July 1980
As far as summer jobs went, Cassidy could have done worse then helping her father in the dry cleaners. while her friends were all on vacation with their families, or hanging out at the mall, she was working open to close to remove stains, iron and press cloths. her father's vision was now so bad he could only man the counter. Her visits to her Uncle Murdock were now once a month, however they had a phone booth on the corner, and Murdock made it a point to call her once a month, the date and time in a letter or on a postcard that he would mail to her. At 15, she was becoming a skim, attractive teenager, and while she kept up with her schoolwork and helping her father, she missed the morw frequent visits to her uncle. She dropped the press on some pants and wiped her forehead with a bandana wrapped wrist. she was wearing a black tee shirt and blue leggings. her brown hair was mid back and in a braid, and she was wearing flip flops. A beep alerted her to a customer walking in and she heard her father greeting them. "Good afternoon! How can we help you?" She heard multiple footsteps and she pulled the pants from the press as she heard a stern yet militant voice. "My name is Colanel Lynch, and I need to speak with Lt. Steven Kellen and Cassidy Kellen." She hear the stiffness in her father's voice as she creeped towards the curtain that divided the front and the nack. "Forgive me for not saluting, sir, but I was honorably discharged and have since lost my vision to a point where I can't see which direction you are. What can I do for you?"
Cassidy peeked out the slit of the curtain and saw two MP's and a man in green offixer formal fatigues. "I understand you and your daughter are very close, and frequently visit, a Captain H.M. Murdock at the Veteran's Administration?" Steven nodded, still stiff in his posture and responses. "He is a long time family friend. The God Father of my daughter. Is something wrong?" Lynch peered around Steven and must have seen Cassidy peeking out because he motioned for her to join them. "Come on out Ma'am, you aren't in any trouble." She slowly came out to stand beside her father, one of Steven's arms going around her shoulder. Lynch continued. "I'm trying to find out if he has ever spoken about some friends of his. Names like Hannibal, Face, BA? Or has he ever mentioned something called the A-Team?" Steven shook his head no as he kept his arm around Cassidy. "No sir, never. Who are they?" Lynch was watching Cassidy, who felt her pulse racing. 'Secret friends that fix problems.' She tried hard to remain calm and tilted her head curiously as if the topic intrigued her. "Most of the time Uncle Murdock is talking about his invisible dog Billy, or his sock friends. when he is lucid, he talks to us, not about sports teams." Lynch frowned and keot pressing. "I find that hard to believe given you were stationed with them in Da Nang for a time. He is also rumored to still be helping them, and if anyone would hear about it from him, it would be you two. You have more visits to him logged then anyone." Steven stood up now, moving Cassidy behind him. "Colanel, my daughter and I are trying to make do. I served my time and so did he. If he knows anything, he hasnt said it to us. Given what I gave for my country and the lack of help the Government has given us, I think you should go try to look into another avenue of inveatigation." Lynch frowned and gave them both a final appraisinf look before nodding. "Well then, have a good afternoon, and I'm sorry to have bothered you." With that he took his MP's and left.
Steven and Cassidy waited in the visitor room of the VA for Murdock. She was nervous since the visit from Lynch and she could have sworn she saw one of the MP's from the shop dressed as an orderly. Murdock entered the room and grinned upon seeing them. Cassidy smiled waving back and before he could reach them she ceouched down to his knee level. "Well hello Billy, how are you today?" Murdock stopped in his tracks staring down at her as Steven stood to offer a hand to Murdock. "Hey there friend. Is today a good day or a bad day?" Now Murdock knew something was wrong, because Steven hadn't asked that in over a year. Playing along he put on a bit of a stare, "Cassidy, don't pet Billy like that, he doesn't like it." She stood up, eyes moving towards the MP hiding amd then back. "Sorry Uncle Murdock." He nodded, his eyes locked on hers and gave her a reassuring smile before shaking his head quickly. "No! No no no! Billy stop that! These people didn't do anything to you!" Cassidy backed up knowing Murdock was playing it up for the MPs, but it was always a bit scary when he went into crazy mode, whether real or played up. As Murdock got louder alot of things happened very quickly.
The first was an orderly came at him pulling a needle from their pocket. The next was the MP made a quick dash to get oit of the room befofe their cover was blown. Cassidy, realizing that her Uncle's outburst had resulted in the MP leaving, didn't see the orderly moving to sedate him. Despite Steven calling her to stop, she jumped at Murdock to grab him in a hug to signal he could calm down. Murdock saw the orderly and quickly grabbed her moving her behind him protectively, becoming lucid and glaring at the orderly. "Touch my neice and I will break your arm!" As all of the room got quiet and tense, Cassidy clinging to Murdock's arm and Steven struggling to realize what happened, a man in a doctor's coat stepped in and seemed to carry an authority. "I believe we can all calm down." He waved a hand down to the orderly who backed up putting away the needle. The doctor walked over to Murdock who visibly relaxed but kept Cassidy behind him. "Dr. Richardson." The elderly doctor smiled and adjusted the thick dark frames around his eyes, a glance to Steven and then to Cassidy. "Murdock, why don't you introduce me to your friends here."
Murdock slowly moved Cassidy around to stand next to Steven ans spoke calmly, with more enthusiasm then the threat he had issued to the orderly. "This is Steven and Cassidy Kellen. Steven use to be my gunner in Nam and Cassidy is my neice and God Daughter." The doctor shook both their hands and looked intrigued at them. "I must say this is the first time I have seen such a quick transition to lucidity Murdock. A pleasure to meet you both. I'm curious if family and responsability isn't part of what triggered it." Steven frowned and reached out for Cassidy's hand which she took to reassure him she was there. "Sir, I'm sorry my daughter caused so much trouble. We only came to visit our friend. we can go now." "Nonsense," Dr. Richardson replied, "No harm done. I would actually encourage you to come back whenever you like."
He glanced at Murdock and they shared a look that Cassidy could only read to mean 'Later'. Steven shook his head. "We have to get going. The buses run on a schedule and I don't want to miss it. Say goodbye Casey." Looking very distraught, Cassidy looked to Murdock, who gave her an equally sad look and waved. "Later Casey Co Pilot." With that they both left the VA.