It was about midnight. Finally freed from the stockade by unusual circumstances (and a fairly good plan from Klinger), Hawkeye and Klinger roamed the streets of Tokyo with unease. From every corner, there were shadows that they imagined to be MP's. From every alleyway, there seemed to be a gun waiting to shoot at them again. In reality, there were the usual thieves, geishas and other honorable and dishonorable people walking the same streets they were, unaware that the two were Army runaways about to head back to their hotel and decide where to go from there.
Unable to speak until they reached a safe distance away from the stockade and the crowded sidewalks, the two quickly dodged left and right, zigzagging and avoiding the usual routes. However, to make things appear normal, they had to go back to their hotel and decide whether or not it was safe to stay the night. Both were thinking that it was becoming more and more dangerous to stick around as they dug deeper into this case and they were ready to make another run for it.
As they drew neared to their destination, which they finally noticed was named the Rose Petal Hotel, Klinger spoke. "Wasn't that some ride down the wall, Captain?"
"Klinger, I don't think that I've ever used tied up bloomers as a parachute before," Hawkeye commented quietly as he opened the door to the hotel at long last. "It was certainly something to remember, especially peeking up the holes."
Klinger grinned, walking in with Hawkeye, to ask if they had any mail, messages or visitors while they were out for the long day they've already had. The clerk at the desk, eying their dirtied clothing and faces with a raised eyebrow, announced that they had company to be wary of, the three people taking rooms next to theirs and what was Claus'. He mentioned to Hawkeye (without asking where Claus was), with a wink, that one of them was an exquisite lady, but a lovely prisoner in many ways.
"And the other two?" Hawkeye asked, nervous as he tugged at his uniform collar.
"Well, I don't know," the clerk, who identified himself as Daichi, replied just as anxiously. "The two men were military police with a female they've caught and suspected of murder, they said. They also said that they were looking for you and Ms. Klinger."
"Hey," Klinger warned jokingly, waving his gloved hand.
Daichi looked at Klinger and shook his head with amazement. "I'm sorry, Ms. Klinger, but you look more like an ugly, hairy woman than a man. Anyway, they said to keep you here at the hotel, to stay put."
"Any reason why?" Hawkeye then asked, gulping as he dug out a couple of American bills and laid them before the messenger with what seemed to be bad news.
Daichi ignored the subtle bribe hint and looked at Hawkeye with honest eyes. "The one with the stupid moustache wanted you two for questioning. The other one, who has his nose in the air, added that the woman knew something about you."
Hawkeye's heart sank. It might be Margaret with Major Floyd. However, I don't recall Floyd ever being as pompous as our Chuckles or ever having a moustache. And I know him to be a man to handle things on his own mostly, with two men at his side at all times.
Klinger took Hawkeye's money from the desk, hid it in his dress pocket, and sighed. "Are we in any trouble, you think?" he asked the clerk, scared.
"No, I don't," Daichi answered cheerfully (too cheerfully in Hawkeye's mind), turning around to tend to the mail for other customers. "If you go to your room, you can find out. Those fellows don't look serious, so don't take it so hard. It could be worse."
Hawkeye and Klinger, seeing that the conversation ended, then backed away from the desk together and turned around to the stairs, each instinctively wrapping their arms around the others' shoulders. Both did not speak again, feeling as if they were being watched and their every word recorded. Both also figured that, this time, they were truly trapped. They figured that their escape had been found out and Floyd had personally come to taint them with Margaret as they were captured again.
"We have to overpower them, no matter what," Hawkeye then whispered to Klinger, directing him to the stairway that led to the kitchens. "And I think they have some pans down there."
"Take down some MP's with guns while we have kitchen pans?" Klinger was shocked, not realizing that he was obeying Hawkeye's silent order to walk downstairs instead of up. "Surely, Sir, you have a better idea. Being chased after them and then being caught not once, but twice, is not lucky in my book. And trust me, Captain. I've done enough escapin' in this war. I've been chased, hog tied and even whistled at as those MP's caught me and dragged me back to hell. Once, even one of them thought it was funny to keep my skirt up once after tying me down. And trust me, hairy legs, in plain sight, in the middle of the road in Korea, was not my idea of a fun afternoon in the sun. They even torn apart that yellow umbrella I had, the one that Colonel Blake said matched my eyes."
Hawkeye had to try hard not to laugh, but managed to let out a snicker as their footsteps echoed down to the kitchen, it being empty save for a maid or two running upstairs. Despite the painful mention of the now-dead Henry Blake, he could easily imagine Klinger tied up in the back seat of a jeep, his skirts hiked up and a colorful, cheery parasol torn by the side of the road, near a minefield.
