CHAPTER 6

They pulled up onto the drive, but Ray parked the car right at the end instead of driving up to the house, just in case they were spotted. They jumped out, Fraser taking his hat from the dashboard as they did so and dropped back into the trees for cover. They crept round to the back of the house and Fraser carefully looked in through the kitchen window. He quickly moved his head away when he realised that the two men were, indeed, already at the house.

"What did ya see?" asked Ray.

Fraser shook his head. "Unfortunately the kitchen door is only open a little, but I could see two men together with Maria and Milford. I assume that the others are also in there. Sshhh." He raised a finger to his lips as Ray started to speak and pressed his ear to the wall.

Ray hung his head and waited for Fraser to tell him what he could hear.

"Judging by their voice patterns, the two men are of a similar age, so I do not believe that either of them are Maria's step father." He pressed his ear to the wall again, before breaking away and sighing. "They are speaking Portuguese, I am too rusty," he admonished himself.

"C'mon Fraser," said Ray, "ya speak enough languages already. Me, I have trouble with English, y'know?" Fraser smiled a tiny smile and nodded to Ray. "So then," continued Ray, "how are we gonna play this one?"

"Well," began Fraser, getting to his feet, "I think Diefenbaker and I are going to walk in through the front door. I assume you can get this one open?" He indicated towards the back door, which of course had been locked from the inside.

"Course buddy," replied Ray with a slight grin, "just gimme a couple of minutes."

Fraser set off around the house to the front door with Dief at his feet. Milford had given them a front door key and he used it open the door and step into the house. Fraser walked straight into the living room as if nothing unusual was happening at all. "Good afternoon gentlemen," he said. Everyone in the room just stared at him. One of the men had a knife in his hand, Fraser observed and was standing uncomfortably close to Maria, who was shaking with fear. Dan was holding his wife's hand and Gloria and Milford had their arms around each other. "You must be Maria's brother," continued Fraser, extending a hand to the man with the knife, "I've heard so much about you." The man was so taken aback that he just accepted Fraser's handshake without saying a word. He looked across the room at his accomplice, who simply shrugged.

"These gentlemen were just leaving," Milford said, his voice shaking with fear.

"Shut up old man," Maria's half brother spoke angrily, with a heavy accent, "we're not going until we get what's ours. Maria and the baby." He nodded his head towards little Wendy who was asleep. Instinctively, Fraser tensed. He glanced over Maria's shoulder to see that Ray had, of course, managed to get the back door open and was now in the kitchen, his gun drawn. He was waiting for a signal from Fraser.

"I'm sorry sir," began Fraser, "but I cannot allow you to do that."

"Oh yeah?" The man with the knife suddenly lunged at Maria wrapping his arm around her throat and pressing his knife to the side of her neck, using her as a human shield. Fraser resisted every instinct in his body to try to grab Maria and pull her to safety, but this was a tense situation and he didn't know whether the other man was armed. He assumed that he also had a knife, at the very least.

Fraser held out one hand and spoke with all the restraint he could muster. "I don't think you want to do that," he said, "I assume that Maria is no good to you dead? I imagine that your instructions from your father were to bring her back safely?"

The man was becoming agitated now. "You know nothing about my father," he spat at Fraser and tightened his grip around Maria's throat.

Maria began to struggle. "Carlos, please!" she managed to say, between splutters.

"At least let us discuss this in a civilised manner," continued Fraser. He glanced at Ray and he could see his friend directing hand signals towards Diefenbaker who had been following Fraser's orders and not getting involved.

"Leave my wife alone!" shouted Dan and took a step towards them. Fraser tried to get him to stop, but it was too late and Carlos kicked out with his right foot catching Dan in the stomach and sending him reeling across the floor.

"Daniel!" shouted Gloria and she tried to get to her son, but Milford very sensibly held her back.

Fraser glanced at Dief who was still trying to interpret Ray's hand signals. He looked over at Ray, trying to decide whether his partner had enough time to get to Carlos and disarm him before he hurt Maria when, at that moment, the telephone rang. It was just the distraction they needed. Carlos instinctively turned round to see where the noise was coming from and Ray ran through from the kitchen, knocking the knife out of the man's hand and putting his gun to the man's right temple. "Let her go" he yelled in Carlos' ear and the man released his grip.

