Michael's office was being cleaned when they trooped into it. They pushed the cleaners out and set about their task with a quiet determination. A few hours later, Caitlin stretched her arms to the ceiling and tried to ease the kinks out of her back. In front of her were two piles of folders; one was the original set of documents, the other the fake set they were going to use to entrap the people responsible for the attempt to steal the document which had led to so many deaths.

'OK.' Michael rolled his sleeves back down. 'I'll get security to take these to the vault upstairs.' He patted one of the piles.

'And we're leaving these here.' Caitlin said.

'For the time being.' Michael confirmed. 'I'll make sure they get destroyed once this is all over.'

'Make sure you do, Michael.' Hawke said. 'You don't want anyone else getting the same idea.'

Michael nodded.

Caitlin helped him re-file the folders into his desk drawer and they all waited whilst security came to escort Michael up to the secure vault.

'You really think this is going to work?' Dom asked Hawke once the spy was out of the room.

'It has to.' The pilot answered. 'We're all out of options otherwise.'

Dom nodded slowly. 'I still don't like it.'

'I know, Dom.' Hawke sighed and shoved a hand through his short brown hair. 'I don't like it either.'

They waited until Michael came back down before they headed to their next destination; the fake location they had planted for where they had hidden Airwolf. If their plan worked, the mastermind behind the attack would come straight to them. They stopped at the actual Lair on the way and picked up Airwolf; Hawke had a sneaking suspicion they might have a need of her.

The fake location was also located in the Valley of the Gods; it was only a mile from Airwolf's actual Lair, had been a cave Hawke had considered and rejected. Hawke knew they were taking a risk by having it so close but, conversely, he reasoned that it was unlikely anyone would think that he would have chosen to put the fake location right next to the real one so it made the actual location of the Lair safer. He hoped.

They settled into positions and waited.

It was Hawke who heard the approaching chopper first; the steady drumbeat of rotors as it made its way to them. Hawke curled up behind the rock where he was waiting and his hand tightened on his gun. He glanced over at the other side of the cave. Michael was lying on the ground behind another outcropping. He could see in the dim twilight that the other man's face was set with a fierce concentration.

Hawke's blue eyes slid to Airwolf. The helicopter was sat in the centre of the cave. What was left of the sunlight beamed through the opening above her and bathed her in a pale thin light. Her black armour gleamed and her windows appeared opaque, mysterious. Her weaponry was deployed; the guns visible and the ADF pods waiting ready. She looked like the predator she was. Her cargo of Caitlin and Dom was safely hidden at the back of her cockpit and they were invisible in the poor light.

The chopper was descending; coming closer. Hawke thought he felt the ground vibrate as she landed. It wouldn't be too long now before someone would enter…

Footsteps and low voices. They were near. Hawke kept his breathing even and steady as he'd been trained.

There were more than two; maybe, four men in total, he thought as his sensitive ears distinguished between the different tones. One of them sounded vaguely familiar…

The first man entered the cave and froze at the sight of the helicopter. He was tall, six-foot and muscular. He was barely able to tear his eyes away from Airwolf to give a cursory check of the rest of the cave. His eyes failed to spot either Michael or Hawke but picked up on the spare weapon crates and chest on the far side of the cave that Hawke had added for authenticity.

'It's clear.' He yelled.

The other three men entered rapidly and Hawke froze, his eyes narrowing as they fell on the leader.

'This is incredible,' said one of the other men as he approached Airwolf. He was short, compact with the build of a military pilot. His hand stroked the nose. 'Incredible.'

'Can you fly her?' The leader asked gruffly.

'If it flies, I can fly her.' The pilot said.

'I don't like this.' The third man said. His eyes ran back around the cave. 'Something's not right.'

'Interestingly,' Michael's voice had the four men whirling around to face him as he hobbled out of the shadows with his gun firmly aimed at them, 'I thought the exact same thing before someone knocked me unconscious last night. Hands up, gentlemen.' He waited until they had all complied before his good eye settled on the leader and iced over. 'Hello, Zeus.'

'Archangel.' Zeus acknowledged the other man with a small inclination of his head, raising an eyebrow at the lilac Airwolf uniform. He glanced around and caught sight of Hawke who had risen silently to aim his own gun at the group of men. 'Hawke, I might have known you would have been close by.'

'This was all a set up wasn't it?' Michael said. 'For me to lead you to Airwolf.'

'Nobody was supposed to get hurt.' Zeus said. 'You must believe me, Michael.'

'You killed Meryl.' Michael pointed out, his grip on the gun tightening.

'She wasn't supposed to be in the office. None of you were.' Zeus pointed out. 'But once she saw me there…'

'She couldn't live or she'd give the game away.' Michael said. 'Were you originally just going to fake a break-in or were you really looking to see if I had information on where Airwolf was.'

'I've suspected for some time that you knew the location, Michael.' Zeus waved at the cave in which they were standing. 'And I was right.'

'This isn't the Lair.' Michael said.

'But…'

'This isn't the Lair.' Michael repeated.

Zeus blinked. 'But you…'

'We knew whoever was after Airwolf's location would probably think that the documents that we took to the security vault were fake. It was an obvious gambit.' Michael explained.

