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“You sure it’ll be tonight?” Murdock asked, “Wont they want to rally the troops, so to speak?”
Stockwell turned from the window to where the other men were seated on the couches in the TV room, “they only have tonight and they know it. By 7am tomorrow morning there’ll be arrest warrants out in their names.”
“You gotta admit that’s got a great ring to it,” Face said, grinning, “but I just really wish I could see their faces when they get served.”
“For once, lieutenant, we agree.” Stockwell sighed.
“How do they even know we’re here?” BA asked, “Isn’t this supposed to be a safehouse?”
“You wouldn’t be using us as bait, would you?” Frankie asked suspiciously.
Stockwell looked at them, expressionless, but it was Hannibal who replied.
“I hate to burst your bubble,” Hannibal said regretfully, “But we’re secondary targets. Anyone who kills us is going to get an extra cookie with his warm milk tonight.” He pointed at Stockwell, “That’s the man they want.”
“They already know they can’t do anything to stop it, so now they’re on damage control,” Face surmised.
The phone on the side table rang, and Stockwell walked over to answer it. He listened in silence, then hung up.
“Gentlemen, the time has come. They’re on the way.”
“Numbers?” Hannibal asked.
“Eight vehicles,” Stockwell said, “No markings.”
“Any idea who’s leading them?”
Stockwell met his gaze, “Yes.”
Hannibal paused, then nodded.
“If anyone wishes to flee, screaming, into the woods,” Stockwell said, “Now is the time to begin running.”
The others looked at each other, and Hannibal snorted a laugh.
“You have command, colonel.” Stockwell said with a nod.
Hannibal stood, checking his watch. Twelve minutes to midnight. “Ugh, what a cliché.” He shook his head and straightened, addressing them all. “We know what’s coming and we know what’s at stake.” He looked to each of them, then to Stockwell, “the general is our priority one. Our court case is going to go a lot smoother if we can keep him alive.”
“Appreciated,” Stockwell said dryly.
“We all have our positions, well all know what to do.” Hannibal said, “Now remember, these men are probably just regular soldiers under orders. They probably have no idea what’s really going on, just like we were, so try to be gentle when you’re knocking them around.”
“The man leading them is lieutenant general Joseph Cody. We need him alive.” Stockwell added.
“So um, remind me why we sent all the special agents home?” Frankie said, “I feel like now is when we could’a really used them.”
“We don’t need a bloodbath,” Hannibal said, “all we need to do is survive until backup arrives.”
“I just feel kinda like the Ewoks going up against the Empire here,” Frankie said.
“The Ewoks won.” Murdock observed.
“Only cause Luke was up there fighting the Emperor!” Frankie protested.
“Oh my god!” Face exclaimed, making everyone turn to him in surprise, “We should watch all three, right here, back to back.” He gestured to the TV, “that’s like, what, a 37 inch TV? And we’re gonna have time to kill while the court case is going-”
“Yessss!” Murdock grinned, chopping his hand against his palm for each point, “pizza, snacks, beer, movies-”
“Why did we never think of this before?” Face said, staring at the TV.
“Gentlemen!” Hannibal couldn’t help grinning, “can we please focus on the life or death fight for survival we have planned for tonight?”
“Sure, I guess,” Murdock rolled his eyes, sighing.
Hannibal looked at his watch again. “Everyone in position, curtain up in five minutes.”
“Nobody shoot the TV,” BA said as he stood, “I’m looking forward to movie night.”
_____
The house was dark, and the vehicles, mostly SUVs, pulled up without headlights. They opened their doors as quietly as they could and slipped out, dressed in black tactical gear.
“Got about four to each car,” Face said into a radio, watching them through a night vision scope from a window at the top of the house, “tac’d out, god bless them.”
“Eyes on Cody?” Hannibal asked over the radio.
Face swept his scope over them all, “All masked.” He watched one of them walk past a four foot high garden gnome Murdock had brought one day. “They’re passing Arnold.”
“Ready,” BA said on the radio.
“Ready.” Frankie said.
“Ready, teddy, and steady to go,” Murdock reported.
“Ready,” Hannibal said, “give the word, lieutenant.”
Face waited until a few more had crossed Arnold’s position. He grinned brightly into the darkness. “Light ‘em up.”
Frankie stood over a bank of controllers, flexing his fingers. “I am the god of hell fire!” He announced to nobody, “And I bring you…” He pushed up four of the sliders at once.
Outside, two lines of fire whipped across the lawn, the soldiers suddenly caught between them. Some of them reeled back into the others, bumping into each other in panic, when suddenly sniper fire started to rain down around them, hitting them neatly in their body armour.
“Sniper!” Someone yelled.
“Just run through,” Somewhere in the group, Cody ordered, “Run through!”
