Chapter 25

The last thing that Shannon remembered seeing before they put the tape over her eyes was that oversized coke can that the white suited goon had placed in the back of the truck. She would have probably never even known what it was except the guy actually told her as he taped up her mouth. When Shannon heard them roll down the van door she tried to make herself think. She told herself that the first thing people did in situations like this was panic. It was of small comfort to know that she was doing it in the right order.

Shannon almost screamed when she heard the large ripping explosion. It took her a moment to realize that she would already be dead if it were the bomb going off. The gunfire that followed suddenly brought her back to reality and gave her some hope.

Unfortunately that did almost nothing for her unfortunate companion in this mess. Shannon had guessed that the girl was this Sally person. The blond was already tied up when Shannon first got tossed in. The goon squad had not bothered with any introductions and Shannon had not had time to get a good look. They had wasted no time tying them back to back and then resorting to duct tape! Whoever the girl was, she had never really stopped trying to scream and kick for the entire time.

Shannon finally worked the tape off her mouth because she wanted to tell the woman to, "will you stop that already!" The ropes were bad enough without her causing them to rub in good.

It was at that point when Norm showed up and Shannon got his attention. She had not really expected Norm but, on reflection, that was less of a surprise than Amy and Tony actually figuring out their next step. Shannon felt kind of guilty about thinking that when Norm finally yelled at her that, the new round of shooting was because everybody else had finally showed up. She had little time to worry about it though. Norm told her too, "hang on," and that the diversion was, "their chance."

Shannon had no idea what he was talking about but, the one thing she was certain of was, there was no way she could hang on to anything. Her hands were behind her back and now she was laying on her side, with Sally still firmly attached, and looking at a ticking bomb with her blindfold off. Then it got worse when she heard the truck cranking up.

Shannon yelled in futility, "NO! NO! NORM! Don't!!!"

Whatever the truck jumped made Shannon absolutely sure that they had just gone over a cliff. She and Sally went flying and the only good news here was that cocaine provided for at least some cushioning when they landed. After that, Shannon was not sure if it was the truck or her that was making the loud moans. All she came to realize, after she got her wind back, was that another light bar had vanished from the ring around the top of the bomb. It was over halfway gone now and, even with only shop class under her belt, Shannon could figure out that she was running out of time.

Outside, they were all gathered around the back of the truck, most of them just as spectators. Norm and Tony were trying to get a lock off the door. Jake could not express in words exactly how this looked like a monumental waste of time. Then they told him why they were doing it. Norm even told him about the bomb.

Amy complained, "why don't you just shoot the lock, Norm!"

Jake answered, "that only works in the movies. Was she sure about that ring of lights?"

Norm was grunting as he and Tony worked a pry bar on the door itself, "why don't you ask her yourself?"

Jake walked over to the side of the truck and banged on it, "Shannon! Is there a little green light around the top of that thing?"

The girl sounded scared, confused, and even a little bit angry but, she replied like a trooper, "no, it's yellow now."

Jake thought about it and then told her, "ok kid. Look, that's a standardized M-14, static free, energy release trigger. All you got to do is unscrew the cap to disconnect the battery."

"Um," she said with great fear that quickly turned to anger when she yelled back, "IN ENGLISH!"

Jake grunted again and then he thought some more, "um, are there any extra wires or stuff that's attached to the bomb?"

"I don't see any wires," she told him back.

"Do you see that little black thing in the middle of the lights?"

It took a second but, she did reply, "yeah and there's nothing on it."

"All you got to do is unscrew that," Jake told her with some relief.

Then Jake got the bad news, "yeah that might be easy enough if I wasn't TIED UP! Do you people get the meaning of that word!?"

Jake grumbled beneath his breath, "two words! God what are they teaching theses kids today." He then yelled back, "get it off Shannon. That's an order." As an added incentive his afterthought was, "or I'll tell your Mom!"

"Oh yeah," Shannon called back out, "like what's she going to do? Ground me?" The teenager changed her tone again, "I'll do what I can, ok?"

Jake got even tougher, "not what you can! You do it kid!" Jake walked back to the door and then told everyone else, "all right, all of you not working on the door, clear out!"

No one moved. Jake repeated his command. This time he did it very harshly but, still, no one moved. That was all except for Amy who angrily stomped up to the back of the truck and pushed Tony and Norm to the side. When she pulled out her pistol and stuck it on the lock, everyone else ran for cover. Amy gulped, squinted, and then pulled the trigger. She still had her eyes closed when Jake walked up to her and carefully took the gun out of her hand. He looked down at the lock and said, "I'll be damned. It actually worked."

When they rolled up the door they found Shannon and Sally in the middle of the truck. They were laying on their sides, on what had to be the most expensive bed that Jake had ever seen. There were thousands, if not tens of thousands, of little baggies of white stuff. Jake needed no lab test to tell him what that was. What he did need was someone to tell him why anyone would want to blow all of it up. Of course, that would not happen now. The main reason for that was Shannon. She spit the bomb's little flat disk of a battery out of her mouth and then scornfully accused her rescuers, "well it took you guys long enough!"

Garcia stuck his head in the van as Norm and Amy freed the captives. His eyes got big and he said, "holy shit. I can retire!"

Tony slapped him on the head, "stop joking around man. What we got here is the biggest bust we ever made. I'm going to be getting interviewed by Jessie Walsh now, buddy!"

Amy led Shannon out of the van, hovering over her like a worried mother hen. The Teen was not very receptive to that or, too Tony either. She told him as she got out of the truck, "oh yeah and thanks, I'm fine too!"

He snapped back, "I told you to stay in the car."

She motioned to the back of the truck, "where do you think I've been the whole time? Moron!"

It was Johnson who was the only one who sounded panicked. He was looking out towards the property gates where they had parked their vehicles. He suddenly realized, "hey guys! I think somebody stole my car!"

Jake actually looked in that direction but, he quickly forgot about the car. He watched as a horde of armored personnel carriers came crashing the property at full speed. He kept right on watching as they took up a standard formation for unloading infantry. It was exactly what the vehicles did and, even Jake had to admit that the soldiers of the Three Hundred and Twenty-first Panzer Grenadiers came at them as professionally as anybody could.

As the heavily armed troopers stopped in a battle line, with their weapons raised, and just short of the truck, it was Amy who gulped and pointed out, "all right guys. I think they're really going to shoot us this time."

Nobody paid particular heed to Amy's observation but, they all got worried when Norm pointed out, "unfortunately, I think Amy's right."

Horst came swaggering up but, this time, he stayed behind his men. The German colonel's position told Jake that both Amy and Norm were right. Jake looked in the van, he looked at his people, then he looked back to the Germans. He put his weapon on the ground and, as he walked towards the firing squad, he calmly told his people, "don't worry. I'll handle this."