"Conspiracy"

Summary by Sassy.

A cold grey morning in Oilfield land. Alphonse is posing as a truck driver. He's after a fill up of bootleg gasoline. Villan number 1 suggests he tries the gas station up the road. "The whole tank..... Pauly sent me". Up the road, the others are waiting in the car, Chrissy wants to know how Alphonse knows Pauly, "he don't" Charlie looks glum. Ice thinks it's a big waste of time, bootleg gasoline today, postage due tomorrow! Charlie points out that they got Capone for tax evasion (which is sort of relevant due to what happens next).

Villan number 2 comes on the scene, he's foreign, suspicious and thinks there's something iffy about Alphonse. He starts waving a gun around. The FBI team leaps into action. Alphonse disarms the guy.

Villan number 1 - "FBI, I thought that was taken care of!" Villan 2 snarls "Shut Up", he throws the valve on the petrol tanker and hoses Alphonse down with petrol. (Sorry, gasoline). He grabs Alphonse from behind and starts waving a lighter around. Will Alphonse be toast??

"Chrissy, shoot the lighter out of his hand!" Alphonse begs. "Is he kidding" Chrissy thinks he's lost it. "He sees too many movies" Charlie looks grim.

Ice sneaks up behind with a fire extinguisher, he blasts the guy, giving Alphonse time to punch him out. "Next time bring water pistols" Ice gives advice to the FBI back up.

Alphonse has got a change of clothes from somewhere. "Something stinks, Chrissy" She catches a whiff "Phew, you still smell like gasoline", "sorry next time I'll bust a guy bootlegging cologne".

Chrissy admits that this bust could be mob-connected. The Mendozas. Charlie is worried, the Mendozas are like the coca-cola of organised crime, they own the west coast.

Back at the ranch (office), the guys are less than impressed. Mendozas are big enough to buy someone in the FBI. They walk into Chrissy's office. Alphonse, "you heard the guy, "FBI, I thought that was taken care of"". "Which is why I'm here" John Fellows steps out of the shadows.

"Who's this" Alphonse looks belligerent (another male within ten feet of Chrissy!!!)

"John Fellows, Deputy Director" Chrissy introduces him.

"Isaac Gregory, slave labour from the penal camp." Ice introduces himself.

They are going to have to liaise with the organised crime division. Kate Marshall, a very snooty female with attitude. Ice is less than impressed. However, it transpires that they have a lead, a guy named Dennis Young, bright, dedicated, talented.

The guys set up outside Young's house, real American dream stuff, white picket fence, cute house etc. Young is kissing his wife goodbye, the family dog makes an appearance, and gets the goodbye treatment too. "What's he going to do next, kiss the dog". Charlie thinks all this apple pie stuff is very ove - . He knew a guy who lived like the Youngs, killed the entire family next door and stole their den furniture.

They trail Young. He sends flowers to his wife. He tries to help the guys out with a flat in the garage. Ice is going to ask around. Charlie has to trail Young. Alphonse will take the wife. Ice stares at him "take a camera and take some notes". Alphonse looks disappointed.

Alphonse trails Jennifer Young on a shopping trip, she spends a fortune. Meanwhile, Charlie has a very boring day, Young shuffles papers for eight hours and eats a sandwich at his desk. Down in the garage he's watching Young go home. Young slaps at his neck, mosiquitoes breed in the parking garage??! Charlie spots Chrissy, she gets into a car with Fellows, they kiss.

The guys meet at a bar. Charlie tells them about Chrissy and Fellows. Alphonse is instantly jealous. Ice points out that Fellows is a deputy director. So What!!!

The guys are being bugged, is it the Mendozas or the FBI.

Next morning, they're on their way to bust Young for being corrupt. The guys wind Chrissy up over her plans the previous evening, she knows they know something, but can't quite get a handle on it! She gives them all a very strange look.

Mrs Young is doing garden maintenance, when they all roll up. Boy are they going to ruin her day!

Dennis is visiting his mother. However, when he returns, he's weaving all over the street. Something's not right here. He leaves the road and crashes through the fence coming to rest over the ornimental pond in the front garden. They all dive out of the way. Alphonse protecting the lovely Jennifer. Ice takes Dennis's pulse, he's dead! Jennifer screams.

The paramedic tells them that he was dead before the car crashed! "Dead, what do you mean dead!!" Charlie snaps. Young wasn't sick and he was only 30 so heart attack is unlikely. Alphonse gets Mrs Young out of there, she can't believe it, she pregnant and widowed.

Fellows questions the widow, he?s less than human. Jennifer tries to convince Chrissy that Dennis would never be corrupt, she's sympathetic but distant.

"I'm sorry for your loss!!! Why didn't you just hit her on the head with a lead pipe!? Alphonse thinks Fellows needs to work on those personnel skills. Ice cuts through the argument before it escalates, Fellows leaves. Chrissy walks through the door. "Chrissy, your boyfriend's a jerk," Alphonse fires at her. "My boyfriend?" Have you been spying on me!? Ice sighs, Alphonse has sort of dropped them in it. "The camera was on?" "He does seem to be a bit of a jerk, " Charlie adds this promising log to the fire. "He's not a jerk." Chrissy lists Fellows' virtues, "And even if he was, it wouldn't be any of your business now would it." Charlie and Alphonse clearly don't agree. However, back to business. Charlie thinks somebody bumped Young off. Chrissy thinks that comes from a spy novel. What if someone was lying to Young, using him as a fall guy. Young placed a series of personal ads in papers, he must have saved them.

Alphonse and Charlie look over the file. Young's adverts are from Sailor Boy to a variety of women.

"Luscious redhead seeks man of action for unconventional games, no hang ups, no limits," Alphonse reads. "Is that circled," Chrissy asks. "No, I just happened to find it interesting," the boys exchange looks, Charlie snorts with laughter.

