CHAPTER 2
They quickly caught up with the distinctive van. They followed it, keeping their distance, to a run down part of Chicago. The van pulled up outside a warehouse and Fraser and Ray watched as the roller shutter door opened and the van drove in. Ray parked the Riv around the corner out of sight and he and Fraser got out and walked around the side of the warehouse. The sign on the outside of the warehouse read 'Kraeley Toys'. They stopped by an open window and Fraser tried to listen to the conversation going on inside. "What's going on?" asked Ray, but Fraser shook his head.
"I'm not entirely sure Ray," whispered the Mountie, "There are two women inside with the men from the van and I believe they are expecting visitors."
"Maybe they're going to bake them a cake?" suggested Ray, flippantly.
"I doubt that, Ray, I get the impression that they are not on friendly terms with the people they are expecting," explained Fraser. He pointed to a side door and indicated to Ray that they should investigate the possibility of gaining access to the warehouse. Ray just shrugged and followed Fraser. He'd quickly learned that sometimes there was no point trying to argue with his new friend, once Fraser was determined to do something.
They got to the door and Ray drew his gun. Fraser tried the handle and, fortunately, it was unlocked. He slowly pushed open the door, but they both nearly jumped out of their skin when they came face to face with BA and he didn't look happy. "Chicago PD," yelled Ray, unable to disguise the shakiness in his voice. BA snarled and snatched Ray's gun and threw it across the floor with a loud clattering noise. Then he took Fraser and Ray by their shoulders and manhandled them through to the main part of the warehouse where they saw the other men from the van and the two women that Fraser had overheard talking.
"Found these two trespassin', Hannibal," growled BA, shoving Fraser and Ray forward.
Hannibal got to his feet and picked up Ray's gun from the floor. "Now BA, that is no way to treat officers of the law." Ray nodded profusely and took his gun from Hannibal. As he tucked it back into his waistband, he looked around the warehouse and observed that the shelving was stacked high with boxes of teddy bears and other soft toys. "I'm sorry," continued Hannibal, trying to avoid a conflict with the police, "but we are having a few security issues at the moment. BA here can sometimes get a little over zealous."
"Security issues?" queried Fraser, who had also noticed the contents of the boxes. "Are the Police aware?"
"Oh they're aware alright," said one of the young women with a sigh. She was wearing a pretty dress with high heeled sandals, as was the other woman. Fraser thought neither of them were appropriately dressed for their surroundings. "We've called them maybe a hundred times in the past three months and we keep getting the same answer," continued the woman. "They can't do anything, they won't even come out here and talk to us. That's why we hired The A Team."
"I'm not sure I understand?" replied Fraser.
"Ladies," began Face with a smile, putting his arms around the shoulders of the young women, "we really don't need to bother these gentlemen with this, I'm sure they have plenty of dangerous criminals that they should be out looking for." He really wanted the two men to leave before they started asking too many awkward questions.
Fraser was about to speak, but Ray got there first. "You're right," he said and turned to go, dragging Fraser with him by the elbow, "plenty. Sorry to have bothered you. Let's go Fraser."
"No Ray," Fraser broke away from his friend and turned back around to the others. "If these people are in need of Police help then it is our duty to offer our assistance."
One of the young women shook Face's arm from around her shoulder and stepped forward towards Fraser. She put her hand on his chest and smiled up at him. Fraser stiffened, blushed and looked straight ahead. Ray rolled his eyes. Face's expression dropped. "You are so kind," said the woman. "My name is Janelle Kraeley and this is my sister Jenny. This was our father's business, but he died last year and we've been trying to keep the business going on our own. It's been hard sometimes, but we've managed. Three months ago, we were approached by a property developer, Alfie Anderson, who wanted to buy the warehouse, but we told him that we weren't interested in selling. Ever since then we've had nothing but trouble. It started with vandalism, smashing windows, small fires, that sort of thing, but now he's scared off our employees, we only had two."
"We don't know what he said to them, maybe he just paid them off, but Winston and Jimmy had been working for my father for nearly twenty years," added Jenny. "We've tried calling them, but they won't speak to us."
"And the Police haven't been able to help?" enquired Fraser, a little surprised.
Jenny sighed. "We can't prove anything. We can't prove it's Anderson that's doing all of this, he's a very well respected businessman," she said.
"We spoke to a Detective Ramsay, but he's just not interested," explained Janelle.
