Chapter 5
Face threw the van door closed just before they fishtailed around a corner – effectively putting the hammer down on Decker and his goons. His shoulder slammed against the inside of the door as they straightened out and slowed to a manageable speed again. Damn. That was how many times in recent weeks that Decker had gotten the drop on them? And it seemed like he was getting closer every time. That did not bode well.
This time it had been a sheer stroke of luck that they had been anywhere near the van when Decker and company careened around the corner – with no warning sirens or lights flashing.
To say that they were all sent scrambling like dogs on a hardwood floor didn't even get close to describing the mad dash they had all made to get back to the van. In fact, Face was pretty sure that Decker had gotten a front seat view of him skidding so far out of control across the porch that he almost fell face first in the dirt on the way to the van.
Decker was getting smart. No sirens announcing their presence from miles away. If it had been a minute later they would have all been inside the building, completely unaware of an impending "Smith, you're surrounded and you have two minutes to come out!" None of them ever wanted to repeat that experience again.
Face glanced at Murdock as he settled back into his seat, holstering his sidearm. He couldn't help but smile as Murdock pursed his lips and blew his cheeks out. Yeah, my sentiments exactly. Apparently he wasn't the only feeling as though things were closing in a bit too snugly as of late.
Hannibal's jazz-filled chuckle cut through his thoughts as the colonel spun his chair around. AK – 47 across his lap as though it was nothing more than a discarded pizza box.
"I gotta hand it to Decker, he's getting better at this." His smile was beaming as he reached into his pocket for a cigar.
Face almost groaned at that. If there was one person who would love every second of this, it would be Hannibal.
"Better?" Murdock intoned in that cartoonish way that only he could pull off. "He was so close he could count my fillings." He opened his point, putting his molar on display. Point proven.
Face eyed Hannibal for a moment. This whole situation really did deserve something beyond mad cackling. "You realize 'better at this' ends with us in a jail cell right?"
Hannibal just smiled at him as he scritched! his lighter to life and puffed on a victory cigar. "Yeah, but it sure does keep life exciting, doesn't it?"
Exciting? Narrowly dodging bullets and an impending twenty years sentence was not the type of 'exciting' that Face wanted anything to do with. "I don't know about you guys, but I've had about all the excitement I care to for a while."
"They right, Hannibal. He's gettin' too close."
Thank you, BA. Face smirked. There was nothing like BA growling his discontent at the situation to cut through Hannibal's adrenaline riddled mind.
Murdock pulled his legs up under himself in the seat – lotus style – and laced his hands behind his head. "I gotta go with Face, Colonel. The yoga instructors at the VA were telling me I need to relax some. I don't think getting up close and personal with a pit bull in olive drab is what they had in mind."
Face smirked at that. And thank you, Murdock, for the perfect segue into getting out of dodge.
He leaned forward a bit. "Yeah, you know, maybe we ought to think about laying low for a while. Off of Decker's radar. He can chase his tail wondering where the hell we disappeared to."
Like a nice summertime escape. Under the stars with Alex naked in his arms, not a care in the world. And Hannibal not too horribly suspicious of his motives. It was probably a good thing that Murdock had the original lead in to this topic.
Hannibal looked at him for a moment before glancing around at the others. No doubt the near-constant pursuit was taking its toll on all of them. "Not a bad idea. What did you have in mind?"
Long legs, silky smooth skin, golden tan lines…
Face cleared his throat as his eyes were drawn to Murdock as the captain struggled to remain in his chair. His eyes closed, hands palm up as he channeled a yoga instructor. The lotus position had definitely seen better days.
"I'm working on making my mind a blank, Colonel. Nothing but sunshine and calming breezes."
That was too easy. Face turned his attention back to Hannibal. "Actually, I was thinking about heading up to Oregon for about a week."
"What's in Oregon?"
"Hmmm." Murdock's eyes fluttered as he tilted his head back. "Trees, lots of trees."
Face gave his most innocent smile. "About two thousand miles of Decker free wilderness."
Hannibal sniggered at that. "Lieutenant, I've never heard you be so interested in the wilderness."
