'We're approaching the French coast.'

Hawke almost smiled at the sound of Michael's slightly nervous voice through the headset. 'You'd better raise our radar suppression.'

'Done.' Michael confirmed. He settled back in the seat and regarded the back of Hawke's helmet thoughtfully. The pilot still hadn't asked him what Michael was going into Russia to do; Michael still hadn't offered the information. The spy had the sudden horrible suspicion that they were competing to see which of them would crack first. He sighed. Even if he was inclined to break the silence, he wasn't sure he would know where to begin. He guessed at the beginning…

Michael scanned the embassy ballroom with the experienced eye that came with being a senior intelligence officer. His blue eyes missed nothing in the crowded space; the secret deals, arrangements of illicit rendezvous and importantly, the arrival of the woman that had brought him to Paris, the woman who would give him Doctor Karl Kruger; Maria von Furster. He had memorised her photo and unless he was mistaken, she had entered the ballroom less than a minute previously on the arm of a German industrialist. Michael wondered if the forty-year old balding gentleman had any idea the woman he was escorting was a trained East German agent.

Michael adjusted the cuffs on his black velvet tuxedo and started down the curved staircase. She was more attractive than her picture, he thought absently as he took a glass of champagne from a circling waiter. Tall and slim with long blonde hair that flowed over bare shoulders, she had a cool, aristocratic beauty. She turned suddenly as though aware of his regard and her hazel eyes collided with his.

He raised his glass in a silent toast acknowledging that he'd been staring; it was the opening he needed. He made his way through the press of people to her side. He smiled charmingly and held his hand out. She took it cautiously.

'I'm sorry if my staring alarmed you.' Michael apologised in fluent French as he snagged another glass of champagne and handed it to her. 'But I'd just concluded you were the most beautiful woman in the room.'

She smiled. 'Thank you for the compliment, Mr?' Her accent hinted at her German nationality.

'Tennyson.' Michael smiled giving the name on his passport. 'Michael Tennyson.' It was the alias he always used in France. 'And you are?'

'Maria von Furster.' She raised her glass. 'It's nice to meet you Mr Tennyson.'

'Please call me Michael.' He clinked his own glass against hers.

'Michael.' Maria inclined her head. 'So what is it that brings you to Paris?'

Michael offered another smile. 'I'm here on business unfortunately.'

'And what business are you in?'

'Security.' Michael said.

Maria looked at him curiously. 'Security? That sounds interesting.'

'Very boring, I assure you.' Michael said.

Maria smiled and was about to say something when they both noticed her date waving at her from across the room. 'If you'll excuse me…'

'Of course.' Michael said graciously. 'Perhaps we could meet for dinner tomorrow?'

Maria turned back to him with a smile. 'I'm staying at the Ritz.'

'I'll meet you at eight.'

'I look forward to it.'

'As will I.' He was surprised to realise that he meant it as he watched her walk away from him…it was a beginning…

Michael sighed and rubbed at the incessant ache in his bad leg. He had never known when his feelings had shifted from an obsession to get Kruger to a love affair. He only knew that they had finally had to acknowledge the truth; that their relationship was hopeless…

Michael stirred and reached across the bed for Maria. She wasn't there. He frowned and sat up. He didn't see her at first. She was sat in the shadows opposite the bed curled up on an easy chair. He wouldn't have known she was there except for the faint glow of a cigarette and the pale grey stream of smoke.

'Maria?'

'Karl knows.' Her husky voice drifted through the darkness of the Stockholm hotel room.

He shoved the sheet back and padded across to where she was sat. He reached around her and snapped on the light. Maria blinked and turned her head away from the bright white light. Michael crouched down in front of her and nudged her chin until she faced him.

'What happened, Maria?'

Maria jerked her face from his grasp. 'He found out.'

'About us?' Michael's eyes widened in alarm even though his voice was calm, controlled. He reached for his clothes, stuffing his legs into his trousers.

'Of course, about us.' She stubbed her cigarette out, stood up and went to the window. 'He was furious.'

Michael paused in buttoning his shirt. He walked over to her, put his hands gently on her tense shoulders. 'Did he hurt you?'

'Not yet.' Maria turned in his arms. 'He wants to use me to get to you.' She gave a bitter laugh. 'Just as you once thought you could use me to get to him.'

Michael stiffened. 'I haven't been with you for that reason for a long time. You know that, Maria.'

'Yes,' she sighed and touched his lips with her fingers, 'I know and I'm sorry, Michael.' His heart sank at the tears in her hazel eyes.

'Kruger's coming for me isn't he?'

'I'm supposed to keep you here until morning.' Maria laid a hand on his chest. 'But I can't betray you, Michael. I can't watch Karl kill you anymore than I could let you kill him.' She took a step away from him, turned her back on him.

Michael checked his watch. He had a couple of hours to get out of the area. He grabbed his gun and shoved his feet into shoes. She made no move to stop him as he threw on his jacket over a partially fastened shirt. He hesitated at the hotel door and spun back around, took the steps that covered the distance between them and grasped her shoulders again to turn her around. Her face was wet with tears.

