Collision Course with Death
A UC: Undercover story by Deana Lisi
Inspired by the movie, 'Speed' starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock.
Disclaimer: I don't own Frank, Jake, or anyone else from the UC team.
"WOO HOO!"
Frank, Alex, and Monica looked up when Cody burst into the Nest, waving his car keys around.
"I did it! I finally got a new car! Come see!"
The women jumped from their seats and ran as if they were trying to beat each other at a race. Frank shook his head, and followed at a more normal pace.
"Wow!" he heard Monica exclaim.
Reaching the door, Frank was surprised to see a brand new Mustang Cobra sitting in the driveway, Cody leaning against it, smiling ear to ear.
Yellow. The car was bright yellow.
"How did you manage to afford that?!" Alex asked, going over and looking at the interior.
"It's not as expensive as you think," Cody told her. "Look at this baby!" he said, very excited. "Can you believe it? It's mine, all mine! BWAHAHAHAHA!"
Frank couldn't help but smile, amused at Cody's enthusiasm.
Suddenly Cody stopped, and looked around. "Where's Jake? I can't wait to see his face when he gets a load of this!"
"Not here yet," said Alex.
"Oh," Cody said, frowning.
Suddenly Alex's cell phone rang. "He must've known we were talking about him," Alex said, seeing his cell's number on her caller ID. "Yeah, Jake?" she said.
The team watched as her face changed from smiling, to shock, and then horror.
"What?" Frank asked, concerned.
Alex looked at him, seeming too shocked to speak. "Jake had to take a bus…his truck wouldn't start…" she paused.
Monica grabbed her arm. "What's wrong, Alex? Tell us!"
"H-hold on, Jake," she said into the phone. Looking back at Frank, her ice-blue owl eyes reflected panic. "There's bombs on the bus! Some psycho is trying to act out the movie 'Speed', and Jake is on that bus!"
Before anyone could react to that, Frank's cell phone rang, and he answered it, as Alex quickly went back to Jake on hers.
"Donovan."
"Frank!" It was Chief Morgan from the Chicago Police Dept. "We have a major situation here…"
"Bombs on a bus?" Frank asked, hoping that there wasn't something else too.
Morgan stopped. "How the heck did you know?"
Frank closed his eyes, the magnitude of the situation sinking in. "Jake is on it," he said, rubbing a hand over his face with a sigh.
"On the bus? What!"
Frank ran back into the building, for his keys and gun. "Jake just called us. He said some psycho is trying to pull off the movie 'Speed'."
"Yeah, and Frank…the psycho asked for you."
Frank stopped dead. "What?"
"You are the only person he wants working on this. Anyone else tries and he said he'd…" he paused. "He said he'd blow the bus to smithereens."
Frank took a deep breath. "Do we know his name?"
"No, he said he'd call back in…ten minutes from now. You have that long to get to the Station."
"We're on our way," Frank said, running back out.
Alex was sitting on the steps, trying not to cry, still talking to Jake on her phone.
"Alex…" Frank said. He felt bad for her; she and Jake were as close as brother and sister. "Can I talk to him?" he asked, gently.
Alex looked like she didn't want to hand over her phone, but she did, with a sniff.
"Jake," Frank said.
"Hey Boss," Jake said back. "Looks like this day is off to a great start."
Frank sighed as he motioned for the team to follow him to his car. "Where's the bus, how many people are on board?"
Jake paused, looking out the window. "We're getting off Rt. 55, Morgan just told the bus driver to get off the highway, to minimize danger to innocent people…"
Frank sighed, as he sped through traffic towards the police station.
"There's 13 or 14 people, including me and the bus driver," Jake told him.
"All right," said Frank. "Do you know where the bombs are?"
"No," Jake told him. "I can't see anything to indicate it's true." He paused. "Did Morgan tell you that we can't go under 50, just like the movie?"
