Title: All Bets Are Off

Author: Therm

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters.

Summary: Face and Murdock make a bet, but something else comes along.

Warnings: Little bit of violence.

Author's Notes: There's something about watches here that comes from 'The Road to Hope'. I never really got how this was supposed to work, so excuse the lack of details.

All Bets Are Off

"You stay here, I won't be more than ten minutes." Face said, as he opened the door to the corvette and stepped onto the road.

The concrete underfoot was hard and dusty, like everything here seemed to be.

Murdock sat in the passenger seat of the corvette and watched Face move round the car. He had a few things that Hannibal wanted and had come to the small town to scam them from the unsuspecting locals.

"Sure you don't need me?" Murdock asked, not even attempting to try and persuade Face otherwise. If he'd really wanted to go with the con man, he'd have been out of the car already.

"Positive. These guys won't even see it coming. In fact, I bet you ten bucks I won't even be in there more than ten minutes." Face said.

"You know I don't gamble, Face." Murdock stated.

"Since when?" Face asked, stopping round by Murdock.

"Well, since you became a girl and only started betting ten bucks a time. At least make it worth my while."

"Oh, feeling confident are we? We'll call it fifty then. How'd you like that?" Face said.

Well, at least it's a man's bet." Murdock grinned up at his friend.

"I won't be long. Get your wallet and be ready with the fifty dollars when I get back." Face said, as he headed towards his target.

Murdock relaxed in the chair a little more.

Sometimes baiting Face was just too easy.

oOo

Murdock was watching the time.

Face had been seven minutes so far and Murdock hoped he'd frustrated Face enough to make him eat his words. He didn't care about the bet, but he knew Face would most likely over think things and end up taking longer than if it were a regular scam.

Someone blocked the sunlight that had been shining on Murdock, and for a moment he thought it was Face back already. He shielded his eyes from the sun that beamed brightly behind the man standing by the car.

"Mr Peck?"

"No. Sorry." Murdock said. It was never a good sign when people came looking for you and Murdock hoped Face did take his time on the scam now. These guys obviously didn't know what Face looked like, but if he did show up, he was certain to open his big mouth and get himself in trouble.

"I've got someone who wants a word with you." The man continued, smoothly taking a gun out and pointing it at Murdock.

"Well, in that case, I'm your man." Murdock said. He held his hands up ever so slightly and got out the vette by clambering over the seat.

The man stood behind Murdock and pushed him towards a white car, the bottom of it covered in dust and grime. Could do with a damn good clean.

Murdock could see two men in the back seat, both wore a mean look B.A would be proud of.

The man opened the front passenger door for Murdock to get in and then headed round to the drivers side. The man directly behind Murdock had a gun too which he became aware of when he felt the barrel against his bare neck.

As the engine started and they began to drive from the area, Murdock grimly noticed that Face wasn't out yet. He looked at his watch. His ten minutes was up. He smiled despite the situation.

The driver noticed and frowned. "What's so funny?"

"I just one fifty dollars." Murdock stated, fiddling with his watch.

"Well, don't bank on spending it."

oOo

Face looked at his watch as he came out of the store clutching the scammed items.

"Now before you say anything, I would have been only ten minutes if they had got the things I asked for straight away. See, I asked them for a ..." Face looked at the empty corvette.

"Murdock, where are you?" He said, expecting the pilot to jump out of...somewhere. "Murdock?"

Suddenly the alarm on Face's watch started going off. He was certain he hadn't set an alarm, then remembered how B.A had set up all of the teams watches as a sort of 'panic button', but with coded messages. The digital display showed 3.16. Face took a book from the glove compartment in the vette.

He looked the code up. Kidnapped.

Great.

He got into the car and headed back to where Hannibal and B.A would be, calling them all the same on the way.

oOo

The car came to a halt at the top of a bridge.

Murdock looked at the water flowing below. A long way below.

This didn't add up to anything good in Murdock's head.

The two men in the back of the car got out and the one who had been behind Murdock opened the car door, yanking him out forcefully.

The driver came over to Murdock, his gun yet again pointing at Murdock.

"Here comes Mr. Elwin." One of them said, as he looked at a car driving up to the bridge where the four men stood.

Once the car was fully stopped, a very distinguished looking man got out.

"Who is this clown, cause it ain't Peck."

