CHAPTER 5
They spent the next half an hour cutting, welding and doing a whole load of other things with the drainpipes and the roof of the Riv that Ray didn't even want to think about. He chose not to get too involved and instead spent the time working with Jenny and Janelle creating exploding pipe bombs using the fertiliser that were going to be fired from the drainpipes.
Fraser helped Murdock reinforce the front of the car with a sturdy frame constructed of smaller pipes and the doors from the cupboard. He noticed how The A Team worked almost without saying a word to each other, quickly and efficiently constructing the modifications as if they'd done it a hundred times before. The way they worked together was so harmonious at times it was almost musical. In no time at all, they stood back and admired their handiwork. Ray almost couldn't bear to look at his beautiful car.
"Great work guys," nodded Hannibal, puffing on yet another cigar. "Face, what've we got out there?"
Face was peering out through the windows. "Anderson's get extra manpower Hannibal," he sighed. "Looks like we're outnumbered, as usual."
Hannibal laughed that crazy laugh of his. Ray found it rather disturbing. He was beginning to understand exactly what BA meant by 'the jazz'.
"Makes it more fun though, right Face?" grinned Hannibal. Face looked at Ray and shrugged with resignation. "OK, let's do this!" yelled Hannibal and everyone took up their pre-arranged positions.
Face took one last look out of the window and gave the signal. Immediately, BA drove the Riv at top speed towards the doors, sending them flying into the air as they burst through. Anderson's men didn't know what had hit them and they all went diving for cover. Ray was in the back seat of his car, leaning out of the window, passing the fertiliser bombs to Murdock who was sat on the roof. He loaded them into the drainpipe and fired them off at all angles. BA had constructed a rapid fire mechanism and the weapon was capable of turning in a complete circle. Hannibal had Ray's back up gun and he, Fraser and Face ran out behind, taking on the startled bad guys in hand to hand combat, with Diefenbaker's help. In all the confusion, they quickly managed to overpower every one of the disorientated men, earning themselves a stockpile of weapons in the process.
Janelle and Jenny stood out of the way, keeping a nervous eye out for Anderson himself who was conspicuous by his absence. They didn't have to wait too long. Hannibal and Fraser began rounding up the men and made them sit in a circle on the ground. Hannibal handed Ray's gun back to him and instead brandished one of Anderson's men's own weapons in their direction. "OK you clowns," he yelled, "where's your sleazeball boss?"
"Right here!" The voice surprised everyone and as they turned round they were horrified to see that Anderson had a gun to Jenny Kraeley's head and he was holding Janelle by the throat. The girls looked terrified. "Put the guns down," he yelled. Hannibal and Ray reluctantly complied.
Fraser stepped forward. "Mr Anderson," he began, "Please release your hostages immediately and place your weapon on the floor, so that Detective Vecchio here can place you under arrest." Ray shook his head. He wondered if that ever actually worked on Canadian criminals.
Anderson laughed. Just then, Ray's phone began to ring in his jacket pocket and almost without thinking he went to answer it. "Put it down!" yelled Anderson. Ray glanced at Fraser and threw the phone on the ground so it landed just a short distance away from the Mountie.
"That's probably my Pop," Ray shouted, louder than was necessary. Fraser said nothing. "Asking me to pick up some beers on the way home." Fraser turned his head very slightly.
"He might just be going thirsty tonight," sneered Anderson.
"Mr Anderson," began Fraser again, "I'm not sure how you intend to get away with this. Your man on the inside at the City Planning Department will not be able to hide his connections with you indefinitely."
Anderson's face remained impassive. "I have no idea what you're talking about?" he lied.
"Jonathan Griggs," continued Fraser, tilting his head a little towards Ray's phone. "We know all about the planning application."
"Yeah, all about it," Ray joined in, although he had no idea what Fraser was talking about of course.
Anderson, slowly lowered his weapon, instead restraining Janelle and Jenny by their arms. He was clearly rattled by Fraser's revelations.
"Have I missed something?" asked Face, scratching his head. Hannibal shrugged but indicated that his men should remain still and let Fraser lead the situation.
