"Hey guys, guess what I just found?" Murdock said as he came running into his room that Frankie and Mad Dog were currently using.
"Whatever it is, keep it to yourself," Frankie said.
"No, this hotel has a big arcade room, it's got everything, video games, pool, ping pong, foosball, air hockey, it's fantastic!" he exclaimed.
"So what?" Frankie asked.
"So!" he replied, "You need a partner for the table games, and it's right across from the hotel's dining room, meaning if we time it right we might be able to spy on Faceman during his date tonight."
"Hey he might have something there, Frankie, it might be fun," Mad Dog said, "Lord knows we could use some of that after the last couple years we've had."
Frankie looked from him back to the pilot and said, "Alright, I guess we'll go."
"Hey look on the bright side, Frankie," Mad Dog said as he got up from the bed, "If we catch sight of Masterson we can stone him to death with the skee-balls."
"Yeah!" Frankie perked up at that thought, "Now there's an idea. It's too bad the arcade room don't come with a bowling alley, we could just club him to death with one of the tenpins."
"Are you sure you come from California?" Murdock asked as they left the room to join the others for dinner.
"Yeah, why?" Frankie asked.
"Oh…no reason," Murdock smiled sheepishly, doing a terrible job of covering up what he was thinking, "Just seemed to me you seem more like stock from New Jersey or New York or someplace like that." An idea hit him and he turned on his heel and told Mad Dog, "You go on ahead, I've got a quick question for my cousin and then we'll join you guys for dinner."
"What's up, Murdock?" Frankie asked as they sidestepped into a corner in the hallway.
"I was just wondering," he said, "Let's say that we find this guy Masterson, rather let's say he manages to find you, alone, what's he likely to do to you?"
"Alive or dead?" Frankie asked.
"You think he'd kill you?"
"Why not?" Frankie asked, "If for some reason he finds out he still can't have me he might decide nobody else can either."
"Hmmm," Murdock chewed on that one and said, "Well, let's say you find him, what are you likely to do to him?"
"I don't know, why?" she asked.
"I just had a thought," he said as he grabbed a handful of her newly dyed hair and said, "I saw a movie once, this woman put razor blades in her hair, and when somebody tried to grab her, they cut their hands open. Maybe you ought to try that incase he'd try grabbing you like this."
"Murdock," Frankie said as she pushed him back, "They gotta get some new movies in at the V.A. for you guys to watch."
"Well? It's worth trying, isn't it?" he asked.
"It might, so long as none of your friends out there gets funny and tries doing this number," Frankie patted the thin air up by her head and said, "Nice pussy, nice pussy." She cocked her head at him and said, "Somehow I don't put it past you guys to try something kooky like that."
"Frankie cous, you've got a lot to learn," Murdock told her as they resumed heading towards the stairs.
Frankie's eyes never stopped moving the whole time they sat down to dinner. She never saw Masterson come in, though Hannibal had gone up to their room twice during the meal and found out that the tape recorder that was hooked up to the bug in Masterson's phone hadn't been activated by any calls incoming or outgoing. So assuming Masterson had even bothered coming back to the hotel yet, he was keeping to himself for the time being.
"I don't get it," Frankie said over dinner, "Why'd you bug his phone? Assuming he is seeing someone out here, what do you think that's going to prove? He hardly strikes me as the type of guy who would work with a partner."
"That might be," Hannibal told her, "But you can be sure he's got his hands dirty on more things than just murder, and if we can't get him on that when we get him back to America maybe we can dig up some other dirt on him."
Frankie stabbed her fork into her steak and said, "You don't think you're going to get him on the murder, do you?"
"It's a gamble, kid, first of all we can't prove he even knew her, for another we still don't know if that even was the actual murder weapon he left behind at the scene of the crime," he explained.
Frankie lost her appetite and pushed her plate back. Murdock excused himself and had Mad Dog and Frankie follow him towards the game room, by his calculations Face ought to be showing up soon for dinner with his date.
"Your unshakable leader has just been stirred and poured," Frankie told Murdock, "He doesn't think you're going to get Masterson, we came all this way for nothing!"
"We don't know that yet," Murdock said, "These things take time to get to the bottom of, you're just going to have to be patient."
"Well do me a favor, will you, Murdock?" Frankie asked, "If we can't catch Masterson, don't bother taking us back with you."
"What, leave you two here?" Murdock asked in disbelief.
