Hawke took the stairs two at a time and slapped the door to the floor he wanted open with a firm hand. He strode down the corridor acknowledging the odd greeting with a nod of his head as he made his way to Michael's office. He entered the outer office without knocking.

'Captain Hawke.'

Hawke didn't recognise the young blonde at the desk and he ignored the flirtatious smile she sent his way. 'Michael wanted to see me?'

'Yes, of course.' She picked up the phone and dialled the inner office. 'Captain Hawke is here to see you. Thank you, sir.' She put the receiver down and flashed another perfect smile at him. 'You're to go straight in.'

Hawke gave her a brief nod and pushed the door open. The office reminded him of Michael's old one at the FIRM headquarters with one wall dedicated to a sophisticated computer set up; a conference table sat off to the right and Michael's desk was straight ahead with chairs laid out in front of it. Michael was sat behind it in a large white leather chair. He looked over nervously as Hawke closed the office door and walked across the pale beige carpet.

'What's this about, Michael?' Hawke's impatience rang through the words as he came to a halt in front of the desk. 'The message said you wanted to see me urgently.'

Michael smoothed his moustache and got to his feet. He was wearing his usual uniform of an all white three piece suit and he took a moment to adjust the cuffs. Hawke's blue eyes narrowed on the way Michael's good eye didn't meet his as the spy reached into a desk drawer and pulled something out. A moment later, Michael stretched an arm across the desk. There was a ring displayed in the box on his open palm.

Hawke blinked at the square cut diamond and he raised his gaze back to Michael's visibly anxious expression. 'Why, Michael, I had no idea you felt this way.'

'Funny, Hawke.' Michael bit out. He gestured with the ring. 'What do you think?'

Hawke looked at the exquisitely cut stone set in a band of white gold and sighed as he moved to perch on the desk. He rubbed his chin. 'I think I owe my wife ten bucks.'

Michael stared back at him bemused.

'She bet me this morning that you were planning to propose to Marella on Saturday.' Hawke explained folding his arms across his chest.

The spy smiled reluctantly. 'She's right.' His hand strayed to tug on his collar.

Hawke noticed the unusual nervous gesture with amusement.

'You still haven't told me what you think of the ring?' Michael pressed.

The pilot plucked the ring box from Michael and examined the jewellery closely. It was a beautiful ring and Hawke had enough experience of the finer things in life to appreciate the artistry in the design. 'It's exquisite, Michael.' He handed it back.

Michael felt some of his tension drain away. 'Do you think she'll like it?'

'Who knows what women like?' Hawke said remembering his own uncertainty when he had proposed to Caitlin. 'Ask Cait when you come over for dinner tomorrow.'

'Right.' Michael closed the ring box and put it carefully back in the drawer. It was good timing; a light tap on the door heralded Marella's arrival.

'I heard you were up here.' Marella said as she walked across the office to Hawke.

Hawke's eyes travelled over her as he greeted her. Marella was a stunning woman with dark hair tamed into a chignon, smooth café latte skin and dark eyes that always seemed to swim with secrets. She was dressed in a silky white top and matching white pencil skirt with high heels. He wondered briefly if she would white as a bride.

'Caitlin called me.' Marella said grabbing Hawke's immediate attention. She hurried into the message before he got worried. 'She's gone to the Lair to help the Airwolf team out with a problem on the engines.'

Hawke sighed partially in relief.

'I told her she should charge them for her services.' Marella added sitting down in one of the chairs.

'Why don't they call on the Company engineers?' Michael asked.

'From what Saint John tells me, they're trying to keep Airwolf away from the agency as much as possible.' Hawke said. 'Keep their ability to influence how she's used to a minimum.' He paused. 'Apparently it was Locke's idea.'

Michael's lips twitched at Hawke's evident disbelief. 'He's a good man, Hawke.'

'He's a Company man.' Hawke corrected.

'So was I once.' Michael reminded him. He smiled. 'Of course then I met you.'

Hawke ignored the jest. 'Locke still hasn't come through with anything on Yahara.'

Michael shrugged. 'I haven't exactly produced anything yet to help with the search for your parents either Hawke. Give the man some time.'

'How's your FBI contact doing?' Hawke asked.

