Author's note: It has been brought to my attention that Lance LeGault, who played Colonel Decker in "The A-Team" has passed away recently. This chapter is dedicated to one of the greatest pursuers the A-Team gave chase to at every turn. R.I.P Colonel Roderick Decker, we trust he has resumed his neverending chase after Hannibal Smith in the great beyond.
En route to a hotel to stay for the night and the remainder of the storm, Decker and Crane had been forced to give up their military uniforms for some civilian clothes as to avoid drawing any further unwanted attention to themselves or anybody else. It wasn't until they'd stopped in the parking lot that everybody was able to get a look at the final results, and when they did everybody was having trouble keeping a straight face. Crane didn't appear too out of place in a spare set of Hannibal's clothes but Decker out of his uniform looked as comfortable and in place as a fish taken out of water and put in a leisure suit. And it was obvious from the look on his face that he felt about the same way as well.
Face had managed to get them two rooms and he, Murdock and Jean took one, and Hannibal and B.A. took the other with Decker and Crane to make sure that neither one of them had any chance to try anything funny. As an extra precaution, Face had made sure to get rooms right next to each other so they could keep an ear to the wall and know what was going on in there at all times.
"I still don't like this," Jean told them.
"Well, that's your opinion and you're entitled to it," Face told her in response, "But that's all the further you'll get with it."
"I don't care, I still don't trust them," she said as she sat on the edge of one of the beds.
"Then that makes us all even," Murdock replied.
"How do we know that Decker hasn't set a trap and is going to have a convoy of MPs here at a moment's notice?" she asked.
"When would he have had the chance?" Face asked.
"What about before he came back to the house?" she thought, "What if he planted a bug on that car so they could trace it here?"
"Well if that's the case," Face told her, his tone a bit apprehensive as he hadn't considered that possibility, "Then you have my full permission to toss him out the window."
"I'll do it too, you know that," Jean said.
Outside they could hear the storm raging on. The wind blew so hard that everybody absently moved further away from the windows as if they might cave in with the next gust. Jean scooted up to the head of the queen sized bed and looked down at the bedspread through the gap between her bent knees. Murdock thought she looked about asleep; he sat down on the edge beside her and brushed his fingers against her cheek, but she smacked his hand away and told him as she scooted over to the other side of the bed, "Don't touch me."
Face glanced questioningly at the pilot to see if he had any idea what that was about, but it was obvious from the equally confused look on Murdock's face that he was just as clueless. Face pointed to his own bed, without saying anything he made the suggestion that maybe Murdock would be better off bunking with him for the night, and Murdock nodded his head in agreement.
"What do you think?" Face murmured to him when Jean went into the bathroom to change.
"After the day we've all had?" Murdock asked, "I'm surprised we didn't all join hands and walk head on into a moving propeller, so…" he pointed to the door and said, "This is nothing, just leave her alone for a while."
"Huh," Face snorted, "Now you're really sounding like you're married."
Jean shot up in bed with a yelp at the sudden noise that awoke her; from the other side of the room she could hear Face was up as well, and he was a bit more coherent so it seemed he had been up a few seconds longer than she was. The room, which had been pitch dark when they went to sleep, was illuminated now by a pale light, that Jean realized was coming from the television set. Jean rubbed her eyes so she could see clearly and she could tell that an old, black and white western program was on. The second thing Jean saw was that Murdock was half sitting, half jumping, on the foot of the other bed, imitating the man on TV who was riding his horse up to a stagecoach and leapt off of his horse and onto the coach. Murdock turned around as if just now realizing the others were awake and said casually, "Oh hi, guys!"
"Murdock," Jean shielded her eyes with her hand against the bright light as she tried to sit up, "Murdock, what's going on?"
Murdock pointed at the TV screen and said, as if it was answer enough, "The Range Rider's on."
"The what?" Jean asked. She reached over to the bedside table and picked up the clock and groaned, "Murdock, it's 3 o' clock in the morning!"
"I know," he said a bit hesitantly, "That's when it's on."
Amidst his own haze of fatigue, Face was also able to put together what was going on, and it only worked to reinforce his previous concerns about Murdock. Once again, he was acting like he was back at the V.A., this was exactly what he'd found the man doing when he broke him out for their job in Arizona with Daniel Running Bear. Only this time Murdock didn't have his cardboard mask and his plastic six shooters…at least Face hoped he didn't.
"Murdock," he tiredly grumbled, "We've got to get you a VCR."
"Face," Jean groaned as she rolled onto her side to see him instead of the blinding light.
"What?" he asked.
Jean jerked her thumb back and gestured for him to switch places with her. He doubted it would do much good but he kicked back the covers on his side of the bed and went over to hers, and she went over and slipped into the one he'd been sharing with Murdock. She reached forward, grabbed Murdock and pulled him back and knocked him against the pillows and told him, "Now be quiet."
"Don't you want to see this, Saint?" Murdock asked.
"Yeah I'll watch it, just don't make any noise," Jean tiredly grumbled as she laid her head on his chest and closed her eyes.
Despite this though, Murdock couldn't resist telling her all about the show and the character of the Range Rider and all of his brilliant personality traits, and this went on for about ten minutes before Jean looked up at him and said, "Murdock…"
"I'll be quiet now," he said, raising his hand in half of a surrender gesture.
"Murdock," she repeated quietly.
"Yes?" he leaned down to hear her better.
Jean kissed him and said, "Thanks."
"For what?" he asked.
"For earlier," she said, "For everything I guess…"
Murdock grabbed her tight and kissed the top of her head and replied, "Don't mention it, hon."
"Just promise me something," Jean said.
"What's that?" he asked.
"Promise me when this is done," she said, "We're going to get the hell out of here and have a little fun before it's all over."
"You got it, sweetheart," Murdock told her.
