Chapter Twenty Four.

Weaver, Washington State,

Zee McVey's General Store.

"Morning ma'am, you're keen," Zee McVey greeted Megan Ravenson with a wide, warm smile, disturbing the tiny brass bell over the lintel as he opened the door to his first customer at precisely seven am.

"Your friends not with you this morning?" he asked casually, allowing his gaze to wander up and down the street beyond his storefront looking for the rental car that he had seen Dominic Santini and his two female companions drive away in the previous evening.

"Ah, no," Megan responded warily.

"How did you get here, Ma'am?" McVey frowned now, moving aside to allow her to step inside the store at last then closing the door behind her.

"I walked," she explained with a soft sigh. "Besides, our camp isn't too far out of town. I enjoyed stretching my legs after spending most of the day yesterday in the car."

"So, did you guys forget something?" Zee was nodding in understanding as he asked the question.

Ever the store keeper, she supposed that he probably remembered every item that they had purchased when they were here last night and that he was thinking that she was here looking for something to pad out those meager supplies.

"No, actually, Mr McVey," Megan grew coy and bashful, dropping her eyes briefly unsure exactly what to say to the man without again raising his suspicions, or making him think that she was a raving lunatic, then raised her eyes to regard McVey steadily.

"Call me Zee," he coaxed, looking back at her with big, soft brown eyes filled with curiosity, head tilted birdlike to one side as he watched her.

"Ok, Zee. I was hoping that you might be able to help me," Megan gave him a genuine smile now.

"I'll do my best. As you can see, we have quite a good selection of provisions, but if you're looking for something in particular …."

"I am, but not here in your store. Zee, I need some information and I was hoping that you would know. I can't explain to you how or why, but it could be very important."

"Does it have anything to do with your friend Hawke?" McVey asked, growing serious as he recalled practically the same words coming from her friend, Mr. Santini's mouth the previous evening and what he had learned once the older man had decided to open up and just say what was on his mind.

"Yes, Zee. It does."

"Then ask away. Ya know, I still can't raise Charlie on the radio. Gettin' kinda worried about him and the old timer. I don't know exactly where on the mountain Jack lives, else I would have taken me a ride up there just to make sure they're both ok …." his voice trailed away as he realized that he was waffling and that it probably wasn't what this pretty lady standing before him with a pleasantly tolerant expression on her face wanted to hear.

"I'm sorry."

"No, it's all right. Really," Megan assured with a smile. "I'm sure that Hawke would be grateful to know that you are looking out for his friend. I hope it turns out that Mr Roth is ok."

"Thanks. Now, how can I help you?"

"Do you know if there has been a fire some place close to here?"

Suddenly, the look on Zee McVey's face told Meg that her instincts had been corrected and that he was the man to speak to.

"How in the hell do you know about that?" he gaped at her in utter astonishment.

"It's kind of hard to explain," Megan sighed and saw a flicker of understanding in the big man's eyes.

"You got one of them feelings too, huh?" he was regarding her warily now. "You got that EPS thing?" he seemed genuinely curious now.

"Actually, it's ESP, but I like the way you put it better. And yes, it was one of those feelings that brought me here to you this morning, Zee," Megan smiled softly at him now. "Let's just leave it at that, can we?"

"Sure," McVey smiled knowingly, not wanting to embarrass her by making her explain something she obviously felt uncomfortable about.

He was an open minded sort of guy, having seen more than his fair share of things that other people would consider weird over the years, and although he wasn't quite a believer himself, he would never ridicule anyone who believed that they had the gift themselves

"The fire?" Megan prompted when he continued to grin at her in silence.

"Oh, yeah," he grew serious again now. "The Goodwin place. About fifty miles north of here. George Goodwin, the owner, he died in a fire week before last."

"Did he keep horses?"

"Sure did," he again reacted with surprise then nodded in understanding and acceptance.

"Lost the last of his stock in the blaze," McVey grew serious and thoughtful now, an odd expression swiftly crossing his face as he turned his back and began to walk away from her quickly, heading back toward the counter at the other end of the store.

Megan followed him, curious at his reaction, and sensing that he had something important that he wanted to show her.

"Zee?"

"George was a good friend, ma'am,"

"Megan," she corrected him gently.

