CHAPTER 4

Friday morning Ellie bustled around the house making sure everything was perfect for when Saint John arrived that evening. For dinner, she planned balsamic chicken with roasted carrots, rice, and bottle of white wine for them to share. She had the table set and everything ready to be cooked by two thirty. She flopped back into a plush arm chair to relax. She flipped through the channels on TV, trying to find something decent to watch. Finally deciding on an old movie rerun. Not realizing how tired she was, she dozed off during the movie.

The chiming of the grandfather clock on the opposite wall woke her and had her hurriedly rushing to get a shower, fix her make up then dressing in nice jeans and a sweater Arthur had bought for her. She took the sweater off only seconds after putting it on. She couldn't do it. Shrugging into a three quarter sleeve, striped button down blouse instead. Next, the food was put on, and she readied Joshua to go. The thought was kind of disconcerting; she didn't even know where her son was going. But she trusted Saint John.

The doorbell rang at seven sharp. The door flew open, but Ellie managed to refrain from just melting into his arms. A second look told her it wasn't even who she was expecting at all.

"String?"

"Yeah. Saint John isn't here by any chance is he?" String asked hopefully.

"Not yet, why?"

"I haven't seen him since dinner at the cabin Wednesday night. Evidently, Michael had some-" he caught himself before he said too much. "Had something for him to do, but he should have already been back. I've called the apartment already and every place I can think of, but no luck."

"He's supposed to show up around seven, so if you want to wait around feel free," she offered, hoping this wouldn't impede with her dinner plans, but whatever his brother wanted him for was probably more important.

"No, that's alright, but if he does show up, give me a call at the hangar."

"No problem."

String had just climbed into the Jet Ranger when he decided to try reaching Airwolf again.

"Santini One to Airwolf, do you read?"

Only silence.

"Airwolf, come in."

Still nothing.

Where could they be?

He radioed Michael again. "Where were Saint John and Mike headed?"

Michael knew his exact intentions.

"Hawke, if I tell you, you'll go after them. Believe me, I want to, but if they're just running behind schedule going in after them could ruin everything."

"What if they aren't just running late?" String growled. "What if they're hurt?"

"Just give it some more time," Michael tried to calm him. "If we haven't heard from them in four hours, I'll send zebra squad in after them."

"That's not good enough, Michael."

"It's going to have to be," he ended the transmission. Loosing his temper with Hawke wouldn't help anything, but going in all hotheaded and riled up wouldn't either.

String swung by the hangar and Le jumped in; he took off again before anyone had a chance to stop him. "Fly towards Knightsbridge and fly high," String directed Le.

Le obeyed without question although he did wonder why.

String focused on trying to reach Airwolf. 'Come on Angel, where are you?'

The answer he received wasn't much help, like mental static. Where could they be? For all he knew, they could be directly below him, twenty thousand feet above them, or on the other side of the ocean. There wasn't any logical way to even begin looking for them. They were almost to Knightsbridge when he thought he was actually starting to get somewhere.

"Keep going," he told Le.

"Where?"

"Nowhere. Just keep flying in this direction."

He kept on flying.

String reached over to try the radio again.

"Santini One to Airwolf, do you copy?"

This time he got static.

"Where are you and is everything alright?"

More static, but he understood the words 'down' and 'out.' Down as in on the ground, low altitude, or systems are down? What about out?

"You're really choppy. Will you repeat?"

"….down….Sinj….out…" was all he caught.

"Le, fly a little lower and be on the lookout for Airwolf anywhere." He mentally tried reaching Airwolf again. 'Airwolf, are you there?'

More mental static, which was extremely painful and way too loud, but how do you turn down something that's only in your head? Finally he started to get something, but the message was all garbled. He wasn't in the mood to play word scramble, but, not having many options, he did his best.

Irritation was starting to get the better of him. Where were they and what was wrong? Something had to be. He considered trying to contact Michael again, but decided against it; he probably wouldn't be much help and radioing him would jeopardize the frail link he was beginning to establish with Airwolf.

Still not having much luck in reaching them. He tried yet again.

"String the radio crackled. The message was choppy, but mostly understandable. "Michael… mission successful, systems failure… need help."

"Where are you?" String asked, hoping the connection wasn't lost yet.

No answer.

"Where?" String repeated.

Mike started giving coordinates to their location, but the message was too staticy to understand them clearly.

"One more time."

"Down… near Valley…." Mike said. The radio crackled again and the connection was lost. No matter what he tried he couldn't reestablish it.

Retaking control of the helicopter, String director the Jet Ranger toward the Valley of the Gods. Wishing he had the scanners and equipment available in Airwolf, he began his search for the Lady, Mike, and Saint John.