The soldiers obeyed, only to be met with a barrage of flash bangs that Murdock was hurling from the balcony.
“Chaos and destruction! Chaos and destruction!” Murdock laughed.
“Up there!” Cody yelled, firing up at Murdock who retreated inside. Below, the glass on the patio doors were shattered.
“Breach on the side door,” Hannibal whispered over the radio as he watched two soldiers come in, sweeping their guns over the dark room.
“Four more going around the back,” Face said, “Main group coming in the front.” He retreated from the window, “Moving to secondary position.”
___
Hannibal looked across to Stockwell on the other side of the room as the soldiers passed them. Almost simultaneously they each lunged, taking out one soldier each and laying them out cold on the carpet.
Stockwell straightened his tie, “It’s been a long time since I did that.”
“It’s nice to revisit old hobbies now and again.” Hannibal pulled the balaclavas off both men, but neither were Cody.
“They’ve got fancy earpieces on,” Hannibal said into the radio, smiling as he pulled them out of the two unconscious men’s ears.
Further into the house, BA cackled manically and set off a device. Suddenly, all open radios except the Team’s shrieked into life with a splitting squeal, followed by Status Quo’s ‘Down Down’ at ear-spitting volume.
“Nice!” Hannibal threw Stockwell a grin, “I love this song.”
Stockwell frowned at him briefly, then broke into a wry smile, “I always preferred the Allman Brothers.”
“You would.” Hannibal replied.
The soldiers in the front hallway were pulling off their masks and ripping the earpieces out.
“Spread out! They’re in here somewhere!” Cody threw his earpiece to the ground and stood on it, he screamed over the noise, “I want those men found!”
Frankie cracked his knuckles, “who likes disco?” He jabbed his finger down on two buttons.
The front hall filled with smoke, and two strobe lights switched on, making it nearly impossible to see.
“Now this is a party!” Frankie exclaimed, running out onto the upper balcony, Murdock behind him.
“Chaos and destruction!” Murdock yelled as they threw handfuls of firecrackers into the hall.
The soldiers scrambled for the side doors in a panic, the music was now playing from speakers wired through the house, drowning out any possible orders Cody might have given.
“We’re gonna get a noise complaint,” Face whispered as he and BA crept through the dark kitchen towards the soldiers who’d breached at the back doors.
“Get cleared of treason, get cleared of murder, go down for public nuisance,” BA tutted.
Face snickered, then nodded ahead, “There they are, let’s give them their party favours.”
_______
Joseph Cody had always considered himself an ordinary man. He wanted what everyone wanted, and took his opportunities where he saw them. Anybody in his position would have done the things he’d done, made the same choices he’d made. If some people got hurt, well, that was the way the world worked. Someone gained and someone lost, and who could blame him for wanting to be on the winning side?
He’d burned through a lot of favours finding this house, these men, and when he’d heard who was pulling the strings he’d felt a sharp stab of betrayal. He’d always known Hunt was straight laced, cold even, but he’d never imagined him to be a man who’d turn on his friends. Could a man really love his country so much that it overrode all other loyalty?
Cody had been split off from his men, who were running around getting picked off like green recruits. It was like raiding a funhouse, and he was getting to the end of his patience. The music made his head throb and his eyes were stinging from the artificial smoke.
“Who the hell are these guys?” Cody gritted, fingers aching on the grip of his pistol.
He could salvage this, he thought. Pin it all on Stockwell, his association with ‘the A-Team’ would sell it. A conspiracy, a set-up to hide so many crimes. Maybe, hopefully, this could end up ok for him after all.
Then someone punched him in the face.
Cody staggered, tasting blood in his mouth, and turned to grapple with the man who’d punched him. He was no longer a young man, and the other one was strong, but he managed to get a swipe in with the butt of his pistol that sent the other man backwards into a table, spilling onto the floor. He raised his gun to fire, not caring who it was, when the light suddenly came on.
“Drop the gun, Joseph.” Stockwell’s voice was icy, level. He stood by the door, gun aimed squarely at Cody’s head.
“Hunt,” Cody pretended to be relieved, half turning his head to smile, “thank god you’re alright, I-”
“Drop the gun or I’ll drop you.”
Cody’s fake smile fell and he scowled back at Hannibal.
Hannibal eyed the gun, “Say, is that a Colt M1911?”
Cody furrowed his brow, “What?”
“Nothing, just a funny coincidence.” Hannibal smiled.
“Joseph,” Stockwell said, “Drop your weapon.”
A malicious expression ran over Cody’s face, “I dunno, if I’m going to go out, maybe I should at least take one of you with me.”
“Not this time,” Stockwell replied.
Cody looked across at Stockwell, “I can’t believe you, of all people… I thought we were friends.”
“Yes, I made that mistake once as well,” Stockwell said.
