*ring*

"What do you want now? Where's my chopper?"

"On its way," Jake told him. "There's only one thing, we aren't giving it to you for free. We want something too."

"What?" Artie asked, as if it wasn't obvious.

"Frank and the hostages."

Jake heard a sigh over the phone. "I already told you you ain't getting Donovan!"

This time Jake sighed. "Then we want the others. Send a few of them out now."

"Heh! Fat chance. Maybe I will let some go, but it'll be in my own sweet time, not by your order."

Jake ran a hand through his hair. Usually cool, and collected, he wasn't a real hostage negotiator, and was racking his brains trying to get through to this guy. Figures, he thought, this time, the hostage negotiator is the hostage. Suddenly an idea occurred to him.

"Look, when the chopper gets here and you leave, you aren't gonna take all the hostages with you. Let them go, there's no reason to keep them in there anymore."

"Whether I let them go or not, you can forget about Donovan."

"I have a better idea," said Jake. "I'll exchange myself for him."

Beside him, Alex gasped.

"What do I want you for?" Artie asked. "You have nothing to do with Donovan putting Tommy away."

Jake looked at Cody as the rest of the team listened to Artie through the recorder they were using to tape the conversation. When Cody heard the clue, he immediately started typing away.

"How do you know? I'm part of Frank's team. Whatever he's working on, I am too."

Artie was silent for a minute.

Inside the bank, Jay watched him, wondering what was going through his mind. Suddenly he saw an expression on Artie's face that was worthy of Peter Ustinov as Emperor Nero in the movie 'Quo Vadis'.

"Okay," Artie said. "I think we can do that."

Do what? Jay thought with dread, hating hearing only one side of the conversation.

********************

Jake was surprised when Artie agreed. Instead of wondering why, his only concern was to get Frank out of that bank.

"Good," he said. "When can we do the exchange?"

"Right now. I'll let the hostages out, and then you, and only you, can come in, get Donovan out and then come back."

What an idiot! Jake thought. Doesn't he realize that once I have Frank, I won't go back in? "Sounds good to me," he said.

"Okay," Artie said. "I'm gonna let them out now."

Let them out? Jay thought, watching Artie hang up the phone.

"Go get the hostages," Artie told him.

"You're letting them go?" Jay said, trying to keep the happiness out of his voice.

Artie nodded.

Jay ran towards the vault, smiling. Thank God! Now no one else will get hurt.

********************

In the vault, the hostages were all huddled against the far back wall, while some of them were in the front keeping an eye on the door.

"Do you think any of us are gonna get out?" One of the women asked the three men tending to Frank, her voice shaking.

"I don't know," one of them said, holding yet another shirt over Frank's wound, the bleeding finally having slowed. "I can't believe this guy is still alive."

"Barely," one of the others pointed out. "He won't be for long if he's in here much longer."

Suddenly Frank moved slightly, and made a soft sound.

"He's waking up!" someone said, shocked.

The three men held him down so he wouldn't move, while the rest of the hostages moved closer.

Frank opened his eyes slightly, not sure where he was, the unfamiliar voices adding to his confusion. He felt hands on his arms and he automatically resisted them, but didn't have the strength to get very far.

"Hey take it easy, man, don't move!"

"Where…who…?"

"You're still in the bank," one of the men said.

Bank? Frank thought, disoriented. The robbery! I'm still alive…wonder how long we've been in here…

"Don't try to talk," said a disembodied voice from Frank's right.

"Someone's coming!"

Everyone jumped at those words, and the men watching the door scrambled back to the group. A few of them prayed that it would be Jay, the sane one of the two.

To everyone's relief, it was.

Jay ran in, taking in the scene. "He's letting you all go."

The hostages gasped and squealed.

"Come on, quick! Before he changes his mind!"

The hostages all stood. "What about him?" A woman asked, pointing to Frank.

Jay sighed. "No, not yet. I'll take care of him, don't worry."

A few of the people looked down at Frank, as if not wanting to leave him there alone.

"Come on," Jay said. "He'll be all right. Just get out of here!"

The hostages all ran out of the vault, stopping to allow Jay to walk in front of them, still afraid of Artie.

