"I think we missed the proper introductions back at the house," Face told Jean when they were on the road, "I'm Face, that's Murdock, you know Hannibal of course, and that's B.A."

"And I'm the Saint," she replied, looking ahead to B.A. she asked, "What does B.A. stand for?"

"Bad attitude," Murdock answered.

Jean looked at him and said, "I wasn't talking to you." She climbed up to look over the top of the front seat and looked down at B.A. and asked him, "You really think we can make it to Queensworth in 4 hours?"

"We'll be there before the night, that's for sure," he said.

Jean got back in her seat and reached over to poke Face on the arm and asked him, "So what happened to the million dollars you guys took? I wouldn't think with that kind of money you guys would have to be renting out your services to the poor people."

"The bank in Hanoi recovered their money 10 years ago after we were arrested," Face said.

"So why're they still chasing you then?" she asked.

"Because Colonel Lynch holds a grudge like it's a suitcase," Murdock answered, "Now, regarding other matters, how long are those pills supposed to keep our boss asleep for?"

"Oh," Jean leaned forward and got a look at the speedometer, "We should be in Ohio before he wakes up at the rate this guy drives."

B.A. was still grinning from ear to ear and laughing as he looked over and saw Hannibal asleep in the passenger seat; for once the tables turned on him.

The four people had made small conversation among themselves during the drive and just before B.A.'s van reached the Ohio state limits, Jean reached over to the front seat and set Hannibal's wristwatch back three hours.

"Oh boy this is gonna be good," she said.

B.A. was still grinning from ear to ear and hadn't stopped laughing in the four hours they'd been driving. Though his sunny disposition broke for a moment as he looked back at the other passengers and said, "So this is what you fools' always doing with me when I'm knocked out, eh?"

"With all due respect, B.A., it's a lot harder with you," Face said.

"Yeah, cuz you's a lot heavier," Murdock added.

"One more remark out of you, fool, and you're gonna be the hood ornament," B.A. warned him.

Jean elbowed them to be quiet as they saw Hannibal was starting to move. He groaned and slowly came to and looked around as if trying to get his bearings straight.

"What happened?" he asked, still half asleep, "Where are we?"

B.A. chuckled and said, "I guess that jetlag finally caught up with you, eh, Hannibal?"

"Huh?" Hannibal looked over at him and then out the window and asked, "Where are we?"

"We're about to go through Toledo," Jean told him, "It's about time you woke up."

Even B.A. fought to keep a straight face as he said, "Yeah Hannibal, you slept through the whole flight."

"What flight?" he asked, suddenly all there.

"Don't you remember?" Face asked, "You said we should fly to Ohio instead of making the long drive so we can get there ahead of Grant. Only took an hour."

"Yeah and what a flight it was," Jean added, "You would've thought Murdock was at the controls, the whole damn jet about went upside down during the middle of the flight."

Hannibal turned around and looked at them quizzically and said, "If we flew to Ohio, how'd we get the van here?"

"It was a Globe Master," Jean answered.

It wasn't Hannibal's usual grin but he finally smiled as he said somewhat dryly, "Ha ha, okay, I can take a joke."

"Good, remember this next time you try knocking me out," B.A. advised him, and added a warning growl at the end.

Hannibal pulled a cigar out of his pocket and asked as he bit down on it, "How long until we reach Queensworth?"

"At the rate this angry mudsucker drives," Murdock said, "About five minutes."

"Shut up, fool," B.A. told him.

Jean elbowed Face and asked him, "What is a mudsucker?"

"I think it's a fish," he answered.

"So where is Grant's destination in this town?" Hannibal asked.

"A hotel on Lexington Street," Jean answered, "The Rococo."

"Sounds expensive," Face said.

"I checked," she said, "It isn't, like so many other things in the world, so terribly misnamed. I've got enough money left to get a room there, or rather," she looked around at the four men, "A couple of rooms."

Hannibal saw the murderous gleam coming from the corner of B.A.'s right eye as he ever so slightly shook his head.

"That won't be necessary," Hannibal told her, "It goes to business expenses."