"Maybe not," Frankie replied, "If B.A. is so hellbent on going back on a boat instead of flying, then I say let him, and maybe get Hannibal and Face to go with him, you can say you'll fly us back on the plane and on the way make a detour landing on one of the neighboring islands, maybe drop us off in the Bahamas somewhere or maybe Haiti or Jamaica or over between Central and South America. All I know is there's no justice for us if we can't nail this guy, and there's nothing for us to go back home for, they could chase us for the rest of our lives over the globe, but I doubt anybody's going to bother looking for us out of the country. So we can start over again somewhere where nobody knows us and live our lives out in peace for once."
It sounded to Murdock like Frankie had been planning this for a while. Had probably been working on it the whole plane ride out there, despite being unconscious for the most part of it. And she had a point, and how could he say no? But he couldn't say yes either, he knew that.
"Frankie, we're going to catch this guy, believe me," he told her.
"I wish I could, Murdock," Frankie shook her head sadly, "But I've been screwed over too many times already to have much hope left, and even your colonel doesn't think it can be pulled off, that doesn't say a whole hell of a lot for our chances to survive this."
Face had been anticipating a nice, quiet, romantic night with a woman he'd met in the hotel, a 20-something blonde named Cynthia Wilson, who had dressed for the evening, appropriately he thought, in a black halter dress that nicely showed off the tan she'd been getting on the beach. And it would've bee a nice, quiet, romantic night, if some idiots over in the game room would shut up; all the whooping and yelling coming from across the hall was almost enough to drown out their dinner conversation. But he decided to try and ignore it and just enjoy his company.
As they lifted their wine glasses and drank, Cynthia looked at him and asked, "Is that a tan line on your finger, Templeton?"
"What?" he looked down, and mentally cursed himself. He'd had Amy assist him on their last mission going in posing as a married couple, and he'd gotten that damn phony wedding band stuck on his finger and couldn't get it off for two days and they'd been staying at a seaside resort where there was no shortage of sunshine, and suntan, and sunburn. Needless to say it left one hell of an impression…that was the last time he decided to let Murdock help him pick out the accessories for his scam.
"Uh…" he thought quickly, "Yes, you see I'm a widower, finally decided it was time to take the ring off and start again."
"Oh, I'm so sorry," she said.
Hey, pity worked about as well as anything, sometimes even better than anything else he could come up with to move the evening along.
"Oh that's alright," he said, deciding once they left this island he wasn't going to see this woman ever again, so why the hell not? "I have the children to help get me through it."
"You have children?" she asked.
"Yes, three little darlings," he said, "They're staying with their grandmother for the time being, I decided that it was time I got back out into the dating world again and got involved with someone again."
The noises from the game room were getting even louder and he heard one particularly loud noise that he couldn't identify, but it sounded familiar. A second later he turned and saw a ping pong ball flying into the room, and then he heard Cynthia scream as it went down the plunging neckline of her dress.
Oh boy, Face groaned to himself as he cupped one hand over one side of his face in embarrassment, this was not going to end well.
Cynthia managed to retrieve the ball without sacrificing her dignity, though she looked about as riled up as a wet dog fresh out of the bath. Face palmed the ball from her and said as he got up from the table, "I'll see that this gets returned to its rightful owner and I'll give him a piece of my mind for both of us."
"Hey Face!" Murdock called as he entered the dining area, "You see my ping pong ball?"
Oh no. Face took in a slow inhale, he knew this wasn't going to end well.
"Don't tell me," Cynthia said dryly, "Is this your oldest boy?"
"Uh, well…" Face tried to decide how to answer that.
"Oop," Murdock said, "Sorry to interrupt your date, don't mind me."
"A little late for that, Murdock," Face told him, "Take your ball and go away, alright?"
"Alright, cranky!" Murdock replied, "What's the matter, it land in your dinner?"
"Not exactly," Face remarked.
Murdock returned to the game room where he'd left Frankie and Mad Dog hanging figuratively, over on the other side of the ping pong table.
"What happened?" Frankie asked.
"Oh nothing," Murdock said as he bounced the ball on the tabletop and hit it, "Face is just mad because we bothered him."
"Well," Frankie summed up, "Sucks to be him."
After about an hour in the game room, Murdock, Mad Dog and Frankie went back upstairs and held up in Murdock's room. Frankie found a new pack of disposable razor blades in the bathroom cabinet and looked at herself in the mirror and pulled up a few tufts of her hair and considered Murdock's suggestion from earlier when he called her to join them in the bedroom.
