THE MULE KICKS BACK
Part Eight:
A Rose between the Thorns
"What do you mean, you know nothing about it?" Face allowed himself to simmer gently.
The Senior Nurse, Josephine Crawford, obviously not one to be intimidated by even the most aggressive of doctors looked down her long nose past the reading glasses that were perched precariously on its end, and stared at him disdainfully.
"And exactly who are you?" she asked caustically.
Face snorted. "Who am I?" he gasped. "I just told you who I am! Dr Gabriel Griffiths, Consultant Cardiac Surgeon; I'm surprised that you haven't heard of me."
The nurse shook her head. "No, I don't believe that I have," she said stiffly. "Why? Should I have?"
Face sniffed, working hard at getting just the right balance between fury and frustration. "I am eminent in my field! I have recently had the findings from my latest research published in Cardiac Arrest Monthly!"
"Never heard of it," she muttered dismissively.
Face snorted – it was not going well. "Well, I believe that shows a distinct lack of professional development on your part, maybe you should seriously consider your future, nurse!"
She gazed at him. "There is no need to get personal," she said verging on the edge of being aggressive.
"You are delaying me from seeing my patient!" Face continued to inch closer to boiling point. "This could be a life or death situation!"
"Ah yes," the Nurse was anything but rushed. "And which patient would that be?" she asked, her eyebrows rose in curiosity. "Remind me again."
"Mr Murdock!" Face bit back.
"Oh, what a surprise!" Nurse Crawford could no longer hide her sarcasm.
Face hesitated, put off by her reaction but he recovered well. "So, you are aware of his condition? It comes as no shock to you that I am here, then?"
"No shock at all," Nurse Crawford confirmed.
Face worked hard at stopping the surprise from showing in his features. "Dr Richter has mentioned me then?" he asked.
"No, Dr Richter has not mentioned you at all," Nurse Crawford said. As she spoke she pulled out Murdock's file from the pile in front of her. She scanned it quickly. "And funnily enough Mr Murdock's file does not mention a heart condition either."
"It doesn't? It doesn't!" Face did not particularly like the superior look in the nurse's eye. "But I gave specific instructions."
"When you were here, last week?"
Face stopped, a nervous feeling coiling in his belly. "Last week?" he said. "I was in Hawaii, last week."
"Were you really?" Nurse Crawford asked.
"Yes I was, lecturing at Honolulu University."
Nurse Crawford nodded knowingly. "Only I could have sworn you were here last week. But then you were working for the Dog Pound – a Rabies Inspector, as I recall. You took Mr Murdock away to have his shots and he only came back last night. Rabies Inspector to Cardiac Surgeon – that's quite a promotion; even for you!"
Peck opened his mouth to argue but stopped himself as Nurse Crawford continued. "Oh look, here's Dr Richter now. You can ask him yourself about why we didn't know about you!"
"I … ah…" Face turned to see the doctor, accompanied by a number of junior doctors making his way towards him. Peck glanced about the hall way, anxious for escape, realising that there was none, the sensation in his belly plummeting all the way down to his boots.
"Dr Richter!" Nurse Crawford called with the hint of triumph in her voice. "This is Gabriel Griffiths, he says he's the eminent Cardiac…."
"Dr Griffiths!" Richter beamed. "It's been a long time! How's the family? I read your article in….."
"Cardiac Arrest Monthly," Nurse Crawford put in, her face paling with uncertainty as her confidence deflated, fast.
Peck was valiantly ignoring the urge to turn around and see if Dr Griffiths, the Cardiac Surgeon, had indeed just walked in behind him.
"Cardiac Arrest Monthly, that's right!" Richter continued, reaching over to pump Face's hand enthusiastically. "Mental health doctors like myself aren't really interested in the heart, it's more the brain with us, but I make a point of reading your stuff; it's always such an 'arresting' read! I got to dump these juniors," he nodded to the haggle of wide-eyed students behind him. "What say you go on in and see Murdock and I'll be along in a while?"
Face gulped, trying hard to keep a hold on reality which he felt was fast slipping through his fingers. But he was nothing if not adaptable and he forced a confident smile. "Of course!" he said. "I'll see you there."
He stretched a hand out to Nurse Crawford who was standing stock still, her eyes glazed over with surprise and mouth open. "File please, Nurse," Face requested. "Oh nurse?"
She blinked. "Of course, Doctor," she said handing over the documents meekly.
Dr Richter beamed.
Face made to move off but turned back to the Nurse. "You should really keep up-to-date with your development, Nurse," he cautioned mildly. "I expect my patients to have access to the very best and most up to date care!"
She nodded dully, her formerly soaring ego plummeted and crashed without trace. "Yes Doctor, I'm sorry Doctor!"
