mrswolfie: Thanks :) And Face's nightmares...you'll find out soon (Yes, I know I've been saying that for a while but this time I really mean it ;))

The journey back passed in complete silence, both Hannibal and Face busy with their own thoughts. It wasn't until they pulled in at the apartment that Face spoke.

"He knows something."

Hannibal found this rather a surprising statement from the lieutenant, whose intelligence rivalled even his own. It was obvious that Markham knew something about the missing girl; the only questions in Hannibal's mind were what the man knew and, more importantly, the best way of persuading him to open up.

And speaking of opening up...Hannibal glanced sideways at Face, who suddenly seemed very interested in the sky, his shoes, a shop front...in fact, anything except the colonel.

Any hopes for a private talk with Face were dashed the instant Hannibal opened the front door just in time to see BA hurl an apple at Murdock's head.

"BA!"

"Hannibal, this fool been drivin' me crazy!"

Murdock picked up the apple, dusted it off and scrunched loudly at it. "Tha' iff not true, BA. I mean, c'mon—" he swallowed his mouthful and went on a little more clearly— "you'n'me, we work together okay, don't we? Don't we?"

"He spent all mornin' talkin' to that stupid dog!"

Behind Hannibal, Face groaned. "Oh no...Murdock, remember we talked about this? About leaving Billy behind?"

Murdock gave him a pained look. "But Faceman, I can't leave Billy here. I mean, suppose Decker showed up an' we had to blow town? He'd be shut up all alone here, an' he'd pine away, an' then he'd starve."

"Murdock..." Hannibal began wearily.

"I can't do it, colonel. I'm a responsible dog owner an' that means I gotta look after him. He's already missin' his bed in the VA hospital." Murdock crouched down, scooped Billy into his arms and straightened up again. "I mean, jus' look at that little face, Faceman. You ever seen Billy look that sad before?"

In spite of the turmoil raging inside him, Face managed a wan smile. "No, Murdock, I think I can safely say that I've never seen Billy look sad at all."

"Exactly. I can't abandon him here, he needs me."

Hannibal glanced at BA. "Well, in between your little dog-walking stint, did you guys manage to find out anything?"

BA shook his head. "Folks round here say Rita and Chrissy moved in about six months ago, but that's it."

Hannibal glanced at Murdock. "How about you?"

"Well, Billy an' I found out that the square root of nine thousand and thirty one is—"

"Anything relevant?" Normally Hannibal was willing to play along with Murdock's fantasies and general loopiness, but worry over Face and the lack of answers at Markham's were making him short-tempered.

Murdock shut his mouth with a snap, then opened it to say in a more subdued tone, "Not really, colonel, no."

"So we're no further forward than we were yesterday." Face poured out a mug of coffee, drank it down and promptly made himself another cup.

"Except we know that she's definitely not in his mansion." There was too much about this that didn't add up for Hannibal's liking. Markham had all but admitted that he knew where Chrissy Allen was, yet she hadn't been in his home (along with Face, the colonel had not only gone into every single room, but taken every painting off every wall, opened every closet and examined every inch for hidden rooms as well).

"What about the business trip?" Face offered, from where he was now just finishing his third coffee.

Hannibal's frown deepened. It was no surprise to him that Face was apparently able to read his mind; the two of them had always been on the same wavelength.

"You think he might have taken her out of Sacheton?"

"It's a possibility." Face gulped down his fourth coffee, found the coffee maker was empty, and went about refilling it.

"Just what kinda business is this guy in, Hannibal?"

Hannibal shook his head. "I don't know, BA, but I'm beginning to get a nasty idea."

Murdock grinned and put Billy down again. "All your ideas are nasty, colonel, that's how come the bad guys hate 'em so much."

Hannibal looked at Murdock and BA levelly. "What's the biggest illegal earner in the United States? In the world, even?"

BA shrugged. "I dunno. Drugs?"

"Ooh, ooh, I know, I know!" Murdock's hand shot up, clipping BA on the ear. "Me! Me! Pick me!"

In spite of himself, Hannibal grinned. "Yes. Murdock."

"Gambling!"

"No."

"Aww..."

"Face?" Hannibal glanced at the lieutenant, who was watching the coffee maker with predatory interest. "You wanna take a guess?"

"Why should I? I mean, you already know and you're gonna tell us anyway." Face whacked the side of the coffee maker. "C'mon! How long does this thing take?"

"There's a jar of instant in the cupboard," Hannibal told him.

"Really?" The lieutenant abandoned the coffee maker, pulled open the cupboard and grabbed the jar of instant. This only partly solved the problem, however, as Face's impatience was now transferred to the kettle, which was boiling far too slowly for his liking.

