DISCLAIMER: OKAY A-FANS. NEW CHAPTER! AND IT'S A LONG ONE AND I THINK YOU ALL WILL ENJOY IT…A LOT. I'M CURIOUS AS TO WHAT YOU THINK OF THIS ONE, SO REVIEW AND LET ME KNOW. I'VE HAD THIS BIT IN MY HEAD FOR A WHILE AND I HOPE I'VE DONE OUR FAVE CRAZY PILOT JUSTICE AS WELL AS HIS PRINCESS.
ALSO KEEP IN MIND I'M NO EXPERT ON PLANES AND PHYSICS IN THE A-TEAM UNIVERSE DON'T REALLY APPLY. YES THIS IS ALL CRAZY MOVIE STUFF IN TEXT FORM. I'M SURE THAT MY REALITY HAS NOTHING IN COMMON WITH REALITY.
AS ALWAYS, I OWN NOTHING BUT MY ORIGINAL CHARACTERS. SHARLTO COPLEY OWNS MY HEART AND MURDOCK OWNS MY SOUL. THEY SWAP SOMETIMES.
Chapter 27
Samantha was getting really tired of being knocked out, hit, and feeling like her head was going to pop off her shoulders and then explode. That had been occurring way too often over the last couple of weeks and she vowed the next person responsible was getting kicked in the crotch really, really hard.
As she came to this time she was laying on a raggedy bench that was bolted to a wall. Both of them were vibrating slightly and the whirring noise that ran through the air told her she was on an airplane. That realization made her sit up way too fast and she nearly threw up all over her new t-shirt as a stab of pain ran through her skull.
"That's one of the side effects, near migraine headaches. Sorry about that." A voice said from nearby. Sam managed to glance over and she saw the suited red head from the arcade reading a newspaper and sitting on a similar bench to her own.
"What…who…who are you and what's going on?" She asked, afraid she already knew the answer.
"Well Miss Foster my associates and I are taking you back home actually." Travis replied, going back to reading the sports section. "You've been summoned by my employer."
Sam felt that need to barf again come back on her. "Who…who's your employer?"
"You wouldn't know him I'm sure…but the chain of command would end with Mr. Dinello." Travis looked back at her with those same soulless brown eyes she remembered as he'd dragged her from her friends and Murdock. "His name I'm sure you know."
Sam swallowed down the fear that was starting to well up in her throat. She was on a plane…heading back to certain death once Tommy Boy Dinello got his way. And everyone knew Tommy Boy got his way. She tried to cram herself back into the crease of the bench, glancing around to see what avenue of escape was offered her. She saw one guy she sort of recognized sitting on another bench, another man wrapping his upper arm that looked to be bleeding, another guy watching closely. They all wore suits and it made a wave of manic hilarity roll through her wondering if they'd start dancing in unison while wearing sunglasses. Then she thought about the fact she was on a plane. There was nowhere to go.
Her head fell back onto her arm and she curled into a ball, trying really hard not to cry. That wouldn't help her at all, and the jerks would probably get off on it. She took off her glasses which by some miracle hadn't fallen off her when they'd tackled her in the parking lot. They'd seen better days. She didn't want to be able to see what was going on around her…make the world blurry it would be a bit easier to take.
She hooked the glasses on her shirt and then pulled the baseball cap off her head and shoved her face in it. The scent of curry and engine oil made everything a bit easier to take too. Samantha felt like someone had sucker punched her as she thought of her knight. Right then she'd give anything in the world to see his sparkling green eyes and hear him tell her how everything was going to be alright. He'd tried his best but there's only so much one person could do, even with the three other guys on his team. You can't beat the mob.
Sam knew she'd never see him again. He was miles behind her now. "Murdock…I'm sorry." She whispered softly into the faded fabric of his hat, a couple of tears escaping and falling onto the brim. The irony wasn't lost on her that she was on a plane. He'd promised he'd get her over the fear of flying. Right then being on a plane was the least of her worries…the thing landing was the problem.
A beeping sounded from overhead and a voice came over a crackling speaker system. "We've got something going on in the b-hold." The pilot Sam assumed said.
The man with the newspaper stood up and grabbed what looked like a CB handset from its hook on the wall. "What do you mean something going on?"
