Part XIII

By the time the sun had finished rising, there wasn't much that could be salvaged from the smoldering wreckage. Some bloody scraps of clothing, some charred bone fragments, a ruined shoe, some partially melted bits of jewelry. Nothing that you could piece together again to form a body, let alone four bodies. Most of the remains had been destroyed in the massive explosion or flung so far away as to be lost forever.

They found where Decker's car had been hidden - fortunately it was still in working order. They interviewed the woman that lived in the house who had told them that someone had broken into her late brother's workshop. She had just locked her doors and kept her child with her until the unknown men had gone away. The descriptions she'd given were vague since she hadn't gotten near them, but could have been the A-Team. They took their reports, loaded was what left of the machine to take it back to their base and left.

Annie clicked on the radio sitting on her table, but it wasn't music coming from the speakers. It was Decker's voice reporting back to his headquarters that the A-Team had died resisting arrest. No survivors.

Looking up after hearing that, she saw the smile form on B.A. as he stepped back into the house, followed closely by the other three. Face was helping Murdock back inside, though he quickly found himself replaced by an anxious Dawn. Murdock looked down at her smiled.

"You did great work, little lady. Those big old rag dolls we made tricked them."

B.A. chuckled.

"Yeah - four shapes and a remote control? That worked good. Not that it would have fooled them if they could've gotten a good look, but dark as it was followed by blowing it up? Sounds like we got 'em fooled for the moment at least"

Hannibal cleared his throat slightly.

"I'd like to thank you for everything you did for my men here. If you don't mind, we'll hang around for a few days. The Sergeant tells me there are some repairs that need tending."

"You don't need -"

Murdock laughed up from where he was sitting to allow Dawn to change out his band aids.

"Annie? Remember what I told you about B.A. when he makes up his mind? Well, the Colonel here makes him look downright flexible."

Face chimed in.

"Besides, we should have a few days off from being chased. At least until they manage to tell Decker those were soup bones fragments he found in the wreckage after the explosion."

Giving her hand a squeeze, B.A. smiled back down at her. She was a woman with a lot of pride and he admired that.

"We won't stay if you don't want us to - but we don't get a lot of time to just be somewhere. You'd be doing us more of a favor than we'd be doing you."

That was when she noticed both Murdock and Dawn - they were looking at her with the same exact pleading expression in their eyes and she dissolved into laughter.

"Oh! You were so right. Those same exact puppy dog eyes. How can I say no?"

As Dawn turned to give Murdock a hug, B.A. drew Annie closer into a hug, already talking to her about needing to meet his mother in Chicago. Face had a half-smile as Hannibal laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Guess this is one time that you don't get the girl, Lieutenant."

"You know what, Colonel? I'm alright with that. Let's just not make a habit out of it."