"Hannibal."

Hannibal opened his eyes to see Murdock standing over him, shaking his shoulder. "Face is waking up."

"Thanks." Hannibal stretched and rubbed his eyes. He needed a real bed and a proper sleep, but it didn't look as if he'd get either any time soon. He'd spent the last couple of hours napping on some blankets on the concrete floor of their workshop, a small warehouse, where they worked on their vehicles, and other things they needed for jobs. BA had a workbench full of electronics gear there; a sturdy wooden table, bolted to the floor.

Right now, Face lay beside the workbench, also on a nest of blankets. His left arm lay at an uncomfortable looking angle and as he stirred he tried to move it. A steel chain clanked and Face sat up abruptly, eyes wide, staring down at his wrist. A manacle circled it, the one at the other end of the chain attached to the leg of the workbench. Face gave it a futile tug, and then glared up at Hannibal.

"You'd better get this off me right now."

"Sorry. It stays."

Face glared at him and at Murdock and BA who stood behind Hannibal.

Face looked at his watch and frowned. Hours had passed since the crash. When Hannibal and Murdock had bundled Face into the car, he'd started to come around, and fight, a few moments later. Hannibal had climbed into the front passenger seat, ignoring BA's protests, and found a vial of BA's knockout juice and a hypodermic in the glove compartment. A moment later Face stopped giving them any trouble.

After losing the police pursuit, they headed here, to their warehouse to hole up. Hannibal sent BA out to pick up some food, planned to stay overnight here at least, needed time to rest and think. To work out what the hell they did for Face now. Keeping him chained to a workbench could hardly be a long-term solution.

"Face, I don't want to keep you chained up. But if you want me to let you loose you'll have to convince me that you're not going to try that again."

Face looked up at him and Hannibal expected a con job, expected a faked expression and for Face to reassure him that he was just fine now and of course he wouldn't try it again. But Face just bit his lip and looked away.

"I haven't changed my mind."

Hannibal heard Murdock groan behind him. He glanced over his shoulder.

"Put together some sandwiches or something, guys. Looks like we're stuck here for a while."

They retreated to another bench and started pulling food and drinks out of grocery store bags. Hannibal turned back to Face and crouched down beside him.

"Murdock's told me what you said. About handing yourself in. That's what you were going to do, isn't it?"

"It's the right thing to do." Face still didn't look at Hannibal.

"It's a mistake. They've got enough circumstantial evidence to put you away for life."

"Yeah..." Face pulled once at the manacle again. "Maybe they should put me away."

Hannibal frowned, not understanding. "You didn't kill her, Face."

"I didn't protect her!"

Behind Hannibal, Murdock and BA went quiet and he guessed they were staring. Face stared too, at Hannibal.

"She was with me and someone killed her and I didn't protect her!"

"Face you --"

"I don't care what you say, Hannibal! Whatever you say amounts to the same thing. I lay there, drugged, if you insist, and he strangled her. Well, if I couldn't be a man then, for Celia, I can be a man now and face the music."

"Not protecting her is not the same as killing her." Hannibal said it quietly, seeing how close to the edge Face was, needed to keep him calm.

"Amounts to the same thing for her!"

Hannibal put a hand on Face's shoulder, trying to soothe him, bring him down.

"Face, listen to me. Listen. He killed her and left you to take the fall for it. If you give in to the guilt and let the cops railroad you, then they'll close the case and he'll have two victims, first Celia and then you. He'll escape, maybe even do this again. Are you going to let that happen?"

Murdock came around and knelt on the floor beside Face.

"We know you're feeling bad, buddy. But you know you'll regret it later if you do this."

Face looked at him, then past Hannibal, at BA who had come to stand at Hannibal's side.

"BA?"

"Ain't gonna let you go to jail for something you didn't do, Faceman. After all this time, there ain't no sense in that. Else we might as well have stayed at Bragg."

He moved away and after a moment, Hannibal heard him rustling in the grocery bags again.

"Face?" Murdock asked. "You going to be smart?" He smiled, hopeful but nervous. "Go on, give it a try, just this once."

Face smiled back at him, his smile just as weak. He gave Murdock a small push, making him rock on his feet.

"I guess I'll think about it." He nodded at the manacle. "So you'll let me loose, Colonel?"