"Megan," he relaxed a little and gave her a weak smile now. "I'd know'd him since we were kids, him and his sister, Midge," the big man explained in a sorrowful voice, reaching up to a shelf behind the counter to pull down a small intricately carved wooden statue of a rearing horse, hooves beating the air in front of it, as it balanced on it's back legs. He handled the piece carefully, with reverence, Megan noted, as he handed the statuette to her. "He did good work."

"He carved this?" Megan held the beautifully crafted piece carefully, silently agreeing that it was indeed fine work, the artist having captured the fluid grace and movement of the animal.

However she was already getting strong vibrations from it, seeing flashes of the same vision of the fire that she had had the previous evening and so she set it down quickly before she saw anything too disturbing, not wanting to have to explain herself to McVey, placing it back on the counter carefully as she suddenly picked up on something else the man had said.

"Did you say Midge?"

"Yeah. George's sister," McVey explained, curious to know why she had set the carving down so quickly, almost as though it had burned her fingers, however he kept his thoughts to himself.

"Of course that ain't her real name. She's really Bridget, but even though she's a bit older than me and George, she was always a lot smaller than the rest of us kids, real cute little thing, feisty too. Started out as kind of a family thing, because when he was real small George couldn't pronounce her given name, and then at school the rest of us kids heard it and latched on to it and kinda ragged on her a bit, and she got the nick name Bridget the Midget."

"Boy, did she hate that, always ready to throw a punch if anyone dared to say it in her presence and always had some witty come back like 'all good things come in small packages', and 'you don't see diamonds as big as bricks,'" he grinned as he recalled the memory.

"We soon learned that while she might be small, she sure could bite! She was always more daring than the rest of us put together, probably because she thought that she had to prove herself. Over the years it kinda got shortened to Midge," he explained, frowning as he found himself wondering why he had just told a complete stranger all of that, and why that stranger was standing there, nodding in understanding and grinning triumphantly at him.

"Can you take me there?"

"The Goodwin place? Sure," Megan continued to smile encouragingly at him, and he suddenly understood. "You mean right now? But what about the store?"

"Trade really all that good on a Sunday?" Megan arched an eyebrow curiously although she doubted it very much.

"Not really, but someone's bound to be mad if they find the place shut up and they need something to finish off their roast lunch," he grumbled.

"I think Hawke could be close to the Goodwin place, Zee," Megan explained patiently. "My friends are already out there looking for him, but I just had this feeling, Zee, and not a good feeling, if you know what I mean," she paused to draw in a quick breath.

"I think Hawke is at the Goodwin place, and those two men the police are looking for, the ones who robbed the liquor store further down the mountain, I think they're there too."

"You think they're holding him hostage?" his eyebrows shot up, disappearing into his hairline as he stared at her in open mouthed astonishment.

"Maybe."

"And you want me to take you up there?" he asked her in incredulous tones as though unable to conceive of a reason why she would want to go marching into trouble, when most sane folks would stay well away, call the cops and barricade themselves into their homes.

"Yes, Zee, I need you to take me up there. Look," Megan emitted a soft little sigh. "Hawke's a good man, a good friend, and I'm afraid for him, Zee. I was kinda hoping that maybe you and a few of your friends might realize the seriousness of the situation and be willing to help us look for Hawke."

McVey grew thoughtful for a moment and Meg was about to try to use her powers of persuasion on him once more, when he grew very serious, a hard expression settling on his face as something flashed through his eyes, and then he suddenly reached out to grip the counter with white tipped fingers as though suddenly very dizzy and afraid that his legs would no longer support his weight.

"Zee, are you ok?" Megan asked with genuine concern, then suddenly realized the direction his thoughts were taking as he turned anxious, fearful brown eyes on her.

"Midge is up there. At the Goodwin place. With Kenny," he told her in a low, breathy voice and she could see the genuine concern etched into his face now.

"Kenny?"

"George's son. Her nephew," Zee explained and Megan could clearly see the anxiety in his eyes, and she did not need to be psychic to know that the big man obviously had feelings for this woman, Bridget, or Midge as she was known, and that he thought of her as more than just the sister of his friend.

