Title: Deception 3/?
Author: Murdock's Crazylady
Rated: G for now
Summary: Murdock is kidnaped by bounty hunters and the team move in to rescue him, Alex runs off to try and find them on her own
Disclaimer: I don't own the team. Not that I wouldn't mind having Dwight for a big brother though
Copyright: 2000 Murdock's CrazyLady (MCL)
Author's notes : Expect a lot more from this, especially a twist, this is my first FanFic, so please don't be too hard on me!
Deception
Part 3
"I'm a lumber jack an I'm okay..." Murdock sang as he poured feed into Lil'T's feeder. Lil'T nuzzled him and he smiled. "Hungry boy?" Murdock asked as he gave the horse a friendly pat on the neck. Lil'T started eating and Murdock left his stall and slid the door closed. "I'm a lumber jack an I'm okay, got no legs but what the hay.." Murdock sang again as he opened the next stalls's door. "Mornin' Waco." Murdock said as he gave the white gelding a hug. Waco nuzzled him back. "Breakfast time boy, ya hungry too?" Murdock asked holding up the bucket he had the feed in. Waco shook his head yes. Murdock filled his feeder. Murdock had trained Waco himself, after it threw him and nearly broke his arm in the process. He refused anyone else to help him, and this is the end results, Waco is Murdock's baby. Nobody can rise him except for him or Alex. Waco's picky, but he loves Murdock. Murdock made sure his trusty companion had enough fresh water and left Waco's stall.
"I'm a lumber jack an I'm okay, wash my clothes just once a year, smells real bad, but I don't care.." Murdock continued his made up song again as he took the feed bucket back to the tack room. He went in and sat the bucket on top of a bale of straw. Then he flicked the light switch and the light inside the tack room went out, Then he went back to singing as he left the tack room and closed the door. "I'm a lumber jack an that's a fact.." His belly growled, reminding him it was breakfast time for him too, and he began to walk back towards the house. Then he felt a hard blow to the back of his neck and then he fell to the hard concrete floor on his side. A man laughed and ordered 3 others younger than him to drag the unconsious Murdock outside. "An tie him up good." The old man said. He was older than Hannibal, by at least 5 years. He was way over weight and he looked like exactally what he was...a country hick slob. The boys, ranging in age from 40 to 25, were all a splitting image of there slobbinly father. The boys grabbed Murdock out to a beat up, rusty orange Ford and put him in the bed. One of them tied his wrists while one of the others tied his ankles tightly.
Before the boys had taken Murdock, the old man had taken his knife from his back pocket. Before he left, the old man took the knife and after writing a note on a piece of paper, he the paper up to the wooden door of the tack room and plunged the knife in it's middle. Then he laughed again and left. He went outside and got into the waiting truck and then the truck tore off. Back inside the stables, Murdock''s dark blue baseball hat lay on the hard concrete floor where it'd fell, just waiting for someone to find it and the note.
"Hey Murdock, you coming? Breakfast is.." Face came in and started to ask. Then out of the corner of his eye, he saw something on the floor and went over to see what it was. He bent down and picked up the hat Murdock never went anywhere without. Face looked it over, and found blood on the inside edge, and knew his best-friend was in trouble. He stood up and turned the corner to make sure Murdock wasn't there and spotted the note. He got wide eyed and gave it a quick glance before he tore it down, leaving the knife where it was. He ran back to the house and burst into the door.
"Hannibal!" Face yelled. Hannibal was having a coffee at the dining room table. Face''s sudden yell and slam of the door made Hannibal turn his head calmly, not even spilling a drop of the hot coffee. Face came in. "What is it lieutenant?"Hannibal asked sipping his coffee calmly as Face panted in distress. He walked over and put the note under Hannibal's nose. Hannibal took it. "Murdock's in trouble." Face said holding up Murdock's hat. Alex, sitting at the table eating her oatmeal, heard the news and ran, from the kitchen, through the house, and to the stables, in her pajamas. She nearly fell as she bolted into the stable's main door. Her head suddenly hurt, she didn't like this. Murdock was missing and it was causing her to have a panic attack, something she never had before. "Murdock?! Murdock? Please be here, please don't be gone!" Alex yelled as she checked all of the stalls. Her voice echoed off of the walls and bounced back at her. They returned without answer.
