When they got back to Los Angeles, they caught up with B.A. and took his van and Face's 'Vette out to find Tori Langdon's home.
"Swimming pools, movie stars!" Murdock said with a country accent as he watched the line of palm trees pass them by as they drove along. "Sunshine, clean air!" he sucked in a large and loud breath and went into a choking fit.
"So where's the house, Face?" Hannibal asked.
"It's around here somewhere," he answered as he looked at all the mansions that bore a strange resemblance to one another.
"You have been here before, right?" Hannibal inquired.
"Well it's not like I've stayed the night."
"I'm sure."
"Is that it?" Murdock pointed to the house they just passed.
"No," Face answered.
"Is that it?" he pointed to another one up ahead.
"No."
"Is that it?"
"No!"
"Is that it?" Hannibal pointed to another house up ahead.
"Uh…yeah! That's it," Face said.
"Check it out, Hannibal," Murdock said, "Huge pool, big lawn, tennis courts."
Hannibal checked out the surrounding area and noted, "Lot of vacancies on the block too, few witnesses, if there's a grill out back, it's perfect." Hannibal signaled for the van to follow them as they turned into the driveway.
The house was two stories tall with white vinyl siding to look like painted woodwork, nothing particularly fancy though it looked like one duplex stacked on top of another. Lots of windows, Hannibal guessed from how many were on the front of the house alone that there must be near 20 rooms inside.
"So where is she?" Murdock asked.
"It's not like she's a welcome wagon," Face said, "The idea is we go about our day, and she goes about hers."
"And never the two shall meet, is that it, Lieutenant?" Hannibal asked.
"Something like that," Face answered as they got out of his car.
B.A. got out of the van and joined them. "This the place, Hannibal?"
"Apparently."
"Well what're we waiting for?" Murdock asked, "Let's go in."
"Tori, hello?" Face called out cautiously as he opened the door and stepped in.
"Anybody home?" Hannibal came in right behind the lieutenant.
"City Health Inspector!" Murdock bellowed as he stepped in behind Hannibal.
"Shut up you crazy fool!" B.A. warned him.
"Well if that don't bring her out, she ain't here."
"Miss Langdon!" Hannibal called out. No response.
"This might be trouble, Hannibal," B.A. said.
"Right, let's check it out."
Since the house was so large, everybody took a different part to search. Hannibal and B.A. went upstairs to check the bedrooms for any sign of Tori or any sign of a struggle, Face checked the dining room and the kitchen, Murdock went around a long corridor from the front hall to a series of other doors leading to rooms he had no idea what they could be.
Murdock held his breath as he looked from one door to the other incase he heard the sound of somebody else breathing, that would be a tipoff where to search first. He heard something, and it didn't sound good. It was a definite feminine voice, only there were no words, only a continuous series of muffled, excruciating moans, and they were coming behind a closed door at the end of the corridor. Murdock thought about going back to get the others incase he needed backup, but decided there was no time to waste, and he charged the door and busted it open.
The woman laying on the floor screamed at the top of her lungs at the sight of Murdock flying over the threshold. Unfortunately the pilot lost his footing and tripped and fell right on top of her, also unfortunately for him, she had been laying on her stomach and facing him, so when he dogpiled on top of her facing the opposite direction, he was met with a very awkward situation. It was also at this time he realized there wasn't anybody else in the room and the woman was not in any immediate danger, except the trauma that was ensuing from him leapfrogging her.
"I'm terribly sorry," he said as he rolled off of the screaming woman, "I'm terribly sorry, I didn't mean it. Are ya hurt?"
"Who are you?" she shrieked at him.
"I…" Murdock didn't get a chance to answer, at that time he could hear the stampeding footsteps of three other people.
"What's going on?" Hannibal asked as all three of them about busted through the doorway.
"That's what I want to know!" the woman said.
"Tori," Face stepped to the front.
"Templeton, these are your friends?"
"Yeah," Face answered, "We were trying to find you."
"Oh, I didn't hear you guys come, I've been in here all morning," Tori said.
It was now that Murdock looked around and realized what it was he'd heard. In the corner of the room was a TV with a workout video on, and on the floor where he'd just pinned Ms. Langdon was an exercise mat, and getting a good look at Tori Langdon's whole body now, he saw she was tall and blonde, in her late 20s, in one of those brightly colored workout outfits that looked like it was made of a one piece bathing suit with a belt, purple leggings, white sneakers, and blue leg warmers. And she must've been at it a while because even her hair was sweating.
"Allow me to introduce you," Face said, "This is Hannibal Smith, that's B.A. Baracus…"
"And the guy who tackled me like a greased pig?" Tori asked.
That earned a few exchanged glances from the other three men. Face looked to Murdock, whose only action of response was to pull his baseball cap clear down over his face.
"That's our pilot, H.M. Murdock," Hannibal explained. He took a step over towards the younger man and peeled up the bill of his cap to see Murdock's face that was starting to resemble the inside of a blood orange.
"Captain?"
"I thought there was an intruder in here, Hannibal," he explained.
"An intruder?" Tori laughed, "Nobody comes around here, that's why I'm hiding out here until further notice."
Murdock looked her up and down another time, and he scratched his head.
"Well, Miss Langdon," Hannibal said, "We're very grateful for you letting us stay here for the time being."
"Oh, no problem," she told him, "Any friends of Templeton are welcome here." She went over to the TV and shut it off. "I'll show you the guest rooms."
"Do you live here alone?" Hannibal asked.
