Another
thunderclap crashed overhead and Face woke with a start for at least the fifth
time that night. He stretched as
best he could in the cramped confines of the van's driver seat and looked round
to see if anyone else had woken.
There
was no sound from the back so he assumed Hannibal and B.A. were still sleeping.
He glanced across the van to where Murdock was curled up on the seat,
arms wrapped around his head and his long legs drawn up close to his body.
He was twitching slightly but seemed to be sound asleep.
Face
sighed and fidgeted trying to arrange himself in some position where he could
actually get some real sleep.
"Is
it raining?"
Face
nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden soft voice.
"Jeez,
Murdock, you scared me half to death. I
thought you were asleep. Yes, it's
raining. Pouring down
actually."
"Thought
it was me."
"No."
Face frowned. Murdock had not moved from the tight ball he'd curled into
and there was something unsettling about his unusually quiet tone of voice.
"Are
you all right?"
"I
was dreaming."
"Nightmares?"
Murdock
nodded slowly, uncurling enough to stare out at the darkness through the van
window.
Face
watched him quietly, waiting to see if he'd talk about it.
It wasn't the first time he'd suffered from bad dreams.
They'd all had their share of nightmares after the war and each had found
their own way of dealing with them to some degree or another.
With his erratic mental state, Murdock had mostly had limited success and
frequently woke in frightened confusion or outright panic, relieving ten year
old horrors.
"I
don't like the rain."
"I
don't think anyone particularly likes the rain, Murdock."
"I
used to. When I was a little kid.
We didn't get that much of it and when we did I'd run outside in it.
Right away from the house and everybody 'til all you could hear or see
was the rain. It was like being in
a different world. Quieter.
Even when the rain was really loud.
Like magic." He smiled
faintly. "It drove my mom
nuts. She'd stand on the doorstep
with her coat over her head, yelling for me to come back in.
She'd act like she was really mad at me for going and getting wet again,
but she'd always have warm towels ready when I did come in."
He
stopped again and turned his head to look at Face.
"I
can't remember anything I did last week at the hospital but I can remember every
last detail about those towels. The
way the colour was faded in places because they were so old and the way they
were sort of soft and scratchy at the same time.
The way they smelt when they were drying.
That's weird isn't it? That's
not how memory's supposed to work."
"I
don't know," Face replied quietly, wishing he had a better answer.
He'd never seen Murdock in quite this mood before and wasn't certain how
to deal with it. He seemed calm
enough but so distant.
"Later—after
my mom died I'd still run outside whenever there was a rainstorm.
I found out that if you stood and watched the rain long enough you sort
of lost track of up and down and ground and sky and it was almost like you could
float up into the air." He
paused for a moment, staring back out of the window.
"Like you could just fly away."
"Is
that when you decided you wanted to be a pilot?" Face asked.
He'd never heard Murdock talk so much about himself before and was
curious. Besides, he figured
talking had to be better than more nightmares.
His
question drew another faint smile.
"Na.
Think I'd wanted that since I was old enough to know what a plane was.
Before that, maybe. My mom
told me I had a tantrum one day when I was three, because of her pet bird. I made her let it go. It
was supposed to fly, not be in a cage."
There
was another long pause.
"I
don't remember my mom having a pet bird. Just
her telling me about it. You'd
think I'd remember that though. Probably
one of those character-defining moments the shrinks go on about.
Memory's weird."
"Yeah."
"Face?"
"Yeah?"
"Where
are we?"
"We're
halfway up a hill in New England. Don't
you remember?"
"Just
checking. Rain's stopped."
"Yes."
Face was surprised he hadn't noticed that himself.
"Morning
soon?"
"Yeah,
just a few more hours."
"Do
me a favour?"
"Sure."
"Wake
me if I start... If I look..."
"If
you look like you're having another nightmare I'll wake you up," Face
promised.
"Thanks,"
Murdock whispered as he rested his head back down on the seat.