"Peck said that you guys had a colonel from Vietnam chasing after you," Jean told Hannibal as they got their bags out of the van, "A colonel Finch?"

"Lynch," Face corrected her, "As in what he'd probably love to do with us."

"Right," Jean said, and addressing Hannibal she added, "And you're the guy he always comes after first, right? John 'Hannibal' Smith."

"That's right," he said.

"Well if he comes sniffing around here, he's going to have a lot of trouble finding you this time," Jean said, "I checked ahead on the hotel and rooms are becoming pretty scarce. As it turns out there's a Smith family reunion going on here in a couple of days, so the Rococo Hotel is going to be filled to the brim with Smiths. If Lynch comes here he'll have 500 Smiths to sort through."

Face let out strangled laugh as he spun around on his heel, "What're the odds of that?"

"So when we go in we'll just tell them we're part of the family," Jean said, "What's five more Smiths?"

"Yeah but uh," Murdock gestured to B.A., "How're you going to explain this one?"

B.A. looked down at him and snarled, Murdock quickly inched away from him and over towards the others.

"I thought about that," Jean said, "And I think I have the perfect cover." She pointed to Hannibal, "John," to Face, "Jim," to Murdock, "Joe," to herself, "Jane," and she went over to B.A., grabbed his arm and pointed to him as she said, "Daddy!"

That sudden suggestion took Murdock and Face by surprise and they both broke out laughing, until they saw the look on B.A.'s face and both became quiet as a tomb.

"Gotta admit, there is something to that idea," Hannibal said, though he was known for his persistent straight faced grin in the direst situations, even he was having trouble restraining himself from laughing.

B.A. shook his head and remarked, pointing to Murdock, "No way I'd have any ugly kids like this crazy fool."

"It's worth a try," Jean said.

"I'll go on ahead and get us checked in," Face said, "I think it'd be easier if they didn't see us all at once."

"I'll go with you," Murdock said.

"And I'm going to see what they've got around this place in the way of any equipment we may need in the near future," Hannibal added as he headed around the corner.

That left just B.A. and Jean at the van to unpack everything. She looked at him and said, "Just keep in mind I didn't ask you guys to come here, you're free to walk at any time."

B.A. laughed and replied, "You don't know us very well."

"Obviously not," Jean said, "Though it is to my understanding for being soldiers of fortune, a lot of your work is charity cases, clients who can't pay but still get your services, depending on who they are, what they are, if they're friends…but I don't know you, and I know my parents don't either. So why this case?"

If he had an answer for her he didn't get to it because it was at that moment that Murdock came back to help unpack, and Face wasn't far behind him.

"Did you get the rooms?" Jean asked.

"Yes," he answered, "Two rooms, four double beds."

"That still means somebody has to bunk with someone else," Jean said, "It also means I'm going to be stuck in the same room with one of you numbskulls."

"I know," Face told her, "But like you said, the rooms are running out. I figure we'd kill each other over the rooms later."

"Well, it's a plan," Jean said.

"I also got a glance over the registry and saw that David Grant is not checked in yet," Face added.

"I told you I'd get us here ahead of time," B.A. said.

"Well if Grant's not here yet, then he must be on the way," Jean commented, "I'll just have to keep my eyes peeled for him."

"You keep saying you," Face noted, "You seem to forget you came out here with company."

"I didn't forget," she said, "But I know that you don't kill people, I do, and that's what's going to happen here when Grant arrives, and if you don't like it you can leave now, I don't need your help, I don't need anybody's help to get this done."

"It's no wonder she never would've lasted in the army," Murdock commented.

"Yeah," she sneered, "I'm too independent. Just remember I didn't ask anybody to come out here, you're free to leave at any time."

Face reached over and grabbed her arm to get her attention and said, "Incidentally, Saint, do you happen to have a picture of this guy incase we meet him first?"

She snorted, "Yeah, I got a picture."

She opened the duffel bag she was carrying and took out a photograph and handed it to Face. Face was sure something had gone wrong in translation; Jean had said Grant had retired from the military due to his age, but the man in the picture hardly looked a day over 40: tall, big, blonde, mean looking. He definitely looked like he could be a killer, Face couldn't deny that; of course there was no sure way to tell by looking at someone but if ever there was, this guy was it.

