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I was shaken awake softly by a hand on my shoulder and I looked around, still slightly sleep fogged before I managed to place the face in front of me. "Reg?"

"Yeah, kitten, it's an hour and a half before we kick things off and I thought that we should get you woken up and read to go, after all I am guessing that there are some things that you still need to do before the show starts." He replied softly helping me sit up from where I was laying in the back of the van.

"I'm surprised I didn' wake up when ya moved me from my carseat." I said softly before rising to my feet, looking around for my bag.

"It surprised me as well, but after the day that you had yesterday I could see why."

"What time is it?" I asked as I located my stuff and began to set up my station, space was at a bit of a premium inside the vehicle, but I guess Reg had been nice enough to clear out some space for me.

"It's about fifteen minutes after midnight." He told me as I got everything plugged in and ready to go.

The first thing I had to do was to get into the Nails systems and record a segment of video from their cameras so that I could loop it over when my team was in action, the people monitoring the feed wouldn't see anything other than what I wanted them to see, while I could use the cameras to provide overwatch for the team.

As I began to work I looked around the van and waved a greeting to the police communications crews who were beginning to work to coordinate their own teams in isolating the area around the Nails base of operations from the surrounding district of the city.

"I know this is heavy kitten, but this whole thing depends on your people and your ability to get them into that place to secure that cub from harm." One of the controllers said from her seat, she was a rather handsome looking skunk morph with a luxuriant white striped black tail.

I nodded, "I am familiar with what I need to do, though the odds this time are rather more stacked against us than they've ever been before." I commented, "That and the stakes are so much higher than before. Previously it was only for profit that we did what we did, but now there's a life on the line, so failure is unthinkable." I stated as I worked on the cameras, making sure that I was getting clean footage for my loop job. I had to make sure that I didn't catch any of the Nail's guard patrols in my footage, though I know that in some ways not ever seeing a guard in my footage would seem strange the alternative would be having a guard in frame when the fact that he wasn't anywhere near the camera would be even more incriminating.

"Yeah, it is kind of strange to think that at one point you were working against us, I wonder how much of our own systems have been... influence by your hand." She stated softly and I could tell that Reg was interested as well.

I paused since I had done some work against the police when I'd been a human adult, "Well your central security system is unaffected since it isn't wired to the outside world the way the Nails have their system set up. However; I have, in the past, done some tinkering with the systems that police do have networked. When this is all over I can show you what I've done and the backdoors that still remain in your software for remote access." I stated softly, looking rather apologetically over at Reg, "I'm not really proud of what I've done, but at the time I saw it as something I had to do to keep my friends from seeing the inside of a cell."

For his part Reg nodded, "Do you think that anybody else would be able to use these backdoors?"

I shook my head, "Unless they have the particular set of keys that I developed for my programs stumbling into those backdoors should be almost impossible, though I'd never one hundred percent guarantee anything." I stated softly while watching the clock and what was going on with my camera footage gathering.

He nodded as I reached down and pulled out my radio and plugged in my headset and mic before setting the air-speaker to my right ear. "Shadow Two, radio check." I said as soon as I turned it on.

"Shadow One, reads you." I heard Mel say quietly into her own mic before the rest of the team checked in, equally quietly.

I sighed as I leaned back in my chair and licked my lips, this was always the worst part of a mission, waiting to get under way, there were always second thoughts and worries about the possibility of being compromised.

"Here kitten, your mom thought you could use this." One of the other agents in the van said before handing me, a bottle, which I knew contained milk. The container kind of embarrassed me, but under the circumstances I wasn't going to complain, all that much.

I took it and noted that it was on the large side before popping the cap over the nipple off and shrugged before swallowing my dignity and sticking it in my muzzle.

"I know that you think of this as rather embarrassing, but to tell the truth, all of us here have something that is spill resistant for our drinks in here." Reg said holding up a water bottle.

I swallowed the milk in my mouth and pulled the nipple out before I replied, "I doubt any of you have a bottle quite like this, it is large size... cub bottle, and you definitely don't have milk in yours."

"You would be surprised." One of the other cops answered.

I shook my head, "The milk I have isn't from a supermarket..." I left the rest hanging as I went back to work, with the bottle resting beside my tablet, pausing every so often to take a pull on the nipple.

As much as I would have liked to have told Viv to not do this I appreciated the gesture since it did allow me to concentrate on what I was working on without worrying if my mouth was going to go dry.

Fifteen minutes before go time I began the really hard part of my work and began replacing the camera feeds into the Nail's security room with my looped recordings while I monitored the real feeds.

"Okay Shadow One I've cleared the cameras on your approach, watch the left side and begin advancing, make sure that your weapons are free and hot." I stated watching as Mel, Simon, and Helen checked the weapons they were carrying. Normally we made a point of not carrying anything lethal, but this time was different and we weren't about to go into this situation without the option to silently end our opponents. I watched through the Nail's cameras as the three members of our team approached the fence before working together to scale it and drop into the compound.

As they worked their way into the compound, through the purposely cluttered yard, towards the warehouse where Amanda was being held, I had to carefully guide them around the patrolling Nails, or on three separate occasions let them deal with the guards. I could almost hear the crunch of vertebrae as Mel stepped out from cover and grabbed one poor dog in a choke-hold before using her prodigious strength to snap his neck like a rotten twig. As swiftly as she appeared she disappeared dragging the still twitching corpse with her to conceal so that nobody would suspect that they were being infiltrated.

"Good grief where on earth did you find that lion?" One of the cops, who'd been standing behind me watching me work asked.