"This man has been in cahoots with Mr Griggs at the City Planning Department. He plans to build a huge leisure facility on the site of the Kraeley Toys warehouse and other surrounding properties," explained Fraser, using the information he was being fed by Elaine via Ray's phone. "His plans would never have been approved if he had submitted them via the proper channels. Members of the Chicago Police department are already on their way to pay Mr Griggs a visit." The colour drained from Anderson's face. "May I suggest that your list of charges is already fairly significant, including bribing an officer of the Chicago PD, a Detective Ramsay from the twenty third precinct," Fraser added, "the addition of murder charges would not be beneficial to your aspirations of future freedom."
Anderson looked around him and sighed. He realised that his game was up and he reluctantly shoved a trembling Janelle and Jenny towards Face's outstretched arms. Ray stepped forward and disarmed Anderson, placing him under arrest. Fraser picked up Ray's phone from the floor and held it to his ear. "Thank you kindly Elaine," he said, blushing at her response, suddenly even more grateful that only his extra sharp hearing was able to hear her voice over the line.
The A Team rounded up Anderson's men, some of whom crawled out from under piles of rubble, rubbing their heads. Fraser was amazed that none of them had been killed or seriously injured, considering the amount of explosions that had occurred earlier.
Hannibal stood with his arms folded, surveying the scene with a huge grin on his face. The he looked directly at Fraser and spoke with glee. "I love it when a plan comes together."
xXx
The next day, the four members of The A Team were enjoying lunch in a restaurant with Ray and Fraser. "So the two old employees from Kraeley Toys were threatened by Anderson too?" enquired Face.
"Yes," replied Ray, "but now they've both agreed to go back to work and they're going to help Jenny and Janelle rebuild their business."
"Hopefully other businesses in the local area can also be rebuilt," added Fraser, "Mr Griggs at the City Planning Department has been very vocal. They should all be entitled to a significant amount of compensation from the city, following the illegal actions of one of their employees."
"And IA are all over that creep Ramsay from the twenty third," added Ray with a grin.
"So how did your colleague know you guys were in trouble?" asked Face, tucking into a huge plate of spaghetti.
"Elaine's pretty sharp," explained Ray, "I said it was my Pop calling me, but he's dead."
"I'm sorry," replied Face.
"I'm not," shrugged Ray, wistfully. Then, suddenly wishing to return to the subject at hand, he added, "Elaine figured that we needed all the information she'd got for us, so she kept talking, she knew Fraser was with me. Fortunately, Benny here has Super Mountie Hearing."
Constable Handy Left appeared again. "Ah yes, it's a Mountie thing," he spoke, as Murdock moved his thumb in time with the words.
"Hannibal!" exclaimed BA, reaching across the table to grab Murdock's hand, but Murdock moved it out of the way in time.
"I do hope you weren't intending to assault a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police," said Fraser, seriously, "otherwise I would be forced to place you under arrest." BA growled at him.
"I have decided that I wish to return to Canada," announced Murdock's hand, "however before I do I believe that the Faceman here has something for us."
Fraser and Ray looked puzzled as Face produced a huge pile of official looking paperwork and passed it across the table to them. They were slightly taken aback when they realised that Face had somehow managed to obtain firearms licences for every single one of their huge stash of weapons. "Where did you get these from?" enquired a suspicious Ray.
"The usual place," grinned Face. "There's a very nice lady there by the name of Kiki and let's just say, she was very obliging, particularly when I told her about how I badly I needed them."
Fraser considered his response for a moment. "Well," he began, slowly, "the paperwork appears to be in order. Thank you kindly."
Fraser saluted to Murdock. "Give my best wishes to the home country," he addressed Murdock's hand and that was the last they saw of Constable Handy Left, much to BA's relief.
"There is something else we need to discuss," began Ray, nervously glancing at Fraser.
"I was wondering how long it would be before you mentioned that," replied Hannibal.
"Sir," began Fraser, "we have only the basic information at hand. I know you are fugitives, however, I simply cannot believe that you are capable of the crime of which you are accused."