Abandoning the lieutenant for the minute, Hannibal returned his attention to BA and Murdock.

"What about sex?"

Murdock put a pleading expression on his face. "Aw, colonel, can't we just be friends?"

"Hannibal, if everyone got paid for sex, Faceman'd be the richest guy on the planet."

Face spun around so fast he had to steady himself with one hand on the counter. "Shut up! Just...shut up, okay?"

In the ringing silence that followed, Murdock said, "Colonel, are you sayin' that this Markham guy's runnin' some kinda prostitution ring?"

"Exactly. He takes a pretty young girl like Chrissy, then ships her out to the highest bidder." Hannibal sat down on the couch, a grim expression on his face. "Which means she could quite literally be anywhere."

Face slammed his latest mug down on the counter. Hot coffee splashed over the rim and Hannibal was never quite sure how the lieutenant managed to escape being scalded.

"You don't know that, Hannibal!"

"Well, if you have any better theories, I'd like to hear them, lieutenant!" There was a hard edge in Hannibal's voice which he tried to excuse by saying he'd been startled by Face's reaction, but which he really knew was down to the fact that he wasn't used to having Face challenge his ideas and opinions quite so openly.

"I didn't say I had any better theories. I just think that you can't go around accusing a guy of being a grand-scale pimp just because we didn't find a missing kid in his place, especially when we got no evidence that he was involved in her disappearance!"

Put like that, Hannibal could see his point.

"Alright, kid. What would you suggest?"

"I don't know! Just...I don't know. Maybe we should just forget this whole Chrissy Allen thing!"

"What?" The word came from three mouths simultaneously, in identical tones of incredulity.

"Face, whatever's happened to her, she's still missing!"

"I know! I know! I know, alright?"

"Uh...Face?" Crossing the room, Hannibal put a hand over the lieutenant's newly refilled mug and pushed it down to the counter again. "I think that you've had enough caffeine for the minute, don't you?"

Face considered. "Gee, I don't know, Hannibal, I mean, I've only had about three or four cups."

"Three or four?"

"Okay, eight! What does it matter?"

Lowering his voice, Hannibal said, "If I didn't know better, kid, I'd say you were scared of falling asleep."

"Mm. Well, Hannibal, it's a good thing you do know better, isn't it?" Face retrieved his coffee mug from under the colonel's hand, drained the contents in a few swallows and reached out to refill it.

This time Hannibal caught hold of Face's wrist. "Face, seriously, don't you think you've had enough?"

"No, you'll know I've had enough when I start to vibrate on the spot and sing songs at the top of my lungs!"

"Would those be Brenda Lee songs, by any chance?"

Face went very still for a few seconds. "That's not funny, Hannibal."

"It wasn't meant to be." As Hannibal watched, Face dropped three spoonfuls of sugar into the mug, examined it, then added two more.

The colonel raised his eyebrows. "You want some coffee in your sugar, lieutenant?"

"Funny." Face added the now tepid contents of the coffee maker, gulped the result down and grimaced at the taste.

"Sugar...caffeine...you wouldn't be trying to give yourself a little energy boost, would you, lieutenant?"

"Yeah, well, I didn't get a lot of sleep last night."

"That's not what you said at breakfast," Hannibal couldn't resist pointing out. "As I recall, your exact words were, Fine, great, couldn't be better."

"I think you're missing a small detail here, Hannibal."

"What's that?"

He'd been prepared for a comment from Face along the lines of my life is none of your damn business and was considerably surprised, and a little uneasy, when Face said, "Markham knew who we were. What do you wanna bet that he picked up the phone to Decker the second we were outta his house?"

"We can handle Decker, Face."

"I hope that was a royal we."

"I heard that." All the same, Hannibal thought it would be a good idea to post a lookout that night, and every night they were in that apartment.

He'd expected strong opposition to this idea from Face – who hated sentry duty with a passion – but to his surprise the lieutenant grabbed the idea with both hands and volunteered to take first watch that night.

Since both BA and Murdock seemed very interested in the ceiling and floor respectively, and since Hannibal himself wasn't exactly in love with the idea of taking first watch himself, the colonel shrugged and said, "Alright; I'll relieve you." Certainly with the amount of caffeine Face had been pumping into his system, there was very little danger of the lieutenant falling asleep on watch...

The dawn sunlight streamed through the crack in the curtains and right into Hannibal's eyes. He frowned, mumbled something under his breath, and when neither of those things made it go away, sat up groggily and tilted the alarm clock towards him.

Seven fifteen? What...?

He checked it more closely, discovering that the alarm had been unset at some point.

No prizes for guessing who by, Hannibal thought as he shifted his gaze to Face's bed, which was neatly made and hadn't been slept in.