He cleared his throat and asked, "Do you have pictures of all your victims?"

She only nodded in response.

"Mind if I see them?" he asked. It wasn't that he was curious to see who all she had killed, he just wanted to make sure she didn't have any pictures of them in there.

"Well this place is fancier than some places we've had to stay," Face said as they tossed their bags down in one of the rooms and took in how large it was.

"At least when it drops to 35 tonight the heat will be on," Jean said as she collapsed in a chair in the middle of the room, "That'll be a huge relief after all those rat infested hellholes with the busted windows."

Murdock watched as she hoisted her bag onto her lap, opened it up and took out a bottle of pills and swallowed two of them.

"What're those?" he asked.

She looked at him, surprised that he'd even noticed, and defensively she answered, "Vitamins. Ain't any of us in the health we used to be, and doctors are not an option."

Meanwhile, Hannibal had Face and B.A. on the other side of the room and was speaking to them quietly so Jean couldn't pick up on their conversation.

"If Grant is coming here he's probably already got a reservation made, we just have to find out what room he's going to be staying in, and we plant a bug."

"And how're we going to get in?" Face asked, "Through the window? We're up on the fourth floor and he's on the one below us, and we have to lay low as much as possible and not draw attention to ourselves."

On the other end of the room, Jean was saying to Murdock, "Finally in a place with a water heater, I'm going to get a shower and send these clothes down to the laundry, first time in four months I'll have clean clothes. They can practically stand up by themselves." She caught the look on Hannibal's face when he heard that and she asked, "Now what did I say?"

"I know how we get into Grant's room," Hannibal told Face.

The door to room 203 opened and Hannibal stepped in, in his trademark Asian makeup as he announced, "Hello Mr. Grant, your laundry service, no?" to cover Face coming in alongside him and planting the bug in a lamp and then went to work to tap the room's phone. Hannibal continued, "I turn down bed and put in mint, s'okay?" and when he saw Face was done, he whispered to him in his normal voice, "Better get that pass-key back to the maid before Grant shows up."

"Right," Face said as he headed out of the room.

Hannibal stayed behind and when the room was quiet, he called out, "Can you hear me?"

Of course he couldn't hear the response, but on the floor above in their room, Murdock was able to pick up every word their colonel was saying through the headphones.

"He got it," he said.

"What about the phone?" Jean asked.

"He'll try that next," B.A. said as he checked the second phone they'd installed in their room along with a tape recorder ready to start moving as soon as 203's phone met another party.

Their room's phone rang and Jean answered it and while Hannibal talked with her, B.A. was able to pick it up on their equipment. He took the phone from Jean and said, "Clear as a whistle, Hannibal."

"Good," was his reply, and he hung up.

"Now what happens when the cleaning lady comes in here in the morning?" Jean asked, "Or do you have a plan for that too?"

"Hannibal always has a plan," Murdock said.

"Are they good though?" she asked.

"Not always," B.A. answered, "But we'll deal with that later."

"Uh-huh," Jean said, "Well, I'm going to take a shower," she stopped at the bathroom door and added, "And if anybody so much as cracks the door open, I'm going to brain them with the soap dish."

"Got it," Murdock said.

"Right," B.A. added.

The door opened and Hannibal and Face stepped back in at that time.

"You really think this will work?" Jean asked Hannibal.

"If David Grant checks into that room, we'll be able to know everything that's said between he and anyone else," Hannibal told her.

"Whatever," she said, "I'm going to get cleaned up."

"Oh, Miss Rhodes," Hannibal reached over and picked up a brown paper bag and held it out to her, "Your mother sent along some of your clothes."

Jean put her fist on her hip and glared at him as though he'd said they had worn them.

"Incase we found you," he added.

Without another word between them she grabbed the bag and went into the bathroom. But before she closed the door, Hannibal followed her in and said, "One more thing, would you mind showing me your hands?"

