Kate glared at Blaine when he came to collect her, pointing his Beretta at her.

"Am I supposed to be afraid of your little popgun, young man? If your boss was going to be happy with a corpse I'd be dead already."

He'd feared that even with his gun he'd have trouble keeping her quiet while he moved her topside. She could just start yelling for security.

"Ma'am if you co-operate, I won't hurt you. But if you force me to I will knock you out and carry you." He didn't want to do that. Aside from the whole bashing an old lady on the head aspect of it, carrying her would attract just as much attention as her yelling. And also leave him with no free hands if the A-Team confronted him.

He'd kept a close watch for them on his way below decks, but had seen no sign. Maybe they weren't even here for Miller. Maybe his boss had jumped to a wrong conclusion about their presence. Even she made mistakes. Oh, wake up and smell the coffee, Gary, he told himself. Like it's all just a big coincidence that they're here.

"And I want my bird," Kate said, folding her arms. "Wherever you're taking me, I want to take Sammy."

Blaine rolled his eyes. That damn bird. The woman was obsessed. But then he smiled. It gave him an idea for a way around the problem of keeping her quiet.

"Okay. If you come quietly and cooperate, then we'll stop off for the bird and you can bring it with you." The pick-up team wouldn't like that of course, but that squad of bastards would complain about anything.

