Part 4

As per Hannibal's request, Murdock had dropped Amy off outside her office and then ditched her car somewhere out of site. He'd decided to watch the office from a bench across the street, in a coffee shop, and various other places he could lurk without being spotted. He actually quite enjoyed this game; he was able to be PI Murdock, Private Investigator. He scribbled in his invisible notebook certain times of the day and what he had spotted:

09.30am - A woman in red coat and short skirt, (nice legs), walking a small poodle dog. Billy liked her.

10.05am - Man with briefcase walks past.

But more importantly he was watching the comings and goings of the LA Courier-Express' office. If Amy left that building he would follow. However she didn't, but he did notice a florist delivery van pull up and a guy delivered a bunch of red roses. Murdock wondered if they could be from Mr Ex-boyfriend, Greg, himself, to soften up Amy some more.

Murdock thought he'd call into the team to just give them an update, he phoned from a phone box on the corner, so he could keep the office in site and rang the van's number.

"Hello! Mr Lee's Chinese Laundry Service." Hannibal said in his Mr Lee's accent.

"Hannibal, it's PI Murdock"

"Hi ya Murdock," Hannibal reverted back to his normal voice and grinned. "Private Investigator, huh? I like it Murdock!"

BA, who was sitting next to Hannibal in the van, could be heard in the background grumbling "Fool" whilst shaking his head.

"Anything to report, Captain?"

"No, not really, just a delivery of red roses into the office at 11 hundred hours, Colonel. That's the only possible unusual thing so far."

"Wonder if they're from a certain person, trying to win back his sweetheart?"

"Yeah, well, if that's the case, it ain't gonna work, Colonel. Everyone knows it's a myth that women love red roses."

"Er, no, Murdock. Women do love red roses!" Hannibal corrected him.

"Oh!" Murdock replied rather surprised. "Well, whoever they're for, they got two dozen!"

"OK, well, just keep an eye on her. If she leaves that building follow her. This guy could mean trouble and I don't want her out of our site if he is."

"OK. Any luck in her apartment, Colonel?"

"Yeah, we found a key. Face thinks it could be to some kind of safety deposit box or something. He's working on that right now."

"OK muchacho! Private Investigator Murdock has work to do. I'm over and out!" And Murdock put the phone down and took up a new position for watching the LA Courier-Express building.

At about 12.30pm, Murdock noticed a familiar face standing outside the LA Courier office entrance. It was Amy's ex, Greg. A very tall figure, short dark hair and quite handsome qualities that would give Face a run for his money, Murdock thought to himself. He was wearing a grey suit, looking extremely smart as to impress. The attire helped enhance his handsome features. He was holding a single red rose. Murdock could only assume it was one missing from the bunch that was delivered earlier.

Shortly after his arrival, Amy emerged from the entrance doors and gave him a kiss on the cheek to greet him. He handed her the single rose in which she laughed at slightly. They stood there and chatted briefly and then walked off down the street. It was time for Murdock to move. He followed them, from the other side of the street, to a little quaint restaurant, tucked off the main noisy streets of the city.

"Sly old fox," Murdock muttered to himself shaking his head. He just hoped Amy wouldn't fall for this sucker.

Murdock made some notes in his invisible notepad and took photos with his invisible camera from afar, zooming in on the subjects. He could see them laughing together. Amy seemed at ease with the man, although a couple of times it looked liked he'd tried something that she wasn't too keen on and showed her disapproval. Either a hand on her leg, or he'd tried to kiss her hand. They were in the restaurant for over an hour and then they walked back to her office. Again, Greg, tried to kiss her, but as far as Murdock could work out, she had turned her head so that it had to be a peck on the cheek. Then she returned into the LA Courier offices, twiddling the single red rose she had in her hands.

Murdock immediately reported back to Hannibal what he'd seen.

"OK Murdock, stick with it, just in case. Face will be along at five o'clock, so as soon as he arrives, return back to us. We're around the block from Amy's apartment, out of sight."

