CHAPTER 3.
"Jesus!" Manny yelled and hopped from one foot to the other. "I'm stuck! My goddam fingers!"
"Shut up, Manny," replied Karl, dismissively, "and quit blaspheming."
Fraser and Ray looked at each other in disbelief; the idiot had his fingers stuck firmly in a bowling ball.
Candy rushed over to help. "Try wriggling them," she suggested.
"I tried that, babe," whimpered Manny, "but it hurts too much. You gotta help me!"
"May I be of assistance?" Fraser asked, getting to his feet slowly with his hands in the air.
"No. Sit down," snapped Karl.
"But your friend appears to be in some distress," continued Fraser.
"Yeah, Karl. I'm in distress," agreed Manny, his voice cracking. "Please, Karl. It hurts so much; I think I broke my fingers!"
"I think I can help," offered Fraser.
"Stay out of it, buddy," said Ray in a concerned voice. "D'ya wanna get yourself shot?"
"Let me do this, Ray," replied Fraser under his breath. "I have an idea."
"Please, Karl," begged Manny. "I'm dying here!"
"OK, OK," relented Karl.
Fraser nodded an acknowledgement and went over to Manny and Candy to assess the situation. Manny had forced his fingers into the holes in the ball and the more he'd struggled the more swollen they'd become.
"I don't think any of the fingers are broken," explained Fraser. "Try to keep still," he urged.
Manny nodded and watched as Fraser reached into his pocket, but immediately Karl's gun was in the Mountie's face. "Oh no you don't," he snarled.
"I'm unarmed," explained Fraser. "I'm reaching for something will help Manny out of his predicament."
"Slowly," replied Karl suspiciously and Fraser nodded as he produced a small jar from his pocket.
"What is it?" asked Manny.
Fraser unscrewed the lid of the jar and Candy wrinkled up her face in disgust as the smell wafted under her nose.
"It's made from the substance excreted by the male harp seal when…" began Fraser, but then he remembered that Ray often found such details inexplicably offensive so he stopped short of listing the ingredients. "I carry it in case of emergency," he explained to puzzled looks from everyone. "It's very good for releasing seized door hinges and the like."
"Great," Manny managed to muster a grin through the pain. "So get my fingers outta this stupid ball!"
"I'm afraid I can't do that," replied Fraser, flatly.
"What?" exclaimed Manny. "But you said you'd help me!"
"And I will," replied Fraser, "but not until you release the other hostages. You have no need to detain all of these people. My friends and I will remain."
"Hey, I'm the one with the gun here!" replied Karl, angrily. "You don't get to make demands."
"In that case I am unable to help Manny any further," said Fraser, getting to his feet.
"Karl, please!" Manny was begging again. "My fingers hurt like hell and I'm gonna need both my hands to do the bomb."
Fraser froze, every muscle in his body tensed. A bomb? He hadn't been expecting that at all. He glanced at Ray, Welsh and the others. Suddenly the situation had changed. As they'd suspected all along this wasn't just a bungled robbery, this was something far more dangerous.
"Shut up you moron!" Karl yelled at Manny. He wished his companion would learn to keep his big mouth shut.
Fraser swallowed hard and spoke again. "I don't know what's going on here," he admitted, "but I don't believe it was ever your intention to put anyone's lives at risk, particularly those of children."
"Yeah," admitted Manny. "C'mon Karl, let the kids go. It wasn't meant to go down like this."
"Manny's in pain, Karl and this guy can help," added Candy in a quiet voice.
"No one said anything to me about hostages," piped up Amy-Jo, the only female in Karl's group.
"Alright, alright," sighed Karl. He was starting to panic. They had a job to do and now he was starting to lose control of the situation. "You," he pointed to the Santini family. "Get the hell outta here and if you go anywhere near the cops I'll start shooting these people, starting with this guy." He waived his gun in Fraser's direction.
Julie Santini's husband helped her to her feet and then picked up both of his boys, balancing one on each hip and they hugged their father tightly around the neck as he ran with them towards the exit. Julie followed behind as fast as she could as another contraction surged through her. She hadn't told her husband that she was in labour yet so he was going to be in for a shock in a few minutes. As she passed Fraser she mouthed a silent, "Thank you," and Fraser nodded and smiled and breathed a sigh of relief as they safely left the bowling alley.
"Thank you, Karl," said Fraser and he returned to Manny, using the ointment to slowly release his swollen fingers from their confinement.
Manny was so relieved to have the use of his fingers back he hugged a stunned Fraser and then hugged and kissed Candy.
Fraser slowly walked back to join Ray and the others.
"Hey, you could let us go too, y'know!" shouted one of the teenage boys in the group.
Fraser winced. He could tell that Karl was becoming agitated and the last thing they needed was for anyone to push him too far.
"Shut up, Donnie," said one of the boy's friends, anxiously.
"You should listen to your pal, Donnie," sneered Karl.
"They're just kids," said Welsh. "Let them go. There are six of us. We're not going to cause you any trouble."
