kinda freaked out about the case we were working on." She decided not to say anything about the chloroform incident, odds were that it would just frighten her mother over nothing. Besides, it was usual practice not to discuss cases with uninvolved people until they were solved.
"Well... you're certainly old enough to decide to stay out as long as you think you need to." Her mother said. Tammy caught a hint of that same half-worried, half-something-else tone of voice that she'd been hearing rather often these days. "Besides, as long as you're around the Rangers, you're helping people, and you could be doing far worse things... I remember the kinds of trouble I was getting into when I was 19."
"No offense, mom... but you're just too boring for that to be believable." Tammy said. It was hard for Tammy to imagine her mother doing anything to get in trouble. True, she had to have been young once, like everyone else, but even so... try as she might, Tammy simply couldn't picture her mother, even as a teenager, out all night or hanging out with the wrong crowd.
"Tammy, the stories I could tell you..." Her mother just shook her head and trailed off. "But anyway," She suddenly changed the subject, "We had crushed acorn pancakes for breakfast. There's still a couple left, if you want them."
"Sure, mom. Thanks." Tammy said, suddenly reminded of how hungry she was. She hadn't had any dinner at all yesterday. She grabbed a plate and headed out to the dining room, both glad and a bit surprised that Bink hadn't managed to completely finish off all the pancakes. Metabolisms (and consequentially, appetites) ran high in her family, and food generally didn't stay uneaten for very long once it was on the table. Tammy used her fork to pull the two pancakes that were still left onto her plate and ate them quickly. Once she was done, she washed her plate and put it away again.
"I'm heading back to Ranger headquarters." Tammy announced shortly afterwards.
"Already?" Her mother asked.
"There's still more work to do on that case. We haven't solved it yet." Tammy replied. She left to rejoin the Rangers a few minutes later.
Outside, Tammy discovered that the weather was very different than it had been the previous couple of days. Sunny blue skies had been replaced by a heavy sheet of unbroken dark grey clouds that had rolled in during the night, occasionally letting sprinkles of rain fall. Puddles of water dotted the sidewalks, and the grass in the fields was a dark, sombre green, the blades hung with droplets of water that periodically glinted with refracted light. They reminded Tammy, ironically enough, of minature diamonds as they sparkled.
When she walked into Ranger HQ, Chip was reading through that morning's newspaper and scowling. "I can't believe they're not even going to try and look for it." He mumbled to himself with disgust. Tammy walked closer to his chair, trying to get a look at what he was reading.
"Who?" Tammy asked. Chip evidently hadn't heard her come in or approach him so closely, because he jumped slightly with surprise at the sound of her voice so close behind him.
"Don't do that!" He scolded with irritation.
"Sorry." Tammy smiled with amusement. She felt a little guilty about doing that to him, edgy and tempermental as he already was over the current case at hand, but somehow, making Chip jump like that simply never got old.
Chip rose from his chair and turned to face her. "I was talking about the RAS." Chip answered. "Recovering that diamond was a real point of pride to them, and now they're just going to let it go." He handed her the paper and pointed out an article. She read through it quickly:
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GIANT DIAMOND STOLEN
The Devil's Eye diamond, among the largest in the world, was stolen last night on the first day of exhibition in the San Francisco Museum. The theft occured around 8 PM, forcing the cancellation of a VIP event the museum had planned for that evening. "The theft appears to have been conducted by an unknown individual who was almost certainly a skilled professional thief, judging by the techniques that were used to negate the super-tight security surrounding the Devil's Eye. We're working to track him or her down, however, we have very little evidence to go on." commented Captain Leitman, chief of the rodent security forces in place at the museum. Security forces involved in the incident have so far refused to comment on the exact nature of those techniques. However, there are unsubstantiated reports that teargas or some other form of chemical irritant were used to create confusion.
Given the Devil's Eye diamond's connection with the RAS, it was speculated that RAS agents might be dispatched in an effort to recover it. Those rumors are apparently unfounded, however: "The RAS has limited resources, and we devote everything we have to helping people in need of assistance, not to tracking down stolen articles of property. The Devil's Eye diamond's loss, while regrettable, simply isn't the kind of thing that the RAS deals with unless there's someone in direct danger, which doesn't appear to be the case in this situation." stated the administrator of the San Francisco field office of the RAS.
