Every Thought Captive
Disclaimer: I do not own The A Team movie or television series or any of the delightful characters found on The A Team.
Chapter 11 Corporal Mendez
Corporal Mendez never knew what hit him.
Must be fairly new to guard duty. You never come completely into the room when your prisoner seems to have vanished into midair. Especially when there's only one door, no windows and very little to hide behind.
Face shook his head at the unconscious figure on the floor. "Tsk, tsk. Maybe next time you'll know better," he mumbled with a smug smile.
The conman had been waiting behind the door, the specimen bag in his hands. As soon as the corporal stormed into the room and slammed the door behind him to keep the invisible prisoner from escaping, Face swung the bag as hard as he could against the back of the young man's head. The corporal staggered, then fell, the paper cup splashing its contents across the tile floor.
Face hurried to strip the uniform off the young corporal and put it on. He gazed with disapproval at the saggy waistband of the uniform pants and the voluminous shirt he now wore. Notching the belt to its snuggest around his waist, he sighed.
Not exactly tailored to my body, but I guess it'll do. Corporal, you need to drop a couple of pounds.
"Sorry for the lump on the back of your head, friend, but I have to look like I belong here if I'm going to find out where my friends are," he muttered as he used his own web belt to tie the corporal's hands behind his back. Unhooking the strap from the specimen bag, he tied the young man's ankles together.
Gagging the young man with the white handkerchief, he tore the button tracking device from the shirt he had been wearing and removed the tracking locator from the pants pocket. He slipped them into the pants pockets of the uniform before standing and listening at the door.
Carefully he cracked open the door and peeked up and down the hallway before leaving the room. Palming the tracking locator, he gave it a swift glance. The mini-camera was straight ahead several doors away and to his left. It was standing still for the moment.
I hope that means either Amy or Murdock are there with it. If they aren't, I'll have to begin checking rooms.
As he began to make his way toward the tracking device, he heard a wailing cry from Room 27 to his left. The mini-camera was not there according to the locator but the voice was unmistakeable and heart-rending in its appeal.
"Please! Ya gotta b'lieve me! Is anybody listenin' t' me? Don' let 'im do anythin' t' me. I'm not s'posed t' be here."
Murdock? God, buddy, is that you?
His hand rested on the doorknob and he was about to turn it when he heard footsteps in the hallway. He jerked his hand away as a long-haired young scientist type in a lab coat hurried up to him.
"Doctor Stafford needs assistance in Laboratory One, Corporal. If you would follow me . . . "
As Stafford's aide turned back to where he had come from, Face gave the door a sorrowful glance.
Hang in there, buddy. I'm here but I can't let anyone know it just yet. I'll be back to get you. Count on it.
oooooo
Doctor Stafford dismissed Rollag, his lab assistant, sending him on an errand to find a guard. He wanted help to drive the reporter into the Dugway foothills, far enough that she would not easily find her way out.
Alone with Amy in the laboratory, the doctor cupped her lovely face in his hand and stroked her cheek with a thumb.
His job required him to live in almost total isolation from any social activity. He missed the life he used to live before the CIA and Army determined his value to their programs and had him transferred to Granite Peak.
She is pretty. It's a pity what I have to do.
He wondered if he should give her another dose of flunitrazepam to ensure she would not wake up while being transported.
Just as he was contemplating that, Rollag returned with a guard.
oooooo
Face sneaked a look at the tracking device as he followed the lab assistant down the hall toward Laboratory One. The mini-camera was located in the room to which he was being led and for a moment he felt relief.
I think I've just found Amy. If I can stay out of sight of that Colonel, maybe I'll figure a way of getting her out of here.
For a moment he thought of Murdock and the frantic plea he heard from Room 27. He shuddered at what that tone and those words implied. He felt a twinge of guilt for putting Amy's safety above that of his best friend.
But Murdock's military. He knows the score just like the rest of us. Amy's . . . not military. And she should never have been sent to Tannini's office and put in danger like that. Damn Hannibal anyway for giving in to her demand.
Whatever the scientists and military men at Granite Peak wanted from Murdock, it would be obtained against his will. Face was certain of that and felt the stab of conscience again.
No telling what they'll do to him. He sounded terrified. Like they've already begun to work on him.
Shaking his head to clear away the thought, he allowed the assistant to open the door to the laboratory. Hannibal and B. A. were waiting for him to bring back any badges they might need to get into the facility as well as information about where Amy and Murdock were and what their condition seemed to be.
There's no time for mistakes.