Inspector Thatcher glanced sideways at the Lieutenant. That was exactly what they were planning to do, wasn't it? While Fraser had been distracting Karl and Manny, she had been discussing ideas with Welsh and Ray. Turnbull hadn't really been much help, but he was prepared to join in with whatever plan they came up with, when they eventually came up with something. The realisation that there was a bomb in the large grey holdall Manny had carried in with him had, of course, intensified the seriousness of the situation. Welsh was still keen to hold back with the prospect of capturing the brains of the operation, whoever that was. Ray could see the benefit in waiting, but his impatience was driving him crazy. He wanted to jump on these morons and get this whole thing over with.
"OK, so now my motormouth pal has told you about our plans," said Karl suddenly, thinking on his feet. He glanced at the clock. "Here's what's gonna happen. Manny has some work to do, you're all gonna stay here and shut the hell up."
"Er, Karl," said Manny. He was rubbing his swollen fingers gently and wincing at the pain. "I can't do it with my fingers like this. I can't do the wiring."
"I'll help," offered Fraser, quickly. "But only if you let the young people go."
"No," snapped Karl. He didn't trust Fraser. This guy wasn't acting normally; he was being too helpful, too eager to please. He was willing to risk his own safety to keep a group of teenagers he'd never met before out of danger. People didn't do that in Chicago. It didn't make any sense.
"I can do it," said Dominic, he voice shaking as he spoke. "But like he said, only if you let the others go."
"Sit down, son," said Welsh and Ray nodded in agreement with his Lieutenant.
"It's OK, I know what I'm doing," replied Dominic. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure Karl couldn't hear what he was saying. "I'm going to try to create a distraction. Then you can call the cops."
Ray sighed. "Kid, we are the cops," he hissed under his breath.
Dominic looked stunned.
"We've got this, OK," added Ray. "Stay out of it."
"Then why are we still here?" asked Dominic. He couldn't believe that there had been cops in the building this whole time.
"We're waiting for a suitable moment," replied Fraser. "Provoking them at this juncture may not be advisable."
"Then I'll give you that moment," said Dominic, earnestly.
"For goodness sake, they have a bomb!" exclaimed Inspector Thatcher, as quietly as she could. "We want to arrest them, not blow the place to smithereens."
Dominic stood straighter and tried to puff his chest out courageously. "It's what Captain Kirk would do," he said.
"Captain Kirk would blow up a bowling alley?" queried Turnbull.
"I don't think that's quite what the kid meant," replied Welsh. "Look, son, don't try to be a hero."
Dominic suddenly shrunk back into himself. "I…I don't think I can be a hero," he said, sheepishly.
"What are you all chatting about?" asked Karl who had been distracted helping Manny unpack some tools and equipment.
"Come on, kiddo, if you're gonna help with this thing," said Karl impatiently. "We don't have a lot of time."
"Are…are you going to let them go?" asked Dominic, nodding towards Donnie and his group.
"Yes, for god's sake, I'll let them go," Karl threw his arms in the air in despair. He was meant to be making the decisions here, but now some skinny teenager was calling the shots. "Go on, before I change my mind," he yelled.
Donnie and his friends ran out of the bowling alley making rude hand gestures at Karl as they left. Karl fired a single warning shot at the wall as they ran past, mostly out of frustration, but it also served to remind everyone that he was serious and that he had a loaded gun in his hand. The situation was in danger of becoming a farce; he had to show he was still in charge
"Candy tells me you're good with wires and stuff," said Manny and Dominic nodded.
"Here's what's gonna happen," said Karl. "You're going to go downstairs and help Manny do whatever it is he needs to do with this bomb. Amy-Jo here is coming with you and I think you with the big mouth should go too," he pointed at Fraser. "For insurance, if you get my drift."
"I think I do," replied Fraser.
"And your girlfriend too," added Karl, pointing to Francesca. "If you try anything, Amy-Jo will shoot her first."
"My…my girlfriend?" queried Fraser, glancing at Francesca. "She's not…she's not my…"
"Actually I'm with him," said Thatcher suddenly. "I mean, he and I are together. So I'll be the insurance…because I'm his girlfriend and not her. Isn't that right, honey?" Her eyes widened in a 'play along' gesture.
"Oh, er, yes of course…er, h…honey," replied Fraser, wincing as the words left his mouth.
Francesca bit hard on her lip. She assumed that this was part of a plan and she hadn't just experienced some kind of announcement, but even so it was hard to hear and even harder to see the Inspector slip her arm around Fraser's and squeeze it tightly.
"OK, let's do this!" said Manny excitedly.
Ray didn't like to see just how excited Manny was. This guy was clearly one sandwich short of a picnic and he had a bomb in a bag. Ray twitched and looked at Welsh for permission to act now, but the Lieutenant gave a small shake of his head.
Fraser, Thatcher, Dominic and Manny headed towards the stairwell with Amy-Jo walking behind them with her gun in her hand.
Candy called after them. "Can I come too?" she asked. "I've never seen a real bomb before." She made it sound as if she was going to see some cute puppies, not a deadly appliance.
"Sure babe," smiled Manny and Candy skipped over to join him, kissing him and squealing with excitement as they disappeared out of the door.
