Murdock whistled and called out, "Billy! Come here, Billy!"
"Murdock," Jean said to him, "I still don't get why you had to drag me out of bed to help you look for your dog."
A few days had passed and during that time, Jean had made an amazing recovery and was to the point that when the A-Team returned to check on her, she met them out in the waiting room as she ran and tried to hide from the doctors who insisted on her physical therapy. She told Hannibal that if she was well enough to run from the doctors, then it proved she didn't need the physical therapy. He had only laughed and said, "Well, you've got a point there."
Earlier that day, Murdock had come to her room carrying a box, and he told Jean that they had ransacked everybody's bags in the van and didn't have any trouble finding her a change of clothes, but they couldn't find another pair of shoes for her to wear. And, it had also been pointed out, she couldn't wear those oversized boots again because Hannibal had stuffed them into the hospital's incinerator several days ago. So, they'd picked up a new pair for her and she laughed when she saw they were a pair of black Converse sneakers just like his.
And that night, Murdock had come into the room and woken her up and told her that Billy was missing and he needed her to help him look for the dog. Jean was ready to believe he really was crazy but she had gotten up, gotten dressed, and he'd helped her out the window and they hit the ground looking for the dog. In all honesty, Jean was relieved to be out of the hospital, but she still didn't understand why Murdock needed her to help him look for Billy.
"Why didn't you get Face to help you look for him?" Jean asked.
"Oh I couldn't do that," Murdock answered as they walked along the dark street a few blocks away from the hospital, "Billy wouldn't come for Face, the other day Billy bit him because he grabbed him by the tail, accidentally of course, but Billy's still sore about it."
"Oh yeah?" Jean replied, "What if I bit Billy? Could I stop looking for him then?"
"Ohhh you," Murdock said sarcastically, "Look, why don't we sit down for a minute, and maybe we'll get lucky and Billy will come pass by us?"
"Sure, fine with me," Jean agreed as they sat down on the curb, "You know Murdock, we haven't seen much of you guys in the last few days, I was starting to think maybe Lynch was catching up with you and you guys had to get out of Dodge."
"Nah, not us," Murdock told her, "Not yet anyway. But uh, we've had some other things to tend to, you know."
"I can imagine," Jean said, "Tell me something, Murdock, if you had it to do over again, to go back to Vietnam, do you think you would've done anything differently?"
Murdock thought about it for a minute before shaking his head and answering, "No."
"Even though it means being hunted like a dog for the rest of your days?" Jean asked, "For something you didn't do?"
Murdock nodded, "Yeah, I think so. Think about it, if we hadn't been put in the position we were, what would we be doing now? Certainly not what we are doing."
"And you wouldn't have to be locked up in the V.A. and Hannibal might actually be able to work in movies where he could show his face," Jean added, "It would make all your lives a lot easier."
"Yeah but that could get boring after a while," he told her, "And, it's not always about that, there's also to take into consideration all the people we offer our services to. People like your parents…I try to think of how many people like that we've helped over the years…" he shook his head, "Never remember the numbers, but I remember them, we all do, some more than others but we remember them all. You were right when you said that."
Jean tried to think back, "What did I say?"
"That we help the people the police and the army can't or won't…that's our purpose in life, and we have that purpose because we have to live the way we do," Murdock told her, "That's why I wouldn't do anything different, and I don't believe that the others would either."
"You're good people," Jean said, "I think I was right about that one too." She lowered her head and brought her hand up as if it were supporting her forehead and said, "You know it's weird, now that it's all over, it's almost like it was just a nightmare…but it wasn't, it was real, it was all real."
"It gets easier to deal with," Murdock told her as he reached over and squeezed her shoulder supportively, "In time."
"You've had ten years, is it any easier for you?" Jean asked.
"Mmm, some days," he answered, "Other days…" he stared off at something straight ahead and said, "It's all ammonia."
Jean looked at him with wide eyes and watched him like she expected him to go off like a rocket, and when nothing happened she chanced asking, "Ammonia?"
