There were three women in the Officer’s Club, and they were all sitting at the kid’s table. Murdock made his way over there.
The women were laughing when Murdock got to the table. All four of them looked up at him. Face’s eyes were very bright. With alcohol? Or had the doc given him something for his back?
Face gestured at an empty chair and Murdock sank down into it.
God he was tired. This day just kept going on, somehow. And every time he got anywhere near his bunk, somebody had something else for him to do.
Face raised a handful of fingers toward the bartender. Then he tipped back in his chair, smiled slowly, and looked straight into Murdock’s eyes. "So," he drawled softly, "What’s a nice boy like you doin’ in a place like this?"
The women giggled, but Murdock had a hard time dragging his eyes away from the kid’s. He tried to swallow, but his throat felt kind of tight all of a sudden. What the hell kind of question was that?
One of the nurses smacked Face in the arm with her fist. "Hey, Romeo," she said. "You going to introduce us to your friend?"
Face’s smile broadened, but his eyes still held Murdock’s. "Ladies, meet Howlin’ Mad Murdock, the best pilot in Vietnam."
Something sad scittered across Face’s eyes, then, and he dropped his gaze.
"I looked for you over in the med tent." Murdock wasn’t sure why, but he wanted Face to look at him again. With those clear blue eyes that said true things while the rest of him was lying. "They found your chart and it said you’d been discharged. Couldn’t read the signature, there, though."
"Yeah, well, you know doctors. They all have terrible handwriting. Don’t they?"
The woman beside him nodded. When the bartender came over with a tray of beer, Face handed the glasses around carefully. Each of the women got a smile of her very own. Murdock saw that he touched each of their hands as he passed them their drinks.
Murdock pulled out a cigarette.
He patted his pockets looking for matches. He got matches every time he got cigarettes, but he never had any matches. They just disappeared, into the same void as paperclips, forks and safety pins.
Face leaned across the table. Murdock heard the small scratch as he lit his silver lighter. Then Face was holding the flame, protected in his two hands, up to Murdock’s cigarette. Their faces were very close together. Those eyes, blue eyes, were looking into his. There was all kinds of stuff to read there, too much. Too complicated.
He didn’t have any air left in his lungs (was there any in the room at all?), so he breathed in.
Smoke.
Hot smoke.
He didn’t cough, but it was a miracle. He lifted the cigarette away from his lips, hoping for nonchalance.
The women had pulled out cigarettes, now. (Everybody smoked in Vietnam. Almost everybody.) Face lit their cigarettes carefully. (But did they get the look? Did they get complicated?)
Face pointed at the woman to his left. "Captain Murdock, may I introduce Captain Leticia Avery?"
Murdock took the hand she offered and shook it carefully.
"And Lieutenants Carol Hinds and Reese Hart."
Carol Hinds leaned over toward Murdock and pointed at the other two women. "She’s T.C. and that’s Lovey Hart," she said.
Murdock grinned. "Who’re you, really?"
"Carol," she said. "When you’re a Carol, you’re just a Carol. Nothing you can do about it."
Everybody laughed as she shook her brown curls and blew smoke rings in the air. Murdock blew out one of his own, and everybody laughed again when the rings collided.
"Nurses are the best medicine," Face said slyly, winking at Lovey Hart.
Carol scowled at him. "Of all the med tents in all of Vietnam, why’d you have to walk into mine, Peck? You’re nothing but trouble. Smart-assed trouble."
She looked over at Murdock like he was a conspirator, but he’d suddenly remembered what he was supposed to be doing there.
"Hey, muchacho. Speaking of trouble."
Everybody’s face fell a little. That was the problem with Vietnam. You’d be standing around, feelin’ pretty good about things, feelin’ all right, feelin’ just a little bit tipsy, and wham! She’d kick your feet right out from under. Every single fucking time…
Face looked at Murdock again, dead serious now. "I’ll have my gear cleared out by morning."
Murdock shook his head a little to try and reconnect his ears and his brain. He was having trouble making his connections. "What? I mean, we’re going out tomorrow."
Carol turned away a little and Murdock wondered how she stood it, watching people go out every day and come back in pieces. He forced his mind away from that one. Empathy was a dangerous thing, here. He was finding that out fast.
Face looked a little angry, now. Murdock wished he could figure out what the hell was going on.
"You want me to pick it up tonight?"
A couple guys came over to the table. Grunts, but a different division. Murdock didn’t know them. They smelled of whiskey.
