Chapter 14 - The Ransom Demands Go Out
The students who were let go, head out in all directions. The police, led by Det. Johnson, are just arriving in force, but on silent status, when they see them come running out. Thank goodness, they let most of the students go. Apparently the only ones they are interested in are the ten that the A-Team knows about. The police set up a line of defense along the south parking lot area. Since they know a bomb is involved, they don't want to park too close. The building does not have the best access for the police. The kidnappers have planned well. There is a large open space between this parking area and the building. A line of trees runs along both the west and south end and then it is practically butted up against another building on the east. There are bushes along the outer perimeter on every wall but the east, due to a sidewalk between the buildings.
"Great, the bad guys can see us coming a mile away," gripes Johnson. "How are we going to get any closer than this and not a single high position for the sharpshooters from S.W.A.T."
They have planned very well. His thoughts now go to the A-Team inside. He hopes they can pull this off, or he will have more explaining to do, then he has days on this earth. That is, if he lives through the bomb blast that they suspect. A dirty bomb will take out more than this campus. He is praying the team can do the impossible. He reaches back in the car and grabs the microphone attached to the cars speaker system.
"You in the building, you are surrounded," he lies. Might as well keep going, "come out with your hands in the air!"
No response, but that was expected, then the radio in the car squawks. "Yeah?" It is dispatch. They have a call coming in from the kidnappers and they are sending it to him.
"Okay, put them through. This is Detective Johnson."
"Detective, as you probably know by now, we have twelve hostages in here, who are very frightened and do not want to die. If you meet our demands, we will let them go home to their families tonight. If not, then we will send them and this school and the biggest part of a ten mile radius to the moon."
"Okay, I'm listening. What do you want?"
"First, I have a little video for you and the parents of these student's. Watch it. Make sure the parents watch it. Then, have the parents get together and come up with 10 million dollars. Place it in a duffle bag and bring it back here. You have one hour. That's one hour, or we will start taking them out one at a time. For every ten minutes you are late, we kill a hostage until we have the cash. If you decide not to even try, we have another little surprise for you. There is a dirty bomb planted on this campus. If we don't have the money in one hour, or when we run out of hostages, we'll leave, and set off the bomb. It's all in your court now!" Click
I guess that's it for now. The video shows up in the cars computer. It shows the kids sitting in a line, hands tied, and looking pretty scared. Yep, all ten are there, was that a member of the A-Team? He is not sure, but he did say twelve people. Well, hopefully they have a good plan, because he is really counting on them. Okay, now how do I send this back to the office so they can pass it along to the parents?
"Murphy, come over here. I know you know how to do this. We need to get this back to someone downtown, pronto, to let them know what's happening here."
In the lab, Murdock's goo, or whatever it is seems to have taken on a life of its own. It has boiled over so that he has to use the other two beakers. He wasn't sure how much to make, so he doubled the recipe. He should have plenty now, but there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. Murdock carefully picks up the first container then moves over to the door with it and a small brush he had inside his smock pocket. He dips the brush into the goo, and starts applying it to the door frame. He slowly works his way around the whole door, filling in as much of the cracks and openings he can, including the doorknob and lock. He has to return to the table to get the second container, then, moves back to the door to continue. Last, he goes all the way along the bottom, effectively sealing the door to the floor, and then he starts to cover the small glass window. He first looked out to make sure he didn't see anyone in the hall before applying it there, because it will definitely be visible to any of the kidnappers should they get close to the door. So far, so good, no one has been down the hall in their direction and now the goo can start to set up. His brush is already beginning to take on the look of a hammer, due to the drying adhesive.
"Okay Faceman, I'm finished with this phase."
All this has taken about forty minutes, and the time limit should be ending soon. Of course, they don't know there is a time limit. They're just working quickly to get the kids out, without the bad guys knowing, or being able to do anything about it.
