It wasn't long before the alarm had been raised and as Face rounded the next corner, hugging the wall for support, two of the nursing staff called for him to stop. It took a whole second before he started to run in the other direction as two capable looking male nurses gave chase and he was once again cursing his slow reaction times thanks to the drugs. He scampered through and open door, before closing it behind him and barricaded it with a nearby chair, laid out for visitors. It wouldn't hold very long, but it bought him a few second to put some space between himself and the staff, he knew most of which thought they were only doing their job, but right now if he tried to explain the truth, he would look crazier. Of course running had the same effect but at least e had a chance to get away if he did.
More voices echoed ahead and the faint static that followed radio transmission made Face realise the staff were coordinating through walkies. Out-numbered and out-manoeuvred, it was only a matter of time before he was caught again but he wasn't going to quit until he had absolutely exhausted all options.
Avoiding most of the obvious hall ways, he clung to the darker, lesser used routes, finally seeing a fire exit that was already open and wouldn't trigger any sort of alarm. He staggered past the elderly janitor, apologising as he almost toppled the guy before making one last bid for freedom.
He could taste the outside air; feel it cut its way into his lungs, clearing them of the stifling, antiseptic aroma of the hospital. The late morning sunshine stung his tired eyes as he took his first step towards the rays, but that was a most welcome discomfort. What he didn't like was the sudden sting in his exposed neck as he was about to take that final step towards freedom. What he also didn't welcome, was the lethargy and the fact his legs seemed to have checked out, refusing to work anymore. Face blinked rapidly trying to remove the double vision that had suddenly washed over him and despite wanting to go forward and out of the door, he was staggering back, holding the place at his neck where he felt the sting. His hand came away, having plucked a small dart from his skin and he glared at it accusingly. His vision blurred and cleared once more, just enough so he could see one of the security staff lowering a dart gun, while two more men ran towards him.
The lieutenant groaned pathetically as he slid down the wall weakly, barely hearing the words of amused acceptance from the orderlies. Apparently he had given them their work out for the day and one even patted his shoulder affectionately as they placed him into a more comfortable position as the tranquilizer claimed the would be escapee.
Hannibal had acted surprised and adequately indignant as the young man came stumbling around the corner almost knocking him off his feet. Still in character, the colonel staggered convincingly but almost broke his act when he realised just who it was who had barged into him. He almost called out to his soldier, but kept himself in check, for right on Face's heels were a number of the hospital staff, plus a few thugs watching menacingly from further up the corridor. They didn't dress like hospital staff and the way their jackets hung, he could tell they were packing heat.
His lieutenant staggered back from the open fire escape that Hannibal managed to break through undetected, and hit the wall behind him before sinking to the floor. It all happened so quickly, leaving Hannibal no window to assist his man, who was now well and truly down. His gut twisted in disgust, who ever was responsible for this mess was going to answer personally to him, but he had to track that someone down first and unfortunately there were just to many for Hannibal to take alone. He had to go through with his plan, but at least he had indeed confirmed that Face was here and in desperate need of help.
"Nice try, fella," one of the male nurses said as they laid the drugged man down gently. "But you're no Howling Mad Murdock." Hannibal almost smiled at that, the reputation of his captain was well known and for good reason.
"This one must be a new admission, I've not seen him before." said the second as the guard responsible for darting Face drew closer, urging Hannibal, the janitor on and away from the scene.
"Move it along, pal. This fella's served his country and doesn't deserve no gawking from the likes of you." The guard glared down at Hannibal, who smiled and nodded.
"I ain't gawking son. Served myself. Seen some, terrible things but…" He glanced back at Face and suddenly realised how young his lieutenant still was and had been back then. "I'm just thinking that it's such a shame. He seems so young, who is he?"
"Couldn't say, pops," the male nurse said as he examined Face's wrist, obviously looking for a hospital band.
