Part 6

Five minutes later Amy and Greg emerged from the entrance to the apartment building. Murdock was already out of the van and Face had jumped into his corvette. Both of them had radios on them. Murdock followed Amy and Greg around the block, but stayed well back, so not to be noticed.

The pair hadn't been walking long, when a black limousine pulled up along side them. Murdock radioed Hannibal and Face.

"Colonel this doesn't look good" Murdock started to run. "Some limo's just pulled up!"

The limo door opened and a large smartly dressed man got out of the car and shoved a gun in Amy's face.

"Scream and you're dead Miss Allen. Get in!"

Amy and Greg did as they were told and got into the limo. The limo pulled away with such speed, Murdock was left panting just in the spot Amy had just stood.

"Its no good Hannibal, I didn't get there in time."

"Face, follow that limo and make sure you get seen, we'll be right behind you." Hannibal radioed over to Face who was starting the engine of the corvette.

"Oh boy," Face whined. "Why is it always me Hannibal? OK, here goes, head into lions mouth!" and his car screeched after the limo.

"Think of it as more you're the cheese for my mouse" Hannibal chuckled down the radio to Face.

"You know, that doesn't even make it sound better!"


XXXXXXX

Amy and Greg sat in the back seat of the limo; next to Amy was a guy in a dark suit. She recognised him, but couldn't put her finger on it from where. In front of her were two of his goons. Both in suits; both pointing guns in her and Greg's direction. The guy sitting next to her, spoke first.

"Miss Allen, I'm sorry I've had to call upon you like this. But I'm a very impatient person and I believe you have something of mine, a small key?"

"A key? Who are you? How can I possibly have something of yours?" Amy asked nervously. Her heart was pounding rather loudly pumping her blood around her body fast; she was scared. "Are you the slimball responsible for ransacking my apartment?"

"My name is Lance Johnson. And yes I may have been responsible for the mess at your apartment" He smiled. "And you do have something of mine?"

Amy recognised the name, so she'd obviously read about him at some point. But what was he linked to and why did she recognise his face? She wanted to ask why also the bug in her apartment, but realised that would give the team away, so she left it.

"I don't! I really don't know what you are talking about!" Amy panicked. She truly didn't know what this guy was going on about and started to feel desperate that if he didn't get the answer he was looking for, things could get pretty messy, for her and Greg. But what was the answer he wanted?

"Miss Allen, please don't play games with me. One of my boys will be more than happy to put holes into your pretty little body!"

"Amy, just tell him what you know."

"Greg, I don't know anything! You guys really don't know who you are dealing with here!" Amy was about to let the cat out of the bag about the team, but luckily bit her tongue. Hannibal always preferred the art of surprise, that's usually how he liked to work, so she changed her tune slightly. "You can't keep me here, I'm a reporter, if I don't turn up for work tomorrow, people will start asking questions."

"Sir, we've got a tail." The driver interrupted the conversation. "White corvette." Amy drew a breathe of relief, the team were on her tail.

"Who's in the corvette Miss Allen?" Johnson asked angrily noticing her sudden sense of calm.

"That's probably her boyfriend." Greg said. Amy could only assume he'd said it to get some brownie points with these guys or had Face been right after all?

"Yes, yes, it's my boyfriend." She confirmed.

"What's this boyfriend's name?"

"Templeton. Templeton Peck." Amy said nervously with a gun now pointing in her face.

"Pull over, and get him. Maybe Miss Allen will talk better with him in the car."

The limo pulled over and Face dropped back and pulled in a few cars behind. The next minute two rather large men, in Face's opinion, emerged from the limo and were pointing a gun into his face.

"Hi there! What can I do for you?" Face said smiling confidently at the two men.

"Get out of the car!"