The spy sighed. 'He's having difficulties. He's high up but doesn't usually get involved with the detail of the witness protection program. It's going to require some finesse to get the file without getting caught.' His eye caught the flicker of impatience across Hawke's otherwise impassive face. 'I told you this was going to take patience, Hawke.'

Hawke sighed and pushed a hand through his brown hair. 'I should get back to the hangar.'

'I heard the tests went well this morning.' Marella said with satisfaction.

'There's a small problem with the turbos at really low altitude.' Hawke corrected. 'There's some static being produced.'

'At below fifteen feet.' Marella retorted. 'How often are you going to go lower?'

'I don't know,' Hawke said firmly, 'but if I have to go that low I know it's probably a situation where I don't want to be picked up by radar or sonar.'

'Marella?' Michael's concerned gaze snapped to his partner.

'Dorothea's team are going over the turbos now.' Marella confirmed. 'We're aiming to get the problem identified by the end of the day.'

Michael frowned. 'Keep me informed.'

Hawke tapped the desk lightly and nodded. He had just slipped off the desk when they all heard shouting in the outer office. All three of them hurried to the door. Hawke raised his eyebrows in surprise.

The petite blonde was standing in front of the door with her gun pointed at a mature man in his forties with greying hair and a rapidly reddening face. Another younger man hovered in the background clearly unsure what action to take, if any.

'These gentlemen were trying to barge their way into your office, sir.'

'Traci, you can stand down.' Michael said mildly as his good eye flickered to his visitor. 'Deputy Director Evan, what can I do for you?'

Hawke hid a smile at the way the other man tugged at his waistcoat and glared at Michael's assistant. The guy obviously hadn't had experience of dealing with Michael's loyal staff before.

'I need to speak with you on a matter of some urgency, Archangel.'

Michael's eyebrows rose at the use of his old codename. 'You'd better come in.' He stepped back into his office.

'I'll leave you to it.' Hawke said taking a step away from Michael.

'Actually, Captain Hawke, your presence is required too.' Evan's brown eyes gleamed coldly at the pilot.

Hawke frowned and sent a questioning look towards Michael. The spy shrugged and they all returned to the inner office. Michael gestured for Evan and his associate to take the chairs in front of the desk as he sat back down in his white leather chair. Marella perched on the side of his desk while Hawke stayed off to the side and leaned his shoulder against the wall.

'You said this was urgent?' Michael prompted as Evan glared at Hawke.

'An hour ago we received a telephone call.' Evan nodded at his companion. 'Show them the tape, Harvey.'

The younger man brought a small Dictaphone from his pocket, placed it on the desk and switched it on.

It crackled to life.

'As of ten minutes ago, my men took possession of the aircraft codenamed Airwolf and her team at her secret location.'

Hawke straightened and his blue eyes snapped to Michael's.

'Our demand is simple; ten million dollars is to be transferred to the following bank account by midnight or we will use the aircraft in an attack somewhere in the US every hour until the money is received. Any attempt to take back the helicopter will result in a nuclear bomb being detonated somewhere in the US. Do as we say and nobody will be hurt.'

Harvey leaned over and switched it off.

'It ends with the bank account number.' Evan said. 'I need Airwolf's location.'

Michael and Hawke exchanged an anxious look. Hawke forced himself to settle back against the wall as Michael rocked back in his chair.

'You're planning to attack.' Michael said. It was a statement not a question. 'What about the bomb they mention?'

'We believe they're bluffing.' Evan said firmly. 'We've been over recent intelligence and there is nothing to suggest that any terrorist group is capable of pulling that off at the moment.'

'Have you conferred with the NSA or the FBI?' Michael probed.

'We're keeping this in house for the moment.' Evan admitted. 'The location, Archangel.'

'I don't know it.' Michael said easily.

Evan's brown eyes slid to Hawke.

'And even if I did,' Michael continued, 'I wouldn't give it to you.'

Evan's head snapped back around to the spy.

Michael stabbed a finger at him across the desk. 'You cannot take the risk of a nuclear bomb being detonated in the US by storming Airwolf's location.'

'The intelligence we have…'

'Is incomplete without reference to the NSA and the FBI.' Michael leaned forward.

'With all due respect…' Harvey began.

'He's right.' Evan said cutting across the younger man.

