Hi Guys. Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed my first fan Faction "Playing the Part". I really appreciate the feed back and I think I am addicted now. I have two new stories on the burner but in the meantime here's a one shot – hope you like it. I own none of the A-team – to bad really!
It had been a long night full of explosions, flying bullets and a heaping helping of the "jazz" when B.A.'s van rolled into the driveway of the old house hidden in the darkness. The little farm house that they were staying in was just outside of the city and since it was foreclosed and abandoned no one was expected to be returning. The property was isolated and quite a ways off the main road and with no one living nearby, it was a great place for a small group of wanted men to call home for the time being.
The van had barely came to a complete stop before an adrenaline-charged Murdock leaped out and scooped up the worn old basketball that was laying to the side of the driveway. Turning on his heels quickly he tossed it to Face and just narrowly missed hitting Hannibal who had just cleared the van's passenger door.
"Oops! Umm… sorry Colonel." Murdock apologized as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.
"That's okay son, but mind the spectators."
Murdock smiled "Oh, okay Boss Man. Hey Facey do ya wanna shoot some hoops?"
Just as Murdock asked a ball soared through the air, making a nice swoosh as it connected with nothing but the remnants of the net that clung to the rusty hoop. Face smiled "Sure buddy, I'll shoot some hoops with you."
Murdock unzipped his bomber jacket, and removed it and his Hawaiian print shirt and set them on the grass. Left with just his black t-shirt and cargo pants he swaggered up to Face. He got real close and with full theatrics, he turned his red ball cap around backwards, stared menacingly at his opponent and growled in his toughest sounding voice "It's on!" He clapped his hands, and ran with a manic laugh over to the basketball and began to dribble it up the driveway. Face laughed, chucked his jacket on the pile of clothing Murdock had started and ran out to start the game.
Hannibal smiled pulling a cigar out of his pocket. Saying with a laugh, "Boys will be boys".
B.A. shook his head "Hannibal, those crazy fools are going to be bouncing that ball all night when I'm tryin' to sleep."
"It could be worse B.A. They could be bouncing around inside all night. You know neither of them will sleep tonight. It's the jazz."
B.A. laid on the bed in his room. Hannibal had retired to his room to go over some notes on the mission, and since the house had no TV B.A. had decided that he would try to get some rest. It had been a long day, but he couldn't sleep.
THUMP
THUMP
THUMP-THUMP
SWOOSH
"And the crowd goes wild!" Murdock cheer rang out.
"Shut up, ya crazy fool" B.A. mumbled to himself.
THUMP
THUMP-THUMP
THUMP
THUMP-THUMP-THUMP
SWOOSH
"Ha! Take that!"
"Aaaaaaaaaa… not you too Face." The big man moaned as he threw a pillow over his head.
THUMP
THUMP
B.A. threw the pillow on the floor and sat up, rubbing his hands over his mohawk. He glanced down at his watch.
"3 am." He sighed.
As he thought about going outside and putting Face and that crazy fool Murdock through that basketball hoop, a wave of inspiration came over him and big smile spread over his face.
"Oh yeah! This is going to be fun!"
THUMP
THUMP
THUMP-THUMP
"Hey Facey! Check this out! From the three point line."
SWOOSH
"Nice shot!" Face complimented as he retrieved the ball.
Face and Murdock turned in unison when they heard the screen door to the house swing open and B.A. walkout. He let it slam shut behind him. The Big Man was headed for the back of the van mumbling to himself. He opened the door, pulled out his tool box, the jack, and he started to raise up the van.
Murdock looked over to Face and whispered "That's kinda odd, don't ya think?"
Face set the ball down gently on the pavement and quietly replied "Yeah it is." He started walking over to B.A. as Murdock followed him cautiously.
"Hey Bosco. What're you doing?" Face asked as they approached the van.
"Fixing this flat tire, man. What's it look like I'm doin'?"
Murdock bent over to look at the tire and then back up to Face with a puzzled look and said "Ummm… B.A.? The tire is fine."
B.A. grabbed Murdock and shook him "Stop your jabbering crazy talk fool. Can't ya see this tire's been slashed!" then he let him go, and the stunned pilot fell to the ground. Murdock blinked and looked up to Face who was just as confused.
