Morning sunlight filtered through the trees in the clearing. Something clattered by the campfire and Hawke came awake quickly. He frowned and turned his head to see Dom preparing coffee. He eased away from Caitlin and got up. Five minutes later he was sat next to Dom by the fire.
'It's not like you to be up first.' Hawke said keeping his voice low; he didn't want to disturb Caitlin. He took the cup Dom handed to him with a nod of thanks.
'Yesterday's been kind of preying on my mind. Thought I'd lost you, kid.' Dom admitted huskily.
'Nah.' Hawke teased him. 'If I hadn't showed up you'd have come after me.'
Dom snorted but the deep lines in his craggy face eased. 'How did you get right up to the building like that without the FIRM's defences triggering?'
'All the codes and frequencies were included in the computer.' Hawke gestured with the mug. 'I figure Michael included them during the upgrade.'
'I wonder why.' Dom thought out loud. Michael rarely did anything without a reason.
Hawke shrugged. 'Beats me. I don't think it was for us to wave at him through his window though.'
'You should have seen the look on his face.' Dom chuckled. 'It was like he and Marella had seen a ghost.'
'Probably brought back bad memories for Marella and him.' Hawke said with some regret.
'What do you mean?'
'By all accounts, when Moffett stole Airwolf, he positioned her right in front of the control tower window before he blew it up.' Hawke said.
'Hell.' Dom shook his head. 'No wonder he went as white as his suit.'
Hawke threw a branch onto the fire and his gaze drifted to the woman sleeping bundled up nearby.
'How's she doing?' Dom asked.
'I had to practically force painkillers down her last night.' Hawke growled. 'Physically,' he gestured at the camp, 'she hasn't recovered enough to handle this and she can't do it for long.' He sighed and massaged the back of his neck which was aching. 'None of us can.'
Dom heard the worry and patted Hawke's arm. 'She'll be OK. We all will be.'
'Yeah.' Hawke got to his feet. 'We just need to take Bening out.'
'Easier said than done, kid.' Dom said draining his mug.
Hawke got to his feet. 'I'll wake Cait. We need to get started.'