Title: Not Today
Author: Hayley May
Rating: G
Warning: none
Summary: Addition to the episode "Curtain
Call". Why Decker let the team get away so easily and why he went to see
Murdock at the VA.
Disclaimer: I don't own them
Archive: Yes please
Comments/Comment card: yes to both
Author's Notes: Thanks to Maestro for beta-ing this piece.
Not Today
by Hayley
May
*-*-*
The familiar black van he had cursed so often roared away suddenly and
disappeared in a cloud of dust. He just stood there and watched it go, not
bothering to attempt a futile chase. Although their tyres
had been shot out
there were still other options he could have taken. The valley was still
practically sealed off, a few calls and the A-Team's fugitive status would be
history.
"Do you want me to call the other squads, sir?"
Decker turned but put up a hand to dismiss Crane's suggestion.
"That won't be necessary, Captain."
"Sir?"
Although a good officer, Crane could be a little slow at times and his mind had
a habit of working only two dimensionally. Decker's mind at the moment was
beginning to see the full picture. Despite appearances, it wasn't the
ease with which the Team had escaped once more that was worrying him the most;
it was the extent of bullet wound on their injured team member.
"Captain, they've got an injured team member who needs immediate medical
attention."
"So you're just letting them go then, sir?"
Yes and no.
"I don't want to be held responsible for the death of an A-Team member,
Captain. If Peck dies on their time, it's their problem. If he survives, then
the chase starts all over again."
Not that he believed that Peck was the man down. No, something was not adding
up quite right and he was beginning to see where.
Two hours later and his hypothesis was proven correct.
Their missing soldier was found, albeit without his uniform. He swore it was
Peck who had knocked him out although admittedly he hadn't had too close of a
look. It was enough for Decker though, proof that the injured Team member had
not been Peck and more justification why he had let that van go.
They were even, now.
Two weeks later, he walked into Westwood's VA Hospital. Captain HM Murdock, it
appeared, had just signed back in. Apparently he had been out donating a kidney
to a sick family member, although no one really believed his story.
So they stuck him in a straight jacket just in case he tried anything. Decker
was certain he wouldn't, but said nothing. Murdock only went AWOL when the Team
needed him for something. It hadn't been that hard to figure out who the secret
fourth member of the A-Team was. They had descriptions that matched the Captain
right down to the words on the back of his familiar flight jacket. Anyone else
might have moved in on the pilot and used him as bait, but Decker wasn't going
to do that. So he just sat and listened to the Captain's pointless endless
chatter and remembered.
It had been 1968 in the
The radio was dead, blown to pieces by a shell in the first wave of attack.
They had no means of calling for help or any hope of getting support. They were
on their own.
Closing his eyes, he had prayed like he had never prayed before, fingering the
crucifix he wore around his neck. He hadn't thought the action would come to
much, but he had been wrong.
At first he had thought it had only been his imagination, but the deep rumble
seemed to come closer, joined by a much higher pitched whine. His conscious men
were staring wide-eyed up into the sky and there it came, their salvation
piloted by one of the cockiest teenagers ever to wear army wings.
One minute they were on the ground, the next the Lieutenant was easing them
back into the air. Breathing a sigh of relief it took him a few moments before
he became aware of the foolish stunts the pilot was putting them through.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Lieutenant?" he shouted
over the noise of the roaring engines and the shrill whine of the machine guns
below them. The only response he got was a huge grin and a sudden jerk to the
left. "LIEUTENANT!"
"Sorry sir," came the far too
cheerful reply, "but I'm just trying to save your life. If you don't like
the service I suggest next time you don't fly Howlin'
Mad airlines. Now, please buckle seatbelts and set tray in upright position, we
are about to experience some turbulence."
Turbulence was an understatement. It was a miracle that they even made it back
to the base at all, let alone relatively in one piece. When they landed he went
straight to the infirmary with his men and never saw the pilot again.
Later, at the debriefing, the truth came out. One of the other units had
radioed the attack, but with no word from their unit the senior officers were
not sure if anyone had survived. No one had wanted to risk flying the mission
since it was practically suicidal, no one but one bold and cocky Lieutenant who
had volunteered almost immediately. It was more then a miracle that they had
gotten back alive. The Huey used was a wreck; it was only the Lieutenant's
skill that had kept it in the air.
At the end he asked who the pilot had been so he could thank him in person.
Lieutenant HM Murdock.
He never forgot the name, but never got a chance to thank him.
Decades later he sadly watched the man now perched beside him. Whether or not
he was as insane as the hospital claimed, the now older Decker knew that one
thing was certain; this wasn't the same youth who had rescued them in
that chopper barely able to fly in a straight line. War had taken its toll on
all of them, but it especially showed on the Captain.
"It would be in your best interest to help me find Smith and the others,
son," he tried softly, watching the pilot closely. "Sometimes they
come in here to break you out."
Brown eyes started back at him, a smile creeping onto the face, then a laugh,
before becoming serious once again.
"Lies," came the reply. "Lies.
Unproven half-truths. Dastardly rumours.
See it's them. It's them. They are after me. Mmm-hmm. There they are
right now. Look, crawling up my leg."
Decker listened but knew it was no good. Murdock was as loyal to his unit now
as he had been in '
"Oh don't go, please don't go. I need you. I need you, Colonel."
Knowing that he had made the right decision, Decker got in his car and drove
away. It was Smith he wanted and he would get Smith, one day, but not today. not today.
*-*-*
The End