Chapter 4
They gathered in the old hangar ready to send Dom back to his proper moment in time. Sinjin stood before Dom holding a cell phone. He handed it to the man and instructed, "I got this phone as a backup and for you to hold onto, Dom. It's programmed so you can speak directly to me. Just dial 119. It's 911 reversed."
"I got it, Sinjin." he assured the man taking the phone. He then pondered, "Can I play games on it?"
"Games?" he asked.
"I got a few games going." he explained. "And I'm subscribed to a few you tube channels."
Sinjin looked to Sam for an answer. She nodded, "You can play games on it but your range is limited by cell towers. Not sure what you guys had back in 1984. You did have cell towers. I open the 911 frequency so you can access any tower at any time. You can also use Airwolf to boost the range. The wormhole is stable and always open. Just need the engine to give us a little push through."
Sinjin stated, "So when you and String take Airwolf on missions you can use the phone to contact me and I can give you intel."
"That's a nice upgrade." Dom grinned.
"You can also use it like a normal cell phone and dial any phone number." Sinjin told him.
Dom wondered, "Can I access my Facebook account? So far I got you, Cait, Jo and Sam as friends."
Sinjin nodded, "You can access anything on the internet."
He cheered, "Boy will this ever help out."
"Google maps will not be very reliable unless you patch into Airwolf's systems. You would need satellite data from your time."
Dom pondered, "Could I use this phone with Airwolf's systems?"
Sam nodded, "It's Airwolf ready. I made an app and program that would allow you or Cait to fly Airwolf in turbo…" she made a face, "who the hell comes up with these names? You two can use the app to assist in transitioning from rotor to jet." she declared.
Dom blinked, "This little phone is Airwolf's upgrade. I can fly her with a computer assist."
Sam nodded, "I programmed that phone to automate the engineers station so you could fly her…" she complained, "now you got me calling it a her…by yourself."
Dom grinned wide.
Sinjin warned, "Don't let the FIRM get any whiff of all this. You two both be very careful to keep those phones hidden. Don't let anyone see them. If the firms figures out that Sam invented a time machine…"
She interrupted him, "Warp drive engine."
"Whatever," Sinjin rolled his eyes, "they will want it. Think about what they would do with time travel and access to the internet." He looked around him at the disgusted faces of his audience.
Jo nodded, "It would be bad."
Caitlin agreed, "Really bad."
Sam stated, "It would be a total disaster. They would have that one world government and the world's population reduced by 95%."
Sinjin asked, "Where do get these conspiracy theories from?"
"The internet!" she sounded. "And so far the tin foil wearers have been right about a lot of things."
Sinjin soothed, "Just stick to the mission. Prevent the explosion that will kill Dom and injure String. We stop that I think the rest will fall into place."
"But that won't happen for a year and a half after I go back." Sam complained.
"Some missions can take years." her father warned.
"Find me a Delorean." she requested.
Amused her father looked at Jo and Caitlin's giggling faces for they got the joke.
Dom asked, "What you need one of them fancy cars with wing doors for, Sam?"
"So I can make it into a time machine." she sounded.
Dom stood baffled, "Why a Delorean?"
Sinjin spoke the line from the movie, "Well if you are going to make a car into the time machine might as well do it with a little style."
"Huh?" the man had no idea what was so funny but Sinjin was smiling as Caitlin and Jo laughed.
Jo stated, "There will be a movie coming out in 1985 called Back to the Future. It's a classic. Take Sam to it. You will get the Delorean joke then."
Sam insisted, "I'm not joking. I'm going to put that prototype engine in a Delorean and use that."
"Sure McFly." Sinjin smirked. "Here's your phone. Your chargers, your ID and fake birth certificate." he handed the items. Money and Sam being able to purchase stuff in the past never crossed his mind nor anyone else's.
"Aye, Aye Captain." she gave a half salute.
He gave her a smirk back and then turned to Dom. His eyes softened, "Take care of her and keep in contact with me."
"I will Sinjin." he promised. He offered a handshake.
Sinjin shook his head and then wrapped his arms around the man and held him tight. He spoke softly, "I'm so grateful I got to spend these last few days with you." Tears swelled up as he readied himself to send Dom back. He released the man as he gathered himself.
