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 12 Escape For One
As Face and Doctor Stafford left Laboratory One, the door to Laboratory Two down the hall closed. Private Nelson breathed a sigh of relief and walked down the hallway toward them.
The scientist scowled. "General Brandler must not have left yet. He must assume we're ready to let him see what kind of work we're doing on our test subject," he muttered, barely loud enough for Face to hear.
Stafford hobbled past the gurney to take the lead and hurry their pace. He wanted to get as far away from the General as possible for now. He would speak to Colonel Jackson about this before the first session. In no way, shape or form were they ready to entertain brass like General Brandler with demonstrations of the project's usefulness to the military.
Murdock's terror-filled protests grew louder as they approached Room 27 with Amy and the gurney. A series of thumps from the room indicated the captive was struggling with as much strength as he had against whatever restraints were being used on him.
Amy stirred slightly at the sound of Murdock's voice and whimpered softly.
"I'm here 'gainst my will. I ain' s'posed t' be here. Please! Somebody listen t' me! Oh God, please . . . "
Face swallowed back his impulse to break into the room and free his friend. The plea dissolved into something the Lieutenant hadn't heard since their time in Major Trình's POW camp. Murdock howled with an animalistic fury that made Face's skin prickle with goosebumps.
With a small leering smile and a shrug back at the man rolling the gurney through the hall, Doctor Stafford jerked his head toward the room they were passing. "A bad LSD trip. He doesn't know what he's saying. A real nutcase straight from the psych ward." The doctor chuckled as Face glanced toward the door briefly.
He misunderstood the look in the conman's eyes. "Oh, he's restrained and no danger to himself or anyone else. We'll make sure he gets something to settle him down before we work with him."
Face maintained a frozen impassive expression even though everything in him wanted to reassure his friend of his presence . . . and throttle this inhumane termite that so casually gave a psychedelic drug to someone like Murdock.
LSD? What the hell are these monsters going to do to him? And what will the LSD do when combined with his other meds? I have a bad feeling about this whole thing.
And then they were past the room and its occupant and his unintelligible screams and nearing the double doors and the outside.
Face couldn't help but feel a little more comfortable being out of the facility and in the fresh air. The secrets Granite Peak held were obviously clandestine and smelled strongly of possible CIA involvement. His friend was caught squarely in the middle of whatever covert activity they were planning.
But how did Murdock happen to get on the radar of these people and why did they choose him and not someone else? He seems to know what's going to be done to him and who's going to do it. What was it I heard Murdock yell? "Don't let him do anything to me?"
"Help me get her into the jeep, Corporal." Stafford was wasting no time. He seemed eager to get done with this part of his job and return to the installation.
He must be the doctor that's going to do whatever they want done with Murdock. Well, at least if Stafford's with me, my buddy won't be experimented on like some kind of lab animal.
Stafford already had the straps unbuckled and was waiting for the corporal to lift the young lady into the back seat of the jeep.
Face carefully cradled Amy's limp body to himself and made the transfer, then walked over and got into the driver's seat.
As the conman turned over the ignition, he hoped Hannibal and B. A. were waiting in the location they said they would be.
Hannibal would have some serious questions for this mad scientist regarding their friend and pilot. Face didn't know if any of them would be able to stomach the answers.
oooooo
"Wait a minute, Corporal. I told you to turn to the left back there. Where are we going?" Doctor Stafford glared across at the blonde driver.
"You'll see." The corporal's jaw was twitching with anger. "Just sit back and enjoy the ride, sir."
They traveled in silence for a few minutes more before the driver turned off to the left and parked facing a black van with a red stripe detail around its body.
A white-haired man left the front passenger's side and stood, solemnly regarding them. He crossed his arms, a cigar clenched in the side of his mouth. Doctor Stafford shrank back in the seat as a very muscular black man in denim overalls emerged from the driver's side and glowered at him.
"We're here. Get out." The jeep driver parked the vehicle and quickly left it to attend to the reporter in the backseat.
"Amy?" The Corporal stroked the young woman's cheek and took her hand in his. "Time to wake up now." It was obvious to the doctor that this man not only knew the reporter but had something more than a friendly relationship with her. The reporter murmured something softly but didn't open her eyes.
He gave the doctor a withering look and demanded through gritted teeth, "What'd you do to her?"
"Check her for any injury, Face. That was someone's blood back in that stairway."
The white-haired man seemed to be the one giving the orders. He stayed where he was, feet planted shoulder width apart, and gave the gray-haired scientist a piercing appraisal. Walking up to him, he patted him down for weapons and retrieved the mini-camera from the pants pocket. "And there's our evidence and tracking device. Who are you and what do you know about that incident back in L. A.?"
"My name is Doctor Soren Stafford. I was following orders. Surely you must understand that. We were told to track down Captain Murdock and make sure he accompanied us back here." The doctor leaned against the jeep, keeping weight off his bad leg.
"Did kidnapping Murdock include giving Amy a concussion?" Face glared up at the scientist and then let his gaze flicker over to Hannibal. "She's got a pretty good gash and lump on the back of her head where they hit her. Might be where the blood came from."
"Has she been unconscious all this time?" Hannibal squinted at Stafford. "Or did you give her something in addition to a bad headache?"
"She'll wake up soon. I gave her flunitrazepam. It's a sedative. It won't hurt her. She was lucid the last time she was awake." He decided to keep to himself the fact that the drug not approved for use in the United States was also good for creating amnesia during the time the person was under its effects.