Face
watched him for a few moments then stared out of the window and resigned himself
to the fact that pretty much any chance of getting back to sleep was well and
truly gone.
He
wondered what Murdock had been dreaming about.
He could probably guess. Sometimes
it had seemed as though the weather in 'Nam only ever varied between the two
extremes of choking heat and torrential rain.
He sighed and listened to the wind whistle around the van.
++++++++++
"Weather's
coming in," Face commented, looking at the sky.
B.A.
scowled.
"Weather's
already here. Ain't no one gonna be
flying in this."
"He'll
be here." The unassailable
confidence in the Colonel's voice silenced both of them.
"How
far we from the LZ?" B.A asked.
"Should
be a clearing right in front of us."
A few more
steps proved Face right. There was
no sign of the helicopter yet so they settled themselves into the bushes to
wait. The wind whipped the jungle
around them into a sea of thrashing greenery.
Face busied himself checking their supplies, and tried not to think about
how long they'd last if the pick-up didn't happen.
B.A.
muttered something inaudible as the first spots of rain landed and Hannibal put
a hand on his shoulder.
"At
ease, sergeant, Murdock's never missed a pick-up yet. You can bet he's not going to start with us."
As if on cue
the sound of a Huey's rotors sounded over the wind. They watched as it banked into the wind and descended slowly,
bucking against the gusts but landing safely.
"Weeeeeohhhhhh!
It's blowing a good'un tonight!"
Murdock yelled over the wind.
The three of
them smiled through the rain as they sprinted to the helicopter.
Nothing ever seemed to put a dent in the pilot's irrepressible energy.
"Get
your asses in gear and on this bird willya? I think I left the stove on!"
"Go,
Murdock!" Hannibal instructed, almost before he was on board.
Murdock took
one hand off the controls for long enough to give a typically sloppy salute.
"Yes,
sir! Welcome aboard Flight 432:
Storm Chaser. Tonight, points of
interest along our route will feature torrential downpours, gale force winds and
all the turbulence your stomach can handle.
If you look to your left--"
"Shut
up!" B.A. roared from behind him. "You're
crazy!"
"Too
right! Who else but Howlin' Mad
would be out here in this weather?"
Murdock let
out a whoop as, without warning, the helicopter dropped several feet then
lurched violently to the left.
B.A. leaned,
back and closed his eyes as Murdock murmured sweet nothings to the controls.
"We gonna die up here."
"Nope.
We'll die when we hit the ground after crashing
from up here."
"I said
shut up!"
Surprisingly
Murdock obeyed, but probably only due to the fact that all his concentration was
now focused on flying. He leaned
into the controls as though he could stabilise the tossing craft by force of
will.
++++++++++
Face
woke with a start, surprised that he had dozed off after all.
Feeling slightly guilty, he checked on Murdock who was snoring quietly,
apparently untroubled by dreams this time.
The
rain had started again and Face pulled his jacket more tightly around himself.
He'd always been good at putting aside the memories stirred up by the
occasional bad dreams but it was a lot easier when you were in a warm, lit house
instead of out in the middle of nowhere in the dark.
++++++++++
The first
crack of thunder was accompanied by a fork of lightening which lit up the sky
around them. Murdock shrieked back
at it as everyone else gripped their seats in grim silence.
As the light
died away, the heavens opened and torrential rain cut forward visibility to
zero.
Murdock
hissed through his teeth.
"Hey,
any of you guys play blind man's bluff as kids?"
"Murdock,
this really isn't the time for games," Hannibal replied.
"No
game. We have to put down 'til this
passes or they're going to be finding the pieces for months."
He took the
helicopter down until they were skimming above the canopy, almost brushing the
trees. Face glimpse the clearing a
moment before Murdock banked right to head for it.
"I
regret to inform our passengers that we will be making an unscheduled detour.
