Chapter 10: The Baron
The days went by, but unfortunately the team were no further forward in finding out who Sykes was dealing with. Face and BA had tracked him down to an apartment in the northeast side of the district. Through one of Face's elaborate scams they had managed to get into his apartment and bug his phone, but none of his conversations had given them any leads as to who he was working for.
Although things were going well at the restaurant, Hannibal was frustrated that Sykes and his men had not been brought to justice. The slimeballs had made a few attempts to sabotage the restaurant, but so far the A-Team had managed to deal with them. Hannibal was well aware that their luck was going to run out sooner or later in evading Stockwell, but he badly wanted to see Sykes go down. There was no way they could leave Teresa and Sofia whilst he was still free to terrorise them and the other innocent victis on his hit list.
It was a Saturday afternoon and Hannibal and Kami were driving back in BA's van, after spending the morning Downtown. Hannibal had made a Bank run for Teresa and Kami took the opportunity to do some shopping. The other members of the team remained at the restaurant, helping Teresa, whilst Craig was at the newspaper office.
"Can we stop off at Bob's Market, Hannibal?" Kami asked. "We need more milk. I guess Face was right about the amount BA drinks!"
Bob's Market wasn't far from Sunset Boulevard, where Teresa's restaurant was located. It was one of those quaint old-fashioned grocery stores that seemed to stock almost everything you could think off.
Hannibal chuckled. "Sure kid," he answered. He swung in by the side of the road. "You stay here and I'll pop across. I need to pick up some more cigars. Lock the van doors when I go."
Kami did as she was told. She switched on the radio and waited patiently for Hannibal to return. After a few minutes she saw a young girl, who she recognised as one of Sofia's friends, running out of one of the side streets. She wound down her window and called out to her.
"Isobel, is everything okay?" she asked. Isobel stopped in her tracks and ran back towards the van.
"It's Sofia!" she cried out in dismay. "We were on our way to look round the shops when that bad man grabbed her."
Kami was out of the van and by Isobel's side in a matter of seconds. "Do you mean Sykes?" she said urgently to Isobel. Isobel nodded tearfully. "We were supposed to wait until someone was free to take us out, but everyone was busy and I got tired of waiting. He must have been following us."
Kami drew in a deep breath in horror. "It's all my fault," Isobel continued. "I made Sofia go with me – I thought we'd be alright. I was lucky, he let me go – said he didn't need me."
"Where did this happen?" said Kami. Isobel pointed back to the side street from where she had come from. It was a small through road, used mainly as an industrial unit for warehouses, many of which lay empty.
"Isobel, go and find Hannibal and tell him what you just told me. He's in the store. Hurry, Isobel."
"What are you going to do?" said Isobel with a worried look on her face. But Kami had already started to dash across to the side street. "Just get Hannibal!" she shouted back to Isobel over her shoulder.
Isobel ran to the store and bumped right into Hannibal, who was just on his way out. She relayed her message to him. He shot over to the van, threw in his packages and quickly rang the restaurant from the cell phone to let his team know what was happening. He told Isobel to stay in the van and not to do anything until the guys came for her. He jumped back out and ran round to the back of the van. He instinctively grabbed an automatic rifle and a small bugging device and then sprinted after Kami.
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Kami didn't really know what she was going to do. She wasn't even sure if she would find Sykes and Sofia. The side street was desolate and led on to Sunset Boulevard, which bustled with shops and restaurants. If Sykes wanted to be discreet about snatching a young girl, surely he wouldn't want to draw attention to himself by dragging her through a busy street?
She stopped, listening intently, her instinct telling her that they must be somewhere nearby. She suddenly heard a loud scream coming from a turning just up on the left-hand side. She crept forward, hiding behind some large industrial garbage bins, and saw Sykes pushing Sofia up against the wall of an old derelict building. He seemed to be on his own with her. He was mumbling something which Kami couldn't hear, but she could tell from his body language that his intentions were far from honourable. He was stroking her hair with one hand, whilst the other was roughly pulling at her jacket, trying to get access to what lay beneath.
Kami felt her skin crawl. She looked back behind her, hoping to see Hannibal, but there was no sign of him. She turned her attention back to Sofia. She was getting more and more distressed, desperately trying to fend off Sykes who was trying to shower her with unwelcome kisses.
Kami knew she had to do something. Very quietly and carefully, she removed one of the dustbin lids from the bin and snuck up behind Sykes. Sofia's eyes widened when she saw Kami standing behind him.
"Duck, Sofia!" Kami yelled frantically. Sykes spun round in surprise at the same time that Sofia ducked. Kami swung the dustbin lid towards his face. Sykes put up his arms and managed to block part of the blow, stumbling backwards as he did so.
"Run!" cried Kami to Sofia. Sofia took to her heels as fast as she could. Kami started to follow her when, out of no-where, Pete and Ned appeared. She tried to dodge past , but she couldn't escape from both of them. They grabbed her and dragged her back towards Sykes.
Sofia stopped in horror but Kami urged her to keep going. She was nearly at the entrance to Sunset Boulevard and Kami knew she would be safer there and could get help. Kami was relieved when she saw her disappear from view.
Sykes marched over to where his men held Kami. She smiled smugly when she saw a large bruise appearing on his chin where she had managed to hit him with the dustbin lid. He slapped her viciously around the face.
