Chapter 10: Escape

As soon as the guards and Colonel Sieu walked in the room all hell broke out. Face and Murdock had managed to spill enough oil on the floor to provide an adequate skating rink. Within seconds of the guards marching through the door, it wasn't long before they were slipping and sliding in the oil slick. One lost his footing almost straightaway and belly-flopped to the floor in spectacular fashion. He continued to slide across the floor until he collided with one of the water tanks, winding himself in the process and losing his rifle.

The other guard managed to stay on his feet long enough to display an impressive demonstration of balance and fancy footwork, before he finally collided with one of the oil drums. As he bumped into it with a tremendous thud, he knocked himself out cold. Murdock took the opportunity of disarming him, whilst Face, who was standing near the entrance to the door, threw the chair in Colonel Sieu's direction. The surprise tactic threw the Colonel off balance as he wrestled with the incoming missile and it wasn't long before he too was floundering around on the floor.

"Come on Murdock!" yelled Face, tottering carefully to the open door. "Let's get out of here!"

Murdock skated across the floor with an air of speed and elegance, shouting out "Geronimo" on his way over to Face. Face grabbed him and shoved him out the door, before slamming it shut behind him. He put the keys in his pocket. As the door could only be opened from the outside, the guards and the Colonel were nicely taken care off.

"I wonder where Angel is?" pondered Face, his radar senses automatically switching to red alert.

"Well he never did like to get his hands dirty," grimaced Murdock. "What do we do now, Lieutenant?"

"I think we better get your wounds cleaned up properly," replied Face, already noticing how the sudden exertion had wearied the injured pilot. He was worried that the perspiration covering his forehead wasn't just as a result of the stifling heat they had been subjected to in the store room. The cut above his right shoulder was also starting to bleed again. "Did you say there was a hospital in this warren hole?"

"Yeah, it's back down the corridor a-ways," said Murdock. "You take point, Face. I don't think I'm focussed enough to use this thing."

Murdock handed Face the AK-47, who led the way down the corridor in the direction Murdock had pointed to. Face also marvelled at the maze of passageways stretched out in front of them. But he never once questioned Murdock's ability to find the way to the hospital. It was very rare his photographic memory let him down.

Luckily, there didn't appear to be anybody else around and they arrived at the hospital without any further mishap. Face was afraid that maybe the supplies would be out-of-date or worse still, no longer available. But thankfully this seemed to be one of the few rooms that still served its purpose.

Murdock sat down on the examining bed whilst Face tended to his wounds. The pilot winced as Face removed his tattered, blood-stained bandages. Crusty scabs were already beginning to form on his skin and had stuck to his T-shirt.

Face cut away as much as the fabric as he could and quickly and gently applied new dressings to his wounds. He was glad that at least he had proper gauzing, bandages and disinfectant to work with.

"I think you're probably going to need a few stitches in that shoulder, mate," he concluded, as he washed his hands in the near-by sink.

"Thanks, muchacho," said Murdock. Observing what was left of Face's blood-stained and oil covered clothes he added, "sorry about the suit, man!"

"Don't worry," said Face. "I'll send you my tailor's bill!"

Murdock laughed as he stood up from the bed.

"I thought I'd lost you back there for a moment," confided Face, as he swung round to face the pilot.

"No chance of that!" said Murdock. "Just had one of my purple wobble moments, is all. I am sorry about keeping everything from you, Face. My brain just doesn't seem to work like everybody else's. I guess I screwed up again."

"No you didn't," said Face. "You were only looking out for me. Just like you've always done."

"I know I don't have the words to make you feel better," replied Murdock. "But I do have arms to give you a hug and ears to listen whenever you want to talk. And as long as I got a biscuit, half of it is yours!"

"You know, Murdock," said Face with a chuckle, as he helped the pilot on with his jacket. "When I count my blessings, I count you twice."

Murdock beamed with pride. It was Face's why of saying he had forgiven Murdock for his indiscretions and that he still valued their friendship.

It was then that they heard a familiar voice bellowing down the passageway.

"Face! Murdock! Where are you, suckers!"

"In here, Oh Barackan One!" yelled back Murdock.

Within seconds BA appeared in the doorway. He peered cautiously into the room, his rifle ready for action. On seeing that the two men were safe and there appeared to be no immediate danger, he lowered his weapon and called out to Hannibal.

