A/N: I'm soooo sorry about not posting this morning! My internet was down. :( Tomorrow should be back to normal (Lord willing and the internet stays up!). One small change for this chapter, Hannibal's voice over the radio is in italics.

Murdock seemed to be much better the next morning when he woke up. He even managed to crawl to his own seat beside Face.

"How are you feeling?" Face really hoped that Murdock would start talking.

Instead the pilot gave a thumbs up. He grinned at each of the guys in turn, in his own way assuring them that he was fine.

Hannibal was disappointed, too, but at least Murdock's coordination seemed much improved. Slow progress was better than no progress.

~~AT~~AT~~AT~~AT~~

"There's the town, Hannibal."

Hannibal did a quick survey of the area. The small town was nestled in a forest. The trees would provide plenty of protection for them. "Great, BA. Let's park here and scout the area. Murdock, will you be okay here alone for a few minutes?"

Murdock nodded, giving the ok sign.

"All right, meet back here in ten minutes."

When the three of them got back to the van ten minutes later, BA grabbed Hannibal's arm. "I gotta tell ya this where the fool can't hear."

"What is it?"

"At one of the houses, I seen Henry's car parked out back."

Face came up behind them. "Are you sure?"

"Positive. Just didn't want him to know."

Murdock's eyes were closed, but he opened them when Face opened the door. He grinned at his team mates. Face and Hannibal grinned back, and Murdock was sure that he saw the corners of BA's mouth curl up.

"All right, men, what have we got?"

"Something not on the level, that's for sure, Colonel. I took a look at the pharmacy. There's a lot of people in there, running around, moving stuff."

"Wasn't nobody in the houses, but wasn't much of anythin' in the houses. No pictures, or decorations. Hardly any furniture."

"The gas station looks fine, just empty. It appears that the whole town is at the pharmacy."

"So, what's the plan?"

"It's a surprise."

Face and BA rolled their eyes.

Murdock raised his hand.

"You want to say something, Murdock?"

Murdock raised his eyebrows and gave a half grin. He pointed out the window.

At first the guys couldn't see anything. Hannibal finally spotted something in a clearing about seventy yards away.

"It's a helicopter!"

Murdock nodded, grinning.

"Leave it to Murdock to find something that flies! Good eyes, Captain."

"Are you going to tell us the plan, Hannibal, or should we just guess?"

"Of course I'll tell you the plan, when you need to know it! We've got to get in the pharmacy and see if they're the ones making Vero, and if so, why. Face, you find a way to get them to let you inside. BA, you cover the back of the building and I'll cover the front."

Murdock looked at the colonel expectantly.

"You have the most crucial part of the plan, Captain."

Murdock's eyes lit up.

~~AT~~AT~~AT~~AT~~

Face tried the pharmacy door, it was locked. He knocked loudly, hoarsely calling for help.

When the door finally opened, Face stumbled in and collapsed. A couple men helped him up and into a chair while another brought him a glass of water. Face drank it eagerly.

"What are you doin' here, mister?"

Coughing as if trying to clear his throat, Face explained. "I was running away. I just couldn't take anymore of that woman's nagging! I didn't care where I went, as long as it was away from her."

Coughing again, he continued. "Now I think I should have stayed home. My wallet was stolen this morning, my car broke down, and I've been walking about four hours. This just hasn't been my day."

Most of the men seemed sympathetic. A few still looked suspicious. The one who seemed to be the leader asked, "What are you going to do now?"

Face thought a moment. "I'm going back home. All the bad things that happened must have been a sign. I'll go home as soon as I can."

He stood up, his legs slightly shaking. "Does anyone have any odd jobs? I'm a hard worker, honest."

The men looked at each other, then the leader said, "We've got a, um, shipment to load. You help us and we'll pay cash."

"Oh, thank you!" Face grinned, following the man to the basement.

The place looked like a lab right out of an old black and white horror film. Face wondered if they had been using the same equipment Dr. Frankenstein had used. The man pointed to the boxes stacked floor to ceiling along the wall.

"These need carried upstairs. We'll need them loaded on the truck when it gets here."

Face nodded. He joined the men who were already carrying boxes. Each time he picked up a box, he expertly peeked inside without anyone noticing. So far it had all been lab equipment. He was starting to think that there wasn't any Vero here, when he peeked in a box and found it full of drug vials.

He carried it upstairs. When he neared the men at the door, his steps slowed. Just as one of the men asked if he was alright, Face's eyes rolled back and he collapsed, dropping the box and shattering the contents on the floor. One man ran to Face, checking his pulse and breathing. The others ran to the box, searching through the glass shards inside to see if any of the vials had survived.

Several of the men began swearing. "We were behind on orders already. This bozo just made us lose ten grand!"

"It's not his fault. Poor guy's exhausted."

"Make all the excuses you want for him, you're the one whose going to tell Hank Raymond that a case of Vero was destroyed."

Back at the van, Murdock eagerly tapped the microphone to get Hannibal's attention.

"Did you get it on tape, Captain?"

One tap. Yes.

"Good. Hang tight. We're going after Face."