Then Caitlin and Jo did the same thing and gave Dom and big hug and kiss on the cheek. The old man blushed and tried to assured them that he would be alright.
Sam looked at her parents, "Don't I get a hug?" she asked.
Sinjin wrapped an arm around her, "Call me every day with updates."
Her mother also gave her a hug, "You will be back home sooner than you know, honey." she assured her the time would fly by.
Sinjin went to the computer and pressed a button. The engine hummed to life. He looked at the pair, "You two ready?"
Sam and Dom then took their place in the corner where Dom was working on cleaning engine parts. Dom grabbed Sam's hand and stated, "Ready Sinjin."
He gave a firm nod and activated the engine. Before their eyes Dom and Sam simply disappeared.
Then his cell phone rang. The number dialed was 119. He swiped the screen and accepted the call. "You made it?" he asked.
Sam's voice replied, "We made it. Dom found a newspaper. Looks like only 24 hours passed on this end. Seems there is a off set to the wormhole."
"Understand." he agreed. "Keep me posted on what how that unfolds."
"Will do." she agreed. "I'm hanging up now. Call you tomorrow."
"Okay. Stay safe." he told her and disconnected the call. He looked to the women. "They made it."
Jo sighed, "Let's hope this works."
1984
Dom found the parts were cleaned and dried. He wondered who finished the work. Caitlin came out of the office. She was young and wearing a mechanics' overalls. "Morning Dom. I finished cleaning those parts you left out." She then noticed Dom stood with a young woman who she never saw before.
Sam looked to Dom. She waved the paper before him as a reminder to go with the cover.
"Oh right!" he remembered. "Cait, meet my daughter…Samantha Santini." as he said the name Sam winced as Dom grinned for he liked the new name her father put on the certificate.
She stated, "It's Sam."
Dom continued as Caitlin looked rather surprised. "Sam is 16 and is coming to live with me. Her mother was a woman I knew during Nam." He had yet to think of the mother figure for the cover.
Sam stated, "She died." She then embellished the story as she could see Caitlin looked on rather shocked. "She was some whore and a horrible person. We don't talk about her." She figured if she gave a horrible cover story to the alleged mother than no one would bring it up.
Caitlin had no idea what to say. She stood gaping at the news.
String walked out of the office next. He wore a blown leather jacket over a yellow shirt with tan cargo pants. He spied Dom and a new face. He came over to meet the girl. "Dom!" he greeted.
Sam noticed, "Man you looked good when you were young." She wasn't aware she said the thought out loud.
"Um…" he looked to Dom.
Dom went to the cover story. "String meet me daughter…Samantha Santini." He loved saying that name. He considered convincing Sam to add Santini to her surname like her mother did.
"It's Sam." she insisted.
"Daughter?" String gasped shocked. "From where? From who?"
Caitlin stated, "Some whore apparently."
Dom glanced at the fake certificate and the name that Sinjin listed for the mother. "Betty Jane Crocker." He wasn't aware that Sinjin took the name off a cookbook until that moment. "You remember Betty." It was a fake name for a fake person and he knew String would have no memory of Betty.
String took the birth certificate from Dom's hand. "Let me see that." He assumed the stranger was trying to pull a con over Dom. He knew the reproduction wasn't quite right. It lacked a raised seal. "Where is the seal?" he asked as he glared at Sam.
"It's not the original." Sam stated. "The state would only give me a copy."
String squinted his eyes as her unsure about the claim. Though he had to admit, she did look a lot like Jo Santini. "Hmm…" he debated what was really going on.
Sam looked to Dom and asked, "Is the grumpiness a Hawke thing?"
He nodded, "Sure is." He found the whole situation amusing for he knew String would be suspicious and acted just like he thought he would. He added, "She's a Santini, String. Look at her. Who does she look like?"
"Bit like Jo." he admitted.
"Exactly!" he cheered. "She's family."
Caitlin stood pondering the situation. One thing she noticed was Sam and String had the same nose. She kept the thought to herself but wondered if perhaps the girl was related to String in some way.