Face watched this from where he lay in his own bed, and then rolled over and tried to get some sleep.
The next morning, Face and Jean got up early and dressed, but Murdock was content to stay buried under the covers. They let him sleep in a little while and then Jean went over to the bed and started whacking the lump under the sheets, trying to get a rise out of him. For the most part the lump didn't move, and when she swatted it again, the lump started growling.
"Come on, Murdock, it's time to get up," Jean said as she shook the lump and smacked him where she figured his hind end ought to be, and the growling just grew louder, quickly progressing from dog to werewolf.
"Jean, you better get away from there," Face told her, "He might bite."
"That's fine with me," she said as she moved back, "I'm a firm believer in biting back."
Face went over to the bed and carefully pulled the covers up and stuck his head under them to see Murdock. Under the covers the two had a muffled conversation and Jean waited to see what would happen next. Apparently Face said something that Murdock didn't agree with because the growling resumed, and Face reached into his pocket and pulled something out and practically crawled in with Murdock, a minute later Jean saw why. Face emerged from under the covers and pulled Murdock out with him, showing that the pilot had been gagged with a handkerchief as a makeshift muzzle.
"So what is it?" Jean asked as she went over to the bed, "I mean did Benji get rabies, or is this just one of the hell hounds?"
Murdock growled at the comment and managed to nip Jean on her wrist, she responded by grabbing his hand and biting it with full teeth but half full force. Murdock yelped and seemed to come around to his semi-normal self again. Face took out the gag and asked, "Well, Murdock?"
Murdock avoided answering Face's question and instead said for an answer, pointing to Jean, "Don't ever let her out when the mailman comes."
"Mailman nothing," she said, "I'll bet you Decker's still got a scar on his leg from when I bit him."
"When did you do that?" Face asked.
"Oh that was back when…never mind," Jean said.
"Sheesh, you bite the guy, no wonder he hates your guts," Face told her.
"Well what's your excuse then?" she replied.
"I don't know, Hannibal," Face said later that morning when he managed to get a minute alone with the colonel to discuss their situation with Murdock, "I'm worried about him."
Hannibal on the other hand was unfazed. He fumbled with his lighter and managed to get a flame out of it to light his cigar on while he held it between his teeth, and over it he said, "Oh come on, Face, it's still Murdock, he's not doing anything now that he hasn't before."
"That's exactly my point, Hannibal," Face said, "He's been released from the V.A. for three months now and in all the time he hasn't done any of this stuff, now all of a sudden he's back to making dirty ink blots, and getting up at 3 A.M. to watch the Range Rider and pretending he's a dog, I don't get it."
Hannibal grunted as he seemed to think about it for a minute, and said, "It could just be a phase he's going through."
"Isn't he a little old for that?" Face asked.
Hannibal about choked on his cigar and replied, "Are we talking about the same person here?"
"Well it just doesn't make any sense," Face told him, "Why would Murdock start doing all the things he did back at the V.A. when he was trying to get out?"
"Well," Hannibal thought about it, "You have to remember he was in the hospital for over 10 years, 3 months outside in comparison still leaves a lot of room for adjustment, it could be he's reverting back to what he knows because it's the most familiar for him. But I'm sure it's nothing to worry about."
The door opened and Jean stepped in, "What's the holdup?"
"No holdup, we're coming," Hannibal told her.
"So," Jean went over towards him, "How did it go bunking with Frick and Frack last night?"
"Did you hear anything?" Hannibal asked.
"No."
He shrugged innocently and said, "Uneventful, they stayed in their bed, we stayed in our bed and that was that."
"You and B.A.?" Jean asked, "Ouch."
Hannibal laughed and told her, "Oh it's not so bad, so long as he doesn't roll over in his sleep."
"Exactly why that guy will never be married," Jean said, "He'd do that one time and he'd smother her to death. So," she sucked in a breath and stood straight as she addressed Hannibal, "What's the plan, Colonel?"
Hannibal chuckled and told her, "I'll get you trained yet. Where's Murdock?"
"Trying to get his throat cleared, I think he's coming down with a cold," Jean answered, "He had this horrible cough earlier."
Face turned back to Hannibal and looked at him knowingly, "Let me guess…"
"If Decker asks, I told him to say it's TB," Jean said.
Face snapped his fingers and said, "That's it! That's the secret password."
"What's he talking about?" Jean asked Hannibal.
"Never mind," Hannibal said, he turned to Face and said, "We'll take care of the tap but in the meantime we need you to get Jean a replacement uniform."
"For what?" Face asked.
"I did some checking and found a bar close by that a lot of these guys we're looking for frequent."
"In uniform? What, the Air Force turning into the Hells Angels now?" Jean asked as she followed the men out of the room.
"Hannibal, this is never going to work," Face said as he tried straightening out the collar on Jean's jacket as they drove to the bar, "They're never going to buy Jean as a man."
"Hey, it fooled Roddy when I was an MP," she reminded them.
Decker turned and glared at her in remembrance of that little episode.
"Yeah but don't forget," Face pointed out, "These guys are trained pilots, they have excellent eyesight."
Now Decker turned and was staring daggers at him instead, he wasn't sure who to take the most offense at.
From the back of the van, Murdock was crumpled in a corner by himself and coughing to the point he sounded like he was trying to clear a lung out of his throat.
"What's the matter with him?" Decker asked.
Jean took the liberty of answering and told him, "TB."
He glared at her and said dryly, "Very funny."
"Oh you don't believe me? Well that's fine," Jean turned to Murdock and said, "Hey Murdock, come over here and cough on the colonel."
That remark earned a low giggle from the big angry mudsucker up front in the driver's seat.
Decker turned to Hannibal and swore, "When this is over, Smith, I'm going to personally see to it that you get put in the smallest cell in Fort Bragg and stay there until we bury you."