They place their own personal ad and settle down to wait. A four wheel drive appears and signals to them. "How many times do you want to flash back," Charlie asks, "Try four," Ice thinks of a number. "Why four?" Alphonse wants to know, "Why not four." Charlie flashes back four times, the car takes off "Oops." They give chase. The saloon car is no match for the 4WD. "Charlie, your driving's really improved!" Alphonse warms up his sense of irony. "Hey, this wasn't built for off-roading". They hurtle round corners, the other car just ahead. Suddenly this old man steps out in front of them. They swerve and the back wheels bed down in the mud. The boys give chase on foot. The 4WD is abandoned in a large pile of sand. Alphonse wrenches the door open. He can smell perfume, woman driver. Ice tells him to look for clues in the glove box. Alphonse runs his hand around the glove box, ouch ?. He pulls his hand back, there is a little pin stuck in between his thumb and forefinger. He pulls it out. Charlie observes that it was definitely not Dennis Young driving. Alphonse is still preoccupied with his hand. "Are you OK!" Charlie looks at him.

They return to the office. Chrissy says that the car is registered to a known Mendoza operation. Driven by the FBI agent who sold out. Kate Marshall, its her perfume. "Alphonse, your nose is not proof," Chrissy can't believe that she would kill one of her own agents. "Dennis Young was killed?? Like in a spy novel?" Charlie looks even grimmer than usual. Actually, yes. Nerve toxin injected in the back of his neck. "Back of his neck," Charlie thinks back to the garage and the mosquito; he calls up the surveillance tape. Yes, back of his neck, Charlie blows up the picture, it's a tiny dart. Chrissy looks, yes, right in the place where there's a welt on the back of Dennis' neck. She distracted by the shot of Fellows and her in the car, kissing. Alphonse looks really worried. Dennis Young was killed with a little pin, like the one he's just jabbed his hand on. Yes, Chrissy compares pictures of the welt on Dennis Young's neck and Alphonse's hand. It's a match. Alphonse looks sick. Ice and Charlie look worried.

Alphonse is in a hospital bed, hooked up to various monitors. The others are trying to figure out a way to get Marshall. Chrissy looks shaky. She's just realised that she could lose Alphonse, and he means a lot to her. They decide on a rabbit squeeze, with Kate Marshall as the rabbit. Great, Alphonse wants to come too, but they make him stay. Charlie promises him that they will 'set it straight'.

The boys set up the scam. Meanwhile, Alphonse can't wait; he checks himself out. As he walks into the loft, he's hit by a wave of pain. Realising that events might end for him in a short time, Alphonse sets out to set the record straight. He goes to Jennifer Young and tells her that Dennis was the fall guy, (she gives him some vital information). Then he tries to call his son. The worst thing about dying young, you never get to make up for all the rotten stuff you did.

The scam goes wrong, Marshall bolts. Ice and Charlie try to explain to Alphonse but he's too devastated to hear the excuse. Charlie desparately tries to find a way out, but it looks like Alphonse is going to die. The effects are starting to take hold. Fellows walks in on their little 'wake'. Kate Marshall has been spotted at the airport. The guys and Chrissy take off after her.

At the airport, Ice and Charlie are told to stay out of it. Alphonse nearly collapses. He's really sick now. From the hangar behind them, the sound of shots fired has Charlie and Ice racing to the door. Kate Marshall has Chrissy as a hostage. Ice picks up Chrissy's gun. He's not about to let their quarry escape. It's a stand off. Charlie works his way around behind. Alphonse appears from the side. Kate Marshall starts to turn towards him .. a shot rings out and she goes down, she's dead!! It's all too much for Alphonse, he collapses, the others rush to him..

Back at the hospital, Alphonse is sinking fast; he makes a superhuman effort to stay with it, but he's really sick and can hardly fight to stay conscious. "What, no angels!" he looks around the room at the glum faces, "Chrissy, I spoke too soon." She crosses to his bedside. "Can a dying man have one last request?" She bends over and gently kisses him on the forehead, "You read my mind," he responds very weakly. Chrissy has to leave the room, she's overcome with emotion. Charlie desparately tries to rally his friend "They've done studies .. you can beat this thing." Alphonse can barely respond "Charlie, did I ever tell you....you talk too much." Charlie looks overwhelmed, he swallows hard. Alphonse catches sight of Fellows, comforting Chrissy. "Ice, how did Fellows know about the airport" he struggles to speak. Ice and Charlie look at Fellows. Their expressions harden. Ice confronts him while Charlie slips out to the phone.

Charlie comes back, Kate Marshall called Fellows before fleeing, they sold out the Bureau together then killed Dennis Young, and Fellows killed Kate Marshall to sever the trail. Chrissy can't believe it. Fellows asks her who she believes, him or 'a couple of lowlife conmen eight months out of the penitentiary'. "Those lowlife conmen are my friends." she snarls as she decks him. Charlie and Ice grab him. "The antidote or Alphonse won't be the only man dying tonight." He makes a deal.

Ice is sleeping on some equipment in the corner, Charlie and Chrissy are stretched out on the benchseat, with Chrissy sleeping on Charlie's shoulder. Alphonse stirs, the death pallor has gone and he looks stronger and healthy again. Ice comes to; Alphonse's first thought is Chrissy and how she's taking it. "She'll get over it." As if on cue the other two wake up. Chrissy is miserable at the thought of letting Fellows go. Alphonse wants to know if it's too late to call his son. "It's never too late!" Ice looks at him significantly.

Fellows thinks he's got away with it, but Ice has done a deal with the Mendozas, which means that Fellows won't get far. This information he keeps to himself!