Part 8
"All I was trying to say was, they're not looking for me!"
"Murdock, be quiet will ya!" Face went to put his hand over Murdock's mouth to shut him up but didn't have to, Murdock gestured with his own, zipping up his mouth. "That was close! MPs are crawling all over this place, thanks to Hannibal!"
Face and Murdock were in a cleaning closet. 'It certainly smelt like one,' thought Face. There were various cleaning instruments; mops, buckets and brooms within it and on the shelves were various large plastic bottles containing bleaches and disinfectants. It had been the first door Face had tried which looked safe to enter, to escape two MPs walking down the corridor. Face wanted to get out this closet as quickly as possible; he was concerned that the smell would linger on him, giving a whole new meaning to "Eau de Toilet".
Face held a large bouquet of various pink flowers, which he was trying desperately not to crush. He passed them to Murdock and then peered through the very slight gap he'd made by holding the door ajar. He watched the two MPs they had hidden from. They were still standing in the corridor chatting to a nurse. Eventually, to Face's delight, they moved on, away from the closet.
"Is it clear yet?" Murdock whispered after unzipping his mouth.
"Yes, yes, they've moved on now."
Face took the flowers back from Murdock and then they both reappeared from the closet into the main corridor of the hospital. A nurse gave them an odd look as she past them.
"I told you that wasn't radiology!" Face said sarcastically to Murdock and then smiled at the nurse.
Face then decided to use his charm further to find out exactly where Amy was situated within the small hospital; he went to the reception desk just along the corridor.
"Excuse me, which room is Miss Amy Allen in?" He flashed his believable smile unable to hide the impressive bunch of pink flowers he was holding.
"Aren't they pretty?" The nurse said and then looked at the board behind her. She then looked back to the direction of the handsome man in front of her. "Oh, she's just along the corridor, we've put her in room 121." The nurse pointed in the direction they should take and then back to Murdock and Face.
Face smiled again nervously checking there were no MPs around, "Thank you." Face winked at the nurse.
The nurse was just about to call out to them something about visitors, but Face and Murdock had already left the reception desk and were walking along the corridor. They hurried as inconspicuously as possible to the room they'd been directed to. To their relief there hadn't been any MPs parading the corridors. They looked through the small diamond shaped window in the door, to check the room was Amy's. They were a little shaken at the sight they saw.
Amy lay in a hospital gown in the bed, with her eyes closed and a mask over her pale face. Both arms were by her side, out of the covers. There was a drip connected to her left arm feeding her fluids and a monitor beeped next to her, monitoring her heart rate. There was also a catheter bag hung below her bed. Murdock and Face both shared a similar expression of concern on their faces. How sick was she?
They both checked there were no MPs lurking around and then quickly entered the room.
"I don't think I hit that slimeball hard enough!" Murdock said under his breath angrily and looked down at his bruised knuckles.
Face tapped him reassuringly on his shoulder, he too felt like he wanted to go back and hit Felton.
A pretty young nurse entered Amy's room to make her routine check and saw the two men standing just inside her door. "Don't panic, she's fine. She's just sleeping at the moment." The nurse reassured the two worried faces in front of her. " But… Er, I'm sorry, only close family are really allowed to be in here. Are you family?"
"Yes, we're her older brothers." Face chipped in quickly, flashing his smile again.
"Oh, how sweet, two older brothers. I always wanted an older brother to protect me." The nurse looked at Murdock and Face and was impressed with what she saw. "So, which one of you is the eldest then?" She flirted slightly.
"He is!" They both said in unison and pointed at one another.
The nurse giggled, shaking her head slightly. Face gave Murdock a disapproving stare, but Murdock just grinned back at him.
Face and Murdock still looked worried at the state of Amy in the bed. Murdock went to stand by her left side and took her hand into his and Face placed the flowers on the end of Amy's bed and stood on the opposite side, taking the other hand gently into both of his. The nurse seeing both their worried expressions tried to reassure them again.