Face stepped over and helped Murdock up off the ground and whispered to the Captain "Do you have any idea what's going on?"
"I-I-I think he's sleep walking." Murdock whispered as he and Face watched the red rimmed tire roll across the driveway, perfectly inflated.
"What do we do?" Face asked.
"Well, we can't wake him whatever we do." Murdock squeaked.
"Why? I heard that it was a myth that sleep walkers would have a mental disconnect if they were woken up." Face questioned.
"You're right, but sleep walkers can become confused and violent if woken, and I don't want to be anywhere near this ugly mud sucker if he comes to."
"Fair enough." Face replied.
Then Murdock and Face watched B.A. pop the hood and start digging around. B.A. pulled out some hoses and started banging around under the hood.
"We'd better stop him or he's going to be pissed in the morning when he finds his trashed van. He won't remember any of this." Face observed.
"Yeah, but he'll remember that we were outside playin' ball and… Face! He'll think we did this! We need to stop him!" Murdock panicked.
Face and Murdock heard a loud bang and looked over to see B.A. putting the radiator down on the driveway. The boys ran over to the big man and tried to take control of the scene. "Ummm…B.A. what are you doing now?" Face asked as he ran his hands through his hair nervously.
"Hey man! Can't you see this rad is cracked? I gotta fix it so we can rescue the kids from the orphanage!" B.A. shouted at Face.
"Face! There are kids are in trouble!" Murdock exclaimed.
Face rolled his eyes and glared at Murdock "Really!"
"Oh. Yeah." Murdock smiled and playfully hit himself in the forehead "No kids. Sleepwalking. Gotcha!" he said, with a two-fingered salute and a wink.
"Walkin's what we'll be doing if I don't get this fixed. Now outta my way fool!" B.A. snapped.
"Hey Bosco, what do you say we fix this and ummmm….you go inside and help Hannibal with the other details of the plan?" Face suggested.
"I am the mechanic. I'll fix my van. That's the way it goes, sucker! Am I clear?" B.A. snarled at the other two men. Then he paused "I forgot my allen keys in the warehouse, I'll be right back."
With that he turned and walked back inside. Murdock looked around at the state of B.A.'s prized position. "Facey! This is going to take us the rest of the night to fix and who knows if we can get finished in time if he comes back here for round two! We need to stop him from 'fixing' it more." Murdock spoke through clenched teeth.
"Well, think of it this way – it'll be easier to fix this mess than it was after the air-conditioner incident."
"Ha, ha, ha! That happened one time, and you guys are never gonna let me live that down, are ya?"
"Nope." said Face, as the two men sprinted to the house. They slid through the door, and with no sign of B.A. in the living room they darted up the stairs. As they rounded the corner to the big mans room they were relieved to see him fast asleep on his bed. Face looked at Murdock and whispered "C'mon, we have a lot of work to get done and not much time." They crept out and gently closed the door behind them.
B.A. smiled as he drifted of to sleep, enjoying the quiet.
The morning sun broke through the window in Hannibal's room signalling that it was time to start his day. He stood up stretched and walked down the hall to the stairs, noting that both Murdock's and Face's rooms were empty. The Colonel descended the stairs expecting to see his captain bouncing around the kitchen making breakfast, but the kitchen was quiet. The whole damn house was quiet, too quiet. It was un-nerving and Hannibal wondered if he should have grabbed his sidearm before leaving his room. Hannibal then noticed a creaking noise from the stairs behind him. Glancing over his shoulder he noticed B.A. had followed him down the stairs.
"Mornin'." B.A. greeted him.
Hannibal still on alert replied "Good Morning B.A. Ummm… do you know where Face and Murdock are this morning?"
B.A. laughed with an evil grin, "I'll bet they're still outside workin' on my van. Crazy fools. They do good work but they're slow. Well, slower than me and I bet they want to make sure they got it just right."
Hannibal tipped his head and narrowed his glare "Would you please explain why they would they be fixing your van?"
B.A. told the older man that he had faked sleepwalking to get them to stop playing basketball. After the retelling of the events all Hannibal could do was laugh, "So you mean to tell me, you disassembled part of your van to keep them from making noise playing ball?"
"Yup."
"Why didn't you just ask them to stop playing?" Hannibal asked.