Hannibal silently contemplated this for a minute as he took out a new cigar and lit it, and finally responded by saying to Decker, "You keep talking to me like that, and you're not going to get me into bed, dear." It was one of the more unusual comebacks he'd made to anybody but the look on Decker's face when he said it had made it all worthwhile, and well as the barrage of laughter from the back of the van.
"Alright, B.A., stop here," Hannibal said, and turning around to face Jean and Murdock he told them, "It's Riley's Bar, two blocks ahead, past all those parked cars," he pointed up the road, "You know what to do."
"We do," Jean confirmed.
"I still say it won't work," Face told him.
"Come on, Faceman, be positive," Murdock said.
"Alright, I'm positive it won't work."
"Shut up, Face," Jean told him, "You worry too much."
"In any case," Hannibal said, "We'll be able to hear everything that goes on."
Murdock smiled and pulled back the collar on his jacket revealing the wireless microphone hidden away oh so well, then readjusted his collar. The van stopped and so did the car next to them; Crane got out of the car and got in the front of the van as had been his orders, and Murdock and Jean got out of the van and shut the door behind them and quickly disappeared from view.
"And why are we staying back here, Smith?" Decker inquired.
"This is the waiting process," Hannibal explained, "We could have left you home but I'm worried you'd scratch the door to pieces."
"I still say it's not going to work," Face told Hannibal.
"It won't matter if it does or not," he replied.
"What?"
"They might believe that Jean's a man," Hannibal said, "But they're going to know she is not from the Air Force, which she doesn't need to be. You heard what Corbin said, about half of the men running the drugs are only there to look the part, and she will."
"You willing to bet money on that?" Face asked.
Hannibal reached into his jacket and took a bill out, but they forgot the wager when they heard static on the receiver and strained to listen to what was going on in the bar.
Murdock had automatically struck up a conversation with a couple of the men there, he told them that he was new in and had been sent there by somebody whose name they'd picked up off the phone tap. So far everything seemed to be going well, the men either believed it, or weren't letting on if they didn't. Also so far Jean hadn't gotten a word in edgewise yet and Hannibal took it as meaning they really hadn't noticed her yet. He could just picture them, standing at the bar, Murdock in the middle of them all, his hands making little gestures as he carried on and on, Jean pressed away in the corner, all but forgotten for the duration of the conversation.
"Though it's to my understanding," Murdock said suddenly, "There's been some kind of bad blood between you guys, and the regular army, am I right?"
"No bad blood my friend," one of the other men replied, "No bad blood at all."
"No, only spilt," another answered, and there was a laugh shared between them.
"Oh yes, I remember hearing something about that," Murdock said, "Uh, what was it, three of them in a car that turned over and blew up?"
One of the other men laughed again and said, "Well I don't know anything about it turning over, but the men in it got blown clear to the pearly gates before St. Peter even knew what hit him."
"Who's the wall flower?" the first man asked.
"Oh that's my cousin," Murdock answered, "He's with me."
"He got a name?"
"Sure he got a name, I was there when his mama gave it to him," Murdock answered.
"Oh really…" it sounded like one of the men was moving and suddenly he said, "He looks more like a she to me."
"Surprise," Jean replied flatly, "But it took you long enough to figure it out."
"That's how she gets around," Murdock said, "See she's helped me on a few runs and that's her cover…we do our jobs in the dead of night, nobody ever notices the difference."
"She fly?"
Jean's grin could practically be heard as she replied, "You name it, I can fly it…him too, he was in the Thunderbirds."
"Well, it's never hurt before," one of the men said, "Course…never really had the need for their work specifically."
"Harrumph," Jean replied, "Then your boss never had his business run right."
"Big talk."
"Maybe, but we can deliver the results," Murdock said.
There was a momentary silence and then one of the men said, "I think it's worth a try…we're picking up a shipment tonight."
"Where?" Jean asked.
"You'll get the location when you come in and pick up the chopper."
"One question," she persisted, "We're used to running these things solo on our own scale, so what I want to know is are we now getting into territory where we can be killed for asking too many questions?"
"Just depends on what questions you're asking."
Jean groaned and murmured to Murdock, "I should've stayed in Jersey." She spoke up to the men and said, "Maybe you can help us, our car died a couple blocks from here, can't get it started for nothing."
"Ah ha," Hannibal said, "They're coming back here."
"Huh, what do you know?" Face asked, "This might just work after all."
"Get ready," Hannibal told them.
They watched as Murdock and Jean made their way back with the two men in tow. As soon as they got within five feet of the van, Face and Hannibal threw the doors open and jumped out and very subtly pulled their guns on the men. Hannibal signaled for the two men who looked about 30 if even that, to be quiet and get inside. They didn't have much chance to protest because Jean and Murdock pulled their own guns and stuck them into their backs.
"What's your name?" Hannibal asked the first man.
"Richardson," he answered.
"What's your name?" Hannibal turned to the second man.
"Colbert, sir."
"Well that's fine," Hannibal told them as he patted them down and collected their own guns, "Now boys, we're going to go for a little ride and you're going to show me where that shipment is."
"And if you don't like those conditions, you can always take it up with our complaint department," Face said, pointing to B.A. up front, "Right there."
"Hannibal," Jean said, "We can't all fit in the van, hand over the keys and we'll take Decker's car."
Richardson and Colbert turned at that name, "Decker?"
"That's right," Hannibal pointed his gun towards Decker, "This is Colonel Decker, the real Colonel Roderick Decker."
For the first time in two days, Decker seemed to be enjoying going along with this whole mess. He leaned across to see the men better and crinkled up his eyes and actually grinned at them. Face noticed this as well and murmured to Hannibal, "If Jaws had ever needed a double, we got the right shark here."