Without taking my eyes off the screen I replied, "Oh, you mean Mel? I ran into her about ten years ago, she'd just gotten out of the army and decided to come home, though I suspect that she'd not had that much luck when she arrived since I ran into her pretty much right after she got out of her cab in her old neighbourhood. I didn' really hook up with her that time, but rather a short time later when she was wandering the street, looking a bit lost."

"So, you hooked up for a bit of mutual protection?" One of the others asked me.

I nodded my head while I guided the team into the warehouse and past a slumbering guard, though I did note that Simon took a moment to make sure the guard wouldn't wake up... ever again. "Yeah that's about how it happened, we both needed what the other had. She had some funds from her career with the military and me... well I didn't have a tonne of street smarts, I did know how to make an ATM dance the hornpipe." I commented, knowing that some of the cops would object to my frank admission that we'd pretty much dipped to petty crime to survive in the beginning. "I'm not proud of what we did back then, but it was either that or starve." I finished before returning my attention to what was going on in the cameras.

So far, we'd been lucky and nobody had spotted us or was aware of the fact that we were so deep into their base. I knew that we were living on borrowed time, then again Mel and I had been living on borrowed time since the very day that we'd partnered up together so long ago.

"Shadow Two looks like we are approaching the target," Mel said over the radio and I double clicked my mic button to acknowledge that fact.

"Shadow Three you're up, I don't know what kind of lock they are using but you going to get through." I said through the radio, though I knew that Helen didn't need any encouragement whatsoever to break into this lock, she already had plenty of motivation.

"Roger that Shadow Two she whispered in her mic before kneeling down to begin the delicate procedure of picking the lock. I'd already made a point to disable the alarms on the door so that nobody would know when they got the door open.

I found myself holding my breath as I watched her work on the lock and while watching the cameras. I later learned that every occupant of the van had been standing behind me, giving their own silent encouragement to the lithe, strong, young cat as she worked on the lock. They wanted her to succeed as much as I did, since her success would mean that a young innocent life would be spared a most cruel death.

Finally, she succeeded and dashed into the room before kneeling down beside the lone cot in the corner.

"She's alive!" She growled into the radio before, ever so gently reaching down to shake her sister awake.

Amanda woke with a start and a snarl before pausing and then leaping into Helen's arms with a happy yowl.

"Quiet sis, we aren't out of this yet," Helen said, I could hear her because the way she was hugging her sister had pressed her transmit button.

"Mel, Simon secure the door, we're short on minutes," I said, getting everybody back on track, "Hel, give your sister the spare and get her up to speed on how to use the thing. I'm going to be sounding the horns in a minute." I said as I prepared the program that I'd called, Horns of Jericho while the name of the program was biblical I wasn't really much one for religion of any sort. The program was designed to completely crash the Nail's computer security system, they'd have no information on what was going on and no way of recovering their system either, I'd be the only one with access to their camera network, though I'd already decided to share the load with the rest of the people in the van. I nodded to Reg to indicate that his teams should begin their assault before I activated the program.

As I'd expected all hell broke loose in the warehouse compound as everything that was in any way connected to their computer network shut down or turned on depending what the horns were calling for. Even my own team wasn't really spared the disorientating effects of the program on the lighting and alarm system.

"Good grief I hate when you have to use this program Dar." Came Simon's complaint as he crouched by the door.

"I know Simon, but we have to get our tails moving." I told him, "Mel do you see any way out of that room other than the way you came in?" I asked, since I couldn't really see everything in the room because of how the camera was positioned.

"Yes, there is a window set up high, though we may have to break it to get out, and only Helen, Amanda and Simon will fit through it." Came Mel's reply.

I watched as Mel lifted Helen up to take a better look, while at the same time keeping an eye on the security cameras. The Nails were running around their base like ants in an upturned mound, though there was some degree of organization it seemed to be more than a little piecemeal though as I'd suspected they were sending a rather strong group towards the room where Amanda had been held.

"Okay strike that Mel, we need to get you guys out." I said roughly, "If you aren't out in five things are going to get more than a little ugly."

"Then they'll get ugly," Mel answered as I heard the sound of a rusty hinge giving way, "I don't want to risk Amanda and Helen in a fire fight."

"Mel, we can find another way," Helen said before I saw Mel's shoulders move as she almost launched the young cougar out the window before kneeling down and picking up Amanda to repeat the process.

"No Helen, I won't risk you and Amanda on the vague hope that the police will get to us before the Nails turn us into dog food, Simon you're up." Mel said turning to her mate, but he shook his head.

"I'm not leaving you Mel, we stick together, that's how it works." He stated as he walked over to the cot to begin moving it towards the door.

Mel grabbed his shoulder, "Simon I don't want you in this room when they try and come through that door." She said roughly, "I've been through shit like this before, you haven't."

For his part Simon leaned up and kissed Mel before stepping back, "Mel, you aren't going to die alone in this room, like it or not I'm staying with you," He said before without even indicating what he was going to do he aimed his pistol at the camera...

"Damn it" I swore at the image from the camera dissolved into static. "Helen, move along the roof away from the window. I don't want you near there when Nails get there, the roof on these warehouses isn't bullet-proof." I ordered before trying Mel's radio, "Mel, answer me god damn it."

A chuckle came through the radio, "Relax Daren, we're still here, but from what you said things are going to get a bit hairy so we are going to sign off."

"Please Mel, get out of there, this can only end one way now." I said, taking a moment to reach up and try and clear my eyes, which had tears in them.

"Sorry kitten, we have to keep those fucks occupied while Helen gets Amanda away from this part of the warehouse." She replied before I heard a click, which I knew all too well. It was the sound of one of our radios going off-line.

"Mel!" I shouted into my mic, "For god's sake don't do this Mel.."