"What is it?" she asked as she walked out of the bathroom.
"Alright, do you have any idea if this guy Masterson ever served in the military?" Murdock asked her.
"I doubt it," Frankie said.
"Perfect!" Murdock said, "I'm gonna teach you a few combat techniques I learned in the military, that way if he tries to pull anything funny you can get the drop on him."
"Oh boy," Frankie murmured as she folded her arms.
"Now this is very easy stuff," Murdock assured her, "I'm going to teach it to you guys just like we learned. Frankie, we'll use you to demonstrate first, come over here."
"Okay," Frankie went over to him, "Now what?"
"Now I'm Masterson, and I grab you by your wrist like this, what're you going to do?" Murdock asked.
Frankie brought her foot up and kicked him in the groin, he let go of her and fell on his knees gasping and choking.
"That works too," he choked, "But that's not what I had in mind." He got up again and said, "Alright, he grabs your wrist, you use your free hand, reach over and grab your other hand."
Frankie did and asked, "Now what?"
"Now you pull upwards against my thumbs."
"Huh?" Frankie asked.
"Just try it," he said.
Frankie did, and he said, "Then you elbow him in the jaw."
Frankie drew her elbow back but just before she could do it, Murdock stepped to the side and said, "Whoa! Alright, I think you get it."
"Now what?" Frankie asked.
At that moment the door opened and Face stepped in, and he immediately asked them, "What's going on?"
"You're just in time, Face," Murdock said, "I need somebody to help with this demonstration. You come over here, and you're going to be Masterson trying to attack."
"What's going on?" Face repeated.
"Murdock's trying to teach us some combat defensive moves," Frankie explained.
"Oh fun," Face dryly remarked.
"Now this time we'll say he attacks from behind," Murdock said, "Face, grab her."
"What?"
"Do it."
"Aw geez," Face groaned as he got behind Frankie and wrapped his arms around her.
"Now what?" Frankie asked.
"Timing is everything, you gotta be fast," Murdock said, "So quick, move your feet apart, now, bend your legs and reach between them and grab him by his ankle."
"I know I'm not gonna like this," Face said to nobody in particular.
"Now you come up quick and pull his foot up with you," Murdock said.
"I knew it!" Face said as he was thrown off balance and fell on his back.
"Now the final move is the most important," Murdock said, "Stomp him in the groin."
"What?!" Face shot up, "Forget it, I'm done as the dummy!"
"I'm telling you guys," Murdock said, "These will work on anybody if you do it right."
"Oh yeah?" Mad Dog asked.
"Yeah," Murdock replied.
The door opened and B.A. came in and Murdock said, "I'll prove it."
"Oh boy," Mad Dog and Frankie said in unison.
"B.A.," Murdock went over to the sergeant, "Will you help me with something? I'm trying to teach these two some of the combat moves we learned in the army incase Masterson manages to catch them alone and attacks."
"Alright, what do you need me for?" B.A. asked.
"I want you to demonstrate by coming up behind and grabbing me," Murdock said.
B.A. shrugged and said, "Alright."
B.A. came up behind Murdock and wrapped his massive arms around the pilot's chest. Murdock brought his arms up and clamped them over B.A.'s and then bent his knees and tried pulling on B.A.'s arms to throw him off his back, but it didn't work. Murdock stayed half kneeling on the floor turning blue in the face from trying to toss the 230 pounds of angry mudsucker and 30 pounds of gold off his back, but all he got for it was a nice resemblance to the inside of a blueberry pie.
"Works on anybody, eh?" Frankie asked.
"Well," Murdock said as B.A. finally let go of him, "Masterson's not as heavy as B.A., at least I hope he's not."
"Alright Murdock, now it's my turn and you're going to demonstrate," B.A. told him, he turned to the two kids and said, "Now this is something you both gotta know, but if this sucker's gonna come after either of you, it's most likely gonna be you," he said as he pointed to Frankie, "So you get over here."
"I'm getting tired of this," Frankie said as she went back to the center of the room.
"Alright Murdock, now you grab her from behind," B.A. told him.
Murdock did as he was told and snaked his arms around Frankie's arms and chest, "Alright, now what?"
"Alright," B.A. told Frankie, "You reach down and reach behind you and grab him by his…"
"B.A.!" Murdock said as he realized what the sergeant was setting him up for.