"By the time you read this, your friend Murdock will have been kidnaped and probably beaten into submission. If you want to see him again outside of a pine box, don't call the cops. Wait for my call." Hannibal read, and Face, the born worrier, worried about Alex as well as Murdock. He knew how close Alex was to him. He worried for Murdock because he didn't want to think of all the things the kidnappers might do to him. Murdock was his best-friend, and Face never forgot to worry about him. "He might as well be one of my kids!" Face said to himself, because indeed, he did worry about Murdock, a lot. He worried about him as much as he would if one of his kids was hurt. He worried about Murdock more than anyone else on their team. Mostly because he seemed to always be the one anyone would hurt to get back at them. The guys in Nam had proven that, Face shook away memories of the war and listened to Hannibal. He knew he''d be on the jazz shortly. A planner is like an elephant. He never forgets.
"Why would anybody want CrazyMan?" B.A. asked. Hannibal put the note down on the table and looked up to B.A. "Because B.A.,that way, they can get to us. Remember, we've got a pretty penny on our heads." Face said and B.A. growled. There was 2 things B.A. Baracus hated. One was being called liar. The other? Feeling helpless like he did right now. He looked at Hannibal. Hannibal had a big smile, his crystal blue eyes were shimmering cheerfully, and his cigar topped it off. B.A. took one look at the look on Hannibal's face and shook his head. "Man, Hannibal's on the serious jazz!" B.A. said and Face smiled and shook his head too.
Alex, meanwhile, in anger, had begun sparring with herself, trying to vent her frustration. She had punched and kicked in the air as hard as she could, imagining the people who'd kidnaped her big brother as being her victims. She'd been at it for so long she was all sweaty and her jammies were sticking to her. Alex was ready to faint, but she didn't stop. Then, in mid punch, she collapsed and lay on the cold ground and cried herself out. "No...No...not...Murdock...somebody''s...gonna...pay...they...hurt...him..." Alex said as she finally fainted. B.A. found her on the floor five minutes later. He knew Alex would be upset, but he didn't know it was going to be this bad. He shook his head as he knelt down and carefully picked Alex's limp and sweaty little body up. Even at 6 she was always small. She never looked her age, at 4, people thought she was 2. She was healthy, the doctor said, she was just going to be short. Face worried about this to and saw to it Alex ate good at every meal. B.A. felt how sweaty she was as he carried her back to the house, and he knew she'd fought herself out. B.A. carried her inside and put her on the couch. Face came in and nearly fainted at the sight of Alex. He looked very concerned as he bent down and gave Alex a kiss on the forehead. Alex was out.
"She'll be okay Face. She just needs sleep. She knocked herself out." B.A. said when he saw how worried Face was. Face nodded and let B.A. cover Alex up. Hannibal came in and looked at B.A., and then to Alex, who looked like all the sweating had made her shrink back into a 2 year old. Hannibal was worried about her. "B.A., keep an eye on Alex." Hannibal said and B.A. nodded. He was going to keep an eye on her anyhow. Hannibal turned from Alex to Face. "Face, we better wait in the van. The only number Murdock knows is the mobile phone's." Hannibal said and Face followed him out to B.A.'s van.
"Why are you doing this?" Murdock had asked that very same question at least 10 times since he woke up with a splitting headache and blood going down the side of his head, it was dried inside his left ear, from him laying in the back of the truck on his side for so long. "Because you know three guys I've been after for a long time and you're gonna help me get em or you die right here." The old guy said putting a gun in Murdock's face. "Well, since you put it that way..." Murdock said as he looked down the barrel. He didn't want to find out if it was really loaded or not and held up his hands. "Good. Boys, take him inside." The old man said and his 3 boys jumped off of the truck and prodded Murdock inside with their rifles.
Face watched a half hour later as his Colonel never lost that look from before. He was on the Jazz, and Face knew it meant he was thinking up a plan. The twinkle in his eyes, the cigar, the smile. It read, "warning! On the Jazz! Keep a distance! Beware of the half pincer movements and duck calls!" And Face, for once, was glad to read it. He sat in the drivers seat and thought to himself, "God, when are they going to call?" Then as if the phone was listening to Face''s thoughts, it rang and Hannibal snapped from being on the jazz to alert. He grabbed the receiver like it was one of the kidnaper's throats and said nothing, but listened...
Inside, B.A. took Alex upstairs to her room and got her dressed. After Alex was dressed, he stood back to admire his work. Not bad. A long sleeved red hooded sweatshirt, Jeans, and her favorite combat boots. He'd gotten good at dressing a kid who was out sleeping. He'd been helping to take care of Alex since the day she was born. Satisfied with his work, B.A. smiled and picked Alex back up gently. He carried her back downstairs.
