Chapter 4
Back at Doc's place, Hawke had returned from the long walk he had taken that morning. He had wanted to clear his head and pull himself together. He felt bad for making things hard on Caitlin. He knew she loved him but part of him worried that maybe he wasn't interesting enough for her. He wanted to tell her that, but the stubbornness inside of him refused to let her know that he could be that insecure.
Hawke had seen the helicopter take off and decided to head back to the house to see if Caitlin had gone with Doc. Finding the note, he decided to borrow Doc's car and ride into town and try to be of help at the tavern.
When he pulled up to the tavern, he got a sinking feeling that something wasn't right. There were several cars in the parking lot along with a Sheriff department's car. He got out and ran into the building. One of Doc's good friends, Wayne spotted him immediately.
"Mr. Hawke," I'm glad you're here," he said.
"What's going on?" he asked. "Is something wrong?"
"I'm afraid so," the Sheriff spoke up. "The local tower received a distress call from Doc about an hour ago. After that, his helicopter disappeared off of the radar. We think he crashed landed somewhere on the east side of the mountain."
At the word crash, Hawke felt as though the blood was draining from his head. He felt light headed and had to steady himself with a bar chair.
"What are you doing to try to find them?" he asked.
"Them? Someone was with Doc?" asked the Sheriff.
Hawke was slow to respond. "Yes, my friend Caitlin was with him. They left a note saying they were going up to check on a friend of Doc's who had a bad back."
"That must be old Mr. Gray," said Wayne. "Doc's been checking on him regularly. That would put them close to the area that he disappeared on radar."
"We've got to find them," said Hawke. "What are your resources?"
The Sheriff explained to Hawke that they had a volunteer air and ground rescue unit. They were currently doing an air search and would send in a ground crew as soon as they spotted something. The problem was that the area was pretty vast but dense with trees.
"It could take days to locate them that way," said Hawke.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Hawke," replied the Sherriff. "It's all the resources we have right now. We have an excellent ground crew. They can scale a mountain in no time. The problem is we can't send them out without a direction to go in."
"Well, I think I can help with that. My friend and I have a helicopter that we've used in the past for search and rescue," said Hawke. "I'll call him and get him out here."
"Sounds good," replied the Sherriff. "We can use all the air support we can get. We already have the ground crew on standby. If you find anything, contact us immediately."
"You'd better believe I will," replied Hawke. "Someone I love was on that helicopter with Doc. I'm not going to stop searching until I find her."
Wayne walked over to Hawke and put his hand on his arm. "Look, I want more than anything to find Doc and your friend alive. But, you need to be realistic," he said. "The chances that they landed in on that mountain and survived are pretty slim."
Hawke grew angry. "Don't give me the odds," he said. "I'm going to find them. You'll see. There's no way they are missing this grand opening."
Hawke left and went to call Dom. He dreaded the call. He didn't want Dom to tell him the same thing the others had about the odds of Doc and Caitlin making it out alive. Dom was shaken and very upset at the news but he refrained from making too many comments to Hawke on the phone. He knew he had to get to Airwolf quickly. The sooner they were up in the air searching, the quicker they could find them.
Hawke went back into the bar and sat down beside Wayne. "I'm sorry," he said. "I know you were trying to help."
Wayne sighed. "I'm sorry too. Doc's one of my best friends. This town wouldn't be the same without him. We've got to find them."
"My friend is on his way," said Hawke. "I'll feel better when I can get up in the air and look for myself."
Wayne stood up and moved the phone closer to the end of the counter for quick pick up. "Any new information is supposed to be routed here," he said. "For now, all we can do is wait for the call."
To Hawke, it seemed like an eternity before Dom and Airwolf showed up at the tavern to pick him up. Once there, they were up and searching in no time.
"Did you get the coordinates the Sheriff's department sent?" asked Hawke.
"Yep, they are programmed in. We're almost in the area now," said Dom.
"Let's start a thermal scan and record the area," replied Hawke. "It's a larger area then I had hoped but at least we have some direction."
Dom was quiet for awhile as they began a flying pattern to cover the whole section that was believed to be the area they were in when they dropped off of the radar. Finally, he spoke up.
"String, I know I said this once before and that time I was wrong, but don't get your hopes up," He said solemnly. "They went down in a pretty dense mountain area."
"I'm not giving up on her Dom," String replied. "I can't. If I do and I lose her then I was right all this time. Everyone that I love eventually dies. She's always defied the odds. I have to believe that's she's going to make it this time too."