"The wilderness is a side note, Hannibal." He leaned forward in his seat; Hannibal needed to buy this. "The important part of this is the fact that Decker will not only be nowhere near there, but wouldn't even think of vacationing there himself. It's perfect."
"Uh, huh. What's her name?"
Face didn't even think to deny it, or to be surprised that Hannibal knew it. "Alex," he sighed wistfully as he leaned back in his seat. She was gorgeous, and feisty. Mmm, it was going to be fun. "She invited me to go camping up in Oregon. I wasn't going to go, but now – it's looking like a very nice alternative to playing tag with the MPs."
"Camping? You?" Hannibal laughed openly.
"I camp." He shot, a hair of indignance tracing his voice. Well, for Alex he would camp.
Murdock's laughter joined in and Face shot him a glare. The captain almost falling out of his seat as he doubled over. "You camp? Right, and I'm the poster boy for Sanity Monthly!"
Face shot him an irritated glare. "All right, you guys done?"
"Sorry, Lieutenant. It's just that I remember something about having to twist your arm to get you to a cabin. And you make it sound like this camping excursion will include pup tents and an open fire."
Face smiled and shrugged. "I don't remember there being the promise of a beautiful woman at that cabin. And I'll be in the middle of nowhere. Decker's never going to even think to look for me out there. Isn't that the point of this?"
Hannibal was still smiling at him. But he wasn't arguing, or even jumping onto that 'getting suckered in by the ladies' soapbox of his.
"I've got no objections." Hannibal threw a glance to the driver's seat. "BA? You got some place you can hole up for a while? Take a vacation?"
BA's darted to Hannibal and quickly back to the road. "I got some things to do."
Face's eyes narrowed as BA stared more intently than ever at the road and almost… squirmed.
Face smiled slyly. "Yeah, BA? Like what?"
"Captain? Can you handle a few days off?"
BA caught Face's eyes in the rear view mirror and quickly looked back to the road. Face smiled. It was so obvious. Everything about the big man screamed that he had some woman he could shack up with. Face almost laughed. It would be so easy to get BA to admit it. He could do it. Three questions maybe and he'd have the big guy red handed.
"You going to go do some camping, too?" Face pressed, grinning.
"No!"
Face chuckled at that. BA may not be camping but he'd lay money on the fact that the activity list was the same as his own. "No lighting fires of any sort?"
Murdock still hadn't answered Hannibal. Instead, he joined in with a gleeful laugh. "BA's got a girlfriend!"
Face laughed as BA's expression ran the gamut from shock to horror to fury to embarrassment all inside of a half-second.
"Shut up, fool!" He growled as he almost missed a turn.
"Awww, come on Big Guy, tell ole Howlin' Mad about her. Is she pretty? Does she have a thing for angry guys in gold jewelry with bad hairdos? What's her name? Did you kiss her yet? Did you see stars?"
He didn't even pause for a breath. It was like watching a mentally ill bagpiper practice circular breathing.
"Does she call you B for short, or are you her Snookie Bear? Do you think you should wear white on your wedding day? Does she like it when you scowl? Is she your sugar mama?"
"Shut up, fool! SHUT UP!" BA swerved the van to the side of the road, slamming it into park. He turned all the way around in his seat and reached back to grab Murdock. "I said shut up!"
"Does she like it when –" Murdock managed to untangle his yoga position of the moment just in time to fling himself out of grabbing distance. A windmill of arms and legs as he fought to keep himself up, and he ultimately landed on Face with a meaty thud.
Ugh! All right, that was enough of fun and games. Face pushed Murdock off of him and shot an annoyed look at both of them as they both found their way back to their seats. "Can you two not put us in the ICU where Decker will find us?"
"So, Face," Hannibal continued, ever-so-casually. "Given that you're going to be out in the middle of this wide open wilderness, with no way to stay in contact, I sure hope you've checked this Alex out."
Checked her out, he surely had. Very thoroughly in fact. From her lavender scented shampoo to her pretty red toenails.
"Nothing to worry about, Hannibal."