"So," he said to her, his voice full of menace. "You like to play rough do you? Well two can play at that game."
All of a sudden an array of bullets flew over their heads, making them all duck.
"Move and I'll turn you all into a fruit salad!" yelled a familiar voice. Kami looked up and was delighted to see Hannibal standing there.
"Hey kid. I don't think much of the company you're keeping lately!" he teased. Kami laughed. He beckoned to her to come forward and she immediately shook off Pete and Ned's clutches and ran towards him.
However, her relief was short-lived as a figure suddenly appeared behind Hannibal.
"Freeze it, or lose it!" a voice growled behind him. Hannibal froze as he felt the butt of cold steel prodding him in the back. He dropped his rifle, not wishing to put Kami into any unnecessary danger by disobeying his assailant. Kami also stopped, unsure as to what she should do next.
"Move it!" he hissed in Hannibal's ear, pushing him forward. Hannibal moved forward, coming closer to where Kami had come to a standstill.
"Why don't you let the girl go?" he said to his assailant, who immediately wacked Hannibal in the back with his gun, forcing him to wince in pain. Kami ran to Hannibal in alarm holding on to him as he doubled up in pain.
"I'll give out the orders!" the man barked back. "Sykes, get them inside."
Sykes pulled out his own gun on them and the other two men rushed forward and seized Hannibal and Kami. They were led into one of the empty warehouses and were pushed into a nearby office.
"I'm sorry, Hannibal," Kami stammered. "I know I shouldn't have gone after Sofia on my own. I waited for you to come, but – well – Sykes was hurting Sofia and I couldn't bear to just stand there and watch."
"It's okay, Kami," Hannibal said, "I can imagine what that scumbag was about to do. I would have been disappointed if you hadn't tried to help her."
Kami smiled gratefully. Hannibal grinned back brightly, trying to keep things light, but he knew they were in deep trouble. This new guy seemed to be the head honcho and he was laying into Sykes pretty bad – much to Hannibal and Kami's delight. He obviously wasn't happy about something.
"Why am I having to come up here and do your job for you?" he bellowed at Sykes.
"It's nothing to worry about, Mr Garcia – just a few loose ends to get rid of, that's all," replied Sykes, nervously.
"Seems to me you are getting a bit distracted," said Garcia. "Perhaps this job is too big for you?"
"No, no, Mr Garcia, I can handle it, no problem," said Sykes.
"I need the extra revenue to finance my next shipment," continued Garcia. "You'd better get it before I meet with my client or we'll lose the deal - and that will make me very unhappy, Sykes – very unhappy. Do you understand?"
"Sure, consider it done," said Sykes.
"I don't care how you get it, but I want it by Friday," warned Garcia. "Lean on somebody else if you have to. Meet me at the usual place – I'll be there about 8 o'clock with my client. "And Sykes – don't make me have to come after you again!"
Sykes continued to squirm uncomfortably under Garcia's scathing glare. Hannibal, who could hear everything that was being said, was slowly beginning to piece together what was going on.
"Deal with these "loose ends" and then get out of here," ordered Garcia. "Don't come back to this warehouse again – you have endangered our position by bringing these people here."
With that, Garcia stormed off out of the building, leaving Sykes to deal with Hannibal and Kami.
Hannibal turned to Kami. "Look kid," he said to her quietly. "Things may get a bit sticky from herein. You better take this". He took her hand and placed the bugging device in it.
Kami looked at him enquiringly. "They may split us up," explained Hannibal. "It's best if you have it – the guys will be able to find you."
Kami started to protest but there was a look in Hannibal's piercing blue eyes that made her think twice. She switched it on and tucked it into her sock.
Sykes came into the office with Pete and Ned. Hannibal instinctively stood in front of Kami. "Hi," he said, casually pulling out one of his cigars and lighting it up.
Sykes yanked the cigar out of Hannibal's hand and threw it, still lit, onto a pile of disregarded newspapers lying on the ground. "You won't be needing those where you're going!" he snarled at Hannibal.
"Now, don't take it out on me just because you've lost a few brownie points with your friend Garcia," replied Hannibal in a taunting voice. Why don't you and your sisters grow some brains and get out of town while you can?"
"You think you're real funny, don't ya?" said Sykes. "I fill up cemeteries with guys like you."
Before Hannibal could answer, Sykes yanked Hannibal out of the office and punched him hard in the stomach. Ned and Pete immediately joined in, taking it in turns to lay into him. Kami screamed in horror as she saw Hannibal being pummelled to the ground. She tried to pull the men off, but she was shoved easily out of the way.
Hannibal dropped to his knees under the weight of the onslaught and Sykes kicked him swiftly in the head and he fell onto his front, lying motionless on the ground. Sykes turned to his men.
"We need to get that money for the Baron before we meet him at the Casino," said Sykes. "Bring the girl – we can use her to our advantage."
"What about him?" said Ned, pointing to Hannibal.
Sykes grinned slyly. He looked down at the pile of smouldering newspapers on the office floor. He picked up other pieces of debris and threw it on to the papers. The flames immediately began to flicker higher as it ate up the extra fuel.
"I guess he won't be smoking any more cigars," he said in a mocking voice. "Come on, let's get out of here."
He grabbed hold of Kami pulling her along by the arm.
"No!" she shouted in anger, trying to pull away from Sykes. "You can't do this – you can't leave him here. "Hannibal - HANNIBAL!"