While Murdock is working on his experiment, Face has a plan of his own going. He takes the large syringe that Murdock has gotten out and fills it with an acid he pulls from the cabinets. He is going around the window sill, and using the needle to lay a bead of acid onto the aluminum frame that holds the window in place. He finishes up, just about the same time as Murdock, so he calls him over.
"Right, come here and let's push this window out. The bushes outside should break the fall don't you think? I really don't want to shatter the glass. The noise alone could draw attention we don't need right now."
"I think you're right. Let's give it a try."
They get on either side of the 5 x 3 window and using gloves, push the whole window out. It works great and it doesn't even break. Next, Murdock takes off his smock, and lays it over the window to protect the kids as they climb out.
"Okay, everyone stay together, don't panic, and we'll all get out of here and to those trees. I think the police are on the other side, and even if not, we'll soon be in the cover of the trees, should they spot us."
The advice from Murdock fills the kids with confidence. He climbs out the window, then he and Face help the kids climb out one at a time. They are on the west side of the building, so no one, not even the cops, notice them climbing out. They are standing along the side of the building waiting for all to get out before heading to safety. Then, Murdock grabs Keri's hand and starts leading them toward the line of trees, and freedom. Once there, the students head toward the police cars in the parking area. Murdock accompanies them to let Det. Johnson know what's going on inside and fill him in a little more as to their plan.
Face turns back to the building as soon as the kids are in the trees. The team still has to find the bomb and decide what to do to keep it from detonating. He goes around to the north side of the building and finds a door. It's locked, as he suspects, but he quickly picks the lock and slips in. He's in the alcove by the janitor's closet. The door is probably used for bringing things in and out of the building without disturbing classes that are in progress. He sticks his head around the corner, so he can see down the hall. Nothing, but just as he starts to step out, he hears and sees the door open that leads to what he thinks is the basement. He ducks back into the alcove just in time.
"Okay, the hour is up. Let's see what the police have brought us." Waters pulls out his cell phone and dials the number. "Time is up! You have our money, or are we shooting kids?..."Good, bring it up, slowly, just you."
Face blows out air. He has been holding his breath the whole time, not knowing exactly what is happening outside. Well, I guess they are still bringing up the money, unless it's a trick, and then who knows what will happen next. He needs to be ready to move and move quickly. They will soon discover the kids are gone, and then what, the bomb gets detonated? Probably not with the terrorists in here, so he should have a little time to look for it. Maybe B.A. has discovered its whereabouts. Right, but where is B.A.
As it so happens, B.A. is once again on the stairwell, up around the corner and out of sight. He is listening to the conversation and wondering the same things Face is, except he doesn't know that the kids are out of the building yet. Okay, now what? He can hear the one sided conversation, so he knows they are getting the money. What should he do? For now he is just going to continue to hang loose, and hope that when things happen, he will be close enough to help out.
The bad guys are spreading out around the main entrance to the building. Waters opens the door a crack and yells, "Hold it right there. Now toss the duffle toward the door." Det. Johnson follows the orders that are being given to him. "Now," continues Waters," move clear back to the cars. If I see one person make an aggressive move, we stop everything and begin the shootings!" Johnson moves quickly back to the car line, and hopes and prays the whole way, that the A-Team has things under control.
Waters sends one of the gunmen out to grab the bag. He backs back in the door keeping an eye on the line of cops. Once inside, Waters grabs the duffle from him and inspects the inside. It looks like ten million and the weight is right. He also inspects the bag for chemical dyes, tracking devices or anything else the friendly cops might have put into it. He doesn't see anything, but it really doesn't matter because he transfers the money into a different duffle bag before telling the men to get ready to move out. Two of whom know what their job is, dispatching of the students. Mr. Thompson wants them dead before the bomb goes off. I guess he has a little heart, because the blast will not be pretty.
"Hey, what's all this stuff on the window? I can't see in!" This is from the guard who was supposed to be watching the students, not smoking in the stairwell. Waters pushes his way past the other gunmen to see what this guy is talking about.
