After Caitlin is taken hostage by Horn in A Lady for the Lady, she is presumed dead by Hawke, Dominic, and Michael. Hawke goes to Texas to give the O'Shaughnessy family the tragic news in No Easy Way only to hear they already knew. Six weeks after she is presumed dead, Hawke and Dominic find Caitlin alive and living with a drug dealer in Sleeping Beauties.
Now, on to the next exciting installment called An Act of Betrayal.
The air was full of dynamic energy. The ground was abuzz with people flying around on their sneakers trying to get the work of the day done in time to go home and get ready for the next day. Hawke, Dominic and Caitlin weren't supposed to be on set for another twenty two hours, but it was the policy of Santini Air to check out the location before a stunt pilot started his or her first day.
Caitlin had only been back a week and immediately after her return Hawke and Dominic saw the difference not only in their work, but in their normal lives.
The stunt would be a simple one. Hawke dressed in black pants, black suit, and black tie would pick up the actor Darren Fitzwater and begin a dogfight in the air with Caitlin and Dominic's helicopter. The dogfight would end with Darren hanging out of the helicopter and shooting Caitlin and Dominic's helicopter out of the sky. The stunt was the last scene of the movie, but the third to be shot due to time constraints, mainly belonging to Santini Air.
No sooner had Hawke come out of the wardrobe trailer than someone whistled. He whirled around on his new black loafers to see Caitlin and Dominic coming toward them. Both of them were dressed in fatigues; Caitlin's red hair was masked by a hat.
Dominic whistled again as they approached. "I think we've found the new James Bond, Cait." Dominic teased.
Hawke removed his sunglasses and growled. "Not funny. This is worse than any monkey suit." He squirmed to show how uncomfortable he was in it. "Is the harness set up, Cait?"
"It's hooked up to the inside of the helicopter. All Darren has to do is slip into it when he gets into your helicopter and then when filming starts, he'll be ready to go."
"I'll double check it when I get there," Hawke said. He trusted Caitlin, but it was normal to check and recheck every safety measure before a stunt. After all, this was Darren Fitzwater and this movie budget was in the high six figures. Mistakes were costly.
All three of them walked together into the bustling group of directors, producers, and their interns getting ready for the next shot. The first person that saw them was Darren Fitzwater. He approached them with a cocky grin on his face.
Darren Fitzwater was a young actor who got into the business with his father's help. It didn't hurt matters that he was a boyish green-eyed sandy brown hair twenty-three year old who never said no to a press picture or a hug from a female fan.
"Are you ready for my stunt?" Darren asked, as he eyed Caitlin from head to toe.
Hawke saw the look. He turned to Caitlin. "You two should get your helicopter ready. Good luck!"
"See ya on the ground, String." Dominic followed Caitlin to the enemy helicopter. Once they were gone, Hawke started toward his helicopter with Darren following like a puppy. "This stunt will put me on the map."
Hawke walked around to the hatch just in time to hear the director call for places. He wanted to check the harness one more time, but didn't have time when the director impatiently yelled again for everyone to take their places.
Hawke only had time to strap into his seat and start the helicopter when the director called action.
The scene started with Darren Fitzwater, wearing fatigues, racing down a dirt covered road to Hawke's helicopter. A machine gun bounced off the side of his leg. Once Darren was inside, Hawke took off at an angle and entered air space.
"Get your harness hooked on," Hawke yelled at him. He could see the jet ranger in a distance filming them. He had two minutes before Caitlin's chopper was to appear on camera.
"I'm in!" Darren yelled over the rotor noise.
He was just in time for Caitlin's helicopter appeared on camera. Hawke pretended he was in Airwolf as he swerved to miss the rubber bullets that were shooting at him from the actors on Cait's helicopter.
"Ready?" Hawke asked. He waited until Caitlin was behind him and slightly to his left. "Now!"
The stunt was dangerous and neither of the Santini Air employees were keen on doing it and definitely not keen on having an actor do it, but what Darren Fitzwater wants, Darren Fitzwater gets so he wanted to do the stunt on his own.
The harness was painted to look exactly like Darren's outfit and was attached to the inside of the helicopter by three caribeeners and one caribeener each on the front and back of the person.
Hawke kept the helicopter straight and steady as Darren leaned out the open side and began shooting. From Dominic's view it looked like Darren Fitzwater was hanging out of a flying helicopter with no help at all.
The scene was timed. Darren had five minutes left before Caitlin's helicopter would go down. The explosion was set for later that evening. Hawke, Dominic and Caitlin didn't have to be there for that.
Two minutes passed when Hawke heard Darren yelling at him over the earphones. Hawke glanced back and saw why Darren was yelling. The harness was ripping at a slow rate and with each tear of the fabric Darren was inching further out of the helicopter.
Hawke grabbed the harness inches above the tear and pulled. His upper arm burned like fire with the stretching of muscles and tendons.
"Cait! Dom!" He yelled into the microphone. "We're in trouble. I'm holding the harness with one arm and flying with the other. I'm going down."
"We're right behind you, String," Dominic's voice roared through his ear.
Hawke held onto the harness with one hand and felt the fabric burn through his skin as it slid through his grasp. Knowing how stupid it was, he tightened his legs around the stick and grabbed onto the harness with both hands.
The helicopter gave a jolt with the new flying technique and Hawke was able to grab Darren's wrist. With the added help of Darren's hand, Hawke pulled the man and harness back into the helicopter.
"Buckle up!" He yelled at Darren. As Hawke took control of the stick again, he noticed Caitlin flying beside him on his right and Dominic on his left. They had dropped a couple hundred feet with the new flying technique Hawke had developed which was fine with Hawke.
He maneuvered the helicopter around and all three headed back to the main take off point.
Once on firm ground, Darren jumped out of the helicopter and tore the harness from his waist.
"What the crap was this?" He yelled throwing the harness to the ground. Hawke followed him out of the helicopter, even as the rotors slowed to a stop.
"You were supposed to double check the harness before I went up."
"We did check double check the harness," Hawke defended himself. He picked up the harness as the director and producer ran over. By this time, Caitlin and Dominic had joined the group.
"We heard everything over the radio," The director said. "Thank God you're all right, Darren."
"This screwup," He said, spitting the words at Hawke. "Could have gotten me killed. What kind of stunt pilots are you?" Darren stormed off.
Once Darren was gone, the director turned to Hawke. "I thought the harness was strong enough for a person." He said, rather calmly.
"It was." Hawke handed the harness to Dominic. "The harness was cut halfway through and Darren's weight helped the already cut harness to tear faster."
The director wiped his brow with his hand. "All right, this was the last scene of the day anyway so I'll send everyone home and we'll start back tomorrow. We have enough of the dogfight scene so at least we have that."
He walked off yelling orders at his assistant.
Once they were all gone, Hawke turned to Caitlin. "Cait, did you notice anyone around the helicopter after you hooked up the harness?"
Cait shook her head. "I checked the harness before I hooked it up and after and nothing I did damaged the harness. That's a clean cut, Hawke. Someone did that on purpose."
Hawke groaned and said, "That's what I was afraid of."