3. Unity
Hannibal pulled up by the hospital.
He'd heard nothing else since B.A had called and couldn't decide whether it was a good or bad thing. He knew realistically B.A wouldn't call him back, but he had hoped that maybe he'd let him know that things weren't as bad as they had imagined. He was sure that if it had been minor, B.A would have called to stop Hannibal from worrying unduly. The number of things racing through his mind right at the moment, all of them the worse things possible, the worse case scenario.
He knew he had to be aware of that, knew it was highly possible.
Hannibal got out of the car, and headed towards the hospital. He spotted the van, parked over to one side. B.A hadn't worried too much about being discreet, which meant that Face must have been bad, but another bad sign was that Murdock was still in the van.
He decided to pay the captain a quick visit, before going to see Face, more to let him know he was here than anything else.
He walked quickly across the car park and knocked on the glass, before turning the handle. The door was locked, and he noticed Murdock looked a little startled by the sudden presence of someone banging on the window.
"Murdock, it's Hannibal. Open up." He said.
He watched as the pilot searched for the handle and unlocked the door. Hannibal opened it as he heard the lock click. "What are you doing out here?"
"B.A wanted to get Face in, said if all three of us went in, we'd draw too much attention."
Hannibal knew it must have been pretty serious. "How long have you been here?"
Murdock shrugged his shoulder. "Don't know."
"I'm gonna go find out how Face is. Then either me or B.A will come back and let you know. Just stay here." Hannibal said.
Murdock nodded, and Hannibal shut the door again. He heard Murdock lock it as he began walking towards the hospital entrance.
oOo
B.A sat in the waiting room, hoping someone would come out soon.
He'd told Murdock as they drove here that he'd have to wait in the van, he couldn't afford the time to take care of Murdock as well as Face. Only once on the way down had Murdock asked what had happened to Face and B.A hadn't answered. He couldn't. Didn't want to tell Murdock, especially with him not being able to see right now, he could imagine something ten times worse than it actually was, but then again, it was bad enough. He was sure you couldn't think up anything much worse.
His thoughts were interrupted by Hannibal, who came into the room. He looked anxious, tense.
He didn't say anything, just closed the door and came and sat down. Hannibal didn't even have to say anything, B.A knew what he wanted.
"Bullet went into his eye." B.A said. "Haven't heard anything from the doctors yet."
Hannibal nodded, shocked by what he'd heard. Didn't expect this. After a few moments of silence, Hannibal spoke up. "B.A, you need to go."
"What? I need to see how Faceman is." He argued.
"No. We can't risk getting spotted here. You need to get Murdock somewhere safer. See what he can remember about what happened and check out Face's place, see if you can find anything there that'll help. Just keep in the van as much as you can and I'll call you the minute I'm told what's happening." B.A was silent for a while, before finally agreeing.
"We need names as well. We can't find out who did this to Face unless Murdock can remember them. See what you can do."
oOo
"What have the doctors said, B.A?" Murdock asked.
"I ain't heard nothing from them yet, man. I need to tell ya about Face. He got hit in his left eye. Don't know how bad it is yet."
"He... won't be able to see." Murdock stated.
"His right eye ain't been hit. Can you remember who came, Murdock? Who did it to him?"
"They didn't say." B.A saw Murdock frown in intense concentration. "One guy broke in when Face was out. He came in through the back window. He was, er, that was the guy who was still there when you showed up. Briggs. There was another guy, who was in the room with me called...Thomas. But neither of them shot Face, they were in the room with me all the time."
B.A suddenly started the engine and the van roared to life.
"Where are we going?" Murdock asked, alarmed.
"Back to Face's. If that guy Briggs' is still there, he can answer to me."
"I don't wanna go back there." Murdock said.
"You can wait in the van then." B.A answered. "It's your choice."
oOo
Hannibal dialled the number of the van, ready to pass on what he'd been told to the others.
B.A picked it up almost immediately. "Yeah?"
"I've just spoke with the doctor. He said that it's too early for him to be able to tell us much, but Face has lost his right eye. It's unlikely he'll be able to have a glass eye because of the damage to the socket. Other than that, he says we'll have to wait until Face wakes up and take it from there."
B.A had nodded along with what he'd been told. "Okay, Hannibal. I'll tell Murdock. We're on our way to Face's now. I'll let you know if we find anything out."
"Okay." Hannibal responded, hanging up.
oOo
For the rest of the journey they took, B.A told Murdock what Hannibal had told him.
Murdock had asked a few questions, most of which B.A hadn't been able to answer, and then they'd travelled in silence for the last few minutes of the journey.
