Chapter 11

"It was a date, Face."

"It was not."

"He thought it was a date."

"You're nuts, Murdock."

"What are you two arguing about?" Hannibal asked as Face and Murdock joined the colonel and BA for breakfast.

"Face's date with Tom Wright last night." Murdock said, buttering some toast and ignoring Face's glare.

"The guy you 'kidnapped'?" Hannibal said.

"Yeah, I'd promised him I'd meet him before we went home." Face poured himself a cup of tea. "I figure you know, you kidnap a guy and steal his van it’s only polite to buy him a drink."

"Sounds fair." Hannibal agreed.

"And, boy, was he disappointed when I showed up too," Murdock said. "I think he wanted Face all to himself."

"People always look like that when you show up, Murdock, hadn’t you noticed?" Face said. BA giggled his approval of that one. "Look the guy wasn't hitting on me, okay. He was just… English."

"Face it, Faceman, you're just irresistible." Murdock smirked.

"Well, this is true of course." Face sipped his tea, gave a sigh. "It's a heavy burden."

Hannibal smiled, listening to their banter as he finished his breakfast. It was a rather better breakfast than the ones they'd had in the first hotel they'd stayed in. Now the police were involved Hannibal had decided to move somewhere he described as less conspicuous. By which he meant the Hilton Hotel on Park Lane. He justified it by saying there would be lots of Americans and they would just melt into the crowd. Face had suggested he make a sentence out of the following words, 'thumbs', 'sticking' 'sore' 'like' and 'out', but Hannibal wasn't to be persuaded.

After breakfast they checked out, struggled into a taxi with their mountain of luggage and headed out to Finchley. As they arrived at the Stewart's home a man was just leaving. They kept out of sight until he was gone then rang the bell.

"Was that guy police?" Hannibal asked Chris as they went in, piling up their luggage in the hallway.

"No, he was from the bank, the one whose gold you recovered." Chris said. "Come on through." They went into the living room. Jenny and the two children, Jamie and Beth, were staring rather awestruck at a briefcase on the coffee table. The case was filled with neat bundles of bank notes.

"It's the reward," Chris said. "One hundred thousand pounds. He thought it was a little strange that I wanted it in cash, but I said I just wanted to see what it looked like."

"It looks nice." Jenny said, simply.

"Yes, this is one briefcase full of money I have no problem accepting." Chris said. He picked it up and closed it, held it out to Hannibal. "And that I have no problem giving to you, Colonel."

"Chris…" Hannibal said, not taking the case.

"You earned it, all of you." He glanced at the others, lingering for a moment on the healing cuts and bruises that were still visible on Face. "We discussed this, all of us and we all decided the reward is yours." Hannibal looked at Jenny and the two children. All three of them nodded. He took the briefcase and looked at it.

"Fifty, fifty," Hannibal said after a moment. "And that's not an offer or a negotiation, it's what’s going to happen." He put the briefcase back down on the table. "Okay kids, who can count up to fifty thousand?"

Later they had lunch in the garden and afterwards Murdock went to help Jenny wash up.

"Sorry you're leaving today, Murdock," she said as they dried up. "I was just getting used to having you around again."

"I guess we're doomed to be ships that pass in the night."

"Well, maybe it won't be another ten years before I see you again."

"I hope not," Murdock said. "Not with the rate my hairline's receding." He grinned.

"And the rate my waistline is expanding," she said. They both laughed, and then just dried the plates and glasses in silence for a while. Eventually Murdock spoke again.

"I'm glad you did good, Jenny. You deserve it. You got yourself a good man. Couple of lovely kids…" A shrieking from outside made them look out of the window. Jamie was chasing his sister around the garden with a worm he'd just found, with a view to inserting it into the back of her dress. She was expressing her objection to this intention in the manner usually employed by a six-year-old girl. Murdock had heard quieter air raid sirens. Chris yelled at them to knock it off. "Like I said, lovely kids," Murdock repeated, grinning.

"Thanks, Murdock," Jenny said. She went quiet again, and then asked, seriously, "What about you? Do you have somebody? I know you aren't married, but is there someone special for you?"

"Yeah, there is." Murdock said quietly, not looking at her. She waited, but Murdock just turned and gazed out into the garden and didn't say anything else.

When they finished drying up they made some tea and took it out to the garden where the others were sitting enjoying the sunshine and watching the kids playing.

"Oh, Murdock," Chris said, "I was just saying to the guys that if any of you wanted to choose a souvenir from the warehouse then you're very welcome."