Murdock nodded and told her, "It does get easier, once you have a chance to get away from it. You're lucky you were only in it for six months."
"But how do you get away from it when you're in a Veterans Administration hospital?" Jean asked.
"I have a lot of nice distractions," he explained, "Including the routine jail break to go on another mission."
Jean nodded and looked straight ahead and she tapped Murdock's arm and said, "There's Billy."
"Where?" Murdock looked.
"Over there, by that old house," Jean pointed across the street, "He's going up to the porch."
"Come on, let's go get him," Murdock got up and started across the street, whistling and cupping his hands around his mouth as he called, "Yo, Billy!"
Jean followed behind Murdock and they went into the yard and up the sidewalk to the large dark two-story house that looked like it was falling apart. The porch boards creaked under their feet as they stepped up and Jean thought they'd fall through. The front door was slightly ajar and Billy had gone inside.
"You think anybody lives here?" Jean asked.
"I don't think so," Murdock answered, "Who'd live in a place this condemned?"
Murdock slowly opened the door and they stepped in; even though nobody seemed to live there, they were both quiet as they made their way through the hall and past the dining room. They heard a door close ahead of them and they found the door, Murdock opened it and Jean walked in ahead of him; as soon as she set foot into the room she heard a sound and was immediately blinded by the lights that came on.
"SURPRISE!"
The sudden appearance of Hannibal, Face, and B.A. dressed in their Green Beret uniforms standing in front of her stunned her for a second, but she quickly recovered and reached out to hit the one closest to her as she said, "Don't ever do that to somebody that just had heart surgery, you moron!" The initial shock passed and she asked them, "So what's all this for? Did Lynch finally bite it?"
"No, not yet," Hannibal said with a mischievous smirk, "This is something better."
"Oh yeah?" Jean noted how they were dressed and asked suspiciously, "What's with all the brass?"
"Well it's only proper for an award ceremony," Hannibal told her.
"A what?" Jean turned and saw Murdock had done a quick change and was wearing an Air Force uniform, also heavily decorated in medals and badges.
Face picked up something off the table behind them and marched over to Jean and held out something green for her to take. She did and unfolded it and saw it was a plain green army jacket, except for one thing; stitched over the breast pockets were the words CORPORAL and RHODES.
"You'll have to excuse if they're not quite right," Face held up his hands and showed several fingers were bandaged, "But sewing was never one of my strong suits."
Jean laughed and said, "Come on, what is this?"
"Go ahead and put it on," Hannibal told her.
Jean looked at the three of them watching her and she turned and saw Murdock standing behind her with an amused look on his face in anticipation as well and she said, "It's silly, but alright." She slipped her arms into the sleeves and straightened out the collar and she felt Murdock tugging it down in the back, and she looked at it and how it fit her, a size large but it still fit, and she looked at Hannibal and said, "I don't get it."
"You're familiar with the term honorary members?" Hannibal asked her, "Well, even though you did not complete training when you joined the army, it has been decided that you are to be declared an honorary corporal."
"Corporal?" Jean repeated, and noticed the two stripes just under the shoulder on the sleeve, "I don't get the joke."
"It's no joke," Hannibal told her, "As Colonel it is my job to know the ranks of those I encounter, I identified you as a corporal and I hold myself to that identification and you to that rank. Regardless of the extent of your training, you put your own life on the line and engaged in combat of the most unimaginable kind; against our own fellow Americans, whose actions ought to earn them the title of terrorists, but all technicalities aside the fact remains you served in a war that like any other, should never have been. We will never know how many innocent lives were stomped out by the war, how many young men were cut off in their prime, due to traitorous actions on behalf of the men who were supposed to train them to serve their own country. But also we will never know how many lives were spared because of your actions. You fought for your country and your fellow men, and for that we salute you."
Murdock walked over to stand alongside the others and the four commandos stood straight and extended their right arms in the proper salute, then lowered them, and Hannibal said, "And now for the award ceremony." He turned to Murdock and said, "Captain."