Face winked. "No harm done, none at all!" And then with a nod to Dr Richter and his Juniors he made his way down the corridor to Murdock's room.
Murdock was fully occupied on shooting Space Invaders to hell when Face entered the room.
"Murdock – we need to talk!" he said, slumping down on the bed and taking in deep breaths as he loosened his tie.
"Oh. Hi Face!" Murdock did not look up from the screen in front of him. "Glad you survived dinner last night."
"Dinner!" Face shot back. "You don't know the half of it but no time to tell it now. We got to go!"
"Got to go?" Murdock did not sound too impressed. "I got my highest score ever now, I can't go yet!"
"But Dr Richter will be here in a minute!"
"So?"
"So! I don't want to meet him again."
Murdock snorted, grimacing in time with the imaginary shots he was firing. "He likes you, Face. When I saw him this morning he agreed to help you find your brain."
"Help me find…. Just what have you told him Murdock?"
"Just a little," he responded dreamily. "Damn – they got me!" He slammed the console with the flat of his hand and then moved away from the machine. He picked up his jacket from on the bed behind Face. "Enough to get you through that scrape at Reception." He stopped and looked Face up and down as the conman simply gaped at him. "Face, I know you are making the best of a difficult situation, losing your brain and everything, but you really are getting sloppy!" He moved past the other man towards the door. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to report your poor performance to the Colonel. Lord knows what he will say!" He stepped out of the door, leaving a bemused Face shaking his head slowly and wondering what the hell was going on…. again!
Murdock popped his head back around the door frame after a few seconds. "Come on, Face, chop, chop! We don't want Richter catching you here, do we?"
Face had recovered enough to give Nurse Crawford a beamingly arrogant smile as he passed her in Reception.
"Down boy," Murdock muttered. "She's old enough to be your mother!"
"Murdock, I wasn't ….." Face began his protest.
"No time, my little Scarecrow," Murdock cut him off. "We have to see the Wizard and soon!"
They were out in the parking lot when Murdock asked, "Can I drive, Face? Can I? Can I? Can I?"
Face snorted; truth to be told he was feeling rather light-headed and nauseous after the events of the past few minutes. "OK," he said dully passing the pilot his keys.
"Yeepee!" Murdock jumped into the driver seat. "I liked the Cardiac Surgeon bit," he said.
"How did you know about that?" Face asked, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.
Murdock simply ignored his question and babbled on happily. "Was it because I'm the Tinman? I got no heart!"
Face looked even more confused. "I thought you were Dorothy," he offered as he climbed disconcertedly into the passenger seat.
Murdock guffawed. "How can I be Dorothy?" he asked dramatically. He pointed down to his feet as he gunned the gas pedal of the Corvette. "My sneakers aren't red!"
"Oh, of course, how stupid of me!" Face groaned nodding his head dejectedly. "Jeez; I have such a headache!"
"So, Rosa, we haven't been properly introduced." Hannibal began as he took a long draw at his cigar and sat back in his chair to appraise the woman before him, his eyes sparkling in challenge.
They were in the motel room again. Hannibal was on the chair beside one of the twin beds, BA sat at the table and Murdock and Face who had recently returned from the VA were on a bed each. Rosa was sitting between the two of them. At the Colonel's words she stood up to reveal those long legs covered by sheer pantyhose, a scarlet dress which clung to her body in all the right places. She wore a short, black tailored jacket and a pair of high patent shoes. Her hair was long and loose and cascaded in waves across her padded shoulders. Her face was made up beautifully to accentuate the perfection of her features; she was certainly all woman, looking like she had strayed from now where but a top fashion display.
Face, who was still feeling rather fragile following his almost catastrophe at the VA, could feel his heart pump with increasing vigour as she turned those deep bottomless eyes towards him. He gulped and managed to pull his gaze from her long enough to check himself out in the mirror, quickly moving to discipline a stray piece of hair that was sticking up from his head, rebelliously.
"Of course, Colonel," Rosa purred in that deep, steady voice that Face remembered from Argentina. "It is a long story and you all deserve an exclamation. You may call me Rosa Garcia."
"Why, is that your name?" Murdock asked impolitely. Face sent him a warning stare which the pilot simply ignored.
Those smouldering eyes fell on the pilot and she smiled. "It will do for now." The eyes moved around the room confidently resting on each of the men, waiting, looking for an effect, measuring and appraising.
As she looked at Face, he could feel his grip slipping – no wonder she had enticed him in Argentina; she was doing it again and this time he was sober! He gulped in air, feeling a hot flush of desire rush through him, schooling himself to keep control. He glanced away, saw Hannibal staring at him, knew what the Colonel would be thinking and promised himself he would not succumb – not this time.
"I work for the government," Rosa continued finally.
Hannibal snorted. "Forgive me, Ms Garcia, but you are hardly the epitome of a government operative."