"Stiff competition indeed," Hannibal concluded a couple of hours later when they'd finished examining the helicopter that was going to be used for the delivery and were finally able to breathe again, "What'd you find, B.A.?"
B.A. grunted and said, "The bomb was time based, Hannibal, had it set to go off at a time I've determined to be for the initial liftoff, however they had it rigged so every time I tried to dismantle it, the timer cut out half an hour closer to detonation time. By the time I got the right wires pulled and cut, it had gone down to five minutes before blastoff."
Hannibal turned to the two pilots who stood back in awe at the discovery. Richardson was scratching his head and asked in disbelief, "How did they find out about this mission? How could they have known which flight it would be or when it took off?"
"Maybe you've got a leak," Face suggested.
"I'll tell you what we're going to do," Hannibal told the men, "I want to get my hands on this guy passing himself off as Decker and every scum-sucking piece of garbage under his thumb, so if you'll get us in under the radar and get us in as your new help, we will personally deliver every last one of these guys' heads to you on a platter."
Face didn't like the sound of that, however he held his tongue until the agreement was made and both sides parted for the time being. Before that happened though, Jean grabbed Colbert and said, "The guys you're trying to blow up tried to kill me because they thought I was with you and they did say they were going to kill the colonel. The guy they're working for is passing himself off as Colonel Decker, but what's your colonel's name?" As the man opened his mouth Jean told him, "And if you say this colonel's name is Lynch, I'm going to kill you."
"No," he answered, "Colonel Brubaker."
"That name ring any bells?" Jean asked Hannibal.
"Not a one," he answered.
"Good," she said, and then the two sides parted.
Once Richardson and Colbert were out of sight, Face grabbed the back of Hannibal's jacket and gave it a yank and said, "Hannibal, have you lost your mind? We're actually going to help these people?"
"Did I say that?" Hannibal asked innocently, "More likely I just let them think that."
"Well what's the plan, Colonel?" Murdock asked.
With a smirk, Hannibal explained, "In our legal system there's something called rolling over, you get in two people accused of the same crime with pretty much the same amount of evidence on both which isn't much, to make the case against one of them you make a deal with the other in exchange for a lesser charge."
"And that's what we're doing?" Face asked.
"No, but they're going to think we are," he explained, "Now we go find the army boys, and tell them the same story, that we are going to help them haul in all the airborne boys, and then we cut our ties and drag them all in."
"I imagine a presentation like that ought to do you some favors with your superiors," Jean commented to Decker as they walked behind the others.
"That's another reason why we're doing this," Hannibal told Face.
"What?"
Hannibal turned around and pointed back at Decker and said, "Also in our legal system, every defendant has the right to face his accuser in court…and I think Decker's as entitled to come face-to-face with this imposter as we are. After all it's his name that's being dragged through the mud."
"I just can't believe you, Hannibal," Face said, "The man's trying to have us put in prison and you want to help him?"
Hannibal shrugged and said, "Must just be me going soft in my old age."
"So how do we find these guys?" Face asked.
"Colbert told me where they were going to plant another bomb, we go there and work our way around, something has to pop up."
"I'll like it when this whole thing's over," Jean said as she ran to catch up with them, "It's making me dizzy. Hannibal," Jean caught up with him and yanked him back by his jacket, and when he turned around she said, "I just want to get something cleared before we go any further in this. What are the odds that the man behind the mask here is another jerk from your own past?"
"What do you mean?" Hannibal asked.
"Well let's review, shall we?" she replied, "When I got shot, that was your old buddy, Frank Carter, remember that? And then last time, when I about became a crispy critter in that car bombing, that was that guy Buchanan that both of you knew in Vietnam. So what're the odds that we're dealing with somebody else from your past now?"
"I doubt that it's anybody I'd know," Hannibal said, and turning around he asked the other colonel, "How about you, Decker? Does this reek of anybody in particular you know about?"
"No," Decker answered firmly.
"Well," Hannibal turned back to the front, "I guess time will tell."
"It's too bad that I don't have my camera anymore," Murdock told Jean that night when they'd stopped at a motel to rest at until the next morning, "It sure would've come in handy during the bar fight the other day. It would've made a great sequel to my last movie."
"Well face it, Murdock, you're not Alfred Hitchcock," Jean said, "Your last movie did poorly."
"Well," Murdock shrugged, "Hitchcock started directing comedies, you see how far he came from that…besides, if we could've gotten you on film beating the crud out of that Jocelyn woman, you'd nail that audition for sure."
"I'd forgotten about that," she told him, "It's been a long week."
The bathroom door opened and Face limped out groaning under his breath, and when he spoke up he looked at them both and asked, "Why is it every time we stop somewhere for the night I always get stuck with you two?"
"Would you rather bunk with B.A. and Hannibal?" Jean asked.
Face thought about it for a minute and decided, "No, B.A. snores so loud it sounds like a chainsaw and Hannibal had a tendency to smoke in bed."
Jean noted how stiffly he seemed to be moving and she asked him, "What's the matter with you?"
"I think it's from that barroom brawl we got in…there ought to be a statute, if you have size 13 feet you do not need steel toes," Face answered as he crawled into his own bed.
Jean went over to the wall and put her ear to it, "Nothing." She went back over to the men and said, "I still don't see why Hannibal insists on bringing Decker along for this whole mess. Doesn't he know that he's only compromising the whole Team? Decker's finding out all of your little tricks, how you operate, it's going to put him in a better position to catch you next time."
"Well what can you say?" Face replied, "You know how Hannibal is when he's on the jazz."
Murdock shook his head, "I don't think that's all that this is, Faceman."
"Well what else could it be?" Face asked as he got out of bed, "I mean this guy is absolutely relentless, Decker would stop at nothing to have all of our heads mounted and Hannibal knows that."