When they arrived, B.A parked up and asked Murdock one final time what he wanted to do. Murdock stayed in the van, and kept the doors locked. B.A understood Murdock's fear. Without being able to see anything, he couldn't defend himself properly and he hadn't been able to defend Face either.
B.A knew neither him nor Hannibal would have been able to do anything better under the circumstances, but that wouldn't be how Murdock would look at things. He'd blame himself completely for everything, sight or not, he would have wanted to keep Face safe. The fact that Face been hurt so badly as well only would add to the guilty feelings.
B.A would make sure he talked to Murdock later, hoped he'd be able to ease a little of his doubts and worries.
Taking one quick glance back at Murdock as he sat in the van, B.A walked back into the house. It was dark now, even though it hadn't been that long since they'd left here. He opened the door, which hadn't been locked in their haste to leave, switched on the light and found things pretty much as it was left.
Unfortunately, Briggs had left, something B.A wasn't surprised by. He'd only knocked him out but he knew that the man had been hurt. Murdock had shot him in the leg and skimmed his side with another bullet and B.A guessed he'd been knocked out when he fell, as he'd had blood running down his head when he attacked him.
He could see the blood stain where he'd been laying, and there was another, larger one from where Face had been. B.A remembered that Murdock said Briggs had broke in through the back and he went towards the back of the place to see for himself.
Sure enough he saw a sprinkling of glass decorating the kitchen floor, like icing on a cake.
Both the window and the back doors glass was broken, and from the fact it was still ajar, made B.A wonder why they'd bothered to smash the glass to the window at all. He crunched across it until he reached the door and pulled it open. He stood outside, imagined he'd been sneaking up on this house ready to attack. He could clearly see straight into the lounge where Murdock would have been. It would have also been easy to see that he couldn't see, the damage to his eyes was clearly visible from a distance. B.A guessed that Briggs had broken all of the glass just to frighten Murdock. The sound of breaking glass would instantly send someone for cover, whether they could see or not, giving Briggs the opportunity to make it into the house before Murdock would have got up off the floor.
Making his way back in, he knew Murdock had said he'd been taken to the bedroom while Face had remained in the lounge. He went into the bedroom and looked around.
It looked far messier than any room Face had would have looked. The bed was a pile of crumpled sheets and blankets, and there was even a few blood stains on the floor. He's seen Murdock was a little knocked about, in fact he was walking a little stiffly too. He'd have to make sure Murdock hadn't been hurt too badly, although he'd seen the pilot favour his ribs a few times and guessed that was why, but still, he was going to grill Murdock about exactly what happened in that room. Besides from the blood, there was nothing else here.
The things B.A had really wanted was for Briggs' to still be about, but no such luck there. Casting any negativities away, he decided that he'd talk with Murdock again, see if he could think of anything else. Without a description and just two surnames and no Face to help at the minute, their choices were limited.
Before B.A left, he went to the bathroom, needing to relieve himself before they went anywhere else. He wasn't sure what Hannibal would want them to do next, but he was going to find out. In the bathroom, B.A saw a bundle of toilet paper by the side of the toilet. He carefully picked it up, saw it was covered in blood. Wondering where it came from, he put it down the toilet and after relieving himself, flushed.
He tried to think where it could have come from, guessing that it could have been Briggs' before he'd left, but surely he'd not be so dumb as to leave traces of his blood in the house where he'd broken into and attacked the people inside. It didn't make sense. It couldn't be Briggs.
It would have to be someone who didn't know they'd missed the toilet.
Murdock.
He suddenly got a sense of fear in him. What if Murdock had been hurt and hadn't said anything because he knew how badly hurt Face was? He'd do that, it was exactly the sort of stupid thing Murdock would do.
With a new sense of urgency, B.A made his way back out to the van, suddenly frightened of what he'd find out there. All of Murdock behaviour from earlier, not wanting to come into the house all had added meaning, it was probably his way of telling B.A he was hurting.
He made his way outside, and was relieved to see Murdock still sitting there as before, not slumped forward unconscious as B.A had imagined.
But he still had questions.
oOo
Hannibal was lead through to where Face was laying.
He'd heard many clichés over the years about how people looked young and innocent when they were asleep in hospital. Right now, things couldn't be further from the truth. He couldn't see anything innocent about the bandaging around Face's eye covering the hole that would be there without it. And a man who'd spent so many years on the run, who'd been shot at countless times and been in all sorts of fights, that added years to him. Face's smile always made him look young. His eyes brought out the innocence. Right now, he was robbed of those. He looked like what he was, a man clinging to his life from a gunshot wound to the head.
