CHAPTER 4.

"OK you two, sit there and keep your mouths shut," said Amy-Jo waving her gun at Fraser and Meg when they all got to the basement. "And you," she added, pointing at Candy.

"Hey, I'm not a hostage," whined Candy. "I'm one of your gang."

"We're not a gang," retorted Amy-Jo. "Sit down."

"Leave her alone, she's my girl," Manny said angrily, getting to his feet as he spoke and Candy smiled triumphantly at Amy-Jo.

"Get on with whatever it is you have to do and leave me to do my job," snapped Amy-Jo. "I just want to get my share of the money and get out of here."

"Don't talk to him like that," Candy stomped across to the other woman with her hands on her hips.

Amy-Jo's patience finally ran out and she span round, her arms flailing wildly, ready for a argument, but she hadn't realised that Candy had got so close to her. Before she could stop herself, Amy-Jo caught Candy on the side of the head with the butt of her gun, sending the younger woman sprawling across the floor.

"Oh my god! You killed her!" exclaimed Manny and he ran at Amy-Jo, grabbing her by the throat.

Immediately Fraser ran to them and pulled them apart. "Please, the young woman is not dead," he explained.

"Sit down!" Amy-Jo screamed at him. She really wished she'd stop getting herself involved in Karl's schemes. This was the stupidest plan he'd ever come up with and his buddy Manny might well be good with bombs, but he was a moron who was going to get them all killed one of these days. Possibly today.

"Let me help her," pleaded Fraser, glancing at Candy who was out cold on the hard floor.

"I'll help her," said Meg suddenly. She didn't want Fraser getting his hands on any of that exposed, young flesh and before Amy-Jo could stop her, Meg was kneeling beside Candy and rolling her onto her side. "There, she'll be fine in a few minutes," explained Meg. "Now, I believe you have a bomb to set."

Manny, scowled at Amy-Jo and went back to join Dominic, who had already started to work on the bomb.

"So, um, um…what are we blowing up here, exactly?" Dominic asked, nervously.

"This wall," replied Manny. "According to the boss, there's treasure behind it." His eyes lit up with childish excitement as he spoke.

"What kind of treasure?" asked Dominic as he snipped the ends of some wires.

"Dunno," shrugged Manny. "Karl wouldn't tell me. He says I can't keep my big mouth shut."

"He has a point," sneered Amy-Jo. "Don't tell everyone the plan, just get that thing wired up quickly." She looked at her watch nervously. "He'll be here in half an hour and he's not going to hang around."

"Who are you waiting for?" asked Fraser.

"The boss," replied Manny. "Karl wouldn't tell me his name, but I heard him and Stewie talking. It's some guy named Dankworth. Walter Dankworth, I think."

Fraser had heard that name before. Walter J Dankworth was a well-known associate of various mob bosses and the Chicago PD had quite a history with him. His legal team had done a very good job of keeping him out of jail so far, of course, but maybe that was about to change? Fraser glanced at Inspector Thatcher, but if she did recognise Dankworth's name she wasn't letting it show. The Inspector wasn't as familiar with the criminals of Chicago as he was, though, Fraser realised. He would have to explain it to her later.

"I'm probably going to get fired for helping you," continued Dominic as he worked carefully, trying to concentrate on the electronic timer and not on the lump of Semtex attached to the other end of the wires. "Which sucks, because I love my job," he added.

"You love your job?" queried Amy-Jo, incredulously. "You handle stinky shoes that have been on people's sweaty feet. I can't think of anything more gross."

"I love shoes," replied Dominic. "Shoes are fascinating. Did you know that the earliest known example of a shoe was discovered in a cave in Oregon? It dates from about 7,000 BC."

"I did not know that," replied Manny, genuinely interested.

"And…and the European espadrilles have been around since the Middle Ages," continued Dominic.

Meg shook her head. This was one weird kid. He was obsessed with Star Trek and shoes. These are the kinds of loners who wind up stalking women, or worse, she thought to herself. She sighed. Maybe that was unfair of her, but if this was the distraction he was talking about earlier, it wasn't going to work. Unless Amy-Jo and Manny fall asleep through boredom, a conversation about shoes wasn't going to be enough. She glanced at Fraser. If it wasn't for the bomb, she felt sure he would have taken control of the situation by now, but the presence of the explosive device complicated matters. Besides, Fraser seemed fascinated by the shoe conversation. If he mentions Inuit shoes…

"The mukluks worn by the Inuit are traditionally made of reindeer or seal skin," said Fraser.

Meg closed her eyes and sighed.

"And of course the Dutch wear wooden clogs, traditionally called…" Dominic paused and stared wide eyed at Fraser before continuing, "…sabots."

