Everything in Time
Chapter 4
Saturday, October 1, 2005
1500 Local Time
Haverhill Winter Series Equestrian Competition
Haverhill Farms
Ashland, VA
Briggs smiled at Maggie's utterance as he replied, "Well those reports were exaggerated." He waited a beat before he asked, "May I have a seat?"
John got up and pulled a chair over and put it beside his, opposite where Sarah sat, coincidentally - or not- next to Maggie.
"I'm guessing that you would like me to explain," Briggs began, (Everyone nodded.) "I was not in the hanger when the explosion that allegedly killed Dominic Santini and injured Stringfellow Hawke happened. In fact, neither was Dominic. We were in an underground bunker that was about ten yards behind the hanger. We detonated the charges by remote control."
"The investigators found two bodies. We thought they were yours and Dominic's," Maggie said.
"Yes, the investigators found two bodies. They were actually members of the Russian mafia gang that had been after Airwolf since Henry Moffett built it for the FIRM."
"You mean the CIA!" John interjected.
Briggs gave him a knowing look as he continued, "Yes, the CIA. Remember Moffett killed the support staff who helped him build Airwolf before he stole it and flew it to Libya. We had the investigators present a redacted report of the "helicopter explosion" stating myself and Santini were killed and Hawke was injured. Hawke wasn't supposed to be there." Briggs replied holding his fingers up in air quotes.
"You explained that Santini wasn't 'allegedly' killed. Did his niece know he wasn't dead?" Maggie asked.
"Yes, she did. Before she joined the Lady's crew, she helped him relocate to Florida in witness protection. They changed his name to Artemus Sullivan."
The new name brought Sarah and Harm up short as Sarah asked, "Artemus Sullivan? We (motioning between her and Harm) were involved with a case with him in Miami about seven years ago. A drug lord, who had diplomatic immunity, ran over his grandson in a hit-and -run incident. Sullivan bombed the drug lord's yacht. Is he still alive?"
"Yes, he is. The grandson that was killed in the hit-and-run was St. John Hawke and Jo's son. When Hawke and Jo walked away from Airwolf, they moved down to Florida to be near Dominic and got married there. Dominic never married again after his wife Katy Santini passed away in 1983 after forty-eight years married and they never had children."
"How did Dominic and Katy meet?" John asked.
"Katy was a nurse in the South Pacific on the Island where Pappy Boyington based his Black Sheep Squadron. He was a PT Boat skipper patrolling the islands around there. He was in the same squadron as Jack Kennedy. His boat was the PT 73. He met Katy when he went to the hospital where she was working as a Navy Nurse to see a friend. After that they stayed in contact. They got married after the war in late 1945."
"How did he meet the UDT men if he was a PT Boat skipper and how did he go from PT boats to choppers?" Diane asked.
"His friends in Miami were old UDT teammates that Santini ferried on some missions in the South Pacific Theater. After the 2nd world war, he stayed in the Navy. After the PT boats were phased out, he learned to fly helicopters. He flew them in the Korean War."
"So, he was what, an O2 to O3 in the Navy during World War II?" Harm asked.
"Yes, that's correct. He retired from the Navy an O6 in 1962. He flew helicopters for a local news channels in Los Angeles for twenty plus years. Stringfellow Hawke recruited him to help fly Airwolf out of Libya," Briggs replied.
"He's had a colorful life," Diane added sardonically.
"That he has," Briggs acknowledged.
"So where is "The Lady" now?" Maggie asked. She wanted to get back to the start of the conversation.
"Right now, I don't know. St. John Hawke, Stringfellow's brother, took it and hid it somewhere because there are some nasty-ass individuals still looking for her. He couldn't bring himself to destroy it. If Airwolf falls into any other but American hands, say Russia or Iran, it could threaten the national security of the US. They could copy the software and reverse engineer the plans and manufacture thousands of copies. It has to be found and either destroyed or turned over to the right people in the US Government."
"How did you know we'd be here?" Maggie asked.
"You still keep in touch with Colonel Buck Green, you're old CO in NIS?"
"Yes, I do."
"Well, when you told him you'd be here when you two made plans to have lunch tomorrow, he sent me here to speak with you. He's heard that there are renewed efforts to find Airwolf."
"So, you accidentally overhearing us talking to our daughters about helicopters, in the words of General Schwarzkopf and in deference to the mixed company here, was a bunch of bovine scatology," John said acerbically.
"That is correct," Briggs acknowledged with a smile.
"Uh, huh," John replied. Then he asked, "Are Santini and the Hawkes still in Miami?"
"Yes, as far as I know from their Christmas card last year," Briggs answered.
