CHAPTER 1

Hawke's Cabin

3:31 PM

Stopping abruptly mid-song, Hawke cocked his head skyward and listened. That was no chopper, and he wasn't expecting company. He set aside the bow and cello pushing away the chair, and walked quickly to the window and peered outside.

A Steerman flew in low over the lake straight for the cabin, its single pilot tossing out a small object as he did so and pulling up last minute to skim just over the cabin's roof and disappear beyond the mountains a minute later.

Curiosity getting the better of him, he stepped outside to see what the mysterious package was. Locating it and picking it up, he found it to be merely a rock with a short note attached to it, the message scrawled across in a bold, awkward style. He unwadded the wrinkled paper and spread it out on the top of the bar as he came back inside.

Please join me for lunch tomorrow at the Ronnie's Diner, my treat. Not an order, but rather an offer. I have some information that may interest you, but I'll warn you now it isn't cheap. Hope to see you then.

Signed,

An old Friend

An old friend, huh? He wondered who that could be, no one he could think of that would set up a meeting like this. And what information could they possibly have that he would be willing to pay good money for? That one wasn't such a hard question, he knew, and he hadn't made his hunt any secret, but who? The only way it looked like he was going to find out was to show up at Ronnie's tomorrow though; so the question would have to remain unanswered until then.

Climbing up out of the lake where he had been swimming, Le ran up to the cabin and came inside, grabbing a towel String had left out for him on the porch railing along the way.

"What was with the plane?" he asked inquisitively of his uncle as he toweled off and dried up the puddle he was leaving in the floor only after receiving a warning look.

"A meeting," he supplied vaguely, "supposedly from a friend."

"Who? What about?" Le continued to bombard him with question after question despite the lack of answers.

"I'm guessing about my brother." It was no longer any secret he didn't believe his brother, presumably Le's father was dead and that the casket he had buried up on the hill contained his brother's body, but rather had all been part of a clever scheme to smuggle drugs into the countrym an inevitable conversation after one of his more recent missions. It was, however, still somewhat of an awkward topic though.

"Do they know where he is?"

"I don't know. I'm supposed to meet them tomorrow for lunch."

"I see."

"Would you mind terribly staying with Cait while I go take care of that?"

"I guess not," Le answered distantly.

That was a lie if he ever heard one.

"What is it, Half- Pint?"

"It's nothing."

"I may still have a lot to learn, but I do know you well enough to know that everything is not alright."

"I was hoping we could do something together, just you and me , but it's no big deal."

"It is a big deal. I haven't been much of a friend lately. I haven't even been much of a guardian. You send about as much time with Cait and Dom as you do me, and we should do something. You have anything specific in mind?"

"Not really, maybe go fishing one afternoon or something, nothing that can't wait."

It's not right for me to always be putting you on the back burner wither. I have a better idea, how about you come to this lunch thing with me and then we'll see if Dom can't spare us a couple days while we go exploring. There is this place I know that's perfect for fishing…"

"Okay," he agreed. "And it's just you and me, right?"

"Yeah, just you and me," he said, ruffling the boy's hair, " nobody but us. There is one condition though."

"What?"

"You dry up the puddle you're dripping all over the place before going back out there, and don't disappear until I join you."

\A/

"Can't even get decent help these days," Dominic complained even as a strange mixture of curiosity, amusement, and worry all in one came across his face. "For a guy who enjoys flying so much, and f lying being his job, enjoys his work, he sure does come up with a lot of reasons why he can't come to work."

"String playing hooky again?" Caitlin teased as she walked through.

"Yeah again. Does he even do anything to earn the paycheck I'm giving him anymore?"

"You could always fire him if he's that bad," Caitlin said. Fat chance, she knew. If you weren't robbing him blind, it was near impossible to get Dominic Santini annoyed enough to fire anyone. And firing Stringfellow Hawke was about as likely as growing ten feet overnight.

"Now that's an idea. Only problem is, then I'd be a pilot down and so far behind in maintenance I'd never catch up. Wait, that's basically what it's like now, meaning I'd be no better off."

"Guess we can't fire him then. What's his excuse this time?"

"He's meeting someone for lunch tomorrow the plans on taking Le camping for a couple days, assuming that actually happens."

"Why wouldn't it?"

"I know he means well, but with Le out of school for the summer, I think he's got more time with the kid than he knows what to do with; the other thing is, he thinks the person he's meeting tomorrow might have some information on Saint John's whereabouts and we all know how things go when he goes off on that tangent."