"You got too many girls over here, mate. Doncha know you’re s’posed to share?"
The heavy set guy, who was built pretty much like a tank, leered over at little Lovey Hart, who seemed, suddenly, to be glad she was boxed in between Face and the wall, on the far side of the table.
Face spread his arms widely, graciously, smiling at the men. "We don’t have them handcuffed to the table," he said, tilting his head up a little, catching the heavy set guy’s eyes.
The guy’s brows lowered. "Well, okay then." He looked over at Lovey Hart. "Hey, you wanna dance?"
Lovey looked a little wildly at Face and Murdock, then at T.C. and Carol. T.C. and Carol stood up.
Murdock put out his cigarette and shoved back his drink and wondered how many fistfights this goddamned kid (who he didn’t even really like, really) was going to get him into that day.
Lovey stood up too, then Face and Murdock.
T.C. looked down at the heavy set guy. Damn, she was tall. With her glasses, she suddenly looked every bit the Captain in charge. "Sorry, gentlemen. We have an early shift tomorrow, and it’s about time we were heading home."
The heavy set guy opened his mouth.
"You understand, don’t you Lieutenant?" T.C. asked, but it sounded like an order.
Nat King Cole crooned softly on the radio. The heavy set guy breathed out a little. "Yeah. Yeah, sure. Maybe some other time." He looked hopefully over at Lovey, but she was picking up her coat.
As the two men walked away, Face moved over behind T.C. His eyes were twinkling as he helped her into her flack jacket. "I just love a woman in uniform," he breathed in a sultry voice.
They all laughed a little again.
"You sassin’ me, Peck?" T.C. asked.
"I wouldn’t sass her if I was you," Carol said. The two women looked at each other and grinned.
"Just gallantly offering to walk the ladies home." Face bowed slightly, then offered his arms to T.C. and Lovey Hart.
Carol grabbed onto Murdock. "Come on, Flyboy."
Murdock bowed deeply, plucked one of the plastic flowers from the vase on the table, and presented it to Carol. They walked out of the Officer’s Club hand in hand.
It was nice, walking. Vietnam could almost be Texas, if you squinted your eyes a little. They both had stars.
Carol held his elbow firmly as they made their way across camp. Murdock liked her. But he kept listening for the voice ahead of him, now sultry, now teasing, now cocky as hell. He kept wondering why Face was going to clean out his gear. (Was he leaving? Why did that thought worry him so?) He kept trying to figure out what he’d seen in those blue and complicated eyes.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
They escorted the three women to the door of their hutch. Several feminine hoots and hollers rose from inside as they paused, there.
T.C. tipped up Face’s chin with one strong, capable hand. "You need us to get you out of any more trouble, you know where to find us, Peck."
Face grinned. "Hey, I could have taken him. I just didn’t want to disrupt you ladies’ evening libation with such a display of masculine violence."
"Uh huh." T.C. rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.
Face leaned in toward her, paused for a moment a whisper away from her lips, as if he were breathing her in, then kissed her.
Wolf whistles erupted from their hutch.
When Face finally let her go, T.C. looked a little breathless. But she punched Face in the shoulder. "Go on," she said. "You should get some sleep."
"Hey," Lovey said. "What about me?"
Face turned and swooped Lovey Hart down into a low dip. She giggled as Face held her there, but then pouted when he didn’t kiss her.
"What am I, mashed potatoes?" she said.
"You are the most beautiful woman in Vietnam," Face murmured. "The most delicate flower, the sweetest bloom."
T.C. and Carol both snorted.
Face lifted Lovey up and spun her out toward T.C. "However, it is my firm rule to only kiss one woman each night."
"That’s not what I hear," Carol said. She was rolling the plastic daisy that Murdock had given her between her hands.
She looked up into Murdock’s eyes. "Take care," she said softly. Then she lifted up on her toes and kissed his cheek, real gentle, where it was bruised.
The three women disappeared through the door of their hutch, and Murdock and Face started walking back across the base.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The base was pretty dark, really. You could see a lot of stars. Murdock picked out the Pleiades, the sister stars, and Orion’s Belt.
They didn’t walk too fast. Just kind of moved along, quiet. But Murdock felt tense.
"So," he said finally, "You’re leaving."
"I guess so," Face said.
They walked a little more, then Murdock stopped. "Look… I mean, what kind of guy are you?"
Face grinned a little. "What kind of guy do you want me to be?" he asked softly.