"Like the LSD you gave Captain Murdock won't hurt him?" Face erupted, leaving his position with Amy in the jeep and taking three long menacing steps toward the doctor. He balled his hands into fists, his muscles tight with rage.
"Lieutenant, stand down." Both B. A. and Hannibal moved toward Face to restrain him.
"You didn't hear Murdock's voice back there from behind that closed door. Remember how he was that last day in the POW camp? Remember how he sounded? They pumped him with LSD and I don't know what his mental state is now." Face pulled away from both men in disgust and returned to attend to Amy. He got in the backseat with her to hold her in his arms.
Hannibal's expression was grim as he looked Stafford in the eyes. "What about it, Doc?"
Stafford shifted uneasily on his feet. It was true. He hadn't had access to all of Murdock's records. He only knew Jackson wanted him and only him for Silent Arrow. For all he knew, the pilot would not emerge unscathed from his brush with LSD. There was no way of knowing for sure.
"It's just a bad trip. He'll be fine when it wears off." He couldn't let them know his own uncertainty.
From the deepening scowl on the white-haired man's face, he wasn't buying it either. He growled out his next questions. "Why Murdock? What are they planning to do to him?"
The doctor smirked at the Colonel. "I don't know everything but what I do know requires a high security clearance. It's on a need-to-know basis."
B. A. growled and gripped Stafford by the collar of his shirt. Drawing his clenched hand up to eye level, he snarled, "My fist says our security clearance's high 'nough an' my fist in your face says we pass the need-ta-know test. Got that, sucker? Now spill it or yer gonna eat my five good reasons to talk."
The doctor gulped.
"You have to admit, he has a good point, Doc. And unless you want me to give him the go-ahead, you'll tell us what you know." The Colonel's eyes bored into Stafford until he flinched.
Swallowing again, he nodded as much as he could with the Sergeant's massive hand constricting his throat. Hannibal nodded to B. A. to release the man's shirt and let him breathe.
"It's Colonel Frank Jackson," Stafford gasped, clutching at his reddening throat where the collar had pinched his air off. "He's my immediate supervisor in the project. He specially chose your pilot to be a test subject for it. Back in the mid to late 60s your man had some intensive training that makes retraining him easier. He also matches the requirements."
"Requirements. What requirements?" Hannibal interrupted.
"The test subject was supposed to be a pilot and come from a psychiatric ward. He had to be someone who had no family or friends who would ask questions if he suddenly became worse or disappeared. Captain Murdock fit those requirements. Colonel Jackson felt the Captain was perfect for the project. The LSD was to loosen him up, make him more compliant for the first session." Stafford glanced at B. A. and flinched when the big man cracked the knuckles on one hand.
"Colonel, I don't know what the project is that they have Murdock in but the whole thing feels like CIA to me." Face shot an accusatory look at the doctor.
"Agreed, Lieutenant. Is Murdock injured?" Hannibal directed the question to both Face and Stafford.
"I didn't get to see him, Colonel. I told you what I heard. He was terrified. It sounded as bad as one of the interrogations in the camp." Face glanced down at Amy as she stirred without opening her eyes and huddled against him. His arms instinctively tightened around her, his hand stroking back her hair from her forehead.
Stafford shifted his position and stared down at the ground. "Your man has some bruises."
"What else?" B. A. growled, cracking the knuckles on his other hand.
"Look, if I say anything more, I'll be divulging top secret information. Captain Murdock is being prepared for a mission for the federal government. I can't say any more. Now, I have to get back to the installation. With or without me, your man will still undergo . . . preparation. Jackson knows enough about the training to be able to do key aspects of it himself. But he won't be as careful about what he does. And . . . " The doctor looked from one man to the other helplessly."I got the idea he might have something against your guy from their past work together." The doctor's tone turned into a plea for release.
"Okay, Doc." The Colonel's steely blue eyes silenced Stafford. "We'll return you to your work but not without an escort. We need to make sure you don't do something you'll regret doing to our pilot. And know this: we don't give a rat's ass about any project the government thinks is more valuable than our friend's life."
Turning to B. A., Hannibal motioned toward the jeep. "Sergeant, if you would make Amy comfortable in the back of the van and stay with her, Face and I will accompany the doctor back to Granite Peak. Make sure she wakes up periodically and answers some questions. We don't know how bad that head injury is."
"But Hannibal!" Face whined.
Hannibal smiled. "Yes, Corporal Mendez? You know that I'm too old to be a corporal and B. A. will pop the buttons on that uniform."
The Sergeant growled at the Colonel as he carried Amy from the backseat of the jeep and gently laid her on the back floor of the van.
The grin left Hannibal's face when he glanced at the doctor. "Once we get back there, the Lieutenant and you will get me into the facility as a lab assistant. We'll both be there when you begin your work with Captain Murdock. And you'll help us get him out of there before any more is done that will injure or destroy him." Gripping Stafford's wrist in his gloved hand, he snarled into his face, "Is that understood, doctor?" The last word was said with such venom that there was no mistaking what Hannibal thought of the credentials of the man standing before him. Stafford nodded numbly and got into the passenger's seat.
Climbing into the back of the jeep, the Colonel lifted a piece of heavy canvas in the back and positioned himself under it.
Peering out at Face as he checked one last time on Amy, Hannibal clutched his Smith and Wesson to his chest and gestured to the driver's seat. "Let's go, Lieutenant. Now."