Please take this opportunity to enjoy the attractive arboreal scenery as
we--" A loud crash and the
sudden whistle of wind past his face cut Murdock's sentence short.
"Woah! That wasn't
thunder! Somebody's shooting at
us!"
Face clung
even tighter to his seat as the helicopter spun away from the obviously occupied
clearing. Further gunfire followed
them though it was partially drowned out by the sound of tearing metal and the
shriek of the wind through the damaged craft.
"Get us
down, Murdock!" Hannibal ordered.
"Whole!"
B.A. added fiercely. "You get
us down whole."
"Just
buckle yourselves in and hold on!" Murdock yelled back.
Through the
wind and rain and clamour it was almost impossible to tell whether their descent
was controlled or not. Murdock was
silent again which they all recognised as a bad sign and the ground rushed
towards them at what was surely an unsurvivable speed.
At the last possible moment, Murdock pulled up and they skimmed a few
feet above the ground before hitting it. Hard.
A few seconds of stunned silence followed, broken only by the sound of
the wind and rain.
Face
gathered his wits quickly, surprised to find himself unharmed except for a few
scratches. He looked around quickly
and heard Hannibal's calm voice ordering, "Report."
B.A. was the
first to respond and it was more a question than an answer.
"We're alive?"
Face gave an
incredulous laugh.
"We
should not have survived that. Someone
likes us." He raised his
voice. "Murdock, you are one,
crazy, brilliant--" He stopped
short when there was no flippant answer forthcoming.
"Murdock?"
"Captain
Murdock, report," Hannibal ordered.
The voice
that answered was faint and sounded dazed.
"Here.
'M fine. Jus' a bit... tangled up..."
"Tangled..."
"Yeah,
the front of this poor bird got a bit crunched when we hit the deck."
The three of
them unbuckled themselves and moved towards the cockpit. They could hear Murdock still murmuring, apparently to the
helicopter this time.
"Sorry,
lady. There was really no dainty
way to do that."
"Murdock?"
Face saw him first and was unable to restrain a horrified cry.
"Oh God."
As Murdock
had told them, the front of the helicopter was indeed crumpled, the cockpit was
little more than twisted debris and caught in the midst of the destruction
Murdock was slumped limply in his seat, his legs caught in the torn and tangled
metal. Blood glittered on the torn
surfaces and darkened the fabric of his flightsuit but he looked up and gave
them a dazed smile.
"Next
time, I get to sit in the back with you guys, okay?"
How the hell
can the man still be making jokes, Face
wondered.
Suddenly
shouts became audible over the sound of the weather and it became clear just how
much trouble they were in.
"We
need to get out of here." Hannibal
calmly handed out orders. "B.A,
see if you can untangle our pilot here. Face,
get the first aid kit from the back. We'll
need to do some patching up en route. Murdock," The pilot looked up at him quizzically.
"You just stay put."
"Can
do, Colonel, sir."
Face found
the familiar wry humour of his teammates comforting even with the enemy closing
about them and he allowed himself to feel some optimism for the first time since
they'd come under fire. He ran for
the first aid kit and returned just as B.A. was lifting a very pale Murdock from
the wreckage.
"Going
to carry me over the threshold, sweetheart?" Murdock mumbled.
"Shut
up fool, or you can stay here," B.A. growled, but in spite of the gruff
tone he held Murdock cradled safely in his arms.
"All
right," Hannibal barked. "We're
going to head north into the thicker cover.
B.A, if me and Face take care of our friends out there, can you carry
Murdock?"
"Yeah,
if he don't keep jabberin'."
Hannibal
smiled.
"Face,
you're with me. Let's see if we can
make ourselves some room to manoeuvre out there."
"Got
it."
"Colonel."
Murdock reached out to grab his arm.
"What is it, Murdock? We need
to make a move here."
"I know that. But you three...
You should just go. A grounded
pilot who can't even run away from the enemy isn't going to be much use."