"OK, enough of this," said Amy-Jo. "Are you done yet?"

"Almost," said Manny. "This kid is good. You just gotta attach the red wire to the…" but he stopped talking suddenly and froze, staring at the bomb. "What the hell did you do?" he exclaimed.

The timer was counting down.

"I…I… I'm sorry. It was an accident," stammered Dominic.

"This thing is gonna blow!" exclaimed Manny. "Get outta here!" He scrambled to his feet.

Fraser seized on a stunned Manny and pushed him against the wall with his hands pulled tightly behind his back.

"What the hell are you doing?" yelled Manny. "The bomb! We're all gonna die!"

"I don't believe we are," replied Fraser, calmly. "At least, not at this particular juncture."

"What?" Amy-Jo tried to run, but in the panic, Meg was able to grab her arm, snatching her gun from her hand as she did so and pushing her to her knees.

They all turned and silently watched the last few seconds of the timer counting down. As the bright red digits clicked over to zero, Amy-Jo closed her eyes and Manny tensed every muscle in his body, waiting for the impending explosion…but nothing happened.

Puzzled, Manny turned his head to Dominic. "You…you little…" he began, but his anger towards the younger man was soon replaced by even more anger towards the man who currently had him pinned against the wall. "Let me go!" he yelled at Fraser.

"I'm afraid I can't do that," replied Fraser. "I'm making a citizen's arrest."

"Citizen's arrest?" queried Dominic. "I thought you said you were a cop."

"You're a cop!" exclaimed Manny.

"Well yes, that's true," agreed Fraser. "Unfortunately I have no arrest authority outside of the Dominion of Canada."

"Me neither," admitted Meg. "So I'm also making a citizen's arrest," she said, smiling triumphantly at Amy-Jo.

Fraser turned to Dominic. "Nice work, son," he said, with an appreciative nod.

Dominic breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm just glad you got the Star Trek VI reference," he said with a grin.

Fraser looked puzzled. "I'm sorry, I don't understand," he said.

"You know, in the Undiscovered Country when Lieutenant Valeris suggests they go to rescue Kirk and Bones by pretending the Enterprise is malfunctioning," continued Dominic. "So she explains the origin of the word sabotage. I knew you'd get it when I started talking about wooden clogs. I used my earring to bypass the circuit."

"Oh, I see," replied Fraser. "I'm sorry, but I haven't seen that particular movie. However I remember reading a delightful book in my grandmother's library all about European footwear. The explanation was in there."

Only Fraser would choose to read a book about European footwear as a child, Meg realised, wondering again what exactly it was she saw in this man.

Candy made a groaning noise as she started to come round. Dominic went to help her to her feet.

"I believe it's time to break the news to Karl," said Fraser, loosening his grip on Manny slightly.

"He's gonna be mad," replied Manny.

Meg picked up Amy-Jo's gun from the floor and dragged the woman to her feet. "Don't try anything stupid," she said and Amy-Jo nodded. She knew this thing was over and, despite being under arrest, she was secretly quite relieved.

Upstairs in the bowling alley, Turnbull was getting very nervous. He was so disappointed that his birthday evening had been ruined and now he was worried about his fellow Mounties. "I'm concerned about Constable Fraser and Inspector Thatcher," he whispered to Ray.

"Quit worrying; they'll be fine," replied Ray as reassuringly as he could.

"How long does it take to blow something up?" asked Francesca. She was worried about them too – mostly about Fraser.

"Do you people ever stop talking?" snapped Karl, looking at his watch. Dankworth will be here soon; what the hell was Manny doing down there? Dankworth had made it quite clear to Karl that he wanted to walk in, take the loot and leave. He wasn't going to wait around while they unloaded it all.

Karl's thoughts were interrupted by the door to the back stairwell opening. Amy-Jo and Manny were standing there silently.

"What are you doing?" asked Karl. "I didn't hear the bomb go off?"

"Er, there was a problem," replied Amy-Jo, meekly.

Ray was poised to act. Finally, he thought.

Then Amy-Jo and Manny stepped forward revealing Fraser and Meg. Meg was holding the gun to Amy-Jo's head.

"Lay your weapons on the floor," ordered Meg.

Karl hesitated.

"They're cops," explained Amy-Jo with a sigh.

"Cops?" repeated Stewie in disbelief. Amy-Jo nodded.

Karl couldn't believe it. No wonder that guy with the hat was so mouthy. He looked over at Stewie and nodded dejectedly. It was over. They both slowly put their guns down on the floor.

Turnbull ran over and collected the weapons, while Ray and Welsh arrested Karl and Stewie.

"They're working for Walter J Dankworth," explained Fraser.