"Not noting," Murdock argued, "He's here with us now, isn't he? He hasn't turned us over to the MPs yet."
"For one thing he's in no position to do that," Face reminded him, "And for another, he's not going to turn us over to anybody else to do his dirty work for him, he's going to personally deliver us to the plane heading for Fort Bragg himself."
"He does and I'll…" Jean picked up the metal phone on the nightstand like it was an ashtray she was ready to brain somebody with.
Face turned back to Murdock and said to him, "Three billion women in the world, and you just had to marry this one, didn't you?"
"And what is wrong with that?" Jean asked as she put the phone down and went over to the men.
"Nothing, if you like having a bloodthirsty cutthroat for a sister-in-law," Face said as he turned to address her.
"Oh! And I suppose you'd be happier with the outcome if he had married one of those useless seat cushions like you've always got draped on your arms, is that it?" Jean replied.
"It would sure be an improvement," Face said, "At least every time one of them would go out we wouldn't have to worry about her getting herself ambushed by the third marine division!"
"Shut up, shut up both of you!" Murdock told them, his voice raised to be heard over both their squabbling, but not particularly firm, just enough to get their attention. However he was ignored and met only with both of them turning towards him and each of them slapping one of his cheeks and telling him to stay out of this.
"This is familiar," he concluded, only this time he didn't want to get Hannibal and B.A. up to run interference. Instead, he decided to take matters into his own hands, and did so by grabbing Jean from behind and lifting her off the ground with her arms at her sides and locked in the choke hold he had her midsection in.
Jean groaned from the sudden pressure placed against her ribs and she said gruffly, "Put me down!"
"No, not yet," he told her, and he looked past her to Face, but addressed them both as he said, "I want to know what's going on around here, why are you two always at each other's throats?"
"We can't help it, Murdock," Jean told him, "It is the people that we are, I don't like him, and he doesn't like me."
"Now that's not true and you know it," Murdock replied as he let go of her and let her feet hit the floor, a bit harder than was necessary. He looked at them both and said, "I know you both better than that, so I'd like an explanation for why this is happening."
Face ran his hand over his face and looked like he was starting to get a migraine and he said, "I'm sorry, Murdock, I guess we're all just on edge with the extra company we're currently stuck with."
"That's his excuse," Jean told Murdock, "Mine is that I'm always a delightfully nasty person when I'm not feeling well."
"What's the matter?"
"I think I'm catching your cold," she answered, "However, I can't get mad at you for that, so instead I take it out on the second person nearest me, and as the man said, it's the three of us always bunking down together so he's in the direct line of fire."
Murdock looked at the two of them as if he was considering the possibility that they were telling the truth, and then suddenly, he broke out in a large grin and started laughing, and they both looked at him like he'd finally snapped.
"What is it?" they asked.
"I've got it," he said with an air of realization in his tone, "I know what it is."
"What what is?" Face asked.
"Why you two are always fighting with each other," Murdock said, his grin ever persistent as he looked at them with an almost dreamy look in his eyes as he crooned, "You two are so cute sometimes."
"Murdock, what in the hell are you talking about?" Jean asked.
"Well it's obvious, Saint, I'm surprised I didn't figure it out before," he said, "What's going on here is nothing more than a little displaced sibling rivalry."
"What!?" they both responded.
"I always knew you were crazy, Murdock," Jean said, "Now you've just proven it."
"Yeah Murdock," Face had to agree, "What're you talking about sibling rivalry? We're not even…" and then he caught himself and groaned. He'd already hanged himself with his previous comment about having Jean for a sister-in-law.
"It makes perfect sense," Murdock said.
Face grumbled something under his breath about where Murdock was concerned, nothing ever made perfect sense, but the pilot ignored him and continued, "Brothers and sisters fight all the time, sometimes physically but most often verbally, it's in their nature, if they didn't do that there would be anarchy, mass hysteria, the fibers of the universe would be unraveled into a big mess of tangled yarn if that were to happen."
"And how would you know all this?" Jean asked him, "Weren't you an only child?"
"Yes, that's exactly my point, all of us were," Murdock explained, "And now we're all jammed together as a family, that creates tension as would be naturally produced among biological siblings and this is the direct end result."
"Yeah but you and Face have known each other for 10 years and you guys don't do this," Jean pointed out.
"No," he agreed, "But I have been well compensated with my other brother, my blood brother, B.A. You see, it's his job to be the bigger, more intimidating threatening brother, and likewise it's my job as the little brother to trade insults with him and give him a hard time on occasions."
"Every day must be an occasion in your eyes," Face commented.
Something had occurred to Jean while Murdock was talking and she'd tried getting his attention, to no avail, now that he had stopped talking she grabbed him to make sure she had his attention and said, "What do you mean blood brother?"
"Didn't I ever tell you about the time I saved his life?" Murdock asked, "That's how we met Maggie Sullivan, you see…"
"Murdock," Face interrupted and said, "Do you think the story can wait till morning? I'd like to get some sleep."
"Oh, sure," Murdock replied, turning back to Jean he murmured in her ear, "I'll tell you later."
"Murdock," she said as they got into bed, "Do you think Hannibal's got anything planned for tracking down this other guy, Colonel Brubaker?"
"Well he hasn't said anything to me yet," he said, "But if we're going to take the whole ring out, then we have to take it straight to the top."
Jean groaned and shook her head, "It doesn't matter how many people we take out of this, it's never going to stop, this is just going to keep happening in and out of the military, until the end of time. Makes you wonder why we even bother trying to stop it."
Murdock didn't say anything for a minute, and then he responded to that with, "Well, you can't kill all the weeds but you can sure as hell yank the ones you got out of the garden and enjoy the time before they grow back. It might take a while to get done but it's still worth doing."