"I'm sorry, Klinger," he managed to say, finally laughing out loud. "That's just…"
As Hawkeye laughed hysterically, still held up by Klinger (even if he had lost grip of the young Lebanese's shoulder already), he worked out a plan. It was almost as crazy as Klinger's first successful one at that, but it would also help them escape again and help the 4077th. And it had to be successful, as Klinger was in his first ever true escape.
And Hawkeye Pierce knew, as he and Klinger entered the stench that was the kitchen, that he was crazy. And being just that was going to get him out of there alive.
~00~
BJ, still dressed as an MP (and playing the part well enough to keep nosy neighbors out), stuck his head out of his room at the Rose Petal Hotel and scanned the hallways left and right for the millionth time that evening. It was way after midnight, almost one in the morning, and he had seen no signs of Hawkeye and/or Klinger. And the clerk downstairs named Daichi had assured them that this was the place that the two, along with a male friend, had camped out for the night.
"Hunnicutt, you're not going to make them appear magically if you keep your head out there," Charles lightly called out to him from his bed. "We're supposed to remain at a low profile, not keep showing ourselves every minute or so."
"I know, Charles, but Hawkeye and Klinger not being here yet is…disturbing, to say the least." BJ popped himself back into the room, shutting the door behind him, and faced Charles and Kellye sitting on the bed together. "If I didn't know better, I'd say that Major Floyd caught them, held the hostage even, and they won't see the light of day ever again."
"We can't be sure of that," Kellye replied nervously. "I don't think that Major Floyd had news of them being captured just yet, if it happened. If he did, he would have gloated it."
"Nurse Kellye is right," Charles conceded, nodding his head. "However, we still need to keep our cover. Daichi surely would give Pierce and Klinger an accurate description of us, therefore enabling them to come to us, not the other way around. We've chased them enough and been to too many hotels that Pierce would have surely inhabited for a stay in Tokyo. Now, it's time for them to find us."
"It's a possibility that they've missed us," Kellye pointed out. "Or Daichi could not have told them many details and they could have run again."
"With that overly-large mouth of his? I doubt it." BJ rubbed his moustache. "I think Hawkeye would have gotten the idea by now that we're here, even if he can't believe it."
"We also don't know what news he has. Klinger, with a nose to the wind, might though." Kellye seemed sure of herself, but even doubt crowded her mind. "We don't even know what's going on at the camp. The last of the wounded we've had, last I saw, were being shipped out to the 8063rd and the beds have been emptied. The front lines are moving around too. It's like Major Floyd is clearing the place for his own personal gain. However, I don't have an idea what it is yet."
"With only Colonel Potter there and probably the whole camp by now being accused of murder and conspiracy, I feel sorry for abandoning him," BJ added. "And you're right. Major Floyd does seem to have an agenda of his own."
"Indeed." Charles was pensive, both BJ and Kellye noticed, and seemed to be in his own world of thought. "There is more to this than meets the eye, however. And it baffles me that I know not what it is."
"Yeah, well, and it has something to do with Margaret mostly," BJ theorized. "They started with her, worked their way to Hawkeye and then to Klinger and then to the rest of us."
"And nobody's seen the evidence," Kellye added.
"Because there is none," Charles said, back into awareness. "If you have a scheme to take a certain someone down and their loved ones and friends with them, how would you go about it, per say?"
"Make yourself an authority figure," Kellye said, vindictiveness in her voice. "Make yourself another McCarthy."
"It's almost like the Red Scare at home, but worse, more like our Curtis Scare." BJ sounded worried, but it soon dissipated. "Except, of course, the biggest mystery here is why our rat, Nurse Winifred Curtis, was murdered and made into a martyr. Last time I checked, obscene women didn't make it into heaven."
Charles chuckled. "I think Father Mulcahy would have a better answer for that, Hunnicutt."
"Yeah, well, he's not here and neither are Hawkeye and Klinger. I think I'm gonna go out again and check the hallway. I think a walk might help."
"Remember to act your part," Charles reminded him. "We can't afford to be found out, mind you."
Kellye nodded her consent.
"All right, all right, I'll be careful," BJ conceded. "I'll be back within fifteen minutes. It should give me enough time to hunt down Hawk and Klinger and enough time for the both of you to worry."
"We'll call Daichi is you're not back," Kellye warned as BJ got up and headed to the door.
"Yeah, yeah…" BJ quickly went out and closed the door behind him, again searching up and down the hallway for any sign of his best friend and the Lebanese companion.
There's nothing still. And it's almost one in the damned morning. Jesus, why can't Hawk choose a better time to make me worried? When I see him, I'll never let him go and keep him on a leash.
BJ took a left-handed turn and started for the stairs. Suddenly, though, before he reached them, he saw movement. It seemed like two people were hiding in the shadows of the stairwell, waiting for someone or something to come by. Before he knew it, one of them, in an olive green blur, came running towards him, waving something that resembled a kitchen frying pan.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH‼!"