《疯狂动物城》第25章
Nick and Judy followed Weaselton's instructions and found the drop: an old subway car in an abandoned station. They hid as two tough rams exited the car. Once the rams were gone, Nick lifted Judy and she pushed open the window to peek inside. "The weasel wasn't lying," she whispered as she climbed through.
The interior of the car had been transformed into a greenhouse. There were rows upon rows of night howlers. "Yeah, looks like old Doug's cornered the market on night howlers," said Nick.
Click! A door opened, and Judy and Nick quickly hid under a desk. They watched as a ram wearing a lab coat with the name DOUG on it entered and stood over the flowering plants. He carefully harvested the pollen and produced a small blue paint ball–like pellet of serum. Nick and Judy watched in disbelief.
Doug's phone rang and he held it to his ear. "Yeah?
What's the mark? Cheetah in Sahara Square. Got it." Doug loaded the pellet into his gun and cocked it. A map with pictures of various animal targets was on the wall behind him. "Yeah, I know they're fast. I can hit him. Listen, I hit a tiny little otter through the open window of a moving car," he said.
Judy and Nick shared a look. It was suddenly clear. The map contained the images of all the missing animals. The ram must have hit them with the serum from the night howlers, turning them all savage.
"Yeah, I'll buzz you when it's done. Or you'll see it on the news. You know, whichever comes first."
Bam! Bam! The two rams banged on the door.
"Hey, Doug, open up," said one of the rams. Doug finished his call and let them in.
Wham! Suddenly, Judy kicked Doug in the back, knocking him into the rams. With them on the other side of the door, she locked it, shutting them out.
"What are you doing?" shouted Nick.
The rams surrounded the subway car and pounded on the doors from outside.
"We need to get this evidence to the ZPD," said Judy.
"Okay. Got it," said Nick, picking up the case.
"No. All of it," said Judy, smiling.
"Wait, what?" Nick said. "You're a conductor now? Listen. It would take a miracle to get this rust bucket going."
She fired up the engine of the subway car and they started to move.
"Oh, hallelujah," Nick said in defeat.
The train gained speed and began to race down the tracks. Nick finally allowed himself to smile.
"Mission accomplished. Would it be premature for me to do a little victory toot-toot?" Nick gestured to the train whistle.
"All right," said Judy. "One toot-toot."
Toot! Toot! Nick happily blew the train whistle.
Bam! One of the rams burst into the car through the door. The train slowed down as Nick and Judy tried to push him out. Nick managed to get the door closed, but the ram continued to bang up against it.
Bam! Bam! Bam! The other ram appeared on the windshield and headbutted it. "Maybe that's just hail?" Nick joked.
Boom! He finally managed to bust through the windshield and knocked Judy out the window! She grabbed on to his horns as the subway car continued chugging down the track.
"Speed up, Nick! Speed up!" she shouted.
"Are you crazy? There's another train coming!"
"Trust me! SPEED! UP!"
A split second before the trains crashed into each other, Judy kicked the ram into a track-switch lever, and the train car they were riding in changed tracks!
Then the subway car derailed, and Judy and Nick dove out onto a platform. The car exploded, and all its contents, including the night howlers, burned to a crisp.
"Everything's gone. We lost it all," said Judy.
Nick held up the case containing a gun and a pellet. "Yeah," he said, "except for this."
尼克和朱迪按照威斯顿所说的找到了那个交易点——位于一个废弃地铁站里的一辆旧地铁。看到两只公羊从车厢里走出来,他们俩便躲了起来。公羊一走,尼克便举起朱迪,她开了一扇窗往里窥探。她一边朝里爬,一边小声对尼克说:“黄鼠狼没有撒谎。”
车厢内部已经被改造成了一个温室,整齐地种着一排排夜嚎者。尼克说:“是的,看起来老道格很关心夜嚎者的市场嘛。”
咔嚓!一扇门打开了,朱迪和尼克赶紧躲在桌下。他们看见一只穿着实验室工作服的公羊走了进来,站在花的旁边,他胸前写着“道格”。他小心地采了一点花粉,做成了一个蓝色的、内含汁液的小球状子弹。尼克和朱迪看着这一切,难以置信。
这时道格的手机响了,他接起电话:“喂?”
“目标是哪个?撒哈拉广场上的猎豹?知道了。”道格把子弹装进枪里并扣上扳机。在他身后的墙上,挂着一幅有着各种目标动物图片的地图。他接着对着电话说:“没错,我知道他们跑得很快,我能打到他们的。听着,我上次还从一辆正在行驶的汽车车窗里击中了一只小水獭。”
朱迪和尼克对视了一眼,瞬间明白了。地图上包含了所有失踪动物的头像。那只公羊肯定是用夜嚎者毒汁击中了他们,让他们发狂的。
“好,我干完了会再打给你,当然你也可以在新闻上看到。哪个早算哪个。”
嘭!嘭!两只公羊在使劲敲着门。
其中一只说:“嘿,道格,开门!”道格闻声挂了电话,让他们进来。
这时,砰的一声!朱迪突然从背后踢了道格一脚,把他踢到那两只羊身上。将他们撞出门外后,她关上门,把他们锁在了外面。
尼克叫道:“你在干吗?”
羊群迅速包围了车厢,从外面敲打着车门。
朱迪说:“我们需要把这个证据提供给动物城警察局。”
“好的,我知道了!”尼克说着拿起了箱子。
朱迪笑着说:“不,都拿走。”
“什么?等等!”尼克说,“现在你成列车长了吗?听着,只有出现了奇迹才能开动这破铜烂铁!”
她不由分说地启动了地铁的发动机,车子开始动了。
尼克深受刺激地说道:“哦,天哪!”
列车缓缓加速,开始顺着轨道飞驰起来。尼克终于露出了笑容。
“任务完成!我要是现在就让它嘟嘟庆功是不是太早了点?”尼克指了指列车的汽笛。
朱迪说:“可以啊,就嘟嘟一下。”
嘟嘟!尼克兴奋地拉响了汽笛。
嘭!一只公羊突然从车门闯进来。尼克和朱迪奋力想把他推出去,列车慢了下来。尼克终于把门关上了,但那只公羊还在不断地敲击车门。
嘭!嘭!嘭!车的挡风玻璃上又出现一只公羊,还在用脑袋撞着玻璃。尼克打趣道:“也许那只是冰雹而已。”
嘭!他最终把挡风玻璃撞开了,还把朱迪撞出了窗外!她抓住公羊的角,而列车还在轨道上行驶。
她叫道:“加速,尼克!加速!”
“你疯了吗?前面来了另外一辆车!”
“相信我!加!速!”
就在两车即将相撞的一瞬间,朱迪一脚把公羊踢了出去撞在变道杆上,于是列车开到另一条轨道上去了!
然后列车脱了轨,朱迪和尼克跳了出去,落到站台上。列车接着爆炸了,连同车里所有的东西都化为灰烬,包括夜嚎者。
朱迪说:“什么都没了,我们把什么都搞砸了。”
尼克举起放了枪和毒子弹的箱子说:“是的,除了这个。”