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.
It had been another stellar day at flight school, just like the day before, and the day before that one too. Murdock had never been more ready to see the end of the day. As he exited the hanger a jeep pulled up behind him and a voice called out "They gave you your choice of duty, son. Anything, anywhere. Do you believe that shit? Where do you think you wanna go?"
Murdock just shook his head, knowing the voice of the horribly executed movie quote belonged to Face. Then looking over to the jeep with a smile he replied "I thought of being an instructor, sir. Seemed a lot more fun in Top Gun."
"God help us! C'mon buddy; I'll buy you a beer. Looks like you could use it. Seems like the ankle biters have gotten to you today." Face quipped as Murdock jumped into the passenger seat.
"Ankle biters, huh? Some of them are older then you, ya know." Murdock laughed as Face drove off in search of BA and some food.
After picking BA up at the motor pool the guys stopped briefly at the guard house around 1830 hours on their way off base. They were headed back to the bar and grill that Hannibal took them to their first night on base. Once they arrived they opted for a smaller table in the corner and ordered a round of drinks.
It didn't take long until the guys were joking around about Murdock's tribulations with flight school, among other things.
"Man, Murdock I'd have to be on some pretty strong drugs to get on a plane with some of the kids you keep talking about." BA groaned after the telling of some of Murdock's newest tails.
"I am BA, and at times they're not strong enough." Murdock lamented "But to be fair, I am down to just three kids that scare the shit out of me, just three. They need extra help so I end up with them the most. 'Give 'em to the crazy guy, he won't care'. I'm sure that's what's going on. Damn sure!"
Face just laughed "Well I am sorry that your work is taking so much out of you buddy, but so is mine. Selena, I mean Captain Henderson, is just so demanding. It's hard to get any rest with her around…"
"Don't even start man, I don't want to hear it! How can you even compare that to Murdock's job? That's just cruel. You're supposed to be this fool's friend, not rubbin' salt into his wounds." BA fired at Face in a rare moment of actually defending the pilot.
Murdock just grinned shaking his head as he downed the rest of his beer, "Ya know Facey, there was this movie called 'An Officer and a Gentleman'. You're 'bout half way there. You should watch it and see if you can figure out the rest!"
"Har Har Har! You guys are a riot! And just for that I'm changing the subject now, Captain Smart Ass. Why did Hannibal tell us to name you as XO while he was away 'if the need arose'?" Face said leaning back in his chair arms folded across his chest, holding onto his beer.
"Man." BA said shaking his head "The colonel told ya to keep that under wraps, Face."
"I want to know what's up so I'm asking my XO. So XO, what'd'ya know?" Face chortled.
Murdock paused. "First thing I know is, I am driving back to base because you should be cut off soon, or I'll be carrying you back to your quarters again. The second thing is that Hannibal is convinced that there could be trouble while he's gone, and wanted to keep any issues from going outside of his command. Based on rank, it got slapped on me. That's all there is to it." He answered, thinking the Boss-Man would be quite impressed with his diplomacy.
Face looked Murdock over and replied "You trying to take my job, buddy?"
Murdock shook his head "Nope, but I'd give you mine in a heartbeat if you want it." He answered "If you guys don't mind I'd like to go home. I have to be in the air with one of my under-achievers at 0800 and I'd like to get some sleep."
Face seemed satisfied with his answer and agreed it was time to get back to base.
The next morning at exactly 0800 hours the plane that was being controlled by Murdock's student screamed down the runway and into the air. A decent little take-off but Murdock was more concerned with this one's landing. Lieutenant Brimax had most of the other stuff figured out. Landing was this kid's Achilles heel. Brimax was a nice kid and was starting to shed his nerves enough to make casual conversation with the Captain. Several minutes of quiet passed until the kid broke the silence.
"Did you hear about the action on base last night, sir?"
"Nope, but please tell me it didn't have anything to do with Lieutenant Peck and Captain Henderson." Murdock moaned.
"Sir?" Brimax stalled.
"Nevermind Birmax" Murdock righted knowing he needed to think more – blurt less. "What action on base?"
"Someone stole General Matheson's 1960 Corvette Convertible from outside his house last night."
Murdock paused wondering if this was another one of Carter's stunts – of course it was. This was ballsy but it would play right into a motive against Face. It was pretty common knowledge that Face had a thing for Corvettes and that he had been admiring the Generals' car since they first arrived on base. This was just too easy to be just a coincidence.
"Do you know if they've found the car yet?" the captain inquired as nonchalantly as he could, but he figured that his tension was starting to show.
"Yeah. About two blocks from the single occupancy officer barracks, why?" That was all Murdock needed to hear. He needed to find Face now.
"Kid, you're better then a damn newspaper! For that, I'm going to level with ya. You are god-awful at landing, everything else – you're golden! It's just the damn landing that's holding you back, and I really need to be somewhere else right now. I'm going to make a deal with you. If you turn around and land this bird with your landing gear down and no other incidents then I'll pass you. That's it – alright?" Murdock bolstered and Brimax smiled, doing as he was told and returning to the runway.
Twenty minutes later Murdock ran into the motor pool looking for BA. Spotting him under a jeep on a creeper, the captain jogged over. He dropped onto the floor and scurried under too.
Catching BA completely off guard, he bellowed "Fool! What the hell are you doin' here?"
"Well, the kid crashed the damn plane and I gotta find Face. He's not at the range, have you seen him?" replied Murdock.
BA blinked, bewildered and then rolled out from under the jeep, stood up, grabbing Murdock's Converse shoe, and pulled him out too. "Your student crashed the plane? – Are you alright? D-did he forget the landing gear again?" BA stammered.
"No. He made the landing fine; he got over excited thinking he was going to pass and forgot the brakes. Then he clipped the hanger with his wing. I don't think I can pass him yet." Murdock surmised.
"Ya think?" BA groaned.
"Never mind all that. I really need to know where Face is." Just then a voice rang out through the garage.
"I know where he is." Murdock spun around to find Lieutenant Carter as cool as ever, arms crossed with a satisfied grin spreading across his face.
"They took him in this morning after an anonymous tip told them Peck had something to do with the theft of the General Matheson's Vette." Carter oozed with confidence.
"What are you jabberin' about fool? And who are 'they'?" BA snapped at Carter.
"You guys haven't heard huh? The Military Police are sure that Peck is the one responsible for all the thefts on base; after all, they did start the day after you got here. Well, I have to be going now. See ya boys." and with that Carter left the garage.
BA turned to Murdock with anger in his eyes, and asked a question that he already knew the answer to "Hannibal knew this was going to happen, didn't he?"
Murdock answered with just a nod of his head and bolted out of the bay door towards his barracks without a word.