Michael rose from the table almost before the Chairman's gavel had finished the loud bang that signalled a break in the Committee hearing. He'd spent the better part of the day answering questions about the early stages of the Airwolf project; the rationale for an intelligence firm creating the machine; the original budget; the original build…and he knew the more difficult questions were still to come. He smoothed his tie and followed the others into the anteroom. Amy was waiting with a cup of coffee. He took it from her.

'Any news?' He asked.

'Nothing, sir.'

Michael nodded.

'Archangel.'

Michael turned at the mention of his codename and smiled at the NSA agent grinning back at him. 'Robert Delaney.' They shook hands warmly. 'It's good to see you.'

'It's good to see you.' Delaney said. 'Although I wish it were in different circumstances.'

'You're going to be representing the NSA?' Michael took a sip of coffee. 'I thought you were retired.'

'I am.' Delaney shrugged. 'They needed somebody with experience.'

'I'm glad to have you onboard.' Michael said.

'I sat in on the earlier session. You were always incredibly cool under pressure.'

'They haven't even got to the difficult questions,' murmured Michael.

'How is Hawke?' asked Delaney. The two men started walking slowly around the room.

'He's good.' Michael said.

'Helping you out with the Rimmington situation?'

Michael smiled. 'You have someone on the ground?'

'Of course but we're not getting anywhere.' Delaney said. 'Rimmington's paranoid since you put him away the last time. He's keeping the deal close to his chest.'

'That's what I hear.' Michael said.

'Every single one of us is running after those weapons and this Senate Committee knows it.' Delaney commented glancing at the other huddles that were taking place around them. He looked back and smiled at Michael. 'For what it's worth, my money's on your boy.'

Michael was about to reply when he caught the signal from the clerk that it was time to return to the hearing. He and Delaney dutifully filed into the room and Michael retook his seat.

The Chairman was a Senator Mickelson. He was an older senator; he'd been serving his country for over forty years but his mind was sharp as a tack. Michael believed Mickelson wanted the restructuring of the intelligence agencies to be his legacy before he retired from politics. The other members were a mixed bag; all long term serving senators; the Committee was very particular about who it invited to sit. He figured the FIRM had three friends on the Committee and nine others including the Chairman who wanted the FIRM to disappear.

Their main opponent was Senator Gilligan. He had been in the Senate for almost twenty years and he had been a close friend of Senator Dietz, the senator who had been visiting Red Star Control when Moffett has blown the place up and stolen Airwolf. He was leading the questions on the Airwolf project. Michael figured he was aiming to put the project and the FIRM out of business.

'For the record,' announced Mickelson, 'we are now resuming our analysis of the FIRM's funding specific to the Airwolf project. Senator Gilligan will lead the questions. Please state your names for the record.'

'Zeus, director of the FIRM.' Zeus stated firmly.

'Archangel, deputy director of the FIRM.' Michael said.

The Chairman nodded at Gilligan to begin.

'Before the break, Archangel, you accounted for the spending on the Airwolf project during her build and test phase. We had reached the period up to the end of 1983.' Gilligan pinned Michael with a hard brown stare. 'There was a massive hike in spending at the end of 1983 which continued into January 1984. Please explain for the record why that was.'

The muscle along Michael's jaw tightened imperceptibly. 'During a demonstration Airwolf was stolen from the FIRM by her creator Moffett and his team. He blew up a control tower and laboratory during his escape. The additional expenditure was associated with medical expenses for injured employees and the recovery effort.'

'How many employees died during that incident?' Gilligan asked harshly.

'Fourteen including Senator Dietz.' Michael admitted. 'A further twenty-five suffered permanent or serious injury and an additional fifty-eight suffered minor injuries.'

'And tell me was the…three million dollars spent on the recovery effort successful?' Gilligan asked.

'Airwolf was recovered successfully.' Michael said remaining calm.

'But not by the FIRM.'

Michael inclined his head. 'By her original test pilot.'

'And it is true is it not, Archangel that the pilot, a Stringfellow Hawke, still refuses to return Airwolf to the FIRM?'

Michael's heart sank at the question and he wondered how he replied without getting Hawke arrested for treason.

'That is incorrect.'

Michael's head snapped round to Zeus surprised by the director's intervention.

Zeus leaned forward, his hands clasped on the polished wood in front of him. 'Our agreement with Captain Hawke was that he would recover the aircraft for us and we would find his brother dead or alive.'