Neither of them said a word for a few minutes, they just lay alongside each other in the dark room and listened to Face's even breaths telling them that he was already asleep. As Murdock moved to turn on his side, Jean put her hand on his shoulder and said quietly, "Murdock, why do you think Hannibal is doing this for Decker? For what possible reason?"
Murdock turned to face her and he said, "I think it's something personal between them, kind of one colonel to another."
"But why? I thought Hannibal hated Decker."
"Well…you can still show basic human respect to a person you find as tolerable as a cockroach," Murdock told her, "You know, Hannibal's right, Decker knows he's never going to catch us, we're always going to get away…catching us would be a hollow victory but it would still be a victory, one that he's never going to have, and Hannibal knows this. So, I think he's helping Decker with this, so he can find out who's dragging his name further through the mud, so when he dies he can at least have one victory to his name, it's something that everybody needs, just to say that it gave purpose to their life."
"Doesn't say much for his life, does it?" Jean replied.
Murdock shrugged and explained, "For some people, that purpose is getting married, having children, starting a family, for others it's swimming the English Channel or climbing the Matterhorn…but if Decker doesn't clear his name and bring these people in, then when he dies, his whole life will have been in vain. And when you consider it from that point, it's easier to feel kind of sorry for him."
"Maybe you can," she said.
Murdock smiled at her and crooned, "Oh come on, Saint, I know that there's something going through your mind right now, something involving the not so great colonel."
She turned away from him and said, "Well…maybe."
"What is it?" he asked.
She looked back at him and admitted, "Yeah I guess I felt kind of bad for him when that General Bullen was chewing him out on the phone…I was thinking before his chase with us resumes, that…I'd kind of like to do something for him."
"What's that?" Murdock amusedly inquired.
It was the next night when they made their move. With a little technologically assisted eavesdropping, Hannibal was able to pick up a message that the army men were planning to steal a shipment of heroin that was being kept in a hangar at a small airport that was originally going to be picked up by one of Richardson's partners. It wasn't that they were stealing the merchandise to turn a profit for themselves; but the package was going to be altered so it was contaminated, and then repackaged and put back where it was, so that when the drug had its newly desired effect on whoever was going to be using the product, that in itself would take care of the competition by starting a vendetta within the Air Force's ring with its own clients.
"Personally I think these guys have seen too many movies," Hannibal commented to Decker as they made their way up to the hangar in the dark, "I mean think about it, these guys are only shipping the drugs out, they're not manufacturing it firsthand, so if it comes up tainted and kills off everybody who injects it into their veins, why would they automatically return fire on the messenger who delivered the package?"
"Which hangar did it say?" Decker asked, pointing at the buildings up ahead, and ignoring Hannibal's question entirely.
Hannibal sighed and answered, "Hangar five."
"Are you sure?" Decker asked condescendingly.
"Decker, I know how to count to five," Hannibal told him, "You ought to be able too, you don't have to take off your shoes to get to that number."
"If you think you're funny, Smith, think again," Decker remarked.
"Oh I don't think I'm funny," he answered coyly, "I leave that job to your face."
Decker turned on his heel and looked back the way they'd come and asked, "Where are the others?"
"Other what?" Hannibal asked him.
"Peck and Baracus and Murdock, what do you think?" Decker replied.
"They're close by, don't worry," Hannibal told him.
"And what about Crane? I haven't heard a word out of him in over an hour."
"Well that either means that he's still with B.A. and being a smart captain and keeping his mouth shut…or he tried to get help and they're burying him," Hannibal lightly responded.
"Again with the jokes," Decker sneered.
"Oh Decker, would you relax?" Hannibal asked, "Everybody's in position, everybody knows what they're doing, and unlike you, we're professionals."
"Oh shut up," Decker told him as he walked ahead of Hannibal, "I don't know why I agreed to come with you."
"Because being a colonel, you wouldn't have been satisfied staying back with the others," Hannibal answered, "You've always got to be on the front line and get that adrenaline rush, it's what keeps you going, that's why you keep chasing after us even though you know you're never going to catch us."
"Don't hold your breath on that one, Smith," Decker told him as he undid the lock on the doors, "When this is over nothing's going to have changed between us, and I'll come for you again."
Hannibal smirked over his cigar and said, "Wouldn't have it any other way, Decker, I can always use the exercise."
Decker glared at him through one eye and Hannibal would swear he could hear the man growling under his breath, he just laughed lightly in response.
They got the doors open and quietly stepped inside the dark hangar. Hannibal shone his flashlight in so they could see where they were going and where the crate with the heroin was being kept, and they found it over in a corner.
"Well they haven't gotten it yet," Hannibal said, "So we'll just be here waiting for them when they come."
"Fine," Decker agreed, "Let's get the doors closed before somebody sees us."
He walked ahead of Hannibal and headed back to the hangar's entrance and Hannibal followed right behind him. They had just reached the doors when the quiet of the night exploded into a deafening roar of gunfire from somewhere outside. It happened too fast for Hannibal to actually notice what had happened; he just heard Decker groan and fall back, Hannibal caught him and he felt something and realized it was a second bullet ripping through the side of his jacket, just barely grazing his own skin, but he realized as they both fell on the ground that based on how they were positioned standing, that the bullet had gone clear through Decker first. Hannibal's hands were already soaked in warm blood, Decker's blood!
Decker had been shot twice and at least one of the bullets had been a through and through shot; he was groaning but otherwise he was unresponsive as Hannibal tried to get him to focus. Clawing at the walkie talkie in his pocket, Hannibal fumbled with it and managed to get it out and as soon as he pressed down on the 'talk' button he was screaming into it, "All units to hangar 5! Proceed with extreme caution. Shots fired, bag is leaking, I repeat, bag is leaking!"
