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 27 Reunion
As soon as they were a discreet distance from the main gate to the Granite Peak installation, both Face and Murdock emerged from under the canvas tarp.
The pilot slipped all the way to the right hand side of the back seat and clasped his hands together tightly in his lap. The small transistor radio was still hooked onto the waistband of his black pants but the ear buds had fallen from his ears and the wires were draped around his neck. He seemed to be unaware it had happened.
"Turn in here, Doc. We have to pick up Face's rental car." Hannibal pointed at the dirt road to their left, then glanced back at the two men.
"God, it's good to have you back with us, buddy." Face reached over to place his hand on the pilot's shoulder. Murdock gave the Lieutenant a smoldering glare and a curt nod.
In stony silence, he squinted off into the distance, turning his face away from all of them. His jaw muscles twitched with hidden restrained emotion.
The Lieutenant removed his hand and shrugged at Hannibal. The older man shook his head, not knowing what to say.
Whatever these slimeballs did to you, Captain, we're going to make sure they return you to normal and pay for what they did. I promise you that.
Hannibal guided the doctor to drive beyond the convertible and turn around before stopping the jeep beside the other vehicle. The Colonel turned in his seat to look at Murdock directly while he spoke to the Lieutenant. "Face, you and Murdock follow us in the rental."
The pilot's eyes remained fixed on the distant scrub brush and rugged terrain, his expression impassive. Face glanced over at his mute friend and sighed in frustration.
Noting Murdock's detached attitude and the other man's reaction, Hannibal elaborated on his orders. "Being you left the keys with B. A. for safekeeping, you'll have to hot-wire the car, Face. Why don't you see if you can help him, Captain?"
Murdock swallowed hard with the mention of B. A.'s name. For a few intense seconds, the pilot focused on the older man in front of him. The suspicion and hostility expressed in those dark eyes caught Hannibal off guard.
Noticing the look which passed between the two, Face gave them both a hesitant smile. "That's alright. I guess I don't need any help. If I don't know by now how to hot-wire a car, you can kick me off the team, Colonel." The Lieutenant stepped out of the jeep and popped the hood on the other vehicle.
After a moment's hesitation, Murdock climbed out and transferred over to the front passenger's seat of the convertible. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back as if to fall asleep. Wrapping his arms around himself and over his bare chest, he tried to prevent his muscles from twitching but couldn't.
He isn't shivering from the cold. It feels like it's in the 80s out here. It looks more like the after-effects of electroshock therapy.
As Hannibal watched, the pilot gave up attempting to control his spasming muscles and peered at the military vehicle where the two other men waited. When he caught the Colonel looking at him, he frowned and slid lower in the seat, propping his knees against the dashboard.
It's as if he's trying to avoid contact with us as much as possible.
In a low mutter, the Colonel addressed Stafford. "I think you're going to have to let us in on the specifics of what this project involves. That is not normal behavior for him."
"I told you. Colonel Jackson's session with him changed him from a man with loyalties to his team to a man with a mission to accomplish. It's likely the Colonel programmed him to ignore distractions and focus on his new job." The doctor stared at his test subject and gripped the steering wheel tighter.
"Would that explain why we seemed to have no problem extracting him from Granite Peak just now and making our escape?" Hannibal's nerves were like a taut string. Just the fact that they had encountered no resistance and seemed to pass through the main gate with no suspicions raised worried him.
It's almost as if this Colonel Jackson finished whatever he wanted to do to Murdock and set up the escape himself.
"I'm not sure. I thought there was at least another week's worth of work we had to do to prepare Captain Murdock for his assignment." Stafford frowned and started the jeep as the Lieutenant slammed the car hood and gave the two men a pleased grin and an "A-OK" salute.
The man in the passenger's seat startled with the sound. The jolt sent a shudder through his entire body.
Seeing the reaction, Face got behind the wheel of the rental and smiled sympathetically across at Murdock. He patted him on the knee and said something the Colonel didn't hear. He got no verbal response. Instead, the pilot cringed, shifting his trembling body closer to the passenger's side door.
Hannibal watched the interaction between Face and Murdock carefully, unable to shake the growing realization that somehow the pilot was convinced they were all his enemies.
The Lieutenant got the car turned around and followed the jeep out onto the secondary road leading into Granite Peak. Within minutes, both vehicles pulled up to the black van.
The Colonel escorted the reluctant doctor to the van and placed him in the back seat. Shutting the side door on their prisoner, he waited for Face to park the car and shut off the engine.
Amy scrambled from the seat Hannibal usually occupied. Her relief at seeing Face again was apparent by the way she rushed toward the rental car even before he had it fully parked. As soon as he left the driver's seat, her arms were around him, her head resting against his chest.
"I should be captured and escape more often," he joked. He held her closely and kissed the top of her head.
"Don't you dare," she mumbled, letting his embrace melt away all the concern of the past few hours. Face put his hand up to stroke her hair and found the area of matted blood. Grimacing, he lowered his hand and massaged her back instead. He cast a serious glance at Hannibal as the Colonel removed a cigar and prepared to light it, then strolled over to the car.