"What do you say we go speak to them about 'The Lady'?" John offered to Maggie and Tom, who nodded yes.
"Yes, I think that is the next step," Maggie acknowledged.
"After you Maggie, who do we know that has a helo license?" John asked.
"Sergei comes to mind," Sarah replied, beating Harm by a split second from saying it.
Monday, October 3, 2005
0930 Local Time
Diane Rabb's Office
NCIS Headquarters
Navy Yard, DC, SE
A few months fresh out of OCS 2nd Lt. Sergei Rabb, USMC was sitting having coffee with his sister-in-law, Diane in her office, who asked, "So, Sergei how's it going at Cherry Point?"
"I's great Diane. They're making me an instructor since I was already flying in Russia and then Afghanistan for so many years."
"Good to hear. Listen, the reason I asked you here to see if you're willing to go on an assignment for NCIS & Naval Intelligence."
"I'm listening."
"Tell me have you ever heard of Airwolf?"
Sergei's eyes popped at that. Diane saw that and continued, "By your reaction it seems you have. Tell me what you know."
"Well its existence was a rumor to we helicopter pilots in the Russian Army; that is until we saw it on the American news channels a few times. I would have loved to get to pilot that beast. We could see that it was generations ahead of the Hind Helicopter. I've always wondered what happened to it."
"Well, you may get your chance to find out. We're going after it. John Marshall cut your orders. Your CO has already been informed."
"Boshe Moi! It still exists then?"
"Yes, it does, and from what Briggs told us, there are some nasty-ass people who still want to get their hands on it."
"So where do we start?"
"You, Kate Larkin, Michelle Weatherly and Maggie Magnum will go to Miami Beach and speak to the last known pilot of Airwolf, St. John Hawke. He hid Airwolf in 1988 after someone tried to steal it. We need to get it back or destroy it. You leave tonight from Reagan National."
"Do I go in as a Marine?"
"No, you're out of the bag for this assignment. We want to keep this as low key as possible. Here is the set of NCIS credentials we made up for you."
"Will we have any back-up?"
"We'll have another team in the background watching out for any bad guys that may follow you to Airwolf, if the Hawkes and Sullivan/Santini tell you where it is."
"Good to know. Who do we see first in Miami, the Hawkes?"
"No, you'll see Santini first. He had a good rapport with Harm & Sarah. The Hawkes did not leave their return address on the Christmas cards they sent to Archangel. Santini is still living at the retirement community where Harm & Sarah first encountered him."
"Do you think he will be cooperative?"
"Who knows? I got a feeling though that he may be put off by your Russian accent. So, you have to let Maggie do the talking as he knows her."
"Good idea. What time is our flight?"
"1200 hours. I had Cynthia call Jennifer to let her know you won't be home for dinner."
"Okay then, I'll be on my way." Sergei said getting up.
At that, Diane ended the meeting with "Good luck." She punctuated her wish with a hug and a kiss to her brother-in-law's cheek.
Tuesday, October 4, 2005
1930 Zulu
Ocean Winds Retirement Community
Miami Beach, FL.
On the flight to Miami, Maggie Magnum told Sergei, Kate and Michelle of her relationships with Thomas and Airwolf.
"Buck Green sent me undercover as Caitlin O'Shaughnessy to help safeguard Airwolf. He heard of Moffett stealing it and bringing it to Libya. He wasn't directly involved with Archangel's efforts to get it back, but he knew that it should not fall into another power's hands, such as Russia, again.
"What brought you back to Hawaii?" Michelle asked.
"I came back when I found out about Thomas being shot and nearly killed by a Vietnamese general named Quang Ki. Ki's brother Tranh Ki was a Vietnamese colonel who was an aide to General Nguyen Hue. Hue who was an American double agent code-named "Tiger" that married Michelle before Thomas did. Tranh was killed by Thomas before he could reveal that Hue and Michelle were double agents."
"Why did Michelle marry Thomas if she was already married to Hue?" Sergei asked.
"She believed that Hue was killed in a bombing raid on Hanoi. In fact, when Buck Green found out that Hue was alive and that Michelle was married to him, he "mothered" Michelle as a double agent. He staged a bombing and made Thomas believe she was dead; that is until she surfaced in Honolulu with Hue a few years after Tom left the Navy. In the process of he and Michelle dodging the Vietnamese intelligence people, who were after Hue as "Tiger", they got together and conceived Lilly Catherine.
When I came back to Hawaii, I was involved in the effort to get Lilly Catherine back to her father. You see before Ki was apprehended for almost killing Tom, he had Michelle killed in a car bomb. Lilly Catherine had gotten out of the car to get her favorite doll before it exploded. Ki filmed it and sent it to Tom's home to taunt him. Ki didn't know Lilly was still alive."