Face was dragged from his car and while one had a gun pointing in his direction the other checked to see if he was carrying a gun and then they shoved Face into the back of the limo, to sit opposite Amy and Greg. The two goons got in either side of him and pointed their guns in his direction. They shut the doors to the limo behind them, one tapped on the window to signal the driver to move on and with that the limo started to drive off again.

"Fa.." Amy nearly said Face but corrected herself as he was shoved into the seat "Templeton!"

"There you are, sweetheart!" Face smiled confidently. "What's going on? I was just pulling up outside your apartment, when I saw you walking off with this creep," Face pointed towards Greg who was not amused by Face's comment. "So I started to follow you. Good job too, you were then hounded into this limo!"

"Well Peck" As a gun was firmly shoved into Face's cheek, "I was just explaining to Miss Allen here, that she has something of mine. A small key."

"And I said, I don't know what you are talking about," Amy replied angrily.

"Well, what if one of my men cut up pretty boy here?" One of the men unsheathed a knife from his inside pocket and pointed it at Face. "Would you remember?"

Amy started to panic. Face could clearly see his reflection in the knife and wasn't too pleased by it.

"I don't know! I don't know what you're talking about. Please leave him it out of it," desperation started in her voice.

"Wait, wait," Face shouted, "she doesn't know." Face confessed nervously to Johnson, gesturing the knife be removed from his face. Johnson agreed and his man took the knife away from his face, placing it back safely where it came from. Face tried to reach into his back pocket, but an untrusting gun was firmly stuck into his side. "I think I've got what you are looking for!"

"What?" Amy was a little surprised by Face's comments.

Johnson nodded to his men and they let Face reach inside his back pocket of his jeans, with his right hand. He kept his left hand up so they could see it. He held the key out in front of him, Johnson tried to grab it but he retracted his hand and hid the key in his fist.

"Uh uh ahh! Firstly I want Amy sitting by my side and not at that creeps." Face nodded in the direction of Greg who once again didn't look happy at Face's remarks about him.

"OK, Peck, you've got a deal".

As Face handed over the small key, he grabbed Amy's hand and moved her to his side, where he kept hold of her hand. One of the goons moved next to Greg, putting Greg in the middle of Johnson and himself.

"You OK?" Face asked with genuine concern, turning towards her and placing one hand on her cheek.

"Yeah! It think so. How did you…?" But Amy thought better not to ask.

"Yes, Peck, answer Miss Allen's question, how did you find this key?" Johnson asked intrigued, studying the key in his hand.

"Well, a few days ago, I was staying over in Amy's apartment. I had the day off and thought I'd watch a film. Low and behold when I opened the drawer to have a rummage for a film, the key just dropped out from the back of the drawer" Face lied. "I was gonna tell Amy about it, but when I saw the mess in her apartment this evening, I didn't want to worry her." Face smiled at the three men opposite him confidently. He'd been in situations like this before and hoped Hannibal was not too far behind.

"What's the key for any how?" Face asked, maybe pushing his luck slightly. "I guessed it must be some safety deposit box, right?"

There was silence. Nobody answered his question. Trained to take in as much information as possible, Face noticed that Greg was sitting rather relaxed for someone who should be being held against their will at gunpoint. He also noticed the guns were pointing at Amy and Face and by no means Greg. This was confirming his suspicions.

"Well, you've got your key, you might as well let Amy and me go, huh?" Face asked smiling as he did so.

"Sorry, can't do that. I want to make sure the contents to which this key holds, is still there."

"But how can I take the contents, if I don't even know where they are or what they are?" Face asked, hopefully fishing for some information that might help Hannibal.

"Well, the key does open a safety deposit box, I'll give you that much," Johnson laughed. "And as banks don't open until nine o'clock tomorrow morning, we're going to have to make our trip tomorrow."


XXXXXXX

Murdock had switched places with BA and was driving the van. BA was in the back watching and listening to the tracking devices they'd set up.

"BA, are we picking up Face loud and clear?"

"Yeah Hannibal, loud and clear!"