Hannibal frowned. Was that smile a little too easy?

"After you think about it." He stood up and Face's smile quickly turned back into a scowl. "Okay, it's dark out now. Everybody get some rest. I'm going to make phone calls. My contact for the drugs test thought he'd have the results by tonight."

Leaving Face still sitting up, Murdock at his side, Hannibal went to BA.

"I could be a few hours. I want one of you watching him at all times. He could get out of those cuffs in under a minute if you give him the chance."

Though they'd removed Face's lock picks from his pocket when they brought him here, he could have something else concealed. But Hannibal felt uncomfortable with searching him more thoroughly than that while he lay unconscious. In the present circumstances, Face would consider that unforgivable.

"Make sure he eats something," Hannibal added.

"Sucker'll eat if I have to hold him at gunpoint."

+-+-+

"BA."

Face's voice came out of the dimness and BA's head jerked back up. Darn it, he'd almost nodded off, even sitting up in a chair. Face could have pulled some Houdini act and be out of the cuffs by now. Hannibal would be disappointed if BA let Face escape. Terminally disappointed. Of course Face would have to get past Murdock too, who patrolled the perimeter.

"What?" BA asked.

"Oh, nothing," Face said. "Just... testing."

"I'm wide awake," BA insisted. "Have I gotta come over there and check you still chained up?"

Face raised his arm, the chain clanked and there was enough light for BA to see the manacle still attached to Face at one end and the bench at the other.

"Good. Now go to sleep."

"Hard to sleep." Face paused. "Since it happened. Hard to let myself be..." He didn't finish.

Helpless, BA supplied the word silently.

"Someone's on guard all the time. You're safe."

"Yeah." Face sighed. "Good thing it's you. Better at keeping people safe than I am."

"You do fine. Always trusted you to have my back."

"And now?"

"Nothing's changed."

Face stayed silent for a while and BA wondered if he had gone to sleep at last, but after a while, he spoke again.

"Know the worst thing, BA? I lied to her. She thought I was some exec at Universal. She thought I could get her acting work. If I hadn't done that, she wouldn't have been there and she wouldn't be dead."

BA frowned. "Why'd you do that? Not just with her, I mean. I seen you do that with lotsa women."

"'Hi," Face said, in a fake bright tone. "I'm a wanted felon. Wanna go out to dinner?'"

BA rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know you gotta lie about who you really are, but why all that other stuff, saying you're rich, and in show business? Why'd you need to do it? I mean you're..." He paused for a moment, frowning, not sure how to phrase what he wanted to say. "You know, you're... well there's a reason we call you the Faceman, ain't there? Plus you got that way of talking to people, to women, you know, that makes them like you."

"'s called charm, BA." The voice, Murdock's, came from behind him and BA glanced over his shoulder, scowled at the dark figure.

"Don't sneak up on me, fool."

"Just passing." The sound of his footsteps faded away.

BA turned back to look down at Face and jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Yeah. What he said."

Face shuffled around a bit and sat up, his back against the leg of the workbench. There was just enough light for BA to see his eyes.

"That might be enough in some places, with some women. But in L.A.? In Hollywood? Every day is another wrinkle. Those girls don't have the time to waste on some guy just because he's cute and charming. They're in a hurry. I have to make them think I'm worth their time."

"Ain't right," BA said. Face hung his head and BA felt bad, hadn't meant to sound accusing. "Not just for you to do that I mean. Just... Everybody using each other." He wondered why Face felt he had to chase that kind of woman. Yeah, they were pretty, but you could meet a pretty girl serving coffee in a diner. The ones Face went for barely looked like real women to BA. More like dolls with their painted faces. Just prizes. Trophies.

Face lay down again and BA sighed, fearing he'd made him feel worse. Face spoke again, but more quietly now, face buried in his elbow, words muffled against his arm

"I guess it feels good too, that they think I'm somebody important."

BA snorted. "Okay, Faceman, go to sleep. You ain't getting me to start puffing up your ego. If you don't know by now that you're important to us, then you're more cracked than the fool."

"I heard that." Murdock's voice came from behind again.

"Thought you was just passing?"

"Now I'm passing the other way."

BA shook his head and turned back to look down at Face. Hard to say in the dark, but for a second Face might have smiled.