Harvey stared at him.

'Archangel, you and I both know as soon as the rest of the alphabet soup hears wind of this, the Company will lose all control of this situation.' Evan shifted uncomfortably in his seat. 'There'll be a state of emergency declared and everything will be run from the sit room at the White House.'

'With good reason.' Marella noted.

Michael leaned back as he fully understood Evan's strategy. 'You're not planning to rescue the team. You're planning a strike on the location.' His good eye flashed a warning to Hawke who was stirring angrily. The pilot eye's iced over but he kept quiet.

'That's insane.' Marella said her voice rising. 'Given the demand it's more than likely that the terrorist group has split its forces.'

'A team with Airwolf and another with the bomb.' Michael concluded. He stared at Evan. 'Your strategy will fail.'

Evan flushed. 'My orders…'

'I assume don't include destroying half of the US with a nuclear bomb.' Michael said bluntly. 'This strategy is ill-conceived. Even if you knew Airwolf's location and took it out, you know it's likely the group are split if there is a bomb and will detonate it anyway and you cannot verify for certain the likelihood of whether there is a bomb or not until you confer with the other agencies and you know it, Marshall.' His finger stabbed the desk.

The use of the deputy director's first name had Harvey's eyes widening.

Evan sighed. 'What are you suggesting, Michael?'

'Give it to us.' Michael said. 'We'll handle it.'

'I can't do that.' Evan objected.

Michael leaned back in his chair. 'Marella, get the President on the line for me.'

'Yes, sir.' Marella's hand reached out for the phone and Evan shot forward to slam his own hand over the receiver.

For a second he glared at Michael before he subsided back into his chair. 'Fine.' Evan snapped. 'But I want to be kept informed. As far as the Company is concerned I'm still in charge of this operation.'

Michael nodded and gave no other sign of his pleasure in the other man's capitulation. 'I'm going to need all the intelligence you have on the current situation.'

Evan sighed. 'There isn't much. We think this is probably a group operating within the US itself. There's been no chatter on the international scene of anything like this op.' He gestured. 'We don't really know where to start looking.'

'Maybe at the beginning would be a good idea.' Michael said.

Marella nodded. 'Of course. Airwolf's location. They must have found someway of finding it.'

Harvey went to say something and stopped. His green eyes darted back to his superior.

Evan gestured at him. 'You might as well tell them.'

'Jason Locke is missing.' Harvey said. 'He was due in Paris five days ago but never arrived.'

'We think it's likely he was snatched here in the US,' Evan added, 'and tortured for the location.'

'You've written him off.' Michael deduced.

'As soon as they had the location they had no further use for him.' Evan pointed out. 'He's probably already dead.'

'Not necessarily.' Marella argued. 'If they plan on using Airwolf for an attack on US soil, they have to fly her.'

'So they keep Locke as a way to control the rest of the team…' Michael said.

'Or as a back-up source of information.' Marella concluded. 'It makes sense.'

'Locke is not the priority here.' Evan said rising to his feet. 'I'll return to headquarters. I expect hourly updates and if you need anything, contact me.' He scowled at the spy. 'Don't blow this, Michael.'

Evan turned on his heel and strode out, Harvey following like a dutiful puppy in his wake.

'Michael…' Hawke pushed away from the wall.

'A minute, Hawke.' Michael snatched up the phone and dialled a number from memory. 'Robert? Yes. No, we have a situation.' He explained the demand. 'Can you get me the latest NSA intel? Yes. I think so too. Good. Thank you.'

'Bob Delaney?' Marella asked as Michael hung up the phone.

'He's getting us the latest NSA information.' He paused. 'And he's informing the President.'

Hawke scowled. 'Dammit, this isn't the time for politics, Michael.' He started to walk out of the office.

'Where are you going?' Michael asked exasperated.

'To the Lair.' Hawke snapped. 'My family are being held hostage in case you missed that, Michael.'

'Hawke, wait.' Michael quickly moved to intercept the pilot. 'I know you're worried about Caitlin and the baby, and your brother, but this is a tactical situation and there's more at stake here than just their lives.'

'I'm only concerned with them.' Hawke said jerking his arm out of Michael's grasp.