"I hope we get something that enables us to get a good position." Hannibal said "And that van, has it moved?"

"Yeah its on the move!"

"Something tells me it'll head in the same direction as Face."

"Shall I follow the limo or the van, Colonel?" Murdock asked.

"Stick with Face, I need to hear what he picks up and the bug can go out of range. Just make sure they don't realise we're following."

"Understood, Colonel" Murdock replied concentrating on the road ahead, following a black limousine.


XXXXXXX

"Ah! Nice! The Orlando Hotel" Face said as he got out of the limousine at gunpoint. Amy followed him, holding on to his hand tightly. He put his arm around her waist as they started to walk.

They swiftly walked through the hotel entrance, with one of the gunmen holding a gun dug into Face's back. They got straight into the elevator with the gunman, they remained silent; Face had noticed they were going to the 5th floor. 'Not going to be easy to escape from there' he thought to himself. The hotel staff had been unaware that they'd been held at gunpoint, they'd walked in subtly and just got into the elevator. Something told Face they were already checked in.

Once the elevator reached the designated floor, Face and Amy were ushered out of the elevator, along the narrow corridor and were shoved into a hotel room. Face had noticed the number of the room.

"512, my lucky number," Face said sarcastically to the gunman.

The room was a twin room, two double beds sat in the middle of the room. There was the standard dressing table and chair that most hotel suites provided. The room had one small window and an en-suite. Face immediately scouted the room, but there was nothing that it could give them to enable an escape. The window was locked and if it had been open, it lead to nowhere and somehow he realised, Hannibal's plan would entail Amy and Face going to the bank tomorrow with Johnson.

"You OK Kid?" Face asked again. "Really?"

"Yeah I'm fine." Amy nodded. "Er, did you hear…" but before she could finish her question Greg is thrown into the room too.

"Ah creep, just the guy! So what's your part in all this?" Face smiled at him in an untrusting fashion. "I didn't see the guns being pointed at you? You got some cut in whatever's in that box? Come to spy on us, is that what it is?"

"Guys, guys stop it!" Amy interrupted. "Face, he was put into the limo at gunpoint with me, OK!"

Both of the men stared at each other; the tension between them could be cut with a knife.

"I've got to go to the bathroom. Be nice OK!" Amy said aiming her words at Face and closed the door behind her to the en-suite.

"Face, huh?" Greg smirked, he could show his true colours now Amy was out of the room. "What happened to Templeton? Is that coz you're her pretty boy?"

The anger rose if Face and he just ran toward Greg, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pressed him up against the wall.

"You know, I get called that a lot. And the people who call me it, don't realise there's a lot more to me that this pretty boy exterior!" Face said angrily through gritted teeth, his face so close to Greg's and his clench fist holding Greg's shirt, pressing firmly against his chest, pinning him against the wall.

"Listen Greg, lets get one thing straight. I don't care for you much. OK? And one thing I don't want to see is Amy get hurt. I don't trust you and I know she shouldn't either. But some how, you've got to her, but if it's the last thing I do, I'll prove you're the creep I think you are!"

"I can work on Amy, she's already warming to me! She was like putty in my hands earlier, didn't take her long either!" Greg smirked back. "I came so close too, to getting one over on you!" Greg held up his hand and gestured a very small gap between his index finger and his thumb. "This close I was."

This angered Face more, but he had to be careful not to let on to how much he really knew. Greg had been using Amy just to antagonise him, although Greg didn't know Face and Amy's true relationship, Face could tell he was just using her as if was some kind of sport and he didn't like that.

"Trust me, I don't make idle threats!" Face still had hold of his collar. "Leave Amy alone!" Face raised his fist and was ready to punch him one.

Amy came rushing out of the bathroom and cut in between them. Face lowered his arm.

"Face, let go of him!" she said angrily to Face. Greg smirked; this was also in his favour. "Greg, you alright?"