"He's a John Doe," came another voice and all turned to see a doctor approach. A tall balding man, with a gaunt expression and looking like he hadn't slept in a month. His name tag read 'Morgan' and Hannibal had to summon all of his self control not to pound the guy into the ground but judging by the quickly forming bruise around his jaw, it looked like Face had already done that, no doubt while trying to get away.
"John Doe?" Hannibal asked meeting Morgan's eyes, making the nervous doctor look away first. "I thought this was a veteran's hospital, wouldn't the army have records?"
"Of course they do, but they haven't been able to identify this man since he was found in Vietnam, shell-shocked with no identification. He's still very ill and unable to communicate who he is." Morgan knelt by Face seeming to examine the man. "I need him back in his room so I can finish his evaluation," the nurses nodded and one left, returning moments later with a gurney while the guard ushered Hannibal along.
"Alright, shows over. Let's give the guy a little privacy shall we?"
"Course," Hannibal mumbled as he shuffled away with his cleaning supplies, looking back as long as he could and long enough to see Morgan produce a syringe.
The rest of his surveillance had been simple. Since the distraction provided by Face had everyone's back turned the colonel was able to search the offices uninterrupted. He located Morgan's and since the doctor was busy with his patient, Hannibal had plenty of time to plant the bug and take photo's of some pretty shady documents concerning patient medications and treatments.
He got back to the van and got inside, pulling off the wig and moustache angrily.
"He's inside, as a patient." Hannibal explained looking back at the hospital and nodding to B.A who activated the receiver for the bug. "Dr Morgan is definitely up to no good, I think Face stumbled onto it some how and ended up being invited to stay."
"So why didn't you bust him out?" B.A asked in the only way he knew how, sounding defiant and incredulous, but Hannibal seldom took that to heart, he knew the sergeant was worried and rightly so.
"Too many," he explained as he lit up a cigar. "There's at least one pack of goons in there heavily armed, the rest are just staff doing their jobs. We have to think this though, discover all the facts and work out who and what we're dealing with before we can do anything." He looked back a Murdock who would be their ace in the hole just as soon as he'd come down off what ever the good doctor had plied him with. "How's the head, Murdock?"
"Not as loud, but it's still moving colonel. It's still moving." The captain rotated his head as if trying to alleviate pressure in his neck. "What's the Faceman doing in there anyway? He better not be borrowing my stuff, I have a list and if anything is missing I'll be asking that hustler for it back."
"No danger of that happening, Murdock. They got him locked down and drugged up in the high security wing."
Murdock's brow lifted and he looked somewhat uncomfortable. "That's a bad place, colonel. They had me in there once when I slugged Joe Peterson for stealing Billy's dog treats. It's a lonely, lonely place, you loose all track of time and forget who you are. It's not so bad for me cos I had Billy, but Face ain't got anyone, we gotta bust him out." Hannibal regarded his captain with a contemplative gaze.
"Think you're up for that, captain?"
"Course I am, it don't matter about the buzzin, I can put up with that if it means my lil brother's safe, colonel."
"Good man, Murdock."
"What the hell happened there!?" They all fell silent as voices started to buzz through the receiver in hand. "You said he wouldn't be a problem, you said you would keep him under wraps until the job got done! I swear, Morgan, if you fuck this up…"
"It's under control, he is under wraps. I've got him secured in a padded room, doped up to the nines. He doesn't even know what day it is, never mind understands what's happening."
"He heard us…"
"Yes, he did, but he's not going to be telling anyone, anytime soon. Once the job's done, I'll cut him loose."
"And risk him identifying us!?"
"I'm the only who's not anonymous in this, I'm the one who'll be taking the fall when he picks me out of a line up. But I don't care! You just keep up you're end of the deal and you can have Granger." Hannibal frowned and looked to Murdock who answered the unspoken question.
"General Granger, he's supposed to be visiting the hospital tomorrow."
"Granger's a highly decorated general. I served under him in Nam, he's a good man."
"Why would these fools be gunning for him?" B.A asked.
"He's running for the states attorney position here in LA, from what I can tell he's first in all the projected polls. My guess is these guys are voting for the other guy."