"Good. Then you mind providing a full name, address, phone number, and whatever else you have on her." Hannibal's smirk was anything but amused by the possible problems. "Just for safety's sake."
"Sure," Face met his smirk with a confident smile of his own. Alex was a nice girl. A nice challenging change of pace for sure. But nice. And Face had no reason to suspect anything other than getting his fill of her during this close knit excursion. "You want her full dossier or just the cliff notes?"
"I'll take everything you've got." He waved his cigar, as he turned his chair forward again. "The Oregon wilderness is a big place to get lost. If I can't find you, I want to at least be able to find her."
Face relaxed into his seat. "Don't worry. I'll remember to pack my compass, flint, and stone." And perhaps some lingerie for Alex. He had a few days until they were supposed to leave. Plenty of time to get some things put together.
This was going to be a nice relaxing vacation, filled with long nights under the stars holding Alex in his arms as a campfire cast long billowy shadows over their bodies. Mmmm.
XXXXXXXX
Hitler could've probably taken notes from Decker.
Overbearing. Dictating. Micromanagement even. None of it was a sufficient descriptor for Decker at this point.
He was waiting impatiently as Face fumbled to button up his jeans. Even such a small task was frustrating to Face. How many days had they been at this and he still hadn't figure out an effective way to put his pants back together with the cuffs around his wrists. The way this was going, Decker was going to think he was intentionally stalling again and drag him around with his pants hanging off.
Finally – his pants back together – he turned towards Decker. His eyes automatically found the lead and bore into it. It was such a stupid thing to be detained by. His clothes were getting ripped to shreds being drug around out here and this damn rope – tightly wound fibers really – somehow didn't have any sign of fraying.
And that rope was only part of the problem. He couldn't help but run his fingers over the lock as he tried to find a place for the cuffs to rest that didn't make him grimace. Such a tiny insignificant challenge. He could pick these cuffs any number of different ways including blindfolded, and yet, here he was – playing Cub Scout leader with Decker.
"Ready, Lieutenant?"
Face pulled his eyes up from the locks, "Does it matter?" It didn't and he knew it. Decker feigning on any level that his opinion either mattered or would even be considered was more than a little patronizing.
Decker watched him for a moment longer, his features just as stony – perhaps more so in some grisly way the beard added - and indifferent as always. "Not particularly."
Exactly. So why ask in the first place? Unless the entire discussion was simply meant to reaffirm that Decker expected Face to submit to his every word. Good luck with that; it wasn't going to happen. The colonel could do a lot of things at this point. But that power trip at Face's expense only went so far.
Decker turned towards the sheriff without giving him a second glance. "How long before we get back to civilization?"
Now that was a worthwhile question. Face waited silently for the sheriff to answer. He didn't know where they were, or really how long they had been out here at this point. But knowing how far away from that promised jail cell they were was more than a little handy.
The sheriff turned to look back at Decker. "Depends." He shot Face an untrusting glare.
Face met it with a well practiced boy-next-door smile, his eyes glinting with innocence. He would never try to do anything underhanded to impede this little excursion.
"Two days," that glare deepened, "best case scenario."
Decker frowned at that. Granted he probably would have frowned at any answer the sheriff had outside of 'it's over the next hill'.
Two days. A lot could happen in two days. Stalling hadn't worked out particularly well. And Decker would catch on to any tactic to further stall unless it was incredibly discreet and well thought out. This whole situation did not lend itself to well thought out manipulation.
"I'd like to make it in half that time," Decker turned a glare on Face also, "but I'll settle for a steady pace. At least until sundown."
How nice. Face rocked on the balls of his feet as his 'who me?' smile beamed. "Having problems roughing it?"
"Just anxious to turn you over to the proper authorities." Decker's voice was as dismissive as it had been this whole trip. You would think that the guy had more than one aspect to his personality. Even dealing with him as closely as Face had over the past few days, the guy was still as one dimensional as ever.