Artie went over to the door, and looked out the glass. He saw all the police cars and officers, and easily identified the Chief; with his different uniform, and Jake; obviously the young man standing next to him. They were all watching the door, waiting for it to open.

"Okay, everyone!" Artie yelled. "You're free to go!" He ran far away from the door, and stood pointing Frank's gun at it, in case any cops chose that moment to rush the place.

Jay went to open the door, and realized that this was his chance to escape. His heart did a flutter at the thought of being out of the bank at the dangerous time when the cops gained access, as he knew they eventually would. As he opened the door, however, he remembered Frank, dying in the vault. Oh man, he thought. I can't leave that guy to die.

"Hurry, run fast," he whispered to them, still unsure of Artie's intentions.

"I'll tell the cops about you," the lady who asked him about Frank whispered back. He assumed she meant she'd tell him that he'd tried to help.

He smiled his thanks at her, and when they were all out of the bank, he closed the door.

********************

Jake and the rest of the team ran forward with the rest of the cops when the hostages came down the bank's steps. Grabbing the people's arms, they hurried them away from the building.

"Anyone hurt?" Alex asked, when they'd assembled behind one of the SWAT team's vans.

Everyone shook their heads. They all looked shaken, but unharmed. "No, just the guy still in there, in the vault," someone said.

Frank's in the bank's vault?! "What did the thief do to him?" Jake asked.

"Stabbed him," someone else said.

"Where?" Jake asked, feeling a chill go down his spine. He watched the people point to the left side of their midsections, not everyone's hands in the same place.

"Right here," a man in the front said. "I tried to stop the bleeding."

Jake marked the place on his own body, trying to figure out what kind of damage could have been done. Apparently the wound was right under the ribcage; right about where the spleen would be. The realization doubled his worry.

"All right, thanks everyone. Before you leave, give your names to the cops, in case they want to speak to you about this."

"Wait!"

Jake tried to figure out who had spoken, with some annoyance. He wanted to get to Frank now.

A woman stepped closer. "The other man in the bank…"

"Other man? There are two?"

She nodded. "Yes, but he isn't like Artie."

Cody's jaw dropped. "That looney's name is Artie? Did you get his last name?"

They all shook their heads.

Cody muttered under his breath.

"What about this other guy?" Jake prompted, hoping she'd hurry.

"His name is Jay, and he tried to help us. He didn't want people hurt, I think he would've actually turned on Artie, if he'd had a weapon."

"Artie has Frank's gun and a knife, anything else?"

"No."

Jake nodded. "Okay, thanks." He ran to the Chief, just as the phone rang.

"Well?" he heard in the receiver. "What's taking you so long?"

"I had to make sure the hostages were all right. I'm coming in now."

"Fine," Artie said, and hung up.

"Jake."

He turned after hanging up the phone, to see Alex behind him, looking worried.

"Be careful," she said.

Jake smiled, and gave her a reassuring nod. He then walked towards the bank, going up the stairs. Artie met him at the door, pointing the gun at him as he opened it, and stepped back.

"Come on in, your friend is right over there."

Jake stepped into the bank, looking around for Frank and warily watching Artie at the same time.

Artie slammed the door loudly, and started to laugh.

Jake turned around. "What is this?"

"I can't believe you believed me!" Artie said, still laughing.

Jake glared at him. "You said you would let Frank go, in exchange for me!"

"I lied. Criminals lie! Don't you know that?"

Jake took a step towards him, but stopped at the sight of the gun—Frank's gun—staring him in the face.

"Jay!" Artie yelled. "Get over here!"

********************

Jay was in the vault with Frank, taking his pulse when he heard Artie call him. Oh man, now what? he thought. He went back to the front of the bank, and saw Jake there, Artie holding the gun on him.

"What's going on, Artie?" he asked, trying to play dumb.

"Show our new guest his accommodations, Jay."

Jake looked at Jay, and could see that the hostages were right about him. He was afraid of Artie. Jay gave Jake an apologetic look behind Artie's back, as he motioned for Jake to follow him.

Artie ran over to the window, and looked out it, with a laugh. He couldn't wait to see the look on the cop's faces when they realized that Jake wasn't coming back out.