Murdock marched over to Jean and she looked down and saw him pin a bronze medal on a blue and gold ribbon onto the front of her jacket and he looked her in the eyes and said, "The Air Medal, to acknowledge acts of aerial heroism." He saluted her again, and stepped aside as Face came up to her.
Jean pulled on the jacket to get a better view of the medal and the only thing she could think to say was, "Are you serious?"
The medal Face pinned on her jacket was round and bronze on a blue and white striped ribbon and he saluted her as he explained, "The United Nations Korea Medal."
"Wait a minute," Jean said, "Murdock's is bad enough but I sure as hell can't take this one, I never served in Korea."
Face looked at her and said, "Well neither did I, but I still got it, and now you do."
Behind them, Hannibal chuckled at that remark, and then turned to the sergeant, "B.A."
Face got out of the way and B.A. came up to Jean and she saw his was a bronze medal on a green and white striped ribbon, and she was sure either his rings would make it too awkward to effectively pin on, or she would die from the blood loss when he did.
"The Army Commendation Medal," B.A. explained as he got it on her jacket on the first try, "Also for acts of heroism."
He too saluted her, then he stepped out of the way and Hannibal stepped up to her and took out his medal from behind his back.
"And last but not least, the Purple Heart," he said as he pinned it beside B.A.'s medal and saluted her, "For those injured while serving."
Jean put her hand on the jacket and saw the medals and she looked up at the four men and said, "I can't take these."
"Why not?" Hannibal asked her, "Who's going to know the difference?"
Jean grabbed at the medals and tried to unpin them, "You guys bled for these, you're the ones that deserve them."
"We probably did at the time that we got them," Hannibal replied, "But that was a long time ago. We took a vote and decided they might look better on somebody new who also deserved them." Jean opened her mouth but Hannibal cut her off, "Kid, I served in two wars, and I still don't think if I'd been in your position at your age, that I would've been able to do what you did. It was a bad situation for anybody to be put in, and I know you've been put through hell and that you had to sacrifice a lot to end the killings, and I know that most people if they'd been put in your position would never have been able to do anything about it, either out of fear, or because they never would've been able to escape undetected. You are of a rare kind and outside of the four of us, you're never going to get the recognition you deserve for the services you performed, so, as the highest ranking officer here, I order you to shut up and just enjoy this."
"Yeah," Face said as he went back to the table, "Look at this." He picked up a bottle of champagne and said, "This time I know we got the good stuff, at $70 a bottle it can't be anything but."
Jean laughed and buried her face in her hands and ran them up to her hair and commented, "I don't know what the hell I'm supposed to say."
"You can start by saying 'thank you', woman," Murdock said teasingly as he came up to her and walked her over to the table, "Come on, Face, uncork the bubbly."
"Murdock, please, I know what I'm doing."
Jean saw that there were two bottles of champagne on the table and a glass pitcher of ice water and six glasses.
"Is somebody joining us?" she asked.
"No," Hannibal answered.
Face poured them four glasses of champagne and Murdock and Jean took theirs and Jean asked Face, "Why're there only four here?"
"B.A. doesn't drink champagne," Face answered.
"Or anything with a proof rating on it," Murdock explained, "Ain't that right, B.A.?"
"That's right, fool."
"Fine, I'll take his too," Jean picked up another glass and told Face, "Pour it on."
"I knew you'd say that," Face laughed as he filled her second glass.
After they'd had a few drinks, Murdock took out a tape recorder and pressed the play button and when the music started he bowed to Jean and asked her, "Would you care to dance?"
"Why not?" Jean raised her left foot till it practically met with his nose, showing off her new sneakers and said, "At least this time I got some shoes that actually fit for the occasion." And they danced just as they had back at the hotel.
"I still don't get it," she said to Murdock, and pointed to the medal he'd given her, "Why'd you give me this?"
"Well actually," he told her, "I just picked it because I liked it the best, though," he pointed to B.A., "The angry mudsucker said you deserved it since the first time you flew in your life, you were able to endure flying with me without having to be knocked out or tied up." He rolled his eyes.