This time Sam's attention was grabbed because a concerned pilot and the words "Something going on" were never a good combination. The response this time came from the handset and wasn't as easy to hear, at least for her where she sat. "Looks like the hatch is open, not sure how. But I've got a light stating the hatch has been open Travis."
Travis sighed in irritation. He'd had enough issues with this supposedly simple grab and bag. This wasn't helping. God damn smuggling planes…he knew they weren't the safest bet in the world but he'd hoped they'd not have to deal with problems like this. It wasn't that long of a trip. "I'll have a couple of the boys go down and close it."
Travis clipped the handset back to the wall. "Chet, Dave, go down into b-hold and close the damn hatch. Be careful, it'll be cold and windy down there."
Neither man looked very thrilled with what they were doing. One of them nodded to the injured guy, patting him on his uninjured shoulder and walked past Sam, followed by Suit #3 who'd been patching up the other guy. As she watched, she saw them lift up section of the rear of the plane, a door within the floor and then climb down into what must have been b-hold.
Chet and Dave were instantly cold as hell when they came to the bottom of the ladder. The wind was nearly deafening from the 12 foot opening of the hatch. Chet was surprised the thing hadn't ripped off yet. You couldn't really hear anything due to the wind, so Chet motioned to Dave to get on the other side of the hatch to snag one of the wildly swinging thick cord handles to pull the thing shut. It was stupidly dangerous, but it was the only way to get the thing closed.
From behind a leftover crate of, what he knew to be fairly expensive whiskey, Murdock watched his plan come to fruition. This was stupidly dangerous (he would have been surprised to know he agreed with the thugs on something) but he'd done stupider and more dangerous things for not nearly as good a reason. Firing a gun in here would be a bad idea. Taking on two guys like these at the same time, even with the fact he was a pretty good fighter (if he said so himself) was a bad idea. But put the two guys near a 12 foot hole that was a few thousand feet above the ground that was trying really hard to suck them into it? That evened the playing field…so to speak.
The two men were focused on not falling when Murdock made his move. Dave noticed him first but by then it was too late. One good punch and Dave was flying sans the plane. Chet had a bit more time but his balance wasn't quite as good as Murdock's. It came from flying in the worst conditions you could imagine. Nothing really made him dizzy anymore. The thug made the mistake of trying to go for his shoulder holster. Murdock didn't have to anything more than watch as he slipped and fell through the hole. Well, that was anti-climactic.
Holding onto a juncture of the wall, Murdock used trickery built over many a flight in a piece of shit plane to get the hatch closed on his own. He took a minute to catch his breath and then try to rub some feeling back into his cold fingers. If he'd counted right there should be only two other guys and the pilot left up top with Samantha.
He climbed the ladder and very slowly and carefully lifted the cover that led down to the b-hold. About a two inch opening gave him a view of the plane straight down. He saw Sam sitting on the right side of the plane. She looked unharmed, but damn unhappy. On the left side he saw that bastard red head and the other guy from the shoot-out. The door leading to the cock pit was closed. Okay, what was the next step in his master plan of rescue? The element of surprise! The red head had his face buried in the newspaper and the thug was looking at his recently patched arm. Neither of them was looking towards the back of the plane.
Murdock climbed out of the hatchway and quickly had his gun in his hand. Firing it on the plane was a bad idea and he wasn't anxious to do so, but those idiots wouldn't know that. "Hey fellas, fancy meeting you again." He called over the sound of the engines.
Travis dropped his newspaper and stood up quickly, hand reaching for his own weapon at the unfamiliar voice. Bret did the same, wincing as he pulled at his wound. But when they saw the visitor had his own weapon drawn already they stopped.
"Murdock?!" Samantha's eyes were the size of saucers and she quickly scrambled to put her glasses on to confirm what she'd heard. "Holy shit…you're on the plane?"
The pilot didn't turn to look at her, keeping his eyes trained on the two toughs ahead of him. But he did smile that crooked smile. "Remind me to list mistress of the obvious to the list of your fine qualities princess. "
"How the hell did you get on the plane?" She asked him, wanting to run to him and hug him and thank god and heaven above that he was here. But she didn't because right then he had more important things going on.
