It was dark, very dark. He could hear voices, but couldn't see
anything. A woman's voice, perhaps? He couldn't tell . He tried to
open his eyes, but he couldn't see a thing. He tried to move, but all
he could do was nod his head slightly. "I think he might be coming
around now," one of the voices said.
"That's what you said yesterday, and the day before, and the day before
that. Every day now you squeeze his hand. Are you really expecting him
to squeeze it back? You know, if I didn't know you better Mary, I'd say
that you were falling for this unconscious fellow."
Was that a different voice? How many were there and where was he,
anyway? So many questions yet he still couldn't see anything, couldn't
move his arms either. "Wha...what's going on?" he mouthed the words,
but nothing came out. It was awfully hard for him, almost as though he
hadn't spoken for quite some time.
"Look! He's awake! I told you it would work, Joan. It even looks like
he's trying to speak to us. Go get the Doctor, tell him our John Doe
is awake," Nurse Mary Spring directed to the younger nurse. Mary went
over to the window to close the shades and darken the room slightly.
"Why can...can't I see? Or even move?" he said as he tried to become
aware of his surroundings.
Mary removed the bandages from around his eyes. "There that should help
you to see. I had to draw the blinds first, so that you wouldn't hurt
your eyes."
"I...I can't m…move my arms." He gave up the struggle to sit up. His
body felt so weak. He blinked a few times to adjust his eyes to the
light. Things were blurry at first, but slowly his vision returned to
normal. His eyes followed Mary's form as she moved about the room. She
had lovely brown hair that was pulled up in a bun behind her head. She
was petite, couldn't be older than thirty, he thought.
The nurse came over and undid the straps. "We had to tie you down when
you came in here, so you wouldn't hurt yourself."
"How long have I been here? Where am I? Only an hour ago I was in the
park with my friends." He tried to sit up, but the pain he was
experiencing and the dizziness made him decide against it. The nurse
helped him back down. "This is some kind of hospital, isn't it? Why do
I hurt and why the straps?"
"You're right, this is a hospital. An hour ago? I'm afraid you've been
here in a coma for three months! We didn't even know your name. Just
been calling you John Doe all this time."
It took him a few minutes to think of it, "Murdock, yes it's H.M.
Murdock. If I've been in a coma for three months why do I still hurt
and why the straps?"
Mary put down her stethoscope and glanced out to the hall to see if Joan
and the doctor were back yet. "Well HM, if I may call you that, that's
a good question. I wish I had an answer for you. Your condition, when
you were brought in, was quite bad. You had extensive head and internal
injuries. When you came in you were screaming that 'they' were gone and
you were punching at all the doctors, you had been laying in the middle
of an abandoned warehouse district when the police found you and
brought you here. You were nowhere near a park. After surgery, you
went into a coma. We had to tie your arms down, so that if you came to
you wouldn't hurt yourself. You weren't very lucid before surgery, and
we didn't want you waking up, flailing about, perhaps undoing your IV."
She finished checking his vitals. Murdock closed his eyes. He was
tired, very tired. He fell swiftly asleep.
Murdock had ANYTHING but a restful sleep that night. It was filled
with nightmarish terrors. The orderlies had to come in twice to sedate
him.
When he awoke the next morning, the doctor walked in followed by two
men. One of the men, who went by the name of Burns, was the older.
He had a stern look and walked with a purpose in his step. With
slightly graying hair and a clean shaven face, he looked like quite the
opposite to his partner, who was younger by about 6 years. Though both
had been on the force almost as long, they've only recently been thrown
together as partners. Jones, the other and younger man, had a full head
of blond hair and a mustache. In fact, some people had mistaken him for
Robert Redford and he relished this every time too. "Mr. Murdock, these
gentlemen are detectives and would like to ask you some questions. I
told them to keep it brief since you need your rest."
Joan came into the room with the Doctor following closely behind. He
proceeded to give Murdock an examination. "Did he say anything when he
woke? Did he tell you what happened? The police have been notified,
and they're very anxious to talk to this man. Well, it looks like he's
in a natural sleep now. Let's leave him be to get some rest. Not much
we can do till he wakes again. Make sure someone keeps an eye on him
overnight." The Doctor was satisfied with Murdock's condition and with
that they left the room.
"Mr. Murdock I'm Det. Jones and this is my partner Det. Burns. We need
to know what transpired at the warehouse. I know you just woke from a
coma, so take your time. It's very important, since it involves three
murders. Let me bring you up to speed on what we have and you can fill
in the blanks. You were found just four feet away from the murdered
men. Did you know them, by any chance?"
"Murder? What are you talking about? Don't know anything bout any
murder. Like I said yesterday, I was in a park with some friends. We
were planning a trip, a plane trip, and trying to convince the big guy.
Ah..., his name was B.A. , he's a big guy and a mud sucker at that.
You DON'T want to make him mad. Well, we were planning this trip and
then nothing. Next thing I know I'm waking up here and finding out
it's three months later. And, when my friends find out I'm here,
they'll be here pretty darn quick, let me tell you."
Det. Burns was writing everything down. He looked up from his notepad.
"Did you say B.A.? As in B.A. Baracus?"
"Yes, B.A." Murdock thought for a minute. What was it about B.A. that
he shouldn't mention. He wished that his mind would clear up so he
could think better. "I don't think that was his last name. Maybe Smith
or something like that."
The two detectives exchanged glances, then Det. Burns spoke, "Mr.
Murdock, B.A. Baracus was one of the murdered men. Did you know the
other two victims? John Smith and Templeton Peck?"
Murdock was shocked. "You're making this all up. It's not true,
they're not dead! No one's dead!" Murdock was getting very upset,
his whole body started to shake. "You just have your facts wrong,
that's all. No, NO!"
"No more questions, my patient has been through a rough time. You'll
have to question him later. Now go. Mr. Murdock, I'm going to give you
a sedative to calm you down," the Doctor said as he pulled out a
syringe out of his bag.
Mary came over to Murdock's side and tried to reassure him. "I'm sure
it's all a mistake. Things will be all right, but you need to calm down
now." "No," Murdock pushed the Doctor and Mary away, "I don't know
what's going on, but my friends are alive!"
"I believe you HM, now let the doctor give you a little something to
calm you, then you can think better." Mary held his hand and that seemed
stop his shaking, at least long enough for the doctor to give him a
sedative. "Now try and get some sleep, and we'll check back on you
later."
Mary and the doctor left. Murdock tried to fight off the sedative.
'How can this be? I know the guys aren't dead. There has to be a
mistake. There just has to be.' During his sleep, he was haunted by
visions he did not recognize. Visions that scared him. In these dreams,
he was seeing a shadow standing over him, this figure was holding
needles and a bright light. The light was so bright that Murdock
couldn't tell if the figure was a man or a woman or even a person. Then
the visions changed to explosions and bodies everywhere.
"Dr. Braun, do you think he's going to be okay? " Mary was quite
worried about Murdock. Over the short time that she was assigned to
him, she had grown attached to a man she didn't know. The only state
she had seen him in was just laying there so lifeless. When she had
taken his bandages off, she found herself staring into the most
beautiful brown eyes she had ever seen.
"Only time will tell Mary, only time will tell."
Murdock awoke the next day feeling better physically, though emotionally
he was a wreck. He knew his friends wouldn't leave him. Not like this,
not murdered. He was determined to find out the truth. Why couldn't he
remember what had happened. Three months ago. It doesn't seem real.
Well, he wasn't going to sit around and find out, he got dressed, very
slowly, his body still aching from being flat on his back for so long.
"Detectives, I will have to check with Mr. Murdock's doctor to see if he
can have visitors. I'll just be a moment." Murdock heard the nurse
talking to the men standing in the hall. He looked around for his cap
and jacket. 'Where were his things?' he thought. He opened the chest
of drawers, but nothing was there. He had found his pants and shirt
there minutes ago, so he tried the closet next. "Ah, there you are!"
He grabbed them and crept out to the end of the hall and down the
stairs. Soon he was out the door, but had no idea where to go next or
what he was going to do. Mary had also come out of the building at the
same time. She was unaware of Murdock's presence and headed straight
for her car. Murdock came from behind her and clamped his hand over
her mouth. "Please, I'm not going to hurt you, but I need to get out
of here. I need you to help me. I'll let you go if you promise to take
me home with you." She nodded in agreement and Murdock released her.