"We
don't leave people behind."
Murdock
protested but Hannibal cut him off with a wave.
"It's
not open for debate. B.A, Face,
let's move."
++++++++++
Reluctantly,
Face found himself wondering whether it would have made any difference if they'd
just run for it. He instantly
despised himself for even considering it. Probably
wouldn't have made any difference anyway, he told himself.
They'd been hopelessly outnumbered.
He
looked down at Murdock still curled on the seat. His eyelids were fluttering slightly and he made a small
noise in the back of his throat. Face
moved to touch his arm to rouse him but Murdock gave a little sigh and relaxed
again.
Great.
He's sleeping like a baby and I'm having his share of the nightmares. He felt guilty again for
the thought. He could hardly
begrudge Murdock a good night's sleep.
He'd
had had it worst even back then and they'd never figured out why their captors
had singled him out. Perhaps it was
because he was already injured and vulnerable, or they saw him as an easier
target because he wasn't Special Forces like the rest of them.
B.A. had offered the opinion, and Face was inclined to agree, that he had
simple frustrated them. Most people
screamed and sobbed and begged. Murdock
simply babbled deliriously, or sang long and usually obscene songs or swore at
his tormentors in assorted languages, some of which Face was convinced he'd made
up on the spot.
The
problem was, that as the months dragged on, what had started as a defence
mechanism had increasingly consumed him. The
man they knew as H.M. Murdock was lost among the varied facades he presented to
their captors.
'Disassociative
Personality Disorder' the psychiatrists would later diagnose it as, but trapped
out in the camp it simply seemed as though their friend had crawled inside his
own head to hide.
++++++++++
"He's
getting worse." Face kept his
voice at an emphatic whisper, trying to avoid waking the subject of their
discussion who was curled at his side, having finally fallen into a restless
doze. "He doesn't know where
he is half the time. He barely
knows who he is."
"He's
losin' it," B.A. said bluntly. "They
gonna break him."
Hannibal
sighed. "By the time that
happens, he's not going to be able to remember anything of value to them."
"Then
they'll kill him."
Hannibal
shook his head resolutely.
"We'll
be out of here before that happens."
"And
how we gonna do that?" B.A. asked.
"Haven't
you noticed the activity here lately? When
we crashed, this was an unknown base. We
found it by accident. There were
one or two vehicles here, a handful of soldiers. All right, there were enough to outnumber us, but not nearly
as many as are here now. They've
even got a helicopter coming in and out. Not
so easy to keep an eye on all of that."
Even Face
shook his head doubtfully. "Even
if we can get hold of the helicopter, who's going to fly it."
He gestured at the sleeping pilot. "Him?
He doesn't even know his name some days. He can't fly like that."
"I can
always fly." Murdock was
apparently not asleep after all. His
voice was faint but he seemed more lucid than he'd been in days. "Get me in a chopper and I'll fly it."
Hannibal
leaned over and squeezed his shoulder. "You're
the best pilot I've ever met, Captain Murdock.
I believe you could fly us out of here in your sleep.
All we need to do is get you a bird."
"Sure
thing. I'll like one of those pure-dee
green ones please." Murdock smiled broadly and for a few moments before he
fell back asleep, he seemed himself again.
Face looked
at Hannibal.
"You
don't really believe we can steal a chopper and just fly out of here, do
you?"
"Honestly?
I think it's unlikely. But
we need to keep focused on something."
He pointed at Murdock who was sleeping silently with a faint smile on his
lips. "He
needs to keep focused on something."
The harsh
morning light struck the camp and Face's first thought was that it had finally
stopped raining. His second was to
realise that it was not the light which had woken him but Murdock muttering
fervently to himself.
"Don't
lose it. Hold it together.
They're not going to let you up in the sky if you lose it, friend."
He broke off
when he noticed Face was awake and his voice changed to a breezy, conversational
tone.