"Don't worry, she's just sleeping. We're just getting some fluids into her." The nurse pointed to the saline that hung beside Amy and was connected to her via her left hand. The nurse then started to take her temperature and blood pressure and record them on the board at the end of the bed, but continued to talk. "The oxygen is to just aid recovery. She's exhausted. Her body has gone through quite an ordeal; but she's a heck of a fighter. She's just very weary, that's all."
"That's our Amy! A true soldier!" Murdock replied to the nurse. "Did you know what the poison was?"
"Ah, yes, the gentlemen that brought her in provided a syringe." The nurse said unaware that Face and Murdock were the same men; they decided to keep it that way. "That was very useful. It contained poison from a snake, oh I can't remember now what snake the lab said, and I have enough to think about." The nurse smiled at the two men. "But apparently one bite from that snake would, well, yes cause harm, but over a longer period of time, you usually can have anything up to 4 to 20 hours to act on a snake bite, therefore giving you more time to get an antidote and it be less dangerous."
"So how much did Amy have?" Murdock asked with concern.
"Our patient, here, had a dose equivalent to about 3-4 snake bites, we think, which proved slightly more dangerous, hence her symptoms exhibited that more quickly. It also didn't help that it was administered in her shoulder. A snake usually bites the leg or arm, and therefore you have more chance of containing or slowing down the poison. The guys that brought her here, got her here in the nick of time. Her body was just starting to shut down." The nurse shook her head in disgust, "Who would do such a thing? Huh?"
"Don't worry, those creeps are going to jail for a very long time!" Face confirmed with his smile, trying now to reassure the nurse.
"Look, let me take those from you and find a vase," the nurse took the bouquet of flowers from the bed where Face had placed them, "and I'll leave you two, to sit with your sister." She winked and left the room.
Face and Murdock looked at Amy silently for a moment, both in their own thoughts.
"Gees, those bastards, Face!" Murdock briefly got angry but then simmered down. "She could have died!"
"I know, I know, lets not dwell on it too much, huh?"
Murdock pondered again for a while.
"Now, this could be where a kiss would wake her," Murdock leant forward, removed the oxygen mask from her face and placed his lips softly on hers. Face was a little taken back by Murdock's sudden gesture.
"Murdock!" Face whispered nervously. "You know, if I tried anything like that, Hannibal would have me…" Face quickly remembered where he was and whose bed he was standing beside. "Well, you know what he'd do to me!"
Murdock grinned at Face and then they both watched Amy, as gradually she opened her eyes.
Amy could hear voices, recognisable voices. As she breathed there was cool air entering her lungs, fresh, clean, pure air, making it easy for her to breathe, it felt effortless. Her eyes remained closed. Her body ached. She was tired and had no energy to move. She felt something be removed from her face, that cool fresh comforting air removed, and gentle pressure to her lips. Again those voices, she gradually opened her eyes to look at a slightly nervous but smiling handsome face before her.
"Face." She gently whispered and smiled, so pleased to see him. She felt her left hand squeeze; she turned in the direction. Another friendly face, grinning at her, "Murdock." Her eyes felt heavy, she blinked to try and keep them open and wake herself up.
"See, what did I tell ya, Faceman?" Murdock was pleased with himself.
"Hey you, you gave us quite a scare," Face spoke gently, stroking her hand that he held.
"Where's BA and Hannibal?" Amy whispered, she wasn't surprised to not see them there, as she knew BA had his own way of showing he cared for her, and Hannibal didn't usually give much away in ways of showing affection but then she worried, maybe something did go wrong. "They're OK aren't they?" She looked at both Face and Murdock worriedly.
"They're fine, they just couldn't come." Face reassured her. "They gotta sort out the van and er… well it's a bit dangerous for us all to be together right now."
Amy's face turned back to a worried expression on Face's last comment.
"Its Ok, kid, Hannibal just had the bright idea of getting the hospital to call Decker, to protect you here." Face added sarcastically, equally agitated by Hannibal's crazy plan.
