The white limousine screeched to a halt in the FIRM's underground car park. Hawke didn't wait for the driver before he exited and stared hard at their surroundings. The car park was well lit and there were few places to hide. When he was satisfied that the coast was clear, he nodded at Lauren who opened the other passenger door and helped Michael out.

'I don't like sneaking into my own building.' Michael said with the air of a man who had said the same thing many times on the drive to the FIRM. He adjusted the cuffs on the pristine white suit he had changed into it and limped forward on the crutches.

Hawke sighed and gestured at the elevator. 'Come on.' He and Michael stepped into it whilst Lauren remained at the limo.

They had ridden half the floors in silence before Michael turned to the pilot. 'I'm sorry.'

'For what?' Hawke asked his eyes remaining firmly on the floor indicator.

'I'm just…' Michael sighed and pushed his glasses back up his nose. 'I just need to find out who did this.'

'I know.' Hawke glanced at the spy reassuringly. 'We'll get him, Michael.'

'You're a good friend, Hawke.'

'Yeah,' Hawke muttered turning his gaze back to the floor indicator, 'just don't let it get around. I have a reputation to protect, remember.'

'I think you lost that when you married Caitlin.' Michael pointed out wryly.

The elevator dinged as they reached the right floor and they stepped out into the corridor. It was filled with people running backwards and forwards. An agent assigned to Michael came to a surprised halt seeing him standing in front of the elevator.

'Sir…'

'Annabel.' Michael said smoothly.

'It's good to see you, sir.' Annabel gestured behind her toward the office. 'They're still taking evidence from…from the office, sir.'

'Thank you.' Michael started forward with Hawke at his side.

Michael took a deep breath as he entered the outer office. There were two teams combing through the space. One was beside Marella's old desk. Michael blanched at the reddish-brown stain on the carpet; Marella's blood. God, how much had she lost?

His eye was drawn back to Meryl's desk where her handbag still sat forlornly by her empty chair. He hobbled forward.

'Sir, you can't come in here…' began one of the agents whose voice trailed away as he recognised who it was. 'I'm sorry, Archangel.'

'Thanks, Greg.' Michael acknowledged. 'Have you found anything yet?'

'Nothing.' Zeus's voice at the doorway into the inner office got their attention. The director of the FIRM waved them toward him. 'You'd better come in here.'

Michael gave Greg an apologetic nod and hurried inside his office. He ignored the sudden wave of nausea as he passed the spot where he'd been attacked and headed for his chair. He slumped into the white leather. Zeus and Hawke took seats on the other side of the desk.

'How are you, Michael?' Zeus asked. His brown eyes were serious as they met Michael's across the expanse of desk.

Michael gestured. 'I've been better.'

'This is a bad business.' Zeus said.

'It had to have been an inside job.' Michael said.

'I know.' Zeus nodded in agreement. 'I have someone examining the security tapes now.'

'Do we have any ideas why my office was targeted?' Michael asked. He gestured at the evidence of forensic dust.

'They wore gloves,' Zeus said, 'but it's clear from the patterns that they looked through your desk first although they weren't able to get to the secured material in your bottom drawer.' He motioned for Michael to take a look.

Michael glanced down and for the first time saw the raw scrapes across the wood where they had tried to jimmy the lock open. 'I keep all the recent reports in there.'

'Would any of those reports interest a thief?' Zeus asked.

'They all would.' Michael shot back. 'All of the material would be very saleable on the intelligence market.'

'Is there anything specifically that comes to mind?' Zeus pressed.

'No, not really…' Michael paused and tapped his fingers thoughtfully on top of the wood.

'What?' Hawke asked.

Michael glanced at him and reached into the drawer to pull out the report. 'This is the report that I came back for.' He threw it across his desk and Hawke picked it up.

He flipped through the first few pages. 'It details the whereabouts of all known Company and FIRM agents where there may be an overlap.'

'Yes.' Michael frowned. 'We were due to have a meeting with the Company this morning to agree who was going to remain in which area once we've merged.'

'I understand why someone would want this report but if it is an inside job then they must have known you should have had it with you.' Hawke said putting it back on the desk. 'You're leaving it here was a mistake.'

'Maybe one they were waiting for though.' Zeus said. 'We swept the place for bugs and if there were any, they removed them.' He sighed. 'But it's possible someone was listening in, waiting for an opportunity.'

'And realised Meryl left the report in the desk and that I never retrieved it.' Michael concluded.

'What else is in there?' Hawke asked. 'Are there files on Airwolf?'

Michael nodded. 'Some general information. That's all.'

'Not everything is about Airwolf, Hawke.' Zeus said.