Face started walking again as the colonel kicked the horse into gear. How many times did Decker need to say in some variation 'you're going to jail' before he got tired of it himself? It was cyclic and predictable and boring and … Face sighed. Either Decker was truly that disinterested in anything but getting him to a jail cell or he actually didn't know how to fathom an original thought. Either way it was irritating.
He pulled at his shirt, wafting thick hot air around his torso as they traveled. It offered no relief from this ridiculous heat. Finally, he brought his hands back down and pushed the cuffs in front of his wrists again. Nothing was comfortable. Not the cuffs, or the heat, or his sweat soaked clothes, this itchy beard, or boots that he'd had on for far too long.
"See, Decker, you're missing the personal touch. Lynch would have seen me all the way to a handpicked jail cell." One that probably would have had a neurotically neatly folded uniform already adorned with his name and rank. "I'm telling you, it's the little things that make the difference."
Decker didn't even bother turning in the slightest degree towards him. "I'm not Lynch."
"Really?" No kidding. Perhaps that was the reason Decker was still around – pointing out the blatantly obvious was an in-demand skill.
He could picture it now. A class full of greenies, fresh out of basic. Decker standing ramrod straight in front of the class. 'You see ladies and gentlemen, we want to make sure that inside the handcuff pouch on your belt, there is one pair of standard issue handcuffs.'
Face wandered to the side of the trail trying to find as much shade as possible. It was useless. The little bit of shade he did manage to find for a split second didn't do anything to combat the heat. "Maybe after all of this nonsense is over and you retire, you and Lynch can get together and compare notes."
He wiped the sweat off of his brow for the hundredth time. It was too hot to have all these layers on. His only option right now was to pull the flannel over his head and have it wad up around the cuffs. And that would just compromise the use of his hands even more than the cuffs themselves did.
He glanced back up to Decker. "You could write a book," he smirked, his voice taking on a bit more of a whimsical tone as he baited the man. "Born to Lose and Destined to Fail."
"I don't think so, Lieutenant."
Face couldn't help but smile at resigned disinterest. Decker could play the 'silent treatment' game all he wanted. Face was more than capable of handling both sides of this.
"What are you missing? The drive?" Nobody ever wanted to make public knowledge of how miserably they failed time and time again. What was it they said about repeating the same mistake over and over again? Something about the definition of crazy if he remembered correctly. Probably shouldn't bring Murdock into this. Decker was worse than a bloodhound in that regard.
"Motivation? Creativity?" Antagonism was slipping into his voice more and more with each passing comment.
"How about the ability to recall all of the embarrassing escapades? If you want, I could get you copies of the original reports." The stacks and stacks of reports, that all ended the same way. Failure. Just like this was going to.
Decker brought a hand up to his forehead. "Do you ever run out of arguments, Peck?" The exasperation finally filtering in to his voice. "I am not going to get into this with you again."
"Again?" Face smiled at the absurdity of that. "Decker, answering everything with 'you're going to jail' doesn't exactly count." And Decker would get into it with him again. Only this time it would not end with him on the losing end. That much he could guarantee.
"Frankly, that's all I have to say to you." Decker was back to staring straight ahead, any hint of irritation gone. "You know the situation here as well as I do and tangling yourself up in bushes and running your mouth incessantly does little to change that."
Face's eyes narrowed at that. Stalling would have proven to be more than a little helpful had Decker not figured it out so damned quickly. "See… that's good," and like it or not 'running his mouth incessantly', was the just about the only thing he could do right now. Whether it led to simple irritation at the colonel's inability to get Face to drop in line, or to actually pushed Decker into an opening was the only thing up for debate.
"We could work with this. Might take another few years, but there's hope for you yet."
Face bent down and grabbed a rock. At least Decker didn't seem to care about him fiddling with things. In fact if anything, the colonel probably wished Face were more entertained by the inanimate objects.
"Add to your repertoire." Along with spatula salesman and desk clerk. Face smirked at that concept. "Maybe you could even consult Hannibal on adding some more color to things."
He eyed the rock for a moment, his fingers running over the rough edge until it almost cut through his skin. He glanced up at Decker – still staring dead ahead – hmm. He tossed the rock back to the woods. "Granted you'd have to hang onto him for more than twenty minutes."