"OK, Colonel." Murdock put the phone down in the phone booth and returned to a safe position to watch the building he'd been studying all day.


XXXXXXX

Five o'clock, on the dot, a white Corvette with a distinctive red stripe down its side, parked up outside the LA Courier-Express building entrance. This was Murdock's cue to leave his position. Face got out of the car and leaned on the side of the car carefully and waited patiently for Amy. He'd been updated through Hannibal, Murdock's findings of the day, so he was interested to see if Amy would confess her lunchtime engagement.

Amy emerged once again through the entrance; confident as ever with every stride she took and walked over to Face. Face greeted her with a kiss on the cheek, which puzzled Amy, her expression showed it and then he opened the passenger door of the Corvette for her to get in.

"What was that about?" Amy asked before she got in the car.

"Oh just in case we're being watched by anyone, want to keep the whole in a relationship story realistic". Face winked at her.

"Oh, you guys are just paranoid!" Amy protested but laughed at the whole idea of it all.

As she got into the car, Face closed the door behind her and ran round to jump into the drivers seat. He turned the key in the ignition, looked over at Amy, flashed her his smile and then drove off.

"So, anything interesting happen at work today?" Face fished.

"No, not really. Got a great lead on a story," Amy replied.

"Really, kid, nothing? Great story eh?"

"You know don't you?" Amy asked, turning to face him as much as she could in a small convertible car.

"Know what?" Face lied.

"I saw Greg at lunchtime?"

"No! Did you?" Face pretended. "What did the creep want?"

"Yeah I did! And he's not a creep!" Amy jumped to her ex's defence. "It was nice actually, bit weird, but really nice."

"Weird?"

"Well I suppose I didn't think I'd be able to sit with him and have a civil conversation since all that had happened. But it was a long time ago."

"Amy, just be careful, I, We," Face corrected himself, "don't trust him".

"Oh Face, come on!" Amy replied angrily, "I was with the guy for over four years! I'm the one who should be judging as to whether I can trust him!"

"OK, OK," Face thought he'd change the subject, slightly. "But I've got something I need to tell you". Face looked nervous. Amy could tell it too.

"What?"

"You're not going to like what I've got to say".

"What Face, what is it?"

"It's your apartment!"

"You guys have wrecked it" Amy raised her voice angrily. "I'm gonna kill the four of you, I swear to god!"

"No! It wasn't us! Its been ransacked though. We had the whole thing bugged. We heard it!"

"What? She said a little surprised, but then anger returned. "What do you mean you heard it?"

"Hannibal had BA put a bug in. They didn't find the bug, but we do know they were looking for something."

"AND you guys listened in, and did nothing?" She was even more frustrated now that the guys had just sat there and listened into her apartment being trashed.

"We can't find out what they're looking for if they know we're onto them."

"Great!"

"And," Face said nervously for the reaction he may receive, "we think Greg was there. We think he let them in."

"Oh Face, you're being ridiculous now!" she replied angrily. "He was with me for most of the afternoon and besides, he doesn't even have a key anymore! You've got his set!"

But Face knew Greg had been there, Hannibal had gone up to the apartment in his usual array of disguise, this time as a maintenance man and had hung around the corridor, to see if he could catch a glimpse of the guys. Four smartly dressed men in suits had walked past him and he was sure one of them had been Greg.

"OK, OK," Face tried to reason with her. "But Hannibal wants us to go in first and then Hannibal, BA and Murdock will follow. Hannibal wants the place checked for bugs. He's sure he heard them tapping your phone."

"What? Why?" Amy was confused by this whole affair. "If you ask me, you guys have been on one job too many lately and need a holiday!"

Face laughed at her last comment, he couldn't agree more.

"I don't know kid. Maybe they didn't find what they were looking for and think by tapping your phone, you'll give them a clue or something." But he knew they hadn't found what they were looking for because they had it and Hannibal thought for Amy's safety she was better off not knowing this bit of information and so as Hannibal had requested, Face didn't tell Amy about the key.