Ray looked at his Lieutenant. They'd been right about someone big being behind all of this.

"Real lowlife, likes to hang out with some of the biggest crime scumbags in the city," Ray explained to Turnbull who was looking puzzled.

"Wow, I thought he left town after he got that murder charge dropped," said Francesca who was well aware of the reputation of the man.

"I guess not," replied Ray. He looked at Karl, Manny, Amy-Jo and Stewie who were now sitting back to back on the filthy carpet. "So, er, where did he find you clowns?" he asked. "Rent-A-Moron?" Ray grinned at his own joke.

Stewie tried to get up and retaliate, but Karl held him back.

"I know a guy who knows a guy who knows Dankworth," said Karl by way of explanation. "Y'know how it is."

Welsh and Ray nodded. They knew exactly how it worked in this town. Guys like Dankworth hired small time muscle to do their dirty work. He always made sure there was no way of tying things back to him, of course. It was no-risk crime; easy money.

"But we don't know anything," continued Karl, desperately trying to distance himself from the serious crimes he knew Dankworth was involved in. "We were hired to blow a hole in the wall. That's all."

"What's behind the wall?" asked Francesca, surprised no one had asked it already.

"We don't know," answered Karl.

"It's treasure," replied Manny, with a smile.

"Don't be stupid," retorted Stewie. "It's probably drugs, or something dumb like that. Guns, maybe?"

"But we've all heard the stories," continued Manny, getting more and more excited. "They say there's treasure down there."

"You mean, like pieces of eight?" queried Turnbull.

"Pirates don't bury their treasure in a bowling alley," responded Francesca and Turnbull quickly realised how stupid his statement had been.

"What the hell are you talking about?" asked Karl.

"Hey, show some respect to my people," snapped Welsh. "Just tell us what's down there."

"No one knows for sure," replied Karl. "As far as we know there's a stash of gold bars and jewellery hidden in the wall. It was put there in the thirties by one of Frank Nitti's associates. Ever since they found that haul at the St. Fortuna school a couple years back there have been rumours of more all over the city. Dankworth said he had real evidence for this place though - a bracelet, I think. He had it authenticated as belonging to Kitty Milward, one of Nitti's molls."

"Moles?" queried Turnbull.

"No, molls. Female companions, in the local parlance," explained Fraser.

As Welsh, Ray and Meg discussed what to do next, Fraser explained the history of the previous find to Dominic. He and the real Ray Vecchio had been involved in the incident at St. Fortuna where a huge amount of vintage weapons and jewellery had been hidden under the building for over sixty years. As far as Fraser was aware, though, a task force had been set up afterwards to follow up other leads, but had come up empty handed.

"You went undercover as a woman?" exclaimed Dominic.

"It was a girls' school," explained Fraser. "I had little choice."

Dominic tried – and failed – to stifle a snigger.

"So Walter J Dankworth has a contact who can authenticate these finds," said Meg.

"Apparently so," replied Welsh. "I think I'd like a chat with him."

Welsh turned back to Karl and his gang. "OK you bozos," he said. "Now, I figure you don't really want to go to jail, do you?"

"No," replied Manny. "Well, I don't anyway. What about you guys?"

"No of course I don't want to go to jail, you moron!" exclaimed Stewie in disbelief.

"We could just leave you here until Dankworth shows up," suggested Ray. "You didn't really think he was just gonna let y'all go after he got what he wanted, did you?"

Karl shrugged. Dankworth had talked the talk. He'd convinced Karl that he would be true to his word and that this job would be very lucrative. Maybe he had been a fool to trust Dankworth after all. Greed had got the better of him. Right now Karl felt like a bigger idiot than Manny.

"So, can we go now?" asked Manny, hopefully.

OK, maybe Manny is still the bigger idiot after all.

"What do you think, Detective? Shall I let them go?" Welsh replied sarcastically. He paused for a moment. "Hmmm…no, of course not!" he finished, eventually. "However, I think we can reach an understanding here. You scratch our backs and we'll scratch yours."

Karl nodded understandingly, but Manny still looked puzzled. "I don't have an itch?" he said.

"Jesus, Manny," exclaimed Karl. "If we help the cops get Dankworth we'll get a deal."

"Oh. Cool," grinned Manny. He glanced over to where Dominic had been taking care of Candy. "You OK, babe?" he called out to his girlfriend who was sitting up, sipping water.

"Uh-huh," replied Candy. "What did I miss? What's going on?"

"I'm not completely sure," admitted Manny, "but we're not going to jail now, so it's OK."

"Jail!" exclaimed Candy.

"Quiet," commanded Welsh. "You two lovebirds can chat later. Dankworth is going to show up any minute. Listen to me, here's what's going to happen."