From the other doors the rest of the team walked in. Frankie and Murdock behind Cody and Face and BA opposite Stockwell.
“Everyone accounted for,” Face said, “You ok, colonel?”
“I’m ok,” Hannibal threw him a smile.
Cody took a deep breath and lowered his gun, and Hannibal stood up to take it off him before moving to stand beside Face.
“How could you do this?” Cody turned to Stockwell, “all this just for some back-room deals? Are you jealous cause you didn’t get a seat at the table?”
Stockwell was silent, his gun still trained on Cody. “Hands behind your head, on the ground.”
“You can’t be serious-” Cody protested.
“On the ground!” Stockwell ordered.
Cody put his hands slowly behind his head and got down on his knees, expression pleading, “Hunt… please, come on…”
“Uh, Hannibal?” Face muttered.
“Don’t worry, the general isn’t going to kill him,” Hannibal said out loud, watching Stockwell, the tension in his hands as he pointed the gun at Cody’s head, “Because that’d be much too kind.”
Stockwell was still for a long moment, then suddenly looked up at Hannibal as if broken out of a trance, “Quite correct, colonel.” He took a breath, “Would someone please secure general Cody.”
BA stepped forward, roughly putting Cody’s hands behind his back and using zip-ties to secure him.
Stockwell holstered his gun, sending a brief, tiny nod at Hannibal.
“This is the guy!” Frankie said excitedly, “This is the guy tried to pay me to off Hannibal.” He paused, furrowing his brow, “So why’s he been on your tails for so long?” He looked at the team, who shrugged.
“That’s what I’d like to know,” Hannibal walked around to sit on the arm of a nearby couch, frowning at Cody. “I don’t even know you.”
“Would you like to tell them, Joseph, or shall I?” Stockwell grinned another cold, toothy smile at Cody.
Cody glared at him.
“Your last mission, gentlemen, was never supposed to be completed,” Stockwell said, “You were chosen sight unseen. A disposable asset. The gold was never supposed to be removed. You were supposed to die, and due to your… unorthodox methods, it was assumed nobody would look too closely at the circumstances.”
“You picked the wrong guys.” BA told Cody.
Face clicked his fingers and came around to sit on the seat beside Hannibal. “The real theft had already happened.”
Stockwell nodded, a smile on his lips, “Did you not wonder about the massive disparity between the amount you took and the amount that was missing?”
“All the time,” Hannibal frowned at Cody, “So you greased the right palms in Vietnam, moved out the money and sent in the scapegoats.”
“Only we completed the mission,” Murdock said.
“A second plan was made,” Stockwell continued, “you would have been killed in an ‘escape attempt’.”
“Only we escaped first,” Hannibal said, then turned to Cody, “but you still had your scapegoat.”
“They would have, only there was the little matter of the money. Rather than filter it though a number of shell companies, like any normal fraud, they decided to filter it through official systems. The money was supposed to be recovered, then put into certain ‘funds’ purportedly for repatriation to Vietnam. Funds and contracts that, if it had worked, they would have ended up back in the pockets of our six friends with a perfectly clean, untraceable, irreproachable six million dollar payout. Or a million dollars each.”
Face’s eyes suddenly widened and he clapped his hands over his mouth in a wheezing gasp, then broke into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. He fell against Hannibal, unable to speak, as Cody glared daggers into him.
“A gold star for the lieutenant,” Stockwell said, almost sounding proud.
“I don’t get it,” Murdock said, breaking into a helpless grin as Face all but buried himself in Hannibal’s side in peals of laughter.
“But if they got the money, why are they still after us?” BA asked, also breaking into a giggle at Face’s amusement.
“They didn’t…” Hannibal grinned slowly, “they didn’t get a payout at all.”
“Ok, ok, and for the non-geniuses in the room?” Frankie huffed.
“The payout was contingent on the money being ‘recovered’,” Hannibal said, starting to laugh, “And since we were on the run-”
“They couldn’t get the money out,” Murdock’s eyes went wide, “All this time they’ve been sitting on six million dollars they couldn’t touch… because of us.”
Face gathered himself with a hiccup, wiping tears from his eyes, only to meet Murdock’s gaze as Murdock broke into laughter, and set off again.
“No wonder they were so desperate,” BA laughed, “all this time…!”
“I suppose you thought you were being very clever,” Stockwell said to Cody, “and just think, if you’d only been slightly less clever you’d have had your money a long time ago.”
Lights and sirens lit up the front of the house. Stockwell smiled.
“Ah, that should be our backup,” Stockwell said. He looked at Cody again, “an armed raid on a government safehouse on American soil,” He tutted, “If you weren’t already in up to your neck, I think this would just about bury you.”
“This isn’t over, Hunt.” Cody gritted.
“Oh no.” Stockwell smirked, “I’ve only just begun.”