"This seemed like more fun and a little bit of payback for all the craziness and cons those two have pulled on me over the years." B.A. replied.
Hannibal put a cigar in his mouth and smiled "Well, let's go see where they are hiding out."
The men left the house and headed for the van where there was no sign of the missing basketball players, other than their coats still lying on the lawn. B.A. eyed the van and saw that she had her tire back on. She was off the jack, the hood was down and there were no remaining parts left on the driveway. Hannibal rounded the van and smiled, signalling back to B.A. to join him quietly.
There was Face leaned up against the van, chin on his chest fast asleep. Next to him, Murdock was curled up, hugging the basketball as his makeshift pillow. Hannibal shook his head, and looked at B.A. "Looks like they busted their chops for you last night Big Guy. Whether it was to avoid you pounding them or to prevent you finding out about your 'alleged' sleepwalking problem, they came through with flying colours I'd say. You should come clean about this."
"Yeah, I guess I better. Ya know, I never meant for them to sleep in the driveway." B.A. admitted.
Hannibal smiled and knelt down next to Murdock. He gently shook his shoulder and Face's shoe simultaneously. Face lifted his head and blinked his eyes into focus at the Colonel. As the Captain's eyes snapped open and he looked around taking note of his surroundings and then his eyes stopped on Hannibal.
"Hey! Good mornin' Colonel. Ya missed one hell-of-a b-ball game last night." Murdock crowed.
"Well I heard some of it from inside the house. Sounded like you two were having fun. So much fun that you decided to sleep on the court?" Hannibal teased.
"Ahhh... well we finished up sat down and we must have passed out." Face grinned "It was a crazy game!"
Hannibal stood up and lit his cigar, and smiled "I don't know how you two got grease all over your arms and clothes playing basketball, but I am sure you can explain it all to us over breakfast. B.A. has a story for you two as well."
Face and Murdock got up, brushed themselves off, and grabbed their coats as the four men headed for the house. They walked in pairs with Murdock and Face taking the rear. Murdock called up to B.A. "So what's your story about B.A.?"
"It's about two fools playing basketball til 3 am. Then they get tricked by their sleepwalkin' friend to fix his van, instead of bouncing the damn ball while he was trying to sleep."
Murdock and Face stopped in their tracks and looked at each other dumbfounded. Hannibal heard them pause, and stopped to face the confused men. B.A. stopped walking, but kept his back turned to the rest of the team.
"So you mean to tell me that you conned us last night? You were awake the whole time and you pulled your own van apart just to shut us up? You made up that ridiculous scenario and everything!" Face hollered to B.A. who slowly turned around to the others.
"Yeah. I did." he admitted.
"Well I have just one thing to say to you B.A. Baracus!" Face shouted as B.A. braced himself, "Man that was a great! I totally bought it and so did Murdock - you have the makings of a great conman!"
Hannibal laughed and shook his head at the reaction of his lieutenant when Murdock piped up
"So you pulled the ol'wool over our eyes, huh Bosco? Good for you! I hope you had a good night's sleep big guy 'cause you're going to need it." The captain said as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. He gave a mischievous wink to Face as he walked past Hannibal and B.A. and up the steps to the doors of the house.
"And why is that, ya crazy fool?" B.A. asked.
"Cause I bet it will be real hard for you to sleep now knowing that the 'crazy fool' and the 'pretty boy' down the hall will be looking for some sweet revenge when you're least expecting it." And with a manic laugh Murdock ran inside to get cleaned up so he could start cooking breakfast.
B.A. looked at Hannibal with a look of concern. Face walked around him slowly and gave him a pat on the shoulder and stated "I better go help Murdock get ready..." and he laughed to himself before adding "for breakfast." He to walked up the stairs and into the house too.
Hannibal looked at B.A. and gave him a pat on the back, "See, even the best laid plans never go perfectly B.A. Things always have a way of coming together, but not always for the best. Don't worry too much, neither of them are good at holding on to a grudge."
B.A. looked at Hannibal expecting more wisdom from the older man and the Colonel wasn't going to disappoint. Hannibal smiled with his cigar clenched in his teeth and added "That means whatever they do will be soon so you'll only lose two or three nights of sleep tops!"