Brothers In Arms

A/N: I do not own or make any profit off of the Airwolf name or any of the characters involved within. My stories are for entertainment purposes only.

Summary: When members of a top secret military team that Hawke belonged to in Vietnam start dying off under suspicious circumstances, does it mean that Hawke will be next? And if so, who's out for revenge more than a dozen years later?

Chapter 1

Stringfellow Hawke sat in Michael Coldsmith-Briggs', aka Archangel," office at Knightsbridge staring at the black and white photo that the spy had just handed him. Looking at the six soldiers in the photo, Hawke's mind was flooded with memories of Vietnam and things he hadn't allowed himself to think about for many years. As if war itself hadn't been bad enough, the covert missions that the men in that picture had undertaken had left even more scars on the minds and hearts of those six men who, in reality, were merely more than boys at the time. Hawke knew because he had been one of them. There was also St. John, or "Sinjin" as he was known, Hawke's brother, as well as four others: Billy Cargill, Sam Hansen, John Tomlinson and Max Holden.

"All of them?" Hawke finally asked as he looked back up at the spy who was patiently standing by the window as Hawke studied the photo. He knew that the information he had just given the pilot would be a lot to digest.

"Yes, I'm afraid so," Michael said as he nodded. "Cargill was the latest, supposedly committing suicide just four days ago in his home. He hung himself. I'm sorry, Hawke."

"You said 'supposedly'. What's that mean, Michael? He either killed himself or he didn't," Hawke challenged.

Coming back over to his desk, Michael sat down and picked up another file on his desk and began to thumb through it. "At first, it did seem pretty clear cut. Cargill had left a note saying that he felt guilty because he had been embezzling money from the investment company he'd been working for. The note even led police to a safety deposit box containing a large amount of cash and documents showing how he'd siphoned off the funds. "

"Billy? I don't believe it!" Hawke stated emphatically.

"Yeah, well either did anyone else, and the family demanded an investigation. Since Cargill had been part of this Special Ops team, the investigation flagged a few files within The Firm and we started looking into things as well. That's how I found about the other deaths.

"And?" Hawke prompted as he sat forward in his chair.

"And…we found that within the last year, Hansen, Tomlinson and Holden all died and each death seemed to be connected to some type of illegal activity. Hansen was found dead in an alley, a needle full of heroin still stuck in his arm. Tomlinson was shot by security while trying to break into a warehouse full of computer equipment and Holden also killed himself after being accused of the rape of a co-worker, leaving a signed confession as his suicide note."

"That's all bullshit, Michael, and you know it! Each of those men was among the best and most honest men I'd ever known! And each one of them had been willing to give their lives for this country!" Hawke exclaimed as he stood from his chair and leaned over the desk, getting face to face with the spy. "And don't you think that each of those deaths was tied up just a little too neatly?"

"Hawke, if you'll calm down long enough to let me explain, you'll see that I already figured that out," Michael said calmly as he waited for the pilot to retake his seat. "Look, it's why I called you here to tell you about it. Because of the Vietnam connection and because of the fact that each one of these men has now been denied military honors for their burial due to the circumstances of their deaths, I have to believe that someone is out for revenge on all of you. Of course, that also means with Sinjin still MIA, I believe that you're going to be the next target on the list. Now I need your help to find out who the hell may be behind all of this and for what reason."

Hawke stared at the man across from him and then stood and walked over to the large picture window that covered the back wall of the office. Facing away from Michael, Hawke spoke quietly, "that means you want to know about a lot of stuff that we did that I promised myself I would never talk about again. We were working against some of our own men, Michael. Yeah, they may have been handing over military strategy to the other side but they were still our own guys, it wasn't easy. We had been trained to fight the North Vietnamese, not our own troops."

"Look, Hawke, I understand that and I'm sorry but for your own safety, I need your cooperation on this. Other than the fact that such a team existed, I've got nothing. The specifics of the missions are so highly classified that even I can't get clearance to them. I've put some feelers out to some government sources and no one's talking. Hawke, you're the only one that can give us the information we need on this. You're the only one left that knows what really went down within that team."

Hawke stood silent for a few more moments before turning to face the man in white. "Okay, but not here, not now. I need some time. Meet me up at the cabin tomorrow night. But only you, Michael, understand? I'll be the one to decide what gets done and who gets brought into this, and that includes Dom and Caitlin. Any problem with that and you can forget the whole thing and I'll take care of it on my own."

"However you want it to go, Hawke, but if you think you're going to be able to keep Dom and Caitlin out of this….well, I'll let you deal with them. "

Without saying another word, Hawke turned and left the office.

TBC….

Okay everyone, I've had this plot bunny running around in my brain for quite a while but just haven't been able to flesh it out as well as I wanted. Instead of waiting any longer I thought I would start it and hope that the muse is inspired as I write. Let's see what happens