"Stealth and cunning and determination; that's pretty much how." Murdock replied taking another few steps closer to where the villains in the story were standing. "It's really damn hard to keep a knight from protecting his lady, princess. That's something the two stooges here should learn." His voice took a bit of an edge with the last sentence. Murdock motioned for Sam to get up and come over to him.
With a wary glance at her kidnappers Sam slowly got up, pulling her hat back on and moved over to Murdock gladly. He took hold of her hand with his free one and pulled her behind him, giving her fingers a quick squeeze before letting go.
"Where are my men?" Travis asked the newcomer with the gun. He had a feeling he knew.
"They decided to get off at another stop." Murdock replied very calmly. Samantha was shocked at the answer and the way he said it. There was more than a little Clint Eastwood in that response.
At these words Bret seemed to snap, something Travis must have expected because Samantha saw him actually sigh in annoyance. The injured brother ran straight at Murdock, pulling his gun from its holster, his injury forgotten. Murdock sort of figured the guy was going to come at him. The half second tremor that had jerked his cheek had given it away. The injury and the anger were Bret's downfall.
Murdock pushed Samantha behind another crate, this one apparently filled with scotch. The idiot was going to start firing and by god he was not going to shoot his girl, not while he was breathing. Sure enough Bret fired wildly, his injured arm and rage causing it to miss Murdock by a mile but puncturing the airplane perfectly.
Travis tried to stop him. "You fucking moron. Stop shooting!" He yelled and turned trying to get the gun from the other man but it went off again, another wild bullet. The fight was on and Bret started screaming about his brother.
Murdock ducked behind the crate, checking on Samantha. "You alright Princess?" He asked her, reaching over and touching her cheek. Her eyes were wide behind her glasses but otherwise she looked okay.
Sam nodded, still in awe of the fact he'd managed to find her and had followed her onto the plane. "Yeah…Yeah I'm fine."
Murdock nodded, his fingers lingering there for a moment longer than was proper he supposed. Another bullet whizzed past and it was obvious the red head was no longer quite in charge of his thug. Murdock peeked over the top of the crate and saw that the two men were still struggling and that the plane was quickly becoming full of bullet holes. This wasn't good…and then Bret got a lucky or rather unlucky shot off that hit Travis square in the chest. Brett looked sort of surprised, but not nearly as surprised as Travis was.
The plane shuddered at that moment and Murdock got a funny look on his face. Oh, that wasn't good either. Well…that could wait for a minute. He had bigger fish to fry, like the big angry dude who wanted to kill them. He turned back to Samantha. "Stay here and keep your head down. I'll be back in a second." He handed her his gun. "Don't shoot this unless he's real close and you can't miss."
"Murdock no." She shook her head as he closed her fingers around the weapon.
"Yes. Do what I say. He's out of bullets." He told her in that steely voice again, grabbing her chin and making her look him in the eye. "You'll be okay Samantha. Just trust me."
He saw her nod finally and he jumped up and ran at the other man. Bret had realized the same thing as Murdock. He was out of ammo and just as Murdock knew he would, he was trying to get Travis's gun out of its holster. That's when Murdock tackled him. Travis's now lifeless body tumbled to the side and the two men fell to the floor, the ranger aiming for first a kidney with his right fist and then a knee to the groin (playing dirty, but the guy had tried to kill his girl.)
Bret still had the strength bred from anger in him though and countered with a left hook that caught Murdock off guard. The two men started trading punches and vicious blows as they rolled across the floor. Samantha didn't know what to do. She hadn't listened that well and she was watching the whole fight. She'd never seen him do this before…and my god was it impressive and at the same time horrifying to see him getting hit and keep going. She wasn't a good enough shot to be sure she'd not hit Murdock, not when the two of them were so close to one another. Sam cursed her own lack of usefulness again and prayed he'd be alright…but it was killing her to watch it.
The plane had another shudder ripple through it, this one a bit more severe. It threw Bret off balance enough that he missed a punch, tripping. Murdock was running out of steam at this point, adrenaline was wearing out and so was he. But he took the advantage the plane gave him and moved to the left. Bret's fist hit the side of the plane and Murdock's fist connected squarely with the bullet wound in his arm. Bret went down screaming. The ranger who by that point was pissed off in his own right kicked his booted foot square into Bret's face. The move was one he'd used a couple times before in his life when down and dirty and life or death was on the menu. It wasn't pretty but it did the job, sending the skull fragments right into the brain; one of the benefits of boots with really hard pointy tips.