He got into the passenger side of the car feeling exhausted. As Mary
nervously watched, then without even asking why he was doing this, she
put the car in gear and they drove away from the hospital grounds.
"Damn, who the hell let that screwball out of the hospital?" Det. Burns
said as he ran out of Murdock's room. "I can't believe this. The
captain will have our hides for this. Quit flirting with that Nurse and
contact headquarters. Put out an APB on this Murdock character. Tell
them that he escaped out of the hospital and is to be considered
dangerous. Nurse, who was the last person to see Murdock?"
"Let me see, HM, that would have to be Nurse Spring and Doctor Forbes.
The Doctor is making rounds right now, so he's still here. Mary's. I
mean Nurse Spring's shift just ended so she's probably on her way home.
Why? You don't think they had anything to do with this, do you?"
"Well, I'm not taking any chances. Murdock is suspected of murder right
now. How long have Spring and Forbes been working here?" Det. Burns
didn't believe Murdock's story the other day. He couldn't believe that
a person could just 'forget' everything that had happened to him unless
he WAS guilty. Then he could forget the ugly unpleasantness of that
act. "Page the Doctor. Now! I want to talk to him. Then get me
Nurse Spring's home address. We'll need to pay her a visit also."
"Yes sir. The Doctor has only been here a week or so, but Mary's been
with us for quite some time."
The two detectives left the Nurse's station. It was imperative that
they find this Murdock in the near future.
**********************************************************************
In a damp, spaceless jail cell, one man sat on the top bunk telling
stories to anyone who would listen. "and, let me tell you that she had
the most GORGEOUS hazel eyes, the most GORGEOUS brown hair, the most
GORGEOUS..."
"You say 'gorgeous' one mo' time," the man on the bottom bunk said as
he got up to face the other, "I'll put my 'gorgeous' fist right through
that 'gorgeous' mouth of yours. You got that?"
"Ah., yeah, sure, BA whatever you say. I was just thinking out loud
is all. Hey Hannibal, just how long are we going to stay here anyway?"
whined Face.
Hannibal, who had been staring out the window all this time, lit up a
cigar. "As long as it takes. Right now this is the best place to be.
I mean, we have three square meals a day. Room service. What more
could any man ask for? Besides, I need time to think, come up with a
plan. Also the military believes we're dead. At least I hope they do.
And these people here in this small, quaint, little town, think we're
some lowlife scum, who lie cheat and steal. No offense, Face."
"None taken."
"But until we find out who's behind this, and what they're up too, we
can't take any unnecessary chances. Especially, until we know Murdock
is safe."
BA. laid back down. "How do we know that crazy foo is still alive
anyway?"
"Well, BA, Murdock is full of surprises. He has a great ability to
survive and get himself out of trouble. Let me rephrase that, he has a
great ability to survive," Face said with just a little worry in his
voice. "Who knows? Maybe he's on his way here."
"I hope not, for his sake," Hannibal said. "If he wants to stay alive,
he'll stay put, right where he's at." Hannibal went back to staring out
the window.
**********************************************************************
It didn't take long to get to Mary's apartment. Murdock was quiet
during the drive, except for a few mumbles here and there about,
"they're not dead." "Well, here we are, HM. Luckily for you, I live
on the first floor, so you don't have any stairs to climb. I know that
you're probably still a little weak and tired," Mary stated as they both
got out of the car. She unlocked her door and helped Murdock in. "You
really are very trusting aren't you? In your weakened condition I could
have fought you off easily and ran off to call the police."
"I could tell you weren't going to. I could see it in your eyes.
Besides, I'm just a fun kinda guy. Aren't you also being a little to
trusting?" Murdock said as he sat down on the sofa. " "Do you know
anything about what happened to me? About my friends?"
Mary looked away from him, "It didn't matter if I trusted you or not,
for the same reasons. In your weak condition, there's not too much you
could have done. There's also no guns or weapons at the hospital for
you to get a hold of. As for your friends, I…ah... um... really don't
know that much at all. Just what the police had said. You really
shouldn't have left the hospital until you got stronger. Besides, the
police were wanting to talk to you. What if they come here? I'm sure
it won't take them longer to figure that out, or to come talk to me."
She tried to find something to do, something to keep her from looking at
him. "I'll just go into the kitchen and make us some tea. You can rest
here for a bit, but then you'll have to leave." With that said, she
went into the kitchen and picked up the telephone as quietly as she
could and dialed. "Yes," she stated to the voice on the other end.
He's here. No...he doesn't remember a thing," A pause, "Now remember,
you said you'd do it! You promised, and I did live up to my end of the
bargain." Another pause. "All right, good-bye."
She hung up the phone and proceeded to make some tea for her and
Murdock. When she returned to the livingroom, Murdock wasn't there! 'I
hope he didn't try to leave,' she thought. As she moved toward the
hall, she thought she heard a moan coming from the bedroom. There was
Murdock lying on the bed, apparently asleep. As she moved to his side
and touched his chest, a hand touched hers, drawing her ever so gently,
closer to him.
"I really do appreciate all that your doing to help me. Especially
with everyone trying to tell me my friends are dead," Murdock said as he
laid there, holding her hand.
"No...no please. You don't understand. In fact if you did, I'm sure
you would feel differently. The things that I," she never finished her
sentence. As she looked down, she saw that Murdock had fallen asleep.
Mary took off his cap, stroked his face, and gave him a kiss on the
cheek. "Sweet dreams, HM," she said as she sat down by his side.
**********************************************************************
"Well gentlemen, I've got good news for you. It looks like your free
to go. It seems you have some rich and powerful friends. They paid
your bail. Now if you take my advice, and I'm sure you will, you'll
leave our peaceful little town and never come back! Also, your friend
left you a message with the bail money. Though it doesn't make much
sense. It says, 'It worked!', whatever that means."
"It means we're free to go. Come on Face, BA. I think the sheriff
doesn't enjoy our company any more."
"Oh and fellas, don't let the door hit you on the way out," mused the
sheriff.
"Now that THAT'S over, lets go find Murdock. " Hannibal lit up a
cigar.
"If they said 'it worked', does that mean that Murdock is okay? "
inquired Face.
"That fool has never been OK!" snorted B.A. "Let's get outta here, I
don't like this place and I don't like this town."
"Take it easy, BA, we don't know where Murdock is at the moment, and
we can't just go nosing around the warehouse looking for him. Besides,
I've been working on a plan. Let's get back to L.A., I need some movie
props."
**********************************************************************
"No, no, I won't do it... They're gone! " Murdock was screaming. He was
still being plagued by nightmares. He sat up suddenly in bed and
covered his face. He hadn't realized that Mary was lying next to him.
"It's okay. It's the nightmares, isn't it?" Mary put her arms around
him and held him tight until he calmed down. After a couple of
minutes the shaking stopped, his breathing was more regular now. He
looked up into her eyes, and kissed her gently on the lips. He laid
back down on the pillow, pulling her down with him. They spent a few
moments staring face to face, not saying a word. Then she thought back
to the phone call. 'What if he remembers? Oh God, he could hate me!'
She got up, "Look, you need your rest." She walked out of the room.
She couldn't go through with it. Murdock sat up, deciding he had enough
rest for one day. He was curious about Mary's reaction though. The way
she abruptly left him, there had to be more going on here. Murdock
started to get up to follow her, but thought better of it and sat back
down. "Perhaps she just wants to be left alone right now." Before he
knew it, was had drifted off to sleep again.
******************************************************************************
The detectives were waiting at the nurses station when the doctor
arrived. "Doctor, I need to ask you a few questions about your patient,
Mr. Murdock," detective Burns said, then turned towards his partner.
"Stay
here, we'll only be a few minutes. Okay Doc, is there someplace
private we can go, so we don't have to disrupt the nurses any longer?"
"Yes. Ah...um...we can step into this room over here." As they
entered, the Doctor closed the door behind them so that their
conversation wouldn't be overheard. He continued after looking the room
over, "It's all clear. Did you get my message? Does your partner
suspect anything?"