Jean laughed at his answer. Either the champagne was starting to take effect or Murdock was just in a particularly silly mood because as they danced, he said to her, "I've never danced with a corporal before, have you?"
"No," she answered, "I've never danced with any man in uniform," and she returned, "how about you?"
"Well," Murdock let go of her hand and pointed to Face, "Technically not in uniform at the time but…"
"Murdock," Face came up to him and tried to get between them, "You mind if I cut in?"
"Oh sure," and this time Murdock handed Jean off to Face and went over to the table and stood beside Hannibal.
Murdock leaned over to Hannibal and said quietly to him, "So what's the plan, Colonel? When we get done here do we…?" B.A. had his back to them and Murdock mimicked pressing down on a syringe plunger.
Hannibal shook his head, "No, B.A. and Face and I will go back east in the van, we're going to need it because once we get the Rhodes family home, we're going to have you dump the helicopter because it's going to get too risky trying to fly it back another time, and after the others were found to be used as the choice of transportation for the ring, it would be better if nobody else could get their hands on it either."
Murdock nodded glumly, he hated having to ditch the copter but he knew Hannibal was right.
"Hey come on, B.A." Face grabbed Jean by the arm and walked her over to the sergeant, "You take a turn with her now."
"Yeah come on, B.A.," Jean repeated, the slurs in her voice made it obvious the champagne was already working its way through her, "Come on, let's dance."
B.A. couldn't help smiling, he took her off Face's arm and was careful about touching her; she was still recovering and he didn't want to cause a setback by grabbing her too hard, so he just loosely placed one hand on her shoulder and took her hand in his other one and, more or less in time with the music, the two of them did little more than stepping around in circles. Jean looked down at their feet and then looked up to make eye contact with B.A. and she threw her head back and laughed.
"What's so funny?" he asked.
"I just realized," she said as she looked down again and then up at him, "That you're the shortest one in the team." For some reason she found that hysterical and couldn't stop laughing.
B.A. tried to maintain his sour look but failed as a chuckle escaped from him as well. After a few minutes, Jean broke away from him and went over to Hannibal and said, "Well, Colonel?"
"I should've known I couldn't get out of it twice," Hannibal jokingly remarked.
"Well, might as well do this one right," Jean said, and wrapped her arms around Hannibal's neck.
He choked and pulled her hands off of him and told her, "Very funny, very funny." He wrapped one arm around her back and grabbed her hand in his and they started off on a bit more traditional foot than the others had.
Halfway through the dance, Jean leaned against Hannibal and he knew that the champagne combined with the exhaustion of this being her first night out of the hospital, were going to be sending her to sleep before long, but she was awake enough to murmur to him, very clearly, "Thanks, Hannibal."
He couldn't resist smiling as he patted her on the back and told her, "You're welcome, Jean."
Jean managed to stay awake long enough to finish dancing with him but when she went back to Murdock a second time, she conked out in his arms halfway through the dance. Face turned off the tape recorder and Hannibal asked Murdock, "You sure she's asleep?"
"Oh yeah, Colonel, she's out like a busted light," Murdock answered as he sat Jean down in a chair by the table.
"Good, get the jacket off of her," Hannibal said, "And make sure it's buried in one of her bags, even if she does remember tonight, she won't know she still has it until we've already gone and she can't try and wriggle out of keeping the medals." He looked at Jean and commented, "We'd either be buried with them or they'd be stolen as soon as we had a toe tag on, let them serve a purpose for somebody else. Tomorrow we'll see what the doctors say and if she's able to leave the hospital, then we'll get she and her folks back home."
Murdock picked up the tape recorder and carried it under one arm and her jacket in the other, Face took the remaining half bottle of champagne, and B.A. lifted Jean up and carried her in his arms. Murdock couldn't help himself and called out, "King Kong rides again!"
"Shut up, fool," B.A. told him, "And get the door."
"Are you sure you wouldn't rather fly with us?" Jean asked Face the next morning as she and Murdock got her luggage and her parents settled in the helicopter.