"You could say that," she said as they left the room.
"Who cuts the grass?" Murdock asked.
"The gardener," she answered.
"Who does the cleaning?" he asked.
"The maid," Tori answered, "she's only here three days a week."
"Who does the cooking?" Murdock asked.
"What cooking?" Tori turned and asked.
"Can we stop in the kitchen first?" Hannibal asked, "I need to check something."
"What's that?" Tori asked.
"If we're going to have anything to eat while we're staying here," Hannibal grumbled to Face.
Face rolled his eyes.
"I should've known better than to trust a woman on a diet," Hannibal said as he slammed the refrigerator door shut, "There's nothing in here, just a bunch of diet soda and crudités."
"And the only thing in the cupboard is some diet shakes," B.A. added.
"When this woman goes on a diet, she goes all in, doesn't she?" Murdock asked.
"There's not even any beer in here, clear sign of a bad hostess," Hannibal commented. "After we see our rooms, B.A. and I are going to head into town and pick up some groceries, nobody can live off of this junk."
"Can I come?" Murdock asked.
"No!" B.A. told him.
"Can I make a list then?" he asked.
"Go ahead, Captain, but try and keep it under 20 items," Hannibal said.
Murdock took a pen out of his pocket, but not seeing any paper around, took a napkin out of the holder on the table and started jotting down his requests.
"And while they're doing that," Face said as he pointed to the window, "I'm going to get some sun. The whole side yard's out of the shade currently." After the time they'd had, all he wanted to do was kick back in a sun lounger and pass out.
Murdock also went to look out the window and he responded to the lieutenant, "Can we play tennis instead?"
"It's all in the sun, right, Face?" Hannibal asked tauntingly.
Face grumbled, "Alright." If he had to guess, he'd wager that Hannibal was hinting at the fact they didn't want to find out what might happen if Murdock decided to play tennis alone. Glancing out the window again, he could just picture the damage that would ensue, he didn't know how, but he was sure Murdock could somehow hit those tennis balls clear off the court and right through these windows. Yes, much as he wanted to relax and do nothing, better that somebody be there who stood a chance of hitting those projectiles right back at the Captain.
They heard footsteps running down the stairs and a minute later, Tori reentered the room and said, somewhat out of breath, "The maid got your rooms fixed up before she left, they should be to your liking."
"Anywhere Decker isn't is fine with me," Hannibal murmured to his men as they headed for the stairs.
A talking golf ball was bad enough. It was nearly impossible to hit a speeding tennis ball when Murdock insisted on doing the talking for it.
"OUCH!" the pilot screamed at the top of his lungs as Face hit it back at him with his racket. He'd been doing this for nearly half an hour and 30 balls, and Face was about at the end of his rope.
"Murdock, will you quit that?" Face demanded, "It's ruining the game."
"Ruining your game, Faceguy," Murdock responded as he pointed with his own tennis racket, "Just imagine how the poor tennis ball feels." He stepped over the net and marched up to the lieutenant and asked him, "How would you like it if somebody treated you like this?" and with that, he swung with full force and hit Face with his racket.
"OUCH!"
"There, you see?" Murdock asked.
"Oh shut up," Face said, "How do you like it, huh?" and he retaliated by hitting Murdock with his racket.
Murdock taunted the lieutenant by replying sneeringly, "Is that all you got? You really are flabby, Lieutenant, you got to put more elbow grease into it, like this!" And he hit Face with his racket again.
"Ow! Oh yeah?" Face swung harder and hit Murdock again.
The two of them kept yelping in pain and hitting each other until their argument was broken up by the sound of somebody clearing their throat. They both turned and looked and saw it was Tori carrying a tray with two glasses on it.
"Is something wrong, Templeton?" she asked.
"Oh nothing," Face answered, "We're just having a little discussion is all."
"Well don't even think about having a discussion with me," she said, "I thought you guys could use a drink."
"Thanks, Tori, we really appreciate it."
Murdock picked up his glass of lemonade and knocked back a third of it before he started choking and realized there was no sugar in it. Maybe he should've known better but he didn't think anyone was that low.
"Hmm, tart," he said in a very low, guttural voice.
"I read that Lucille Ball makes it like this," Tori told them, "Half as much water and no sugar."
Face tried his hardest to feign any optimism about having to drink any such concoction.
Murdock decided to change the subject to draw the attention away from the face the lieutenant was making as he choked down his own glass. "So, you want to join us in a game?"
"No thanks," Tori said as she set the tray down on a table and collapsed into a lounger, "I hate tennis."
The two men looked at each other, and Murdock asked her, "Then why do you have it?"
"It was already here when I bought the house," she answered as she leaned back and closed her eyes.
Murdock started to ask her another question, then he realized she had fallen asleep almost immediately.
"I guess when she said she'd been working out all morning, she wasn't kidding," he said to Face.
"Guess not."
"Faceguy, you mind if I ask you a question?" Murdock asked, "How much weight is she trying to lose?"
"Oh you know, the standard 10 pounds the camera adds," Face answered, "Her agent said once she gets it off she'll be a shoe-in for her next role."
"Yeah but uh," Murdock pointed back to the unconscious woman in the lounger and asked, "Where's she supposed to take it off of? There ain't much to her as is."
"Uh," Face shrugged, "I don't know, I never asked her about that, never saw any reason to."
"I don't know," Murdock said, "She loses too much weight, she gonna disappear completely, then we'll have an invisible woman in our midst."
"Well, that's Hollywood," Face remarked.