"Yes, my superiors were very pleased with the results and the work you
did. See? You said it wouldn't work, but it did. You did a great job
on Murdock. That drug you gave him did better than we'd hope. He has
no idea what happened. You even got him believing that his friends are
dead, and recruiting Ms. Spring to help was an added bonus. In fact
she's with him right now, keeping an eye on him for us. Don't worry
about my partner, he's completely in the dark. I think I'll even put
him up for a promotion when this case is over. Though I won't hesitate
to kill him or Ms. Spring if the need arises."
"But the drug we gave Murdock is still experimental. We don't know what
the long term effects are, or even how that will change his
personality," the doctor stated a little nervously.
"It's a little late to worry about that now, isn't it? Besides, with
Murdock's silence guaranteed now, there's no way that the A-team can be
a threat to us now or to the plan. Speaking of which, they should be
getting back to L.A. any day now, thinking that everything is fine,
their friend is fine, and believing that the military is off their
backs. They won't have any reason to check into the 'incident'." Burns
was feeling pretty smug.
The doctor just shook his head and said, "Wouldn't it have been a lot
easier and simpler just to have killed this Murdock fellow? By giving
him the drug and keeping him here in the hospital, I'm taking a chance
on losing my medical license. Also, I've had to keep his identity hidden
and that has been difficult with everyone asking questions. If your
people hadn't screwed up to begin with, the police department would
never have been involved."
Burns just laughed, "Doc, if we had killed that nutball Murdock, you
would have had a lot more to worry about from the A-team than just
losing your license. For now, let's just get back to business as normal
and let me worry about the police department." Burns left the room,
followed by the Doctor. "Catch ya later, Doc."
Doctor Braun continued his rounds, but with so much that was happening,
he found it impossible to concentrate on his job.
*********************************************************************
After another restless sleep, Murdock got up. He went over to the
bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. He felt better physically
now, but his mind was still clouded. 'Why can't I think straight?' he
thought. He felt so good around Mary, he enjoyed having her around, but
what was it that was still nagging him at the back of his mind? Maybe
he had just fallen in love with her. Yeah, that has to be it. What
else could it be? His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Mary's
sweet voice.
"Are you okay in there?" Mary inquired.
Murdock peeped his head out through the bathroom door, "Yeah, sure." He
then came out of the bathroom and saw Mary sitting on the bed. Murdock
put his hands on her shoulders, then she started to sob. "Hey! What's
wrong?"
"I hate myself for what I did. At the time I was only trying to help
myself, but now I know that my selfishness has hurt you. Before it
didn't matter, but since then I've come to know you , and I…I …," her
voice trailed off. Murdock just took her into his arms and held her.
"It's going to be okay, just wait and see. It can't be any worse than
the position I'M in right now. Everyone says my friends are dead. I
feel like I'm losing my mind. The cops think I killed some people, so
now I'm sure they're after me. "
Her sobbing subsided and looked up at him again. "Are you sure? Are
you sure they were telling you the whole story?"
*****************************************************************
Face had secured them transportation back to the city. Once there
Face dropped Hannibal and B.A. off at the van, and went on to find a
place for them to meet. After a couple of hours they met back at Face's
'apartment of the week', as Hannibal had put it, to work on their plan.
It was the penthouse apartment of L.A.'s most famous modeling agency
executive Mr. Hahn, who just happened to be out of town, and had called
the Templeton agency on house sitters to send someone over. An agency
that Face had set up a month ago, to attract the bigger fish. "Okay
guys, let's go over what we DO know, which isn't much at this point. We
also have to find Murdock, because we all know he won't stay out of
trouble for long. BA, did you check out the psyche wards of the
hospitals?"
"Yeah Hannibal, no one's had any crazy man fittin' Murdock's
description come in. Though, when I described the crazy fool to them,
they said to bring him in immediately if we find him."
Hannibal glanced over at Face, who was busy checking out The Hahn
portfolio of prospective models. "Face, could you tear yourself away
from those photos long enough to help us figure out a way to find
Murdock?"
"Well for your information Hannibal, I've not only been looking at
pictures, but I've been checking out the obituaries in the paper. Can
you believe this guy has kept all the newspapers for the last 2 years?
This guy is either a pack rat or just very lazy. Well it seems last
week our names were in there as promised. We apparently died from a
bomb blast in the old warehouse district, and being the thorough guy
that I am, I contacted the military to see what their reaction was. Well
they did find 3 bodies and checked out their ID's, and determined it
wasn't us. Didn't Burns say that no one would actually die? That our
deaths were to be faked?"
Hannibal walked over to the stack of papers lying near Face and picked
one up. "Yes, that's what we were told. I also suspect that Burns is
thinking that we 'bought' the whole story with no questions asked, and
that we'd be concentrating on finding Murdock. Did you find out how
the bomb blast started? It also sounds like Murdock is okay, since he
wasn't one of the victims."
"No, thank God," Face said with relief in his voice. "All it said
was that the police considered it a
professional job, perhaps by a Mafia family, though no motive was
given. Something interesting in today's paper, though it said they did
have a suspect in custody until he escaped. Doesn't give us a name or
anything to go on. I guess we're back to square one."
Hannibal got out his cigar and lit it, then got the biggest grin on his
face that told the others that he 'had a plan'. BA just shook his head
and muttered something indistinguishable under his breath. "Face, how
do you feel about becoming an FBI agent?"
"Oh not the FBI? How bout something a little simpler?" Face said with
disgust. "Remember what happened last time? We almost got caught. In
fact we did until General Murdock came to our rescue."
"Well what better way to get hold of the police files. In the meantime
B.A. and I will check out the warehouse. There might be some clues we
can use. Come on ,B.A." As they left, Face just stood behind for a
few minutes stating something about Hannibal being on the Jazz again.
**********************************************************************
Murdock and Mary were in her living room apartment when Murdock asked
her what she meant by her statement about her friends. "Of course I'm
sure. Why would the cops tell me they were dead if they're not?"
"All I'm saying is there is more going on than you know. I haven't
been completely honest with you either. Remember when we told you
that you had been in a coma for 3 months? Well, you were only
unconscious for a week."
"What?!" Murdock was completely floored by this bit of news. "I ah…I
just can't believe it!" He got up, went over to Mary, pulled her up out
of her chair. Looked deep into her eyes. He tried to search into her
soul. "What have you done to me? You know what's happened to me, don't
you? What's happened to my friends?"
He released her and Murdock sank down into one of the nearby chairs.
She kneeled down next to him, regret written all over her face. "I
really don't know all that much, HM, and I know you probably won't
believe what I'm going to tell you, either. I had been in some trouble
a couple of years ago when I first moved out here. I thought I had put
it all behind me, but a week ago these men came up to me and told me
that
if I didn't co-operate with them, they would end my career. They had
photos and everything. All I had to do was keep an eye on you and tell
them the minute you woke up. Also to convince you that you had been in
a coma for 3 months. The job seemed so easy, but somewhere along the
way I felt guilty, and then all of this seemed wrong."
"What happened to me? How did I end up in the hospital?"
Mary composed herself and continued, "You were injured in a bomb blast.
The cops brought you in and we patched you up. You were in pretty bad
shape. Every day I would look in on you when Dr. Braun was done with
your sessions."
"What do you mean 'my sessions'?"
**********************************************************************
______________________________________________________
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Hannibal and BA parked a few blocks away from the warehouses. Hannibal
got into the disguise he had picked up from the movie lot. ''The little
old lady' not one of his favorites, but it would get the job done. "How
do I look, B.A.?"
BA just shook his head in disgust. "Ugly. Man, you're even uglier than
Murdock as a woman!"
"Thanks, I'll take that as a compliment. Now get on that rooftop over
there and keep an eye out. Since the military didn't buy our deaths,
they may be lurking around. I'll just mosey on down the street, and see
what I can dig up." Hannibal walked off, on the way checking the trash
bins, as if he were looking for food. He eyed some equipment in the
ruins. The only thing he could make out on it was a little writing that
said 'U.S. Government'. Before he could get a chance for a closer look,
he heard a jeep coming around the corner. He began singing, and when
the jeep pulled up nearby, he waved at them and pulled out a cigar. "Hey
fellas, would one of you kind gentlemen happen to have a light?"
"Sure, here, but don't be loiterin' around here. This area is
restricted, now get a move on."
"Sure thing, sonny. Sure thing," Hannibal said as he lit his cigar.