"You are a perceptive young man Constable," nodded Hannibal, seriously. "The trouble is, I don't think Decker cares if we're guilty or not any more, not after all this time. He wants me and he wants my unit." Fraser and Ray nodded, understandingly. Then Hannibal's face returned to it's more usual, slightly crazy grin. "But he's never gonna catch us," he said, breaking into a laugh.
"Talking of which," Face said, reluctantly, "we probably should be leaving. We've been here too long and haven't exactly been keeping under the radar."
"Very true Lieutenant," agreed Hannibal. He stood and saluted again. Fraser stood to attention and returned the salute. "Thank you for not turning us in," said Hannibal.
"I hope that, one day, you will have the opportunity to clear your names," said Fraser, his face serious. He wished he could help them, but he knew the situation was out of his hands. He had a feeling, though, that they would be just fine by themselves.
After much handshaking and saluting, the four men turned to go. "Wait!" yelled Ray, suddenly, "what about my car?"
"Take a look out of the window Detective," grinned Hannibal, as he walked down the stairs. "BA's been busy this morning."
Fraser and Ray ran to the window and noticed Ray's beloved Buick Riviera parked on the street, behind BA's van. It looked as good as new, shiny and perfect and Ray's heart skipped a beat. Out on the street, BA turned to look up at the window and gave a thumbs up to Ray. Just then they heard sirens. "Decker!" yelled Face and they jumped into the van.
Fraser and Ray came running down the stairs and out into the street just in time to see the black van disappearing into the distance. They turned to see several Military Police vehicles appear at high speed. Fraser suddenly stepped out into the road and raised his hand. "Benny!" yelled Ray, convinced his friend would get flattened, but the vehicles came to a stop.
"Who the hell are you?" yelled an angry Colonel Decker, dressed head to toe in the standard khaki uniform of a military officer, as he got out of the passenger side of one of the cars. "Get out of my way!" Diefenbaker snarled at him, his hackles raised.
"I'm terribly sorry Sir," replied Fraser, calmly, "but I believe you were travelling at significantly above the posted limit."
Decker began to shake with rage. "Do you have any idea who we are?" he growled at the Mountie. Dief growled louder.
"He's Canadian," Ray said, stepping into the road and standing next to his friend. "I think their MPs' wear orange or yellow and blue stripes or something."
"Actually Ray, our military uniforms are..." Fraser began in a low voice, slightly concerned that Ray should think the Canadian military would wear such bright colours, but then he noticed Ray glaring at him and immediately decided that this was one of those times when his partner wanted him to shut up.
"My apologies, Sir," said Fraser, stepping aside. "Obviously your military status grants you immunity from regular traffic regulations, assuming of course that you are proceeding in an official capacity."
Decker sneered at him. "That van," he said, "you saw them, where are The A Team."
"The what team?" said Ray, shrugging. I didn't see a van, did you Benny?"
Fraser's eyes widened. He couldn't lie. It was against everything he'd ever learnt, but he couldn't betray The A Team either, not after everything they'd done. He just stood stiffly and shook his head very slightly.
Colonel Decker shook his head in disgust and returned to his car. Ray stepped back onto the pavement, dragging Fraser with him. Diefenbaker however didn't move and continued growling. "Dief," hissed Fraser. "Dief," he said again, a little louder this time.
"Call off your dog," instructed Decker.
"He's a wolf," corrected Fraser, "and I'm afraid he's deaf." Decker looked incredulously at Fraser. "He is also a very good judge of character," added Fraser.
Decker angrily took a step forward, ready to say something to Fraser, but Ray was eager to diffuse the brewing situation. He stepped back out into the road and took Dief by the scruff of the neck, manhandling him out of the path of the traffic. Diefenbaker wasn't best pleased.
"I do apologise, but he rarely complies with my wishes," said Fraser, raising an eyebrow at Dief before turning back toward Colonel Decker, "you may now be on your way."
Decker sighed, looking into the distance he knew that The A Team had got away from him again. He stood with his arms leaning on the top of the car door. "Next time Smith," he muttered, almost under his breath, "next time."
THE END