One of the boys took Murdock inside, dragging him by the back of his leather jacket. Murdock staggered along, the blow to the head had done a number on him, and he felt like he was on a major hang-over. He was dizzy, sick to his stomach, and couldn't see straight. He felt like he was looking through a kaleidoscope, he saw five or six of everything. Once they were inside, Murdock got plopped into a wooden chair and tied him up.
Murdock sat there, as they laughed and gabbed, and joked about how much fun it would be to kill his family. Murdock felt sick and did his best not to think about having to throw up. Humming silently to himself helped, and he began to feel better. Murdock wasn't surprised when the old man and his kids came back into Murdock's room ten minutes later. The old man picked up a phone reciever and shoved it in Murdock's face. Murdock was quiet, he'd stopped humming his lumber jack song at the second he heard their heavy footsteps coming towards him. Murdock looked up at the old man questioningly..
"Damn, wrong number..." The voice on the other end of the mobile phone said. The person hung up. Hannibal put the phone back into it's cradle and noticed how disappointed Face was. "He'll call Face, I know it." Hannibal said as he smiled, even though he was worried like hell too.
"Call your friends." The old man said. Murdock told him the phone number and the old man dialed it. Then he held the phone reciever to Murdock's ear and Murdock listened to the ringing, waiting for someone to answer...
Face grabbed for the phone, but Hannibal beat him to it. "Yeah" Hannibal said. "Colonel, there's somebody here, wants ta talk to ya." Murdock said as he watched the rifle that was pointed to his head. The old man got on the phone. "Smith, listen and you listen good cos I'm only gonna say this once." The old man said as he glanced down at a now gagged Murdock and smiled. Murdock stared fearfully at the rifle and NEVER looked away. Murdock looked like an 8-year-old child, scared and lost, just waiting for his daddy to rescue him from his nightmares. Hannibal could picture this in his mind, and he didn't like it. It made him mad, and he felt the way B.A. did. Helpless at the moment.
"What do you want Murdock for?" Hannibal bit his tongue and asked, keeping all of the things he wanted to call this scum out of the conversation. "It's not Murdock we want. He's just insurance. You bring Peck and Baracus and come quick, or your buddy Murdock here won't be breathing when you see him again!" The old man said laughing. He then told Hannibal some directions and the phone went dead. Hannibal smiled and put the phone down. He loved it. Another mission. Just what he needed.
Inside, B.A. put Alex on the couch again and kept a close eye on her with his loaded gun nearby. Alex moaned ''Murdock'' in her sleep and B.A. felt angry because he was helpless, he couldn't take away Alex's bad dreams. He growled. Even he knew why Murdock was kidnaped: the bounty hunters wanted them. B.A. finally decided to go out and wait for the call too, and he picked Alex back up. He carried her out to his van, in one arm. Alex was so light he could lift her with one hand. She looked like a baby in his arms. She always did. Alex said ''Murdock'' again as Hannibal nodded towards her. Alex slept restlessly on B.A.'s shoulder.
"What's the plan Hannibal?" B.A. asked as he kept a watchful eye over Alex. He knew Hannibal had a plan. Hannibal always had a plan. "Face." Hannibal said reaching over to the Leuteniant. Face smiled and pulled a fresh cigar from the inside of his black leather jacket. He handed it to Hannibal and Hannibal smiled as he bit the end off of the cigar and spit it out of the window. B.A. wrinkled his nose. He would never get used to cigars at all. That's when B.A. knew Hanibal was on the jazz for sure and that he had a plan. "We gotta find Crazyman Hannibal. Alex's been havin nightmares, an she keeps sayin crazyman's name over and over." B.A. said as Alex cried in her sleep. Hannibal saw and heard her, and he got angry at the men who'd taken Murdock once again. "Let's go B.A." Hannibal said. B.A. carried Alex with him to the side of the van and handed her through the back door to Face.
Face took Alex and noted to himself how well B.A. had dressed her as he kissed her sweaty forehead. B.A. climbed in and tore off, going by the directions the old guy had given Hannibal. An hour later he stopped the van and Hannibal got out. It was the small diner in the directions. Hannibal heard the ringing pay phone as soon as he stepped inside the door. Hannibal ran over and grabbed the phone, half ripping the reciever off of the metal cord. "Yeah." He said breathlessly, and the voice on the other end sounded fuzzy, but Hannibal heard laughter.
"So I see you made it, you're lucky cos one more ring without an answer and I was gonna use my favorite rifle on your boy Murdock here." The old man said looking down at Murdock, laughing. Murdock was quiet, although he wanted to punch the old man laughing in his face out in the worst way. The rifle was still pointed to his head. "What do you want?" Hannibal asked shutting his laughter up for a second. "here's what you're gonna do now, Smith..." The old man forked out another mouthful of directions and a 2 hour time limit, and the phone again went dead. Hannnibal hung up and looked at his watch. Sure he knew what time it was now, Memorizing the conversation, Hannibal ran back out to B.A.'s van and told him the new directions. B.A. tore off in his van again, and Hannibal's plan went into gear full swing.