"Amy! Don't trust him!" Face sounded off at her crossly. "He's using you, sweetheart, to get at me!" Face went back into Templeton character, although it was hard to tell how much he was being sincere. Amy couldn't remember the last time she'd seen Face this angry. She'd rarely seen the guys loose their cool in her presence; they usually had it under control. BA was usually the one to start punching things, or breaking things, not Face. She took him to one side, away from Greg.

"And it's working! What's got into you?" Amy whispered to Face.

"Amy, just be careful what you say to him. He could be bugged or anything, all right? We'll just stick to our story OK?" Face made his actions look affectionate towards Amy as he could see in the corner of his eye Greg was watching them.

"Yeah OK. But I still don't think he's got anything to do with this."

"Amy, trust me, please. People change. You haven't seen this guy in two years. Who knows what he's in to? Look, I gotta go to the bathroom too. Just please don't…"

"Yeah, I know, OK!" But Amy still couldn't quite believe that Greg was in on this. She didn't trust him, in that she'd found him in bed with another woman, but she thought she could trust him with this. How could he possibly be involved? But she knew she had to go with Face on this, this is part of being a team and so she'd play along.

"What's lover boy gotta say?" Greg asked Amy once Face was out of the room.

"Greg, you can understand him being mad. You're my ex. He's not going to like, it is he?"

"And what about Johnny? He's not going to like what pretty boy is doing to him?"

Amy had forgotten this part of their story. The Johnny plot that Hannibal had made up didn't seem so necessary. Greg certainly hadn't used it against her as the guys had thought, but then everything had moved so quickly. But she could see that her being with 'Templeton', drove him a little crazy and she kind of liked that idea. Greg moved towards her again and tried to get close.

"Come on, you know me better than him?" Greg was trying it on again. He tried to stroke her hair and move into kiss her. Amy was starting to see what he was doing; he was really trying to push his luck with Face. He knew Face would be coming out of that bathroom any minute. He wanted a reaction.

"I know he wouldn't cheat on me!" Amy snapped back angrily. Not exactly true when she considered Face's reputation, but then Greg didn't know that truth.

As soon as she'd spoken the words, Greg had slapped her hard against the face. In a state of complete shock, she held her own hand where he'd slapped her as if to cool the sting. Face had seen Greg hit her as he came out of the bathroom; he ran at Greg and grabbed him by his collar again, throwing him against the wall.

"How about picking on someone your own size, slimball!" Face spat his words at him angrily through gritted teeth. Greg was probably a little taller and bigger in build than Face, but he reckoned with his experience, unbeknown to Greg, he'd be able to knock him out easily.

Greg seeing the difference in build also felt confident and tried to retaliate but before he knew what hit him, Face had swung a punch, hit Greg clean on the jaw and he fell to the floor out cold. Face shook his hand to ease out the pain of hitting him and turned to Amy.

"Hey, let me look at that!" he said softly, peeling her hand from her face. Her eyes were watery but she didn't cry. There were at least three definite red marks across the left of her cheek where Greg's fingers had left their mark. She knew now that Face was right about Greg all along, which hurt. She'd been in love with this guy for four years, how could he do this to her? Questions whizzed around her head doubting their whole relationship. She felt like a fool.

"If it's one thing I disapprove of!"

"Face, he's never hit me before, never!" Amy was in a total array of shock. "What's got into him?"

"Oh, I think you'll be surprised what greed and jealousy can do to a man," Face tried to comfort her. "People can change Amy, but usually when they do, it's not for the better."

Behind them Greg started to stir. Amy flinched as she saw Face turn around. Amy now understood why Hannibal didn't like her being around the guys, when they had to get heavy. He always would insist she stayed out of any of the trouble, when the guys knew they'd have to start using their fists. And now she was glad, because she didn't like watching it either. Face picked his head up by holding his collar of his shirt and gave him another hard punch in the jaw. Greg's head fell back on the floor out cold.

