Murdock breathed deep. Maybe fresh air would help.
He carefully climbed out of the van, holding on to the door with a death grip as he stood on his trembling legs. They remind him of the first time he had seen a newborn calf. How it had tried so hard to stand, only to fall on it's nose again and again. He closed his eyes. That's how he felt, like all he had been doing lately was falling on his nose over and over.
A loud noise echoed through the woods, interrupting Murdock's thoughts. He carefully made his way past a few trees to see what it was. He legs began shaking more as he watched Henry climb out of a trapdoor under a tree.
Henry pulled two boxes out of the hole. He glanced around quickly, then made his way through the woods. The boxes must have fairly heavy, he wasn't able to move very fast. Murdock was thankful for that as he followed, holding on to the trees for support.
Soon, it became obvious where Henry was heading. Murdock tried to think of a plan. He couldn't let Henry get away.
~~AT~~AT~~AT~~AT~~
Henry approached the helicopter. He sat the two boxes down for a second's rest. After selling these two boxes, he would have just enough money to set up the operation again, on a smaller scale, of course. But the profits would build and so would the operation.
Henry was about to put the boxes in the helicopter when his head filled with pain and everything went black.
~~AT~~AT~~AT~~AT~~
Murdock leaned against the branch he had hit Henry with, trying to catch his breath. Looking down at Henry then up at the chopper, Murdock smiled as he got an idea.
~~AT~~AT~~AT~~AT~~
Henry heard a helicopter start up as he came to. Opening his eyes, he realized he was in a helicopter. That's right, he was getting away with the Vero.
He looked beside him, then panicked. Murdock held the controls, grinning wildly. At that moment, Henry remembered Murdock's promise to take him for a ride in a helicopter. He tried to reach for the door handle, but he was tied to the seat with what appeared to be cords from a parachute.
Henry screamed as the chopper left the ground.
~~AT~~AT~~AT~~AT~~
Hannibal let out a sigh of relief as the helicopter went up and over in a loop de loop.
Murdock was flying it.
Hannibal laughed as he turned to go back in the pharmacy. Back inside, BA was locking all twenty men in the janitor's closet. Fortunately for them, it was a large janitor's closet. Face was still laying on the floor trembling and still answering Hannibal's "Are you alright?" question.
Hannibal lit a cigar. "Gentlemen, I think a big step was taken today in getting our captain back."
~~AT~~AT~~AT~~AT
The landing was a hard one. But then again, the flight itself hadn't been that great. Actually, it was horrible. Murdock had never been so stressed while flying. It had been really hard for him to control the chopper with his shaking limbs.
Murdock opened the door and tried to step out. Instead he fell into Hannibal's arms.
"I've got you, Captain."
Hannibal held on to the pilot and smiled at the sight of Henry, who had passed out at some point in the ride. Murdock clung to Hannibal weakly as they walked back to the van.
By the time they got there, BA had gotten Face into his seat. Face had almost succeeded at getting control back. He still shook slightly but had managed to stop talking.
Hannibal helped Murdock climb into the van. Murdock lay down on the floor between the seats, he was too tired to make it to the back seat. Between the walking, the shaking, and pulling Henry into the chopper, he felt like he could drop dead.
Hannibal got in his passenger seat and turned around to check on his boys. Face was smiling at Murdock, who was already softly snoring.
Hannibal grinned at BA as he pulled out his cigar. "I placed a little, informing phone call to the authorities. They'll be hear any minute to pick those guys up. They'll find the tape Murdock recorded, that should put those guys away for quite awhile. Let's get out of here."
"Where to, Hannibal?"
"Let's go back to Face's place. I think we could all use a nice, long beach vacation!"
~~AT~~AT~~AT~~AT~~
They had been driving almost two hours. Hannibal was about to doze off when Face asked, "How did he do it?"
"How did who do what?"
"Murdock. How did he keep from talking when Henry started drugging him? I was trying my hardest, and still kept rattling off the answer to whatever I heard."
"I don't know, Lieutenant. He was protecting his family. A man can do impossible things when he's protecting the ones he loves."
"Or when he's just crazy. Like you was back there."
Face rolled his eyes. "Imagine what I would have been like if I had gotten a higher dose. You'd have two crazy fools to deal with!"
Face and Hannibal laughed so hard at the face BA made that they almost didn't hear the small voice.
"Hann'bal?"
Everything went silent as BA stopped the van and all three men turned to look at Murdock. He looked up at them and asked, his voice weak from disuse, "C-can we s-stop at Hamb-burger Heaven?"
BA answered before Hannibal had a chance to. "Sure, fool. We can stop there."
Murdock smiled and closed his eyes again. "Thanks, b-big guy."
Hannibal smiled at his men. "I love it when a plan comes together!"
A/N: We're not done yet! One more chapter!