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 39 Suspicious Minds
Doctor Stafford scowled as he drove the van back to Hurricane.
This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. He forced me to leave him back there at that trailhead.
He had hoped if he got Murdock and Miss Allen alone, he could persuade the Captain to lay low for a while. He wanted to fine-tune the neuroelectromagnetic implant. When the burly black man cuffed the pilot across the head with his open hand back at the campground to get him to listen to reason, he must have somehow damaged the device.
But if Murdock murdered his friends, he wouldn't think twice about killing me.
Stafford wasn't sure if the triple homicide he witnessed was the result of Jackson's mind control or the malfunctioning implant. He hoped to sedate the pilot and check it out. He knew he would have to distract the reporter or get her out of the way first but that was a minor problem. A greater concern was Jackson and what he intended to do.
The Colonel seemed unwilling to allow Murdock to leave Project Silent Arrow. Stafford wondered if the Colonel had programmed more than Cazador's assassination and the weapon destruction into the commands waiting to be triggered in the pilot's cerebral cortex.
I'm not sure Jackson sees me as indispensable anymore. Maybe I was supposed to be murdered, too.
A sudden thought turned his stomach.
Was this that test Jackson and I discussed? The one that would see if the Captain would be willing to sacrifice something . . . or someone . . . he loved when commanded to do so? If it was, it worked. He did.
The doctor passed the motel where they had stayed and did a double-take. Turning left into a parking lot and going back the way he had come, he slowed down as he neared the motel.
For a place that's had three people murdered in cold blood, things are really quiet.
Everything on the exterior seemed to be exactly the way they had left it. No yellow crime scene tape, no police cars, nothing.
He was certain the gunshots were loud enough to attract some sort of attention. But everything was as if nothing had happened at all.
Puzzled, Doctor Stafford parked the van in front of the motel and slipped through the door and into the air-conditioned office.
The woman perched behind the desk peered at him from over the top of half-rimmed glasses. Her unnaturally brassy red hair contrasted with the multiple wrinkles that creased her face. She had to be at least seventy years old.
"Room?" She cocked an eyebrow and slid the guest register closer to the edge of the counter. "Need you to sign in first."
He was surprised she did not recognize him until he realized that Colonel Smith had limited what the motel owners could see of any of them. The only one she had interacted with was the Lieutenant.
Must be part of living the life of a fugitive, knowing how to stay out of sight so no one can identify you.
"Uh, no. I'm actually not looking for a room. Some friends of mine were going to check in here. They would have paid for three rooms for at least two nights. There were six adults in the party. The man who would have checked them in was in his late 30s, blonde hair, a nice smile." As he described the con man, he noted the woman's lips purse together in disapproval. She wagged her head back and forth impatiently.
"They ain't here no more. My husband and I run a quiet motel. We expect our guests to keep the noise down. I don't know where the other three went, but I had to evict the three men in unit seven."
"Oh? What happened?" He tried his best to sound mildly curious.
She scanned him from head to toe before answering. "It sounded like they were shooting a gun but it wasn't really loud. Maybe they used a silencer like in those cop shows. Four shots. When my husband went to check it out, they said we were mistaken. They said it was a car backfiring. Liars!" She sniffed and crossed her arms on the counter in front of her. "My husband didn't see any guns or any damage to the room but we weren't gonna take our chances. We don't want any trouble. We didn't call the cops but we threatened to if they didn't pack up and get out."
"And they did?" The doctor blinked at her. The information that the three men were still alive shocked him. Both the Captain and Miss Allen believed the pilot murdered them. He did, too, until now.
"Watched them start hiking into town with their bags over their shoulders. Don't know where they went and don't want to know. Just as long as they don't come back here." She gave him one more wary once-over. "And if you're their friend, maybe you should find somewhere else to stay. Like I said, we don't want any trouble around here."
He nodded absently and turned to leave. "Oh, I doubt I'll be staying for long in Hurricane. Thanks for the information," he murmured before closing the office door behind him.
He was fairly certain Jackson was on his way to intercept Murdock and Stafford. The military man may have read the Captain's mind all along.
Maybe he still is. If he is, he'll know where Murdock's heading and he'll know he's alone. Unless Miss Allen has caught up with him.
The pilot's team would try to track their friend and the reporter down as well.
He needed to get a cup of coffee somewhere, have a cigarette and plan his next move. Working with Jackson to find the test subject was out of the question. If they managed to get Murdock back in their hands, the military man would not let him out of his sight until Silent Arrow was finished. And Stafford couldn't be sure the Colonel had not tampered with the trigger commands. A chill went up the doctor's spine.