"Found the fools, Hannibal!" he shouted as he made his way into the room, followed almost immediately by Hannibal.

"Hi guys!" grinned Hannibal.

"Am I glad to see you, Colonel!" exclaimed Face.

"Likewise!" replied Hannibal. "Status report, Lieutenant."

"Murdock's been hurt, but nothing life-threatening to worry about," reported Face. And we've got three of the bad guys locked up in the Storage Facility."

"Ah!" said Hannibal. "Would one of them happen to be Colonel Sieu?"

"How did you know about Sieu"? asked Murdock, in a surprised voice.

"Well, Stockwell has been moving heaven and earth to find out what's been going on," said Hannibal. "He managed to find out that Colonel Sieu was working with the FBI on something called the Cuban Program. A manhunt was launched back into 1970s to find a bunch of henchmen who were involved in torturing and murdering American PoWs during the Vietnam war. Colonel Sieu has been helping them with their enquiries. He gives them names of the Cuban tortures who were involved and he gets to exact his revenge on the A-Team for being disgraced in his own country."

"And no doubt receiving diplomatic immunity for his own crimes committed during the war!" said Murdock scornfully."

"That's about the size of it," said Hannibal. "We also know that Lieutenant Tommy Anderson is Colonel Sieu's right-hand man and that he's working with CID to try and flush us out."

"Nice to know Stockwell did his homework!" quipped Face.

"Well actually you can thank Joanne for that piece of information," said Hannibal. "It's also thanks to her that we knew where to come looking for you. When we followed Murdock to the Sunflower Hotel everyone had jumped ship. But we found this message screwed up in the bin in her bedroom. We knew it wasn't Murdock's writing, so guessed it must have been Joanne's."

Hannibal held up a scrap of paper that had the words "Lt Angel" and "Greenbrier's Bunker" written on it.

"Good move!" said Murdock, nodding his head in approval at Face. "She's as smart as a hooty owl, that one! Must run in the family!"

"Stockwell had heard of Greenbrier's Bunker, but didn't know it was was still being used by the Government or where it was located," continued Hannibal. Once he found out where it was from his contacts, he immediately assigned his own personal pilot to fly us over here."

"You mean you actually agreed to fly to save us, BA?" grinned Murdock. "I'm touched Big Guy!"

"I already know that, crazyman!" scowled BA. "Anyways – it weren't no big deal."

"Did you happen to come across Angel on your way in? asked Face. "He wasn't part of the welcoming committee that we left back in the Storage Facility."

"Not yet," replied Hannibal. "Frankie and some of Stockwell's men have got the entrance covered. We'll get them to sweep the joint, although I'm not sure we'll ever find him in this underground city! And even if we do, he's working for the Government now. I don't even think Stockwell has got the jurisdiction to interfere with that."

"Yeah!" growled BA. "He'll just probably just crawl back under whatever rock he came from!"

"Well I guess we better go pick up Colonel Sieu and then we can get out of here," said Hannibal.

"I've got the keys here," said Face, tossing them in Hannibal's direction. "Angel doesn't know Joanne helped us, does he?"

"Naw!" said Hannibal. "I don't see how they could find that out. We're not going to say anything to implement her."

"I wonder where she is?" pondered Face.

"Probably on a plane flying off to start her new life," said Murdock. "That's where Angel's goon was taking her."

"Oh!" said Face, not quite managing to hide his disappointment. "Despite what she did, I would have liked to have thanked her for sticking her neck on the line for us."

"Well, they didn't drive to the airport in the Pontiac," said Hannibal. "It was still in the parking bay. Angel must have suspected we'd be looking out for it. His fingerprints were all over it, which confirmed his involvement in all this."

"Probably best that she's gone," reflected Face. "From what Murdock said, she's had a pretty lousy life. I guess once you're on that program you never really get your life back again. Kind of goes with the territory."

"Stockwell said the US Marshals are pretty angry with the CID for messing with one of their witnesses," informed Hannibal. "I'm pretty sure some heads are gonna roll!"

"And maybe now Joanne will get half a chance of leading a decent life," deliberated Face.

"I'm sorry, kid," said Hannibal, putting a reassuring arm around his very forlorn-looking Lieutenant. "This didn't really turn out the way you wanted it to, did it?"

"Maybe not," said Face. "But at least I know the truth about what happened. I can put a few ghosts to rest now."

[AN: Hope to publish final chapter soon.]