But then he laughed and punched Murdock’s shoulder and started walking again. "So, which one did you like?"
"Which one what?"
"Nurses, man, the nurses." Face seemed to buck up, rise to the occasion. Game for anything, devil-may-care again. He ran his hands through his hair.
"So, where they sending me? Saigon? I’ve got some great contacts in Saigon."
"I don’t know nuthin’ about that, muchacho. I didn’t even know you were leaving."
Face stopped. "But I thought…" He paused. "What did you come out here to tell me, then?"
"That we’re goin’ out in the mornin’." Murdock’s head was starting to hurt. He really wanted to lay down.
"Me too?" the kid asked tentatively.
"Yeah," Murdock said. "I mean, I thought so, ‘til you said you were leavin’."
The kid grinned. "I just figured… well. Guess you’re stuck with me for a while longer, then, huh?"
He seemed happy now, full of energy. He patted Murdock’s shoulder companionably.
The Officer’s Club still seemed mellow when they passed by, soft sounds coming from the radio and a soft glow coming from the door. The cantina was hopping, though. Miles Davis going crazy on the electric guitar and guys pouring in and out of the propped open door. It felt even quieter out when they’d passed it.
"So how come you were in the brig an’ somebody beat you up?" Murdock asked, finally.
"That was a… uh, one time deal. Nothing to worry about." Face looked up at the stars.
"Hannibal’s pissed you didn’t say anything."
"I know." Face’s eyes got kind of dark.
Murdock patted him on the shoulder carefully. "Don’ worry so much. He really liked the cigars, so I think you’ve got a little leeway, there."
Face smiled. "Have to remember to order some more of those. Never know when I’m going to need them."
"You always buy your way out of trouble?"
"When I’ve got enough to cover. But I can usually find something they want."
They passed under a string of lights and walked past the artillery depot. Everybody was either asleep or drinking, it seemed like, and nobody was around over on this side of the base.
"Who’s they?" Murdock asked.
"They. Them. Everybody wants something." They walked for a moment more, then Face asked quietly, "What do you want?"
"I want to kiss you," Murdock thought. Then he groaned and pushed the heels of his hands into his eyes. What was happening to him? Was he misreading the kid? If he was going crazy, here, he didn’t want to go alone.
What do you want? It was the second time Face had asked him that.
Murdock had read in school, a lifetime ago, in a different world, that Michaelangelo… was that the sculptor guy? Whoever the sculptor guy was. He’d said that when he got hold of a nice hunk of marble, he’d see immediately what it wanted to be. Then he’d just cut away at anything that wasn’t his statue.
It felt like the kid was doing the same thing to him. What do you want?
"I want to go to sleep. I really, really, really want to go to sleep. Dream about tall grass and slow dogs and gooseberry pie hot out of the oven. Ford pick-ups and pink carnations. Soft winds and old planes."
Face grinned. "I think that guy hit you harder than we thought."
"Don’t you ever think about home?" Murdock jumped up on a wall of sandbags and walked along it, balancing easily. He’d been able to ride a bike the first time he climbed on one, too. He thought better when he was up in the air.
"Not really," Face said. He smiled up at Murdock, watched him jump down when he got to the end of the sandbag wall. "Maybe I could borrow yours."
"Grandma’d like you," Murdock said. "She was always a sucker for a pretty smile."
"Women always like me," Face said.
"Yeah, well, just don’t sell her any vacuum cleaners. She’s got four vacuum cleaners and she don’t need any more."
"I promise," Face said. "No vacuum cleaners."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Colonel say how long we’re going to be gone?" Face asked.
Their hutch was empty. Hannibal and BA and Ray were out somewhere. Getting a last bit of something before they all went out.
Murdock gathered his stuff up for a shower. He really needed a shower. A cold shower. Or maybe, if the shower tent was empty, a little relief. He needed something.
"Maybe four days," Murdock said. "We gotta hike in somewhere, a ways, I guess. Chopper’s gonna pick us up after."
"He say if we needed anything? More frags? Pop-ups? You can never have too many pop-ups."
"He just said find you and tell you we’re goin’ out in the mornin’. Make sure you were okay, but you were out with a bunch of nurses, so I guess you are. I’m gonna take a shower."
Face nodded.
Murdock left him there, breathed in the cool, moist night air. Shower, bed. Okay, maybe shower, jack off, then bed. Get ready to go into the green.
There was no way he could have known, then, what an unmitigated disaster the team’s first real mission was going to be. No way at all.
