"You dated him, didn't you, Sosa?" Tom asked.

She, he, and Molly were seated around a small conference table to discuss what to do about Face's proposal.

"Years ago," she answered curtly.

"But what do you know about him and the A-Team?"

"I walked out on him three, four years ago. It's been a long time. Besides, you can't predict what the A-Team will ever do."

"Do you regret leaving him?" Molly asked quietly.

Sosa was too engaged in her own thoughts to be affronted by the personal question. "Every minute."

"Can we use you?" Tom asked. He obviously didn't think she had answered that correctly.

"How so?"

"He obviously still has feelings for you," Molly explained, "You can get in his way. Find out the information we need and get the jump on him and the boys."

"You want me to betray him?" she asked without thinking.

Molly and Tom started blankly. "Forget about betraying him. He's a federal fugitive."

"Right, I know," Sosa covered up hurriedly, "I just mean that he's not going in this alone. Hannibal Smith is the one behind this, not Peck. And I can guarantee you that he's thought about everything we are about to and has thought it through a thousand times further. Smith has had a month to prepare to thwart what we have a day to plan. Who do you think is going to win this one?"

"Do you have any faith in us?" Tom asked, "We know all this. That's where your relationship with Peck comes in."

Face is going to get a kick out of this, Sosa thought. Her so called relationship with Templeton Peck was about to get even more complicated than it already was. That is, if relationship is even the right word.

"He's smarter than that,"she argued feebly, one goal try.

"He didn't need to talk to you or involve you nearly as much as he did during the capture of Lynch, but he did," Tom pointed out, "You know that you can be his weak spot. You have to admit it, unless you don't want to catch them?"

He concluded with an open-ended question, fully expecting her to refute his crazy implication. But she didn't.

"We know they're innocent of doing the plates, they helped us catch those who actually did do it. They're good people and if it weren't for the fact that McCready needs their file of his desk, we'd be letting them walk. What we need to put our effort into is this smuggling ring."

Tom had the decency to look abashed. "Sorry, Captain. I didn't mean to suggest you weren't focused properly. You're right, we should put the A-Team on the back burner for now. But, of course, we can't just forget about them."

"No, we shouldn't do that either, but if they can help us catch some real criminals, that's what we need to be working on," Sosa said authoritatively. "Molly, look up everything you can find on Grizzoli."

Molly left to get desk to research, leaving Sosa and Tom to set down a plan.

"There not much we can do until they contact us, is there?" Tom asked, sounding disappointed.

Sosa glanced towards her small purse. In a hidden pocket was a secret phone that was a sure way to find out what she needed to know.

"I want you to trace a call," she told her partner.

He looked surprised. "I can't trace a call until we get a call."

Sosa pulled her phone out and weighed it in the air. "That can be arranged."

"How do you have that?" Tom questioned suspiciously.

"He gave it to me. Back in Germany, I mean."

Tom didn't look appeased, but Sosa knew she had the legal high ground. There was nothing wrong with keeping a cell phone. Strictly speaking, she hadn't been withholding evidence or resources since she brought it forward now.

"Hello, Lieutenant, how are you today?" she asked in her signature you've that was a mix of condescension and sarcasm, as soon as Face picked up. The phone had only rung twice.

"Charissa! So nice of you to call," Face cried.

She heard him snap his fingers and the tinkering in the background halted. At least four people were now involved in this phone call.

"And send my regards to the agent listening in. Tom, is it?"

Tom looked at Sosa and she tried to appear equally puzzled as though she was not the reason the A-Team knew her partner's name.

"I'll pass it along. And send mine to . . . BA?" she guessed who was with Face. The background noise sounded like a workshop, BA's area of expertise.

"Yeah," Face answered, "Now I'm guessing this is not a social call so let's get down to business. Are you interested in making a deal?"

"We can definitely get all of your sentences reduced, if not eliminated, but Captain Murdock. He's considered a menace to society and must be contained somewhere safe," replied Sosa promptly.

"Goodbye, Charissa."

Sosa heard the phone click. She asked Tom of he had gotten the source of the call, but he shook his head. So she hit the redial button.

"We can work around Murdock's mental health," Sosa opened the conversation directly.

"You'd better. If you want to catch Grizzoli, be at the bakery in the corner of Vine and Union tomorrow before noon. That's the next pick up point."

Without another word, the former lieutenant ended the call. Once again, it hasn't lasted long enough to trace. Not that that surprised anyone.

So Sosa and her men planned. Colonel Smith was the one with the real plan and Sosa suspected her team would only play a small part in the job. But it was worth it to keep busy on this instead of getting distracted by their other jobs. Such as searching for the A-Team.

Sosa sent her team home for the day early. Well, early was actually on time. It was rare that they didn't work overtime. Theirs most certainly was not a nine to five job.

"Face?" she called out when she arrived back at her apartment.

There was no reply. She tried not to feel disappointed. She knew that he had his own job to do and couldn't always be available to her. But she was disappointed nevertheless. He was a federal fugitive on the run; he would never be reliable.

Sosa examined her fridge in an attempt to start dinner, but it was empty. So she had to go shopping. It felt nice to take a small break from her high-stress job, to pretend she left with at work and now her worries consisted of finding the freshest and most delicious apples and bananas.

She made sure to buy a bag of sour cream and onion potato chips. She hated them, but knew they were Face's favorite. Good God, she was starting to feel like a wife, expecting him to be home and worrying about what he wanted for dinner. She grabbed an extra case of beer.

This time Face was there when she came home. And so was Murdock.

"El Diablo," the crazy pilot whispered, pointing at Charissa when she asked through the door.

Face rolled his eyes. "Murdock, you promised to be nice. Now go help Charissa with her bags."

Face continued to relax on the couch, watching the news while Murdock took all of the grocery bags, grumbling to himself. Sosa let Murdock put away everything for her and went to sit by Face.

"El Diablo?" she asked, trying her best to sound extremely often offended.

It worked. Face looked at her guiltily.

"He's crazy, what does he know?" Sosa continued to frown so he added, "honey," in a sickly sweet tone. She still didn't thaw so he just put his arm around her shoulders and stuff, "We have been watching the news. Our faces haven't shown up in the last couple of weeks so I think we're safe to go out in public a bit. Probably not in D. ."

"I know a nice little bed and breakfast in Berryville," Sosa commented.

Face winked at her. "We'll check it out next time I'm in town. Can't always show up here, can I?"

Definitely not. She was surprised that none of her neighbors had noticed a strange man coming and leaving her apartment when she herself seldom spent her days there, particularly with others. As far as she knew, Sosa was the only government agent living in the building, but in this part of town, two out of three people wouldn't disclose their jobs. There hadn't been a single unsolved break in in the neighborhood as long as anyone could remember.

Murdock returned from the kitchen, stuffing chips into his mouth. He plopped down on the couch right between Face and Sosa.

"Murdock, go away," Face growled.

Murdock gasped. "I'll tell Hannibal! I'll tell on you! He said not to let me out of your sight. Do you want to be responsible for leaving me alone? I think not!" he sang out with a scarily accurate British accent.

"I'm not your babysitter," Face complained.

"Actually, amigo, I am yours. The colonel doesn't want you to get distracted," Murdock reminded him. "Now let's watch a movie."

He started fiddling with Sosa's television remote, but Face corrected him by turning it on and flipping it upside down. Murdock turned to the On Demand section and began selling through the adult section. After Sosa kindly informed him that they were under no circumstances watching porn, he found a brightly colored animated kid's cartoon.