Part 3
"Shut up, fool!"
BA had been driving nearly two hours now, sticking to the speed limits of the roads. The last town they'd past through had been practically half an hour ago. They were now on a lone stretch of road with woodlands and vast countryside either side of them. They were pretty much out in the middle of nowhere. Murdock had been chattering about everything and anything since he'd got in the van and was now starting to test BA's patience.
"Murdock, you might want to cool it for a bit." Face intervened. "Otherwise BA's going to go past the point of no return. And I can't promise I can save you."
"But Faceman, just seeing all these trees again, reminded me of my days as a lumberjack."
"Fool, you ain't ever been a lumberjack!"
"I have!"
"And don't even think about singing!" BA growled just as Murdock opened his mouth to start singing.
"Murdock!" Face was also starting to get agitated by the two of them bickering.
"Guys, simmer down." Hannibal was starting to regret not bringing Amy; she usually kept them under control in the van. He was trying to think, put his plan right in his head. He was about to pull out a cigar from his pocket, to help with his planning.
"Ah man! I don't believe it. Hannibal, we got trouble." BA looked out of his side mirror, a patrol car, and its lights flashing, was pulling them over. Hannibal looked out of his window and into his side mirror to also see the patrol car behind them.
"OK, everybody relax. Might be something simple, lets not draw attention to ourselves. Pull over BA." The cigar would have to wait, he thought.
Face nervously checked his gun and Murdock slipped his in the back of his pants.
BA pulled the van over onto the shoulder and the patrol car followed in behind. The police officer got out of his car and walked up to the driver's window to see BA scowling back at him.
"Sir, can you step out the van, please?" The police officer drew his gun out of its holster, clicking off the safety. "In fact, all of you, out of the van now!" Back up had arrived for the would be cop, from the woods. Two more men had emerged armed with automatic rifles but dressed in jeans and checked shirts. They opened the side door of the van, aiming their weapons at it as they slid it open and Face and Murdock smiled at them holding their hands up.
"Ah, man!" BA growled.
All four members of the team got out of the van with their hands above their heads. One of the men shot the two front tyres of the van. BA looked at the man and growled.
"You'll pay for that, sucker!"
Whilst two men had their weapons pointing at the team, the man dressed as a cop, searched the team individually clearing them of their own guns, tossing them on the ground, away from the team. He came to Hannibal last.
"Which one of you is Felton?" Hannibal asked trying to light a cigar, but the cop snatched it from his mouth and threw it on the ground.
"Oh he's coming!" The guy in the cop outfit replied smugly. "Oh, looks like that's him now." A blue sedan pulled up into the lay-by, sending dust into the air and three men got out of the vehicle, making it six men in total.
'At least Tina had told some truth, there was at least six of them,' Hannibal thought.
"Well, well, looks like we'll be hunting the A Team today boys!" Felton bellowed joyfully at their catch. The five other men laughed at his comment.
"Ah, you must be the weasel they call Felton." Hannibal slyly remarked back as he scanned the five other men. They were dressed in similar attire to Felton, checked shirts, jeans and leather boots all except for the man wearing the cop's uniform. They were all pretty stocky in build too.
"That's me, Smith!" Felton didn't rise to Hannibal's comments; he knew he had an ace up his sleeve. "Hey, but Smith, I thought you didn't leave a member of your team behind?"
Hannibal opened his mouth and was about to say that he hadn't in his usual witty context, but was left speechless as he watched Felton fiercely pull Amy out of the car.
"Why you, mangy…" Murdock said angrily as Amy was dragged from out of the car. Face and Murdock both showed anger in their expressions and edged forward. BA and Hannibal put their arms out to hold them back as Felton's men raised their weapons towards them. BA restrained Murdock as Hannibal restrained Face.
"If you've hurt one hair on her head!" Murdock was fuming.
"Why, I wouldn't dream of hurting a pretty little thing like this." Felton had hold of Amy firmly in his right arm and with his other arm swept her short hair off of her neck, bending in to kiss it. "God damn, how do you boys resist yourselves?" Amy shuddered at Felton's touch.
This angered Face and Murdock even more, again BA and Hannibal restrained them although Hannibal was starting to think 'I'll be the one needing restraining soon, if this slimeball carries on'. He didn't like seeing woman being mistreated at the best of times, especially Amy.
"God damn, she's the sweetest thing!" Felton said as he undid the top button of her blouse so that he could make her left shoulder bare, sweeping her bra strap off her shoulder as he gently stroked her skin as he did so. He loved the reaction he could see in the men's faces before him. He bent in to kiss her shoulder again.
"Get off me you creep!" Amy started to fight back. Another man assisted Felton as he kept Amy's neck and shoulder bare, another of the men handed Felton something, the guys couldn't make it out, until they saw him stick the syringe into her shoulder and empty it's contents.
Amy felt an ice-cold sensation in her shoulder gradually spread down her left arm and across her breast, until it felt normal again.
"Simmons, go get the cash out of that van!" Felton ordered as he threw the emptied syringe under the van and then violently pushed Amy towards the team. Face and Hannibal caught her as she stumbled into their path.
"You OK kid?" Face had her head in his hands, brushing the hair from her face and then pulled her close to comfort her. He could see the fear in her face and her slightly swollen lip.
"Yes, yes, I think so." She whispered. She knew she was safer now with the team, comforted by Face's hold.