"Damn, that's one ugly woman," the driver said to his companion as they
drove off. Hannibal just smiled and continued down the road, checking
out more trash bins along the way. When he got back to the van, B.A.
was waiting for him. "What did you find, Hannibal?"
"Besides fifty cents? Just that this is the most unlikely place to be
storing government equipment. There's something fishy going on here,
and I'm determined to find out what it is. "
"What about Murdock?"
Hannibal began changing his clothes. "Face should be able to come up
with something at the police station."
**********************************************************************
Before Face went to the police department, he decided he had better get
a fake ID this time. He wasn't going to have a repeat of the last time,
when he had lifted a real one off an agent. 'They don't have a sense of
humor about these things,' he thought to himself. As he pulled up in
front of headquarters, he looked into his rearview mirror and adjusted
his mustache. Satisfied, he went inside and presented his ID to the
desk sergeant. "Hi, I'm Agent Frost. "I need to speak with the
detectives working the bomb blast that occurred last week."
The sergeant looked up and glimpsed at Face's ID. "So, what interest
does the FBI have in all this?"
"That's something I need to take up with the detectives. So if you
don't mind please, I'm in a bit of a hurry here."
The sergeant escorted him to Det. Jones office. "Det. Jones will be
back in a few minutes. You can wait for him in here."
"Thank you, thank you very much." Face waited until the sergeant was
out of sight, then he closed the blinds to have some privacy and got to
work. He booted up the computer and pulled up the files on the
investigation. "Let's see what's behind door #3, shall we? Ah, 3
men were killed when a bomb blast occurred. Preliminary evidence
suggest that a bomb was deliberately set. The only survivor was taken
to County General. After talking to the man referred to as John Doe
previously, I have concluded that he may be responsible for the deaths.
I have also found out that his name is HM Murdock, but last night he
escaped from the hospital." Face turned off the computer, "We got you
now, old buddy." He peeked out of the window to make sure all was
clear. As he was walking towards the front, he saw Burns. "What's he
doing here?" he muttered in surprise. He quickly turned around and
headed out the back door.
**********************************************************************
Before Face went to the police department, he decided he better get a
Face arrived at the hospital. "Hi, I'm Dr. Temple," he told the Nurse
at the nurse's station. "There's a patient in room 242 in need of a new
IV drip. Could you check on it, please?"
"Yes, right away."
"Thank you very much, dear lady." After she left, and checking to make
sure no one was around, Face went behind the counter to check on the
Murdock's medical records. "Let's see...ah yes, Murdock," Face had only
a quick glance at it before he heard voices coming around the corner.
He made a quick exit into the closest room he could find. The lady, who
was quite gorgeous, looked up at him. "Are you here for examination,
Doctor?"
"Ah...well…I would, except I'm already late for my staff meeting.
Sorry," Face couldn't believe he was saying this. As Face left he
thought about how 'Murdock was going to owe BIG for this one.'
Before he left the hospital, he checked on the nurses who were working
Murdock's room and got the address of Ms. Spring. When he got to the
vette, he called up Hannibal to let him know he had a line on Murdock.
"Yeah, it seems Murdock left the hospital on his own. There was a nurse
who was responsible for his care. She's off duty now, so I'm going to
swing by her place and see if she might know of anything."
"Face, is he all right?" Hannibal said with concern in his voice.
"Yeah, they said he was in pretty bad shape when he came in a week ago
and that he had been in some sort of coma until a day or two ago. He's
left on his own, so I'm hoping Ms. Spring might have talked to him and
know something of his whereabouts. Also, did I tell you I saw Burns at
police headquarters? It seems that he's one of the detectives working
the bomb blast. I didn't hang around to talk to them after all. Don't
think he recognized me. I made a quick exit."
Hannibal thought for a minute. "If he's a cop and he's involved in
this, that means that this thing is big, very big. So the question is,
why was Murdock in the area to begin with? He was supposed to meet us
outside of town when the job was done."
"Maybe Murdock can answer those questions when we find him. I'll catch
up with you guys later."
"Okay Face, we'll meet you at her house."
**********************************************************************
"Tell me about the sessions Mary." Murdock was still stunned by the
news.
"Well, everyday Dr. Braun would go in your room with some drugs and
some equipment I'd never seen before. He would be in there for about an
hour. When he'd come out, he would tell me to keep an eye on you.
Sometimes I thought I heard his voice giving you instructions. I
thought that was pretty odd since you were supposed to be unconscious."
Mary looked into his eyes, hoping that she wouldn't see hate in those
lovely brown eyes of his. "You must think really bad of me right about
now, and I wouldn't blame you if you did."
"No, I don't hate you. I just need some time to think." Murdock went
into the kitchen. He needed some space to think things through, but
"things" weren't very clear at the moment. He saw Mary's car keys on
the table. He grabbed them and ran out the kitchen door, and ran smack
into Face. "No....no…this can't be!" His face went white, and he tried
to get away from Face's hold on his arms.
"Murdock, you're all right! We've been worried about you! Hey, what's
wrong? Are you OK?" Face was very concerned with the look on his
friend's face.
Mary, who had followed Murdock outside, ran up to them. "Let's get him
inside. I think he's gone into shock." They took Murdock back into the
house and laid him down on the bed in Mary's bedroom. "What happened
outside? And who are you?" Mary inquired of Face.
"I'm a friend of Murdock's. You must be Ms. Spring. It's nice to meet
you. Right now though I'm concerned about Murdock. Murdock, can you
hear me? Hey, snap out of it. What's wrong with him?"
"I don't know. This is how he was in the hospital. I think the doctor
gave him some kind of treatments, but I don't know what they were about,
but knowing the Doctor they way I do, I'm sure it wasn't anything good.
Let him lay here for a little bit. He'll be all right. I promise."
Hannibal and BA pulled up and Face came outside to greet them. "Boy am
I glad you guys are here. Murdock's inside, but he's not doing so good.
Don't know what's wrong with him, but Mary says it had something to do
with his stay in the hospital."
By the time they all arrived in the bedroom, Murdock had some color
back in his face and was more aware of his surroundings. "Face? Is
that really you?"
"Yes, it's me Murdock. Hannibal and BA are here also. You gave me
quite a scare there. Are you okay? I've never seen you like this
before, and I've seen you in some pretty strange states of mind."
"I...I don't know. Things have been kinda foggy for me lately."
"Things are always foggy for you, fool," said BA as a smile crossed his
face, "but I'm glad you're all right."
"Well now we're all together. Everyone's safe and I can get back to
some unfinished business back at the hospital," Face said, relieved that
Murdock was looking much better. Face got up to leave, but the look he
got from Hannibal was enough to let him know he wasn't going to finish
that business any time soon. So he sat back down on the bed next to
Murdock.
"I thought you guys were dead. Well they told me you were and I didn't
believe it at first, but then...I don't know. They told me I was found
at an old warehouse. How did I get there? The last thing I remember is
sitting in the park with you guys."
Hannibal moved in closer to Murdock. "Murdock, we were never in a
park. Don't you remember? We were caught, and they had taken us to
some closed down military base for safe keeping. Said they had a deal
for us. Something we couldn't refuse. The men in charge told us they
were with a branch of the government that operated independently from
the military. Couldn't grant us pardons, but they could fake our
deaths, and that the military would be off our backs, for a while
anyway. All we had to do was stay out of town for a few days. You went
with them as insurance to be sure we wouldn't interfere. When
it was over, they were to give us a message, and we could come back,
collect you , and be on our merry way. If not, if we interfered, they
were going to kill you. I think something must have gone wrong. There
weren't supposed to be any deaths, and you sure weren't supposed to be
hurt either."
"You got it wrong, Hannibal. We WERE in the park . We had a job to do
and you were coming up with a plan to do it."
BA had listened to enough. "You crazy man. Your not even 'here' half
the time anyway. We weren't in no park, get that through your mixed up
brain."
"Take it easy BA, I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation for
this. Murdock do you remember anything after you left us?"
"No, just waking up in the hospital. Mary, tell them about the
sessions I had. Maybe they did something to my mind while I was in the
hospital."
Mary told Hannibal about what happened in the hospital. BA walked over
to Murdock, "What ever they did to you could only be an improvement.
Heh, heh, heh."
Hannibal thought it over. It was time for a plan.
**********************************************************************
Hannibal, Face, and B.A. left Mary alone with Murdock. They mentioned
something about some phone calls and proceeded to Mary's living room.