"Elliot Ramsay at the Twenty Third precinct?" enquired Ray. Janelle nodded. Ray sighed. "Ramsay's a jerk," he said.
"If this Detective Ramsay has failed to investigate the rather serious accusations that are being made against Mr Anderson, then I'm inclined to agree with you Ray," said Fraser. He spoke to Hannibal. "I'm sure Miss Kraeley and, er, Miss Kraeley appreciate your kind offer of assistance," he said, "but vigilantism is..." his voice trailed off as he thought of a suitable word, "inappropriate," he finished. "Detective Vecchio is offering the full co-operation of the Chicago Police Department," he turned to Ray, "aren't you Ray," he said, raising his eyebrows slightly. Ray nodded, reluctantly.
Suddenly, Murdock stepped forward. He held out his left hand, made into a fist, but on top of his knuckles was perched a tiny hat made out of cardboard in the distinctive shape of Fraser's RCMP hat, complete with the darker coloured band around the middle. He turned his hand sideways and moved the knuckle of his thumb up and down as if it were a mouth. "I am here to assist you in any way I can, Constable," said Murdock, as if his hand was speaking. BA made a move to grab at Murdock, but Hannibal held him back.
"Thank you kindly," Fraser addressed Murdock's hand. Ray rolled his eyes and turned away. "And you would be?" enquired Fraser.
"Constable Handy Left, Royal Canadian Mounted Police," continued Murdock, moving his thumb up and down in time with his voice.
"Very pleased to meet you Constable," nodded Fraser.
"Hannibal," Face said quietly, while Fraser and Ray were distracted by Murdock, "Anderson's going to be showing up here any minute after what you told him this afternoon and I doubt he'll be coming alone." Hannibal nodded and was just about to say something to the two police officers that would persuade them to leave, when the sound of gunfire filled the air.
Instinctively, Fraser grabbed Janelle and pulled her behind the nearest cover. Murdock grabbed Jenny too and the four of them ended up behind some boxes. Meanwhile, Ray had dived for cover behind a small fork lift truck that was parked just to the left of the boxes and he was peering around with his gun drawn. Hannibal and BA dived behind the van, threw open the back doors and produced a variety of firearms from the back. Face slid a semi automatic shotgun across the floor to Murdock and then took one for himself, whilst BA threw a smaller hand gun to Hannibal, arming himself with an automatic rifle.
Fraser's eyes nearly popped out of his head at the amount of fire power that had just appeared. He glanced at Ray who was equally as shocked. Suddenly the side door of the warehouse burst open and three men appeared, firing randomly around. The bullets destroyed boxes of toys, sending soft white stuffing and fake fur flying into the air. Windows shattered and bullet holes peppered almost every inch of the warehouse.
The A Team returned fire, sending the three other men darting for cover and the firing continued for several minutes until their weapons were all but out of ammunition. Ray hadn't fired a single bullet, the cacophony of sound had left him entirely disorientated. Murdock had rolled across the room to join his friends at some stage and left a distressed Jenny cowering with Ray and Janelle hadn't let go of Fraser's arm throughout the whole experience. Fraser was amazed that nobody appeared to have sustained any injuries. The probability of everyone remaining uninjured after such an extraordinary exchange of fire in a confined space was almost non existent, he thought to himself.
An eerie silence fell and Hannibal stepped out into the middle of the warehouse. Fraser resisted the urge to lunge forward and drag him to safety, feeling sure that the three unwelcome visitors had kept a few bullets back for just such an opportunity. However, after observing Hannibal and his friends during the last few minutes, he had the feeling that the older man knew what he was doing.
"Anderson," yelled Hannibal, producing a cigar from his jacket pocket and biting off the end. "Show yourself sleazeball!" Nothing happened. Face stepped out from behind the van and lit Hannibal's cigar. Hannibal drew deeply on the cigar and called out again. "I think you at least owe these girls an explanation for shooting up their warehouse?"
Janelle made a move to get up too, but Fraser held her back. He'd heard footsteps. At that moment, a tall man wearing an expensive suit and tie stepped into the warehouse. "So it's true then," he snarled, surveying the damage, "the Kraeley sisters have hired some muscle." He laughed. "It's not going to make any difference," he continued. "If you want to play dirty, I can play dirty. Whatever way, I will get this property. Tell the ladies that I'm withdrawing my original offer in light of these developments. They could have walked away rich girls, but I think we both know where we stand now."
