Chapter 14

The view from the country roads was beautiful fields stretching in every direction only to be divided by tree lines or fences, there was just something about it that made me feel free.

"How much longer Hannibal?" Face asked as we hit another bump that jostled us in our seats.

"Almost there Face." Hannibal replied letting out a puff of smoke as he did.

Soon the big red barn came into view up ahead and we passed the sign that read, 'Welcome to Chester's Farm.'

B.A parked the van and we all got out glancing around the place until a young man a little older looking than me came out of the barn and walked over to us.

"The A-Team, I'm really glad you guys were able to make it out here. I'm Joey Chester." he said smiling and held out his hand.

The Colonel stepped forward and shook it, "Nice to meet you, Joey. I'm Hannibal Smith, this is Face, Murdock, B.A and Sam." he said introducing each of us, I smiled when my name was mentioned.

"Nice to meet all of ya, come on inside you can meet my folks and explain the problem we've been having lately." Joey told us and lead the way inside the house.

We met Mr. and Mrs. Chester and settled in the living room to hear what was going on with their crops.

"First off I want to thank you all for coming, it meets an awful lot to us." Mr. Chester told us before going on,

"Our crops aren't growing because we ain't getting any water from the pipeline; no crops means we don't have any money to live off of and if it gets bad enough we'll have to sell the farm." he summarized for us.

Joey spoke up his part, "There's water up in the reserve over the hill but for some reason it's not getting down here. The police checked the line as much as possible for leaks or another reason why the water won't reach us; except for where the pipe runs on the Links' property. The Links are our neighbors they grow vegetables and fruit for the market in town, anyway the police won't search their land without cause and we can't get cause without trespassing."

"So we've been forced to water the crops with the hose and by bringing buckets of water out there by hand. It's tiring us all out, we need you to help us get the water back." Mrs. Chester supplied.

"We'll do everything we can ma'am." Hannibal said politely and we headed back outside towards the van.

"We need to check out the pipeline for ourselves, lets go." he ordered before we all climbed in and went to the water reserve.

The pipe was bigger than I thought it'd be and all the water running through it made a lot of noise almost like a river. Following the line on foot we came to another line attached to it up in the rocks of the hill.

We broke off to look around, not long after B.A called out, "Over here!" and we went to see what he'd found.

"It's a timer switch to alternate the doors to control the water flow, someone broke it so that all the water goes to the Links farm." He explained to us.

"Alright; B.A, Murdock get to work fixing this thing, Sam I want you to go stake out the Links place take a walkie talkie with you and let us know if they leave. Face and I are going to inform the Chester family what's happening and help them water the crops until the pipe is fixed." Hannibal ordered.

"Right." I said hurrying with them back to the van for the talkie before heading out.

I was glad to be the watch man this time, normally it was Face or Murdock who did it and usually they got really bored; whereas I liked it and didn't get bored because I was used to guard duty and I enjoyed learning about my opponent.

Climbing up the rocky hillside I caught a glimpse of the farm on the other side and quickened my pace going down the opposite side to hide behind a big rock; poking my head out I used the binoculars to watch them.

A man with greying hair sat on the porch in the comfort of the shade while he barked orders to three younger men, probably his sons because all their hair colours were the same and because they'd fight with him and each other as well. It made me chuckle from my hiding place, it was just so funny!

Thankfully I was far enough away they couldn't hear me, a few words from the father and they got to doing the chores. I watched them happily as memories flooded back to me from helping on a friend's farm when I was a child.

Gathering the cows from the pasture to get them into the barn, picking vegetables, washing our boots from all the mud stuck to them, playing in the hay loft above the barn, and summer bbq's of burgers and hotdogs for dinner before going home for the night; only to come right back in the morning so we could do it all over again...

'Those were the days.' I thought smiling to myself before the sound of a truck starting up caught my attention and I turned back to look at their yard.

Their white pick up truck backed out of the driveway and headed east towards town, I contacted Hannibal.

"Colonel, the two eldest sons of Papa Link just headed into town." I informed him.

"Good work Soldier, keep an eye on them while we go into town and introduce ourselves to part of the Link clan." he told me, I grinned.

"You got it." I said and turned back to the Link house; so far there wasn't any sign of a and I found that troubling; surely the four men didn't live out here alone, did they?

Roughly an hour later the truck returned tearing into the yard, the brothers jumping out both wearing angry expressions on their faces and if their ruffled clothes were any indication they'd gotten into a fight with the guys and lost big time.

Papa Link appeared on the porch soon after also looking angry and a lady joined him pointing to the rocks where I was; the sons headed my way and I started climbing up the slope no bothering to look back behind me as bullets sprayed a path just behind my feet.

"Hannibal! I need help on the double!" I hollered into the talkie quickly and continued up through the rocks as fast as I could.