Maybe Jackson told Murdock to kill all of us and he didn't complete the orders. Maybe the next time, he'll finish the job.
If that was the case, he shouldn't try to find the pilot at all. Still pondering that thought, Stafford climbed into the driver's seat of the van and turned the key in the ignition.
In the next moment, the doctor felt the barrel of a gun against the base of his neck and heard the click of a safety being released.
"Where's Murdock? Tell us or I'll let the Sergeant here practice some interrogation techniques on you. He learned most of them from the VC." Colonel Smith's voice was cold and threatening as the van engine idled and Stafford tried to think of an answer that would protect him from B. A. Baracus.
oooooo
Amy attempted to keep out of sight and back far enough so that Murdock could not recognize her. The Huber Wash Trail offered very little in the way of hiding places. Early on, Amy decided that she should try to look like a fellow hiker. She didn't want to arouse suspicion and make him run from her.
Not that anyone would want to run in this heat.
Uncapping one of the bottles, she took a swallow of lukewarm water.
I wonder if Murdock is keeping himself hydrated. It must be in the 90s out here.
She recapped the bottle, put it back in the pack and adjusted the scarf around her head. The pilot showed no signs of slowing his pace.
Where is he going?
A raspy scream alerted Amy to the red-tailed hawk high above her. A desert cottontail, its brownish fur blending with the rocky soil, hid under a clump of brittlebush. The shrub was in full bloom with orange-yellow blossoms. Disturbed by her sudden appearance, the rabbit scrambled across open ground and disappeared into a grouping of datil yucca plants. The last thing she saw of it was the white underside of its tail as it fled the predator in the sky.
A rock shifted under her foot and made her stumble. Getting her balance again, she glared ahead of her at the rocky wash. That small diversion had widened the distance between herself and Murdock.
He increased his pace as she watched. She moaned softly, a hint of desperation creeping into her voice. "Please slow down. I can't keep up."
But it doesn't matter. I have to.
She sucked in a breath and forced her feet to move faster.
oooooo
Murdock spotted the female hiker behind him but didn't know who she was at that distance. Sky and Doctor Stafford were on their way to Hurricane and that was all that mattered. The last thing he remembered of Sky was her anxious gaze as he gave instructions to the scientist.
She knew she won' ever see me 'gain.
As soon as the thought came into his mind, he tried to brush it away. It hurt too much deep inside to dwell now on what he did and who he left behind.
It's better for everyone, Sky included, if I disappear 'n' never come back. Let Jackson fin' someone else for th' mission.
The woman was at least a half mile or more away. He was sure once the heat of the day became oppressive, she would turn back and he would be alone again. Only then would he consider slowing his pace. In the meanwhile, he had to be far enough away that the woman would not suspect he was anything but a hiker enjoying nature at its most majestic.
She might try 'n' stop me.
He didn't try to figure out what she would be stopping him from doing. Suicide was a dark specter wandering the perimeter of his guilt-ridden thoughts.
In the distance, the reddish-orange spire of Mount Kinesava thrust itself toward dark clouds in the overcast sky. It was the mountain he saw in his remote viewing session. Of that, he was certain.
Despite his surroundings, his mood sank further into despair. The gun and box of ammo weighed heavily in the duffel bag. Sweat beaded on his forehead, trickled down his back and stained the underarms of his T-shirt. He couldn't stop to drink water or rest.
I gotta reach that mountain b'fore nightfall. That's th' only place I'm gonna be able t' think 'n' figure out what I gotta do next.
Until he found the place on Kinesava from his remote viewing session, he had to keep going.
oooooo
As Colonel Jackson drove toward Hurricane, he attempted to "see" through Murdock's eyes to get an idea of where he currently was but the distance was a barrier.
Either that or Murdock has learned how to block me out.
His last communication with the pilot through telepathic thought had not been successful.
Correction. It was a failure.
The military man cursed himself for attempting to fool the Captain.
I thought it would be easy to persuade him that I was his inner voice but he's too well-acquainted with what that sounds like to be fooled.
For the first time since he began preparing the pilot for Project Silent Arrow, Jackson doubted his ability to control Murdock.
I must find Stafford. He'll know where the Captain is.
And after the doctor helped him recapture the test subject, it would be unnecessary to keep the medical man around until the mission was completed. Jackson smiled grimly and increased his speed. Hurricane and the Captain were only about thirty miles away.