"Grab him and twist hard, and keep your head down," B.A. said, a little evil mischievous glare in his eyes as he ordered her around, "If he's still hanging on to you after that, bring your head back and head butt him in the face. Then kick him in the leg and stomp on his foot, that ought to do it."
"Well I should sure as hell hope so!" Murdock replied as he let go of Frankie and moved away from her.
B.A. just laughed and said, "You the one who brought it up fool, well this is what we learned."
"If we can even remember half of that," Mad Dog said, "Masterson's going to be dead meat."
"But if these guys get him first he'll be charbroiled well done," Frankie added, "Which is fine with me, we can't tar and feather him here but we could sure enough throw him on a bonfire."
"Hey Face," Murdock said, "How'd things go with your date?"
"Well, considering she never wants to see me again I guess it went rather well," he said.
"Was that because of us?" Mad Dog asked.
"Well that was part of it, another part was when B.A. came charging in and about scared her off, all because Hannibal just had to see me about something."
"What's that?" Frankie asked.
"Oh, nothing really," Face answered, not wanting to get into what the conversation had really been about. What it had really been about was Hannibal suggesting they all take turns through the night making sure that neither Frankie nor Murdoch got out of their rooms and slipped out to find Masterson. Face didn't really think either of them had it in them to do that, both of them seemed to be terrified of the man, but he agreed, and as soon as they had a moment alone he was going to pass the memo on to Murdock.
Murdock got the message and so only pretended to fall asleep when he and Frankie were alone in the room that night. He watched through one eye and watched Frankie as she lay awake in bed and looked out the window. Then she got up and, since she thought Murdock was asleep, she went over to the wall that separated their room from Face's room. She put her ear against the wall and listened first, and then she tapped on the wall lightly. Murdock had to strain to hear but he was able to hear a matching tap come back from the other side of the wall. Apparently Mad Dog couldn't sleep either. He couldn't sleep, Frankie couldn't sleep, and Murdock knew he wasn't going to get any sleep, boy he wished it was earlier in the night so they'd have an excuse for being up and doing something. That way Hannibal or B.A. couldn't come storming in and tell them to be quiet and go to bed. Sometimes the colonel tended to take his paternal role over his Team a little too seriously for Murdock's liking.
As he lay in bed, pretending to be asleep, Murdock scrambled his brain trying to think of something they could do, some way he could get Face and Mad Dog out of their room, and the four of them could do something together. They might not get any sleep tonight but at least everybody wouldn't have to be on edge like this. What to do, what to do, what to do? He thought about it for a long time, and then finally had an idea come to him. He remembered earlier when he was touring the hotel and seeing what all there was to the place, that like a lot of hotels, it had a gift shop; mainly just a bunch of postcards and trinkets to send to people back home wherever that was. But he did remember one of the larger items being sold there that seemed so out of place for a tropical island, but it gave him an idea.
WHACK!
Hannibal's eyes popped open before he could fully distinguish what that sound was he'd just heard. His room was still dark, what time was it? He found the clock and saw that it was 2 o' clock in the morning. What was going on?
Ah, then he heard the voices through the open window, there was somebody down below on the hotel grounds. But wait a minute…those voices sounded oddly familiar. Hannibal kicked back the covers and went over to the window and looked out to see what was going on. He was surprised, and then relieved.
Down below on the grounds he could see several large torches had been lit to throw some light on the subject, and the subject seemed to be a game of baseball. Baseball? Where did Murdock get…oh never mind, it was futile to ask where Murdock ever got anything he did. Hannibal folded his arms on the windowsill and let his head droop on top of them as he watched the game down below. He could hear Murdock jabbering away like a heckler at the game as they switched positions; Mad Dog put the bat down and went over to a base Murdock had drawn on the ground with a stick in the dirt, and Frankie took his place where the home plate should've been. Frankie picked up the bat, and Hannibal noticed that for her being right handed she assumed a left handed batting position; Face had the ball and he delivered the windup, and the pitch.
WHACK!
It sounded like the bat cracked on impact, but all that happened was the ball was hit and flew clear out of the game. Frankie jumped up and down a couple of times then dropped the bat and took off running around the diamond. Murdock came into the middle of it like an empire and started making a lot of signals with his hands that all seemed like a lot of sign language gibberish.
Well, Hannibal thought with relief, at least Murdock had found a way that they could keep an eye on their two new companions for the night and make sure nothing happened. He got up and went back to his bed and slipped back under the warm covers and decided that given he'd learned to sleep through the gunfire of two wars, he could also sleep through the noise of a baseball game.