Knowing it was over Murdock fell to his knees exhausted. Okay, that hadn't gone exactly as planned but he was still alive and more importantly so was Samantha. He sighed loudly, wincing at the aches that were already starting when he was suddenly tackled again, this time by a much more welcome attacker. "Oh my god are you okay? That was amazing and…my god you killed them and…you got on the plane…and Jesus are you okay? I couldn't shoot him…I'm so sorry…I could have hit you…and my god are you okay?"
Sam's voice was as hyper as his own sometimes got and she was squeezing the stuffing out of him which was just fine with Murdock, at least it would be if he hadn't taken a couple good shots to the ribs. But pain aside he wasn't going to complain. He'd earned a hug he decided, so he put one arm around her, and gave her a squeeze back. "I'm alright all things considered princess." He told her, his voice a bit weaker than before. "And I'm glad you were smart enough not to pull the trigger…I enjoy breathing too much." He made a move to stand up and she pulled back enough to help him.
"As for the killing em part…well…this is one of those cases where it was us or them." He glanced down at Bret and Travis where they lay. "I'd hazard a guess these two had this coming for a while." He looked over at her pale face. She was handling all of this better than he expected, but she could only handle so much. "Anyway…I don't want you having something like that rattling round in your noggin. You've got enough in there to deal with already. Me, I've got nothing but room up here." He gave her a crooked smile and gestured at his temple.
Samantha shook her head at him smiling and reached up, touching an already forming bruise on his chin. "You've got a lot going on up there Lancelot." She told him, her voice catching in her throat as she stared up into his green, green eyes. "Thank you for saving me again."
Murdock suddenly didn't feel quite as sore and achy or tired. In fact all he felt was her touch against his skin and it was pretty damn amazing. Was he really moving closer to her? Wait, was this what knights were supposed to do with princesses? Yes! Yes! One of those voices in his head said. You do exactly this! That voice proceeded to show him some interesting pictures in his brain and he was suddenly not cold anymore either. Okay, this wasn't part of the plan. So far his plan had been shot to hell as had the plane. Of course said plane decided at that moment before he could do anything that voice was telling him to do to shake like a maraca, nearly knocking them both down.
"Damn it…" Murdock muttered, catching hold of Samantha and making sure they didn't join the two dead guys on the floor.
"What was that?" Sam's voice rose a bit.
"That's what I was afraid of. Come on." He grabbed her hand, taking his gun from her and leading her towards the cockpit. He saw the bullet holes in the door and raised a brow. Murdock pushed it open and saw the pilot slumped over his on his side, a nice red stain spreading on his chest. Another hole was in the sparking instrument panel.
"Oh shit…" Sam's fingers tightened on his hand as she muttered the words.
"Not very lady like princess, but I'd say you're given a pass in this situation." Murdock move towards the console and checked the damage. "Yep, Oh Shit is definitely the appropriate response. Dumbass back there managed to kill the pilot and manual control. We're on autopilot and it's stuck." He glanced up through the windshield. Things were not looking good…specifically the large rock they were heading towards that was jutting out of that mountain didn't look good. They had maybe ten minutes before they hit the thing.
"New plan!" Murdock turned around quickly, grabbing Samantha's hand.
"New plan? What sort of plan? You can't fly this plane and I'm pretty sure the dead guy can't either." Sam told him.
"Mistress of the obvious as I told ya." Murdock said, heading back to the crate that had been their shielding. He ripped off the top and grabbed a bottle out, unscrewing the top and tossing it into a corner. He shoved it into Sam's shaking hand. "Here, drink."
"Drink? What the hell? Why am I drinking?" She asked him following him as he started rummaging around the main part of the plane. He knew these smuggler types well; they always had an escape plan if the plane got shot down. "Ah ha!" He found what he was looking for.
"That's….that's a parachute." Sam recognized it with a look of horror on her face.
"Yep, that's what it is." Murdock nodded. "You should start drinking now."
Sam immediately took a large swig of the scotch, not even wincing as it burned her throat. Murdock grabbed her hand again and started them towards the back of the plane. She kept taking pulls off the bottle as they walked. "This is nuts…(swig) this is beyond nuts (swig.)"