"Thanks but no thanks," Face replied, "I think it'll be crowded enough as is."
"It's what," Jean asked Murdock, "A five hour flight?"
"I think we should be able to make it in four actually," he told her.
"But then how long will it take for you guys to get there?" Jean asked Face.
"A bit longer," he said simply instead of trying to figure the math on that one, especially since he knew the regulated speed limits and whatever number on the speedometer B.A. opted for were often two different things.
"Okay," Jean gave in, "Well we'll see you guys later."
Face hugged her and gave her her last travel bag, and Murdock came up and knocked the wind out of Face by locking him in a fierce bear hug as well and said, "Until we meet again, au revoir, mein freund."
"We'll see you later, Murdock," Face told him.
Murdock nodded and went back to the Huey and helped Jean into the cockpit, and got in himself and treated it like a 747 and he spoke like an auctioneer giving the passengers the pre-takeoff lecture about seats in an upright position, no smoking, keep seatbelts buckled until further notice, and he also noted that the in-flight movie of Airport '75 was canceled on account of rain.
"Man I feel bad for them, Hannibal," B.A. said as they watched the chopper take off, "It's a wonder that crazy fool didn't scare her parents to death when he went and got them the first time. Now they got to fly back with him."
"It's worth it," Hannibal replied, "They've got Jean now, that's all that matters to them. Now let's get going."
Face picked up Murdock's bag that he had entrusted to the others to bring in the van and went to put it in the back when one of the zippers fell open and several things fell onto the ground. Face picked up a large pair of sunglasses, the planchette to the Ouija board, and a small book, which Hannibal recognized as being the Gideon Bible.
"Where'd that come from?" he inquired. Murdock might be crazy but he was too crazy to steal the Bible from a motel somewhere.
Face smirked and answered, "Jean, she told me that she swiped it from the last motel we stayed at, and she gave it to Murdock this morning before you guys arrived at the hospital."
"What on earth for?" Hannibal asked.
"Jean told him to keep it on the Ouija board, to keep it quiet," Face explained.
Hannibal eyed him quizzically and commented, "I seem to recall seeing that in a movie once."
"Think it'll work?" Face asked.
"Anymore than I think the Ouija board works?" Hannibal replied with a knowing smirk.
"Well, it did last time," Face said, "Or something did anyway."
"Well come on, let's get going," Hannibal told him, "We've got a long drive ahead of us, Murdock already explained that he landed the chopper just out of New York, and he ran to the Rhodes' house and they drove back to the chopper. So they'll be returning there for the car, but he needs room to dump the helicopter, so we agreed he's going to land it in New Jersey right by the oceanfront, because that's easy access to the water and also the closest way to get back to the car. And since Murdock left his clothes here, I don't want him standing around like a drowned rat anymore than he has to after he dumps that chopper into the Atlantic."
It was after 3 o' clock in the afternoon when they arrived in New Jersey, where it didn't take them long to find Murdock and the Rhodes'. Murdock had managed to find a secluded place to land them and ditch the chopper; Jean's father had gone on ahead to get the car and he would drive it back to pick the others up so they could drive straight home, and while he was gone, Murdock had been standing around like a drowned rat and shivering after he swam back to the shore. Jean explained to Face that she tried to help him but he had absolutely refused to borrow a change of her clothes, even if she did owe it to him.
"Probably just as well," Face said and looked over to the pilot, "You alright, Murdock?"
Murdock wrung out the bottom of his shirt for what was probably the 20th time and he said, "A little damp, Lieutenant."
Face held up Murdock's bag and told him, "We got your clothes here; you can change in the van."
"Good," Murdock said as he walked up to Face, "Between you and me I didn't like the idea of changing with them around," and he pointed back to Jean and her mother.
"Well you could've had them cover their eyes," Face suggested.
"Yeah but they still might hear me," he replied.
Hannibal walked over to the two women who were currently seated on their suitcases and he asked them, "How's it going, ladies?"
"Just fine, Mr. Smith," Mrs. Rhodes answered.
