I don't own the anything A-Team related or any other known characters that may be referred to during my story. O/C are mine.
The guys took to life around the base quickly. Face had met up, and hooked up with Captain 'Selena' Henderson in record time. He was finding it quite easy to divide his free time between hanging out with the team and meeting up with her for 'extra curricular activities'. Face was enjoying Fort Bragg a lot. Neither BA nor Murdock had any major complaints either. Both were filling their time doing things they loved, however Murdock was starting to doubt if this was the kind of "white knuckled ride" he had been looking for.
Some of the guys Murdock had been taking up were so green that they made Mary Poppins look like a fighter pilot with an umbrella. It was decidedly a bad day when the captain had taken to carrying air sickness bags for his students, but not as quite bad as the day he discovered that there was a need for them.
After his student's latest attempt at a crash landing was adverted, he was met by Colonel Anderson.
"Captain, how are they looking up there?" the silver haired colonel asked.
Without missing a beat the captain retorted "Green and nauseous, sir."
With a laugh the colonel answered "It will take time for them to get steady but I am sure they all will."
"All of them? That include Park, sir?" Murdock replied with hesitation. The last flight he took with Lieutenant Park was easily the worst.
"Well actually Lieutenant Park submitted a request to transfer to aircraft maintenance after the incident on Wednesday." Anderson said with a smirk.
"Well sir, to be fair, I'm used to the hostel fire coming from outside the plane, not the pilot's seat."
"Rightfully so Captain, but to be frank with you, I'm not here to check on the progress of the men. Don't get me wrong – I do like to know the status of the men - but I am here passing along a message from Colonel Smith." Anderson paused "I don't like being his damned errand boy but I've known John for so long that one little favour can't hurt. He wants you to meet him at his house at 1630, alone. He was very adamant about that part – got it?"
"1630, alone – got it sir."
"Dismissed Captain." And with that Anderson turned towards his office, leaving Murdock to wonder why the colonel wanted to see just him.
At precisely 1630 hours Murdock hopped up the three steps and triple-knocked on the door of the colonel's house. Through the screen door Murdock saw Hannibal look out from the kitchen.
"Oh, right on time. Come in Captain." Hannibal called out to his visitor.
Murdock pulled open the door and headed towards where he had seen Hannibal a moment before but the room was empty. He suddenly heard a voice call down from upstairs "Grab us a couple of beers from the fridge and find a place to sit. I'll be right down."
Murdock made his way to the fridge that was poorly stocked – there were some take out containers from the Chinese food the team ordered few nights ago, two bottles of water, and an open box of beer just shy of a dozen. Murdock shook his head and thought it was a good thing he feed these guys because otherwise they could starve. Grabbing two beers he popped the caps and threw them into the can next to the fridge. The captain made his way to the living room.
The living room had a matching couch and chair and a small fire place but no TV. There was a desk in the corner that had some file folders, a laptop and a few loose papers scattered about. Next to it was a small bookshelf full of books of all kinds. Reference, personal reading and even a cookbook that didn't look like it had ever been used. Next to that was a small cigar box.
Murdock moved to the couch and set the beers down on two of the coasters on the small coffee table just as Hannibal entered the room. "How are you enjoying the teaching job Captain?" the colonel asked.
"We'll just say it's really testing the strength of my anti-anxiety medication, Boss." sighed Murdock through his grin.
"As long as they hold out, you should be fine. So the kids are a little green around the collar, huh?" Smith coaxed.
"Oh they're green alright. I now carry barf bags because one kid was green all over my cockpit. Another tried to land today - without putting down his landing gear! I thought I was going to need one of those bags myself. I feel like I am teaching drivers-ed not flight school, Boss. But after this week I may just join BA in starting that 'afraid to fly support group'." needled Murdock.
"Well, I have something else to drop on you but hopefully it won't be as bad." Hannibal replied as he walked over to his desk, continuing the conversation "What have you heard about these thefts on base since we got here?"
"Well, that one guy in our building had his stereo lifted. And BA said that a jeep parked behind the motor pool had two of its tires taken off." the captain replied.
"Oh there's more - two riffles were taken from the range last week as well as a toolbox from the flight hanger." Hannibal pulled a cigar out of the box on the bookshelf.
"It seems to be circling us, since we got here last week." Murdock observed.
"It gets better. Our 'friend' Lieutenant Carter came to see me yesterday, wanting to know if we had an opening in our Alpha Team."
"Hell no!" Murdock choked out "What did you tell him Colonel?"
"Well I was a little more diplomatic then you, but that was my first thought, to be honest." The colonel replied as he lit his freshly cut cigar. "I went and pulled his file, and two things stood out to me. One - he has been quite the little trouble maker during his time here at Bragg, and two - he doesn't live in the same building as you and Face."
Hannibal handed Murdock the file and he looked through it. A lot of petty crap and insubordination accusations, nothing that would stick, but one thing was sure - he didn't live in the same building as the officers in Hannibal's command.
"Shit! If he's the one that stole the stereo, I let him into the building!" cried Murdock.
"I think he did but I can't prove anything yet. I also haven't told BA or Face about this and I don't plan to, Captain" Hannibal replied.
Murdock looked at the colonel hesitantly "Why Boss? Faceman is second in command; I'm just the pilot. You oughta tell Facey, Colonel."
"Yes Captain, normally I'd agree with you since we do work that way in the field. But here at Bragg you would be seen as my second in command, based on rank. I know you don't want that position - you've been very clear with me about that - but you may have to play it here for appearances. Besides, we don't need to give Face reason to be anywhere near Carter. I'm sure Carter believes that Face is the one that he can manipulate. That's what he was doing at the bar that first night, he wanted to see who took the bait. He was looking for you to react, but Face was first on the defence. Carter now sees him as the easiest target." Hannibal pointed out.
"He wants to make an opening, 'cause he sees himself on our team." said Murdock, as he saw the pieces fall into place. "But, why?"
"Glory, girls, the adrenaline rush? Who can say? But, I leave tomorrow and I'll be away for almost a week. That's when he'll make his move, and if I'm right, he's going to. That will put the ball in your court. I'm sure you'll figure out what to do, son."
Murdock sat back on the couch clutching his beer "I'll play XO but, I don't have to like it."
"That's fair. I will tell Face and BA if anything goes wrong they should state you as their XO, okay?" the colonel confirmed.
"Just peachy." Murdock replied taking a sip of his beer.