"What in the world? Open that door, NOW!" The gunman steps forward with the key, but it won't go into the lock. Next, another guy steps up and the two of them try to break down the door. Nothing! Finally, three of them rush it, but only get knocked back, not even moving it.
"Way to go Murdock. That stuff works great. You are right, a real masterpiece." Face doesn't say this loud enough for anyone to hear, but he will let Murdock know just how stymied these guys are by his goo, when and if he gets the chance.
"I don't know what's going on, but I want you all to get this door open, no matter what it takes."
Waters doesn't care if the kids are shot, or blown up. He knows he is going out the back door and away from here before Mr. Thompson blows the whole place up, and everyone in it. He chuckles to himself as he heads for the door on the east side, away from the prying eyes of the police. His means of escape should be waiting for him.
Murdock starts to head back into the building. He has given Johnson the layout and the bad guy count and that should be enough for now. Now he has to get back in to help Face and B.A. with the bomb. Wait a minute. What's that he hears? A chopper, and he bets it is heading for the open field behind the building, where everything is going down. That's where he would put down, if it was up to him. He heads out at a run, around the trees and moves as quickly as he can to the waiting bird. If he comes in from the back, the pilot won't see him. Stealthily now, he sneaks up to the open door on the right side of the chopper. He reaches in and grabs as much jacket as he can, pulling the guy toward the door and his right fist. The momentum is enough to knock him out. Next, he takes off the pilot's helmet, placing it on his own head. He then drags the limp pilot to the tree line and strips him down, putting on as many of his clothes as necessary to disguise himself as the pilot. He jogs back to the helicopter, and settles in just as Waters comes out between the buildings and heads his way. Murdock puts his hand with the gun, which he retrieved from the cabinet, just inside his borrowed jacket. Waters not noticing that it isn't his pilot at the controls, steps up to the bird, shoves, a big duffle bag in the back, wedging it under the seat and then climbs upfront with Murdock and buckles in. Now Murdock takes action. He pulls out his gun and says, "Surprise! I bet you weren't expecting me."
Waters curses, and makes a move for his own gun. Murdock sticks the barrel of his gun right in Waters' chest. "I don't think you want to do that. Now do you? Take it out nice and easy and put it in the back seat."
Waters takes his gun out and places it on the floor in the back. "What are you doing? You don't know what's happening. If I don't show up at the rendezvous, someone will make a hole big enough to bury the Rose Bowl. There is a bomb planted in that college and he will detonate it, if he doesn't hear from me in about ten minutes!"
"So give him a call, and tell him to hold off a few minutes, cause there is a delay, or something."
"I can't! He is waiting to see this bird coming in, and now there is no way we can get there in time. You idiot, we are all going to be dead in about ten minutes!"
"Well, that may be true, but I am not an idiot, and I have friends who're going to stop this. Before I kill you, tell me where Thompson is."
"Why would I do that? If you're going to kill me anyway, I think I won't say anything."
"You know, instead of shooting you, I think I'll just set you down on top of that building and let the bomb take you out. Or you could tell me where Thompson is and I could let you make a run for it. Your choice."
Waters thinks about the bomb and decides he would rather try to get away.
"Okay. He is in a building down on Sepulveda. It has a helo pad on top and he's going to set off the bomb as soon as he sees this chopper, or when the time is up. You are down to nine minutes, already!"
"I have had enough of you. Out."
With that, Murdock, forces Waters out of the helicopter. He knows now that Thompson isn't here. Thompson has a time limit for Waters to get out and then he is going to blow this building no matter if there are people here, or not. The kidnapping victims didn't stand a chance, or the cops out front for that matter. The guys have got to find that bomb and figure out what to do with it, once they do. If not maybe, he can still get them out of there. He pulls back on the stick and the helicopter takes off. Waters runs toward the trees where he is immediately picked up by the waiting police.
"Well, I think the top of the Science and History Building looks strong enough to sit down on." He will have to take his chances. Now he just needs to find a way to get B.A. and Face up to him.