"I saw her, at the funeral the other day, when I was payin' my respects. She told me that she planned to stay at the homestead, tidying everything up, until today, and then she would be taking Kenny back home with her so that she could get him ready for school tomorrow. He's been home schooled up to now, so it's gonna be something of a surprise to the kid," he explained giving her a weak smile. "And he's got some real catching up to do. That's why he's going to summer classes, and Midge thought it would kinda ease him into it, ready for when proper school starts up again."

As Megan watched his face closely, finding his smile most charming, suddenly she saw his expression change to one of shock and horror, his chocolate brown eyes growing wide as his mouth dropped open and she could see that he had finally begun to comprehend the seriousness of the situation.

"Oh man! We gotta get up there! Midge and the boy could be in grave danger!"

"Amen to that," Megan spoke in a whisper as she realized the true depth of feelings that Zee McVey had for this woman, Midge, and she knew that that more than anything had influenced his suddenly change of heart and his decision to help her. "Thank you, Zee."

"I'll get on the radio straight away, round up the guys, and I'll be sure to call the Sheriff's office in Honesty and give Abe Buchanan a heads up too. He'll have his guys out there in no time!"

"Zee, while you're on the radio, give my friend Dominic Santini a call and let him know where the Goodwin place is, then he and Cait can make their way there too."

"Sure thing. What's the frequency?" Zee asked as he half turned away from her, pulling open the door to the adjoining living quarters at the back of the store, assuming that Santini and the other girl he had been with had some kind of CB radio in their car. Megan saw the questioning look in his eyes and decided not to disabuse him of the notion for it suited her to have him believe that she had walked here because Caitlin and Dominic were out searching for Hawke in the rental car they had all arrived in yesterday. He would find out soon enough that they had other means of transport at their disposal, and she wasn't going to be the one to let the cat out of the bag, because Dominic would no doubt have a blue fit.

"Any. They'll hear you," he turned back to regard Megan curiously. "Believe me, Zee. They're just waiting for your call, and they've got really good equipment," Megan grinned reassuringly back at him. "Just keep trying, Zee. They'll hear you, you can be sure of that!"

0-0-0-0

Meanwhile, back in Airwolf's cockpit:

"Oh God, Dom," Caitlin O'Shannessy let out a startled gasp as she watched the screen before her refocus on the weaving skid marks in the road, clear evidence of someone having tried to control their vehicle, and then the gap in the crash barrier on the winding ribbon of mountain highway, further evidence that that person had lost the battle.

Her heart skipped a beat in her chest as Santini nosed Airwolf closer to the hole in the barrier and the wide path of broken tree limbs and crushed vegetation, plunging almost vertically down the mountainside, and she found herself wondering how on earth anyone could have survived a tumble like that.

"She was right, Dom. Megan was right. This must be the place Hawke's Jeep went off the road," her voice quivered as she fought back her emotions.

"Easy Cait," Santini advised, trying to keep a steady hand on Airwolf's controls as he too began to suddenly wonder if they were on a wild goose chase, because their friend must surely have broken his neck when he and the Jeep parted company after launching off the highway.

At that moment, one of the sensors to Cait's right began to beep and she automatically adjusted the view on her monitor to see a graph depicting peaks and troughs, the sensor's output plotted in a fashion that she could easily identify.

"I've got something on ground radar, Dom," she advised, reigning in her terror as she read the information on her screen.

"Hawke?" Santini asked, a note of trepidation in his voice now too, bracing himself for the horror he was sure they would find.

"No, looks like a whole bunch of metal and glass and rubber."

"The Jeep," Santini sighed heavily in relief and pulled back on the cyclic to gain altitude once more, inching Airwolf away from the hole in the crash barrier and maintaining the same altitude, followed the path of broken vegetation down the mountainside waiting for Caitlin to give him confirmation of the location of the wreckage of Stringfellow Hawke's rented Jeep.

"There it is," Santini intoned, settling Airwolf into a hover over the spot more than half way down the mountainside, and heard Caitlin let out a startled gasp as she flicked back the setting on her monitor so that it was once again presenting her with a picture being broadcast by the externally mounted camera.

"My God …."

"I know it looks bad, Cait," Santini rolled his eyes heavenward as he spoke, knowing that that must be the understatement of the decade, his eyes focusing on the wreck of the vehicle, front imploded after coming to an abrupt halt in a head on collision with an old tree stump and propped up on a huge bolder, the front axle twisted and bent out of shape, the engine well crumpled like tissue paper almost as far as the driver's seat, one rear wheel off the ground and the windshield completely devoid of glass.