"How was the flight?" he asked.
"It was great," Jean said.
"It was a bit bumpy on the way back," Mrs. Rhodes told Hannibal, "I'll admit, I started to get nervous."
"How about you?" Hannibal asked Jean.
She shook her head, "I have full faith in a Thunderbird…boy, you could put him in a large paper airplane and he'd find a way to pilot it, wouldn't he?"
"Probably," Hannibal answered. He looked from Jean to her mother, and he stopped because he hardly recognized the woman. He knew that this was the same woman he had seen earlier in the day and almost every day for a week or so now, but she didn't look the same at all. Just as the years seemed to have been peeled off of Jean overnight, it looked like they had likewise been taken off of Mrs. Rhodes' face as well and now she looked more like a woman of her age should've, if not a little younger, instead of a woman 20 years her senior.
Hannibal went around to the van and rapped on the back door and said, "You decent, Murdock?"
The door opened and Murdock stepped out wearing his Napoleon T-shirt and blue jeans, "You rang, Colonel?"
"Did you have any problems?" Hannibal asked him.
"Uh…no, Colonel," Murdock shook his head, "You know, we landed, I got everybody off, and all the luggage, then I took it up again and went out over the ocean and jumped out and let it plunge to its watery end."
"Good, and nobody saw anything."
Murdock shook his head, "If there's anybody around here, they're the invisible man."
"That's good work, Captain," Hannibal told him, "And it isn't just a matter of nobody saw us arrive, so nobody can report seeing us here, but also that nobody else can use the chopper now either, so it can't be used for anything else that could possibly get traced back to us."
Murdock nodded and explained, "We decided to wait here so you'd know where we were but…"
"Yeah I know," Hannibal said, "We wouldn't have been able to get everybody in the van, so as soon as Mr. Rhodes returns with the car we can escort them back to the house and make sure they get there alright."
They didn't have long to wait. After about 10 minutes they saw a car coming their way and it came to a stop and Jean and her mother picked up the bags and headed over to it and got in. Likewise, the team piled into the van and followed behind the car; by now the whole nightmare seemed to be over, but Hannibal didn't believe in taking any chances now, he wanted to make sure that nobody was at the house waiting for the family to return. They'd come too close to tragedy twice already, the third time wasn't going to prove to be a charm for anybody.
"Hannibal," Face said later that afternoon after they'd arrived at the Rhodes' home, "We've been around this house three times already, we checked behind all the doors, in all the closets, under all the beds, if there is somebody in this house who shouldn't be, he'd have to be the hide and seek champion of the world."
"Yeah," Hannibal started to admit defeat, "And we checked the yard, nobody hiding, no booby traps, or trip wires, or hidden cameras. I guess they're as safe now as they're going to be."
"So can we go in and unpack now?" Jean asked.
Hannibal looked at Face and then to Jean and said, "Yeah, it should be alright."
"Uh…" Hannibal and Face turned around and saw Jean's mother was addressing them as she said, "You gentlemen aren't going to head right back to L.A. are you?"
"Well that was kind of the plan," Face said.
"After driving all day already?" she asked.
Jean came back out the front door and told them, "She's got a point, and it'll be getting dark soon, why don't you guys just stay here for the night and then start out tomorrow?"
Face looked to Hannibal to see what the colonel said about it. Hannibal shrugged and said, "She's got a point, if Lynch would already be looking for us again, he wouldn't think to come here, so we've bought some time off his radar. That is of course, if it won't be any trouble."
"No problem," Jean answered for her mother, "We don't have any guest rooms but we can find a place for you guys to sleep."
Hannibal still acted a bit reluctant about it, "Well…I'm not sure…"
"Mr. Smith, please," Mrs. Rhodes said, a hint of desperation in her voice, "You wouldn't take the money, let us do at least this much for you."
"Well it's hard to argue about that, especially with such a pretty woman," he told her.
"Great," Jean turned to Face and said, "Let's find the others and tell them."
