The Sudan Mission -Chapter 8

The flight to Africa was uneventful and went as typically as most of their missions did. Hawke was an intense pilot but this sort of mission was almost hurry up and wait. They would fly for hours for a very short window of action time and with this small kidnapping group they didn't face any anti-aircraft weapons unless they are shoulder launch and they had no air combat power. So even if the guys saw them and attacked, there wasn't much they could do against Airwolf's armament.

It made for a nice flight where Hawke could play with Airwolf's Mach capabilities a little. Caitlin knew this about him and she'd given him everything he could have to push the Lady a little and have a bit of fun. No one said you couldn't enjoy your work.

Caitlin was going over some of the newest satellite imagery from the last pass of the NRO satellite over the area. Still nothing to worry about from what they picked up so she relaxed a little bit in her seat and stretched.

"You okay?" Hawke asked looking over his shoulder at her.

"Just stretching a little, nothing new from the sat feed so it looks like it might go smoothly for a change," she said and Hawke laughed a little.

'For a change' was right, it seemed like more often than not, things went pear shaped.

"Are you going to come up to the cabin after this mission?" Hawke had to ask and Caitlin grinned inside her helmet.

"If you want me to, figured you might be tired of me being underfoot by now," Caitlin said offering him a way out if he wanted it. She knew that Hawke liked his alone time.

"You are never underfoot," he told her and then admitted something he didn't think he ever would. "Actually, I really like having you at the cabin with me. Not just for obvious reasons but it is nice not to be alone for a change."

Caitlin's face colored a little at the 'obvious reasons' which they'd spent a long time in Hawke's bed, his shower and even his couch this weekend. "You know there is no one in this world I would rather spend time with than you, String, so, if you'll take me by my apartment to pack a bag I'd be glad to go with you when we get back."

"Sounds like a plan, though you shouldn't need to pack much, I don't intend for you to be wearing anything for very long," Hawke teased her and looked back in time to see her cheeks turn red.

"You do that just to see if I turn red, don't you?"

"Of course," he said. "But I'm being honest. I don't plan on you wearing anything but me."

"Oh my God, I can't believe you said that," she giggled but couldn't help looking forward to it.

When they arrived at the Catholic mission, Hawke had been right about not being able to make a wheels down landing in the clearing, it was far too filled with rocks and other debris.

They were on silent and were thankful the area wasn't terribly dusty so it wasn't causing much of an issue and the trees were a great help in hiding Airwolf.

The couple was right on time and Caitlin could see the group of nuns and what looked like children going out to the animal pens. Four nuns broke away at one point from the group, two going toward another structure while two others seemed to be heading toward the fence where bales of hay were sitting. That was the closest to the treeline and Caitlin figured, based on the plan that they were the two medics they were picking up.

The children let out some goats and suddenly there was a lot of confusion and laughter as the children and nuns chased the animals. It was a perfect distraction and Hawke smiled back over his shoulder at Caitlin.

"Looks like they came up with a little improv of their own," Hawke said and she laughed.

"Very smart," she said as they watched the two "nuns" run toward them.

They had to struggle across the rocks and debris toward Airwolf and Caitlin opened the door, calling to them.

They picked up the pace as much as they could and by the time the first medic crawled in they had a Jeep closing in on them with a machine gun. Caitlin called to the other medic to hurry up, she was rather short so the other medic and Caitlin reached out and helped pull her into the cockpit.

They were breathing heavily and flinched and ducked as machine gun fire started bouncing off Airwolf's dark skin.

"Don't worry, she's bullet proof," Caitlin told them as she got them settled.

"Fasten in, we'll be heading out fast," Hawke told them and the ladies did what he said.

It took them only a few minutes to lift off but they saw the Jeep heading toward the mission and Hawke swore under his breath.

"Oh, no you don't," he angled Airwolf down over the trees to hover over the small church.

"They aren't going to take their frustration out on these nuns and kids," Hawke growled and the two medics were sitting wide eyed as he tipped the nose of the Lady toward the Jeep threateningly.

He didn't want to use weapons because of the kids, animals and nuns running around down there but he would if they forced his hand.

"Chain guns," he told Caitlin.

"Hawke, you sure?"

He inched closer and closer to the Jeep. "Now Cait, just let them see her teeth."

Caitlin grinned, understanding what he meant, and punched the button, when the chain guns popped out she could see the looks on the men's faces. The Jeep started backing up again.

"That's right…just keep going," Hawke murmured.

He edged Airwolf closer to them and then suddenly they whipped the Jeep around and sped off into the desert.

He breathed a sigh of relief but worried that they might come back with reinforcements to harm the folks at the mission for helping the medics.