Murdock sat up and pulled Mary down beside him. "Look, I..I still like
you. Even after what happened. I don't know what it is about you, but
when I look at you I can see that you didn't have any other choice."
"But that's just it. There's always a choice, always alternatives. I
should have done what was right from the beginning. When I first came
to L.A. I was involved in a scandal with a politician. Somehow
Detective Burns got a hold of the pictures and used it to blackmail me.
I...I'm so sorry for what I did then and now. It seems like it will
haunt me forever."
"If you didn't do it, they would just have found someone else. In a
way I'm glad it was you. Look at you now, you're defying them and
helping me," Murdock tried reassuring her. He pulled her close to him,
Mary didn't resist. She felt like putty in the arms of this man she so
desperately wanted to help. After being pulled down tightly against
Murdock, She began caressing his chest with such a burning desire, a
need to be with him. Her hands found their way to his broad shoulders.
He too, felt a desire for her and kissed her passionately on the lips.
She pulled away after a few minutes. "Don't start something you not
going to be able to finish." Mary couldn't believe she was saying
this, but she felt she was taking advantage of a man who was under some
influence. "Let's go see how your friends are doing. Shall we?"
They joined Hannibal and the others in the living room. Just one look
at Hannibal told Murdock all he needed to know. "So, you've got a plan,
don't you Colonel?"
"Yes, Murdock I do. "You're going to turn yourself in to Detective
Burns." Murdock started to protest, but Hannibal continued on, "It's
the best choice at the moment, Murdock. If Ms. Spring doesn't turn up
with you or a report soon, they're going to become suspicious. We don't
need that right now. Face will go to the hospital. He can snoop around
and try to find out what exactly those 'sessions' were. I think they
were doing some type of brainwashing technique on you, though I haven't
figured out 'why' yet. Something must have gone wrong that night, and
we're going to find out what it is. But first, we have to find out what
they did to you and also how to jog your memory. I think the key to all
this is locked up inside your head somewhere."
"Yeah, and I think we should throw away the key. Who knows what's
inside of that fool's head," BA said with a slight irritation in his
voice. He was shocked when Murdock didn't reply. "Colonel, I don't
know about this. I get a creepy feeling when I think about that
hospital or those detectives."
Hannibal put a hand on Murdock's shoulder, "Murdock, we won't be far
away. One of us will be nearby at all times."
Murdock left with Mary in her car and headed towards police
headquarters. Before Face left for the hospital, he turned to Hannibal
and said, "Now that was strange. Murdock acted as though we were new to
this sort of thing. It's as if he's forgotten what we DO for a living,
and he didn't even give a comeback to B.A.'s remark. He's a different
man. I sure want to get my hands on that doctor that did this to him."
"Relax for now, Face, we'll get these guys and find a way to get
Murdock back to normal. That is, what's 'normal' for Murdock. BA, is
that bug you planted in Murdock's jacket working?"
"Loud and clear, Hannibal, loud and clear."
"Good, Face, check out this Doc and find out what procedure he's been
doing on Murdock."
"What are you going to be doing, if I may ask? Or don't I want to
know. " Face knew that when Hannibal was on the Jazz, it was safer not
to be anywhere in the vicinity.
Hannibal lit up a cigar, "Got to get some more of these, running a
little low," he looked up at Face. "I am going to get out my costume
that I wore in 'The Monster That Ate New York'. My only regret was that
I didn't get to play a monster in that one. You remember that film,
don't you? I was the kindly old janitor who was hard of hearing."
BA stayed behind and kept monitoring Murdock. Hannibal went to the
police station to take the place of the janitor who called in sick.
Face headed for the hospital.
**********************************************************************
When Face arrived at the hospital, he decided on a direct approach with
the doctor. More than likely the doctor had to be doing something
illegal with Murdock, since no one else had an any idea what was going
on, besides the fact that he remained unconscious in his room. "Doctor
Braun? We need to go to your office and talk. It's a matter of
national security."
"Just who are you? We can talk right here."
"I'm Agent Tempton, assigned to a branch of the government that works
with, shall we say, special medical techniques?" Face flashed a badge at
the doctor very quickly. "I have it on good authority that you have a
procedure for wiping out a person's memory." The doctor started to
interrupt, but Face continued. "Now before you say anything, I just want
you to know that you're not in trouble here. In
fact my agency needs people of your caliber. The kind that can pull
something like this off without getting caught. This operation is very
hush hush, and we need to keep it that way. Are you willing to help?
If you do, we can make it worth your while. We can give you the support
you need to keep your experiments going. You'll never have to worry
about losing your license."
"This does sound intriguing. What would I have to do?"
Face couldn't believe this guy was so gullible, "First you need to tell
how me how your procedure works. Is it 100% effective? I mean, there's
no way anyone could reverse this procedure, is there? It would mean
you'd have to work on a better one, if there is. Do you know for a
fact it works?"
The doctor was ecstatic that someone finally was taking his experiments
seriously. He was very happy to comply with this man's request. "Oh it
works. I have proof. I won't know if it's 100% since I've only just
begun using this on humans. There are side effects and I don't know how
long the memory block will last. I've only done it once."
"Side effects?" Face sounding surprised. "You've only done it once?
Well we'll have to make sure you get enough volunteers to keep you going
won't we? So how does this procedure work anyway. Are you SURE there's
no way to reverse it, I need to be perfectly clear on that. Just to
make sure we can rely on you, you understand."
"Yes," the Doctor continued. "It alters someone's personality. I'm
not 100% sure that it's not irreversible. If I can find the person I
experimented on, I could run some tests and see. It's possible that
returning the victim to a past location or meeting some old friends
could pull him back, or it could drive him to insanity. I don't have
enough information to determine that yet. The procedure works through a
variety of drugs and hypnosis. Given in daily injections, it takes
about a week to take effect."
Face thought, 'Murdock insane?' Okay Doc, that's all for now. Our
agency will be in touch. Don't call us. Due to the nature of our
organization, it's better if we contact you."
**********************************************************************
Murdock was getting agitated, the closer they got to the police
station, "Stop here."
Mary glanced over at him, "Why? We're almost there."
"Just pull over!" he said with rage in his voice. Mary complied and
pulled over into a quiet side road.
"What's wrong? Didn't Hannibal say he wanted us to go talk to Det.
Burns?" Mary was getting worried about Murdock.
"I don't care what Hannibal wants! I want to go to the warehouse. I
want to know what's happened to me, and I think the answer is there. If
you don't take me, I'll walk on foot."
"What's that crazy foo doing now?" B.A. said as he heard this
conversation taking place. He called Hannibal up to warn him.
"Hannibal's not gonna like
this."
Mary agreed to take him, hoping that this wouldn't be a mistake.
"Won't your friends be worried when you don't show up at the station?
You're not thinking too clearly, remember?"
"I don't care. Do you know what it's like? Knowing that a piece of
your life is missing? How do I know that I wasn't responsible for those
deaths, or maybe the explosion itself? I have to find out, and going to
the station is not going to do it." They didn't say anymore to each
other the rest of the way. When they got there, without thinking first,
Murdock ran out of the car and right into the warehouse, directly into
a group of large men carries automatic weapons.
**********************************************************************
Hannibal was still dressed in his janitor's costume when BA pulled up in
the van. "Get in, Hannibal, it's going down, man. That crazy fool is
in the warehouse and it doesn't sound good."
"What about Face? Is he going to meet us there? What was Murdock
thinking?"
"Yeah man," BA was saying as they headed down the road. "He checked in
and he's gonna meet us. Murdock sure wasn't sounding himself. Actin'
kinda strange."
"I know, I'm worried about him. Face called me before you did. He
mentioned his conversation with the doctor. If Murdock just waltzes in
there, they just might kill him. They may not realize that his memory
is still gone. Step on it BA, we can't waste any time."
When they arrived at the warehouse district, Face was already there.
"I've checked out the perimeter. There's two guards outside in the
jeep. They keep out of sight until someone unauthorized shows up.
Inside, I make out about ten people now. Earlier there were twenty at
any given time, but they seem to be winding down operations. What
ever's going down, it's going to be soon. Hannibal, they're all
military. What do you think they have going on out here?"
"I don't know ,Face, but it doesn't look good, and that's something I
can really get into. Right gentlemen?" Before anyone could answer,
Hannibal answered himself. "Right, let's go."