The kid snuck in here and turned off my alarm. Why?

He'd been half kidding when he'd said Face was scared to fall asleep. Now, though, he wondered if that hadn't been a lot closer to the truth than he'd realised. Apart from the face that the lieutenant had drunk an entire coffee plantation in one day, he never volunteered to take first shift on night watch.

Hannibal got to his feet and padded through into the lounge. Face had dragged the armchair over to the window overlooking the street and was sitting in it, holding a mug in one hand. The jar of coffee they'd bought two days ago was sitting on the counter and almost empty, and the smell of stale caffeine hung in the air.

"Face?"

The lieutenant half turned and Hannibal recoiled. Face's eyes were bloodshot and there were ugly dark hollows under his eyes. There was a ragged air about him, the air of a man who was prepared to drive himself until he literally dropped.

Hannibal pulled out the chair opposite and sat down slowly. He was shocked, and it showed.

"Damn, kid, you look like death warmed over. Why didn't you wake me?"

Face returned his gaze to the window. "Well, you looked so calm and peaceful, Hannibal. I didn't like to disturb you." Exhaustion made his voice dull, monotone.

"That never stopped you before." Face was usually only too happy to be relieved on night watch; in fact, it had taken a few stern words for the lieutenant to get the message that when Hannibal said he wanted waking at two thirty, he did not mean one fifteen.

When Face didn't seem inclined to argue, Hannibal pressed the point. "You're falling apart, kid. You're not sleeping and when you do, you try and beat the hell out of whoever wakes you up."

The lieutenant started to his feet, but Hannibal caught hold of his arm.

"Talk to me, Face. Please."

"For the last damn time, Hannibal, there is nothing to talk about!" Face stared at him, his expression daring the colonel to call him out as the air between them crackled with tension.

Hannibal stared back, watching him, willing him to break the silence that had descended. He and Face had been at odds before, but not seriously, not since Vietnam.

After a few minutes had gone by without Face budging, Hannibal sighed.

"Alright. Go get some sleep, kid. I'll take over the watch."

"No." There was no defiance in Face's answer, just a flatness which said he would change his mind when the earth stopped spinning, and not a minute before.

Hannibal allowed the barest hint of steel into his own voice. "That's an order, lieutenant."

"I don't need to sleep. I'm fine."

"Face, you had no sleep last night and about three hours the night before."

Face managed a smile, although it was a poor imitation of his usual one. "Yeah, well, I'm fine."

"Stop saying that, kid! You're not fine, you're as far away from fine as I've ever seen you. If you still want to keep it to yourself, then that's okay for now, but you can't pretend you don't need some rest."

The lieutenant opened his mouth, closed it again, then said, "Maybe you're right. Yeah. I'll get an early night."

Hannibal smiled. "Alright." Nodding towards Face's empty mug, he added, "You want a refill?"

"Sure." Face held out his mug, not looking away from the window until Hannibal brought back two mugs, one for him and one for Face. The lieutenant took his, but instead of drinking it examined it with a suspicious air.

"Hannibal, you didn't put anything in this, did you?"

"What? No. It's just coffee." Hannibal took a drink out of his own mug. "You really need to get some sleep, kid; you're starting to get paranoid."

Face gave him a look. "Two minutes ago you wanted me to get some rest. Now you're offering me a cup of coffee?" He raised his eyebrows. "Is that really a coincidence?"

Hannibal didn't answer, just waited until the lieutenant had drunk the coffee and slumped into unconsciousness before saying, "No."

He waited a few minutes to be sure Face really was out cold, then hauled the lieutenant up, carried him through into their room and deposited him on top of the bed.

"Sleep tight, kid."

The scream echoed through the apartment, causing Hannibal to drop his cigar. Across the room, BA and Murdock exchanged looks, for once thinking the same thing.

What the hell was that?

The door to the bedroom opened and Face walked through, complexion grey even under his perfect tan. He didn't acknowledge the rest of the team, didn't so much as look around or give any indication that he knew they were there, but calmly walked into the bathroom and shut the door.

Seconds later, they heard the sound of heavy vomiting followed by the toilet flushing. There was a pause while Face brushed his teeth – old habits died hard – and then the bathroom door opened and the lieutenant emerged.

Crossing the room, he took Hannibal's paper out of its owner's unresisting hands, then walked through into his bedroom and shut the door softly behind him. A peculiar grinding sound came from within, then all was quiet again.

"Face?" Hannibal got to his feet and followed the lieutenant, stopping just outside his room. There was something about that closed door that discouraged even him. If a door could turn its back, it would look something like that. "You okay?"