"Why?" Jean asked.

"No particular reason, just curious," he said.

She didn't get it but she held her hands up with the backs facing him. Hannibal grabbed them and turned them over so the palms faced upward. Apparently finding or not finding what he was or wasn't looking for, Hannibal put them down and went back into the main room.

"What was that about?" Face asked.

Hannibal signaled for them to be quiet, and once they could hear the shower running he went over to the others and said, "I don't like the looks of this one, I've got a bad feeling about this kid."

"What about her?"

He looked back to the door as if to make sure she wasn't listening, and he continued, "You remember back in New York when she was recalling what happened the night of the massacre…she described her exit from the base as being 'like a coward', as if she holds herself responsible for the deaths that occurred, instead of the ones that have taken place since. I'm not convinced that she's not a danger to herself, if she really thinks she's responsible, she may try to kill herself. Life for a life, that's what she said; and that would explain why she hasn't gone home, and why she's tried to get us off this case. Until we can be sure that she's not a suicide risk, I think it would be in her best interest to make sure she's not alone. One of us will stay with her at all times, eat with her, drive with her, bathe with her if necessary."

"Now don't get disgusting, Hannibal," B.A. told him.

While they talked, Murdock went over to where Jean had dropped her bag, the one she personally had carried in; the one she wouldn't let anyone else touch, he dropped in the chair and heaved it onto his lap as she had and opened it up and started digging through it. There were a few sets of dirty clothes, a first aid kit, a switchblade, and a couple of pill bottles. He took one out and was reading the label when the others came over to see what he had found.

"This isn't vitamins," he said, popping the cap on it, "These aren't the right pills either."

"What are they?" Face asked.

Murdock squinted as he read the label, "It says Extra Strength Tylenol, but…these pills are too big and too few to be the right dosage for that." He took out one of the white tablets and said, "Hydromorphone, this isn't aspirin, Hannibal, a lot of the guys at the V.A. are on things like this. It's like on a scale of 1-10 for painkillers, these are a 16."

"Hide them," Hannibal told him, "We'll see if she notices they're gone. It wouldn't take much to overdose on those, would it, Murdock?"

He shook his head, "There's enough in this bottle to kill a whole stampede of elephants. Hannibal," he tried to get the colonel's attention as he stood up, "Hannibal…these pills are prescription only, you can't get them from anywhere except a pharmacy."

"And you can't get a prescription without some personal information, which if you're trying to hide out from the world, is not possible," Face said.

"Maybe," Hannibal said as he looked at the bottle, "But if they were legitimately obtained from a pharmacy, they wouldn't be hiding in a Tylenol bottle either. She probably broke into a pharmacy and stole them."

"Right," Murdock said, "But the main reason anybody takes these things is they're in a world of pain. In the V.A. these are used as an alternative to morphine."

"Well she doesn't have any obvious injuries," Face said, "So how're we going to find out why she's taking them?"

"Well I'm sure, if this David Grant takes his time in checking in, five people in two rooms for an extended amount of time, something's bound to happen," Hannibal said, "Murdock, is there any alcohol in the bag?"

Murdock sorted through the rest of the contents and pulled out half a bottle of whiskey.

"For her sake I hope that's for snakebites," he said, "Hide that too."

"This is all just turning into a big game of keep away, isn't it?" Face asked.

Hannibal turned and grinned at him with the same psychologically frustrating set of teeth, "Now you're getting it."

The door to the bathroom opened and Jean stepped out wearing a set of blue jeans and a Star Wars T-shirt and asked, "Is Grant here yet?"

"Nothing yet," Face answered as he put the headset down.

"Are you sure he's coming here?" Murdock asked.

"He does have a reservation," Hannibal said, "He wouldn't have any sudden reason to believe he shouldn't come here."

"I don't see how he could," Jean said, "Nobody knows who I am, nobody cares where I am…we haven't done anything publicly, I…" she stopped and her eyes widened as she saw something on the floor.