"Go where?" inquired BA.
"Inside of course. We have to help Murdock and find out what's going
on, and we can't get that done sitting out here."
Face got a worried look on his face. "We're not going through the front
door, are we?"
"I can't think of a better way, can you? BA, you and Face take out the
guards in the jeep. Since I'm the janitor and that building looks like
it can use a clean up, I think I'll just go up to it and volunteer my
services," Hannibal stated as he picked up his caddie of cleaning
supplies.
**********************************************************************
Murdock stopped dead in his tracks, as two of the men grabbed him and
searched him for weapons. Mary had appeared a few steps behind him.
One of the guards grabbed her too. "Don't even think about it," she
said as one of the other men moved towards her with the intent of doing
a search for hidden weapons. "Det. Burns, I'm glad you're here.
It'll save me the trouble of having to call you about Murdock. It seems
Murdock is intent on finding out what happened to him, especially since
he couldn't find his friends." Mary was hoping they would accept that
story and not suspect that the A-team was in town and knew Burns was
involved.
"You were?" Burns said not really believing her story. " So Murdock,
you really shouldn't have come back here. Don't you know that we can't
let you go now?" Burns walked up to Murdock and punched him in the
stomach. Murdock doubled over in pain. "We're just starting up
operations again, and this time there's nothing you can do about it.
And my dear Mary, you think I'm going to believe that concoction of a
story? I don't think so." Burns looked at the guards, "Take these two
and lock them up. Keep someone at the door also. I'm not taking any
chances on him interfering again."
Mary and Murdock were taken to an abandoned, empty office, and thrown to
the floor. The men left ,locking the door behind them. "HM, are you
all right?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just got the wind knocked out of me is all."
Murdock sat up and looked around the room. 'I've been here before.
I've been to this warehouse, and I've been to this room."
Mary sat up and put her arm around Murdock. He made no response, but
just stared blankly into space. She put her hand on his face and
turned it towards her, but Murdock's eyes just glazed over and it looked
to Mary as if he was in a trance. He began having thoughts, bits and
pieces of past history that had no meaning to him. The pictures that
had been distorted earlier in his nightmares, as if they were all a bad
dream that had never happened, were becoming clearer to him. Scenes of
high tech military equipment, the kind used in CIA operations. More
scenes of 3 men who looked like Hannibal, Face, and BA, but obviously
weren't them. He also saw himself placing bombs in the equipment. 'So
it was me who blew up the place,' he thought to himself.
"HM, hey snap out of it," she was shaking his shoulders, trying to get
some reaction at all. She didn't realize that he was replaying the
incident that led to his current predicament. Her efforts to awaken
him, were fruitless. "Come on, we have to get out of here."
Murdock just kept staring blankly at her, still trying to make sense of
all the memories that were flooding his mind.
Hannibal walked up to the front door and without bothering to knock,
just walked right in. He proceeded to work on cleaning up the floor.
"Hey old man," one of the guards shouted to him. "What do you think
you're doing?" Hannibal had no response. and just kept right on with
his task as though he hadn't heard anything. "What are ya? Deaf?"
"Eh? What's that you say, Sonny?" Hannibal stopped what he was doing
and looked up. The rest of the men glanced over from what they were
doing to check out the ruckus.
"It's OK, I've got it under control," the first guard turned back to
Hannibal. "I said, what the hell are you doing here? This is a
restricted area. In fact how the hell did you even get in here?"
Hannibal laughed, "Well, I just walked in the front door, Sonny. How
else does someone walk into a building?"
"OK," the man said. "That's it, let's go." As Hannibal was being
escorted out the door, BA and Face
had scaled to the top of the building. They had taken advantage of
Hannibal's distraction, to get
themselves in place. With everyone's eyes on Hannibal, they slid down
on
ropes from the rafters, guns blazing. They caught everyone off guard.
The man who had been
stationed in front of the office, where Murdock and Mary were held,
jumped up at the sound of
gunfire and ran into the melee that was ensuing. Within a few minutes,
the A-Team had everyone
subdued. Hannibal looked around. "Where's Burns?"
Face looked up from the last man he was tying up and said, "I don't
know, he must have ducked out
on us. I'll go check around for Murdock." As Face came near the
office, he made his way very
slowly. Not knowing if there were anyone lurking back there, he didn't
want to take any chances.
He then proceeded, unhampered, as he looked for Murdock. "Murdock,
where are you?"
"Hey, we're in here!" Mary had shouted out.
Face came running in and saw Murdock just sitting there, staring out in
space. Face shook Murdock
a couple of times. "Hey Murdock! Come on buddy, don't leave reality on
me now. Wake up, we
have work to do."
"Face, is that you? I think I remember what happened to me and what
happened here."
Face helped him and Mary to their feet. "Come on, Hannibal and BA have
got things under control
up front, but it looks as though Burns got away."
Hannibal was inspecting the government equipment that was strewn about.
"It looks like Burns and
his group have been busy pilfering from the U.S. Government."
"No...you have that backwards, Colonel. This is equipment that they
were planning to 'plant' in
the government offices. You see, Burns and his group made a deal with
some terrorist group, don't
recall which one at the moment. They had received this equipment from
some of the former Soviet
countries. They then converted them to look like ours, but with some
added features. One of the
features was a bugging device that couldn't be detected. Also, there
was a small explosive that
could be set to go off at an opportune time for them."
Hannibal continued for him. "And with this stuff planted in key areas
of our government, they could
keep tabs on what was going on and even destroy some of our key areas
at the same time."
You got it, Colonel," Murdock replied.
"That explains the operation that was going on here. But it doesn't
explain what happened to you."
Murdock was trying to think, trying to remember everything that had
happened. "It's not all clear to
me yet, Colonel. I'm just getting pieces of my memory back. I do know
that I had something to do
with the explosion and that...that...I'm sorry, I just can't clear my
head." Then he rubbed his eyes
with the palm of his hands, hoping that the action would uncloud his
memories.
BA picked up some of the equipment then looked over at Murdock. "There
ain't nothin' to clear
your head, fool."
"Save it for later, guys. Right now we have to find Burns and stop him.
Then later, Murdock, we
can fill you in on what we do know, up until the time you left us.
Perhaps that will help fill in the
gaps in your memory," Hannibal stated and they headed out the door to
the van.
Mary followed them out. "What about me? You just can't leave me here.
I want to come too.
Besides, I'm the only one who knows where to find him. Did you ever
think of that?"
Murdock walked over to Mary and took her hand in his. "Hannibal, she's
coming with us. I'm not
going to leave her here. What if Burns sends his goons back? No, I'm
not going to take that
chance."
"OK then, you can come. NOW, can we get going?" After they piled into
the van, Hannibal turned to the back. "OK, so where do we look for this
character?"
______________________________________________________
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Mary looked over at Murdock, then to Hannibal. "I overheard him talking
to Dr. Braun one day
after the sessions. He said he meets with his superiors at 1:00 each
day at police station. He
mentioned his 'Police Captain'."
Hannibal looked at his watch. "And it's almost 1:00 now. Let's get
to the precinct. Then we
can..."
Face interrupted him, "Hannibal, I just had a wonderful idea. Let's try
the BACK door for a change
of pace."
"Nice try, Face. But relax, Murdock is going to go through the front
door, and Mary also."
Mary's jaw dropped and Murdock just said, "Huh?"
"You see," Hannibal continued, "that's the last thing they'd expect.
Also, we still have the bug
planted in Murdock's jacket to keep tabs on you. I'm sure they'll want
to take you away from the
precinct. Too many witnesses around here you see. We'll follow them in
the van They should be
taking you to the hub of their operations."
A while later, they dropped Murdock and Mary a block away from the
station. BA had concealed a
tracking device in Mary's purse, in case the two of them would become
separated from each other.
As they walked to the precinct, Murdock held Mary close, enjoying her
warm, soft body, smelling
her lovely hair. "Mary, are you OK with this? Do you think you can go
through with it?"
"As long as your with me, yes...yes I can." As soon as they walked into
the door of the station, the
Captain, who had been talking with Burns, spied them from across the
room. "Hey, somebody grab
those two. Take them to my office."