They went around to the back and found B.A. and Murdock, who was currently getting the cider squeezed out of his Adam's apple again because he was driving B.A. crazy again. They ran over and Face got between them and told B.A. they'd been invited to stay for the night, and that Hannibal had accepted for them.
"Good," Murdock said as he rubbed his throat, "Give the angry mudsucker a chance to calm down."
Murdock and Face went with Jean up to her room, each of them carrying one of her bags, and they stayed behind her and tried to remove her jacket from her bag before she could see it. Murdock managed to get it out and zip the bag back up without Jean noticing, and he reached into his pocket and took out an envelope and slipped it into one of the jacket pockets. It had been agreed on that they would each take $1,500 out of the money Jean had given them for expenses, but the other $19,000 would be returned to her; maybe it hadn't been hers to take but the money could better benefit she and her parents than the kind of people she took it off of. When they got into her room and she collected her bags from them, Murdock kept the jacket behind his back with one hand, gave her her bag with the other, and then immediately backed over and collapsed on the bed. She and Face turned at the noise and saw him bouncing on the mattress and he commented, "Nice springs, I can tell they ain't been worn out yet."
Jean turned around and saw her room and all that it held for the first time in six months and she was practically in a daze by it.
"Man," she said, "I either need to clean this place out or run it through with a bulldozer. What did I ever start collecting all this junk for in the first place?"
Face watched as Murdock rolled the jacket up and placed it under the bed, neither man thought that would be a priority place for her to check anything immediately.
"Who knows?" Face asked as he watched Murdock, then decided to change the subject and he went over to Jean and said to her, "About the sleeping arrangements."
"I've been thinking about that," she said, "We can put somebody on the couch, somebody in the recliner, and then we've got a couple of cots put away in the basement. I know it's nothing great but it's the best we can do on short notice. It's either that or two people can bunk up here with me but I honestly don't think my poor mother can take anymore excitement."
"I'm sure the living room will be fine," Face told her.
Immediately upon awakening the next morning, Hannibal couldn't recall too well the events of the previous night. Then it came back to him; Mrs. Rhodes had cooked two batches of fried chicken for dinner, afterwards they just sat in the living room and talked to one another, but he couldn't remember now what they had talked about. He remembered it had gotten late and Jean stayed up to talk with them even though her parents, drained by everything they had been put through recently, had gone up to bed for the night.
And now…Hannibal looked around the living room, B.A. was asleep on the couch, he had fallen asleep in the recliner next to the couch, and Murdock and Face had agreed to sleep on the cots on the floor, but during the night Face's cot had fallen flat and he had slept through it, and Murdock had completely turned over and fallen off of his and caused the cot to turn over with him, and he also remained oblivious to the fact. Hannibal had half expected to see Jean somewhere in this mess, and as he got up he did notice an extra sheet and pillow on the floor between the captain and the lieutenant, but Jean was nowhere to be found.
Nobody moved as he got up, they were still so out of it that nobody heard him moving around; the sun was already coming up outside and pouring in through the windows, and out the window, Hannibal saw Jean standing out in the yard with her back to the house. He went out the front door and down the porch steps and saw she didn't move from where she was; he raised his forearm over his eyes to block out the sun as he went over to her and he asked her, "You alright, Jean?"
She didn't answer him at first and didn't move; then slowly she turned to Hannibal and said, "Do you have any idea how many times I was only 15 minutes away from this place and I still could never come back?"
He tried to see it through her eyes; he imagined it was about the same as suddenly seeing the sky again after being locked in solitary confinement for three months. After an ordeal like that, the littlest things suddenly became God's greatest miracles.
"You're back now," he said.
"Yes," she said as she looked around, "For a while I never thought I'd see this place again."
Hannibal had gotten the others up and they were trying to get on the road before Jean's parents woke up because he felt certain that if they didn't get moving soon, her mother might snag them into staying for breakfast as well.
"So I guess this is the end of it," Jean said as she helped them haul their bags out to the van, "You guys are going to be in the wind and I ain't ever gonna see you again."