Hawke caught the director's eyes for a brief moment before he turned back to Michael. 'Excuse me. I need some air.' He was out of his chair and the office before Michael could reply.

The spy sighed and looked at Zeus. 'Why did you call Hawke?'

'You need back-up,' Zeus said, 'from outside the FIRM. Someone here tried to put a dent in your head.'

Michael found his hand drifting back up to his wound and yanked it back down. 'They damn near succeeded.'

'You should be at the hospital, Michael.' Zeus said.

'I need to be here.' Michael argued. 'I need to find out why someone did this.'

Zeus sighed. 'We haven't got a great deal to go on.' He admitted reluctantly. 'Whoever it is has been very clever. Our best chance is Marella.'

'Marella?' Michael asked surprised.

'The forensic team figure the way it happened, she must have seen who her attackers were.'

'Attackers?' Michael checked he'd heard correctly.

'Yes. They figure there were two people.' Zeus explained. 'Marella's head injury was caused by someone left handed; her bullet wounds were fired from someone right handed. Meryl was killed by someone left handed.'

'Has Meryl's family been informed?' Michael asked quietly.

'I sent one of your agents to break the news to them.' Zeus confirmed. 'Marella hasn't regained consciousness yet?'

Michael shook his head. 'Caitlin called the limo from the hospital. Marella's out of surgery but she's been taken to intensive care.'

'I have people watching the clinic,' Zeus said, 'but I think it would be wise to put out a cover story that neither you nor Marella remember anything.'

'I agree.' Michael said. 'Although I'm not sure it will be believed.'

'We can only hope.' Zeus sighed.

There was a moment of silence.

'You told Hawke about the merger.' Zeus said.

'No,' Michael held Zeus's stare, 'I didn't.'

'Marella.' Zeus deduced. 'I take it he also knows about the new Airwolf project?'

Michael shrugged.

'Dammit, Michael.' Zeus thumped the desk in front of him. 'I gave you a direct order not to tell him.'

'Which I followed to the letter.' Michael pointed out. 'You never expressly ordered my people not to tell Hawke.'

Zeus shook his head in amazement. The weaving between loopholes was why Michael was a good agent.

'You know, Hawke's probably right.' Michael said slowly.

'What do you mean?' asked Zeus.

'I mean, he's probably right about this being about Airwolf.' Michael rubbed his moustache thoughtfully. 'Really, any of the reports in my desk could be accessed elsewhere in the building. The only unique thing about my office is its connection to Airwolf.'

'So Hawke is right.' Zeus got to his feet disgruntled.

'He's annoying that way.' Michael admitted.

'That's not the only way.' Zeus said with a spark of humour. 'I'll be in my office if you need anything, Michael.'

'Thank you, Zeus.'

Zeus paused with his hand on the office door. 'We'll get the bastards, Archangel.'

'Yes,' Michael agreed with him, 'we will.'

Hawke passed Zeus in the corridor on his way back to Michael's office. The two men nodded at each other in uncomfortable acknowledgement. Hawke continued into the office and avoided looking at Marella's old desk. The splatter of blood had stained the wood and the floor badly. Greg and the other forensic agents continued to take samples and comb the outer office for clues. Hawke headed into Michael's office and closed the door with his foot; his hands held two polystyrene cups of coffee.

Michael grimaced but he took one with a murmured word of thanks. 'I've thought about it and you were right.' He said. 'This is probably about Airwolf.'

'I figured.' Hawke said.

Michael pointed at the spread of papers on his desk. 'This is everything that is in my desk and not held elsewhere in the organisation.'

Hawke reached across and whistled. 'That's a lot of information, Michael.'

'Not really.' Michael said. 'Most of this is general information about Airwolf.' He waved a hand. 'There's some stuff about the search for your brother, you.' He shook his head. 'But nothing that I can see anybody would want or need in particular.'

'Michael,' Hawke began, 'this merger…'

'I thought you didn't think it was about the merger?' Michael interrupted him surprised.

'Can I finish?' Hawke asked.

Michael held a hand up in apology and took a sip of the bitter machine coffee. He almost gagged but the hot liquid settled his churning stomach. He took another tentative sip. 'I'm listening.'

'When the merger happens,' Hawke continued, 'how strong is your position?'

'As head of a unit?' Michael frowned. 'Truthfully, I'm expecting my division to be disbanded. The Company already has operatives in most of the key areas where my people operate.' He gestured at the report Hawke had put on the desk earlier. 'That document, Meryl…' his breath caught at the realisation it was the last piece of work she had performed for him, 'Meryl put together confirmed it.'

'So what would normally happen to you or to say to someone else in the same position?'

'Normally, the deputy director is pensioned off somewhere hot and exotic where he can't make trouble.' Michael said. 'That is if they decide to keep him alive and on the books.'

