A Rock and a Hard Place

Hillgrove, CA - March 18, 1983

"...with Face on the roof across the street, you'll have to drive, Murdock."

BA bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from shouting at the Fool not to damage his van. Again. He hated this plan, the stitches in his leg itched and he was cranky that Hannibal wouldn't let him drive yet. He glared at Face in the seat next to him and then scowled at his still bandaged leg.

Face caught the gesture and swallowed audibly, pulling at his collar. "You're not still blaming me for that, are you BA?"

BA scowled in reply.

He hadn't ever really blamed Face for what had happened but he had appearances to keep up and if thinking BA was still mad kept Face on his toes, then all the better for the team.

After leaving Bad Rock, the team had holed up until just two days ago, when BA had been able to move around without the wheelchair. Dr. Sullivan had recommended he use crutches until he was fully healed, but BA was too impatient and crutches were too much of a hindrance in their current situation as fugitives.

Once the team was more or less mobile again, Hannibal had wasted no time planning to question the kidnappers. Both men were being held in Hillgrove while they awaited trial and Hannibal wanted the name of the third man they'd been working with.

BA realized Face was still looking at him nervously.

"I should be drivin' my van, man."

Murdock peered back at him from the driver's seat. "Doctor's orders, Big Guy! You can't drive for at least 2 more weeks. Why you worried, anyway? Me and your van are simpatico now."

Hannibal interrupted the growl emanating from BA with a clap of his hands. "It's a great plan, guys! What could go wrong?"

"Man, you outta your mind." BA redirected his scowl to Hannibal and waved his hand dismissively.

Hannibal's lips thinned in response and BA had the good sense to look away. He'd already complained quite a bit about their current objective and he figured Hannibal's patience was running thin.

"He's not completely wrong, Colonel." Murdock came to BA's defense.

Hannibal sat up a little straighter and studied his pilot, who carefully avoided looking back at him. Hannibal expected dissent from Face and BA but Murdock was usually game for anything.

"Do I have to remind you guys that there's still a kidnapper out there that we know nothing about? There's no way either of those two dolts in lock-up were the mastermind behind that scheme."

"Yes, Colonel, but walking into the police station where they're being held and questioning them in the police station is asking for trouble." Face ran a hand through his hair, exasperated at needing to explain why the team was worried.

"Are you saying this ID isn't up to par, Lieutenant?" Hannibal asked, holding up the Detective's badge Face had given him.

Face looked affronted and opened his mouth to protest but Hannibal held up a gloved hand.

"Then this will be a piece of cake!" His smile widened at their chorus of groans.

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Hannibal walked down the street toward precinct 14 in an ill-fitting dark brown suit and a wide, brown and green striped tie. He was going for 'overworked, underpaid cop' and judging by the fact that Face could barely look at the suit without cringing, he figured his attempt was successful. The Lieutenant had mumbled something about a 'disgrace to men's fashion' as Hannibal had gotten out of the van.

Up ahead, two uniformed officers had just come out of the building and were headed his way. Hannibal casually flipped his jacket open and stuck his left hand in his pants pocket, making sure the badge clipped to his belt was visible. He ducked his head and coughed into his elbow as he passed by the officers. A quick glance back told him they hadn't given him a second thought. Hannibal smiled to himself, wondering not for the first time, why his team always complained about his ideas. 'My plans are foolproof!' he thought as he pulled open the door to the station and confidently walked inside.

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BA had moved to the passenger seat in his van, which was parked down the street from the precinct, half hidden behind a laundromat. He glared out the window, watching for Hannibal to come out of the doors. The Colonel had been in there for close to an hour and BA hoped he was almost done and not handcuffed to a table somewhere, under arrest.

He shook his head and looked over at Murdock who was fiddling with the rear-view mirror. "Pay attention, Fool! You better be ready if somethin' happens."

Murdock sat back in the seat. "I got this, Big Guy! I'm a hundred and ten percent focused and ready. I was thinkin' though, you know what would give the front here some more character?" he asked, waving his hand around between himself and BA. "Fuzzy dice hangin' from the mirror. How about a nice, bright pink pair for a pop of color?"

"Ima pop you if you don't stop messin' around. Now check-in with Face."

