Hawke towelled his face dry and examined his clean shaven face in the mirror of the hotel bathroom. He had quickly caught a lift in a truck on the road outside the old airfield. It had taken him to the outskirts of town; a cab had brought him into the political capitol itself and he'd found a cheap hotel to use for a change of clothes; jeans and a leather flying jacket just wouldn't cut it with the Washington elite.

He rubbed a hand over the smooth skin of his jaw and decided it would do. He headed into the bedroom and pulled on the shirt he'd packed, fastened the tie and shucked on the brown suit jacket. He checked his appearance. He was a little crumpled but he would do. He picked up the sheet of paper that detailed Michael's itinerary for his Washington trip and grimaced. The schedule was certainly packed; budget meetings, Senate Committee hearings, a couple of evening receptions, lunches…where the hell did he start? He was thinking the best place would be at Michael's hotel when a meeting half-way down the page caught his eye. Michael had met for lunch with Robert Delaney on the day he went missing.

Bob Delaney, mused Hawke. The man was a retired NSA agent and Hawke had worked with him once as an operative and again when the agent had helped the Airwolf team stop a power hungry general getting his hands on the helicopter. Delaney was a good man and a good agent. He knew the politics in Washington inside out; if anyone could help Hawke find Michael, it was Delaney. Hawke snatched up the phone and dialled Red Star. He was quickly put through to Caitlin and Marella.

'I'm about to start the search and I thought I'd just check in.' Hawke said.

'I'm pleased you did.' Caitlin said. 'We've got some news.'

'Oh?'

'Saint John and Jo are on their way in Airwolf to give you some back-up.'

Hawke's eyebrow quirked upwards and he rubbed his chin. 'I thought they were on a mission?'

'Apparently the Company was mistaken.'

He smiled at the anger in his wife's voice. 'You decided to call them on it, huh?'

'Kinda.' Caitlin admitted. 'At least, you won't have to go after Michael alone.'

'Hopefully, I'll have found out where to find Michael by the time they get here.' Hawke said. 'Marella, do you have an address for Bob Delaney?'

'Are you thinking about talking with Delaney first?' Caitlin asked before Marella could answer.

'He might be the one person here who would be willing to point me in the right direction.' Hawke said. 'I'm betting someone here in town knows what happened to Michael and the only person I know who has better connections than Bob is Michael.'

'You're probably right.' Marella said. She reeled off an address and he scribbled it on the telephone pad supplied by the hotel.

'Watch your back.' Caitlin said worriedly.

Hawke sighed. 'I'll call in again when I've got some news. Bye.'

'Bye.'

He dropped the receiver back into the cradle, tore off the address and after retrieving his wallet and sunglasses from his leather jacket he headed out to the bustle of the Washington streets to flag down a cab. He was soon at the apartment building. The entrance way was ornate; polished marble competed with gilt mirrors and striking art. Hawke ignored the opulence as he strode to the security desk.

'Can I help you, sir?' The young security guard asked nervously.

Hawke took off his sunglasses. 'I'm here to see Mr Delaney.'

'Are you Captain Hawke?' The security guard asked checking his list for the day.

It wasn't often Hawke was surprised and he barely managed a nod to confirm he was.

'If I could see some identification, sir?'

Hawke handed over his wallet.

'That's fine, sir. Mr Delaney is expecting you. If you take the elevator to the sixth floor, you'll find apartment twelve on your left hand side.'

'Thanks.' Hawke put his wallet back in his inside pocket and got into the elevator as instructed. Damn, but Bob was good. He got out at the sixth floor and rapped on the door to apartment twelve.

Delaney answered the summons. A slim man of sixty with a tanned, lined face and dark hair still trimmed to an army regulation length. His dark eyes smiled back at Hawke. 'It's good to see you.'

'Good to see you too.' Hawke replied shaking the other man's proffered hand.

'Let's take a walk.' Delaney said.

They made their way back out of the building to a park down the street. Delaney bought them coffee from a little cart vendor and they sat down on a bench overlooking a stretch of perfectly manicured lawn.

Hawke sipped on his drink and reviewed Delaney with curiosity. 'How did you know I'd come?'

