"Jake!" Alex kept repeating into her cell phone, after the screams from the passengers died down. "Answer me, Jake!" She could hear Frank and Jake talking, and knew that they were alive, but she wanted to know what the heck had happened.

"Alex?" she suddenly heard.

"What happened!" she asked, pacing, as Cody and Monica looked on.

Jake told her about the stoplight, and Alex sighed, running a hand through her hair. "This is unbelievable," she said.

"I second that," said Jake, as the phone started to slide off his shoulder. "I should get off, Alex, I can't hold the phone and drive this thing at the same time."

Alex felt tears well up in her eyes, afraid that this would be her last conversation with him. "Okay," she said, her voice trembling.

"Don't cry, Alex," Jake said. "Come on, Frank is capable of handling the situation, and I'm a good driver."

Alex laughed, shortly. "Yeah, that explains your speeding tickets."

Jake laughed back. "After this, I will never drive too fast as long as I live. See you later."

I hope so… "Bye," Alex said, almost a whisper. She hit the button and dropped into a seat, trying to control her emotions, something she wasn't very good at.

Cody looked at the two distraught women, trying to think of a way to lighten the mood. "How do you gals like my car?" he asked.

"It's cool," said Monica.

"Yeah," said Alex.

Cody didn't expect enthusiasm, with the current situation. "Sab picked out the color," he said.

That statement got a reaction. "You let your girlfriend pick the color of your new car?" said Monica.

"Yeah," Cody nodded. "We met at a car dealership, both of us looking for a new vehicle, so I figured I'd have her help me pick one. I love the color!

Alex smiled slightly. It was sweet seeing shy, computer-nerd Cody with a girlfriend.

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

"Shut her up!"

Frank turned, looking towards the back of the bus, where someone had just yelled at the young woman. Her baby was crying, seemingly uncontrollably.

The poor girl had tears running down her own face as she bounced the baby around. "Shhh!" she kept saying.

Frank walked toward the men. "Leave her alone!" he demanded, trying to figure out who'd spoken.

"We're all gonna die!" one of them said. It was the man who'd complained. "And in the meantime we have to be driven crazy by that?!"

Frank directed an icy stare at the man, and pointed a finger in his face. "If I hear one more word out of you, you'll wish this thing would blow!"

Jake's jaw dropped, at hearing Frank's words. He looked in the rearview mirror, trying to watch and drive at the same time.

The woman started crying harder. "Shush, Lily! Please!"

Jake almost did a double take at when he saw next.

Frank went over to an older woman, who was watching the girl compassionately. He gestured her to the young mother, and then took the baby into his arms.

The old woman slid into the seat next to the girl and put an arm around her, letting her cry on her shoulder.

Jake couldn't resist turning around to see Frank holding the infant. He couldn't help but smile at the sight.

Frank held the baby tightly, vertically against his chest; its little head sideways against his shoulder. "Shh," he said, bouncing it gently. "You need to be quiet for your Mommy."

Jake itched to pick up his phone and tell the team what he was witnessing. It was a soft side of Frank he was amazed to see.

Frank looked back at Lily's mother, who he could see was calming, just as her daughter was.

The young mother looked at Frank, smiling slightly. "Thank you," she said.

Frank smiled. "I think babies can sense when the person holding it is upset. She couldn't be consoled when you were distressed yourself."

The girl nodded, wiping her eyes, her head still leaning on the old woman's shoulder.

Frank pulled the baby back, looking at its still-wet face. He smiled at Lily's big blue eyes, as the baby stared at him, fascinated at the new face above it.

Suddenly the sweet moment was interrupted by the ringing of his phone. Frank shifted the baby to one arm as he answered it.

"Guess who?" Lazarro said.

"I can't imagine," Frank snapped, as he handed the baby to the old woman, who gave it back to its mother.

"Ha ha, very funny!" said the criminal.

"Let me guess," said Frank, before Lazarro could continue his nonsense. "There's a camera in here, right? So you can see everything that goes on?"

The man laughed. "No, Frankie boy, this ain't the movie. No camera; I don't need one."

Frank put his hand against the wall of the bus, steadying himself when they went over a bump in the road. "Then what's to stop me from getting these people off the bus?"

The man didn't answer, and Frank thought for a minute that he'd stumped the guy, but suddenly he felt like electricity went through his body and he gasped, pulling his hand away from the wall.

Jake glanced behind himself when he heard assorted gasps and mutters. "What?" he asked.

Frank heard a laugh over the phone. "I think you'd better tell everyone not to touch any metal in that there bus, Frankie."

Frank exhaled slowly. "And why is that?" he asked, as if it weren't obvious.

"Because you are now riding a live wire!"

A shiver of dread shot down Frank's spine. "People!" he said, looking around the bus. "The bus is electrified! Do not touch any metal!" Frank looked at the ground. "What about the floor?"

"Aha! Smart guy, aren't you, Frankie boy?"

Frank sighed inwardly, wishing Lazarro would stop calling him that.

"Perfectly safe. I did that just for you," said the madman. "I gotta keep you alive, now, don't I? What good would it do me if you died before getting to see your failure, in not being able to keep the passengers alive, humm?"

Frank nearly snapped when he heard that. Stopping himself a split second before he pounded his fist into the wall, he said, "When we get out of this, I'm going to hunt you down—"

*click*

Frank angrily dropped his cell phone, having nearly thrown it, but realizing that he needed it to communicate with Lazarro.

Jake turned around to look at him, as Frank plopped down into the bus' first seat. He looked very defeated.

Jake sighed, as he looked back to the road. He'd jumped back onto the highway—one with low amounts of traffic—to avoid having to speed through red lights again. Looking in his rearview mirror, he saw that his boss had his 'thinking look' on. Jake hoped that Frank would be able to come up with a plan fast, because right now, he saw no way out of this deadly situation.