Unbeknowst to Hannibal, for sure, one of the boys had been in the diner all along. Hannibal thought so, but he wasn't absolutely positive. So, he'd had B.A. tap the phone and record the conversations after he was gone. Sure enough, his thoughts were true. "He just left, he's on his way." B.A. listened in as the boy told his father. "Come on back." The old man replied and they hung up. B.A. listened from the telephone pole down the street, and growled. He also got the phone number that had been called. "Didja get anything B.A.?" Hanibal's voice came from B.A.'s walkie talkie and he picked it out of his pocket. "Yeah, a guy called the same nimber you did right after you left. I got the number, 555-2944." B.A. radioed back and replied. Hannibal smiled over at Face. "Come back B.A." Hannibal replied and B.A. nodded to the walkie-talkie and climbed down from the pole.
B.A. got back to the van and Face moved from the driver's seat to the back as B.A. climbed in and sat behind the wheel. Hannibal looked at Face. Face knew he wanted him to scam something and moaned. "Don't tell me the ol'Faceman is gettin slow in his old age." Hannibal said smiling,hearing Face's groan. Face glanced over at Alex. She twitched and cried for Murdock. He knew he had to do this, if not for anyone else, for Alex. Face sat straight up and got his oh-yeah-I'll-prove-you-wrong look as he sat forward in his seat and looked back at Hannibal. "Really Hannibal. Rusty? Me? Huh! We'll see." Face replied as he watched Alex again. She was rolling around like she had a bad case of cramps or something, crying for Murdock. Face patted her leg and she seemed to feel it, and calmed down a little. Hannibal watched out the windshield and smiled as he thought about how easy it was to torment Face.
B.A. drove to the local phone company and Face looking the part of a construction worker in a hard hat and carpenter belt, he went to work. He went inside and began hammering nails into the floor around a secretary's desk. She was at the switch board, and didn't have a clue what the cute guy crawling around on the floor was doing there. She looked bewildered and confused as she watched him moving quickly around the room, moving the carpet to plunge a nail into the floor where it would have covered it. She stood up and began asking questions, when the second part of Face's scam came into place. He noticed she wasn't wearing a hard hat.
"It's against regulations for you to be here while I'm working without a hard hat." He said to the confused girl. She tried to argue him but he stopped her in mid sentence. "Oh, ah Baracus, would you come in here a minute?" He called into the hallway. B.A. came in wearing a blue hard hat and sat the tool box he was holding down on her desk. He looked at the girl. "Hey, she ain't got no hat." B.A. said to Face. Face smiled. "Take her out to the truck and fit her with one." Face answered and B.A. took her by the arm gently and she followed him. Face smiled and sat down at the computer. He tapped into the main files and with a few taps of the keys, had the address he needed. He smiled again thinking of what Hannibal had said as he wrote the address down on a small notepad he had retreved from his pocket. He got away from the computer just in time for B.A. to come back with the irl, confused, but ib a white hard hat now. "Nice. Uh, can I see you in the truck a minute?" Face said and B.A. followed him as they returned to the van. They left, leaving a very confused woman behind. After this, she was questioning her sanity.
"125 south mason road. 4 minutes and 27 seconds. Not bad huh? Slowin down in my old age." Face said grinning as he climbed into the van. B.A. climbed in too. Hannibal laughed. Tormenting Face was so easy, and it was a fun way to get him to do what he wanted. Face handed Hannibal the notebook paper with the address. He looked it over and turned to B.A. "Go B.A., we've only got 20 minutes." B.A. started the van, and tore out of the parking lot, and went on the way to the address.
Feeling the van tear off woke Alex from her nightmare and she sat up quickly, hoping to see Murdock holding her. She rubbed her eyes and jerked her hand back. Her eyes hurt like she had a bad sinus infection. She knew it was from all of the crying she'd done. Alex sniffed and looked around, gathering herself to remember where she was. The guys were so wrapped up in getting to the address on time that no one saw Alex wake up.
"Daddy?" Alex said softly. Face turned quickly and looked at her. "Are we goin to get Murdock now?" Alex asked and Face tried to smile good enough for her, so she wouldn't see the worry in him that Murdock may not be alive. "Yeah Alex, but you gotta stay in B.A.'s van cos there might be gun fire and I don't want you in the middle of it." Face said and Alex was beginning to get upset. "Just gimme a gun daddy. The Colonel taught me how ta shoot. I wanna help get my big brother back!" Alex said growling a little like B.A. always did.