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Tammy handed the newspaper back to Chip. "Well, if they don't go after it, who will?" She wondered.
"Every hotshot who can whip together some sort of submarine, that's who." Chip said. "That is, if the fact that it's under the sea gets out. Hopefully it won't. The security forces at the museum and the RAS know, but I talked to both of them earlier this morning, and we've all agreed among ourselves to keep this quiet - if word gets out and other people go looking for it and some treasure hunter finds it, I don't think the odds are good that they'll just give it back. You haven't told anyone, have you?"
"No, not even mom." Tammy said. "I kinda had the feeling you wouldn't want me spilling the details to anyone."
"Good. The security force from the museum is trying to put together a few subs so that they can look for it, small as the odds are. Gadget didn't really think it was a good idea, with the odds of actually finding anything being so low, but they were determined to try, so she agreed to help design and build some subs for them. They don't expect to be ready for almost two weeks, though. I had hoped that the RAS would join in the search, but no such luck." Chip said.
The rest of that day, and the whole day after that, passed slowly and with little
development. They were, in fact, pretty boring, and there wasn't much of interest
to take note of during them. The Rangers followed various ideas around, but
there was no real progress. Their investigation hinged mostly on trying to retrace
the thief's footsteps. From the approach on foot to fleeing in the ill-fated
aircraft, the Rangers theorized the most likely routes that the thief would
have taken inside the museum. They noted the way in which the ventillation system's
fan had been carefully sabatoged, and the way that the slender steel load-bearing
cables holding up the spotlight had been cut. No tools had been left behind,
despite the swift speed at which the thief had worked.
From the few telltale signs at the crimescene, however, the Rangers were able to compile a list of tools that the thief had probably used. Chip had also remembered the gasmask that the thief was wearing, and they'd killed nearly an entire day going around the city asking around trying to find out if any similiar masks or odd combinations of tools had recently been bought or sold by anyone. They came back completely empty-handed. They tried the same thing with everyone who manufactured airplanes (a very short list) or sold the kinds of parts that would be used to build an airplane (a much longer list) in an attempt to find out where the thief's aircraft had come from, with similar results. Everything they tried to use to trace the identity of the thief simply led to nowhere.
Another morning rolled around. This was now the third day since the theft, and
Tammy was, once again, heading to Ranger HQ for what promised to be another
boring day of investigation. The general concensus among most of the Rangers
was that there was little hope for this case, and little reason to keep pursuing
it because the thief was almost certainly dead, but Chip kept pushing on determinedly,
unwilling to let it drop. It was almost as if the circumstances of the case
had awakened some kind of fire within him and his will was wholly bent on cracking
it.
Why is he so obsessed with a case that might as well be closed? She asked herself, walking to Ranger HQ under yet another grey sky. The clouds had drifted in swiftly, but weren't nearly so eager to leave. They'd been there for three days now, and still no sign of breaking. Maybe he feels guilty, or maybe he regrets a case like this from the past, and he doesn't want to come away from this one empty-handed. Knowing Chip, and his tendancy to be driven to succeed and set things right, it could be a million different things, she told herself.
Walking down the sidewalk somewhat lost in thought, she hardly noticed that she was approaching the Ranger's tree, until the person who was already there caught her attention while she was still some distance away. It was a female mouse, slightly less than Gadget's height, with long dark brown hair tied back in a ponytail. She was wearing black pants and a grey shirt. Over the shirt, she wore a deep blue jacket, bearing a red logo of some sort on the upper left side, and on her head, she wore a matching blue cap with the same logo on it. Tammy continued forward, moving silently, watching from behind plant cover that she kept between her and the visitor. Directly behind the mouse, there was a small cart with what looked like a video cassette being hauled in it.
With curiosity, Tammy watched as the stranger pulled the cassette close to the tree and knocked on the door.
Dale answered the door. Tammy was just barely close enough to hear, though faintly, the exchange of dialogue that took place. "Is this the Rescue Ranger headquarters?" The strange mouse asked.
"Sure is! Why, do you need help?" Dale asked.
"Oh... uh, no, sir. I'm just here to deliver this thing." She answered him. "Are you one of the Rangers?"