Hannibal had been told by the doctor that Face had stabilised, but was still in critical condition. Seemed a contradiction in terms to him, if he was stable but critical it wasn't all that reassuring. Nonetheless, Hannibal was grateful that Face was still fighting.
Moving over to the the bed, he knelt down beside his lieutenant and placing a hand gently on his arm, he stayed with him for as long as he could, silently ordering him to pull through.
oOo
"Murdock, did you get hurt?" B.A asked, his usual directness at getting to the point.
"What?" Murdock asked, brow creased as he looked towards the man, never able to see him.
"In the bathroom, there was blood on some toilet paper. Who's was it?" B.A asked firmly.
Murdock absently scratched at the back of his head, trying to think. "I don't know... I can't remember."
"You must know if you were hurt, man." B.A pressed. The only time he'd really looked carefully at Murdock since the incident B.A noticed some blood from Murdock's nose, and a bruising the accompanied it. "His broke your nose, I think." B.A said. "Let me see it." He gently reached out, touching with careful fingers. Murdock flinched at the touch, not realising until he was touched how much it hurt.
"I'll get Hannibal to sort it. Best get back to the hospital anyway, tell him we had no luck here."
B.A took his hands away.
oOo
Hannibal had spent as long as he could with Face until he'd all but been kicked out by the nurse.
There was so much on his mind right now, he didn't know where to begin.
The first was obviously Face. Whether he'd cope with one eye, that was if he could see at all. Hannibal knew it was possible and likely that Face could be completely blinded after the attack. Face had told him before that if you couldn't con something out of someone, pity was the next best thing, and the pity Face would have been got back then would be different to the type he'd get now. Hannibal got the feeling that Face might inadvertently get that reaction when or if they returned to missions.
Then there was the problem with what to do with Murdock.
Officially he was released from the VA and had no where to go.
To him, Murdock was the same as he'd been for the last four years, more stable than when he'd first arrived, but still not ready for living on his own. That meant staying with one of them, Face being the best option originally but not now. B.A would probably take Murdock in, Hannibal guessed. He knew that he'd be feeling protective over him and would want him where he could keep an eye out for him.
He'd considered asking Amy, but even knowing she could cope with Murdock, she might not cope as well with him when the nightmares took hold, which Hannibal knew they would. Sightless, frightened and having woken up from something that wasn't just a nightmare, but for the most part had happened to you would be too much for Amy to cope with.
There was also still the possibility that Face may not make it.
The doctors said his progress was good, but there's still some trauma, some swelling to the brain but it should lessen over time. They'd said about the next 48 hours being crucial. He hadn't shared that with B.A, because if he had, he'd have felt obliged to tell Murdock, and that was something Murdock didn't need to know right now.
Hannibal wanted to smoke a cigar right now more than anything, but he didn't want to leave. He had no cigar on him, a rarity really, but whenever he ran out, Face always had one for him. Smoke, or stay as near as he could to Face, just in case, there really wasn't an option. Nothing could make him leave here.
Suddenly the door to the room opened and B.A came in, Murdock holding onto his arm.
Hannibal tried to calm himself, the way his heart jumped into his mouth every time someone opened the door was an unpleasant feeling.
"How's he doin'?" B.A asked, moving into the room and leading Murdock to a chair.
"Stable they say, but still not out of the woods. Did you find anything?" He bypassed the 'still critical' information.
B.A shook his head. "Nothing left there. Jus' got the names of the two guys who kept Murdock at bay while Face was shot. Thomas and Briggs."
Hannibal looked thoughtful for a moment or two. "I don't recall them. Ring any bells with you two?" Both of them shook their heads no.
"They didn't sound familiar." Murdock added, feeling it was little help. If only he didn't have these damn powder burns he could have been more help.
Almost as though Hannibal read Murdock's mind, he moved across and sat next to him. "You know Murdock, if you hadn't stayed with Face he'd be dead right now."
Murdock hung his head down and just nodded a little.
Hannibal knew the guilt wouldn't just disperse as easily as a few words from him, but he'd do his bit. The most healing would come from B.A and when he was better, Face.
"Why don't we all stay here for a few hours. It's late so it should be quiet around here. Then tomorrow, me and Murdock can go catch a nap, take it in turns to wait here."
B.A nodded, "Sound good, man." He said. "You need to fix Murdock's nose, too. It's broken."
Hannibal nodded his head too.
This is what his team needed right now, some unity.