"No Alex, no guns. And that's an order." Face said, wondering why saying it like the Colonel did made Alex obey him. Say it any other way and you can forget it. Alex scowled and then her scowl turned to tears. "They're gonna kill him! They're gonna kill my big brother!" Alex yelled crying. She wished she had Murdock's jacket to wrap her self in, or better yet, she wiched she had his lap to curl up in. Face pulled Alex into his lap and held her and tried to calm her. Alex continued to cry. B.A. looked at Hannibal as he turned a corner. "Don't cry little sister, we won't let em kill Crazyman." B.A. said to Alex. Alex heard him and stopped crying loudly. She sniffed as Face patted her back. B.A. had NEVER broken a promise to her. She smiled, dispite the fact that her tears still fell.
B.A. knew calling Murdock Crazyman would make Alex feel better. It always did. B.A. called him that because, well, he IS crazy. But it's a good and kind, and nice kind of crazy. Unless you hurt one of his team members or his family. Then, the smell of ammonia takes a hold of him and nothing can stop him...Alex was quiet the rest of the short drive, besides sniffling.
"BANG!" One of the boys pointed a rifle between Murdock's eyes and pulled the trigger. Nobody could hear the scared scream inside Murdock's head as he closed his eyes and prayed it would all be over quick. But seconds later, he opened his eyes again and realized he felt okay. Blanks. He'd fired a blank at him! The boy stood just steps away from Murdock laughing so hard he almost wet himself, holding the rifle. Murdock watched him and got angry. He waited for the familiar smell of ammonia to set in, but when it didn't come, he suddenly went back to being afraid. Then, his grew wide as the boy raised the rifle again and pointed it back to the same spot between Murdock's scared eyes. But then he put it down again and walked off laughing. Murdock sighed in reilef and tried to breathe normally again. It was hard because the tape over his mouth was half suffocating him.
"I wanna be the one who kills him paw." The kid went into the other room and said to the old guy. "Shut-up an let's go. I wanna meet em!" The old guy said and they left, leaving Murdock tried to a chair. They went to ambush the team, left Murdock alone. They were sure their prisoner wouldn't go anywhere. Boy, did they underestimate little ol' Murdock.
After hearing the truck doors slam, Murdock stood up holding the chair on his behind. He wobbled over to the wall and slammed the chair into it with all of the strength he had to spare. It broke apart, abling him to get the rope loose enough to free his arms and legs.
He pulled the gag off and rubbed his rope burned wrists. He listened at the door for the truck to pull off, and then he went over to the big bay window. When he was almost sure they were gone far enough, Murdock took a deep breath and jumped through the window! A flip much like Alex's newest move, a landing on his feet and he ran. The men heard the glass breaking, and slammed on the breaks, bringing the Ford to a sliding halt. Then they hit reverse and drove back. Murdock his in some thick bushes until they got back from the truck, fearing they would see him before he was ready to run. He stood up and ran, seconds later, and bullets flew at him, a few just missing him as he ran for his life. The bounty hunters watched as Murdock, as fast and elegant as a deer, ran off through the woods away from them. They got back into the truck and raced after him. As Murdock ran, he hoped to find a phone....
Seconds later, B.A. pulled up in the van. Hannibal, Face and B.A. jumped out of the van with their guns loaded and ready. They got to the door, and with a growl, B.A. knocked it down, with ease. Inside, Hannibal picked up a piece of the chair. "It looks like Murdock escaped." He said tossing the chair piece back down. B.A. looked around still holding his gun. "We gotta find him Hannibal." B.A. said but before Hannibal could answer him, Face yelled.
"Colonel." Face yelled and Hannibal and B.A. came from the lining room to the other room and immeadiately saw the window. "Yeah. Murdock escaped alright." Hannibal said looking at the glass on the ground. "Uh-oh colonel, we've got company." Face said hearing sirens. "Decker." Face said and they heard the sirens coming closer. Decker is a cop who's always on the team's tail, just looking for a reason to put them away. "Somebody musta seen us driving on the road." Hannibal said and they split.
When Alex heard Murdock was gone, she split from the van, not
caring if she lived or died. This was her mission now. All she wanted to do was find Murdock, even if she was scared at the thought of how angry her uncle B.A. and daddy would be. She ran from the van long before they had even found the broken window.
The end of Part 3
Part 4 coming soon!