Face sighed. Rocks and twigs. And Decker's personality had less character than either of those things. Murdock would be in heaven. Sticks and stones – cowboys and Indians – whatever, the pilot would come up with something.
"See, this right here is the problem, Rod, you give up too quickly."
"Not until I succeed, Lieutenant."
Face rolled his eyes at the dry disinterested tone, "Yeah, yeah, I know. It ends with me in a jail cell."
"You're catching on."
Had they not just discussed the fact that Decker needed to change this back and forth routine? Decker of all people should know that a threat lost its teeth when it was repeated in three minute increments.
"You know, Rod, you're getting really predictable."
"Look who's talking, Lieutenant." This time Decker almost laughed.
"It's been tried before."
"And yet you admittedly didn't see it coming. Honestly, that sort of surprises me. Generally I can expect something of a challenge from you,"
Face felt his jaw clench at the patronizing tone. Decker had been lucky. Pure and simple. This entire situation had nothing to do with Decker having enough skill to actually orchestrate a clandestine operation at their expense.
"But I guess you're just not the same without Colonel Smith to keep you focused. Extraordinarily predictable when left to your own devices."
He scoffed at that, a humorless laugh escaping him, "Yeah? I guess it's a good thing you had the sheriff over here to pick up the pieces of your careful planning and character study, or I'd be in Idaho by now."
"With or without Detective Carter?"
"Oh, you mean 'property of the highest bidder?"
"If I didn't know any better, Lieutenant, I would actually think you were taking the rejection a little too personally."
The hell with this. Face took a deep breath. An angry knot in his stomach spurring back to life. He glared at Decker. "Somehow I don't think fucking her all night long really qualifies as rejection. And on the tax payers dime too."
Decker wanted to hardline this into personal attacks… well, Face could play that game. No holds barred. He smiled darkly at that idea.
"Perhaps next time you could spring for a blond with double D's."
Decker threw him a hard scrutinizing look of disdain, "There won't be a next time for you, Lieutenant."
"Why? You going to send out your lackeys trolling the streets for your own trick?" Maybe that was the problem, Decker needed to get laid. Take the edge off of his control issues.
"How do you like 'em, Rod? Tall lankly brunette who has a fetish for a man in uniform?" Did Decker even have any civilian clothes? He probably had to bank on woman liking the uniformed strong silent type.
"Or you go with the petite blond that you can man handle? Looks like you've had practice trying people up to me."
"That's enough, Lieutenant."
"Or is it just the guys you like to chain up?" Decker's hand was back to his forehead, Face smirked. No question he was getting under Decker's skin.
"Throw 'em on the ground, establish dominance." He shrugged his shoulder, "Or try."
"I said that's enough."
Face looked up at the tone. There was a definite warning there. Good. "What are you gonna do after you're done with me, Rod?"
"Enjoy the peace and quiet."
"Next to your military purchased snuggle buddy? Or did Alex drain the coin collection? You're going to be left with charity cases." That was a long shot. Face couldn't think of any woman that was that charitable.
"Maybe you can come back here. Treat the sheriff up there to a nice time after all of this." They seemed to have a nice understanding thus far. The sheriff leads. Decker follows. What was that they said about a good woman behind every man?
"After all, you've had plenty of 'bonding' time at this point. Quiet nights by the campfire, sleeping under the stars. Practice with the handcuffs."
He raised his voice as he glanced between Decker and the sheriff, there was only so much of this that Decker would tolerate. "Maybe you can show him a move or two."
Decker pulled the horse to a stop and turned a hard glare on Face. "That is ENOUGH, Peck!"
Face raised his brow at Decker's explosion. His smile radiating innocence. "Oh, defending his honor already. That's cute." He rocked a bit on his feet, Decker's reaction feeding into the adrenaline that was pumping through him.
Face's eyes glinted with contempt. "Sheriff might have something to say about letting you wear the pants in this whole thing though… wouldn't want to start a lover's quarrel before you even have a chance to get things started."