Murdock nodded seriously. "Which is good news for Faceman – he'd never be able to survive the strain if all the government goons looked like you!"
Face sent him a rueful look but didn't at that point feel he could trust his voice enough to argue, so he shifted his posture to cover his growing excitement and stared out of the window, counting back from one hundred slowly.
Rosa smiled both at the pilot's words and at the effect she was obviously having on Peck. She had chosen him in Argentina for a reason and she took a certain amount of pleasure in seeing it so clearly evidenced before her now. "I was recruited for a specific job," she revealed, "For which I fitted all of the criteria."
"I bet," Face groaned, fidgeting again.
She turned back to him then. "Senor Peck," she began. "It is you I think who has suffered most in this affair and for that I am truly sorry. I did not mean for you to be hurt or put in any danger – that is why I came back for you last night. In Argentina I was desperate and desperate women will take any risk necessary to survive."
Face shrugged and adopted his most manly put upon expression. Hannibal and Murdock exchanged a roll of their eyes and BA smirked.
"You are a brave man!" Rosa said. She batted her eyelids at him encouragingly.
"But brainless," Murdock muttered.
Hannibal snorted. "I think we are all aware of the Lieutenant's attributes, Rosa," he began. "Let's just get back to the reason we are all here."
"Of course." She turned away from Face then and he felt the cold loss of her attention. "I had some critical information that I had to get out of Argentina. It is a matter of not just our own but international security. I knew that the men I had stolen it from would kill me if they found it on my person, so I thought of a different way."
"What sort of information was so important that you risked Face's life to bring it back?" Hannibal asked sternly, obviously not taken in by the sexual signals Rosa was radiated to every one in the room. BA and Murdock were likewise regarding her with a critical eye; only Face seemed mesmerised by her beauty.
Rosa nodded and continued, "I was deep undercover watching a group of men, dangerous and violent men who belong to an organisation that has members in almost every country of the world. They are called the CELL. I had names and contact details."
"So you set up a fake kidnapping?" Murdock could not hide the disbelief from his voice.
Rosa shook her head. "No, I did not, I could not; I did not have access to such resources. I had only my brain and my computer. How could I do that? The CELL set up your involvement from the beginning."
"Then they knew about you?" Face was trying to crush his hormones and get his brain to work but it was not helped by the rush that cascaded through him every time she turned those sexy eyes on to him.
Rosa smiled sadly. "They suspected they had a leak in their security but they had not found it by that time."
Face shook his head, Murdock looked blank as BA growled.
"You're not making much sense, Senora," Hannibal put into words the thought that the others were all thinking.
"Please, call me Rosa," she smiled again. "I am sorry, it is all very complicated. Maybe I should go back to the beginning?"
Not giving her an inch, Hannibal nodded. "It's normally the best place to start," he agreed tetchily.
Rosa nodded and sat down again. Face smiled at her supportively and reached over to squeeze her hand. Murdock on her other side simply regarded her curiously.
She gave Face a smile that was somehow different from all the others she had given away so generously through the previous conversation – there was something actually sincere in it. She took a deep breath and began her story. "Some years ago it became apparent that a group of individuals who shared certain 'inappropriate' beliefs had infiltrated our military. They were supplied and trained to the very highest of standards and yet they were prepared to use these skills to operate well beyond the tolerances of what the American public would find acceptable. It was imperative that action was taken to stop these men from gaining positions of power not just in our military but also in the nation's government. All were tracked down and persuaded to leave their positions in the military in 1973."
Face snorted, his keen brain working again. "Karl Brandt got a medical discharge from the SEALs in '73. Is he connected to all of this?"
"He did indeed, Senor Peck. Your investigation was quite accurate. But there was so much more you could have found if you had had the time." She smiled again. "Although I must say I am impressed at your resourcefulness!" She shamelessly stroked his ego once more.
Face beamed. "Call me Temp, please!" he responded sweetly, allowing himself to luxuriate in the warmth of her smile once more as he ran his hand over hers.
"You would also have found that every single member of Brandt's unit left the Navy within four weeks of each other. They, in fact, became the basis of what has become known as the CELL. They are the men I was in Argentina to investigate."
Hannibal snorted. "Would you care to substantiate a little more about these 'inappropriate beliefs', you mentioned earlier."
"They are Nazis," Rosa said simply. "Fascists – intent on creating a world built on their bigoted views."
There was a loud and long intake of breath from every member of the Team. Face tensed and his head snapped upright. BA growled and cracked his knuckles and Murdock muttered ironically, "Somewhere over the wrong rainbow!"
"Argentina…. German….. I guess it figures!" Hannibal sighed, letting out a lungful of smoke.