They set down and radioed Michael about the situation, they were able to get a UN patrol to come to the mission for protection. Airwolf and her crew didn't leave until Caitlin picked up the UN patrol on her scanners.

"We can go now, Hawke the cavalry is on the way," she told him and they lifted off.

"Now that the tension is out of the way, I'm Caitlin and this is Hawke, we'll be flying you to Italy," Caitlin explained.

"Thank you, Caitlin and Hawke. I am Dr. Sani Depak and this is the best surgical nurse I know, Sally Martin," the Indian doctor said with a perfectly posh British accent.

"Yes, thank you so much for getting us out of there and making sure those thugs won't retaliate on the folks at the church," Sally told them.

"I am impressed you did not use weapons on them at all. Too many resort to that," Dr. Depak stated and Hawke smiled under his helmet.

"I didn't want to put the civilians at risk, had the situation been different I might have used the weapons," Hawke stated.

"I understand Mr. Hawke but it shows great strength when a man keeps his focus and does not wish to endanger lives under such a situation," the doctor stated. "I've seen far too many take the easier road."

The doctor's face was deeply lined and when she removed the habit over her hair it was almost completely white. She was tiny and almost frail looking yet had a steel in her eyes that told you this woman had seen and done a lot in her life.

Sally was much younger, probably still in her mid-20s. She was a heavier set girl with curly blonde hair and large green eyes hidden by cat eye style glasses.

Caitlin asked them about their work with Doctors Without Borders and told them she'd taken some emergency medical courses because of the work she did and they discussed a few situations they'd worked.

Hawke was always glad to ferry doctors, nurses and medics when he was in the military. They were the real heroes that never really were mentioned much. Everyone talks about the SEAL Teams and the Green Berets or the Rangers but the Navy Corpsmen and Medics…those were the heroes of the heroes.

Dr. Depak had a pleasant voice to listen to, he imagined she was probably a professor as well as working doctor.

"What hospital or university do you work at when you aren't with DWB?" Hawke asked.

"CDC in Atlanta," the doctor answered. "I worked in the past with the UN and with WHO but I'm at the CDC now working on a few research teams."

No wonder they needed her to be rescued. Hawke raised an eyebrow at the tiny woman and nodded.

"Well, I hope you enjoy your time in Italy before you head home," Hawke told her.

"Oh, Sally and I might take a day or two in Rome, just to see the Sistine Chapel perhaps and then we'll head back to our assignment. They still need us there and neither of us are due back at our jobs for several weeks," the doctor said with a smile. "It was a scary detour but we'll complete our mission."

Hawke laughed and so did Caitlin. "We understand that. Complete the mission, no matter what."

"Well, I figure everything happens for a reason," Sally said. "We were able to help treat some of the children at the mission who were suffering from various diseases. So, I just figure we were put where we needed to be."

"That is a very nice way to look at it," Caitlin said with a smile.

The trip to Italy didn't take long at Mach 2 and they landed at Gaeta Naval Base which was in an absolutely stunning location only a little over an hour from Rome.

FIRM and NRO agents met them at the hanger and Airwolf was refueled and had a maintenance once over since they had a long flight back to California.

Hawke and Caitlin had stayed in the hanger, chatting with the women they'd rescued until they left with the NRO and FIRM agents to debrief before they could get some rest.

Hawke and Caitlin were going to stay the night at the base and fly back in the morning but now they were here, Hawke thought it might be nice to take in some sights with Caitlin. Hawke called Michael and asked how many days they could hang out in Italy.

Michael was surprised and asked him why and he told the man, they were 50 miles from Naples and 75 miles from Rome. Why else?

Michael had laughed heartily at that and told him as long as Dom didn't need them at the hanger then he didn't have anything pressing for them to come back right away. But that it would be out of his own pocket, the NRO and FIRM were not going to pay for a vacation. Hawke told the man he didn't figure they would.

He and Cait had only one change of clothes each in their go bags but they could buy something here if they stayed a few days.

"So, what do you think about a quick little vacation here in Italy?" Hawke asked when he walked up to Caitlin sitting at a table.

"Really? Have you cleared it with Dom?" Caitlin asked and he grinned.

"Not yet, but do you really think he'd say no?" Hawke teased and she laughed with a shrug.

"Guess we should call him then," Caitlin said with a grin when Hawke pulled his cell phone from his flightsuit chest pocket.

Of course, Dom had told them yes and even gave them a few tips on places to visit. As long as they were back at work the next Monday he was fine with them taking the rest of the week.

So, they had three days to see the sights before heading back. They decided to sleep on base tonight and rent a car to go to Rome in the morning.

The room at the base was very, very basic but all Hawke cared about was that they had a bed and the bathroom.

True to what he'd said earlier that day all Caitlin wore to bed that night was him.