"This really sucks!" Efraim Beaman thought to himself. He was stuck here teaching the new recruits how to handle a hostage situation instead of sitting in Randy's having a nice smooth Irish whiskey.

It was all her fault--Scarecrow's little housewife. She just had to bring up Alan Chamberlain's sister when he was discussing Red February. Now, he was going to miss seeing the love of his life, Francine Desmond.

Well, if he wanted to get to Randy's St. Patrick's Day party before Francine left, he'd have to make this quick.

"Okay class, let's review the standard procedure for hostage negotiation . . ."