There was no response. Hannibal tried the door, which opened an inch or two before hitting something solid and stopping.

The grinding sound. Face barricading himself inside. Now Hannibal really was worried. The lieutenant was a social animal, always wanting to be in the thick of things. That he'd not only taken himself off on his own but gone to such extreme lengths to ensure he stayed that way...

"Open this door, lieutenant!"

Silence.

"You want me to break it down, Hannibal?"

"No." Hannibal spoke absently, mind busy turning this problem over. Much as he wanted to get to the bottom of this, he found he couldn't bring himself to invade Face's privacy quite so violently. "No, let's leave him for a while. After throwing up like that, he might just want to lie down."

"That don't explain why he blocked the door."

No, it didn't, Hannibal admitted to himself, but all he said to BA was, "Maybe he thought he'd throw up again."

BA gave Hannibal the kind of look he usually reserved for Murdock. "Yeah, right. Hannibal, if he thought he was gonna throw up again, he'd wanna make it easier to get to the bathroom, not harder!"

"I'm sure he'll be fine."

The look went up a few hundred degrees. "I ain't stupid, Hannibal! Faceman been actin' weird ever since we got here!"

Hard on the heels of the sergeant's comment came another, a memory of something Face had said to him back in the POW camp.

How long are you going to keep up this sick little charade, Smith?

How long indeed? Hannibal didn't know why he was so intent on defending Face, especially not when BA and Murdock had seen the lieutenant snap at him.

However long it was, it seemed Face was determined to keep it up for a good deal longer. The lieutenant refused to answer any of the Team, much less open the door, until Hannibal said they were going into town to ask around and get a bite to eat. Even then, the only response he got was a curt, "Fine, go on without me," delivered through a closed door.

If he hasn't come out by the time we get back, forget BA; I'll kick the damn door down myself, Hannibal thought grimly. He'd made enough allowances for Face. Now it was time the lieutenant started giving something back.

There was still no sign of life from Face's room when the Team got back in the early evening. Hannibal started towards it, but Murdock got there first.

"Yo Faceman! It's Murdock. You okay in there?"

No answer.

"Thought you might be hungry." Murdock held up the bag in his hand with a broad grin, as though Face could somehow see it through the door. "We brought you some brownies!"

"Shut up, fool! Guy don't wanna eat that stuff!"

Lowering his voice, Murdock retorted, "Well, he's gotta eat somethin', BA, an' I don't see you comin' up with any food!" Turning back to the door, he added in a sing-song, "Fa-ace? You don't come out here, I'm gonna give your brownies to Bi-lly..."

Silence.

"Maybe he's asleep." The fact that BA hadn't protested Murdock's mentioning Billy told the others just how worried he was.

"How can he be asleep, big guy? It's only seven thirty!" Murdock rooted around in the bag and extracted a brownie, examined it from all angles for miniature lemmings, then munched at it thoughtfully.

"I don't like it." Hannibal's voice was more serious than the other two had ever heard it. "Break the door down, BA."

The sergeant threw his shoulder against the bedroom door, which burst its hinges and flew a good three feet into the room, BA close behind it.

"I guess Faceman took out the barricade," Murdock commented.

It wasn't the only thing Face had taken out, Hannibal thought as he looked around. The room hadn't just been wrecked, it had been devastated. The curtains had been torn from the window with such force that the curtain pole was dangling at one end and the closet doors had been ripped from their hinges and hurled across the room. One had even broken in half.

There was no sign of Face.

Picking himself up from the floor, BA looked around.

"You think he was kidnapped?"

Hannibal shook his head. "No. The windows would be broken, and we'd know if anyone had come in through the front door. I think Face did this himself after we left."

"Man's gone nuts, Hannibal. He's crazier than Murdock."

Staring at the chaos around them, Hannibal was beginning to agree.

"What—"

The harsh jangling of the phone cut him off, making him jump into the bargain.

Dear god, if this doesn't get sorted out soon I'm going to be an even bigger nervous wreck than Face is, Hannibal thought savagely as he strode through into the lounge and snatched up the receiver. If that was Face, then the lieutenant was about to get the biggest bawling out he'd ever experienced.

"Hello?"

His face fell and he stared at the receiver, voice quiet. "Yes. Alright. I'll be right there."

Murdock poked his head out of the ruined bedroom. "Somethin' wrong, colonel?"

Hannibal put the phone down slowly and turned. He felt oddly detached, as though watching events through someone else's eyes.

"It's Face. He's been arrested."

And...another one done. I did consider carrying on (and wrote a large chunk of what happens next) but then I thought, how could I not leave it here ;) Anyway, more will be along soon. In the meantime, hope you liked this one and if you read, please review!