'You'll have to forgive him but Michael let me on the secret that rumours of your death were greatly exaggerated.' His eyes scanned the park for any eavesdroppers. 'I knew as soon as I heard Michael was missing that you'd come into town to find him and I figured as my lunch with him was on his official schedule, you'd come by to see me.'

'Can you help me find him?' Hawke asked.

He surprised Delaney into looking at him. 'You're not curious about why Michael and I were meeting?'

Hawke shrugged. 'Does it have anything to do with why he's missing?'

'No.'

'Then, no.' Hawke replied.

'You always were focused.' Delaney said. 'I've managed to track down who and where.' He reached into his own jacket pocket and extracted an envelope. He set it down on the bench. 'All the information I've got is in there.'

Hawke picked it up and leafed through the contents. He stopped at a photo of a man about Michael's age with blond hair and blue eyes leaving an embassy building. 'This the guy who's got him?'

'Yes. Robin Terrence. He's ex-MI6.'

'British Intelligence?' Hawke said. 'I thought we were supposed to be on the same side.'

'Not with this guy.' Delaney frowned. 'He was very good even if he did stomp all over other agents to get results. He got captured by the Chinese a few years back and although he escaped by some miracle, he became unstable. MI6 cut him loose. Since then he's set up his own security firm and has even been doing some freelance work; not always for allies of the British. There are rumours the British tried to terminate him last year and failed.'

'Nice.' Hawke muttered. 'What's he want with Michael?'

'If I had to guess I'd say it was personal.' Delaney said. 'Michael and I attended the same reception the night he arrived in Washington. Terrence was there. When they laid eyes on each other…if looks could kill both of them would be dead on the floor.'

'Did they speak with each other?' Hawke asked.

'Not as far as I'm aware but I wasn't keeping track of Michael all night.'

'This building?' Hawke gestured at a second photo.

'An old sanatorium on the outskirts of Washington.' Delaney said. 'It's part of his firm's holdings. I'm betting if Michael is anywhere it's there.'

'Do you have confirmation on any of this?'

'I haven't been able to check on the sanatorium, I didn't want to tip off Terrence. But I have linked Michael's aide, Tricia Marley, here in Washington with a series of phone calls to Terrence's firm within the last few months and a significant sum of money deposited into her account at the start of this week.' Delaney noted. 'I think Marley betrayed Michael to Terrence.'

'So he's been planning to snatch him for some time?' Hawke mused.

'It looks like it.' Delaney noted unhappily. 'His timing is probably based on the fact that Michael's no longer protected by his position at the FIRM. I think Terrence figured the Company was more likely just to write Michael off.'

'He was right.' Hawke said with a bite of anger.

'Then there's you and Airwolf, of course.'

Hawke raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

'Whilst you had Airwolf, Terrence probably also had to consider you would come after Michael. You and that machine have a legendary status in the corridors of power; even Terrence might have decided it was too risky to take you on.' Delaney took a sip of his coffee. 'But now, Airwolf is ostensibly with the Company and you…you're supposed to be dead.'

'Well he's going to get a surprise on both fronts then.' Hawke muttered.

'You have Airwolf?' Delaney said shocked.

'My brother's on his way with her.' Hawke replied absently.

'I didn't think the Company…'

Hawke smiled without humour. 'Who said anything about the Company?'

Delaney gave a nod of understanding. 'Terrence has made a big show of being visible the last couple of days since Michael was snatched.'

'Establishing alibi.' Hawke deduced.

'That would be my guess.' Delaney sighed. 'He's probably got a small team at the sanatorium with Michael and I think he'll have kept him alive until he could face him personally.'

'But Michael's running out of time.' Hawke concluded. 'Terrence is probably figuring if he's gone almost forty-eight hours without being questioned or any kind of rescue attempt that he's safe to make his move. I should get going.'

'Hawke,' Delaney said rising as Hawke got up, 'good luck.'

'Thanks for all your help.'

'Just bring him back alive, Hawke.'

Hawke replaced his sunglasses. 'I'll do my best.'

Delaney smiled. 'That's good enough for me.'