String looked at the certificate and then at the girl, "You are sixteen?" he asked her.
"That what it says." she rolled her eyes.
Caitlin being a former police officer knew a deflecting answer when heard it. At that point she figured Sam was not sixteen but wasn't sure how old she was.
Dom figured he better get Sam settled. He stated, "I'm going to show Sam to her room. She will be staying with me in the hanger." He motioned, "Come on Sam."
She lifted a small bag of clothing that she brought with her. "Coming…Dad." she followed Dom to the back of the hangar where Dom had living quarters set up.
Caitlin turned to String, "Are you buying this?"
He shook his head, "Nope."
Meanwhile, Dom led Sam into the back of the hangar where his office, bathrooms and two small bedrooms and a ready room was housed. Sam noticed, "Place looks nice." She looked about. "I did clean up a lot of hangar but I didn't need all this space back here."
"This will be your room." he stated. "I figure you must know the layout pretty good."
She nodded, "Yup." She looked up and found the same old AM/FM radio sitting on a shelf near in Dom's office. She grinned, "I love this old thing. Best radio ever." She flipped the switch and found it was on AM. She turned it to FM and then turned the dial to a nearby station. She paused as she listened to a very familiar song. She cocked her head and asked Dom, "It's 1984, right?"
"Sure is!" he agreed.
"Huh!" she seemed baffled.
"What is it?" he wondered.
She explained, "They are playing the same song. They play this song all the time on the radio. I had no idea it was so old."
He waved it off, "I don't listen to that rock and roll stuff you kids listen too."
String walked into the office and heard Dom mention he didn't listen to rock and roll. He didn't hear Sam's observation and thus assumed Sam turned it on to a rock station for she seemed young to him. "You like music, kid?" he asked her.
She grinned, "Who doesn't?"
"You play any instruments?" he wondered.
She cheered, "The drums."
Dom's eyes rolled back as he recalled Sinjin's complaint about the drums.
String nodded and then spoke to Dom, "Bring her up to the cabin sometime. Maybe we can have some music lessons." He figured he could introduce her to a more sophisticated instrument.
Dom recalled Sinjin telling him that she could play a number of instruments and was classically trained. But he also knew Sam had a sense of humor and he wondered what she would do to her uncle. He agreed, "Sure thing, String."
Sam suggested, "Sure we can jam to some blues or rock and roll."
String barked, "No! We do not…jam…to that." When it came to his cello he was not about to be reduced to a mere rock musician.
Sam turned off the radio. She began to hum a tune that seemed new to String.
"What are you humming?" he asked.
"Just made it up." she replied. "It would go good on a keyboard. Da-ta, da, at da…bum, ba bum, bum, ba bum." (The theme song to Airwolf)
String barked, "What the hell are you singing?"
"The tune or do I have to use Doe Ra Me?" she stated. "Doe, ra, me…do, ra, me..fa, la, la..fa…" she went quiet upon seeing the sheer annoyance on his face.
String looked at Dom, "I take it she will be going to school." He noticed Sam winced.
Dom assured, "I will go down an enroll her today."
Sam pleaded, "We can wait a while."
String crossed his arms and gave her a scolding look.
She rolled her eyes annoyed, "Man…you are so much fun."
String looked annoyed to Dom.
Dom assured, "I will take care of it, String."
He stomped from side to side in an dominate stance towards Sam who to him was just some smartass kid. He was going to keep an eye on her for he didn't believe for a minute she was Dom's daughter. "I'll be working on the bird." he walked out of the office wondering just what was actually going on.
Sam looked to Dom, "Jeepers! Could he be anymore of a hard ass?"
"You'll like him once you get to know him. He's warm up to ya." he assured her.
She smirked, "I don't know. If this is what he's like before he went down hill…"
"Trust me." Dom soothed. "Give him time. Once he warms up to you he will be like a second dad to you. He's Sinjin brother. You'll see."
She stated doubtful, "I don't think he will ever warm up to me." She turned and mentioned, "I'll put my things away now."
Dom watched as Sam walked away in disgust. He gave a heavy sigh, "If String only knew…he would be dotting over you, kid."