"Make sure it goes off without another hitch," the angry sounding man continued. "Or you can count on never seeing your son alive, again."
"That explains the good doctors involvement." Hannibal stated with barely concealed annoyance.
"And why he's been lookin awful tired."
"What we sittin around for, Hannibal. Let's get in there and teach that sucka some respect."
"Hold that thought, B.A, first we need a guy on the inside." Hannibal smiled across at his men before picking up the phone.
A few hours later Amy stood at the reception desk of the VA hospital with Murdock in tow. The staff recognised him right away and proceeded to thank Amy for returning their escaped patient. She explained she was meant to visit that morning but had to attend a last minute meeting and Murdock had become worried which prompted the break out. She'd found him later that afternoon in her apartment, talking to her fish accompanied by Alfie. The staff bought the cover story and after a while she and Murdock where now in his room ready for the next phase of Hannibal's plan to be put into action.
After getting the all clear from Amy, Hannibal got out of the van, donning yet another disguise, this time of a maintenance worker, someone a little younger than Hannibal the janitor. He nodded to B.A who positioned the van ready to tail the crooks in suits; with luck they would lead B.A to where they were holding the doc's kid. Morgan would have to answer for the harm he'd done, but the loss of a child was not going to be his punishment.
Once the boy was out of harms way, they would set to work busting the crooks and rescuing Face, who Hannibal was growing increasingly worried about. The last time he'd seen the kid, he was out cold and being dosed up with more. Fair enough the doc himself seemed to be genuinely looking out for Face's life, but the effects of drugs in any dose could be unpredictable and dangerous.
While B.A tailed the suit as he came stomping from the hospital, Hannibal got word to Amy and Murdock, who began their tour of the VA's lesser travelled paths…
"Get up, Face." A familiar voice echoed to the sleepy lieutenant and right away he felt annoyed. He was trying to sleep here, he was so very tired. All he'd been doing was work, work, work. "Come on lieutenant, up and at 'em!" Hannibal, it could only be him.
Face groaned and rolled onto his side, trying to blink away the haze. All he could see was white, a glaring stark white, blurring into forever. Nothing had depth or shadow, just white.
"About time." Hannibal's voice echoed to him from some indiscernible direction, leaving Face questioning whether he'd actually heard him at all. Just when he was starting to doubt his sanity, the colonel knelt before him, cigar in hand and smile on his lips. "It's hardly the time to sleep, Face."
"I'm sleepy," he slurred in response. "Most people sleep, when they're sleepy."
"We're not most people," the colonel chewed the end off the cigar and started to light up. "We get back up when most would stay down, we fight on when others give up and we don't abandon each other."
"Well of course not, but…"
"You know we're coming for you."
Face blinked up at Hannibal, fear knotting his stomach when he realised something. "You mean, you're not here already?" The white walls were starting to come into focus and as they done so; the image of the colonel began to fade. "Colonel!"
"Get up, Face…" Hannibal's words grew feint as his form evaporated before the hustlers bleary eyes.
"Wait…" he knew it was pointless reaching out, but he done so anyway…
Face's out stretched hand fell to the floor when he realised what he'd seen was just in his head. A hopeful dream, that followed him into this waking nightmare.
With a sob, Face rolled back so he was now staring up at the ceiling and a hopelessness emerged that he hadn't felt in years. The last time he had felt this powerless had been in the POW camps back in Nam and it was only because he'd had his team, his friends around him, that he'd escaped with most of his marbles. He had Murdock to thank for that more than most; the older man had taken a lot, so a much younger Templeton Peck would be spared. It was the reason why Face had more patience for Murdock than anyone else on the team, why he went fishing with dummies and played along with nuts, puppets, socks and dead lobsters. The horrors of those camps had done that to his friend, and his friend had placed himself in harms way deliberately so Face, barely out of his teens, wouldn't have to endure that pain and torment. Hannibal too, and B.A, they'd all closed in around Face like the family he'd never been blessed with.
The sense of hopelessness was fading as he realised how lucky he was, how fortunate he had been and that his moping, wouldn't go down well with the colonel.