Hannibal dropped the walkie talkie and pressed Decker's jacket against the one entry wound he could find, trying to remain calm but he felt his hands trembling fiercely. Decker wasn't groaning anymore, now he wasn't making any noise, and the silence was more deafening than any sound he could've made.
"Come on, Decker, don't you do this to me, don't you dare die on me now!" Hannibal told him. But there was no response from the other colonel, and his blood had already soaked clear through his jacket.
Decker was aware the up and down movement of his chest as he breathed, and he slowly opened his eyes. The sudden light was blinding but he managed to keep his eyes open as he looked around and realized they weren't at the hangar anymore. They seemed to be in a doctor's office or an operating room. It was white, sterile, bright, and he realized he wasn't alone. He couldn't hear things too well and his sight was a bit blurred, but he slowly moved his eyes and then his head and he could see the people in the room with him. First he could see Crane standing over him, looking worried, and standing next to him were Peck and Murdock, who wore similar expressions on their own faces. Past them, Decker could see Baracus standing by the door, as if he was making sure nobody came in. To the left, Decker could see the Rhodes woman, and she had a gun drawn and was holding it on someone else in the room that Decker couldn't see.
He hadn't been able to hear much, feeling as if he had water in his ears or something, but he was able to make out the words accompanying the movements of Jean's lips, "Either you get him fixed up right, or there's going to be more than one dead body in this room, Doctor." And to emphasize that she meant it, she cocked back the hammer on the gun and moved her index finger a fraction of an inch closer to the trigger.
Decker moved his gaze back to directly in front of him and he realized that Hannibal was right in front of him, and looking down he could see that both of Hannibal's hands were wrapped around one of his own. His own hand was white knuckled from the monster grip he held onto Smith's with, but both of Smith's hands were covered in half dried blood. It occurred to Decker that he must've been on some kind of drugs because he couldn't feel his hand squeezing the life out of Hannibal's, because he also wasn't aware that he was in any pain. And that was when he realized that the blood covering Smith's hands was his own blood. He didn't wonder why his blood was on the other man, he didn't have time to, suddenly his eyelids suddenly weighed 40 pounds each and he closed them again and succumbed to a quiet, peaceful blackness.
"Isn't it funny how some people look so peaceful when they're asleep?" Hannibal commented to Face as they watched Decker sleeping in the hospital bed, the only movement from the colonel his chest rising and falling slowly and softly, though there were plenty of sounds from the machines he was currently hooked up to.
"Never thought I'd say it," Face said, "But he almost looks human this way."
"Well," Hannibal held up his hand, that he still hadn't had a chance to wash yet, "We know he bleeds just like the rest of us."
They heard somebody come into the room and turned to see it was Crane. He had Decker's green hat in his hands and he wrung it like a wet sponge as he spoke, "The doctors said that if all goes well he'll make a quick recovery, but all the same they estimate it'll be about two weeks before they can discharge him."
"We'll make it easy on him," Hannibal said with a knowing smile, "We'll stay in the area so he can catch up."
"Uh…look, Smith…" Crane had twisted Decker's hat so much he was about to tear it apart completely, "I…I just wanted to say thank you for what you did."
"I told you before," Jean said as she passed by the doorway, "I told your colonel, contrary to popular belief, they're not the bad guys."
"Yeah…" Crane hesitantly agreed, even though she was gone before she could hear it.
"You're alright yourself, Crane," Hannibal told him, "I'm surprised you've been able to put up with Decker for this long without shooting him yourself."
Crane lowered his head and looked to the floor. "I wish I could say that this changed things, Smith."
"I know," Hannibal replied, "But I know you have your job to do."
"Uh…right," Crane picked his head up, turned on his heel and walked out of the room, suddenly deciding he needed to get some air.
Out in the hallway, Crane saw a couple of doctors and nurses pass by; B.A. stood leaning against the opposite side wall, occasionally he glanced over at Murdock, who was laying down on a gurney at the corner of the hallway to rest, and Jean, who was also trying to rest and was lying down on Murdock.
"So tell it to me again," she tiredly said to Murdock.
They both had their eyes closed as they talked; it was after two o' clock in the morning and nobody had had a chance to get any sleep. They'd all stayed in the operating room for the duration of Decker's surgery after strong arming their way in in the first place; two hours and none of them had moved, two hours before Jean was able to put her gun away and give her hand a rest, everything mixed together to strike them both with pure fatigue and now that they knew Decker was out of the woods, all they wanted to do was sleep but they knew they couldn't sleep yet because they'd be leaving soon.
"Tell you what again?" Murdock tiredly asked.
"Tell me again about the time B.A. got shot and you saved his life by giving him your blood."
B.A. turned at the mention of that and he looked over at Murdock as the pilot explained, "Well I'm here, I'm in my room, and the call comes in: Red Ball 1, Bag is Leaking."
"What's that mean?" Jean cut him off.
"Red Ball 1 means it's something big, and 'bag is leaking' means that one of the guys got shot."
"That's why Hannibal was screaming that earlier," she realized.
"Anyway, Amy picks me up and gets me out to Bad Rock, and I see the big guy is looking a bit on the pale side for a change. He and I are both AB-negative, so I was the only person who could do the transfusion. Course he was nervous, worried my blood was gonna make him crazy."
"But it didn't," Jean said.
"No, that's what I told him, it'd make him mellow, but he didn't believe me, but it sho' did, you should've seen him right after the doctor finished with us."
"Hmm," Jean murmured into his chest, "Obviously the effect was short lived."
"No," Murdock told her as he kept one arm around her, "It was most obvious at first because it was new blood coursing through his veins, but after a while it runs through that whole gargantuan body and blends in with his own collection of AB-negative, so it's harder to notice now, but you can tell…" he looked over at B.A., who wasn't looking his way at the moment and smiled, "There's a little bit of me in my best friend, that's the highest honor I could ever have, knowing that a little piece of me will live on in him."