"I told them that." Murdock said, receiving a elbow to his ribs for the remark.

"He was sittin' in that fancy car of Peck's." The driver said. Murdock assessed the other two were just the flunkies.

"Well, he's not Peck. God damn it, can't you morons do anything right." He looked away annoyed, before returning his gaze back to Murdock. "In Peck's car, huh? Obviously a friend of his, so why don't you tell me where he is?"

"I'd love to, nothing I'd like more than to drop him in it, but I don't know where he is." Murdock tried not to emphasise the word 'drop' too much.

"I think you're lying."

"Yeah I was never very good at it." Murdock said. "But I'm still not gonna tell ya."

"That's okay." Elwin nodded to one of the large men who came closer to Murdock, and punched the pilot hard in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. While Murdock tried to recover from this, he felt himself get lifted off the ground and suddenly the river got a whole lot closer.

It took a minute or two for the man to get a decent grip on the pilot, but he eventually managed to turn him so that Murdock was facing them, his back to the drop below. He managed to get his feet on a tiny ledge that was at road level.

"Now, I'll give you one last chance to tell me where Peck is. I'm not messing about."

Before Murdock said anything, his watch started beeping. Elwin grabbed Murdock's arm and quickly removed the watch, throwing it into the water below. "Tell me."

"Okay, he's right behind you."

Elwin spun round quickly, as did the other two men, the guy holding Murdock craned he's neck round. Seeing nothing there, Elwin came closer to Murdock. He hit the pilot catching his jaw and jarring Murdock's head round sharply to the left.

"You've had your chance. I'm gonna put you in the water so full of holes..."

"Boss!" One of the men said, noting the black van that speeded up towards the bridge.

The otherwise silent night was ushered away by the sound of bullets as Elwin and his men attempted to stop the van in it's tracks.

The man who had grabbed Murdock was hardly holding him any longer, fascinated by the fire fight, seemingly unaware that when the team got here, he'd be the one B.A would go for because he was the one who had Murdock over the bridge. Murdock was using the small ledge and his grip on the side on the wall to hold himself up knowing he needed to only hold on a little bit longer.

The van made it's way onto the bridge and headed straight at the group of men.

And just as Murdock thought he was home free, he found himself falling fast.

The ledge that he had used to stop himself from falling scraped against his skin as he dropped past it, his whole right hand side seemed to have connected with it as he headed towards the water below. He prepared himself best he could in those few seconds for cold water.

When he hit it, it didn't disappoint.

oOo

Almost as soon as the van screeched to a halt, all three men inside were out, B.A and Face frighteningly fast at over powering the men there. Hannibal made his way to the bridge where Murdock had been moments ago. He saw no sign on him and that worried the colonel.

"B.A tie these guys up, Face get the van and get down there by the water." Hannibal said as he removed his gloves and shoved them in his jacket pocket, quickly taking the jacket off and disposing of it on the floor. Before either man could say anything, Hannibal climbed over the bridge wall and jumped into the water.

"Get over there, sucka's." B.A shouted as he moved them all over against the far side of the wall.

Face climbed into the van and made his way over the bridge, cringing as he knocked into the car that was parked haphazardly across the road. He got to the bottom quickly and was relieved when he saw both Hannibal and Murdock making their way over to Face and the van.

Both soaked to the skin and although it was mostly a warm day, there was enough of a chill in the air to make a drenched person sick. Face grabbed a blanket that was stored under one of the seat and brought it over for Murdock.

"Keep hold of it for me." Murdock asked. "I need to change it something a little less wet." He looked down at the tears on the trouser and shirt from where he'd grazed past the concrete. "And a little less ruined."

Hannibal looked at the scrape on Murdock's arm and although it would be sore and painful for a few days, there was really nothing that a little bit of antiseptic and maybe a bandage or two wouldn't fix up. "Who are those goons up there?"

"Don't know, 'cept the older guys called Elwin. And they were supposed to get Face." Murdock filled Hannibal in.

The colonel nodded as a breeze swept through making both him and Murdock shiver. "Go get changed into something dry, Captain. Then well deal with our friends up there."

"Sure thing, Colonel." The pilot said, as he made his way quickly over to the van and the shelter it offered.

"Oh, Face?" Murdock said, sticking his head back out from round the side of the van. He grinned wickedly at his friend. "You owe me fifty."

The End