"You bet I am! What's on the tape?" Dale asked.
"I don't know, sir, I just work for the delivery service. Not my business to poke around in other people's merchandise." She shrugged and smiled innocently. "If you could just sign for it here..." She said, offering Dale a sheet of paper and a pen.
"Well, okay." Dale took the paper and pen, hastily scribbling down a signature. "There ya go!" He handed the paper back to her.
"Need any help getting it inside?" She offered.
"What, me? I've got it by myself, no problem!" Dale said, a touch boastfully. Tammy wasn't surprised, the delivery mouse was young and rather attractive. It was just like Dale to get into showoff mode. He grabbed one edge of the upright cassette, pulled it over, and began hauling it into the house, trying to hide the fact that he was obviously struggling a bit. Something strange struck Tammy about the way the delivery mouse watched Dale closely as he moved the cassette, and the smile had faded off her face as soon as Dale had turned his back. With a final heave, Dale got the cassette all the way into headquarters, then turned to face the delivery mouse once again. As he did, her smile instantly returned, as if it was an act. "See? Toldja." Dale said, flexing one arm a bit.
"Yep... I guess you did." She humored him. "Oh, and this was also part of the delivery." She reached into the cart and pulled out a metal bucket made from a very large thimble, covered with a cloth. "Here you go." She handed it to Dale.
"Huh? I wonder what's in here..." Dale mumbled, lifting the cloth. A curious look came over his face as he looked into the bucket and then put the cloth back over it again. "It's just a buncha crushed glass or something." He said, puzzled.
The mouse shrugged once again. "No idea. Like I said, all I do is deliver things. Well... I'd better get going." She turned and started walking away.
"Okay, then... Goodbye." Dale said as he headed back into headquarters, curiously peeking once more into the metal bucket and closing the door after himself.
Once the door closed, the mouse grabbed the handle on the cart with her right hand and started to pull it away. After a few inches, she stopped suddenly as a look of momentary pain crossed her face. She dropped the handle and rubbed her right shoulder with her left hand, then grabbed the handle once more with her left hand and started pulling it again.
A mental alarm instantly went off in Tammy's head as everything fit together. Female mouse, thin and light, just a tiny bit shorter than Gadget, and with a sore right shoulder - which is exactly where the person she'd tackled at the museum had hit the ground. Tammy had the sudden suspicion that she was watching a thief walk away. That idea's crazy, she thought. No one could have survived that plane crash, not the way Foxglove described it. A sudden question came to mind, however: Did anyone see a body? The answer was no. She was forced to admit that without that, they couldn't be completely sure that the thief was dead. But even if the thief were alive, why would they risk coming to Ranger HQ in person? Oh, but hadn't they already done it once before? That taunting note was proof that they had... so what was there to stop them from doing it again?
As Tammy was thinking things over and debating the facts with herself, the mouse was leaving and would soon be out of sight if she delayed any longer. She was pressed into making a choice - follow her right now, or head to Ranger HQ, get someone else to help, and risk losing the suspect? The experience of getting chloroformed wasn't a pleasant one, and she struggled over the decision between letting the suspect go, or once again acting alone despite the danger. She knew that she shouldn't follow on her own, but eventually the urge to get answers was simply too strong. Besides, I'll just stay out of sight, trace her back to wherever it is that she stays, and then come back for everyone else, she told herself. Nothing stupid this time, just some quiet, easy recon.
Using weeds, trees, and bushes as cover, Tammy kept her distance and began stealthily following the mouse.
Inside the treehouse, Dale excitedly pushed the tape into the main room and
propped it against the back of the couch, then went to get the bucket and set
it down next to the tape. He stepped back and briefly looked over the surface
of the tape. It had no labels or anything else to indicate what was on it.
Monty had apparently heard the commotion of moving it into the house, and he emerged into the main room a moment later, Zipper following him. "What's on that?" He asked when he saw the tape.
Dale shrugged. "I dunno." He said. "Wanna watch it and find out?"
"Well... where'd it come from?" Monty asked.
"Just delivered a few minutes ago." Dale answered. "I had to sign for it and everything."