'The Chair recognises Senator Ealy.' Mickelson intoned.

'Are you stating for the record Zeus that Captain Hawke's current ownership of Airwolf is not disputed by the FIRM?' Ealy, a younger female Senator, stared at the director in disbelief.

'The agreement between Captain Hawke and the FIRM has never been disputed.' Zeus said. 'Captain Hawke is also aware that our agreement never explicitly stated that he would keep Airwolf until we found his brother, although neither did it explicitly state he would not. It is open to interpretation.'

'Do you have a copy of this agreement for this Committee?' Gilligan asked.

'It was a verbal agreement.' Zeus said smoothly spreading his hands. 'We have endeavoured to keep to the spirit of the agreement but Captain Hawke is also aware that we would prefer to have Airwolf and seek to relieve him from the burden of looking after her.'

'Have you actually made any progress in finding his brother?' Mickelson asked.

Michael nodded. 'We've established that Saint John Hawke was rescued from the Vietcong two and half years after the mission where he went down. We've also ascertained that he joined the Special Forces unit that rescued him and continued to do covert operations in Asia until the end of the war. We have a discharge record from the army in the late Seventies and we believe he joined an intelligence agency and went deep undercover.' He glanced around the assembled group of agents. 'If anyone is willing to admit to being his employer and where he currently is, I could have Airwolf returned to me in twenty-four hours.'

The other intelligence representatives ducked their heads. Michael's good eye narrowed thoughtfully. Had he just seen the Company representative duck a little lower than the others?

'You really think this guy is just going to give Airwolf up?' Gilligan asked sceptically.

'There's no doubt in my mind that he'll return Airwolf. Stringfellow Hawke is a patriot and an honourable man.' Michael answered forcefully. 'It's the reason why he also agreed to continue to fly Airwolf missions whilst he holds her.'

'Yes, Airwolf is still being used by the FIRM to fly missions.' Gilligan stated. 'The expenditure on armaments, on fuel and maintenance is astounding.'

'And to the benefit of us all.' Zeus said. 'Airwolf has been used extensively to further American interests and in the pursuit of our national security.'

'And the occasions when Captain Hawke has used her for personal business?' Gilligan asked. 'What justification can you offer for those incidents and associated expenditure?'

'Do you have any specific incident in mind?' Zeus asked.

There was a moment's silence. Michael stroked his moustache to hide the small smile that tugged at his lips. Everyone in the room knew that there was no proof that Hawke had ever used Airwolf in a personal mission; Michael had seen to that.

Gilligan cleared his throat. 'Perhaps we should return to the financial aspects of this project. I see that there was continued spend in 1984 to build a second aircraft?'

'Yes.' Zeus confirmed. 'That is correct. The original plan was to build a fleet of the helicopters.'

'So having failed to retain control of the first aircraft, you were encouraged to build a second aircraft?' Gilligan asked scathingly.

'We believed that the initial success of the missions Captain Hawke had undertaken in Airwolf indicated that a second aircraft would bring us nothing more but additional success.' Zeus answered.

'And perhaps you can explain what happened to that aircraft codenamed Airwolf II and also known as Redwolf?'

'She was stolen by her test pilot, Harlan Jenkins.' Zeus admitted.

'There seems to be a recurring theme.' Gilligan said. 'Is it bad judgement or just complete incompetence that you keep losing these aircraft?'

'With respect Senator Gilligan we haven't lost the first aircraft.' Michael spoke up. 'In fact Airwolf was pivotal in resolving the incident with Airwolf II.'

'Yes,' Gilligan noted, 'I understand that Airwolf shot down Airwolf II. It was an expensive resolution.'

Michael and Zeus exchanged a look and both decided to stay silent.

Gilligan perused the sheet of paper in front of him. 'However, after the Airwolf II incident, spending increased again on the Airwolf project.'

'We invested more fully in the operational helicopter.' Michael said.

'Yes, I can see that in the line items but that isn't the end of it, is it?' Gilligan looked up and directly into Michael's blue eye. 'Do you deny that you're building a third Airwolf, Archangel?'

Michael sat back in his seat aware that every eye in the room had turned to look at him. He pushed his wire-frame glasses up his nose and returned the senator's angry stare with a cool, even one of his own.

'No,' he said clearly, 'I don't deny it.'