"Good
morning, Faceyman. And did you get
a comfortable night in these beautiful scenic quarters?"
Face smiled
at him in surprise. Hannibal
clearly had a point. With the
thought of an escape plan in motion, Murdock had managed to pull himself
together somewhat.
"I had
a lovely night, Murdock. But you're
not going to have such a good morning if you wake B.A."
"But
it's such a glorious sunny day, I would never forgive myself if I let him miss
it!"
He leaned
over to where B.A. and Hannibal were still sleeping and made a shrill impression
of an alarm clock.
"This
is your early morning waaaake up call! It's
I-don't-really-know-what-time in the morning and the sun is shining!"
B.A. shot
bolt upright and narrowly missed grabbing Murdock by the neck when the pilot
scooted back over to his own side of the cage.
"You
crazy fool! You ever wake me like
that again and I'll..." He left the threat hanging.
Hannibal sat
up more slowly, looking unruffled by the early hour.
"Good
morning, Captain. You're in fine
spirits today."
Murdock
shrugged and gave him a slightly manic grin.
"What's not to like? Such
a lovely spot, such fine accommodation and it's B.A.'s turn to cook
breakfast!"
Face glanced
nervously across the camp at the pacing soldiers. While Murdock's high spirits were preferable to the near
catatonia of the past few days, they were drawing unwelcome attention.
"Pipe
down a bit can you, Murdock?"
"Huh?
Sure. Anything for you,
Faceman!" Murdock declared in a marginally quieter tone.
It was too
late though and two of the men were already heading towards them.
Murdock followed Face's line of sight and seemed to shrink.
He scuttled
to the far side of the cage, cringing against the bars, all his temporary
elation lost.
"Don't
let them take me. Please.
Don't let them. I can't..."
Face moved
over to comfort him and Murdock grabbed his jacket, twisting his fingers into
the material.
"Please
don't let them hurt me. No more.
Promise me. Please."
Face felt
his insides twist.
"I
can't, Murdock. You just have to
hold on."
"I can't!
I can't do this anymore. It
hurts and I get confused and I can't always find myself again afterwards.
I can't hold on any more. I
can't."
B.A. came
over to join him.
"Yes.
You can. You crazy, man.
But you still stronger than they are."
Murdock
shook his head and B.A. grabbed him by both shoulders and repeated himself
emphatically.
"Yes. You are."
"It's
not for much longer, Murdock," Hannibal stepped in with his support.
"Just think about that pretty green chopper we're going to get you.
You'd better starting planning our course home 'cause we're out of here
just as soon as Face gets his hands on it.
And you know he can always get his hands on anything."
Murdock
looked from one to the other of them and grinned through chattering teeth.
"'Kay,"
he whispered. "But Faceman you
just better get the right colour because I'm ready to fly."
The soldiers
were at the bars now.
"We'll
see if he talks as loudly to us, shall we?" one of them sneered.
Murdock was
shivering violently, but didn't protest as they reached in and dragged him out
and Face could hear him murmuring to himself.
"Fly,
fly away..."
By the time
soldiers had hauled him a few yards away, the usual morning sounds of the camp
were interrupted by the incongruous sound of Murdock belting out a Frank Sinatra
song at the top of his lungs.
"Come
fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away..."
++++++++++
Murdock
shuddered suddenly and woke just as Face reached over to shake his shoulder.
"Face?"
"Still
here, Murdock."
"Where
are we?"
"New
England." Face frowned in
concern. "Murdock, I told you
that already."
"Oh,
yeah. Sorry. Sometimes I get confused.
Forget things."
"That's
all right. Don't worry about
it."
"It's
the weather. Everywhere looks the
same in the rain and the dark. Wind's
picking up too."
He
shivered.
"Are
you cold?" Face asked.
"I think there's another blanket under the seat."
"Not
that cold. Summertime isn't
it?"
Face
nodded. "Just a freak, summer
thunderstorm."