"We're not most people…" Face repeated the words from his dream and smiled as his fingers brushed against the jagged edge of the metal tool in his sleeve. Turning his head to the left, he could just about make out where he had started to cut through the padding. "I know you're coming for me." He muttered and he very slowly started to drag himself along the floor.
Again he positioned himself with his back to the door and half slumped against the wall, bone weary and barely able to focus. He had to get away this time and while he didn't have any hard evidence to support this gut feeling that his team mates were on their way, he also couldn't rid himself of it. Every time he tried to talk his dull, hazy mind out of this course of action, the colonel's words drifted back, reminding him, renewing his efforts.
He had no idea how long he picked at the lining of the section of wall, but pretty soon he had exposed the underside of the vent and with a lazy smile and heavy arms, he slowly undone the screws. If he could lift, even bend the metal cover enough so he could squeeze inside, even when they realised he was gone, he would have an entire network of confined, dusty shafts to shuffle through, emerging anywhere. It was his best shot, his only shot and it had to count this time.
With the screws now loose, Face pried at the vent, pulling with as much strength as he could muster, cutting his hands numerous times before finally managing to create enough of a gap to slip into. By now he was exhausted, it seemed all that effort had tripled the effects of the chemicals floating around his system, most of which seemed to be in his head. Now inside the vent, he had barely shuffled a few meters when he was overcome and drifted off.
The sound of an alarm blaring drove Hannibal on through the hallway. He'd got word from B.A around ten minutes ago that he'd secured the boy. With the hostage safe, Hannibal and Murdock set the next stage of the plan in motion; the alarm was Murdock's way of telling the colonel that he had started the distraction leaving Hannibal a clear run towards the higher security ward.
With most of security converging on the east wing, Hannibal slipped through easily under the guise of a repair man looking to fix one of the office's computer systems. The skeleton crew that remained let the colonel through with minimal checks and Hannibal made straight for the secure ward, peering through the windows trying to locate his man. Each room had a different patient inside, most of which were so medicated they didn't even notice their observer. One room was suspiciously empty, the padding of which on the north wall, seemed distorted and smeared with something resembling blood.
Every member of his team was resourceful but none more so than Face, he had to be to fulfil the teams sometimes outrageous requests. Face had busted out and now Hannibal was wondering whether the alarm had been raised for this. Taking it in his stride, he made straight for Morgan's office, barging in without knocking and wearing headphones. The doctor looked up surprised at the sudden intrusion as did his guest.
"Oh sorry, guys," Hannibal removed the headphones. "The guy on the door said this office was empty. I'm just here to repair the computer."
"The computer doesn't need repair, you must have the wrong office." Morgan said with a small smile.
"But I have the request here…" He took out the food stained piece of paper and placed it on the desk, 'accidently' bumping the guy in the suit. Right away the suit looked angry and stood, shoving the disguised colonel.
"You heard the man; he said you've got the wrong room." Hannibal smiled as their closeness allowed him to relieve the suit of his weapon and in the blink of an eye the colonel had him at gun point.
"It's not nice to shove people, pal. If I were you I would sit down and don't even think about getting up again." Hannibal warned seeing the crook slowly sit back down.
"What are you doing!?" Morgan cried, lunging for the weapon but the colonel was to well trained to be taken by a civilian. He grabbed the doctor by the jacket and pushed him back into his own chair.
"I'm giving you the same advice, doc. Sit down and don't move."
"You don't understand, what you're doing, you can't…" Morgan's words spilled out in desperation and tears filled his eyes.
"Take it easy, doc. We now about your boy, he's safe." Hannibal softened just a little as he explained and Morgan looked back at the gun wielding stranger with something resembling awe and disbelief.
"Yon son-of-a-bitch!" Hannibal locked eyes with the suit as he snarled at the doctor. "You called in help didn't you? You ratted us out!"