This got the attention of the four commandos and they looked at her and looked around at the room to see what it was, but none of them saw anything that hadn't been there before. Jean's chest rose as she took in a sudden breath and her shoulders pressed up against her neck as she seemed to freeze with terror. Then out of nowhere she started screaming and jumped onto the ottoman and demanded to know, "Who did it? Who did it! Who let that dog in here!"

"What?" Face and Hannibal looked at each other.

"Billy?" Murdock asked, "How'd he get in here?"

"Murdock!" Jean pointed to the floor accusingly, "Is this your dog? Get him out of here! Get him out! I don't like dogs!"

Murdock went over to the vacant spot on the carpet and whistled, "Come on, Billy, come on boy." He grabbed an invisible leash and walked over to the door, "I'll put him in the next room."

Face looked at Hannibal with eyes that couldn't believe what he was seeing and said to their colonel, "Well how do you like that? We've found someone who's tuned in to the same delusions Murdock is!"

B.A. groaned and just shook his head.

All Hannibal had to say in response was, "Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later."

Murdock returned to the room and closed the door behind him. "Billy won't be bothering you anymore, Miss Rhodes."

Jean breathed a sigh of relief as she set foot on the floor again, "He better not, Murdock, or I'll go about fixing the situation myself."

Face tried to maintain a straight face but he choked on a combination laugh and snort.

That night they went down to the hotel's restaurant for dinner so they could keep an eye out for any visitors, expected or otherwise. It was a fancy room with tall windows and a glass door entrance from the side of the hotel. They got a table for five but seating became a game of musical chairs as Face, Murdock and Jean all started fighting over the same chair; Hannibal and B.A. each grabbed somebody and jerked them away and quickly busted up the fight before they drew attention to themselves.

"What're you doing?" he wanted to know.

"I was sitting here!" both Face and Jean said.

Face glared at her and said, "You ought to know anybody who's been in Vietnam never sits with their back to a door."

"Well I need to sit facing the door incase Grant comes in through here!" she replied.

"Alright, alright, shut up both of you," Hannibal told them, "Everybody get up and grab a chair."

They rearranged the chairs so that they wrapped around the back side of the table so all were facing towards the door. They gave a waiter their orders and throughout the meal kept quiet and nobody said much to anyone else. Even Murdock, the others noticed, was being unusually quiet and very well behaved for being in public. During the meal they kept watch at the entrance and waited for any sign that Grant was arriving, but Jean never let on that anybody had come in worth worrying about.

After dinner they returned to their rooms and Murdock stayed with Jean and kept her occupied in one room while Hannibal told Face and B.A. of his latest plan in the other.

"Of course, if this story about killing the recruits is true, we want these last two guys stopped," he said, "But the key thing here is we have to get the girl back to her parents. That's where you come in, B.A. As of this moment you are officially Jean's bodyguard, if we run into trouble, Face, Murdock and I will go on ahead to meet the threat, it'll be up to you to get her out of here and get her back home, we'll catch up later."

"We'll what?" Face asked.

Hannibal gestured to B.A. and explained, "She can't get away from him, and in a time of crisis if any, we don't need to be scrambling figuring out what everyone else is doing. This way we know the game plan, and we stick to it."

B.A. nodded slightly and said, not sounding too convinced, "Alright, but how long are we going to wait around here to see if this fool Grant is actually coming here?"

"There is a chance that he set up the reservation as a front," Hannibal said, "And is in fact driving on ahead to Illinois to meet up with Saunders, now just what these two plan to do there is anybody's guess…but, we'll give him the benefit of the doubt and stick around for a couple of days before plugging ahead west."

"Hannibal, you realize there's another possibility to this," Face said, "That nobody's coming here, and that she's set us up to kill us."

"Yeah that crossed my mind once the pills wore off," Hannibal replied, "But I don't believe it."

"Neither do I," B.A. added, "I don't care what she says, she's not a killer."

"With all due respect, B.A." Face said as he took a subtle step behind Hannibal, "Her track record would suggest otherwise."

"I'm not talking about that, fool!"

"Well then?"

Before either of them could get another word out, their door opened and Murdock and Jean came in, engaged in a conversation of their own, and for the moment the two comrades had to let it go at that.