"Par for the course I'd say princess." Murdock pulled the parachute onto his back, hoping the thing worked. He'd gave it a quick look over and it appeared functional. "Keep drinking." He told her, belting it up.
"We've only got one…" Sam felt the effects of the scotch trying to hit her, but it wasn't quick enough for her taste.
"I noticed that too. Not that I'd let you take a leap out of here by yourself mind ya." Murdock walked over to wall and found what he was looking for. "I'm guessing you've never done a jump before."
"You…you'd be right…" She answered him shakily.
The pilot hooked one cable to the wall and the other to his belt. He then motioned to Samantha to come over to him. "That's why we jump together. I told ya I'd get you over that fear of flying you've got didn't I?" He told her with a crazy grin and twinkle in his eye.
"This is not really helping that…" She told him. Sam felt like she was going to faint, or puke or both. That wouldn't be pleasant for either of them.
"Give me that bottle." He told her, guessing she'd got enough in her to keep her at least a bit calm. He took a swig himself and then tossed it into the corner with a crash. "Okay get a little closer here." He pulled her near him, as close as he could get her actually and then pulled one of the luggage belts around the two of them, tightening it and buckling it into place. In any other situation this would have been a lot more pleasant. As it was, Murdock wasn't complaining too much as he found her pressed up against him and not able to run away screaming like he expected most ladies to do.
Sadly though, he could feel her trembling. "Hey now, you're gonna be alright." He told her softly. He pulled her cap off her head and shoved it in his jacket next to his. No letting that fly away while they were in the air, even if it did say airborne. She looked up at him, all mussy hair and big swirly eyes. This close he could see every color in em and they were beautiful. Air and water, sea and sky.
"Promise?" She asked him, her breath scented with the scotch she'd just drank. It wasn't at all unpleasant actually.
He leaned down and pulled her glasses off, putting them safely into the confines of his jacket alongside the caps. "I promise Samantha." He told her, whispering the honey southern words into her ear so she would be sure to hear them.
Samantha tried to tamp down her fear but it was hard. Murdock reached up and took her face in his hands, making sure she looked him in the eye and heard what he was saying. "You hold on as tight to me as you can, alright?" She nodded, wrapping her arms around his waist beneath the parachute. "Don't let go of me."
"Never."
Samantha may not have even realized she'd said it, but Murdock heard it and that one word made him seize up inside like he'd drank the whole bottle of that scotch in one gulp. Well that was that then. Murdock took a breath, held her still and did what he'd been wanting to do for a very, very long time. He kissed his princess.
She tasted like scotch and mint and warmth and god above it was awesome. He almost forgot what they were doing, but he didn't want to stop kissing her because she wasn't slapping him or screaming, she was actually kissing him back and that was even more awesome. Walking backwards and taking her with him he hit the release button of the rear cargo hold door with his elbow, quickly wrapping his arms back around her. The sound was deafening, the wind was vicious but he wasn't letting go. No sir, he'd be damned if he was letting her go.
Samantha gasped and jerked as everything got loud rushing past her ears. Murdock kept her steady though, even as she looked out into the sky they were about to plummet into. "Samantha." He had to yell even if they were right next to each other it was so loud and the air was so thin. She looked back at him. He smiled, even while his shaggy brown hair was whipped wild in the wind. "Do you trust me?"
Sam could still feel his lips on hers even in the chaos and craziness of this…she wanted to kiss him again. He could kiss. Like a pro. And he'd saved her and risked his life for her…and he was a badass and cute as hell. Especially when he was grinning at her like he was right then, getting ready to jump out of a crashing plane into a spinning whirlwind of crazy. Which was really appropriate since that was her life now, a spinning whirlwind of crazy. But she had her lord of lunacy to keep her safe. This was his specialty he'd told her before.
She tightened her old on him. "I trust you Murdock." And she leaned up and kissed him again, because if she was going to die, then by god she'd do it doing something fun.
He'd have laughed if his lips weren't already busy. Ah yeah she was his type of girl alright, his princess of the air for real. One arm tight around her, Murdock reached behind him and with one click unhooked the bungee cord. Wrapping his other arm around her he took a couple of steps and then they were falling through the air and didn't stop kissing for a second.