"One more word, Peck, and I will gag you."
Face's features hardened at that. They both knew that was an empty threat. Decker didn't have a choice in the matter. If the colonel restrained him any further than he already was they'd either have to slow down considerably or risk serious injury to Face. Both would put a damper on that two day time table they were working on.
"Oh, you like gags." He threw his gaze back to the sheriff, a sardonic smile taking over as he called Decker's bluff. "Guess we know which one of you two is going to be on their knees."
Decker dismounted the horse. "Cover him."
Face smirked and raised his hands ever so slightly as the sheriff level the shotgun in his direction. Take it easy, he wasn't going anywhere. They all knew that. Pinning him down with a shot gun was a bit of overkill. "Oh, that's good, sheriff, taking instruction like a trick already."
Face pulled his attention away from the sheriff as Decker marched towards him. Staunch and determined as ever as he fished something out of his pocket, a short rope thrown over his shoulder.
Face stopped – the continuing insults falling short even as his jaw continued to work. There was something beyond nonnegotiable about the colonel. Something… foreboding. He'd seen that look before. And it made his heart pound in his chest as his mind froze.
Decker grabbed his wrist – hard - forcing the cuffs deep into his skin as he unlatched them. Face took a hard step back as that fight or flight adrenaline flooded. Last time that happened, he'd wound up on this rope. He wanted nothing to do with this. A loud 'CRACK!' of a round bring pumped into the chamber of the shotgun stopped him in his place. Hell!
Decker had his arm bent up between his shoulder blades, an unrelenting hand pulling his other arm behind him. Not giving him the chance to move before his wrists were bound together again.
What the hell was Decker doing? His muscles were tense – almost straining. Instinct alone pumping through him, looking for an opportunity to move. And then Decker's hands were off of him. Something scratchy against his skin. On his forehead. He pulled his head back, as much to get away from whatever it was as to see it. Rope! Being pulled hard down his face, finding its way to his mouth.
"Don't!" He heard the desperation in his voice as he pulled his head away, taking step back into Decker. "AARG! Don't do this!"
Whatever amusement he had found by getting a reaction out of Decker was gone. He'd had every ounce of control taken away from him already – or so he'd thought. Whatever Face's reasons for thinking Decker couldn't follow through with gagging him – Decker didn't seem to agree.
"I'll stop! Come on, don't do this to me. I swear to God I'll stop!" He heard the words tumbling out of his mouth as though they weren't even his. And he didn't care, as long as this didn't happen. His breathing rapid and deep as Decker held him there, that rope pulling against gritted teeth – and suddenly it was gone.
"One more word, Lieutenant. Just one."
Face closed his eyes for a moment and calmed his breathing. Deep slow breaths. He knew he'd been pushing it when he'd started in on the sheriff. Decker gagging him though? The legitimacy of that was still debatable. But it was not worth calling the bluff. He'd thought it was – and he was wrong.
"I'm done playing games with you." Decker released the cuffs after a long moment.
Face bowed his head a bit as Decker released his hands again. Deep calming breaths – in through the nose, out through the mouth.
Face stood there as Decker latched his hands in front of him in. Breath. In through the nose, out through the mouth. It was done. Decker had made his point and Face wasn't getting tied up. So why was it that he could still feel his heartbeat pounding in his ears?
What the hell had he been thinking goading Decker like that? It hadn't gotten him anywhere. Outside of irritating Decker into a possible mistake it hadn't even been meant to. Even then, if it had worked, Decker wasn't the only problem he had to deal with. He took a deep breath and slowly let it out.
Decker looked at him, "Make me get off that horse again, and there will be no more second chances. Whether you are being cooperative or not. Understood?"
Face held his gaze, flexing his fingers and relaxing them again. Over and over to keep his hands from shaking. Decker was right; there would be no round three of this. The most well aimed insult that he may ever conjure up was not worth it. And it didn't matter anyway. Decker cared as much as Face did about what the colonel thought of him. There was no point.
"Yeah, I got it."
Face took one last deep calming breath as Decker turned back to the horse. What the hell was he doing?
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