Rosa continued. "Karl Brandt's grandfather shared the same name – he was Adolf Hilter's personal physician and worked with Joseph Mengele at Auschwitz. Gonzales' family had strong links with Franco and his fascists. Grondyke has no such illustrious ancestors – he is simply an arrogant little sadist who got swept up with the power of it all." She shuddered.
"And these people have been inside your head, Face!" Murdock said in a doom-laden voice.
Face gulped. "Don't remind me!" he groaned, pulling his hand away from Rosa and beginning to fiddle with his tie nervously.
"Exactly what were they doing in Face's head?" Hannibal asked.
"I can think of better places to visit!" Murdock muttered. "Mind you there's lots of space!"
Face sent him a disdainful stare as Rosa continued.
"They were aware that their organisation was under threat." She stood and moved to stand by the window. Glancing beyond the drapes; she saw that the outside world went on as before – a lovely warm morning with people going about their business. She stifled the shiver that fluttered deep within her – sometimes it was hard to believe that the world went on unchanged, apparently unsoiled by the festering evil that experience had shown her existed all too close to the surface.
She pulled her mind back to the dim oppressiveness of the motel room. Four pairs of eyes regarded her, waiting. They were eyes that belonged to men who had seen horror and lived to tell the tale, men who knew what it took to survive and were prepared to do it. But how far could she trust them? They were hunted criminals, wanted men – why would they do anything to help her and in so doing help the very government that had declared them such? Her training told her she should only reveal the barest essentials, use them as she needed and then discard them without a second thought and yet she did feel a certain amount of remorse that she was exploiting them. She forced it away as she has rejected the picture of the peaceful world outside, only seconds earlier; her modus operandi was simple; the end must justify the means!
She sighed and began again, choosing her words carefully. "They were in the act of re-locating. Their evil manipulations stretch around the world – prostitution, drugs – you name it. All in the name of furthering their Fatherland, all profits ploughed back into their evil dreams. They were trying to smuggle their files out of Argentina, wanted to bring them back to the States, so they could re-plan and re-focus. The information was infinitely valuable to them as it contained all the details of their sympathesisers throughout the world. They could not allow it to get into the hands of their enemies! And of course, it was just as imperative that I got hold of it and got it out!"
"No wonder they set up such an elaborate plan to get it here," Hannibal murmured.
Rosa nodded. "They wanted the best and they figured that you wouldn't agree to do it if they asked you outright!"
"No way, sucker!" BA growled.
"So they set up the plan to trick you into helping them. I simply tagged on and used it for my own ends."
"So how did you get all that info in my head?" Face asked.
"The plan was to use a chip," Rosa responded.
"A chip?" Murdock questioned. "But Faceman doesn't like chips, not like I do!"
"I do!" Face argued back childishly.
Rosa smiled. "They inserted a small piece of electronic wizardry that stores lots of information into the back of his skull. No bigger than this," She put her elegantly manicured fingers together. "It did no damage and remained hidden until they came to get it out."
"That's amazing!" Murdock enthused. "So small!"
Rosa smiled, "In the not too distant future the world is going to be miniaturised – small will be beautiful and everything is going to be so diminutive we'll all need glasses to see anything!"
"That's sounds very un-American!" Face couldn't resist the comment. "Anyway, I'm sure some things will always have to be big!" He wriggled his eyebrows suggestively.
Rosa ignored him, warming to her theme. "Only government operatives have access now - it's restricted but soon we'll all be able to get such gadgets across the world," she said. "It'll be chips with everything! Imagine TV screens as thin as your arm, cell phones the size of credit cards, and music players even smaller than that with thousands of tracks available at the push of a button. Hell, they will even be able to put chips is a dog's ear so you can track it by satellite and you'll never lose it!"
"In Billy's ear? Chips?" Murdock stared wide eyed.
"Believe it, fool!" BA snapped. "It's only the same technology as the trackers we use."
Murdock looked unconvinced, picturing the mobile phones the size of bricks he had used in the recent past and then a picture of Billy with a bowl of potato chips on his head, in the place where his ear should be, materialised into the pilot's fluid imagination.
"Guys, can we re-focus this please? I'm interested in what Rosa has to tell us about what was in Face's head." Hannibal said. "And why Grondyke and his goons came back for him."
"Yeah, tell us about these chips in Facey's head. Did he get a bowl of them to replace his brain?" Murdock asked, transfixed by the concept and transferring the image in his head of a bowl of chips for ears from his dog to Peck.
"No he didn't," Rosa revealed. "He got a chip, sure but it was a phony - it contained none of the information we've been talking about on it. I just wanted Grondyke to think it did!"
"Wait a minute!" Face looked confused. "But they kept kidnapping me and ….." he began. "I went through all that for nothing?" he shook his head in disgust, staring at the beautiful woman before him, his eyes bright with their intense blue and one big dollop of betrayal!
TBC