"He didn't…" Face's mind raced to what else that creep could have done to her.
"No." She gently pulled away from Face's embrace so that she could place her bra strap back on her shoulder and do up the top button on her blouse that Felton had undone. She shuddered again at the thought of the man's touch.
"Yeah it's here!" Simmons came out of the van with the bag full of the cash Tina had given them.
"Great," Face mumbled, mainly to himself, as he saw the cash leave the van. "All this for nothing!"
"Just so you know, this is how we tracked you, just to make sure you were on your way. Got a little device hidden in the bag." Simmons gloated as he passed the bag to Felton.
"Well, there goes my date with Tina!" Face mumbled to himself, realising the girl had been all part of the scam.
"Well, boys, you've got two hours until your pretty little lady there, starts foaming at the mouth!" Felton bellowed nastily. As Felton said his words, Face set the timer on his watch for two hours. "I got the antidote right here, when you guys want to give in!" Felton opened up his jacket and inside they could see another syringe in a case sitting in his inside pocket.
"Felton, you want to hope I don't get the opportunity to take that antidote from you!" Hannibal threatened.
Felton ignored Hannibal's threats. He felt the stronger man; he was going to have fun today, hunting the A Team. All other men they'd hunted had got boring, he'd wanted something more challenging, and what better than a team of trained soldiers.
"You got twenty minutes, Smith, head start, then me and my boys here," Felton pointed to the five other men, "are gonna hunt ourselves the A Team. Oh and the nearest hospital is in that direction," Felton pointed into the woods, "about three hours away on foot." All of the men laughed viciously at Felton's words. "You and your team make it to that hospital, Smith, and you're safe, you've won!"
'Twenty minutes' Hannibal thought to himself, 'why do these creeps never learn?'
"And if we don't?" Hannibal asked.
"Well, lets just say, me and my boys here get some target practice." Felton grinned smugly, "Oh, don't worry, I'll give your sweet little lady there, the antidote first, so she can watch and then me and her are gonna have our own little party!"
Amy cringed at that thought and grabbed Murdock's arm and held it tightly, Murdock responded by putting his arm around her.
"Don't worry, Sweetheart, that creep is not touching you again!"
Hannibal took the lead and started off into the woods. He'd listened enough to Felton's words and didn't care to listen further, he couldn't afford to lose his cool.
Face followed Hannibal and the rest of the team into the woods. "Damn, I wish I'd put my boots on now!" He looked down at his black Italian leather shoes.
"Hannibal, I'm sorry, I did as you said, honest," Amy had let go of Murdock and caught up with Hannibal. "They got me outside of my office when I went to get some lunch."
"I know kid, I know." Hannibal looked at Amy with concern.
"I'm so annoyed with myself, I'm usually so careful too, watching my back. Damn!"
"It's okay, kid." Hannibal smiled at her and then turned to BA, taking off his white safari jacket. "BA, get me two strong branches so we can make a stretcher." BA nodded and ran off to search for Hannibal's request. Hannibal then turned to Murdock and Face. "One of you, lend me your jacket!"
Murdock was the first to respond, instantly taking off his jacket and handing it to Hannibal. Face, secretly relieved he didn't have to part with his leather jacket, ran off to assist BA.
"What?" Amy watched with a puzzled expression on her face, as they all sprung into action. "Why a stretcher?"
"Whatever those guys have injected you with, Kid, we don't need it spreading around your blood stream faster by you over exerting yourself," Hannibal said as he zipped up Murdock's jacket. "So if we carry you, that should keep your heart rate low and stop the blood from taking the poison around your body quicker, hopefully buying us some more time."
Knowing that time was of the essence, BA and Face quickly returned with two strong tree limbs long enough to make a stretcher, removing any unnecessary branches on them, leaving two sturdy poles.
Hannibal and Face stood beside one another and started to thread a branch each up the inside of Hannibal's jacket, pushing it all the way through to the sleeves end. They then repeated the same motion with Murdock's jacket, at the other end of the strong branches, creating a makeshift stretcher. Face then decided to lay his jacket over the two jackets in the middle part of the stretcher, to give extra support.
"What do you think that creep's injected me with?" Amy asked as she watched the four men work on their task.
"I don't know, Kid, but we'll find out soon enough. They wanted you along so you'd slow us down, and I get the feeling they want to hunt us four." He gestured to the rest of the team. "They know you don't have the training we have. They also now know the direction we need to head too, which also gives them an advantage."
Once satisfied the stretcher was complete, Hannibal gestured for her to lie on it.
"Hannibal, I can walk for a while, surely?" Amy complained, reluctant to lie down on the stretcher. She felt fine and didn't want to be a burden already to the guys.
Hannibal's voice became stern. "Get on the stretcher, young lady. That's an order."
"Okay, okay!" Amy eased herself on the stretcher. "Will this hold me?"
"Of course, you're not that heavy are you kid?"
"Oh I'd say about 134 pounds" Face winked at her.
"131 actually!" Amy replied sarcastically back at Face.
Hannibal picked up the two front ends, positioning them behind him. BA took the rear, and they started to walk. Hannibal strode as briskly as he could to take up a pace; they couldn't waste time, they had to get a move on.
As Hannibal walked, he ordered.
"Murdock, I want you to split off and send our friends on a goose chase. Face, take the rear and make sure we don't leave any tracks. Lets get moving guys, we don't have much time."
…