"In
New England," Murdock repeated, as though trying to fix it in his mind.
"What time is it?"
"Almost
four."
"I
wish the rain would stop."
"Yeah,
me too."
++++++++++
The rain had
returned and night had fallen before the guards dragged Murdock back.
B.A. caught him as the guards shoved him through.
His eyes were open but unfocused and his lips moved soundlessly as B.A.
carefully laid him on the ground. B.A.
settled him as comfortably as he could then looked up at Hannibal, an almost
accusing expression on his face.
"I told
you, they'd take it out of his hide if he went on like that."
"He'll
be all right."
"No!
He won't be all right! He isn't
all right! Look at him!
They did that to him 'cause you
went and got
his hopes up. All that talk about
gettin' out of here. He ain't
gettin' out of here! None of us
are."
B.A. finished his tirade and slumped back against the bars. Murdock shifted his head slightly to stare out at the rain.
"I
know my responsibilities to this team, B.A.," Hannibal said quietly.
"This was a special assignment.
We could have had any pilot I asked for.
I asked for Murdock. So
don't think I don't understand how my decisions on this mission have affected
him."
B.A. fell
silent.
"And we
are going to get out of here," Hannibal continued firmly.
Murdock stirred and rolled over.
"You
asked for me, 'specially?" he whispered.
"Yes I
did."
"'M
sorry." He sounded dazed and
Hannibal looked puzzled.
"Sorry? What for?"
"Crashed,
didn't I?" Murdock gave a
choked laugh. "And after I
spent all day dodging everyone so they couldn't tell me the pick-up had been
scrapped too."
"Scrapped?"
"'Cause
of the weather. Already lost one
team, no point losing a chopper and crew as well, they said. That's what I heard anyway.
But they couldn't find me to tell me that."
"But
surely when you went to sign out the chopper...?"
"Think
I'm nuts don't they? By time they
realised what I was doing I was already in the air.
I just didn't hear them telling me I wasn't s'posed to go."
Even in his
current state the look of fake innocence on Murdock's face was irresistibly
comic.
"Captain
Murdock, are you telling me that you disobeyed orders, snuck off base and stole
a helicopter to come and retrieve us?" Hannibal asked sounding as though he
was barely suppressing laughter.
"Uh,
yeah," Murdock admitted, then frowned.
"I didn't mean to tell you that.
Hard to keep my head straight."
His eyes slid away from their faces and went back to staring at the
sheets of rain.
"I can
see me out there. Looking at me.
Can't you see the way the rain makes a mirror?
I can't tell which reflection is me though."
Hannibal
frowned at this and shook Murdock's shoulder.
"Murdock.
Stay with us. We're still getting out of here.
We still need you to fly."
"Anytime,"
Murdock whispered before slipping into unconsciousness.
++++++++++
"Still
with me, Murdock?" Face asked. Murdock
blinked and tore his gaze away from the rain running down the window.
"Still
here. What time is it now?"
Face
checked. "4.15"
"Is
that all? Faceman, don't tease.
What time is it really?"
"Murdock,
it really is 4.15."
Murdock
stared back out of the window.
"Feels
like we've been here for hours. What
time is it?"
Face
sighed.
"4.15."
"Oh.
Yeah, you said."
Twice,
Face thought but didn't correct him.
"Just
try to relax okay? We'll be out of
here as soon as it's light."
"'Kay.
Wish I could have brought Billy along."
"I
don't think he'd be very happy stuck in the van."
"Well
neither am I. We could have kept
each other company."
"Hey,"
Face jokingly protested. "Aren't
I keeping you company?"
"Oh,
sure. Sorry. I do miss Billy though."
++++++++++
"He was
talkin' to that damn imaginary dog last night."
"He's
getting worse again," Face agreed.
Hannibal
frowned then pointed across the camp.
"They're
coming back."
"Something
must have happened. They can't have
had him an hour yet. Usually takes
longer that that before he even stops telling them nursery rhymes."