'But Airwolf makes your position different.' Hawke said quietly.

'Yes.' Michael said slowly. 'I'm in charge of the Airwolf projects.'

'Which means they can't just pension you off.' Hawke said. 'Right?'

'Right.' Michael tapped his desk. 'I have some value to them whilst they don't understand either project.'

'What if someone else could offer them the same knowledge you have?' Hawke asked.

'My value decreases.' Michael confirmed. 'In fact, I might be considered to be a risk if kept alive.' He frowned. 'If someone could get all the information I know about Airwolf, politically I could be sidelined in the new merger.' He shook his head and regretted the movement when he felt a sharp stabbing pain. He winced. 'But it's unlikely. Most of my knowledge is distributed through a number of other people anyway; you, Marella, Karen Hansen…'

'Well, I'm not likely to cooperate and neither is Marella or Karen.' Hawke pointed out.

Michael finished his coffee and threw the cup in a waste basket on the other side of the room. 'Maybe it's not all knowledge about Airwolf.'

'What do you mean?' Hawke asked.

'Maybe it's only a specific piece of knowledge about Airwolf.'

'Airwolf's location.' Hawke deduced quickly. 'If someone can give the Company the Lair…'

'They can give the Company Airwolf.' Michael said. 'I would be discredited immediately. The Company would have control of the original machine and they wouldn't need my knowledge. They'd be able to have their own experts know everything about her in a matter of weeks.'

'Please tell me you don't have the coordinates to the Lair written down.' Hawke said staring hard at the spy.

'Of course, I don't.' Michael said. 'In fact as far as the FIRM is aware, I don't know where the Lair is.'

'But maybe someone doesn't believe that.' Hawke said.

'Or maybe they thought your personnel file would lead them to it.' Michael said. 'When we were actively looking for the Lair, my people used your file to build up a profile on where you were likely to hide it.' He shifted the papers and brought out a report with a red cover. 'This is it.'

'Oh?' Hawke wondered whether he should ask what they'd come up with.

'They weren't exactly miles off the mark either.' Michael said worriedly. 'We never gave the profile serious attention as we weren't trying to look too hard for her.'

'But someone else might.' Hawke frowned. 'You need to get rid of that report.'

'Agreed.' Michael hesitated.

'What?'

'If this is what they want…'

Hawke sighed as he saw where Michael was headed with his comment. 'You want to bait a trap for them.'

'Not with the actual report.' Michael said hurriedly. 'I'll dispose of this.' He tapped the cover. 'But with a fake.'

'It could work but if they figure we've worked out their end game, they're not going to fall for it.' Hawke said.

Michael saw the gleam in Hawke's blue eyes; the signal that a plan was forming. 'Go on.'

'We need to make them feel comfortable, Michael.' Hawke said. 'Let them think they've gotten away with it – that you have no idea what they were after beyond your Airwolf files.'

'OK.' Michael nodded.

'So you transfer the reports to a safer location.' Hawke waved vaguely. 'You must have a vault or something you can throw the fake files into.'

'We might,' allowed Michael.

'Let them find a fake file but instead of a profile on where I might have hidden it, give them one which details a real location.'

'They go to the location and we grab them there.' Michael murmured.

Hawke nodded. 'What do you think?'

'I think it sounds like a plan.' Michael said with satisfaction. He slipped his jacket off and rolled up his sleeves. 'We'd better get started.'

'On what?' Hawke asked.

Michael threw a report at him. 'At creating fake duplicates. They're not going to create themselves and we can't risk anyone else being involved.'

Hawke looked at the stack of paperwork on Michael's desk and scowled. 'Great.'

The phone rang.

Both men stared at it for a long moment before Michael reached out to pick up the receiver.

'Archangel here.' Michael said firmly. 'Hi, Caitlin. Is there any news?'

Caitlin sighed down the phone. 'No. She's still unconscious but some of your people are here and demanding to see her.'

'Who?' Michael demanded stumbling to his feet and gesturing at Hawke to pass him his crutches.

'I don't know some guys in suits.' Caitlin replied. 'They're with the doctor now.'

'Cait,' Michael said urgently, 'we've worked out that it was an inside job. Those guys are probably assassins. Don't let anyone near Marella. Hawke and I are on our way.' He put the phone down before she could reply.

'There are men trying to get into see Marella at the clinic.' Michael explained rapidly to Hawke.

The pilot gestured at the reports. 'Lock these up and let's go.'

Worry roughened his voice and Hawke tried to push away the thought that Caitlin, his wife, was alone at the hospital defending herself and Marella against an enemy that had killed one woman without compunction and seriously injured another…