"But remember what Megan said? She said she didn't think that Hawke had made it very far from the Jeep," he reminded, although in his heart he could not see how Hawke could have made it period, if he and the Jeep had made it to this point together, and if he had somehow managed to get out of the vehicle before it met it's abrupt end, the surrounding terrain would offer him few safe options for escape.

"You getting anything on the thermal scanner?"

"No," Caitlin responded abruptly. "At least nothing big enough to be Hawke."

"Just more cute furry things," Santini sighed. "I guess we'd better go check all the way down to the bottom of the mountain."

"Hey, wait a minute, Dom. I'm getting something on the radio!" Caitlin was excited now. "It's Zee McVey!" she exclaimed jubilantly.

"What's he say?"

"Hold on a minute and I'll patch you through," Caitlin giggled nervously into his ear now, obviously relieved to have something else to distract her from the dreadful thought that this was the place where Stringfellow Hawke had met his end, and then a few seconds later a decidedly male voice was filling Santini's helmet.

"Mr. Santini, if you can hear me, I've got Ms Ravenson with me. She explained everything to me and I've organized a search party. We'll be leaving shortly and we'll try to get there as quickly as we can. I called the Sheriff over there in Honesty and he's rounding up a posse, as we speak, to join the search from the north."

McVey paused and in the background, Santini could hear Megan Ravenson's soft voice, no doubt reminding the man that he needed to tell Dominic Santini where to move his search to.

"Thanks Zee, I'm obliged to ya. Tell Megan we found the place where she thought Hawke's Jeep went off the road, and it looks like she was right."

"Damn. I'm sorry to hear that, Mr. Santini, truly I am. I sure hope Hawke's ok."

"Me too, pal."

"Can you give me your current position, Mr. Santini?" Santini opened his mouth to give the man their present co-ordinates but was beaten to the punch by Caitlin O'Shannessy's dulcet tones.

"That's great, you're so close," Zee McVey could not contain his excitement. "The Goodwin place is about two miles south and east of your position," he then went on to give Caitlin O'Shannessy a map reference.

"The Goodwin place?" Santini asked after a few moments of silence.

"Yes, that's the place where they had the fire, Dom!" Dominic Santini was suddenly greeted by Megan Ravenson's excited voice.

"Look out for the burned out ruins of a stable and barn. There's a homestead too, some kind of cabin," she went on to explain, then paused for a moment to take a breath and Santini could hear Zee McVey's voice in the background now.

"That's the Goodwin place," Megan added more calmly now. "You should know that Zee thinks that there is a woman and a child still living there, Dom. They could be in danger from the fugitives too."

"Roger that, Megan," Santini acknowledged. "What exactly did McVey mean when he said you told him everything?" his tone was edged with suspicion now.

"Only what he needed to know," she assured. "Relax Dom, I told him that I thought Hawke was close to some place where they had had a fire and that the fugitives might be there too," Megan clarified for him, her tone edged with just a little impatience and disappointment that he could even think that she might be indiscreet about the existence of Airwolf, even if there was a chance that the man was going to be seeing her for himself pretty soon.

"I gotta go now, Dom. The last of the guys just turned up here and Zee's chomping at the bit to get going. Be careful."

"You too, Megan. See you'all there."

"We'll try to get there before any trouble starts," but he could tell from her tone of voice that she doubted it, and in truth, he suspected that she was right, after all, she was fifty miles away and Airwolf was only a couple of miles shy of the Goodwin place.

Still, she had done her part in confirming the location of the fire and persuading McVey to help her. If it was all over bar the shouting by the time they got there, Santini doubted that Megan would complain, she would just be glad that Hawke was safe and sound, and if he was honest, he was glad that she wouldn't be in the line of fire if things did start to get a little hairy down there.

"We'll get things under control and keep them contained until you or the cops arrive, then we're out of here. If String has lost his memory, I want to get him to a doctor, ASAP. I'm sorry Meg, but you'll be on your own for a while. Once Hawke is safe one of us will come back for you."

"Copy that, Dom. I understand. Good luck, and give String my regards when you see him."

"Roger that. Santini out."