When Dale said that it had been delivered, Monty seemed to grow suspicious. "I dunno, mate. It's a longshot, but if it ends up having anything to do with that diamond, we'd better wait for Chip to get back." Monty said doubtfully. "And what's in there?" Monty said as he spotted the bucket and pointed to it.
"I'm not sure what it is." Dale said. "Just looks like crushed glass or something. It got delivered along with the tape."
Monty took a look in the bucket. A look of puzzlement came over his face as he also failed to identify exactly what was in it. "Well, if this ain't the strangest... I think we'd better just leave this stuff alone 'till Chip and Gadget both get back."
Dale didn't like the sound of that. "Aww, but they could take hours." Dale complained. "I wanna see what's on that tape." It was a rainy, boring day, and Dale was eager to find some entertainment anywhere he could.
"No chances, mate." Monty insisted. "What if that tape only plays once or some other funny trick? Or better, what if it's boobytrapped? Naw, we'd best let Gadget look it over first."
Dale crossed his arms and hunched his shoulders, a look of resentment on his face. "Hrmph. Who died and left you in charge?" He muttered softly.
Despite how quietly Dale said it, Monty picked up his words, and a look of slight annoyance came over him. "I just figure, with Chip gone, the one with the most sense around here aughta be callin' the shots..."
Dale flared into anger. "Oh, so I don't have any sense, do I?" He asked irately.
"Hey, I'm not the one who sent a giant crate of good brie to the bottom of the ocean a week ago." Monty replied defensively. Just as Dale somehow knew it would, the unfortunate events of last week came to the fore. He and Monty had managed to avoid fighting for the last few days, but they hadn't exactly apologized to one another, and there was still lingering resentment on both sides that was surfacing again.
"What? You're still mad about that stupid cheese?" Dale said angrily. "At least I didn't ruin a rare first issue comic book." He said accusingly. "I'd say that shows just how little good sense you've got."
"Hey, I toldja, that was an accident!" Monty said heatedly.
"Yeah, well, so was the cheese." Dale shot back quickly. "And besides, you're the one who asked me to help you out at the dock that night. It wasn't my idea to mess with a crane. You insisted on it."
Monty was silent, staring with an angry expression on his face for a moment. "Alright, fine, mate. Neither of us has any sense, if that's how ya see it." He finally said. "So we'll just wait for someone who does. Now, no one touches that tape until Chip and Gadget get back. Agreed?"
"Fine." Dale snapped, turning his back. Monty likewise turned his back to Dale almost simultaneously. Zipper, who had been watching the conflict unfold in worried silence, suddenly flew between them, grabbed both of their shirt collars and tried to pull them back around to face each other, buzzing something that sounded to Dale like a plea for them to stop arguing and settle their dispute. Dale, however, was in no mood right now to rationally discuss who was at fault for what, and he shrugged his shoulder coldly, breaking out of Zipper's grasp easily. Monty silently walked away to some other room of the house, with Zipper following him, still buzzing as he apparently tried to talk reason into his larger friend to no avail.
Dale stormed off to the bedroom he shared with Chip, sullen and still angry. Why was Monty such a jerk sometimes? Dale wondered. Usually, he was a great guy, but send one little case of brie overboard, and he holds it against you forever... And Dale was still suspicious, in the back of his mind, that Monty had wrecked that first issue comic book on purpose in retaliation. When he thought about it, it seemed rediculous, because Monty wasn't like that at all. He tried not to let himself think too badly of Monty. It wasn't really Monty's fault any more than accidentally dropping the cheese was my fault, after all, he tried to tell himself. But somehow, the idea that it was intentional kept lurking within him, try as he might to extinguish it. Besides, accident or not, he was still mad, and he determined to himself that he sure as heck wasn't going to apologize until Monty apologized about that comic book first...
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Disclaimer:
The charactors of Chip, Dale, Gadget, Monterey Jack, Zipper, Tammy, Foxglove
and any other charactor originally appearing the animated series "Chip
and Dale's Rescue Rangers" are all © Disney and are used here without
permission. Any other charactors appearing herein that are not © Disney
are my own creations. This story may be freely copied, transmitted, printed,
distributed, used as bird cage liner, or whatever, I only ask that it is not
modified from it's original form and it is not used for profit in any way. I
believe that that concludes the legal mumbo-jumbo for now... On to the story!
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