I had made a mistake and I knew it. Sure, Face was a jerk, but I could have put up with him. And now, I was now paying for it. Well, not right now, but I soon would be. My father had.

Let's get off topic, slightly, as I tell my story. As I said earlier, my mother died bringing me into this world, so I was raised by my father, who said he'd rather die than let someone else raise me. And he did raise me for sixteen years... until the day Chase Jones found out about the Dragon's Eye.

Jones was a former New York mob boss, exiled to LA after his ways were proven a bit too drastic. From what I've heard, the Mafioso doesn't like to get family- wives and children- involved in anyway, shape or form. But for Jones, that was considered the best way to do things and he did it often. Too often. Because of that, he was given an ultimatum: go to California or go six feet under. As you can see, he chose California.

He'd only been in California a few months, when he came across an article in a newspaper. It was about my father- he had decided to loan the Dragon's Eye Diamond to a museum for an exhibit. But good old Chase decided that the diamond would be better off in his hands, rather than my father's. As I rode in the van towards who knows where, my hands tied behind my back, I remembered last night- the night I met Chase...

I had noticed that Dad seemed to be a bit off- kinda worried about something. Little did I know, but some of Chase's men had been visiting Dad at his office. But my brilliant idea was to treat him to a movie, which I did, and when we came home that night, we weren't expecting nor looking for any trouble. We went into the house, laughing about the movie we had just seen. I walked into the living room and instantly froze- Chase was in the living room, a group of his men sitting on the couch and chairs. Dad rushed to my side and placed his hands on my shoulders.

"Kay, honey," he said softly. "Go upstairs, now." I did as I was told, but quietly crept back down a few steps. I sat there listening, waiting. Wondering what was going to happen. They argued about the diamond, that it would be safer in Jones's hands rather than the museum's... then he brought me into it.

"I know you love your daughter, Jeffrey," he said. "And I'm sure you want her to live to see seventeen."

"Leave Kayla out of this." I knew right then and there what I had to do. I quickly rushed back up the stairs and into my room. After grabbing some supplies and throwing them into my backpack, I went to Dad's room. I had just found the Dragon's Eye Diamond in the bottom of Dad's underwear drawer (Good strategy- normally I wouldn't want to look their either) when I heard a gut wrenching sound come from downstairs- gun fire, followed by a loud thud.

I didn't even have to go downstairs to know what had happened- Chase had killed my father. And someone was coming up the stairs after me. I locked the door and climbed out the window onto the roof above the front porch. I then jumped to the ground and got into my dad's car, a silver Ford Mustang rag top. He left the keys in it again. I kept telling him not to do that. Anyway, I fired her up and got the hell out of there.

"Well, Kayla, what's it going to be?" I was shaken from my memories by Chase's voice and looked up at him. "Are you going to give me the Dragon's Eye, or am I going to have to kill you?" I smiled. Murdock had once told me to never cross the fine line between crazy and stupid- I didn't listen.

"It's a funny thing, Chase," I replied. "You see, I was playing marbles with the President and I didn't think it'd be proper if I took him to the cleaners. Sorry." I knew I'd pissed him off and was looking for his hand to come flying towards my face. When it finally did, I dodged. And I dodged again and again. I kept dodging until he finally quit.

"You'll get yours, Kayla," he told me. "And I will have the Dragon's Eye Diamond. All I have to do is find this "Murdock" you were seeing at that hospital and use him break you down." This would be the part where I should have been scared- notice I said should. I knew that Murdock was part of the A-Team and I knew Jones didn't. Which meant he had himself in more trouble than I was worth.

"She'll be all right, Captain," Hannibal said matter of factly. "As long as she can get them the diamond, they'll keep her alive." Murdock gave him a short, angered sigh before looking up at Hannibal and shaking his head.

"Sure," came the reply. "They won't kill Kay." He said nothing more, but each knew what he was thinking- torture. Hannibal nodded.

"Let's head over to the kid's place," Face suggested. "Maybe we can find something..."

"Her name is Kay," Murdock told him. Face sighed- there was no way he could get out of the dog house with Murdock. The two had been relatively close friends for a long time... even if Murdock was crazy. If he'd known that saying the wrong thing to a teenage girl would destroy that, he'd have kept his mouth shut.

"I'm sorry, Murdock," Face said as he placed a hand on Murdock's shoulder. "We're gonna find Kay- I promise." Murdock was now looking down at the ground, then shook his head. A moment later, he muttered something.

"Speak up fool!" said B.A. "What are you blabbin' about?" Murdock looked up at Face and smiled.

"She doesn't like you, Face." Face was about to ask what his first clue was, when Murdock continued. "No, I mean she really doesn't like you. Jeff told me in one of his letters that if Kay doesn't like you, she'll just look at you and glare. But, if she really doesn't like you, she'll say something. Faceman, you've gotta learn to make friends." B.A. let out a groan.

"Fool, this ain't no time to go back to crazy!" Murdock looked at him, a blank stare on his face.

"Did I leave?"

"Any word on that guy she was visiting?" Chase asked his henchmen, all of which shook their heads.

"No one remembers seeing her there," one said. "And the girl won't say a word either."

At this time, I was sitting in a corner, hands tied behind me, singing an old Jimmy Buffet song.

"Livin' on sponge cake, watchin' the sun bake all of them tourists covered in oil. Strummin' my six string, on my front porch swing. Smell those shrimp- Hey, they're beginnin' to boil. Wastin' away again in Magaritaville. Searchin' for my lost shaker of salt. Some people claim that there's a woman to blame, but I know it's nobody's fault."

As I attempted to annoy my captors to death, I was also messing with the ropes around my wrists. Unfortunately, I was totally out of it when they tied me up, so I couldn't use a trick I had learned from one of Murdock's letters. He always sent me letters telling of what adventures he'd had with the A-Team- best bedtime stories I've ever had.

Anyway, he had hooked up with a magician's assistant by the name of Jodi and the two of them were tied up in a helicopter by some guys who were trying to knock off a casino. Jodi had flexed her wrists while they were tying her up, making it easy for her to slip off the ropes. I didn't have the luxury of being conscious when they tied me up, so I had to resort to plan B- get my knife out of my right back pocket.

A small silver Swiss army kinda dealybop, it had been a tenth birthday gift from Murdock. It wasn't as heavy duty as some pocket knives- it only had a nail file, flat-head screwdriver, tweezers and some little thing that I didn't really recognize- I think it has to do with your fingernails, but don't quote me. It also had a pair of scissors, but they were too small for what I needed them for... but the little serrated knife blade always worked for me. And my idiot captors hadn't taken the knife out of my pocket.

"Yes," I whispered as I pulled out the knife and started work on my ropes. Seconds later, I was free. I stood up and grabbed my bag, which the bad guys had conveniently left at my side. Now to work on getting out of here... and finding Murdock.