Face pulled the corvette outside Amy's apartment building's entrance. Face gave a call to Hannibal to say they had arrived and then they both got out of the car.

"So, what did you do with the roses kid?"

"Huh? How'd you know about?"

Face smiled and opened the door for her.

"You guys have been bloody tailing me all day!" Amy said angrily. "I gave the bloody things to the receptionist if you must know!"

Face grinned with satisfaction; maybe Amy wasn't going soft on Greg just yet.

When they reached Amy's apartment, the door was locked shut. Face used the set of key's she'd given him earlier that day to open the door, as Amy seemed afraid to go in. As she reluctantly opened the door to her apartment, Amy gasped with shock and burst into tears. They walked in but they couldn't go far, for the mess that surrounded them. Face took Amy into his arms to comfort her.

The apartment had been literally turned upside down. Every cupboard, drawer, shelf had been emptied or cleared onto the floor. Even her bedroom hadn't gone untouched. As far as Face could make out, it was made to look as if she'd been burgled.

"Hey, kid, we'll get this mess sorted in no time. Just check the slimballs haven't taken anything." But he knew they hadn't and the fact that the door hadn't been forced suggested they'd had a key. But Face thought best not to mention that to Amy, she was distressed enough, he just made a mental note to himself that they had to change that lock. Face was guessing now, if Greg had been involved, he could have always had a spare key cut, handed back his original set and Amy would have been none the wiser. The more he thought about it, the more he was getting to dislike the guy.

Hannibal, BA and Murdock arrived shortly after. Hannibal put his fingers to his lips as if to say don't say a word to them and then BA scouted the apartment to check for bugs. Hannibal had been right, they had tapped the phone and there was a bug in the apartment, as well as their own in the lounge area. Hannibal nodded to Face and Face burst into a story to enable them to all talk.

"Hey, Johnny! Hi. Yeah bit of a mess isn't it? I was just passing by to help Amy with a story we're doing together!" Face said, "See, here's Murdock and BA they're coming over too to discuss photos etc. etc. It's a big story!"

Murdock took Amy out of Face's arms and gave her a hug too. She was still so upset to look at her apartment. They were all a little shocked by the state of the apartment.

"It's OK Amy, we're help you clear this up. It doesn't look like anything's been broke." Murdock said, and then whispered "and we're get the mud suckers that did this!"

As the guys worked, they were careful not to say anything that could give their game away, between them they gradually cleared things away. The guys put things away the best they could, but Amy thought to herself she'd have to go through everything gradually and put it away where it should really go another day, but at least if it got cleared tonight that would be a good thing, she couldn't bear to look at the mess anymore. The thought of some stranger going through her property gave her the creeps.

Amy walked into her bedroom, Murdock followed as if to assist, but when he saw the various lingerie garments among other items of clothing strewn all over her room, he decided she might want to take care of her room by herself and he was right. She walked into the room; sat on the bed and let the tears flow for a minute. She couldn't quite believe herself how upsetting it was. Crying wasn't going to make the matter go away, so she took a deep breath, wiped her face and got on with tidying the room, muttering "bastards" under her breathe.

Once her apartment was looking remotely normal again, Murdock was the first to complain that he was hungry and suggested that he'd go get them all a takeaway.

Amy grabbed her purse to insist on paying for the guys' meals, but Face gestured for her to put her money away, as he grabbed his wallet in his back pocket of his jeans and handed Murdock some cash.

It wasn't long before Murdock returned with the food, he'd been to KFC, Amy had secretly hoped he'd return with a Chinese. They all sat around Amy's dining room table eating their chicken burgers and chips. Knowing that the flat was bugged, the guys talked mainly in their code to discuss Hannibal's plan further. Amy so desperately wanted to ask and understand why her flat had been bugged, but couldn't. The code they talked made sense to them, but to Amy, she was having trouble catching on. She was always amazed to how they understood one another talking absolute rubbish.

"So, what's the film you're shooting Johnny?" Face asked.

"Oh it's the old, Cat and Mouse scenario. What they don't know is that I play one very clever cat!" Hannibal grinned.