After Murdock and Mary were seated in the office, Burns and Captain
Macgregor came in, locking
the door behind them. Macgregor sat on top of his desk, looking
straight at Murdock. "You've
been a real pain in the ass, you know that?"
Murdock just smiled, "They have a cure for that nowdays."
Burns got up to strike Murdock, but Macgregor held him back. "No, not
here. Too many people."
"You're right," Burns said. "The final stage of 'Operation Switch' is
almost complete. It leaves
tonight. We'll take these two with us, nd after we're gone, the
military will find their bodies along
with the evidence incriminating Murdock with the murder of three people
and of espionage."
"What about the A-team? Won't they come after us?" Burns went over to
Murdock and grabbed
him by the collar. "Why'd you come here, anyway? Now you're going to
be responsible for this
girl's life, or shall we say death, also. That was a pretty crazy, not
to mention dumb thing to do."
"Why thank you. I've been declared insane by some of the best in the
psychiatric world."
Burns just growled and let him go.
Macgregor got up, "OK, let's go. Don't think about trying anything. We
have our guns trained on
you and we can claim that we shot escaping prisoners."
Outside in the van, BA had been listening to the conversation that
transpired in the captain's office.
"It's going down, Hannibal, just like you said."
"I love it when a plan comes together. Let's go after them, but not too
close." After they left, no one
realized it at the time, but they were being followed by Burn's partner.
*************************************************************************
Two hours later, Murdock, Mary, Burns and Macgregor arrived at the
abandoned air field, the same
place where the A-Team was held over a week ago. Hannibal, BA and Face
were only a mile or two
behind them. "Did any of you notice that we were being followed?"
BA looked through the side mirror. "Yeah, ever since we left the
station. Are we going to plan a
reception for them, Hannibal?"
Hannibal lit a cigar and said, "Yes, let's pull over and give whoever it
is an A-team greeting." By
the time detective Jones arrived at the airfield, Hannibal had the
ambush waiting to be sprung. They
were lying on the ground, covered with branches. When detective Jones
came up to them, the team
jumped up with guns in hand. "It's about time you arrived," Hannibal
said to the detective. BA and
Face just looked at each other, then back to Hannibal. "Oh, did I
forget to tell you? A day or two
before we were caught, this guy comes up to me with a sweet deal. But
we don't have time for this
now. We need to get Murdock."
****************************************************************************
Macgregor had his gun trained on Murdock and Mary. "You caused me a lot
of problems last time
we did this, not to mention the loss of three of my men."
"You weren't planning on making it look as though the A-team were dead
as you originally told
them. You were going to frame them for espionage. I couldn't let you
do that to my unit," Murdock
said.
"I see you have your memory back. What a shame that you won't be around
to enjoy it," Burns
said as he came up to them after checking out the plane. "Everything is
all loaded, and we're ready
to go."
"Good, we'll just get rid of these two, then we're outta here," said
Macgregor. He and Burns weren't
paying attention to the four shadows that were silently moving upon
them.
Burns had pointed his gun to Mary. "Maybe you should go first? Then
loverboy here can watch
you die." Murdock started to jump on Burns, but he just waved his gun
and said, "Your turn's
coming, don't worry."
The next things that happened were done so fast that Macgregor and Burns
couldn't react fast
enough. Murdock saw the shadows in the night creeping up behind the two
crooked cops. He
started rambling on, not making any sense, hoping that the cops would
keep their concentration
on him. It gave Hannibal and the others enough time to come up from
behind and knock out the
cops before they knew what hit them. In fact, the two never saw any
faces, only the fists at the
end of fast hands, before everything went dark. Hannibal and Face had
taken out Macgregor,
while BA had taken care of Burns by himself. Jones ran up to Mary and
asked her if she was OK,
since there was no one left for him.
"Colonel," Murdock yelled out. "They've loaded up the plane with some
special top secret
government equipment. He then went over to Mary, drew her close, and
hugged her tightly.
"Hey babe, you all right?"
"Yes," she said, giving him a passionate kiss on the lips. "Yes, I'm
fine."
Hannibal and Face ran into the plane to see what was there. It was the
ame equipment they had
seen earlier in the day at the warehouse. "We've got to destroy this
equipment," Jones said. He
had followed them into the plane.
"Yes, but how. We didn't bring any explosives with us and there's none
here."
Just then Murdock and Mary came on board. "Colonel, I know how to
destroy them. I did the
same thing at the warehouse that night. I thought I would have been
able to get far enough away
before the explosion, but I didn't make it. I think I know how to
correct that problem. In each of
the equipment, there's an explosive device that the
terrorist were going to use anyway. I happened to have discovered that
frequency and used it that
night. I can use this here radio that's in the cockpit to send off a
signal, with BA's help I can set
it with a delay. That should give us some time to clear out of here. "
Murdock was proud that his
memory had returned just in time to be of some help again. He couldn't
believe how he had acted
the last few days.
"OK, get BA in here and get to work on the timer. The rest of us can
get these two men and
we'll pile everyone in the squad car. As soon as Murdock and BA are
through, we'll take off and
all the evidence will be destroyed along with their plans."
They all got off the plane, except Murdock, who stayed behind to work on
the radio frequency.
BA came in a few minutes later after Hannibal came off the plane. "BA,
we need a little delay on
this frequency. We'll need at least ten minutes to clear out. Think
you can do that, big guy?"
"Shut up, fool. Of course I can. Go see if Hannibal is ready and get
outta my way." Murdock
left the plane, his part done. He met the others inside the van which
Face had retrieved while they
were waiting. Jones was in the squad car with his two prisoners, and
had taken off to a safe
distance to wait for the A-team. BA came out screaming, "Let's get
outta here, fast!" When he
was in, they also made it to a spot of safety along with Jones. Thirty
seconds later, the plane went
up in a giant explosion.
"Great work, you two." Hannibal was looking very pleased with the way
things had turned out.
Face was also beaming. BA was grumbling. While the others were ecstatic
and congratulating
themselves on a job well done, Murdock was looking blankly out the
window of the van.
After the plane explosion, all the memories that were still gone
suddenly returned. This reminded
him of another explosion. He was replaying it in his mind. He was back
to that day at the
warehouse, back to the events that led up to his even being there...
He had been released from the hospital by two M.P.'s, whom were really a
couple of guys hired
by Macgregor to play the role of military police. They had told the
nurse on duty that Murdock
was needed for some testing that could hold a cure for his psychiatric
problems.
The Nurse led the men to Murdock's room. "Mr. Murdock?" she said.
"These gentlemen were
sent here by the military to take you to another facility for some
testing."
"Testing? But I didn't study," Murdock said while playing video games.
The nurse just ignored his question, "Get your things together and
they'll make sure you get there
safely."
"Thank you Nurse, we'll take it from here," one of the M.P.'s said.
Murdock grabbed his hat and
jacket and walked outside to the M.P.'s waiting jeep. They hadn't said
another word for the rest
of the trip, even though Murdock was yakking on and on about nothing at
all. Once they arrived
at the warehouse Murdock was escorted inside.
Murdock checked out his surroundings. He counted fifteen men and women.
They were working
on military equipment, the type used in communications. He could see
they were adding some
kind of explosive device to it. He recognized it, because he had seen
BA use something similar.
"Nice set up you have here. Do you have a room with a view?"
"Very funny. But you won't be here long. If you cooperate, your
friends will no longer have to
run from the law," said Burns. He motioned for three men to come on out
from one of the work
stations. They almost looked like Hannibal, Face, and BA, that's if you
looked at them from a
distance. "The resemblance is uncanny, isn't it? I made a deal with
Smith. If you do as I say,
then these men will take the military on a joy ride through the
mountains and make a leap off one
of the cliffs, leading the military to believe that they're dead though,
they will jump out of the car
before they actually go over."
Murdock looked at them suspiciously, "Then what do you need me for?"
"We need you to fly our plane to a designated place in the desert, then
leave. That's all, and then
your friends never have to worry about the military again. Do we have a
deal?" Burns asked.
Murdock continued to take in his surroundings. "And what plans do you
have for this?" He
pointed to the equipment that was being fitted. "This is my cargo?
You're not planning anything
illegal, are you?"
Burns just laughed, "Of course not. We're just doing the military a
favor, that's all."
"Well, sure. I'll run it for you," Murdock said. He knew better,
though. Whatever they're doing,
it's NOT for the good of the military.
