Title: The Price of Failure

Author: Cathy Fisher

Rating: PG13 - R

Warnings: Violence, some discussion of gory details, torture, angst

Summary: There is a bomb threat at the VA hospital and Murdock disappears.

Disclaimer: None of the Team are mine, but all extra characters are my own creation. All similarities to real people, places, and names are purely coincidental except in one case in which I have permission.

Comments: Many thanks to my mom for promising to beta this for me. Thanks also to my friend Keith, for encouragement and for begging me to write him into the story as The Abominable Dr. Phebes. lol All comments and constructive criticism are welcomed.

The Price Of Failure
By Cathy Fisher

Karilyn Janzen stepped behind the nurse's station with a sigh. Stripping off her gloves, she walked to the sink and washed her hands thoroughly. This had just not been her morning.

Daniel Jones had started off her shift at 6 a.m. with a hysterical nightmare, complete with flailing fists and ear-piercing screams that woke the whole building. She rubbed her arm, gently massaging the bruise she had received when she had failed to move quickly enough.

She had no sooner gotten Mr. Jones calmed down, when Lester Quirney had started screaming that the aliens were coming for him again. At the same time, the door alarm had sounded when one of the newer patients had somehow escaped an orderly and tried to walk out. As she had led him back to his room, the poor man kept pleading with her to take him home.

While she dealt with the "escapee," Ned one of the male orderlies on duty tried to calm Mr. Quirney down. When they had finally got everyone quietly eating breakfast for a change, she had thought everything was going to get better - until Matthew Shorney vomited everything up. She had just finished cleaning that mess up.

It did not help that two of the nurses had called in sick. She was the nurse-in-charge on this floor until 10:00, when an emergency replacement had agreed to come in. So, it was up to her and three orderlies to get the entire floor up and ready to face the new day. She was already tired, and it was only 8:00. And to top everything else off, Captain Murdock was getting restless again.

It had been a month since his last "disappearance," and he was starting to act like a caged lion, pacing around his room, holding animated conversations with himself. He had also decided to be as uncooperative with the staff as possible. Murdock was usually a lot of fun, but if he acted up this morning, he was going to go directly into a straitjacket.

She sensed that he was due for another 'kidney transplant' or 'experiment on the effects of hair loss to the psyche.' She laughed softly at that last one. Still, she hoped the pilot's partner in crime, the good looking conman, didn't show up on her shift. She simply did not want to deal with the inevitable paper work that came with Murdock's jaunts into the real world.

She sighed again as the phone rang. Drying her hands on a paper towel, she picked up the receiver.

"Veterans Administration Hospital, Physchiatric Wing." She frowned when there was no reply. "Hello?" She was about to hang up when a gravely voice came over the line.

"Listen carefully. I am only going to say this once."

"Who is this?" She demanded.

The caller ignored her, continuing to speak in his soft, but deep voice. His next words made her go pale.

"I have hidden a bomb somewhere within your wing. Don't bother asking where, because I won't tell you." Karilyn closed her mouth and instead reached for a pad of paper and a pencil to record everything that was said. She dropped the pencil when she heard what he had to say next.

"The bomb is set to go off in twenty minutes. If you value your life or the lives of your patients, I
suggest you evacuate everyone immediately. This is not a prank. I will destroy the hospital in twenty minutes. It is up to you to decide how many lives go with it." There was a deadly seriousness in the voice that made Karilyn's heart pound faster.

"Who is this?" She asked, as calmly as she could manage. "Why are you doing this?"

The click of the receiver was the only reply. For a moment, she stood in shock before her training took over.

Grabbing the intercom, she punched the button. "This is a code white. Repeat, this is a code white."

Ned came out of a room near the nurse's station and walked quickly over to her. "What do you want us to do?"

The various scenarios that she had been trained for flashed through her head and were discarded. Normally she would notify the hospital administrator of the problem, and he would decide whether to evacuate. But he was out of town today and there simply wasn't time to track him down. Quickly she made a decision. She would deal with the consequences later if this were a false alarm.

"I want you to start evacuation immediately." Ned started to protest, but she held up a hand to silence him. "I know it's not standard procedure, but we have less than twenty minutes."

Ned's ruddy complexion paled considerably, then he nodded. "I'll get the orderlies and get on it
immediately."

As he raced down the corridor, she grabbed the phone, rapidly dialing the police.

Part 2

Face rolled over with a groan as the phone rang again. Burying his head in his pillow, he tried to ignore the shrill sound that invaded his sleep-fogged senses. The caller was persistent, however, and the conman finally reached over and grabbed the phone on it's tenth ring.

"Hello?" He snapped grumpily.

"Good morning to you to, Faceyman," came a bright and cheery voice.

"Murdock," Face growled, "It's 7:30 in the morning. What are you doing calling me this early?"

"Face, you gotta help me out here." The bright cheerfulness had changed abruptly to an almost
desperate whine.

The lieutenant groaned. "What happened? Billy get stuck in the toilet again?"

"No, really, Face. You gotta help me. I gotta get out of here. The walls are closing in. The air is getting stuffy, and I'm about to strangle the next orderly that threatens to put me in a straightjacket. Please? I'm desperate here. Billy hasn't had a walk in ages. Thunder wants to get out and run," he gave a neigh like a horse. "See, hear him? All the little people have been dancing on my head singing 'Ring around the Rosies'. Face, please! If you have any compassion at all."