At the same moment, the other man had turned to make a run for the door, but Fraser jumped him and sent him sprawling, face down, onto the ground. He sat astride the man holding his arms tightly behind his back. He used one hand to search the man's pockets and quickly found a knife. "Ray," he said, "I believe this is the knife that injured Jorge."

"And I'm guessin' that this is the one that killed Jack, or whatever the hell his name was," replied Ray, nodding towards the weapon that was now on the floor. Fraser nodded in agreement. Ray put his gun back into his belt and pulled Carlos' hands behind his back. He shoved the man over to the table and bent him double so that his head hit the table top with a thud.

"Is everyone alright?" said Fraser. Milford and Gloria nodded. "Maria, Dan, are you alright?"

"Yes," Maria managed to reply. She was sat on the floor hugging her husband.

"I'm OK," winced Dan.

Fraser turned his attention back to his prisoner and forcibly pulled the man's arms a little higher up his back. "Arghhh!" yelled the man.

"I'm so terribly sorry," replied Fraser, in his politest Mountie voice. Ray sniggered. Greatness Fraser, he thought, I'll make a Chicago cop out of you yet. "I am performing a citizens arrest," continued Fraser, "you are under arrest for the murder of James Trent, the attempted murder of Jorge Benitez and the attempted kidnapping of Maria and Wendy Buxley. Not to mention various lesser charges of bribery and falsifying documents that will be clarified at a later stage."

"Er, Fraser," Ray said quietly, "do I have to do a, er, a citizen's arrest too?" he asked.

"Yes Ray," replied his partner, "technically you have no jurisdiction here and therefore, none of your usual powers of arrest apply."

"Oh," Ray frowned, "well in that case, sleazebag, I'm citizens arrestin' ya for, um, for what he said." He nodded towards Fraser. Fraser shook his head, under the circumstances that would have to do, he decided.

"I'll call Sheriff O'Callaghan," said Milford, leaving the room to make the telephone call. Ray grinned. He was going to enjoy this, he thought to himself.

"Why Carlos, why?" asked Maria, "I don't understand, why kill Jack?"

"Jack?" replied Carlos as Ray pulled the man by his collar back to an upright position to allow him to speak, "is that what he called himself?" Maria nodded. "He got greedy," continued Carlos, "he was meant to be our inside man, get us into the house. We paid him handsomely for his trouble, but when we got here yesterday he demanded another fifty thousand before he'd help us."

"What about Jorge?" Maria asked, shakily. She was worried that her friend had somehow also been involved in this terrible plan.

"He wasn't meant to be here," hissed Carlos, "Trent told us it was his day off. Although he did seem to know all about me?" Maria closed her eyes and shuddered. Jorge's dedication to his job and to her new family had nearly cost him his life.

A short while later, Maria's half brother, Carlos and his accomplice were being loaded into the back of two cars from the Sheriff's department by two of Sheriff O'Callaghan's deputies. She walked over to Fraser. "Maria told me what happened to her before she came to the States," she said, "I just don't understand how anyone could do that to their own family. Still, what's that old saying, you can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family. My sister drives me crazy sometimes, but I'd never, ever want to hurt her. Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

Fraser shook his head, "No," he said sadly. He looked over to Ray, who was talking to one of the Deputy Sheriffs. They appeared to be enthusiastically comparing their guns, holding them in the air, discussing the different types of ammunition and aiming them at the trees, just like a couple of young rookies, thought Fraser with a smile. That old saying might just have been written for me, he thought, I'd choose Ray as my brother in an instant.

Ray noticed Fraser watching them and hurriedly tucked his weapon into his belt. Fraser waved and signalled for him to come over. Ray walked over to join his friend and the Sheriff.

"Why didn't you call us?" she asked him, abruptly. Great, thought Ray, what about thanking us?

"There was very little time," explained Fraser, "and unfortunately, Ray does not have a signal on his cellular telephone in this area."

