Chapter Three
Inside his office, Ted Healy removed several documents from his file cabinet and placed them on his desk while Emil entered with a few men in suits behind him.
"Anything, Emil?" Ted asked.
"Nova Labs." Emil placed another document on the desk. "Weapons systems department. He knew where to hit 'em."
"Another lab up in smoke. Why?" Ted tried to think. "What's the connection?"
"All we know is that the first lab he hit was working on a special kind of armor. Real top of the line stuff."
Ted read over the documents and nodded. "Armor and weapons. Obviously there's even more foul play up ahead. Keep at it. Rodney?"
"Yes, sir?" One of the suits stood ready.
"Have a team go over the wreckage. Get anything you can from the police. If things get even more out of hand, they won't be able to do a thing about it."
"I'm on it, sir." The man said as he and his fellow agents left the room.
"So what's his next move?" Emil asked.
Ted just shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. But I did notice something."
"What?"
Ted walked over to a map of the city hanging on the wall and dotted certain areas of the city, connecting them with a single line.
"The first lab hit was on the outskirts of town, near the Van Nuys Airport. The second was a bit closer, next to that high school we visited earlier today."
"Del Lord High School."
"Yes. I thought it was peculiar to have to visit that same road twice in one day. Then I found something that totally caught me off guard."
"What is it?"
Ted drew an enlarged circle on an area next to Del Lord High School. "Here. Maurer Industries."
"That's only a ten minute drive away from the school."
"It's smaller than the other two labs and not as noticeable. I have a feeling he'll go there next."
"But why?"
"I don't know yet. We'll need to keep an eye out."
"Way to keep an eye out, you moron!" Moe smacked his brother across his face as the football team drove off laughing at them.
"How was I supposed to know they were gonna throw that football at you!?" Curly rubbed the side of his face as he and Larry got in Moe's car.
"Oh, never mind." Moe rolled his eyes back and started the engine.
"Kari…" Larry fluttered his eyes dreamily much to Moe's disgust.
"How many times do I have to tell you!? A girl like that is only gonna get you into more trouble!"
"Yeah!" Curly agreed. "Look what she did to me!"
"She didn't do anything to you!" Larry griped.
"…Oh yeah. Never mind. Wait a minute, wait a minute! …What are we talking about?"
"Shut up." Moe bonked him on the head with his left hand. "Poor kid's got a few loose wires."
"Tell me about it." Larry nodded.
As the car parked in Larry's driveway, Mrs. Fine greeted the boys on the lawn while Mr. Fine worked on something on the roof of the house.
"Hi, boys." The woman smiled warmly.
"Hello, Mrs. Fine." Moe and Curly said dryly.
"Larry, you look strange. Are you okay?"
"No, ma'am. That's how he looks all the time." Moe joked.
Larry just shook his head. "No, I'm fine."
"He's in lo--" Curly was immediately interrupted by a smack on the mouth by Larry. "Oh!"
"Quiet!"
"Larry!" Mrs. Fine scolded. "Don't be mean to Moe's brother!"
"It's all right, ma'am! We do it all the time!" Moe explained as he punched Curly in the stomach, then the head and finished it off with a smack across the face.
"Hey!" Curly protested. "Wait a minute! I didn't--"
"Shut up." He interrupted with another smack. "Why don't you try?"
"Well, I…" Mrs. Fine was about to take a turn when she heard her husband's voice.
"Fanny, see if you can get my Phillips from out of the toolbox!" Mr. Fine called out from the roof. "That damn bracket won't hold!" He then noticed his son and his two friends standing around the driveway. "Oh, hey boys! You guys wanna give me a hand up here?"
"Say no." Larry whispered.
"Sure!" Curly blurted out, naturally causing Moe and Larry to beat him over the head some more.
Up on the roof, Mr. Fine and his son were busy screwing in the platform for their new satellite dish while Moe and Curly were kneeling down, feeding the connection wire through the window of the living room.
"Keep sliding it through, boys." Mrs. Fine said as she pulled in the other end of the wire from inside the house.
Unaware a sling was tying around his ankle, Curly continued running the connection wire over to Moe, who was feeding it to Larry's mother with ease.
"Easy, kid." Moe said. "We don't want it to get knotted up."
"I know what I'm doing!" Curly moaned.
"There we go!" Mr. Fine exclaimed as he stood up at gazed at his enormous satellite dish. "All done! Thanks, boys!"
"Geez, dad." Larry scratched his head. "Any bigger and I'd swear we could make contact with life on Mars."
"Oh don't be silly… they haven't made contact since 1985."
"Huh?"
"And besides! You can never have too big a satellite dish! The more power you get, the more channels you receive! Isn't that right, Moe?"
"Yes, sir!" The boy sucked up as he finished feeding the line. "All right, Mrs. Fine! That's all I got!"
"Really?" The woman noticed she was few inches shy from the connection outlet. "It doesn't seem to be long enough!"
"What!?" Her husband leaned over the edge of the roof to look through the window. "That's impossible! The guy at the hardware store told me it was the perfect length!"
"Well it's not, Joseph!" She furiously tugged at the wire, causing Curly to trip and fall forward, thus bringing him to push Moe over the edge.
"Curly, you idiot!" Moe screamed as he hung on to his brother's arm as his legs dangled from the roof.
"Moe, you're pulling me down!" Curly shouted.
"If I'm going, I'm taking you with me!"
"What would Ma say!?"
"What did I just tell you!?"
"Boys, be careful!" Mr. Fine said as he and Larry slowly walked over to help the two up, unaware that the base of the satellite was beginning to unhinge.
Larry struggled to pull Curly up while his father reached over to grab Moe by the arms. In doing so, Larry accidentally tripped over the same wire tied around Curly's ankle and brought everyone over the edge of the roof, causing Mrs. Fine to panic.
"Joseph! Boys!" She placed her hands over her mouth. "Be careful!"
"Larry!" Moe screamed as he and his friends swung around the edge, knocking into the wooden fence that led to the backyard.
"Guys, I'm letting go!" Joseph Fine exclaimed as he removed his grasp from Curly's enlarged body.
"Dad!" Larry looked back as he and the others hung upside down.
"I'm okay!" The man said as he landed safely on his own two feet. "Come on, boys! Just let go! It's only a few feet! You won't get hurt… much."
"All right, you heard the man!" Moe tugged at the wire.
"Are you crazy!? I'm not letting go!" Curly protested as the wire around his ankle snapped, thus causing the three of them to descend to the floor and the dish to flip across the sky.
With a loud thud, Moe, Larry and Curly found themselves lying on their backs as a huge amount of pain swelled through them.
"Well…" Moe began. "…At least we're still alive."
"Yeah." Larry and Curly nodded out of breath.
After a long pause, Moe could sense something was wrong. "Wait a minute…"
"What is it, Moe?" Larry asked.
"Does anyone get the feeling it's not over yet?"
"What do you mean?"
Just then, the oversized satellite dish came falling from the sky, catching the boy's attention and causing them to yell out. "Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!"
Moe, Larry and Curly were silenced immediately, however, when the large dish finally landed on top of them with a loud bang that rang into the air.
"Boys!" Mr. and Mrs. Fine shouted.
One by one, the three of them stuck their heads out in even more pain and grimaced at the worrisome parents.
"Hey, dad?" Larry strained. "…Maybe we should just get cable instead."