Murdock frowned at BA but picked up the walkie talkie. "Kojak 3 to Kojak 4, come in. What's the what, 4?"

BA rolled his eyes at Murdock's choice of radio codes.

"Kojak 4 here," Face said pointedly. "All clear. No sign of 1."

BA snatched the walkie talkie out of Murdock's hand and pressed the button. "Where he at, man? He should a been out by now. We gotta go in there."

"Not yet, BA. There's no sign of any commotion. Let's give him a little longer."

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Hannibal leaned up against the front desk, weary with the apparent weight of the world on his shoulders. He nodded to the officer behind the desk and flashed his badge.

"Detective Allen. I'm here to question Jeffrey Trieger. In addition to the kidnapping charge you've got him for, he may have been involved in an armed robbery over in Sun Valley."

The clerk set aside the paperwork he had been filling out and checked the visitor log. "I don't have you down here, sir. Who did you speak with?"

Hannibal huffed a long-suffering sigh and pulled a small notebook out of his jacket pocket and flipped the pages until he found the right one. "This was all cleared through your Captain. Uh, Davids? He told me you'd have Trieger waiting in interrogation by 1:00." Hannibal looked mildly put out and stared at the desk officer as he waited for the answer he knew was coming.

"Davids is out of the office until tomorrow, sir. Let me check with the Sarge."

Bingo! Nice intel, Face.

Ten minutes later, Hannibal was sitting across from Scumbag #1 in the interrogation room. The guy that Face had taken down that night wasn't any more impressive than the one he and BA had left tied up in the cabin. Hannibal leaned back in his chair and stared steadily at Jeffrey Trieger - late 30's, thinning blond hair and a paunch probably borne from too many beers and late night pizzas.

"You got questions or we gonna stare at each other all day?" Jeffrey smirked, flexing his hands in the cuffs attached to a ring on the table in front of him.

"I dunno, Jeff. I guess that depends on if you want to get out of prison before or after you qualify for AARP."

Jeffrey looked confused for a moment before he shook his head. "Look, I already answered a buncha questions. I don't know nothin' and I don't gotta tell you nothin'."

"You haven't answered my questions and I'm pretty sure I've got one no one's asked you yet. I want to know who was really behind kidnapping Senator Buckley's kid?"

Jeffrey paled visibly and shifted in his seat, his eyes darting nervously around the room. "What? What are you talkin' about?"

Hannibal crossed his arms over his chest. "I know you and Tweedle Dum in the cell next to you weren't working alone. I want a name, pal."

"Uh, I, um...that was all me and Stan. We did it together." Jeffrey nodded his head vigorously. "Even came up with the idea at the same time. We needed some money, that's all and we wasn't gonna hurt the kid, just scare him a little till his Pop forked over the ransom. We took care 'a him, fed him and everything. Even-"

Hannibal stood up quickly and leaned down over the table, spreading his hands out so he could look the babbling man in the eye. "Tell me who hired you. A name. Now." he demanded in a low voice.

"Man, I, uh, don't know what you're talking about. We did it all ourselves. There wasn't anyone else. Where'd you hear that? Nobody else thinks that, do they?" Jeffrey was sweating now and wringing his hands in the cuffs. He tried to stand up, knocking the metal folding chair he had been sitting in clanging to the floor behind him as the handcuff chain pulled taunt. He yanked at the bolt on the table, yelling at the closed door. "Hey! HEY! We did it! Me and Stan. I want to confess. Get this guy outta here!"

Hannibal eyed the guy that had worked himself into a full-on panic attack and then quickly walked out the door, pulling it shut behind him. The duty officer outside of interrogation was heading over to see what all the commotion was about.

"What's going on in there?"

"That guy must be on something. Just started talking all kinds of nonsense. You'd better get in there before he hurts himself."

The officer opened the door and immediately called for back-up as Jeffrey was yelling and kicking at the table he was attached to, desperately trying to get free.

"We did it! There wasn't nobody else! You gotta believe me! Man, it was just us!"

Hannibal reached the back stairs and headed down to the exit just as footsteps started pounding down the hallway toward the interrogation rooms. Slipping out the back, Hannibal made his way down the alley and headed east on the next street, the opposite direction from the van, just in case. He ducked into a bakery on the corner and waited to see if anyone was looking for him. That had not gone exactly as he had planned.