This new piece of information upset Frank greatly, and he closed his eyes for a second. How am I going to save Jake, and all those people? He opened his eyes again, feeling his blood pressure spike. "We're almost at the PD, this guy is supposed to call there to talk to me—"
"To you, specifically?" Jake interrupted. "You mean this was a planned thing to get at you?"
"Looks that way. We're here, I'll give you to Alex," he said, knowing she probably won't stop talking to Jake through the whole situation, to set her mind as ease over his safety.
Everyone jumped out of Frank's Volvo, and ran up the steps of the police station. They ran into the foyer, and Frank quickly typed the station's code into the keypad, and opened the main door.
Suddenly Morgan's head popped out of the door leading to the dispatch desk. "Frank! In here."
Everyone followed, going into the room.
"Did he call back yet?" Frank asked.
Morgan shook his head. "Should be any second."
Everyone waited, and the phone rang 10 seconds later.
The dispatcher answered it. "Chicago Police." He listened, and handed the phone to Frank without a word.
"This is Frank Donovan," Frank said.
"Aha! Frankie boy!" he heard. "I knew you'd get there in time. Did you cause any car accidents, in your haste?"
"Who are you?" Frank demanded.
"What? You mean my voice doesn't sound familiar? I'm hurt, Frankie. Maybe mention of our unfortunate run-in a year or two ago will refresh your memory."
Frank waited, trying to place the man's voice.
"I was so good at eluding the authorities," the man went on. "For so long. That is, until you came along and ruined it all for me."
The man's name popped into Frank's head. "Michael Lazarro."
"Ha! You do remember! I'm impressed! Gimme your cell phone number."
Frank sighed, knowing the criminal would need it to keep in contact with them. "555-1123. Get to the point," Frank snapped. "Why are you doing this?"
"Why?" Lazarro repeated. "Isn't it obvious? You succeed at everything, Frankie. Everyone failed at bringing me down except you, the mighty Frank Donovan." He paused, sounding angry. "For once, you're gonna fail. I want you to fail! There is no way you're gonna manage to save the people on that bus! No way!"
Frank tried to keep the anger from showing in his voice. "What do you want in exchange for their lives?"
"Nothing, they're gonna die. The only thing I want is for you to get on that bus." He laughed. "I know you're gonna try your hardest to save them, no matter what I say. Well, here's your chance. I'm gonna let you get on that bus. How, you might ask? You saw the movie, right? Figure it out!"
With that, he hung up.
Frank handed the phone back to the dispatcher. "Pull that tape and replay it," he said, for the benefit of the others. Taking Alex's phone out of her hand, he walked out of the dispatch room.
"Jake?"
"Yeah."
"Where is the bus now, I have to board it," Frank asked.
Jake didn't sound surprised at all. "Pulaski Road."
"Perfect," said Frank. "Tell the driver to stay on that road. We'll catch up."
"Okay."
Frank went back in, just in time to hear, 'you saw the movie, right? Figure it out!'
"Uh," said Cody. "Frank, have you seen the movie?"
Frank almost smiled at the question. "Yes."
Cody *phewed*.
"Let's go," Frank said.
"Wait!" said Morgan. "You have to get onto a moving bus; it'll be easier with one of the Expeditions."
Frank nodded, as they quickly walked down the stairs, towards the station's garage. "I want the three of you to work on finding out Lazarro's possible location," he told his team. "Get the van, stay in the vicinity. Do not follow the bus." He knew it would be a tough order for them to follow, with Jake and himself both on the bomb-rigged vehicle.
Everyone hesitated, before nodding, Alex still with her phone to her ear.
Taking his keys out of his pocket, he handed them to Monica, and the team went one way while Frank and the Chief went another.
Bursting out the back door of the station, the two of them ran towards an Expedition that was just pulling in.
"What timing!" Morgan exclaimed, running over.
Before the officer driving had a chance to put the truck in park, Morgan and Frank jumped in, to the questioning look of the officer.
"Pulaski road!" said Frank. "Now!"
Without asking questions, the cop threw the truck in reverse, and took off.