Kate glared at him again, but then nodded. "All right, I'll do as I'm told. As long as we fetch Sammy."

~~~~

The team had followed Blaine to the compartment and resumed following when he came out again with her in tow. They didn't follow en-masse of course. Hannibal set Face to trail Blaine, since he was the best at making himself invisible, despite Murdock's previous attempt to take that title. The rest of them followed Face.

Stopping off at her cabin to collect the birdcage was a surprise and Face had to wave at them to back off while he waited. But they were quickly moving again as Blaine led Miller up and outside onto the boat deck.

Hannibal checked his watch. Close to the rendezvous time now. Moonlight glinted off the sea and gave just enough light to see Face and catch up to him. He pointed and they saw Blaine and Kate between a couple of the lifeboats, Blaine hanging onto her arm, and looking over the rail. When he waved to someone below, Hannibal grinned.

"Showtime."

Blaine reached into one of the lifeboats, and pulled out a coiled rope. He tossed one end over the side and a moment later started hauling on it. In a few seconds, he was dragging up the top of a rope ladder. After securing that, he took Kate's arm, pulling her away from the rail. He cast nervous looks around as he waited.

Watching for us, Hannibal thought. Well we're right here, pal. But timing was everything. No sense in springing the trap until it's full. He smiled grimly when a black clad man appeared at the top of the rope ladder and climbed over the rail. A ski mask covered his face. Kate shrank back from the menacing figure, but he ignored her. He turned and signalled back down over the side, then spoke to Blaine.

"Any trouble?" He spoke in English. An American.

"No. They must have lost track of me."

The other man snorted a bit. "Always said they were overrated. We'll make a harness and lower her into the dinghy. What the hell is that?" He pointed at the birdcage, wrapped in a cover to protect the canary from the chilly night air.

"It's a canary. If you let her take it, she'll co-operate," Blaine said. "Don't argue," he added quickly, before the man went on. "The canary is non-negotiable."

"Shit, I hate this job."

Three more men appeared, one by one up the rope ladder. Two big, muscular ones and a shorter, skinnier man.

"I call that guy," Face muttered quietly. Hannibal grinned. He'd take the first man of course. Murdock could have Blaine, and BA would take on the big boys.

Kate was looking around, a scared expression on her face. Was she looking for rescue? She only had to start yelling for security. Everybody was being very sneaky and sticking to the shadows, but if anyone looked right at them, they'd be spotted. So if she wasn't looking for security...

She's looking for us.

Hannibal knew it in an instant. In the same instant that he signalled the team forward, too late to wonder about her knowledge. When they burst from cover he didn't see fear in Kate's eyes. He saw recognition and relief. Have to wonder about it later. He lost sight of her as he piled into the first man who'd boarded, now interested only in one thing. Get that ski mask off. They were Americans, that was clear. Now he just needed to get a face. He grabbed at the mask, but the man blocked his arm and punched him in the gut, making him stagger back. Good punch and moves fast too. Definite top class pro.

Well, Hannibal might be getting old, but he was experienced. He was also bigger than his chosen dancing partner of the night, and used all of that to his advantage. Going in close, he swept the man's legs out from under him, sending him crashing to the deck and falling down after him to pin him.

Like a wrestler trying to reveal the face of a finally defeated masked opponent, Hannibal made another grab at the man's head. But this opponent wasn't defeated yet. His knee came up hard into Hannibal's back, making him yell and fall off. Hannibal hit the deck on his shoulder and the man came at him, fist raised. Hannibal caught the fist in his right hand. It felt like catching a well-struck baseball, the hand clad in a leather glove slamming into his palm. He swung with his left and caught his opponent on the side of the head, dropping the man into a heap on the deck.

Taking a shaky breath, Hannibal glanced around, checking on the others. BA was fighting the short, skinny guy and having some trouble by the look of it, the target of a whirlwind of fierce blows. Face and Murdock had one each of the two big men and were just about holding their own. Whoever these guys were, they were good. Blaine was on the deck, holding his jaw.

No sign of Kate. Had she run to alert security? No, he didn't think so.

Because she was looking for us.

Movement made Hannibal turn back and pound his fist into the face of his opponent, who'd started rising, coming up swinging. The swinging arm flopped and Hannibal grabbed the ski mask, and pulled it off.

"What the hell?"

The dark skinned face scowling fiercely up at him was one he'd last seen over the barrel of a pistol. A pistol pointed at him in the secret bunker under the Langley house, where he'd returned with Stockwell, to find... us, he remembered thinking. The Marine Corps version of us.

"Major Randall?"

"Dumb move, Smith," Randall said. "Didn't Stockwell teach you anything about 'need to know'?"

"Okay! Everybody, freeze!"

It wasn't security, but another man who'd climbed up the rope ladder. He held a silenced pistol, pointing at the fighting group. The combatants froze expect Randall, who jumped to his feet, leaving Hannibal kneeling on the deck.

"Not you, jackasses," he snapped at his own men. "Find the woman!"

The two big men started looking around. The skinny man, apparently no worse the wear for his fight with BA, started making a quick rope harness. Floodlights started coming on all over the ship. Men yelled in the distance. The team stood held at bay by the man with the gun at the top of the ladder.

"Hey," The man at the top of the ladder said. "I hear an engine. Is it our support boat?"

Randall looked over the side. "No. It's -" The alarm bursting into life cut him off. "Shit! Okay, mission aborted. Let's go! Kowalski, go. B1, B2, leave it, forget her." His men ran to the rail. Randall dragged Blaine to his feet. "Move it, Navy, or I'll toss you over the side."

Face caught Hannibal's eye as the Marines started to retreat over the side, but Hannibal shook his head. He knew who they were and they didn't get what they came for. Stockwell was here. Hell, the team even had a nice convenient rope ladder to climb down. As long as ship's security didn't crash the party before then, and as long as Kate hadn't run off too far, then they were golden.

Randall took the position at the top of the rope ladder, as the last of his men climbed down, then followed them, still covering the team, but not looking very worried about them.

"So long, Smith. Nice meeting you again." Then he was gone.

"Find Miller," Hannibal snapped at his team and ran to the rail to see the Marines and Blaine all crammed into a rubber dinghy. They must have paddled here, but now they revved up an outboard and roared away into the darkness.

The noise of that motor was drowned out by the sound of another, much larger one. Stockwell's boat, coming alongside. Security would be making a beeline for this position now, so Hannibal was glad to turn back from the rail and see Kate, birdcage still firmly in her hand, walking between Murdock and BA.

"Hannibal, you knew those guys, didn't you?" Face said. "Who the hell were they?"

"Tell you later," Hannibal said. "No time now." He turned to Kate. "Dr Miller, there's no time to explain anything right now. But we're not going to hurt you." She nodded back at him, looking scared, but again, something in her eyes told him she knew him, expected him. Lights below told him Stockwell's boat was alongside. He looked down to see sailors grab and steady the end of the rope ladder.

"I'll get Dr Miller down first," Hannibal said, climbing over the rail onto the ladder. "Try to wait until we're off the ladder before you follow." She'd be scared enough on the rope ladder, without the guys climbing down above her, shaking it around.

"Sammy," Kate said, "I won't go without him." She held up the cage.

Damn bird was probably dead from fright or cold by now, Hannibal thought, but they had no time to argue, and he didn't want her fighting him on the ladder.

"Face, deal with the bird."

Face grabbed the rope Blaine had used and took the birdcage from Kate. As soon as she let that go Murdock and BA helped her onto the ladder. Hannibal started to climb down with her, staying so close that he was reaching around her to grasp the rungs. If she slipped off the ladder, it would be into his arms and not the water.

As they climbed, Kate kept a careful eye on the birdcage. Face lowered it slowly, trying to keep it from bashing on the hull. She sighed with relief when a baffled sailor below caught it.

"Just a few more rungs, Doc," Hannibal said. "Almost there."

"I'm okay..." she stopped and gasped when the lights from Stockwell's boat went out.

"It's okay," Hannibal said. "They just don't want security to see us. Keep going." The ladder shook violently as they continued, and Hannibal glanced up to see a dark shape climbing over the rail. The guys were heading down, which meant security was close now. A few seconds later, his feet touched the deck, Kate a step behind him.

Stockwell stepped forward into the moonlight, and made a gesture to one of his men, who took Kate's arm and pulled her away from Hannibal. Hannibal tried to grab her, knowing he was powerless without her in his control. But he missed her arm and then he saw the gun in Stockwell's hand, glinting in the moonlight.

"Get back on the ladder, Colonel."