"While we're finishing up here, I would like you to go and wait in one
of our offices." Burns
escorted Murdock to the office and locked the door, once Murdock was
inside. Murdock didn't
stay idle while he was in there. He looked through the papers that were
stacked on the desk.
Glancing at those papers, he figured out that the equipment was being
transported to strategic
American military bases. He thought about what B.A. had said about
explosives, and how to set
them off without a timer. 'Frequencies, sometimes frequencies will set
them off.' He tried to
remember what Face had taught him about picking locks. 'If you have a
beautiful woman by your
side, just ask her for her hairpin. If she doesn't have one, improvise
with a credit card.'
Murdock didn't have a credit card, but found a letter opener and used
that. "Faceman would be
proud of me," he said as he got the door opened. He quietly walked
into the main part of the
warehouse. The operations had shut down and everyone was gone. "What's
going on here?
Weren't they going to take me with them?" He noticed that most of the
equipment was gone
except for a few items. "I've got to destroy these things."
He went to the window and peered outside. He saw the military jeep was
still parked outside, and
didn't see anyone around it. "That jeep has a radio in it,. "All I
have to do is try the different
frequencies, then I can blow this stuff up."
He ran outside and when he got to the jeep, he tried broadcasting on the
different frequencies on
the MP's two-way radio. As soon as he heard the first explosion, he
couldn't get the jeep started,
so he started on foot. He rounded a corner and saw the three men, who
were the A-team
lookalikes, all dead from apparent gunshot wounds. He never made it any
further, for the entire
building went up in one giant explosion...
"Murdock…Murdock," Face and Hannibal had been saying to Murdock. They
had been trying to
get through to him for the last few minutes, but Murdock hadn't
responded.
"I remember," Murdock said to no one in particular. "I remember
everything. I didn't kill those
men! All this time I thought I had, but they were dead before the
explosion. They were shot in
the explosion. That's why they left me locked up in the warehouse,
with just a few pieces of
equipment in it. They were going to frame you guys for the espionage
and me for the murders.
That's why it was so easy for me to unlock that door. Here I was,
thinking that I had learned
something from Face."
"That's also why the police showed up so quickly," Jones thought he
would fill in the next part.
"We got the call at the station, BEFORE the explosion even took place.
That was Burns and
Macgregor's fatal mistake. With that, I was able to put the pieces
together that implicated Burns,
since he's the one that received the call and adjusted the log books.
It didn't dawn on me that
Macgregor was involved until Murdock and Mary showed up at the police
station to turn
themselves in. After which I tried following them, but ended up behind
you instead."
Murdock just sighed, "Then what happened to me after the explosion?"
Jones continued explaining, "When we got there, Burns must have realized
that he couldn't kill
you with other cops around. He probably thought that no one besides him
would intercept the
call. So he decided that since you were injured, you'd be taken to a
hospital. He picked a
hospital where he already had someone he could count on. Dr. Braun had
worked with him
previously, and must have told Burns about his experiments. Burns
decided to inject Murdock
with a hallucinatory drug. That way, when he was brought into the
hospital, he wouldn't be
coherent enough to tell about what he had saw. If he had awakened that
is. You ere injured
badly in the explosion."
"That's when Burns contacted me and told me to work with Dr. Braun,"
Mary said, still feeling
ashamed for what she had done. "He said that if you awoke, it was
important to convince you
that you had been out for several months. That it was crucial to the
'conditioning', if you were
convinced that a longer period of time had lapsed since you were brought
in."
Face still had a confused look. "Okay, that explains Murdock. What
about you and Hannibal?
How did Hannibal meet with you before we were captured and taken to the
old air strip. Which
we thought," Face looked at Hannibal, "was our FIRST deal?"
"Hannibal, you ARE old and gray," Face said, exasperated.
"Well gentlemen, I'm going to take my leave and get these men down to
headquarters. Oh yeah,
I didn't forget our deal, Smith. I never saw you, you were never here.
I should be able to steer
the military away from you for a few days. After that you're on your
own."
"Yeah, back on the run again is what you mean," BA stated. With that
said, Jones took off.
"Hannibal, you didn't tell us about this Jones earlier. Why not?"
"I had given him my word. He said that if we became separated, and one
of you were captured,
then he couldn't be exposed, because I was the only one who knew about
him. So, even though I
tried explaining that it could never happen with you guys, he made me
promise. If not, then the
deal was off and I would be sitting in prison right now, making license
plates for BA's van."
"Okay," Face tried prodding him. "Are you going to tell us or not?"
"I was on my way to meet with my new agent. He had a great deal for me,
a new monster film
called 'The Monster That Surfed Acapulco.' How could I refuse that
role? Well, the agent turns
out to be Jones. Said he knew who we were and that he had a job for
us. I asked them why I
should help him and he said because he felt we weren't guilty. The job
he had concerned national
security and if we still loved our country we would help him. If not,
he would haul me in
right then and there. After I listened to his story, it became clear
to me that Burns was a traitor
and that we should help. The only thing he said he could do to repay us
was to get the military
off our backs for a few days. So that was better than nothing, I
figured. His inside sources told
him that Burns wantedthe A-team, but he didn't know the real purpose.
He just thought we
would help carry out whatever project Burns was working on."
Murdock, who had been in the dark about the majority of this plan,
spoke up. "So who's idea
was it to break me out of the VA?"
Face chimed in with this one. "Let me fill you in a little bit more.
Burns and his men nailed BA
first."
"Yeah, right. How could they get BA?" Murdock asked.
Face continued on, "Through the day care center. Imagine using kids to
trap BA. Then they
used BA to get Hannibal, who conveniently was visiting the center that
day. Now we all know
why, don't we, Hannibal?" Hannibal just shrugged innocently. "The girl
I was dating, and boy
was she beautiful, mentioned how she adored kids and would do anything
for a kid. So I took her
down to the center to meet the kids. Little did I know she was working
for Burns and
Macgregor. Then they took us all to the abandoned air strip. Told us
how we were going to
work for them, or else they would turn us over to the military.
Hannibal said yes, and just to
insure our cooperation , they said they were taking you with them. We
were to stay out of town
and out of sight, when everything was done, they would call us and we
could pick you up
Murdock."
"So you guys were that easy?" Murdock looked surprised.
"Well remember, I had made a deal earlier. I was trying to make it
easy for them, so that we
could find out who the real boss was. Burns promised to get the
military off our backs by faking
our deaths. Though, it's a good thing you discovered their real plan,
Murdock, otherwise who
knows how this would have turned out." Hannibal could see Murdock was
still feeling the
overwhelming effects of his memories coming back and all that has
happened. "Murdock, why
don't you escort Ms. Spring home. I'm sure she'll enjoy your company
much better than ours."
Face started to protest, but Hannibal gave him a look that stopped him
cold. "Besides, the VA's
not missing you anyway. Burns took care of that for us. "We'll pick
you up on the way back."
Murdock looked perplexed. "The way back?"
"Yes, we left some unfinished business in a small town while we were
waiting for you. It seems a certain sheriff there misses our company."
Hannibal just grinned ear to ear.
BA just grumbled. Face said something about "He's on the jazz again."
A short while later they were dropping Murdock and Mary off at her
apartment building. As the van sped off, Murdock thought he heard
Hannibal telling BA and Face to cheer up.
****************************************************************************
Murdock and Mary watched as the others sped off in the van, then they
turned and started
towards Mary's apartment. Once inside the door, Mary closed it behind
her and Murdock
reached for the light switch.
"I don't think we need any lights on here, do you? I mean, let's just
make ourselves a fire," Mary
stated with a whimsical smile.
*************************************************************
Two days later when Hannibal and the others returned to get Murdock,
they couldn't believe the
change in him. He was the happiest they'd seen him since this whole
thing began. He was back to
his old self as though nothing had ever happened. Even BA was happy,
though he would
never show it. "Well Murdock, how did everything go? Did you and Mary
manage to find
something to do?" Face inquired.
Murdock thought about the fire Mary had made, and how they would talk
until the wee hours of
the morning. How she had made him so happy, that all the nightmares
were just a faded memory.
'Face probably wouldn't believe me anyway,' he thought. He just turned
to Face and smiled,
"Well, you know how it is, Faceman. A man and a woman, alone in a
girl's apartment."
******************************************************************************
THE END
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