Chapter 10

It was an hour or so later when the storm was raging that the lights suddenly went out. Hannibal and Murdock were discussing the case and Face was in his room. "Murdock, go check on Face while I see if I can get the generator going. BA should be home soon with his mom."

As Hannibal went out two men came in quietly and went upstairs to the boy's room where they surprised Murdock and knocked him out before grabbing Face out of bed. They didn't even give him time to put his slippers on before dragging him from the room and out of the house. With the thunder and lightning Hannibal didn't hear anything and Max and Carl were able to leave with the struggling boy without anyone's knowledge.

BA drove up about fifteen minutes later just as Hannibal got the lights back on. "Let me help you with the luggage, Murdock and Face are inside."

By the time the three of them got in from the weather fifteen more minutes had passed by the time Murdock staggered down the stairs. "Hannibal…they got Face. They took advantage of the storm to make their move."

Hannibal helped Murdock down the stairs and on to the sofa while Mrs. Baracus moved to help. "Go and get that boy…I'll take care of HM."

"How long have they been gone?"

"I don't know for sure BA; I would have to guess that it has been at least a hour. Is the receiver in place in the van?"

"Yes, Hannibal."

"Then let's go and get our kid."

They paused only long enough to put on their rain gear before heading out in to the storm knowing they had to get to Face quickly they feared what Max or Carl had in store for the young man.

After leaving the On the Jazz compound Max and Carl headed for their cabin a hour away in the foothills of the San Bernardino National Forest. Face was sandwiched between the two of them. He was wet, barefoot, scared and chilled from being in the rain without cover. The two men hadn't cared about protecting the boy from the elements. The lightning and thunder were awakening a fear he didn't understand and coupled that with the taunts from the two men made the fear even worse.

"You should have heeded my warning, boy." Carl jeered at Face. "Now your butt is going to pay the price for not returning the ring."

"I don't have any ring…why don't you believe me?"

"You are just stalling like you did three years ago. I gave you the ring to keep it out of the cops hands. You were supposed to take it to the safe house, only you didn't. I wasted time and money looking for you then and I'm about to get the money I lost as soon as you tell me where you hid that ring." Max said while driving the car.

"I don't know what you are talking about…that time is a bit fuzzy for me. I have no memory of any ring."

Carl pulled out a wooden ruler and laid it on Face's thigh. "Do you remember the ring now?" Face started to tremble as soon as he saw the ruler…a reaction that didn't go unnoticed by Carl who smiled.

"I see that you do remember the ruler. Did you know that Sister Agnes told Max that he need to purchase one to use to keep you in line? She said that it was about time you had someone is your life that would discipline you like you needed. She really didn't like you, did she boy?"

Face was fighting the panic threatening to overcome him. He tried to focus on his special forces training to escape Max and Carl. As soon as they arrived at the cabin Face meekly accompanied his kidnappers into the cabin just waiting for a chance to escape.

"Get a fire going…its cold in here." Carl said as he moved towards Face.

As soon as Max moved towards the fireplace to build a fire Face seized the opportunity by grabbing a nearby bottle of beer and throwing it at Carl as he raced to the door and threw it opened. He ran out into the raging storm to hide from the two men who had promised to beat him.

Carl and Max were out the door and after him minutes later but Face had the head start with his move and was running for his life. After a moment of panic running Face slowed down to listen before continuing on. All he heard was the thunder as the lightening lit the sky. 'Perfect I'm going to get struck by lightning before Hannibal can find me,' he thought as he moved on carefully trying to keep ahead of his pursuers.

"Where is he?" Max paused as he tried to catch his breath.

"I don't know but when I get my hands on him again I'm going to make him pay." Carl promised as he moved on.

"BOY…I KNOW YOU ARE OUT THERE. IF YOU COME BACK NOW I PROMISE I WON'T HURT YOU!" Max shouted into the storm.

"He's not that stupid…he knows that you are lying and now you have told him where we are." Carl looked at his brother with disgust.

When Face realized that his kidnappers were behind him he started to look for someplace to hide to wait out the storm. He had to get out of the cold rain and into someplace dry so he started to look for the perfect place. He kept on glancing behind himself to check for pursuit that he tripped over a tree root and found a possible shelter. It was a tree with low branches, branches touching the ground all around the bottom of the tree. He ducked under and found dry pine needles and decided that this was the best place he was going to find for the time being. He burrowed under the needles to try and stay dry and warm.