'You planted the fake documents into your desk.' Zeus deduced.

Michael nodded.

'Clever.' Zeus sighed. 'You always were a hell of an operative, Michael.'

'Why?' Michael asked. 'Why after all this time?'

'I need Airwolf to stay alive, Archangel.' Zeus snapped. 'You know the Company aren't likely to keep me around once the merger happens.'

'You know where the bodies are buried, Zeus.' Michael said. 'You should have had enough ammunition without Airwolf.'

'Maybe,' Zeus allowed, 'but I wanted to prove that we could get her back.'

'So you would have discredited me.' Michael said. 'Thrown me to the Company wolves instead of you.'

'It's politics, Michael.' Zeus said forcefully. 'Nothing personal.'

'You even called Hawke to make sure I made the connection of the break-in to Airwolf.' Michael shook his head in sad understanding.

Zeus sighed. 'You really think the Company are going to allow her to be left with Hawke?'

'I don't know.' Michael said quietly. 'But I know you're not getting your hands on her.'

'How do you intend to stop me?' Zeus asked. 'Four against two. I rather like those odds.'

'You've miscounted.' Michael said. He nodded at the helicopter and Caitlin switched on the power and Dom took his position. The guns on the chopper moved threateningly. 'With the Lady, I believe it's five against four.'

Zeus swallowed hard. 'Tell me what you want, Michael.'

'You think you can negotiate your way out of this?' Michael asked incredulous.

'What other choice do you have?' Zeus said forcefully. 'If you kill me or Hawke kills me, you're finished, you know that. None of the other agencies are going to stand for the director of the FIRM being shot trying to recover a piece of equipment which belongs to the FIRM in the first place.'

Michael's lips thinned. 'I think they'll understand just fine when I produce the evidence that you killed Meryl, attacked me, tried to assassinate Marella and did assassinate your own security detail at the clinic.'

'What evidence?' Zeus scoffed. 'There is no evidence. You can't trace any of those actions back to me and no-one is going to take your word.'

'Did you know,' Michael said conversationally, 'that Airwolf records everything?'

Zeus froze and he turned to stare at the machine. Caitlin gave him a jaunty wave.

'Still want a deal, Zeus?' Michael taunted.

'What do you want, Michael?' Zeus asked again desperation creeping into this voice.

Michael's eye went blank, deadly. 'I want you dead, Zeus.' His finger tightened on the trigger but before he could make the shot one of the other men pulled a gun and fired.

Hawke and Michael both dived for cover as the men used the distraction to reach for their guns.

Zeus made a run for it and Michael shot at him hit the wall of the cave as he ran past. The pilot was hard on Zeus' heels.

Hawke caught one of the men in the leg and finished him with a shot to the chest. The other man aimed for Michael who was exposed but froze at the roar of Airwolf's engines as she started up. He jumped again at the feel of the warm steel of Hawke's gun by his neck. Michael pulled himself to his feet using the rocks for leverage.

'Zeus is getting away.' Michael yelled over the noise of Airwolf's rotors

'Get in Airwolf.' Hawke instructed. 'We'll go after them.' He knocked the man in front of him unconscious and tied him up quickly. He ran to Airwolf and ducked under the rotors to climb into the cockpit in his usual seat. Dom was at the engineer's console and Caitlin beside him in the counter-measure specialist chair; Michael sat on the jump seat next to Dom.

Hawke adjusted the heavy Airwolf helmet and grasped the cyclic. They took off quickly.

'Get me a fix on that chopper.' Hawke ordered.

'Scanning.' Dom said. 'She's headed due East. String, that bird's souped up.'

'Turbos.' Hawke said.

'Turbos.' Dom confirmed.

They shot forward, streaking across the sky like a bullet. Airwolf thundered past the other chopper and sent her lurching as her rotors were caught in the backwash. Hawke turned and made another run at the chopper. It had recovered and fired a missile at them.

'Sunburst.' Hawke ordered.

Caitlin deployed the counter-measure as he finished saying the word and the missile exploded harmlessly in mid-air.

He eased off the turbos and rushed at the chopper again before firing the turbos just as he got past. The backwash sent the chopper spinning but the pilot managed to fire off two missiles. Hawke targeted one and shot it out of the sky; Caitlin took care of the other with another sunburst. The chopper was spinning wildly out of control as Hawke made another pass and suddenly, the rotors on it jammed. It lurched sideways at an odd angle.

Dom closed his eyes in the back of Airwolf and Caitlin looked away as the chopper crashed headlong into one of the rock formations in the Valley. The fireball lit Airwolf's cockpit with an orange glow.

Hawke hovered above the wreckage for a long moment and the cockpit was silent.

'I'll have a team come out.' Michael said. 'Deal with the clean up.'

Hawke glanced back at him concerned; the other man's voice was too calm, too controlled. 'You OK, Michael?'

'I'm fine.' Michael slumped back in his seat. 'Just…let's get out of here.'

Hawke exchanged a worried look with Caitlin but he adjusted their course and headed back to the Lair. Michael was right about one thing; it was time to go home.