All three of
them watched in concern as two guards hauled Murdock along.
Unusually, he was conscious enough to be staggering between them instead
of being dragged, and he sounded as though he was giggling.
The guards
shoved him into the cage and hurried off.
"What's
going on?" Hannibal wondered aloud, watched the guards hurry across the
camp.
"Murdock?"
Face was trying to get some sense from the pilot who was still laughing.
A choking, painful sounding giggle, mixed with gasping almost incoherent
words.
"I
heard what I wasn't supposed to hear they didn't know I could hear, didn't know
I could understand. They're tearing
strips off each other in there for letting me hear."
"Hear
what, Murdock?" Hannibal asked urgently.
"I know
a secret. Wasn't supposed to know,
no, no. Shhhhh secret secret.
Soldiers don't know. Prisoners
don't know. Only crazy Murdock
knows." He spoke in an odd
sing-song voice then started giggling again.
Hannibal
caught him by both shoulders and shook him gently.
"Murdock.
Listen to me. What did you overhear?"
"Secret."
B.A. shook
his head.
"He
didn't hear nothin'. Just crazy
talk."
"They
did bring him back early," Face pointed out.
"Something happened." He
leaned in next to Hannibal. "Come
on, Murdock, talk to us."
"It
could be important. It could help
us get out of here. This is not the
time to lose it, Captain." Hannibal said in a no-nonsense tone that made
Murdock shake his head slightly as though struggling to focus.
He blinked at him several times before speaking.
"You
said we were getting out of here. Said
we'd have a chopper. You
promised."
"We
will get out of here. First, you
need to tell us what you overheard."
"Can
Billy-dog come with us?"
"Of
course. Now come on, let us in on
this secret."
Murdock
nodded and adopted a conspiratorial tone.
"Heard
them talking, two of them, probably thought I was still out or couldn't
understand or wasn't listening but they talked like I wasn't there.
One asked when they were out of here.
Said it was about time anyway, said the camp was too big, too visible.
Been seeing too many of our Hueys going over."
Hannibal
looked at the other two then back at Murdock.
"Murdock,
did they say when they were
leaving?"
"Soon,
soon. Days. But then the Chao came in and he tore them out for talking in
front of me so I don't know if that's still the plan."
"If
they need to move, then they need to move, whether or not a few prisoners know
about it," Hannibal said confidently.
"This could be the ideal distraction."
"Or the
ideal way to get ourselves killed," B.A. muttered.
Hannibal
gave him a broad smile.
"Not
us!"
++++++++++
A
crash of thunder made Murdock jerk upright, suddenly rigid with fear.
"Woah."
Face caught his arm. "Take
it easy. Still just weather."
Murdock
flopped back into his seat, shivering.
"Just
weather," he repeated.
++++++++++
"This
weather isn't going to have helped," Face commented. The rain had let up after two solid days of downpour and the
ground was a mudding skating rink.
Hannibal
looked out at the chaos engulfing the camp.
"It's
not going to help them anymore than us though."
Beside them,
Murdock stirred and woke, immediately resuming the hacking cough that had torn
at him since yesterday. He murmured
feverishly and Face helped him to sit up and drink some water. If any of them had doubts about his fitness to fly they kept
them to themselves.
Hannibal
nodded in the direction of the approaching guard.
"Here we go."
"The
guard stopped outside the cage and grunted at them.
"You.
Out."
They
shuffled out. B.A. looped his arm
around Murdock to support him when he staggered.
"Ready
to go?" Hannibal asked and got two nods and a dazed shrug in return.
The guard
barely had time to look startled before he found himself on the ground.
Hannibal snatched his weapon and looked around to see how many people had
noticed the brief struggle. Apparently
in the chaos, no one had.
"Right,
get to cover." He gestured
towards the treeline. "We'll
work round the edge of the camp to the landing area."