"No, I have no idea who this guy is!" Morgan pleaded, but the desperation in his voice was gone, now he knew his son was safe, he took on a more aggressive stance towards the blackmailer. "And I don't care! You can rot in jail for the rest of your life for what you put me through, for what you put these patients through! I'll testify now, so help me God I will see you locked away!" Morgan lunged for the other man but Hannibal pushed him back again, not taking his eyes off the suit.
"Easy, doc. You'll get that chance." Hannibal calmly lit up what was left of his cigar. "Right now, we need a place to hold this guy till the cops arrive."
"Of course, you can put him in one of the secure rooms." Morgan fumbled for the keys on the wall behind him. "But he's not alone here. Two of his cronies are disguised as orderly's, they were put here to make sure I cooperated and help me dose the men here."
"I've seen the pills, but what are they exactly?" With the suit now restrained in one of the hospitals fashionable, backwards jackets, Hannibal led the crook into the spare padded room that Morgan led them too.
"It's an experimental substance; it increases the dopamine levels in the brain, making the subject experience auditory and visual hallucinations. I didn't want to do this, but they had my boy…"
"I don't understand how making crazy men crazier, has anything to do with the General's visit tomorrow."
"They wanted him dead, but they had to make it look like an accident. They planned to have as many patients here as possible, loaded up on this drug, making them volatile. So when the general paid his visit, chaos would ensue."
"And during this, chaos, the general is killed and one of the patients is singled out for the murder."
"Exactly." Morgan frowned meeting Hannibal's gaze. "Who are you anyway? How did you even know about any of this?"
"I'm colonel John 'Hannibal' Smith and you've had a new admission recently," the colonel kept his tone calm, but inside he was still angry about his man being held against his will. Some of that anger was directed at the doc of course, but he also had some sympathy for the man, he had been caught in a difficult situation. "He happens to be a good friend of mine, a member of my team, and I want him back."
"The junkie?" Morgan started towards the room Hannibal walked by earlier. "He came in, pretending to be a doctor from a pharmaceutical company, he overheard a pretty heated discussion between myself and the thugs sent to keep me in line, and they were concerned he'd heard too much and were going to kill him, I convinced them they didn't need to do that…" Morgan frowned as he looked through the window and Hannibal knew Face's escape was news. "He *was* in here." He fumbled with the keys and opened the door, looking at the blood smeared wall in shock. "I sweat to you; he was in here not ten minutes ago."
Hannibal stepped inside and shuddered inwardly. He couldn't imagine what it would be like to be locked away in a room like this, questioning your own mind, left with nothing but your own thoughts and memories. Sure it was cleaner than the POW camps but a prison was a prison, no matter how you dressed it up and Hannibal knew Face would have been desperate to escape. After Nam, they were all wired pretty much the same, which is why the military stockade couldn't hold them for long ten years prior, and the reason why this room hadn't been able to hold the lieutenant now.
"Did you give him any of this, drug?" He had to ask, he needed to know exactly what Face was going to need help with, if the kid was going to be unpredictable and a flight risk, Hannibal had to put precautions in place to protect both Face and the team.
"I'm afraid those men didn't give me much of a choice. When your friend escaped the first time, they told me if I didn't dose him, he'd be taken away and shot. I'm sorry, colonel, I just… I didn't want his blood on my hands."
"You were looking out for him and you've got my thanks for that, but I need to find him and we need to get the rest of the goons secured away."
"I'll have security search for him now," Morgan started towards his office to use the phone.
"No, bad idea. He'll just think you're trying to lock him up again and I don't want anyone, especially my man hurt."
"They won't hurt him, colonel and I doubt you're man is in any fit state to injure anyone either."
"I suppose he wasn't in any fit state to escape that room back there either? One of the first rules of hunting, doc," Hannibal said softly as he plucked the phone receiver from the docs hand and placed it back on the cradle. "You don't corner an injured animal." The colonel kept his gaze serious because that wasn't an insult to Face at all; if anything it was a compliment. The kid had skills, proficient in hand to hand combat even if he complained about having to partake half the time.
"Alright then, colonel, he's your guy, what do you want to do?"