Everything in Time
Chapter 5
AN: I fixed a personnel problem in the last chapter. I mentioned that Kate Larkin worked with Magnum in Hawaii. It was Carolyn Turner/Pierce, John's yeoman, not Kate Larkin, who worked with Mac & Magnum at NIS in Hawaii. I guess I do need an abacus to keep my multitude of characters in my canon straight.
Tuesday, October 4, 2005
1930 Zulu
Ocean Winds Retirement Community
Miami Beach, FL.
"Give all the details about Buxton that you know," Maggie instructed Skates.
"We served together on the Patrick Henry during the Balkans War in 1999. Buxton was court martialed for shooting up a Russian convoy while on patrol with, of all people Harm Rabb. He thought it was a Serbian convoy attacking refugees. Harm got Buxton acquitted showing that the Serb & Russian flags looked similar. Then Harm recommended that Buxton be reassigned because he disobeyed orders to stay at "angels 20" and follow the ROEs. The Henry's CAG, Capt. Pike sent Buxton TAD to Capodichino as corrosion control officer pending a FNAEB to yank his flight status. Harm testified against Buxton at the FNAEB, saying that Buxton was a menace to himself and everyone else. After that I don't know what Buxton did. I don't know if he's still in the Navy."
During the conversation, Kate was on the phone with NCIS Headquarters, requesting Buxton's history.
After Skates finished her recitation of her and X-Man's history, Maggie asked, "Dominic, do you think he went to speak with Jo and St. John?"
"I don't know. They haven't told me and we didn't tell this Buxton about Jo or St. John. We haven't gotten together since Labor Day. You know as I think of it, how did Buxton even know to come speak with me? Only Jo, St. John and my Federal Marshall-WITSIC Agent named Mary Bello knew who I really was."
"Someone let something slip," Kate Larkin said.
When she had everyone's attention she continued, "I just got off the phone with Tim McGee at NCIS. It seems since the Navy kicked Buxton out with an unfavorable discharge due to his reckless flying, he couldn't get a legitimate flying job, so he sold his services out to the highest bidder as a pilot for mercenaries, most especially old DSA agents who went rogue when Harm exposed their corrupt practices. Lately he's latched onto someone from the Asian Mafia as a pilot. The DEA has a BOLO out on him for questioning on suspicion of drug trafficking. Also get this; he's been known to associate with an ex US Marshal named John Royce. Apparently Royce was found to be giving out information of protected individuals in Witness Protection to some crime figures that they were supposed to be protected from. That's probably how Buxton knew Dominic was in WITSEC and changed his name to Artemus. Before the marshals could arrest Royce, he split into the wind. The DEA spotted him and Buxton together in the Philippines during their tracking of the cartel controlling the drugs coming out of the Golden Triangle in northern Thailand, Laos, Myanmar (Burma) and Vietnam."
"Vietnam?" Maggie exclaimed. "Any chance Colonel Ki may be involved with Buxton or Royce?"
"I don't know. I'll have McGee check it out," Kate replied getting back on the phone.
"But why Airwolf? He wouldn't have known about the thing at all. It wasn't known by the general public, just US intelligence and a small part of the aviation community," Artemus asked.
"Someone's talking about it and we have to know who," Skates replied.
"Artemus, can you put us in touch with Jo & St. John?" Maggie asked.
"Yeah, we can drive over to their house now. They live about 30 minutes away in Coral Gables."
"So, what do you say we take a ride? Michelle & Kate you can wait here," Maggie offered.
"Not happening Mrs. Magnum," Kate declared. Maggie was going to protest but Kate continued, "Not only are we here to investigate, we're your protection detail. Where you go, we go. Those are Director Magnum's orders."
"Well I'm not gonna argue with that. So, let's go, there's plenty of room in the car," Maggie acquiesced.
At that the whole retinue plus Artemus got into the Suburban.
2100 Zulu Time
328 Placetas Avenue
Coral Gables, FL.
Artemus rode shotgun giving directions as Skates drove. When they arrived at the Hawke's home, Artemus, Beth and Maggie went to knock on the door while the rest got out and waited at the car.
When the door was opened, Beth and the man who answered recognized each other. "Well, St. John Hawkes aren't you going to give your cousin a hug? It's been a long, long time."
The man who was a fit 6'2" with ash-blonde hair opened his arms and welcomed Beth into his embrace, if only a bit tentatively.
They heard a female voice ask from inside, "John, who's at the door?"
"Uhm, my cousin Beth and Dominic and I think Caitlin O'Shaughnessy, Jo." St. John answered as Jo came to the door
"You think right St. John only it's really Margaret Magnum. Caitlin was my undercover name. Are you going to invite my friends and I in so we could explain?"