They ran
towards to the trees, Murdock managing only a few steps before B.A. tossed him
over his shoulder.
Moments
before they reached cover, the sound of strafing fire made them hurl themselves
to the ground.
"That came from the air," Murdock gasped as he tried to move from
where he had landed on top of B.A.
"He's
right," Hannibal said, twisting his head to look.
"That's one of ours."
"Yeah
but do they know we're some of theirs?" Face asked as a second round hit
the dirt near their feet.
"Get to
the trees. They can't tell friend
from enemy from up there," Hannibal ordered.
They
scrambled along the ground until they were a few feet into the underbrush and
lay panting.
The camp
personnel fell or scattered into the jungle as the buildings blew apart and the
vehicles on the ground burst into flames. It
didn't take long. The attack had
been so sudden and effective that any warning had obviously been useless.
Once some
level of order was starting to return to the clearing, Hannibal picked himself
up.
"Come
on then. Looks like we're getting a
ride home."
He strode
out into the clearing with Face and B.A. supporting Murdock between them, close
behind him. He cast around trying
to catch someone's attention.
"Lieutenant!"
he finally snapped at a harried looking young pilot standing beside his
just-landed helicopter. The man
grabbed for his weapon and Hannibal raised his hands placatingly.
"Colonel
John Smith," he introduced himself. "My
team and I have been prisoners here since we went down about two klicks
away..." He hesitated over the
date but continued, "Some months ago. My pilot needs medical help.
We need a ride home."
The officer
stared straight past him.
"Holy
God is that Murdock?"
Murdock
looked up groggily at the sound of his name.
"Jeez,
man. We was sure you were dead.
The weather you went up in…"
"Chance?"
"Yeah,
it's me." The lieutenant
stepped forward but Hannibal caught his arm.
"We
need to get him back to base now. He's
been badly injured. Can you catch
up on the chat later?"
"Oh
sorry, of course." The young
pilot looked sheepish. "I'll
call in and get permission right away. They
can send another bird out here, I'll take you home myself."
Hannibal
grinned at his team and gestured at the helicopter.
"All
aboard." He clapped Murdock on
the shoulder as they passed. "We
got ourselves a ride."
"Aww I
wanted to fly." Murdock
staggered sideways causing B.A. to make a grab to stop him falling to the
ground.
"You
ain't flyin' nowhere 'til you can walk, fool."
"Oh.
Well I s'pose tha's reasonable," Murdock slurred before passing out
entirely.
They lifted
him into the helicopter and climbed in after him, slumping to the deck.
Their short rations and close confinement hadn't allowed for much
exercise and the exertion of the day had exhausted them all.
"Okay.
We're cleared. You ready to get out of here, Colonel?" the lieutenant
called from the front of the helicopter.
Hannibal
smiled.
"Take
us home."
Murdock
roused as the engines started and a shiver ran through him.
He rolled over until he was lying on the deck with the side of his face
and both hands pressed against the metal. As
the helicopter lifted, he let out a rising yell, in tune with the increasing
tone of the engines.
"Wooooooaaaaaaahhhhhahaha…"
He broke off into a loud, mad, delighted laugh. "Goooooing up!"
"Still
got that take-off buzz, huh?" came an amused voice from the cockpit.
"Always!"
Murdock yelled.
++++++++++
Murdock
was leaning back in the seat with his eyes closed, but Face suspected he hadn't
gone back to sleep. His breathing
was too regular, too controlled. Face
watched him for a few moments then looked up out of the windshield of the van
and smiled suddenly.
"Hey,
Murdock. Look.
The sun is coming up."
Murdock
blinked and opened his eyes.
"Ooohhh
pure-dee."
He
tipped his head to one side, wide eyed as a child, and watched the pink and
yellow light turn the dispersing thunderclouds into a colourful spectacle.
He
turned to Face and grinned broadly.
"You
know, it's going to be a perfect day for flying!"