B.A. turned his head to the side to see Murdock when he said that, but the pilot was halfway asleep and didn't notice the gesture.
"Think it's still there, Murdock?" Jean asked.
"Why sure, you can tell…I used to drive him up the wall all the time, but these days it takes a lot more to get him to the choking point to shut me up…" Murdock smiled as he added, "Sometimes he even goes along with what I got planned, it's a lot more fun now."
"Well if that's true…" Jean said, but she disregarded that thought and instead she asked Murdock, "How long do you think it'll take Decker to find out?"
"Well…first the drugs have to wear out, and after that he'll be in too much pain the first few days to notice anything else," Murdock told her.
"Kind of odd," Jean said, "He gets shot in the stomach and the chest, and his surgery takes 6 hours less than mine."
"All due respect, they only had one bullet to dig out of him," Murdock told her, "And it wasn't anywhere near his heart…they had their work cut out for them with you."
"At least they had my blood on hand," Jean replied, "But man, just wait till Decker finds out that Hannibal gave him his blood when they needed to do the transfusion."
"That's the Colonel for you," Murdock told her, "He may detest Decker for what he is and the things he's done, but he's not willing to let the man die if he can help it."
"But why?" Jean asked.
"Because Hannibal is a good man," Murdock answered, "Like you told Decker last time at the hospital, we're not the bad guys, and that's certainly true for the Colonel. After all he is the man at the heart of all this dispute between us and the United States Army. Besides, why would you threaten the doctors to do the surgery right if you hate him so much?"
"Crane said Decker's gonna have to be here for a couple of weeks before they'll release him," Jean lifted up her head to look Murdock in the eyes as she told him the news.
"He'll be well taken care of," Murdock told her, "He's going to be in very capable hands."
They heard a set of footsteps rounding the corner and Murdock lifted his head up and saw Dr. Richter heading their way.
"Hello, Murdock," he said.
"Hi, Doc."
Richter looked from Murdock to his wife and added, "Hello, Jean."
"Yeah," she answered flatly.
"How've you been, Murdock?" Richter asked.
"I'm fine, but what about Decker?" Murdock asked.
"They said he's going to live," Jean said as they got up from the gurney.
"Yes, I heard about that," Richter told her, "I understand that you went in and held the operating room hostage with a hand grenade?"
"No, it was at gunpoint," Jean answered, "There was a little misunderstanding between us and the attending surgeon."
Richter looked at Murdock with a 'so what else is new?' expression on his face and said, "I might've guessed."
"He'll be alright here, won't he, Doc?" Murdock asked.
"Of course he will, Murdock," Richter told him, "I also understand that you requested once he's out of Intensive Care, that he be moved to your old room, is that correct?"
"Yes, Doctor," Murdock answered, "I think it would be a good place for him, room #104 in the west wing, there are a lot of fond memories there."
"It's an unusual request to place a gunshot victim in the psychiatric ward."
"Yeah well why did you, a psychiatric doctor come in to inquire about a gunshot victim?" Jean asked, "Shrinks ain't real doctors."
Richter managed a forced smile as he said to Murdock, "I see some things never change."
"She's just tense, Doc, we've all been."
"Yes well, your friends Hannibal and Templeton filled me in on the details…as requested we're going to keep Colonel Decker in the hospital under observation and under an alias, but why exactly is that necessary?"
"It's a long story and we don't have time to tell it," Jean told the doctor, "Now can you guarantee he'll be here for at least two weeks?"
"The surgeons told me he had a narrow escape, it could've gone a lot worse for him…after that we will definitely take our time with his recovery and from there to his physical therapy."
Jean sneered, "Physical therapy, that's the biggest waste of time I ever heard of…but in this situation it's acceptable."
Hannibal appeared in the doorway and said to them, "If you want to say goodbye to Decker, now's your chance, we're leaving in a minute."
"Thanks for coming down, Doc," Murdock said as he took Richter's hand and shook it, "I really appreciate this."
"Murdock," Richter smiled at him, "Things won't ever be the same without you here."
Jean went back into the room and went over to the bed and hovered over Decker, waiting to see if he would wake up, but he didn't. She ran her fingers through his graying hair and whispered in his ear, "I told you they were the good guys, maybe now you'll believe it." She turned and said to Crane, "And I suppose we can assume that you'll be tending to him until further notice."
"Yes," Crane answered, "He has no family, I don't believe he should be left alone here, at least until he knows what happened."
"You're a good man yourself, Crane," Jean told him, "I hope your colonel realizes it."
Crane turned to Hannibal and said, "Looks like you bought yourself a stay of execution, Colonel Smith."
Hannibal smiled and said, "I still owe Decker one, he took two bullets that could've gone through me instead. So…he may be out of the game now, but I'm going to find the piece of garbage who's behind this whole mess and personally drag him in here with a big ribbon on his head as a get-well present for Roderick. You take care of your man, Crane, and we'll go after ours."
As they left the hospital room, Jean asked Hannibal, "How long do you think it'll take Decker to realize he's got your blood running around inside of him?"
"Oh, I think it'll go without saying," Hannibal told her, "Of course we were already a lot alike before…but I think he'll be able to notice when the difference takes effect."
"What difference?" Face asked.
"Well think about it, muchacho," Murdock told him as they went down the corridor to the exit, "If my blood can make the big angry mudsucker mellow out…then just think what wonders Hannibal's blood can work for Decker."
"Sure," Face said sarcastically, "He'll either try and shoot himself when he realizes it, or he might get a sudden urge to get work in Hollywood as a giant rubber monster."
"Either way it'll have to be an improvement," Jean concluded.
