To my reviewers, hope you like the next installment, and please do keep letting me know what you think!
"That was too close Hannibal," BA said as the four men crouched in the shadows outside the Crime Lab. "Way too close. That Caine knew all about us."
"I know," Hannibal grinned. "He's good, isn't he?" The other three groaned at the tone of Hannibal's voice. On the jazz, Face mouthed to BA, who nodded and grimaced.
"So what's the plan, Hannibal? We still haven't exactly finished the job in Little Havana you know. And we're actually getting paid for this one," Face added, blue eyes lighting up at the prospect of getting paid.
"And I ain't leaving without my van," BA growled.
"I wouldn't dream of leaving your van behind," Hannibal said soothingly. "And of course we're going to finish the job. We always do, remember? Now I have a plan, and I think you're going to like this one." To increasing groans and disbelief, he outlined the latest plan.
"That won't work," Face said definitely.
"Yes it will," Hannibal grinned. "It will work, because I listen to gossip, whenever I'm in a police station. The Mala Noche want the good Lieutenant Caine dead. They want him dead very badly, and have put a large price on his head. A very large price. And so, the police who are all rather jittery about this, will be pleased to help us out."
"Yeah, Caine looked real jittery to me," BA pointed out sarcastically. "He looked as cool as you Hannibal."
"The tall, bald one looked real nervous to me," Murdoch put in.
"Everyone's nervous around you, fool."
Face and Hannibal exchanged grins as the other two glared at each other. It wouldn't be a normal day without BA and Murdoch arguing. "Well, first things first, we're going to need some weapons. And some transport," Hannibal said, looking expectantly at Face.
"Ah, Hannibal, I've only just got out of jail! C'mon, you gotta give a guy a break occasionally!"
BA laid a heavy hand on Face's shoulder. "You gonna to get us some guns, man, and some transport, or I'm gonna have to hurt you!" Hannibal laughed to himself as he watched Face start promising miracles. The kid would deliver – he always did. And the rest of his team would do their parts too. Teamwork was always the keystone of Hannibal's plans. He shot a thoughtful glance back at the Crime Lab, in time to see Caine and some of his team leave in one of the Hummers. Yep, this plan was going to work perfectly.
Horatio had ordered the guard detail at the impound lot to be doubled until the A-Team were apprehended. He had a feeling that they were not about to abandon their van, and he was determined not to be caught out again. His expression set and grim, he drove to the impound lot in silence, and Eric and Ryan followed his lead. Calleigh had been left to return to the scene of the gun battle in Little Havana, and had taken Tripp and a couple of CSIs from the graveyard shift with her. As far as Horatio was concerned, all leave had just been cancelled and everyone would work double shifts, triple if necessary, to catch these guys.
The van that had been impounded was a black GMC van, with a bright red stripe along the side, leading up to a red spoiler on the back. A distinctive vehicle, Horatio thought, and odd because of it. Why would they choose such a memorable vehicle when they're on the run? Snapping on a pair of latex gloves, he slid opened the side door. The interior was kitted out in grey leather, with six seats inside. All perfectly normal, at first glance anyway.
"This is their big, scary getaway vehicle?" Eric asked, opening the rear doors. "I bet this van can't even go that fast."
"I bet it can," Ryan countered, looking under the bonnet at the engine. "This thing is immense – I've never seen so much power in one car. It must go like a rocket."
"Gentlemen," Horatio said quietly, but the authority in his voice made them both halt their bickering. "We are looking for anything that might tell us where the A-Team have gone, or who hired them in the first place." He started to examine under the seats, and pulled out a scrap of paper, with a Little Havana address scrawled on it.
Bagging it, he turned back to the car, only to be distracted by Eric's breathy, "Whoa." Moving around, Horatio stopped short at the arsenal of weapons stored in a secure metal box behind the seats. AK-47s, pistols, two sniper rifles, and what looked suspiciously liked a rocket-propelled grenade launcher sat innocently in the box.
"They could start a war with all this," Ryan stated, his eyes wide. "They've got enough spare ammunition here to take out most of Miami."
"And yet…" Horatio mused. "And yet, they captured rather than killed members of Mala Noche. They didn't attempt to fight back when we arrested them, and only two officers were hurt in their escape, and they're both just bruised and a little shaken. As far as we know, they haven't killed a single person since coming to this city, and their criminal records show that they aren't wanted for murder."
"Weird." Eric started to make a collection of all the weapons. "This lot are really weird."
Agreeing with the statement internally, Horatio turned back to his search of the interior of the van. Amidst the empty soda cans and sandwich wrappers, hinting to a life on the run, spent mainly in the van, he also found a battered photograph. The photo showed all four members of the team, along with a Hispanic man, all clad in desert fatigues. The note on the back read: Kuwait City, 1990. More interestingly, Horatio also found a notebook containing details on a man named General Morrison, and the bank robbery job in Baghdad. Whoever had written it, they were making links between Morrison and the CIA, and the suggestion seemed to be that Hannibal and the others had been set up.
They got back to the lab at the same time as Calleigh, bearing armfuls of ballistics evidence gathered from the street battle in Little Havana. "Oh well," she drawled happily, taking in the sight of all the confiscated weapons, "guess I'm going to be stuck in my lab for a while."
"Yeah, 'cause we all know how much that bothers you," Eric grinned and got an answering wink in return. "C'mon Wolfe, let's go see what else we can find from this stuff."
"Frank, let's go visit this address. I want to know why the A-Team is here." Horatio caught sight of the uniformed Army officer in the lab and sighed. "And let's go before we have to deal with the army. Eric, if he asks, I'm out and unavailable."
"Got it H."
Luckily for Horatio, the army officer didn't spot them until the elevator doors were closing. The officer, whose insignia proclaimed he was a Colonel, pounded his fist into the wall and glared around. "Hey! You!"
Eric turned to face him with a sigh. "Can I help?"
"Colonel Decker, Military Police. I believe you arrested the A-Team this morning?"
This wasn't going to go down well, Eric knew. "Uh, yes, but they escaped only a short while ago."
"You let them escape?!" Outrage made Decker's voice sharp. "Idiots!"
Annoyed, Eric frowned. "Yeah, well, we wouldn't be in this mess if you guys could catch them, would we? According to their files, you've arrested them several times, and they always escape from you. And they escaped from a high security military stockade when they were first arrested, so don't blame us." The CSI looked at the Colonel in disgust. "I have work to do." Decker glared at Eric's retreating back, but if the CSI noticed, he ignored him.