CHAPTER 11
So much for losing them, he thought dejectedly as the bullets whizzed by overhead. They were back with a vengeance, and he had no way to escape. Scrambling backward, he was missed by another round by mere inches. Vainly he checked the magazine in his own gun, wishing he could magically make more ammo appear, but to no avail. All he could do was try to run from the inevitable.
"Come one out," an officer at the front of the brigade demanded. "There's no use trying to hide; you're surrounded."
As is he didn't already know that. Dom wasn't around or wasn't scanning audio obviously and that made his chances of surviving this encounter pretty much nil.
\A/
"I'm not seeing anything from up here. What about you, Cait?"
"Nothing yet. Hey, wait a minute, I think I got something." She punched up another screen and scanned the monitors in front of her with practiced ease. "It's the audio scanner," she said, still looking for a visible sighting as she replayed recently recorded clip. "That's definitely him, and it sounds like he's in trouble."
"Can you get me a location?"
"Working on it now." A moment later she grinned in satisfaction. "Got it. There's a group of people a mile away and he's right in the middle of it."
Without hesitation, Dominic sent them forward, flying over the gather, leaving an enormous cloud of dust behind.
"Cait, load me a small canon and get ready to let String and Lexa in."
"Loaded and ready."
Dom fired the canon and immediately flew in close, giving Hawke all the time he needed to climb in beside him. Lexa was nowhere to be seen though.
"Where's Lexa?" Caitlin asked as they pulled out and away from the persistent wave of shooting the remaining soldier continued to fire at them.
"I'm not sure exactly," Hawke answered, a little embarrassed that he had not only gotten himself into a serious predicament but also lost his partner. He may not particularly like her, but she had saved his life; he couldn't abandon her now without even knowing what happened. "She was right behind me until I ducked into the jungle. After that I don't know what happened- I was surrounded and if you'd been about two seconds later you would be scraping me off the ground in little pieces."
"Well believe me, I'm glad we aren't doing that, and I'm hoping the same is true of Lexa, but we've got to find her first."
\A/
"Uh-oh," Cait murmured to himself. "Uh, String did Lexa by any chance dye her hair and I just didn't notice?"
"No, still long and blond, why?"
"Do you know of any one else who would be here and not exactly fit in with the locals? Say, maybe another blond haired woman?"
"No. This camp was abandoned, only taken over by Long's guys since we leveled theirs, why?"
"Well…"
"What is it Cait?" he demanded impatiently. "Did you find her or not?"
"I think I did, but I don't think we'll be taking her home with us or even to Germany for that matter."
"Is she…"
"Yeah, and by the time we could land I don't think there would be anything left to take back."
He knew what that meant - burning her. It was a fate he had almost had to face years ago because he hadn't been willing to sit quietly in his cage and do as they told or be used as bate for more American soldiers. Luckily he'd made it out. It was his biggest fear for Saint John, something that he wished he could end, but in all actuality there was no way he could. They disposed of the unwanted ones in an easy manner for them and a terrifying and agonizing way for the ones who were to be gotten rid of. It was over and there wasn't a thing in the world he could to change it now and he would have to live the rest of his life knowing that, knowing that because he couldn't get there just a little sooner someone else was dead, another person was dead because of him.
\A/
Two Days Later
Airwolf's cockpit
An awkward silence filled the cockpit on the way back to the states. Plenty had happened, but none of it was pleasant enough to talk about. Dominic was at the controls with Hawke as co-pilot despite his persistent insistence he was fine, they all knew he was no closer to being fine than the rest of them. In another three hours or so they would all be home again, but each of them knew it wouldn't be quite the same. They had made contact with Michael and let him handle the travel arrangements for the rescued POWs and finally gotten all the details set for safe transport and care, but Saint John hadn't been with them. Worst of all, Lexa had been right - about everything. Saint John was nowhere within the camp, and despite their precautions they had still underestimated Tran van Long. He personally had seen to leveling the entire camp, but that didn't change the fact Lexa was dead he felt he had let them all down. Now they had to go back to California and pretend everything was alright when it was anything but.
"You know I could keep Le for a while once we get home," Dominic offered, "I'd been thinking' of asking if he wanted to visit for a while now."
"Or he could stay with me," Caitlin added. "I've still got a bunch of his stuff at my place anyway."
"I know what you're trying to do, and I appreciate it, I really do, but it's fine. Some semblance of normality will do us all some good."
There was more than that though, whether they knew it or not. It wasn't so much just that Lexa was gone, after all he still couldn't say he like her, as it was everything else. Lexa had died in vain for something she didn't believe in, Saint John hadn't been in the rescued bunch either, and no matter how glad he was to get the others out or tried to look at the good that had come out of it, the overshadowing fact he had lost someone who was once a friend, had a close call himself, and risked everything that he valued most remained there. He didn't want to quit looking and hoping that his brother was still out there because he might still be, but nobody wanted to abandon his brother either. He had to think about the rest of them too - Dom, Cait, Le - they were all family too, blood related or not. They meant a lot to him, and while he and Sinj had had a couple fights over the years Saint John had always been trying to do what he thought was best for him even if he didn't immediately realize it, and he had no doubt Saint John wouldn't want him to lose it all for his sake. With all that had just happened, what he had lost and come so close to losing, it made him wonder just how much was he willing to put on the line to get Saint John back?