"Hannibal, I really need you," whispered Face as he laid down to wait. He closed his eyes and fell into a fitful sleep as the storm raged around him.

"Hurry BA! They could be hurting him right now and we aren't there to protect him!"

BA pushed the pedal down even more and the van jumped forward with increased speed. He fought the wheel to stay on the wet road. He had to be there to protect his little brother.

"We should be right on them from what this receiver shows."

"There is a cabin up ahead. They must be there and with this storm intensity they won't hear us coming."

As they pulled up they noticed at once that the door was wide open. They exchanged a glance before entering to find a broken bottle on the floor. "It looks like Face escaped and they're after him." Hannibal stated the obvious as they took out after their kid.

They had only gone a few yards before they heard footsteps coming in their direction.

"We aren't going to find him now. We will wait the storm out and then go after him. He's on foot and barefoot so we won't have any trouble finding him." Carl said as he walked past Hannibal and BA as they hid in the bushes.

"Halt!"

Carl and Max turned as one and saw that they were covered and wisely gave up. "Back to the cabin and then you will tell us about our kid!" ordered Hannibal as he motioned them back to the cabin.

It didn't take BA long to tie them tightly while Hannibal paced watching to storm. "We got to find him. Are they secure?"

"Yes. I tied and cuffed them. They aren't going anywhere."

"Cuffs?"

"They had cuffs fixed to this table. I figured that they were going to fix Face to that table to beat him without worrying about him escaping."

Hannibal saw red. "You were going to beat my son!" he roared as slugged Max, knocking him and the chair he was sitting in over. He pulled back his fist to attack Carl when BA stopped him.

"There's no time for that…we have to find Face!"

"If we find him hurt I will be back and finish this and that is a promise!"

Hannibal then turned to BA and asked, "Are you ready?"

"Yes, just let me get the remote receiver and then we can track Face." BA was quick to run to the van and soon they were off looking for their kid.

"Where is he, BA?" The receiver had sent them to an area covered with trees.

"It says that he's here. He must be hiding."

"FACE! WHERE ARE YOU?!" shouted both Hannibal ad Ba as they pushed through the forest.

The shouting woke Face slightly, but he thought that the voices he was hearing were those of Max and Carl, since thy had been chasing him. He didn't reply only burrowed further into the pine needles.

When their shouting hadn't worked Hannibal said, "He must think that we are his kidnappers. We need to try something else."

"But what…those men know about us and our names so just shouting our names may not work."

Hannibal thought for a few minutes later before it hit him and he began to sing,

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine

You make me happy when skies are gray

You'll never know dear; how much I love you

Please don't take my sunshine away" chorus over and over again motioning for BA to join in. They started singing as they moved on.

The singing woke Face enough to finally recognize the voices. "I'm here…. Hannibal…. I'm here," but his voice was weak that Hannibal didn't hear it over their singing until they paused and then he was able to make out the weak voice of his son and it was coming from under the tree they were standing next to. Hannibal was under the tree a minute later with BA behind him to discover his son still crying, "I'm here."

"I got you son, you're safe…I've got you!"

"BA, he's soaked to the skin. We need to get him out of these wet pajamas and into something dry and warm."

"We need to get him to Mama."

"Do we have blankets in the van?"

"Yes…. I'll get the van warm and drive as close to the trees as I can. I'll be right back."

"I'm so c-cold."

"I know but soon you will be warmer when BA gets back but in the meantime let's get you out of these pajamas." Hannibal started to unbutton the pajama top substituting his on shirt to dress his son in. It was large enough to cover the majority of Face's body.

He pulled the pajama bottoms off a minute later and pulled his shivering son to him before pulling his coat around the both of them and waited for BA's return. It was ten minutes later that BA stuck his head under the tree.

"The van is close by. I brought a rain tarp to cover Face in as we transfer him to the van. I have several blankets ready for you and the van is as warm as I can get it. I'll carry him."

With Face safe in BA's arms and Hannibal following closely behind they hurried to the van. Once inside the warm van Hannibal took over and wrapped the boy into several blankets before helping him into his seat. He sat in Murdock's place and said, "Go, BA!"

On the way back Hannibal called home to let Murdock and Mrs. B know that they found Face and was bringing him home. "We should be back in about thirty minutes."

7