"Alone at last," Face winked at Amy. "That guy was really getting under my skin!"

"But he was, wasn't he? It wasn't some act!"

"Amy, you're part of the team. We look out for one another." Face tried to reassure her again. "If it was Murdock, or Hannibal for that matter, instead of me here, they'd have reacted in the same way. We don't trust him."

Face put his arm around her and drew her close, to try to comfort her. Amy just felt like she wanted to cry, but held it back. She needed to be strong, so she let go of Face.

"Come on, we've got work to do. Can you give me a hand?" Face, noticing her reluctance for comforting, started to move Greg onto one of the beds. Amy assisted and once Greg was on the bed, Face started rummaging through Greg's pockets.

"What are you looking for?"

"Well, checking for bugs and oh, look, his wallet!" Face waved the wallet at Amy smiling. "Lets see what we've got in here."

Face opened the wallet; it had the usual credit cards, cash and driving licence. Nothing unusual and then he came across a small piece of paper crumpled up amongst the cash. The paper looked like it had been torn from a corner of a pad or something. It had a date on one side and 56 on the other. Amy saw the date; Face had already worked it out.

"That's my birthday!"

"And so what's 56?"

"Well considering that's my birthday on that side, then that's the year I was born!"

Face quickly checked to see if he could find any bugs on Greg. There didn't appear to be any, which then made Face query why he was in the room in the first place. Probably to wind him up, which had worked to the point that Face had knocked him out cold. Face smiled at that thought and placed Greg's wallet back where he found it.

"Looks like we found the number to the key, then?" Face smiled at her, but Amy looked at him glumly. The guys had been right all along. Greg had been in on this, whatever it was. He probably had been there when her apartment had been trashed.

"I'm sorry." His voice was sincere. "In some ways, I wish we had been wrong about him, I really do."

Amy wanted so much to ask how they'd found the key in her apartment, but in case there was a bug or something she decided to leave the questions. Face could tell by her silence, she was mulling things over in her head.

"Let's try to get some rest, huh? I think we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow!" Face said walked over to the other bed.

Face laid himself back on the bed, his head supported by the pillows and the headrest, so he could still see the room. Amy slipped off her boots and got inside the covers; she was starting to feel the cold and cuddled up to Face. As he put his arm around her, she laid her head on his shoulder and tried to relax. She felt safe in his arms, with everything that had gone on, reality started to kick in. Face and Amy were in a dangerous situation, which she hoped Hannibal was working on. Face watched across the room where Greg lay on the other bed, unconscious. Face gave a cunning smile, although he would be sleeping with one eye open tonight.


XXXXXXX

BA sat in the back of the van with the headphones on, noting anything and everything he was getting from Face's bug.

"Hannibal, Face is in room 512 of the Orlando Hotel."

"Right, and that's where we're at, isn't it Murdock?"

"Yeah, sure Colonel, I've just hidden us around the block."

The guys sat there silently in the van until BA spoke again.

"Face has just laid Greg out cold." BA chuckled. Hannibal looked round to him and grinned. "He's found a piece of paper in Greg's wallet, Hannibal. Something about Amy's birthday and 56."

"You know, BA, the more I thought about this, the more I realised Gregory boy, here, has been mister predictable. I'd already started to work out the number to that key," Hannibal grinned to himself, puffing on his cigar. "And with the information Face got this morning, from his lady friend who works at a bank, I've pretty much narrowed down the bank in LA we need to visit."

"So, how did you work out that number then Hannibal?" Murdock looked over puzzled at his Colonel. Occasionally amazed to how astute he could be.

"Well, whatever we may believe, two years ago, I think he probably did still love Amy, in some way. He'd want a number he could remember."

"So what's the plan now, Colonel?"

"Well, the hungry cat is still always patient, so we'll sit tight for tonight, just in case Face needs us, but tomorrow we'll do some exterminating!"