LOL Nicky, your reviews are so funny. Email me, will ya? My address is deanalisi@hotmail.com. That goes for anyone else who wants to email me too! :)

"You're gonna jump, right?" Jake asked Frank over the cell phone. "Whether you make it to the Lake or not?"

Frank laughed, mirthlessly. "I don't want to die, Jake, but I did want to leave this thing in a secluded area."

"Yeah," Jake said.

Neither of them said anything for a minute.

"I'd better go, in case Lazarro calls back again," said Frank.

"Okay. Call back in a few minutes, and tell me your plan," Jake said.

"I will," Frank said, and hung up.

At minute 6, Frank was about to call Jake and tell him there was no way he'd reach the Lake in time, but his phone rang before he had the chance.

"Hey Frankie."

"What do you want now?" Frank replied.

"I changed my mind," Lazarro told him. "Giving the people a time limit lets them know what to expect. Tell them the bomb will blow anytime between now and an hour!" he started to laugh. "I could do it this instant, or not for 45 minutes! That'll drive them crazy, wouldn't you think, Frankie boy?"

It could buy me time to get to Lake Michigan, Frank thought. "Yeah, crazy." Just like you.

"Wow, me and Frank Donovan agree on something!" Lazarro laughed, and hung up.

The phone rang again before Frank had a chance to put it down, and Jake's voice said, "Frank! It's been 8 minutes!"

"He changed his mind," Frank told him. "We may have an hour."

Jake didn't bother asking questions. "You could reach the Lake in less then 10 minutes!" he said.

"Yeah," Frank agreed. "Listen, Jake, if this bus suddenly swerves for no reason, it's a signal for you to stop following immediately," he told him, knowing that if he was talking with Lazarro and found out a bomb is about to go off, that would be the only way to notify Jake fast enough. "In fact, it's a signal for you to do a 180 and floor it," he clarified.

Jake hesitated for a minute. "Okay," he said, reluctantly.

Frank hung up and put the phone on the dashboard. Making himself breathe slowly and evenly, he was glad to see that his heart wasn't going spastic anymore. Quickly looking at his watch, he saw that the situation had been going on for only 4 hours. It seemed like all day, to Frank, who couldn't wait to get off the bus, go home, and go to bed. With a groan, he realized that the first place he'd be destined for after getting off the bus would most likely be the hospital.

A few more minutes passed, with no callback from the criminal. Frank was getting more nervous as he got closer to the Lake, and he tried to calm himself; his still-recovering heart seemed to use anything as an excuse to let it's rate jump dramatically.

Suddenly, Frank could see the Lake. He picked up the phone to call Jake, but it rang before he had a chance to dial.

"Frank! The Lake!"

"I know. Stop where you are. After I'm off I'll call you to come get me."

"But Frank…"

"Jake, this thing could blow any second, according to him! I'll be off in a minute. Stop here!" Frank told him.

In the rearview mirror, Frank saw the Expedition pull to the side of the road.

"We stopped, Frank," Jake said, unnecessarily.

"Good. Wait till I call you, or until you know for sure that the bus is in the water," Frank said, realizing that he could knock himself out from the jump, and not be able to call Jake at all.

He hung up, and stood, getting ready to let go of the steering wheel. He had to jump at the last second; for when he let go of the gas pedal the bus would quickly slow down to less then 50, and would explode before going into the water, catching him in the blast.

Suddenly the bus rocked with a huge explosion, and the whole thing bucked, making his foot slip from the gas pedal momentarily. Frank grabbed for his cell phone, which fell off the dashboard. His life was more important then a stupid phone, but he needed it in order to communicate with Jake, and Lazarro, who would eventually figure out he'd failed in his ploy and would flee. Frank's nervousness mounted when he saw how close he was to the Lake, and he grabbed the phone and stumbled to the door, feeling the bus slow down with the absence of weight on the accelerator.

Not bothering to try to jump 'correctly', as the bus' height was probably too high to avoid injury at that speed anyway, he dove out the door, hitting the ground hard and rolling a few times.

The bus careened off the road and fell towards the water, almost as if in slow motion. Frank was shocked to see that the explosion of a minute ago had blown out the back wall of the bus.

A fireball suddenly exploded before his eyes and he instinctively closed them as the entire bus finally blew up. He heard a tremendous splash, and opened his eyes again to see smoke rising from the rapidly sinking vehicle.

His cell phone suddenly rang, and Frank hazily saw it lying a few feet away. He reached out his left arm towards it, wincing in pain when his whole body protested the movement. He couldn't reach it, and had to drag himself closer, with a groan.

"Jake?" he gasped, the breath having been knocked out of him.

"Frank! Thank God! Are you all right?" Jake asked, sounding frantic.

Frank didn't answer at first, trying to get his breath back.

Jake could hear it, and said, "Nevermind, don't answer, we're almost there."

Frank dazedly nodded, as if Jake could see him, and plopped his head back down to the hard earth, his senses swimming. His whole body hurt, and he could feel his heart start a spastic dance again, pounding against the ground…