Michael stepped in front of him fearlessly ignoring the anger raging in the depths of the pilot's blue eyes. 'And they'll have a better chance of surviving if you don't go barging in all guns blazing just like Evan wants to.' He took a breath. 'You know that.'

A muscle twitched along the tense line of Hawke's jaw. 'So what do you plan to do?'

Michael allowed himself a small sigh of relief. 'We need intelligence on the situation in the Lair. It might help give us more information on this bomb and whether that threat is real or not.'

'We could do a recon in the new Airwolf.' Hawke suggested.

'Good idea.' Michael said. 'But I was thinking something a little more subtle to begin.' His good eye slipped to Marella. 'Is there anyway we can get access to the surveillance equipment in the original Airwolf?'

'Remote access.' Marella said nodding. 'Karen could set it up.'

'Let's go.' Hawke said impatiently pushing past Michael.

Marella sighed and patted Michael's arm as they followed the pilot to the main computer control room. By the time they caught up with Hawke, he was already ensconced with Karen around a computer console.

'Can we get the remote access to work?' Michael asked as he and Marella came to a halt behind them.

Karen Hansen didn't look up from the monitor. She was the lead computer programmer for the new Airwolf and had grown fond of the Hawkes. 'We might need an assist from the artificial intelligence.' She said. The original Airwolf had developed self-awareness with some clever programming from her twisted creator Charles Moffett and when it had become apparent that the Company would gain control of the original machine, they had transferred the intelligence to the new helicopter and altered the programming. The intelligence had seemingly found a way to transfer between the two aircraft though and Karen was hoping that she would provide them with a way to establish a link. 'There.' She smiled in relief, her red bob swinging over her shoulders as the monitor suddenly filled with rapidly executed code and a control prompt appeared.

'Are we in?' Michael checked.

'We're in.' Karen said. She frowned. 'That's odd.'

'What?' Hawke demanded.

'The surveillance systems are already running.' She typed in a command. 'Here we go.' The monitor changed to Airwolf's video feed.

They all took in the scene in silence. The Lair entrance was blocked by a large black jeep. Two men in black outfits guarded the entrance; another leaned against the railing his gun pointed towards the lockers on the other far side of the cave; a final man sat at the communications console on the steel platform.

Hawke frowned. 'Karen, can you get me a better shot of this guy?' He tapped the screen lightly.

'Sure.' She zoomed in.

'Run an identification scan.' Michael ordered.

'Yes, sir.' Karen typed in the command.

'I think I know who he is.' Hawke admitted reluctantly.

'You do?' Michael asked.

Hawke leaned on the desk and looked back at Michael. 'After the incursion where Saint John went missing, there weren't many of our original unit left.' He sighed. 'The intel was screwed up badly on that mission, most of us went down; Vidor, Mace, my brother, me.' He folded his arms. 'They transferred those of us who made it back to an offensive strike team supposedly made up of the best pilots from the army and air force combined.'

'Right. I remember.' Michael said. 'That's where you met Kovak, Miller and Oshiro right?'

'Right.' Hawke rubbed his chin. 'And Sam Roper.'

'He was part of the air force contingent.' Marella surmised.

'Yeah.' Hawke turned back to the monitor and gestured at the frozen picture on the screen. 'And so was this guy.'

'Paul Bridges.' Karen confirmed. 'US air force major. He was discharged in 1980.'

'Could this be personal?' Michael asked.

Hawke shook his head. 'I don't see how. Bridges and I barely knew each other.' He sighed. 'Army stuck with army…'

'And air force stuck with air force.' Michael finished.

'Just the way it was.' Hawke said. 'I doubt Sam and I would have gotten to know each other if he hadn't saved my life.' He gestured back at the monitor. 'Karen, can you return to the video feed? I want to check that everyone's OK.'

Karen pressed a button and the live images came back into focus.

'Where are the Airwolf team?' Marella asked.

'Here.' Hawke said pointing to the far left of the screen.

Karen changed the angle of the camera and the Airwolf team snapped into view. Hawke breathed in sharply at the sight of his brother sitting on the ground Nicky in his arms. Jo was sat to one side of him; Rivers to the other. He frowned.

'They don't seem injured.' Marella said.

'Yeah.' Hawke straightened and looked back at his friends, his heart in his throat. 'So where's my wife?'