There was no doubt about the desperation in Murdock's tone now. The pilot must really be claustrophobic. Face racked his brain for a way out of this. He had a beautiful date planned for tonight and there was nothing guaranteed to spoil a romantic evening faster than a lunatic pilot in one's apartment.

"It's Friday. Doesn't Dr. Richter take you to his club every Friday?" Face flopped back on the pillow, holding the receiver with one hand and using the other to shield his eyes from the sunlight coming in through the drapes at the foot of his bed.

"He's on vacation. He won't be back til next week. Please, Faceman? I promise I'll be good, and I won't let Billy chew on your expensive shoes again."

Face sighed heavily. If he said no, Murdock would probably just escape on his own, then show up in the apartment at the most inoportune time. Maybe he could get Hannibal or BA...no, Hannibal, to take him tonight. That thought cheered him up and he grudgingly gave in. "All right, Murdock. I'll be over to pick you up at..." he glanced at the clock again, "...9:30."

There was a whoop on the other end of the phone that made Face jerk the receiver away from his ear. He grinned and shook his head.

"Thanks, Face. See you at 9:00."

"Don't push it, Murdock. 9:30. Good bye."

"Thanks, Face. You won't regret this." There was a click as the pilot hung up.

"I think I already do," the coman said to the dial tone before hanging up the phone and heading for the shower.

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Murdock danced a jig as he hung up the phone. "Did ya hear that, Billy?" he asked the bundle of air lying on his bed. "Face is coming to get us this morning."

Grabbing a gymn bag from his bottom drawer, he stuffed a few pairs of clean underwear and socks as well as one extra change of clothing into it. Face always had extra clothes for him around his place, so he didn't need much.

Whistling the tune to "We're off to see the wizard," he pulled open the cabinet above his sink and added a few toiletries to the bag. Face didn't really like him using his razor and aftershave lotion, and he couldn't forget his Big Bird toothbrush.

Zipping up the bag, he sat down on the bed and looked at his watch. 8:00. He had an hour and a half before Face showed up.

'Wonder if I have enough time to beat level 10 of Space Quarks," he wondered aloud, stroking the air next to him. Shaking his head, he walked instead to the TV and turned it on. Flipping channels until he found cartoons, he vaguely heard Nurse Janzen's voice over the intercom calling some code or other.

'Someone probably slipped in the bathroom or something,' he thought idly. Turning up the volume, he settled in to watch some Woody Woodpecker reruns until Face got there.

Less than 5 minutes later, Murdock became aware of voices and large groups of people walking past his door. This continued for some time, and just as he was about to get up and check what was going on, the door opened. A new orderly the captain had only seen a few
times walked in with a straightjacket in one hand. Murdock narrowed his eyes. Something must be up.

Switching off the TV, the orderly approached him calmly. "Come along, Mr. Murdock," he said soothingly. "Put this jacket on. We need to take you downstairs for a little bit."

"What's going on?" Murdock asked. He could still hear people walking up and down the hallway outside. He put his arms out and allowed the orderly to slip the straightjacket on.

"It's nothing. Probably just a drill. There's nothing to worry about. Everything's being taken care of. It will be over and you'll be back in your room in no time." The orderly's tone sounded almost bored, as though this sort of thing happened all the time, but Murdock noticed that the man's hands were shaking so badly he could hardly get the straightjacket on properly.

The classic "Nothing's wrong" line. "I'm okay, you're okay." As if he hadn't been exposed to that garbage all his life. He might be crazy, but he wasn't stupid. Something didn't feel right about this whole thing, but he could see he wasn't going to get anything more out of this man. He decided he'd go along with it. For now. Maybe he really would be back in his room in a
few minutes.

Outside the room, they joined a smaller group being guided out of the building by various nurses and orderlies as well as hospital security. It looked as thought they were part of the last few groups to leave the building. A quick look over his shoulder showed a nurse going from room to room, checking for stragglers. He frowned. If he didn't know better, he'd think this was a fire drill. Maybe it was a fire drill only with no alarm. He knew well enough what alarms did to certain psychotic patients. Maybe they didn't want to sound the alarm for that reason.

He looked forward again as he felt the orderly at his side slow him down with a tug on his arm. Ahead of them, the rest of the group was entering the stairwell leading down to the first floor. He started to follow them, but the orderly instead guided him to the left down a hallway.

"We'll use the stairway down here," he said, a slight tremor entering his voice. "Not as crowded." Alarm bells went off in Murdock's head and he tried to twist around to see if anyone else was around, but the orderly guided him swiftly forward.

"Hey, what are we doing? Why are we leaving the others? What's going on?" The orderly ignored his questions and continued to pull him along until they reached a door marked 'Utility Room. Employees Only'.

Inserting a key, the orderly opened the door and jerked Murdock inside. They were met with very familiar sounding clicks as two men with ski masks stepped out from behind some boxes. They held guns with silencers in their hands, both cocked and ready, and both pointed directly at them.

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END NOTE: Well, here's the end of part two of my little drama. Again, all help is welcome here. I'd like to know if there are areas I need to expand, i.e. more description? Was this too long? Would it have been more effective breaking it off after the scene with Face? Many thanks.