Hannibal blew a huge puff of smoke out in front of him. "You're not getting your hands on this place Anderson," he said. "Now we've got plenty more ammo, but I think your goons are all out." Anderson laughed again. "Show him BA," instructed Hannibal. BA stood up and threw open the back of his van, displaying an open box containing even more weapons and countless boxes of ammunition. Anderson's face fell. "Now we don't want to see your ugly faces here again," Hannibal continued.
Anderson stood motionless for a moment, before finally deciding that perhaps it was best if they left after all. "This isn't over," he said menacingly and indicating to his men with his thumb, they all left the building.
Face, Murdock and Hannibal handed their weapons back to BA who put them back into the van. Fraser, Ray and the sisters stood up and surveyed the damage. Janelle was in tears. "Look what they've done!" she sobbed, "now we're definitely out of business."
"Not if we can help it," said Murdock, producing Constable Handy Left again. "Never fear," he said, talking with his hand, "the Royal Canadian Mounted Police always get our man."
"Indeed," agreed Fraser. It wasn't often that the Mountie was lost for words, but he was still stunned after the events of a moment ago. He looked at Ray, who also seemed stunned. Ray noticed his partner looking at him and he had a feeling he knew what Fraser was about to say. He was right. "I'm sorry," began Fraser. Ray put his head in his hands. "I'm afraid we're going to have to insist on seeing your licences for those weapons."
"Fraser!" said Ray, shaking his head in despair. "Somehow I don't think they have enough room in their van for that amount of paperwork."
Hannibal laughed. "You're right there Detective," he agreed.
Fraser spoke again. "Sir, it's clear that your intentions are honourable, but I don't think your military experience should be used in this way."
Murdock looked surprised. "How did you know we're ex-military?" he asked.
"Well," Fraser paused as he looked towards the van. "A lot of those weapons are standard military issue, albeit several years old. Additionally, your actions and tactics during that incident were clearly well practised, although suited to more traditional combat situations. If I had to take a guess, I would suggest that you were a military unit who served together during the Vietnam conflict. Am I correct?"
Hannibal was slightly stunned. He usually kept their identities quiet from the Police, as they were still on the run from the military, but his instincts were telling him that this particular Mountie could be trusted to do the right thing. "That's correct Constable," he said, holding out a gloved hand. "Colonel John Hannibal Smith," he introduced himself. Fraser shook his hand firmly. "This is Lieutenant Templeton Peck, Captain H M Murdock and Sergeant B A Baracus." Fraser and Ray shook each of their hands in turn, except for BA who snarled at them.
Face spoke now. "Call me Face," he began. "Look Constable, we just want to make sure that Anderson doesn't get hold of this warehouse. These girls hired us to help and we're here to do just that. It's kind of what we do. We don't want any trouble with the law." He put his arm around Janelle as he spoke, she was still very upset.
Ray didn't really have a clue about what was going on. This was the strangest situation that his new friend had got him into so far. He was slightly terrified at the amount of weapons these men were carrying and the last thing on his mind was checking their paperwork. He just wanted to get out of there before anything else happened. Fortunately, Fraser seemed to have the same idea. "We'll do some checking on Anderson for you," Fraser began. "If you need anything, we can be contacted at the twenty seventh precinct or via the Canadian Consulate." He tipped his hat and turned to leave with Ray following closely behind.
They stopped as Murdock's voice called out to them. Fraser turned to see that Constable Left was speaking again. "Maintain the Right!" he called out. Fraser nodded and smiled and he and Ray left the warehouse.
Back in the Riv, Ray turned to his friend. "What the hell happened there Fraser?" he asked.
"Frankly, I have no idea at this juncture," replied Fraser. "I do believe though that the cause is genuine and if we can do anything to assist, then it is our duty as officers of the law to do so."
"Fraser, you keep talking about our duty," sighed Ray, "but I don't think they need our help at all. I think they've got everything under control. They've just got to put a bullet in Anderson's head and then I don't think he'll be interested in that warehouse any more."
"I don't think they have any intention of killing Mr Anderson," replied Fraser. "They had ample opportunity to do so earlier, but made no such move. I believe that they merely wish to educate him in the error of his ways and persuade him to leave the Kraeley Toys warehouse alone."
"Sounds just like you Benny," grinned Ray. Fraser looked puzzled. "Never mind," said Ray, shaking his head. "Let's go and do some digging. If Anderson is doing anything illegal, maybe I'll get a bust out of all this."