Chapter 9
Caitlin sat up against the wall of the cave. Her shoulder ached and untying her hands proved futile. She was just relieved that they were bound in front because she knew it would be more painful for her if they were tied in back.
I wish we could get to the flashlights," she finally said. "We need to conserve the batteries."
Ally studied Caitlin's face. Tears continued to stream down her cheeks. "We'll figure out something," she replied. "But in the meantime, let me help you. Tell me what else is wrong."
Caitlin reached up with both bound hands and tried to wipe her face. "I don't even know how to start," she sadly replied. "A few months ago I dated a man who used me."
"What do you mean?" asked Ally. "He went out with you just to sleep with you?"
"Yeah, well he had more of an ulterior motive than that," she replied. "He wanted Dom and Hawke's help with something and he strapped me to a bomb to make sure they complied."
"Wow," replied Ally. "You must have been terrified."
"I was," she admitted. "The crazy thing is that the whole time it was happening I was more upset about being betrayed and used than anything. When it was over, I thought I was fine. Then I started having these nightmares."
"I would think that's pretty normal," replied Ally. "You had a traumatic experience."
Caitlin closed her eyes and tried to fight back the tears that seemed to come faster. "Problem is," she sobbed. "In the dreams I keep seeing Hawke's face and not the guy who did that to me."
"Oh," Ally replied softly. "Do you feel that Hawke betrayed you in some way?"
Caitlin took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. "It's not that I feel he betrayed me," she finally replied. "I guess I just blame him for what happened. If he would have admitted his feelings, I would have never been with Sawyer. But, you were right earlier. I am afraid of him. I'm terrified that I'm wrong."
"Wrong about what?" Ally asked.
"I've stayed around all these years in hopes that one day he would come around," she replied. "I see how he looks at me sometimes and how protective he is of me. I really believe he loves me too." Caitlin's voice trailed off. "What if I'm wrong? What if I wasted all this time around him for nothing?" she asked.
"Then you pick up the pieces and move on," Ally replied. "But you'll never know if you don't confront him."
"I can't," Caitlin continued. "There's so much more to it. I love what I do at Santini Air too. I love Dom. I'm not sure I'm ready to leave it all behind."
"Why would you have to leave?" asked Ally.
"I think I'd be too embarrassed to stay," she admitted before looking around again at the small cave they were trapped in. "I guess it won't matter now anyway. Our chances of getting out of here seem pretty slim."
The girls sat quiet for several minutes. Caitlin's tears finally stopped and she began working on her ropes again.
"You know they aren't going to give up on getting to us," Ally finally said.
Caitlin sighed. "Yeah, I know," she replied.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
"Let's rethink this," Doc said after the men had taken their break from digging. "Do you think that there could be some kind of survey of the mountain?"
Dom looked at Hawke. "Why the hell didn't I think of that?" he asked. "Let me contact Michael. As far as we know, there might be another entrance to that cave."
"Have any of you seen Chris?" asked Hawke. "Surely he and the others checked everything out here when they planned the hike. They may have some sort of survey."
"I haven't seen him since we got back," replied Doc. "Let's check his tent."
"I'll go and contact Archangel in Airwolf," said Dom as he patted Doc on the back and headed down the trail.
Doc and Hawke quickly made their way over to Chris' tent. When they called out to him and he didn't answer, they headed in.
Once inside they were astonished at the mess they saw. Everything was strewn around the tent and the radio was in pieces all over the floor.
"What the hell happened?" asked Hawke as the turned and headed back outside.
"Are you looking for Chris?" one of the men asked as he saw them coming out.
"Yeah, have you seen him?" asked Doc.
"He said there was a problem with the radio," the man replied. "So, he took his gear and headed down the back side of the mountain."
"When did he leave?" asked Hawke.
"Right after the explosion," he man replied. "He said he'd bring help."
"Thanks," Doc replied as the man headed back to help continue with the digging.
Hawke pulled Doc aside. "Let's meet up with Dom and call down to the base from Airwolf," he told him. "It'll take him time to get down that mountain and who knows when we'll get any help up here."
"Who could have done that to the radio?" asked Doc.
Hawke thought for a moment. "Someone who doesn't want us to get into that cave," he replied with a grimace.
The men hurried to meet up with Dom. They found Airwolf sitting in the middle of a large clearing near a deep cliff. The sun was starting to come up as they climbed inside to tell Dom about what happened with Chris.
"I got in touch with Marella," Dom told them. "She's sending me the survey as we speak."
"Great," replied Hawke. "We ran into a problem."
"What's that?" asked Dom. "The radio has been demolished. Apparently Chris headed down the mountain for help after the explosion so no one's coming for help yet."
"I'll call them," replied Dom. "But in the meantime I have some good and some bad news."
Hawke shot him an irritated look. "Just tell us what's going on Dom," he pleaded.
"Well, the good news is that the military uses this mountain as a training ground for the army," he replied. "Apparently, that's how our organizers got access to it. They have very detailed surveys of it including that cave."
"Don't tell me the bad news is there isn't another entrance," Hawke replied.
"I'm not going to tell you that," Dom smirked. "Marella said that there is an entrance on the other side of the mountain."
Hawke couldn't contain his excitement. "What are we waiting for?" he asked. "Let's go."
"Whoa there," replied Dom. "We need the plans first. But there is another problem. Apparently there was a small cave in recently. Marella said the report states that it was small but they stopped using the cave in fear of it being unsafe. Going in the other side may prove dangerous."
"I don't care," replied Hawke. "I'm going in."
"I'll be right with you," Doc spoke up. "I'm not leaving those women in there to die."
"Okay then, as soon as we get the survey let's see if there is a clearing so that we can land on that side of the mountain. It'll be quicker than hiking it," replied Hawke.
Looks like I'm going to break my ten chapter tradition. This is going to be an eleven chapter story.