'Come with me.' Michael said urgently.

She shook her head. 'It would never work, Michael.'

'I love you.'

'Yes,' she looked at him sadly, 'and I love you but it's not enough. It was never going to be enough. If you're honest you know we both knew it all along.'

'If you stay Kruger will know you let me go.'

'I can handle, Karl Kruger.' Maria said. She kissed him gently. 'Goodbye, Michael.'

He kissed her again. 'Goodbye, Maria.'

It hadn't been their final goodbye although there were moments when Michael wished with all his being that it had been. The previous year he'd seen Maria's name on a KGB white list. He'd gone into Berlin to get her, to rescue her. His lips twisted. Only it had all been a set-up for Kruger to get him and brainwash him into assassinating Zeus and the rest of the FIRM's ruling Committee. Thank God, Hawke had worked out Kruger's game plan. But Maria had been part of it; had played an active role in it. Time and distance had eroded whatever love Maria had once felt for him. His mind skipped to the last time he'd seen her…

'Michael!'

At Kruger's shout, Michael turned from gathering the brainwashing serum that had been used on him. He froze. Kruger held a gun on him.

'How?' The other man demanded. 'How?'

'Hawke figured it out.' Michael replied. 'My rescue was too easy. After all those years in 'Nam he realised that either you had the worst gunners in the world or they weren't trying to hit Airwolf.'

'But you assassinated Zeus.' Kruger said.

'I tried.' Michael admitted. 'Hawke put blanks in my gun.'

'Ah then the serum works!' Kruger lowered his gun as his face was suffused with delight.

'It works. I did everything you programmed me to do only I fired blanks.'

Kruger levelled the gun back at him. 'Put those serum bottles back.'

Michael glanced at his own gun on the side table next to him gauging whether he could get to it in time.

'I said to put them back.' Kruger demanded again more forcefully.

'I found the formulas, Michael.' Hawke came around the corner.

'Hawke! Look out!' Michael called out.

Kruger turned in Hawke's direction, aimed his gun; Michael snatched his gun from the table and shot Kruger. The German doctor fell backwards through the doorway into the corridor, the surprise of his death etched into his face.

Hawke stepped over Kruger to stand just inside the room. He showed Michael the book of formulas. 'Let's go.'

Michael made a move toward him, caught sight of the woman in the corridor and froze, her name escaping from his lips in disbelief. It couldn't be. Maria had been shot helping in his escape from Kruger a few days previously…she couldn't be a part of this…

'Give me that book and the pouch.' Maria held a gun on him.

'No.' Michael didn't know what he was denying; her request or the idea that she had betrayed him.

'I can't let you go with it.' Maria said.

Michael exchanged the briefest of looks with Hawke.

'I swear I'll kill you, Michael.' Maria's voice shook.

'Will you, Maria?' Michael lowered his own gun, hoping that somewhere inside the woman standing in front of him was still the woman who had been unable to watch Kruger kill him in Stockholm. He hoped even as he kept her attention on him allowing Hawke to aim his gun.

Michael's heart sank as she raised her other hand to get a better grip on her gun, saw her finger tighten on the trigger…the shot was loud.

Maria fell to the floor with a groan.

Michael barely registered that Hawke was looking down at the gun he held in regret as he hurried past him into the corridor and knelt beside his former lover. He rubbed a hand over his forehead. She would have killed him. The realisation sank in with the sharpness of a dagger. They had to leave…he was aware of Hawke calling his name…

'Michael!'

Hawke's less than gentle prompt startled him out of his memories. Michael shook himself a little and focused on the console. It was beeping. He cleared his throat a little self-consciously. 'We have company.'

'You think?' Hawke snapped.

Michael glared at Hawke's head. 'It's one of ours.' He checked their radar profile and the trajectory of the plane's flight. 'He's heading away from us. I don't think he sees us.'

Hawke let go of the breath he hadn't even realised he'd been holding and shifted to glance angrily over his shoulder. 'What the hell were you doing back there?'

'I'm sorry. I got a little distracted.' Michael admitted stiffly.

Hawke turned back to the front of the cockpit. 'You get distracted again and I'm taking us home.'

'I won't.'

Hawke swallowed another angry retort and took a deep breath. Damn but he missed having his usual back up. He rolled his shoulders trying to ease the knot of tension that had settled there. 'Maybe it's time you told me why you're sneaking into Russia.'

Michael sighed. It was time, past time. 'Maria.'

Hawke's eyes widened. 'Maria, as in the same Maria I shot last year?' No wonder Michael had gotten distracted. 'She isn't alive?' He asked struck by a sudden thought.

'No, she's dead.' Michael confirmed.

'So what's going on?' Hawke asked when the other man remained silent.