Murdock's face lit up and he was about to speak when Hannibal said quickly. "Not the bus, Murdock." Murdock's face fell.

"The police still have that anyway." Chris said.

"Yeah," Face said. "And our fingerprints that they lift from it are eventually going to flag up in the Interpol database and then Decker will be heading over here with his foot in his hand."

"If he ain't here already." BA observed. Face nodded in agreement.

"Don't worry, by the time Decker gets here we'll be long gone." Hannibal promised. He grinned at Chris and Jenny. "You're going to love Decker, I'm sure he'll want to chat to you. Give him plenty of tea and my best regards won't you?"

"We will." Jenny said.

"Talk us up a bit, tell him about how brave, smart and heroic we are." Hannibal said. "He just loves to hear that stuff." He smiled to himself at the thought of how much that would ruin Decker's digestion.

"You say we'll be long gone, but in what?" Face asked. "We lost the jet you know. The company that owns it finally tracked it down to Heathrow and sent someone over to fly it back."

Murdock looked annoyed. "Oh man, I left half a Twix bar in the cockpit, I was looking forward to that."

"Don’t matter anyway, we ain't flying." BA said, emphatically. "I got the money." He patted the briefcase by his side. "I'm taking it to buy us tickets for a boat trip home. In fact I might go right now."

"Oh there's no rush, BA." Hannibal said, relaxing in his chair. "Finish your tea." BA picked up his cup, looked at it, then looked at Hannibal's smirking face.

"Oh no."

Face caught the teacup as it fell from BA's nerveless fingers.

BA was quite surprised to find he wasn't tied up when he awoke. In fact he was lying on a bed in what looked rather like a hotel room. Strangely enough it seemed to be rocking a little, but he blamed that on the way his head was whirling from the effects of the drug. He heard the voices of the rest of the team and wobbling a little BA got off the bed and headed towards the sound. Still only half awake he almost bumped his nose on a set of glass doors that had closed blinds covering them. With an effort he shook off the dizziness, stood up straight and put on his best "you guys are gonna die" frown. Then he threw the doors open.

The rest of the team looked round and cheered in greeting as BA came out of the doors onto the balcony. BA stared around. The room was rocking because they were in the middle of the ocean. Blue sea stretched to the horizon. Hannibal, Face and Murdock were sitting around a table, drinking champagne.

"What the heck?" BA said.

"Well, BA," Hannibal explained, "We discussed it and decided that since we all enjoy breathing and having all our limbs intact we would go with your boat trip idea after all. So…" he passed BA a brochure listing all the facilities they were about to spend the next two weeks enjoying. "Welcome to the QE2."

"Aliens, Murdock?"

"Yeah."

"You're claiming that's where you've been for the past three weeks?" Dr Richter said. "That you were abducted by aliens."

"I don't know if I'd call it 'abducted'." Murdock stretched on the couch, put his hands behind his head. "More like an invite to just hang with them for a while, you know. Little grey guys they were, real friendly, strictly no probing. Well, except between consenting adults."

"Is that were you got the tan?" Richter asked.

"They had a solarium."

"Really? And a lounge and an all-you-can-eat buffet?"

"Huh?"

"You look very well, Murdock." Richter told him.

"Why thank you, doc, you're looking pretty sexy yourself. You been working out?" Murdock grinned.

"I mean you look tanned, rested and you've put on a little weight. Almost as if you'd been on a cruise."

"A cruise?" Murdock laughed heartily. "I swear, doc, sometimes I think you're crazier than I am."

"So do you want to tell me about the parking meter, Murdock? The one that has mysteriously appeared in your room? The one with 'Property of Greater London Council' stamped on it?"

"Yeah, how about that?" Murdock sounded baffled. "I guess the aliens returned it to the wrong place. It's really handy for hanging my jacket on."

"Ah, the aliens of course."

"Such fun little guys, real party animals. Been monitoring our TV signals for years you know. They worship Lucille Ball as a goddess. Now, I know what you're thinking," Murdock held up a hand. "Who doesn't worship Lucille Ball as a goddess?"

Murdock wasn't even listening to himself any more. He could spout this stuff all day without apparent conscious effort. Richter had a look of concentration on his face as he listened out for the occasional nugget of sense that Murdock liked to drop in to keep him interested. Murdock made himself more comfortable on the couch.

It was fun to go away, but it was always good to be home.

The End