30 Another Diversion
Disclaimer: I do not own The A Team movie or television series or any of the delightful characters found on The A Team.
Hannibal could not allow Murdock to go any farther with Melody. If Face was at the back door, he would surprise the delirious pilot and possibly get shot as a result.
He couldn't allow B. A. to explode through the front door as originally planned either. At the angle Murdock was to the door, he might hit the Sergeant. The pilot was right about one thing: delirious or not, he could be deadly with his Browning if he was feeling threatened.
And he has someone he's protecting, or thinks he is, so he'll sacrifice his life for hers if he thinks it'll keep her from harm.
He shook his head and reached for the lighter in his pocket to relight his cigar. He didn't have much time to come up with a plan but the smoke might help him clear his mind and think of something. His hand brushed against something he forgot he had, something Murdock insisted he bring with him when he set out to create the diversion to get the intruder out of B. A.'s van. It was a replacement if the other fireworks failed to work properly.
The Colonel grimaced and hoped Melody would catch on to what he was doing. Picking up a large rock, he lobbed it through the window as hard as he could.
The glass shattered onto the wooden plank floor. The rock sailed through the air and landed near the couch on the opposite side of the room.
As quickly as he could, Hannibal lit the end of the whistling strobe firework and threw it into the center of the room. Simultaneously he yelled, "Melody! Run!"
He knew the sound of breaking glass and the shriek of the strobe alerted B. A. and Face to a change in plans. Since they had not heard him give the signal, they would not try to enter the cabin.
He didn't know how Murdock would react.
The back door to the cabin slammed open at the same time the pilot fired at the flashing firework. The bullet lodged in the floor near it but didn't hit it.
That answers my question.
Face tightly held Melody to his side as they emerged from the darkness behind the cabin to join the Colonel. Tears running down her face, she burrowed her face into the Lieutenant's shoulder. She was too much in a state of shock and fear to say anything.
B. A. made his way around from the front door to the window where Hannibal crouched. He scowled at the broken window and muttered something about crazy fools and guns. The older man knew B. A. didn't mean it.
In a pinch, he trusts Murdock to have his back just like he would trust me or Face to keep him covered.
The Lieutenant's voice cut through Hannibal's thoughts. "What now, Colonel? He's still armed and there's no good way of getting in there to get his weapon away from him." Face disentangled himself from the young actress's hold. Hannibal looked at each of his men in turn.
Good question.
"Any ideas? Face? B. A.?" Both men shook their heads and turned worried eyes toward the window. As close as they were, they still couldn't see where the pilot was.
He's probably close to the wall. By now he should have figured out that it's a firework going off in the middle of the room . . . but he might think it's something else.
Hannibal didn't want to think that but he had to consider it. It made Murdock even more dangerous than he was already if the sudden appearance of the firework triggered a memory.
"If we try gettin' in there an' he don' recognize who we are . . . " B. A. growled.
"I know." Hannibal lit his cigar and frowned toward the window. The firework was still shooting off brilliant flashes of bright white light and making a loud racket. It covered the sound of their conversation as they tried to think of a way to reach their delusional pilot without getting hurt or having to injure him.
Seconds later, the Colonel raised his hand and gestured for them to listen.
As the gunpowder producing the strobe's pyrotechnic effects burned down and the lights and sounds slowly decreased, a choking sob came from somewhere to the right of the window.
Seconds wore on and the sobs continued but grew muffled. They tore at Hannibal's heart. He knew what was happening but it wasn't safe yet to enter the cabin to reason with Murdock and bring him back to reality.
"He thought the strobe was a mortar round." Face stated what B. A. and Hannibal already figured out.
Melody gulped back her own sobs to ask, "Why would he think that?"
Of course she wouldn't understand.
Only another Vietnam pilot who had been fired at while hovering above a hot LZ would understand. Or a soldier who was fired upon while being extracted. They had all known the terror of mortars exploding in the air around a chopper that was airlifting them out of an overrun area.
None of them answered her. They were too busy listening for the golden moment when they knew it might be safe for one of them to get to Murdock.
That moment seemed to take forever to happen.
"Dead . . . they're . . . both . . . dead . . . " Shock and pain strained the voice almost beyond recognition.
Hannibal glanced at Face and headed toward the cabin door.
"No . . . Colonel. He's always responded better to me. Please, let me try." The con man gripped the older man's jacket sleeve.
The Colonel saw the brotherly concern in Face's eyes and nodded. "We'll both go. B. A., keep Melody safe."
They crept around the corner toward the door, both men worried about what they would find when they reached it.