Michael sighed. 'Maria had a sister, Hannah. She used to help Maria meet with me when we were together.' He took a deep breath. 'I received a message from her through a reliable informant a few days ago. Maria had a daughter.'

Hawke felt a sinking sensation in his stomach, he had a feeling he knew what was coming.

'Hannah says she's mine.'

'Are you sure?' Hawke asked.

'I've only been able to verify that Maria gave birth to a baby girl in 1975.' Michael sighed. 'But the dates match. The child was born about eight months after I left Maria in Stockholm.'

'Why has this sister only contacted you now?' Hawke asked.

'I don't know.' Michael admitted. 'That's why I'm here; to find out the truth. Why Hannah has contacted me, if this child is my daughter…'

'And if she is?' Hawke asked.

'I honestly don't know.' Michael said. 'I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.'

Hawke sighed deeply. 'So what's the plan when we get there?'

'Hannah is staying on a friend's farm in the Russian countryside outside of Moscow. We'll land in the woods nearby. You'll stay with Airwolf. I'll go and talk to Hannah.'

'You want me to stay in Airwolf?' Hawke double-checked.

'If this is a trap then you'll be able to get out.' Michael pointed out.

Hawke considered the plan and sighed. It made sense. 'OK.'

Michael breathed out in relief; he'd thought he'd have to spend more time convincing Hawke that it was the best plan in the circumstances. His eyes narrowed in suspicion. 'Is that code for when we get there, you'll do something else?'

Hawke glanced back at him. 'I said OK, Michael.'

His grumpy tone warned Michael not to press it. They flew on in silence for a long while.

'We're approaching the Russian border.' Michael noted eventually.

Hawke shifted in his seat. His arms and back were beginning to feel the effect of the long flight. He checked his monitor and the readings. 'You need to adjust our radar profile.' He commented.

Michael checked and made the adjustment. 'I hear,' he said conversationally, 'you moved back to the cabin?'

'Yeah.' Hawke said. The new extension had been completed a week before and he and Caitlin had moved in straight away. 'You should come up. The new bedrooms are great.'

'I might just do that.' Michael commented. 'It'll be great to have a bed for a change.'

'That's what everyone tells me.' Hawke said.

'So, how are things going with you and Cait?'

Hawke frowned and turned to glance back at Michael. The spy was careful to keep a completely bland expression. The pilot turned back to the sky.

'Since when have you been interested in my relationship with Cait?' He asked.

'I'm not interested.' Michael denied immediately.

'Then why ask?'

'Forget I ever did.' Michael muttered.

In the front of the cockpit, Hawke allowed himself a small smile. He knew the spy worried about his relationship with Caitlin and what it meant for Airwolf. 'Cait and I doing fine, Michael. You can stop worrying.'

'I'm not worried.' Michael refuted.

Hawke adjusted Airwolf's balance. 'Sure.'

'It's just…her moving into the cabin with you, you haven't been that serious about anyone since…' Michael stopped as though realising he'd said too much.

Hawke was silent.

'For what it's worth,' Michael said almost apologetically, 'I think it's great the two of you decided to get together.'

Hawke was shocked into shooting him another look.

Michael shrugged awkwardly. 'Even I can see how happy you make each other.'

'I wish her folks could see it.' Hawke muttered. He frowned; he hadn't meant to say that out loud.

'They still giving Caitlin a hard time?' Michael asked. The O'Shaunessy's had never warmed to the idea of Caitlin being in LA with Hawke particularly after she had been shot saving his life.

Hawke lowered their altitude. 'Kinda.' He admitted. 'Dom just thinks they need to spend time with the two of us.'

'But since he went to Italy you haven't been able to get away.' Michael concluded. 'Isn't Caitlin's sister getting married soon?'

Hawke sighed. 'Yeah but with Dom away, Cait's saying that she'll go on her own whilst I watch the business.' He checked their position. 'How much further?'

Michael calculated their location. 'Another ten minutes will put us in the general area.'

They flew on and eventually set down in a heavily wooded area. Hawke arranged the camouflage net as Michael changed out of the uniform and into something less conspicuous. He leaned on Airwolf as Michael packed a small rucksack.

'You sure you want to go in alone?' Hawke asked again.

'I won't take the risk of you and Airwolf getting caught in a trap.' Michael said firmly. 'Not for this.'

Hawke sighed and handed him a watch. 'Wear this. It has a tracer. You get caught up, I can track you, get you out.'

Michael smiled and changed his watch. 'Should I call you Q?'

Hawke ignored him and folded his arms. 'The walk to the farm will take you an hour. We'll rendezvous in five. That leaves you three hours to sort this out, Michael and an hour to get back.'

'Time check.' Michael checked his watch against Hawke's; they matched exactly. 'OK. I'll see you in five hours.'

Hawke caught his arm. 'Good luck, Michael.'

Michael nodded and set off a sturdy walking stick in one hand. Hawke watched the spy disappear into the trees and checked his watch again. He figured he'd give Michael a half an hour start and then head out after him.