"Oh, well, in that case, um," the Sheriff hesitated and shuffled her feet before continuing, "in that case, thank you for your help Constable, Detective." She shook each of their hands in turn. "I will make sure your superiors are made aware of your accomplishments," she said. Fraser and Ray watched her head back to her car before indicating to her deputy to follow her in his car with the other prisoner. Ray turned to Fraser and grinned. Fraser wasn't quite so happy. He was trying to imagine how Inspector Thatcher would manage to turn the situation around somehow and find cause to criticise his actions.

Just then, Dief came wandering over. "What happened to you in there?" Ray asked the wolf. "I was doing the signal and you just stood there?"

"What signal were you trying to do Ray?" asked Fraser.

"Ya know, the create a distraction signal," explained Ray, "the, er, the start barkin' signal. I was doin' the barkin' signal."

Fraser frowned. "You were doing the 'find my keys' signal Ray," he said.

"We have a signal for that?" asked Ray, confused.

"Well you do Ray," replied Fraser, "I never lose my keys."

"Oh." Ray started walking back to he house.

Fraser looked at Dief. "You could have used your initiative," he scolded the wolf. Dief ignored him and they joined Ray and the others in the house.

Gloria was fussing over her son, who was sat a little uncomfortably in a chair. Maria was holding Wendy who had been woken by all the noise. Milford walked back into the room with a huge smile on his face. "I just checked the answerphone," he said, "that telephone call earlier, it was the hospital. Jorge is awake. They're very hopeful that he will make a full recovery."

"Oh wonderful!" exclaimed Gloria.

They spent the next hour or so cleaning up the house and talking over what had happened. Ray and Fraser assured Maria that the two men would face the full extent of the American justice system and there was no way they were going to be able to bribe themselves out of a murder charge. Gloria tried to persuade Fraser and Ray to stay for dinner again, but Fraser politely declined. "This is our last night here," he explained, "and we came to go camping. Besides, I believe Ray mentioned something about cooking for me this evening?"

Ray nodded, "Yeah, I figured I gotta try, right? I'm talkin' about, er, proper food too y'know, not just marshmallows on sticks." Fraser smiled, he was slightly worried that he was going to be going to bed hungry tonight. Gloria caught Ray's eye and beckoned for him to follow her into the kitchen. Fraser pretended not to notice.

Maria was staring out of the window. Fraser walked over to her. "Are you alright?" he asked her gently. She turned her head and he could see that she was still upset. "It's over," he assured her. Maria nodded. "Come and sit down," said Fraser and he placed a hand in the small of her back and led her over to the sofa, she was still trembling. She sat down and looked straight at him with tears in her eyes. "What is it?" he asked.

Maria took a deep breath and tried to compose herself. "A man died because of me," she said and hung her head.

"No Maria, no," insisted Fraser, "you cannot think like that. James Trent made his own choices. He'd served his time in the juvenile detention system. He could have rejoined society and lived his life on the right side of the law, but he was tempted by greed and he paid the ultimate price."

Maria nodded, "but what about Jorge? If you hadn't been here..." her voice trailed off.

Fraser shook his head, "I'm just glad I could help," he said with his usual modesty. "Poor Jorge was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. I'm sure he'll be fine, but he'll need support from his friends over the coming weeks." He smiled at Maria as he spoke.

Maria threw his arms around Fraser. Fraser immediately blushed and awkwardly returned the hug. "Thank you," said Maria, breaking away, "for everything."

"Please," Fraser looked at the floor, embarrassed, "think nothing of it."

Ray wandered back from the kitchen carrying two parcels wrapped in aluminium foil and two plastic containers with lids. Fraser was suddenly a little less worried about dinner. "C'mon buddy," said Ray, "lets get goin', we've got a fire to build." Then he spoke to Maria. "We'll see ya tomorrow mornin' before we go."

Maria stood up and hugged Ray too, although Ray struggled to return the gesture as he had his hands full. "What was that for?" he said with a laugh.

"You saved my life," said Maria.

Ray shrugged. "It's kinda what I do," he said modestly, "once a cop always a cop, I guess, even on vacation."

Fraser picked up their bedrolls and with a quick wave to the others, he and Ray headed back down the path to their campsite.