"Decker!" Amy tried to sit up.
"Hey, hey, don't worry you can pretend to be asleep or something, sweetheart," Murdock placed a hand on her shoulder and winked.
"What if he catches me when I am not, though? Huh? What do I tell him, Face?" She turned to Face.
"The truth!" Face smiled. "Tell him the truth, you were kidnapped by Felton and his men, who, for some crazy idea, thought you were part of the A Team. They poisoned you and all you know is the three of us, you presume to be the A Team, brought you to the hospital." He winked.
Murdock looked glumly at the words "the three of us" and fidgeted slightly disapprovingly.
"Murdock! You know she can't mention you?"
"Yeah, hun. It's for your own safety too." Amy squeezed Murdock's hand that was still holding hers.
Amy grumbled, "Decker's been constantly hounding me at work. This is all I need."
"You'll think of something, kid."
"Did you get them?" Amy asked, she raised her hand to Face's eye, which was showing some slight bruising; she'd also noticed that both Murdock and Face's hands, especially Murdock's were bruised.
"Yeah, we got them. Don't you worry about that, " Face smiled back at her. "Anyway, Amy, we better get out of here, before you know who turns up. We just wanted to check that you were okay."
Without hesitation, Murdock leaned forward and kissed Amy on her forehead. Which reminded her of something.
"Did one of you…?" Amy hesitated. "Oh, never mind." She probably imagined it.
"We'll hook up back in LA, chica," and Murdock winked at her.
Face hesitated initially but like Murdock he too kissed her on her forehead and gently stroked her hair. He was pleased she was safe. He still held her hand and squeezed it.
"I think it's gonna be too dangerous for us to come back to get you, so yeah, we'll catch up in a few days." Face smiled at her. "You get some rest now."
Both men left Amy's bedside and walked towards the door. As they walked out of the room, Murdock turned and waved in his usual way, eyes wide and grinning, which made Amy chuckle. Face grabbed him by the collar of his jacket, the door closed behind them and they hurried out of the hospital unnoticed.
Amy was about to close her eyes but the nurse returned with her large bouquet of flowers.
"Aren't they beautiful? These are what your brothers brought in to cheer you up. Aren't you lucky to have such wonderful brothers?"
"Brothers?" Amy initially confused by the nurses comments soon realised who she was talking about, "Oh yeah, my brothers!"
The array of pink flowers were beautiful and in abundance. Amy smiled; Face must have chosen them, with a little help from Murdock.
"Nurse, I think I'm going to get some rest."
The nurse came over and put the mask back over Amy's face.
"I don't blame you, and this will help relax you."
Amy closed her eyes, breathing the cool pure air again and the nurse checked her over, taking her blood pressure and her temperature before leaving her to sleep.
"Any sign of the A Team, Captain Crane?"
Amy could hear the distinct, gruff voice of Decker as he was walked along the corridor outside her room. She kept her eyes closed.
"No Sir."
"OK, keep me updated. I'm sure they'll want to check on Miss Allen."
Amy heard him enter the room but still kept her eyes shut. 'Please go away' she thought. Another nurse had entered the room with Decker.
"She's sleeping at the moment, sir, but she's OK. The guys that brought her in, got her here just in time."
"It's OK, nurse. I'll wait." Amy could hear a seat being dragged to the side of her bed. If she could have rolled her eyes she would have done, 'doesn't he ever give up?'
Amy heard another voice; someone else must have entered the room.
"Sir, a black van matching the description of the A Team's, just been spotted, sir!"
"OK, get the unit ready to move out. I'll pay Miss Allen a visit later."
Amy thought to herself, 'well I could at least give the guys a half hour head start' and started to wake.
"Hold it Lieutenant, I think she's waking. I want to hear what Miss Allen's got to say."
Amy removed the mask from her face. "Colonel Decker?" Amy asked sleepily and innocently.
"Miss Allen, how are you feeling? I've been informed the A Team may have saved your life."
"The A Team?"
END