Here's Chapter Two! I'm happy I got it up so soon, because I honestly didn't expect it to happen. The other chapters will probably come slowly after this, but ... at least you have this one. :)
I gotta say. I love dialogue. I don't think stories would happen without it. ... Specifically my stories. Anyway. I hope that you enjoy this chapter. I know I enjoyed writing it. Though I don't think the team is enjoying it. ...
Review if you have comments or anything, and I'd like to announce my dare again. I dare anyone reading this to like Frankie. I'm speaking to all of those open-minded fans. #givefrankieachance
It had been a slow day until BA had begun complaining about milk, and after Murdock's call, the A-Team arrived at the store in record time. "There's Frankie's car." Face pointed out the old model as they drove into the parking lot. Hannibal remained silent, but BA grunted,
"An' that crazy foo' is up on t'other end of the store."
"Hnn- yeah." Face hummed his agreement, "That must be where he found the blood."
"Who would kidnap Frankie?" BA growled it as though he was angry at their newest member, but his two companions knew better.
"He might not even be kidnapped," Face kept saying that, but sounded unconvincing even to himself. "He might just be out doing something on his own." They pulled up to the front of the store, and stopped the van, getting out to meet Murdock.
"You found blood, Captain?" Hannibal was all business and Murdock was also uncharacteristically serious
"Yeah, right over here." Murdock then proceeded to show them what he had found. Hannibal tasted it, and then nodded, confirming what had previously had the possibility of being one of Murdock's hallucinations.
"Yeahp. That's blood." Hannibal stood up again, puffing thoughtfully on his cigar.
"Yeah, but who'd wanna kidnap Frankie?!" BA repeated, causing Face to sigh, and Murdock to look at Hannibal, who replied,
"Someone who knew he was one of us."
"Ah- c'mon Hannibal," Face turned to look at the Colonel, taking his eyes off of the spilled milk, "we've all been here! Why didn't they take one of us? Why didn't they follow him home? -Why didn't they follow us home?! Huh? It doesn't add up! BA's got a point, if you want a member of the A-Team, why take Frankie?!"
"Frankie's part of the A-Team!" Murdock was suddenly right up in Face's face, but Hannibal spoke, putting a stop to the argument that Face hadn't even meant to start.
"Frankie's the new guy on the team. The rest of us have reputations for winning. They probably took him to get to us." Hannibal then speared Face with a hard look, "They must have known that we never leave a teammate behind." Murdock's look was positively smug, and then BA said,
"So le's go get 'im."
They all started walking to the back of the store, and Face began protesting, only just realizing what had happened, "I never said he wasn't a part of the team!"
No answer.
"Oh, c'mon guys! That isn't what I meant at all!"
BA gave him a glare while Murdock continued to studiously ignore him.
"All I meant was-"
"Face, do you mind?" Hannibal interrupted him, nodding towards the locked 'EMPLOYEE'S ENTRANCE'.
"Ah- yeah." Face began picking the lock as he continued, "I never meant to imply that Frankie wasn't a member of the team. All I meant was-" he paused for a moment, testing the door before going on, "If you're going to capture a member of the A-Team, it would usually be one of us. I was just, ah, confused by that." He kept taking his hand off of the doorknob to wave it, emphasizing his point, "I mean, of course Frankie's a member of the team!" He paused to gesture to himself and then them successively, "I know that! We all know that! It's just- they shouldn't know that- eh, the guys that took him. They shouldn't know about Frankie, ah, at least ... most of them shouldn't."
Face opened the door and Hannibal walked in, the rest of them following, but Face wasn't done, "Stockwell only recruited us four months ago. Some people still think we're dead- so how could they know about Frankie already?! Especially well enough to grab 'im? Ah- I just- eh-"
"You're right, Face." Hannibal cut him off as they reached another locked door, this one protecting a small office for employees, "They shouldn't know. But they do, and since they do-" He gestured toward the door, and Face started on it, "It's a cinch they know about us, or at least well enough to know where we're at and where we shop."
"Speak for yourself." Face muttered, but Hannibal continued,
"So it's also a cinch that they've been hanging around here for a while." The Colonel once again led the way in as Face held the door open, "So let's find out who works here, starting with whoever was on shift at 8:00 this morning."
"Hannibal, they might not even have been involved." Face pointed out.
"Face," Hannibal turned, putting a hand on his shoulder with a very patient look, "Have a little faith. Someone is sure to have seen something."
"Or done somethin'." BA spoke up, his gaze murderous as he started replaying the security feeds.
"Found it." Murdock pulled away from the filing cabinets, a folder in his hand. He gave it to Hannibal, who immediately gave it to Face, his eyes focused on the security feed from earlier that day. BA fast forwarded to 8:00 am, and then let it paly.
"There he is." Murdock pointed, and they all watched as Frankie sauntered into the store. Face looked up from the folder, and they all watched Frankie begin shopping. He hadn't even gotten to the dairy isle before Murdock spoke again, "That guy is followin' him."
"Yeah, and he's not the only one." Face leaned in, pointing to some of the other screens, showing several other shady looking people, all of them watching Frankie.
"Hannibal, they have guns." BA growled.
"Yeah, looks like they were scared of 'im." Murdock said it with a grim smile, the unspoken message traveling through all of them.
Frankie could be dead.
"I'm scared of his advice." Face tried to lighten the mood, but only succeeded in getting half-hearted smiles from both Murdock and himself.
"They all gonna be scared of me." BA grunted.
That made Hannibal smile.
"Yeah. Jumpin' a guy who's just tryin' ta buy milk- that's low." Murdock agreed, his voice soft and angry.
"Oh, but look guys." Hannibal pointed to Frankie. He was looking at the milk, but on closer inspection, he was looking at the reflections of the other men in the glass.