"Oh I wouldn't be too sure about that," Face told her, "I'm sure someday we'll be crossing through here again and we'll see you."
Murdock came running up to join the others and he grabbed Jean and hugged her goodbye; she reciprocated and then moved over to hug Face, who was happy to repay the favor. When she pulled away, Jean took a newspaper out of her back pocket and told him, "By the way, I picked up a newspaper before we left Chicago the other day, and I think you'll find the front page story very interesting."
"Thanks, I'll read it later," Face told her as he took the rolled up paper from her.
Jean took a step over to B.A. with her arms half outstretched and asked him, "Well?"
B.A. laughed and loosely hugged her and told her, "You behave yourself, mama."
"Same to you, you big angry mudsucker," Jean said as she pulled away from him.
Hannibal stood beside the van with his hands in his pockets, always more reserved than the others; but at the last second he reached forward and wrapped his arm around her in a casual embrace.
"Thanks again, Hannibal," she said to him.
"You're welcome, kid," he told her.
Hannibal let go and pulled away from Jean but it didn't matter much because Murdock had gone around to the other end and was waiting with open arms for another hug, Jean laughed as she obliged him.
"Alright, everybody in," Hannibal said, and he turned to Jean and added, "You'll tell your parents we said goodbye."
"Yeah, sure," she smiled, "Hannibal, I know you didn't keep the money I gave you, I don't know where you put it but I wish you would've kept it."
"That's alright, we already deducted what was necessary for business expenses," Hannibal told her.
"You still should've kept it," she said, "At least you'd keep above water for the next time you get a client that can't pay you."
"I think you and your family could get more use out of it than we could," Hannibal replied, and the subject ended there because it was obvious he wouldn't budge on it.
They got in the van and through the windows had one more exchange of goodbyes before B.A. got them on the road again and in a few seconds Jean was a blurred image off in the distance behind them. They drove for half an hour before anybody finally spoke, during that time Hannibal watched the road signs, Murdock petted Billy, and Face finally took the newspaper out of his pocket and unrolled it.
"You think she'll be alright, Colonel?" Murdock asked.
"Yeah I think she'll be fine," Hannibal said.
The backseat erupted in a noise that sounded like a chicken was being strangled; Hannibal turned and saw it was Face reacting to the headline in the paper.
"What is it?" he asked.
Face swallowed whatever he was going to say the first couple of times before getting out, "Lynch has been arrested."
"What? Let me see that," Hannibal took the newspaper from him and read the front page story, "Colonel Francis Lynch of the United States Army was arrested early Monday morning in connection to a robbery after the Chicago Police Department received a tip from an anonymous caller alerting them to Lynch's whereabouts and allegations regarding a large amount of stolen money. A search of Lynch's personal belongings turned up a discovery of $50,000 in large bills, which, identified by serial numbers were revealed to have been seized from a bank robbery in Los Angeles in 1979. As most of the bills were found to contain traces of cocaine, police are further investigating as to whether drug charges will be added. Col. Lynch denies the charges and proclaims his innocence, investigation and possible extradition to California are pending."
Face and Murdock stared at each other with equally dropped jaws and they all pondered the same question. They didn't have to go far to find a who for it, they remembered Jean's rant early on when they met about something happening to damage Lynch's credibility, if about $50,000 were to be found on him and he be arrested for robbery and see how well he liked it. But the how was another mystery.
"Jean said it's impossible to spend as much money as the people in the cartels make, apparently that's true if she could throw $50,000 away on having Lynch busted for something that he didn't do," Hannibal commented.
Face quickly recovered from the shock and told Hannibal, "Of course you know those charges will never stick."
"Probably not," Hannibal smirked as he took out a new cigar and bit down on it, "But for a while anyway, now Lynch gets to find out what it's like to be arrested for a crime he didn't commit, I hope he enjoys it, I know we will." And he grinned like a cat that just swallowed a 10 pound canary.
Murdock was laughing hysterically and throwing his head back against the seat and he told the others, "Brutus may be gone but obviously she's still got a little devil inside of her!"
The End