"Has our Captain said anything to you since we got in the jeep and left Granite Peak?" The Colonel turned his back on the passenger in the rental car and flashed concerned blue eyes on Face. His voice was a low mutter, meant for only the Lieutenant to hear.
"Not a word, Hannibal. It's not like I haven't tried to get a response. It's almost like he's possessed." Face allowed his worry and disappointment to show. He ran a hand over his hair, not noticing when a strand fell back out of place.
Amy looked from one man to the other. "Maybe if I tried? They took both of us in the middle of a mission, remember?"
Before either man could respond, she pulled away and gazed in at the pilot. "Hey, Murdock," she murmured. "Are you alright?"
For a few seconds, Hannibal noticed a look of confusion as the pilot frowned at her pallid face without speaking.
It's like he doesn't know she's been helping us, like he doesn't know who she is.
Murdock closed his eyes as if to listen to an internal voice and leaned his head back on the seat again. This time a small whimper escaped from deep inside. He gripped his right knee as if he was feeling fresh pain in the old war-injured knee joint.
Amy gazed at Face, silent questions in her expression. The Lieutenant shook his head and ushered her into the front seat of the rental to sit between Murdock and himself. "Keep talking to him. At least you got a response. Any response is better than no response."
Even as she slid over beside him, she felt his muscles tense up. She gave Face another questioning look as he walked over to B. A. to retrieve the keys.
"Murdock . . . " she started.
"What's wrong with th' fool?" B. A.'s voice boomed from the driver's seat of the van.
The gruff tone seemed to set off another round of shudders. The pilot abruptly opened the car door and limped toward a clump of bottle brush.
With each step, he begged for mercy. "Tôi không có gì để cho bạn biết. Không làm tổn thương tôi. (I have nothing to tell you. Don't hurt me.)" He gasped out the last words and bowed his head, his back turned to them. None of them could see his face or decipher his words but they didn't have to. The tone of his voice was the tone of a POW when he had taken one beating too many.
He folded his arms tightly around his abdomen, hugging himself in what they all recognized as a defensive gesture. It was something he did only rarely anymore. Hannibal grimaced at the thought of where their friend's mind might be.
He used to do that when the guards came to drag him away to be interrogated.
"Không làm tổn thương tôi. (Don't hurt me.)" Swaying back and forth, clutching himself tighter, he repeated the same words over and over under his breath.
B. A. left the van and stood beside the driver's door, watching and wondering what he had done to provoke the pilot. Hannibal and Face were frozen in place, recognizing what was going on but not sure how to handle a hostile distrusting Murdock.
If Face or I make a move, will he run? Or will he turn on us and try to fight?
When none of the others responded, Amy left the car and approached him cautiously, reaching with one hand to touch him on his upper arm.
"Amy!" The Colonel hissed out a warning but he was too late.
She showed no signs of having heard him. Her entire focus was on her hurting friend. "Whatever happened to you back there, we're here for you. You know that, don't you? We'll see you through it, no matter what it is."
Her soothing low voice, such a contrast to the one that set off the reaction, seemed to be reaching him. She felt him flinch and then relax as her fingertips touched his bicep.
Standing so close to him, she tried not to stare at the criss-crossing scars that made the skin of his back almost like a road map of silvery-white lines. She winced, knowing how the scars got there and who had inflicted the wounds that caused them. She realized the others had their own scarred record from the prison camp but until now she had only seen those that Face let her see of his own.
"Please, Murdock? Come back to the car and sit down. B. A. made sure to get out clean clothes and your jacket for when you got back here." There it was again. The shudder when B. A.'s name was mentioned. Both Amy and Hannibal saw it.
What the hell did Jackson do to his brain?
Hannibal slowly approached but remained far enough away as not to seem a threat. "Captain, we have to move. Colonel Lynch will be showing up fairly soon and we have to put some distance between ourselves and this installation."
The muscles trembled again under Amy's hand at the sound of the Colonel's voice. "Shhh," she soothed, gently caressing his arm with her hand. "Whatever it is, we'll get through it."
She darted a quick warning glance at Hannibal and Face as the pilot allowed her to slip her arm around his waist and give him a comforting sideways hug.
Hannibal kept his guard up in case any of Amy's actions provoked a violent reaction. He had to admit that for now she seemed to be the only one who elicited more than hostile glares or detached aloofness.
Whatever you're doing, kid, keep on doing it.
Amy turned him around toward the car with seemingly little effort. His body sagged against her and his head drooped. It was as though all of the tension of his fight-or-flight response had left him.
"There now. Let's go sit down and you can get some rest." Amy helped him into the front seat and got in beside him. As soon as she closed the door he laid his head on her shoulder and closed his eyes.
"So tired," he mumbled. She pulled him closer like he was a sleepy child in her arms and rested her chin on the top of his head.
Moments later he turned his face to gaze into her eyes. His whisper was so quiet she could barely hear it. "Sky? Tôi sẽ không cho phép họ làm tổn thương bạn bao giờ trở lại. (I won't let them hurt you ever again.)"
"Shhhh. Rest now," she murmured as she stroked his cheek.
Face got in behind the wheel and Hannibal took his seat in the van. The A-team and the hostage doctor moved out toward their base camp at Simpson Springs.