He entered the room ahead of the assistant and heard the door close behind him. His stomach wrenched as his gaze fell on Amy, unconscious and strapped down to a gurney. He blinked once and then composed himself when he heard the gray-haired scientist address him.
No time for mistakes, he thought as he did as the man directed.
oooooo
Straightening and turning, Doctor Stafford let his gaze flicker over the young blonde corporal who stood before him waiting for orders.
"Colonel Jackson wishes for me to escort this young lady off the property. I want you to drive me." He peered at the young soldier's name badge. "Corporal Mendez."
Mendez? Blonde hair, blue eyes and a Hispanic name. Odd. I'd love to figure out the genetics on that one.
The blonde blinked once at the unconscious woman and saluted Stafford. "Yes, sir." He moved toward the head of the gurney and waited for the doctor to precede him to the door.
Doctor Stafford slipped something from his white coat to a pants pocket, then removed his lab coat and tossed it over a chair. "After you, Corporal," he murmured as he held the door open for the soldier and the gurney.
Such a pity what I have to do.
oooooo
"Yes, Frank Jackson here. Am I speaking to Professor Wan Lee?" Jackson scowled at the door of the office. He hoped Stafford would not bring Murdock to Laboratory Two before he had a chance to have some words with him.
If Murdock keeps saying he hasn't volunteered for Silent Arrow, the General will get suspicious. Hell, he already is. He catches wind that the Captain won't cooperate, I might be out of an opportunity to rid myself of Murdock and his testimony forever. Dealing with my superiors is sometimes too much like pissing on a bonfire to try to keep it under control.
"No, I'm trying to contact a Professor Wan Lee. He's the geology department head. Listen, who is this?" Jackson pulled the receiver away from his ear and stared at it before listening to the broken English of the Oriental-sounding man on the other end.
The receiver crackled with static.
"He's in Chinatown visiting relatives? Well, when do you expect him to return? . . . Not until tomorrow morning?"
Damn!
"Look, maybe you can help me. You're the graduate assistant assigned to the department? Well, then you would know a Professor Horace Pepper? . . . Yeah, that's right. I wanted to talk to Doctor Lee about him. My daughter says the professor told her she wouldn't pass his course because of a paper she never handed in? She claims she did turn it in . . . Oh, the Professor has you reading and grading those papers?"
Figures. These university types seem to always have a graduate student assigned to do their work for them. Chances are the graduate student'll be frantic, trying to figure out where the 'missing paper' is.
"So is Professor Pepper there? . . . Gone out of town on a geology specimen-hunting trip? And he's due back . . . when? . . . I guess maybe I'll talk to him about it when he returns, see if my daughter can do any other extra credit work to pass his class. Yes, you've been very helpful . . . thank you. Good bye."
He pressed the receiver firmly down in the cradle and stared at it for a few minutes.
Professor Pepper seems to check out and I really can't hold him on a nagging suspicion. But maybe I can hold off on releasing him until after I make sure General Brandler's on his way back to Washington.
Jackson wearily got to his feet and moved to the door. "Time to remind Captain Murdock that he must give the General a good show today . . . or else."
By the time he realizes his reporter friend is no longer with us, he'll be ready for his mission to eliminate Cazador. By then there'll be no going back for him.
oooooo
"Think he bought it, Hannibal?" The black Sergeant pulled off onto a side road on the right closer to the southern boundary of the Proving Grounds. Face's rental car was parked two roads away. Too many vehicles clustered in one location would call attention to them.
Hannibal chuckled. "All of a sudden you don't trust my acting abilities?"
"Why'd ya say you were the assistant and not Lee hisself?"
"Relax, B. A. I gave the man a story he can believe. And he was guaranteed not to ask a lot of questions if all he had on the line was some foreign-born grad student sweating a good grade and the department head's recommendation for his Master's degree." The Colonel frowned at the tracking screen. "And it looks like our mini-camera is on the move again. It's making its way out of the Granite Peak installation. That has to be Face. Let's just hope he found both Murdock and Amy."
B. A. grunted and turned worried eyes toward the peak that loomed in the distance. "An' if he didn't?"
"Let's cross that bridge when we come to it. Until we hear otherwise, we'll assume Murdock and Amy are safe somewhere in the facility." Hannibal got out a cigar and took some time lighting it. When he finished, a concerned thoughtful look was on his face.
B. A. knew better than to question him any further about the plan and the consequences of its failure. He turned to watch the roadway leading out of the Proving Grounds, hoping to soon see a plume of dust from the vehicle Face would be using to bring information to them.