"He expected it." Face stated.
"That's still six against one, Hannibal." BA looked about ready to throw every one of those men through a window.
"Not even a Nighthawk Commando can take on that many without a helicopter." Murdock shook his head, "Frankie didn't have a chance."
"Helicopter?!" BA rounded on the pilot, "Whatchou talkin' 'bout, foo'?!"
"BA." Hannibal put a stop to that, pointing at the screen again, which now showed Frankie paying for the milk, smiling at the cashier, and then exiting the store. Those other men were right behind him, only one of them paying, while the others left. BA paused it after the man followed his friends out.
"Shaaron Fleming."
Everyone looked at Face, who held up the folder.
"She was the one on shift at 8:00? Hannibal asked.
"Ah-huh." Face nodded, proffering a wallet-sized picture of a plain young woman.
"But wouldn't it be easier to just find the guys who were there? This place probably keeps records of its customers." Murdock started looking again, but Hannibal stopped him with what he said next,
"Something tells me that, whether those guys were conspicuous or not, they have aliases. So our best bet is the girl."
"So where is she?!" BA's hands clenched into fists.
"Eh-" Face's eyes skimmed her file, and then he looked up, "Doesn't say."
"It doesn't say?" Hannibal grabbed the folder from Face, checking for himself.
"That's weird." Murdock commented, "Wouldn't they have her information here?"
"Not all of it, but ah- ... Murdock's right, Hannibal." Face confirmed, "They should at least have her address."
"Then where is it?" BA's fists turned white.
"Face can tell us." Hannibal handed the folder back to the con-man with a smile.
"I can?" Face had a look of dread that was just reaching his eyes.
"Right after your visit to City Hall." Hannibal nodded, "Take Murdock with you."
"Right." Face gave a squinty smile that ended up looking more like a grimace, "I hesitate to ask ... what will you be doing?"
"BA and I are gonna find out more about the guy that took the girl's information, along with the rest of those scuzzballs. Meet us back here."
"How they gonna get there Hannibal?" BA's eyes glowed with danger, "Not in my van!"
"Now, BA-" Hannibal began, but Face stopped them both by holding up a key,
"I have Frankie's spare."
"And I happen to be a very good driver!" Murdock huffed. Hannibal just chuckled, watching both of them leave before turning back to BA.
"Okay, BA. Turn that camera back on, and we'll see who came into this office."
"Hannibal, do you think we should tell Stockwell?" BA asked the question everyone else had forgotten on purpose.
"Oh, I think he knows." Hannibal shrugged as the feed continued from where they'd left off.
"Yeah," BA sighed, "Man knows it all, but never helps out."
Hannibal let loose his first real laugh since Murdock's call.
Oozy sure knew how to use a knife. He'd only done one thing, but it had been enough to make Frankie want to give it all away right then. It was too bad that he couldn't.
Oozy and Nasally had finally left him alone, but only after they'd made a nice mess of him first. So now here he was; blood dripping from a nasty cut behind his right ear. If his head had been throbbing before, it was pounding now. (It had actually been pounding before. Now it felt like he was being walked on by a herd of elephants.)
Frankie had never really thought about his blood before, but when it was sliding down his neck, pooling in his clavicle and then dripping all over his shirt (they definitely owed him a new one) ... well. It was hard to think about anything else.
... Unless it was the rest of the team.
Where were they?! Half of him was consumed by that question, while the other half, the half that wouldn't let him spill his guts to Oozy (er, bad choice of words), loyally assured him that they were all on the way. He hoped that half turned out right. Especially since Oozy was back.
"Couldn't you have stayed away a little longer?" Frankie had begun to just avoid the subject of the A-Team entirely, avoiding their questions by asking his own. He figured if he acted confident enough, he'd get away. Hey- it worked for Hannibal (then again, Hannibal had a plan and stuff too).
"I can't afford to let you become comfortable enough to keep up your foolish act." Oozy replied evenly, "Where is the A-Team?"
"Why do you want these guys, anyway?" Frankie had found that it was much easier to stay confident when Face wasn't dying in the back room, and no one was about to kill him.
"That is none of your concern." Oozy snapped. Frankie had asked the question before, and it had set the guy off. It seemed to really push his buttons.
"Is it for revenge?" He ignored the brushoff.
"I said it was none of your concern!" Oozy stepped right up to Frankie's face, his knife suddenly in his hand. Okay ... so ... new line of questioning.
"All right, okay. So. Where's your pal?"
"Also none of your concern." Oozy seethed through his teeth.
"Then what am I doin' here?!" Frankie asked it genuinely, still avoiding the initial question, which came as a result.
"Where is the A-Team?!" Oozy's patience was at an end (not that he'd had all that much in the first place).
"I- ... I don't know." Frankie sighed.
"How long must we play this game?!" Oozy stepped back, his eyes squeezing shut tightly, as though he were in pain (which Frankie found slightly offensive).
"I honestly don't know!" Frankie said again, seeing Oozy ready the knife. At this point, it was true- the team could be anywhere right now- he really didn't know.
"I suggest you start knowing then." Oozy move forward again, brandishing the knife.
"I really don't!" Frankie tried again, but still flinched back as the hammer fell (figuratively). He had to bite his lip to keep from yelping, and his right hand reflexively closed as the large piece of skin between his thumb and forefinger was severed. Deeply.
"Did that help your memory?" Oozy took a step back after wiping the knife of on Frankie's sleeve. Yeah. He owed him a new shirt.
"This has nothing to do wid my memory." Frankie spoke quietly through his now bloody lip as his hand began dripping the stuff, "I honestly don't know."
"I hope you do soon." Oozy put away the knife and began to leave before calling back, "Soon you won't have anything else to lose."
Frankie sincerely hoped he was wrong.