"How did you and Thomas get married?" Sergei asked.
"Well when I brought Lilly Catherine back, Tom decided that the best way to protect her from Ki or any of his allies, was for him to rejoin the Navy. He came back as a Commander and the CO of NIS-Pearl. His girlfriend at the time, a news talking head named Linda Lee Ellison didn't like the idea that, a- he was rejoining the Navy and b-she'd be a step-mother to another woman's daughter. So, she walked away from him.
I was Tom's XO at NIS and we got close. I was always over visiting him and Lilly. I became Lilly's surrogate mother, so to speak. I was promoted to Commander myself about a year and a half after Tom came back. So, it was natural that I asked for a transfer. Tom asked me why I wanted out of his command. I gave him two reasons; one I was going to be in command of my own division in Naval Intelligence at Pearl, in fact Buck Green's old billet and two, I admitted that I was in love with him. He just smiled that smile of his and told me that he loved me to." Maggie finished dreamily.
"How long before you two got married?" Michelle asked.
"Another a year and a half. Tom proposed six months after we started seeing each other. For the weekend of our wedding, Tom brought Lilly and I back to Tidewater, VA to meet his mom and grandfather. We got married there and we moved back to Hawaii. The twins came a year after that."
"That's a nice story Maggie, but how are we going to convince the Hawkes to tell us where Airwolf is?" Kate Larkin asked.
"Well I looked at St. John's file. I found that he's related to a friend of ours; or at least Harm Rabb's," Maggie replied.
"Who's that? Sergei asked.
"Cmdr. Elizabeth "Skates" Hawkes. St. John's father and her father are brothers. St. Johns and Stringfellow's father dropped the 's' in his surname. Skates is meeting us Miami. John Marshall called her when I told him of the relationship."
At that the group settled down to rest during the remainder of the flight.
When they arrived in Miami, Skates was waiting for them wearing skinny jeans and a man style shirt tied under her breasts. She already had a Chevy Suburban ready for their disposal. Maggie rode shotgun as Skates drove expertly through the midday Miami traffic.
As Skates drove, Maggie asked her, "How much did John Marshall tell you?"
"All about "the lady" and that you and my cousins were flying it at one time."
"Do you know Dominic Santini?"
"Only what Adm. Marshall told me. He said that Santini's a legend in the chopper community. He dropped out of sight about the beginning of 1987. He was allegedly killed when his helicopter blew up. Adm. Marshall told me otherwise, as he's living under the name of Artemus Sullivan."
It wasn't long before they reached the Ocean Winds Retirement Community. The parked outside Sullivan's house. While the rest of the party got out and waited at the car, Maggie went up and rang the doorbell.
The door was opened about thirty seconds later by a portly man with silver hair of about 88 years. He was taken aback by who he saw waiting on the other side of the screen door.
Maggie saw that and smiled saying, "Hello Dominic. It's been a long time; almost twenty years."
"Uhm, come in Caitlin and I go by Artemus here," Santini/Sullivan said letting her in. He looked out the door and saw the party waiting at the Suburban. Being quick on the uptake he waved them in loudly saying, "Come on in out of the heat and have a drink."
Kate, Michelle, Sergei and Skates obliged and trooped into the house.
They all saw that Artemus had company as two gentlemen got up to politely greet the visitors. One was Caucasian and the other was African. They both shook hands with Maggie and the others.
Artemus introduced them pointing at the African, "Wendell Freeman" and at the Caucasian, "Harry Green". The three seniors went about to show them seats and get some beverages from the kitchen.
They brought out bottles of water and fruit juice, with Artemus saying, "Sorry there's nothing stronger than the cranberry juice. They don't mix well with the meds our visiting nurses give us."
"These are fine," Maggie replied selecting a bottle of water.
It was Freeman who started with, "Now Artemus, these nice young people look pretty official. What have you gotten us into now?"
"I don't know. But Seeing Caitlin here, I got a feeling it has to do with 'The Lady'."
Maggie replied, "Yes it does. Tell me Artemus, has anyone else come around asking about Airwolf?"
"You're the second. About a week ago some guy name of Andy Buttons or Bumpston came around asking after it. I didn't get his name clear because my hearing aids were in for repair and I didn't hear him so good."
It was Skates who interjected with, "Buxton, Andy Buxton?"
"Yeah, that was the guy!" Green said.
"You know this Buxton?" Kate Larkin asked.
"A washed-up pilot from my time on the Patrick Henry. Why would X-Man be after Airwolf?"