Once they'd finished their food, Hannibal signalled for Murdock to start up the vacuum cleaner, in close proximity to the bug they'd found. He stood there vacuuming away, so that it made its whirling noise, whilst Hannibal discussed quickly with Amy the next moves.

"Kid, we're gonna leave you now, but we can hear everything in this apartment too, remember." Hannibal reassured her. "Face is gonna give you a call in half an hour, make the call an interesting listen," Hannibal winked at her, "so that BA and I can do our stuff OK? We need a good distraction so we can get close to their van."

"OK," Amy confirmed she understood her orders.

"Think Dakota Haines," Hannibal grinned.

"How do you know…?" Amy blushed.

"Murdock and Face told me" Hannibal winked at her. "Apparently she was pretty impressive!"

Amy raised an eyebrow and smiled at Hannibal.

"Face will drop back later, so you aren't on your own tonight alright?"

"Alright. But Hannibal, he doesn't have to…" she slightly protested, but really she thought, tonight she would be grateful of the company.

Hannibal nodded over to Murdock to stop the vacuuming.

"Sweetheart, I'm gonna have to go! I got a two hour drive so that I'm on set for the early hours of tomorrow morning!" Hannibal said in his Johnny character.

"OK Johnny! I'll see you soon!"

"I'll call you sweetheart." And Hannibal left the apartment.

"Yeah, Amy we better make a move. I don't think tonight's the right night to be discussing photos you want shot for that story. We'll catch up with you in the office tomorrow" Murdock winked at her.

"Yeah, night Amy!" BA also gave a little wink as if to say everything will be all right and then both BA and Murdock left the apartment, following Hannibal to the van.

"You gonna be alright Amy?" Face asked. "Just I better go, I got that interview remember?"

"Yeah, that's fine" Amy responded in character. "I'll be fine, think I'm gonna have a bath later and just go to bed."

"Look, I'll call you when I get there and I promise I'll be back by nine, ten at the latest." Face reassured her and then also left the apartment.

Amy was alone. She poured herself a glass of red wine, she felt that she deserved it and then put the radio on. She was slightly disturbed by the fact that someone she didn't know was listening to her and she didn't know why either, so felt the radio may give her some privacy. She continued clearing away and tidying some of the drawers, rearranging some of the shelves. Before she knew it half an hour had past and the phone was ringing. She assumed it had to be Face, and it was. She remember what Hannibal had said 'Something interesting to listen to; Dakota Haines!' She took a large gulp of her wine, to help her nerves and confidence.

"Hello?"

"Hi honey, its Templeton, as promised thought I'd call you."

"Oh hi, sweetheart, where are you?"

"Oh just sitting outside this guys house, I'll have to do this interview in a minute, but wanted to hear the sound of your voice first." Face was actually around the corner from Amy's apartment.

Amy gave a little seductive laugh, which kind of took Face a little back from the conversation.

"I've been waiting for your call, sugar. I'm ever so lonely here, Templeton." Amy rarely called Face, Templeton. For this scenario it seemed apt to call him by his first name, it helped her imagine him to be a different person to Face. She wouldn't be able to do this if she was talking to Face.

"Yeah, well I shouldn't be too long."

"I hope not, I'm just laying here, on my couch, in that little pink lingerie you bought me, sugar, thinking of what I would like to do to you." She said slowly and seductively.

Face gave a slight cough, shocked by Amy's words and her tone.

"And what's that honey?" He continued with the dialogue.

"Well, I keep imagining that I would start with your lips, your soft, soft, lips, sugar. I'd just wanna kiss them first."

Face groaned in the background uncomfortably.

"And then I'd move my lips to kiss at one of your ears, coz I know how that drives you crazy, sugar." Amy was trying not to laugh as she tried to talk seductively to Face. Face on the other end of the telephone sitting in his corvette, was feeling a little uneasy. "And then I'd very slowly move down, loosening your tie. Oh in fact I'd take that tie right off you and wear it myself. That's all mind. And then I'd unbutton your shirt, very slowly, caressing every inch of your body with my lips."

"Oh boy, why me?" Face could be heard moaning on the other end of the phone.

Amy hearing Face's comments continued trying not to laugh.

"By the time I'm finished with you, you'll be begging for me to make love to you, sugar". Amy held her breath for she was scared she'd giggle.

"Sweetheart, keep talking like this, and I'm gonna ditch the interview." Face responded uneasily. He undid the top button of his shirt and rubbed his neck, as he was feeling a little hot under his collar. Any other woman saying these things to him, he would have been lapping it up. He just hadn't expected Amy to be saying these sorts of things, ever, let alone to him. Although he realised she was doing it for effect, it still made him feel uncomfortable. Women were his weakness after all, especially when they talked like this to him. He was also aware that they were being listened to: not only by the cronies that did over Amy's apartment, which this little show was obviously being put on for, but also by Murdock sitting in the van.

"Oh, sugar, the sooner you come back and keep me warm the better. I'm hot for you baby but I'm getting awfully cold on this couch."

"I promise, I'll be back at nine honey. I'll speed up this interview if it kills me! I shouldn't be in there more than half an hour."

"Well it's been a really long day, so I'm going to take a hot bath in a minute, and then slip into bed. If I'm asleep when you get in, make sure you wake me! I'll let you decide on how you want to wake me." Amy pressed on in a seductive tone.

At this point, Hannibal came by the corvette to give Face the signal that he could end the call.

"Honey, I promise, I'll wake you!" Face responded relieved he could end the call. "I gotta go, don't know how I'm going to concentrate on this interview now, but it looks like the guy's ready for me."

"I'm ready for you Templeton, I'll be waiting!" Amy whispered.

They both put the phone down. Amy still tried not to giggle because she knew the apartment was bugged and so walked into the bathroom to run her hot bath, where she felt the running water might muffle her laughter. And then she had a momentary thought, 'oh gosh what it if wasn't interesting enough', but she'd gone as far as she'd dared on the phone to Face.

Face undid another button of his shirt, got out of the corvette and took his jacket off. He walked a few yards down the street, opened the side door of the van and took his usual seat. Murdock was sitting in his usual seat opposite with some headphones on. Murdock took the headphones off and beamed at Face.

"You heard everything, right?" Face looked at him concerned.

"Relax, Faceman, she was playing with ya!" Murdock smiled. "I'm a little surprised at our gal mind? But then lest we forget, she is a woman!"

Face groaned again. He could far from forget she was a woman. He was feeling totally uncomfortable about the whole conversation he'd just had, even if it had been fictitious.

Hannibal and BA got into the van and took off their black balaclavas.

"How did Amy do?"

"Fine Colonel just fine!" Murdock said as he patted Face on the back.

"The van was certainly interested in whatever she was saying." BA chuckled. "We were able to pin that device on without any trouble."

"I bet they were," Face added sharply, "At my expense!"

Hannibal grinned at Face.

"What did you say to her?" Face asked not trusting Hannibal's smile.

"I just asked her to make it interesting."

"Interesting!"

"Face relax, you're suppose to be lovers, you could hardly talk about the weather!" Hannibal said. "Anyway, what she say?"

"You don't want to know!" Face responded sharply to Hannibal's question and rubbed his neck in his gesture of unease.

Murdock was about to tell Hannibal, but Face's expression towards him, changed his mind.

"Put it this way, Colonel, if old ex-lover boy was listening in, he won't have been too happy with what he heard." Murdock beamed at Face.

"Great, that's it, laugh away guys" Face whined, "it's always me isn't it! Why am I the one always putting my neck on the line, huh?"

As per a usual occurrence in the A Team, Hannibal, BA and Murdock were chuckling at Face's expense.

"So, what do we do now?" Face asked trying to change the subject from him.

"Ahh Face, my friend, the cat is a patient creature. It waits for the mouse to poke itself out of its hole" Hannibal grinned, and took out a cigar from his top left hand pocket.