"Sure, come on in," Jo answered for her husband as he waved the three at the car to follow.
"Do anyone want anything to drink?" Jo asked.
"We're fine what we're here to speak about is…" Maggie began but she was interrupted by the sound of the backdoor opening and slamming and then two youngsters, one boy and one girl, came running into the room.
Jo got up saying, "Excuse me, let me take care of our children. You all talk. I have a feeling this has to do with 'the lady'."
St. John turned to Maggie expectedly. Maggie began with, "We saw Archangel this past weekend. He told us that there are some foreign agents looking for Airwolf." She went on to tell the same story that Briggs told at the horseshow.
"So, you want me to tell you where the chopper is, right?" St. John asked.
"Yes, we do," Sergei replied.
Sergei's accent brought St. John up short, but Maggie reassured him, "Don't worry he's with us."
"That's good. Still why Airwolf and why now? It would be a lost cause. There have been more developed helicopters built that are many generations past Airwolf. Also judging by the software available even here in this house, I'd say that the computer components in the thing are many more generations out of date."
"Yes, that's true, but the weapons and propulsion systems are not. Retrofitting the computers would still make it a formidable weapon. One could still reverse engineer the design with more up to date computerizations," Maggie explained.
"Well that makes sense. Still I don't know what condition it's in now since I hid it almost 16 years ago."
"So, it is intact. Tell me how many people know that?" Maggie asked.
"Just Jo, though she doesn't know where I hid it."
"Where did you hide it?" Maggie asked.
"In Nevada, east of Yucca Mountain."
"The Nuclear Waste Repository?"
"No, that would be too obvious. It's actually at Skull Mountain. It's a government owned restricted area. I wanted to hide it on government land to keep civilian hikers from stumbling upon it. It's near a private use airfield called Desert Rock Airport that's owned by the US Department of Energy (DOE). I knew someone who worked there and could keep his mouth shut as to seeing Airwolf. From there we flew Airwolf to Skull Mountain, where he knew of a cave that we could hide Airwolf in. I landed outside and we wheeled "The Lady" inside and shrink-wrapped it in white polyethylene. We blew up the entrance to conceal that we were there. We camped there for a day, then we hiked out at night to Desert Rock Airport. He let me borrow his truck and I drove to Las Vegas and left it where he could pick it up. From there I went back to the Wolf's Lair in the Valley of the Gods in Utah. Then Jo and I came here to be near Dom," Hawke explained
"Who was your friend?" Maggie asked.
"An old buddy of mine named Jack Dalton. We were in flight school together. Last I heard he went to work for some organization called the Phoenix Project working with some guy named MacGyver."
"Can you lead us to the cave?" Maggie asked.
"Yeah I can, but you'll need some heavy equipment to open it. We did a real good job of blowing the entrance," Hawke finished smugly.
"We'll see when we get there," Maggie replied.
"Okay, so when do we leave?" Hawke asked.
Maggie looked at Kate who pulled out her cellphone again and said, "Let me make some calls. No doubt we need permission to fly into Desert Rock."
As the NCIS party waited to get permission to go to Nevada, they didn't know that down the block there were two men, one Caucasian and one Asian, sitting in a parked rental car watching the Hawkes' house.
Monday, October 10, 2005
0830 Zulu
Desert Rock Airport
Mercury, NV
Even though they were going to fly in the NCIS' Gulfstream, it took a while for NCIS to get permission for Maggie's party including St. John & Dominic/Artemus to fly into the DOE's private-use airport, as it was located on the military's Nevada Test Site. They also had to acquire the updated computer components for the out-of-date systems. John Marshall and Archangel helped with that as they were their liaison to the CIA as they had the computer programing resources that could fabricate components from the original plans but with faster CPU speed with the larger RAM or Random-Access Memory. When they landed, they stepped out to the Nevada heat at 3,314 elevation.
They had made arrangements with the airport management to have a Humvee with a charger, pulling a trailer with a medium tractor loaded with a backhoe and an AV-Fuel tank truck available for refueling Airwolf, if they could get it started and ready to fly.
It took them about ninety minutes to drive to the cave. While Dom and the ladies set up tents and a portable picnic table and chairs for a camp, Sergei and St. John set to drive the backhoe off the trailer. Just as St. John got behind the controls, Dominic came up to them and pointing to the backhoe asked, "Do either of you youngsters know how operate this thing?"
Sergei and St. John looked sheepishly and asked, "No we don't, do you?"
"Yeah I do. Now get out and watch the master at work."
Dominic got behind the controls and drove the backhoe off the trailer and over to the cave entrance. There he properly put the stabilizing feet down and started attacking the pile of boulders blocking the entrance. As the guys worked in the high heat, Michelle and Maggie shuttled water to the guys while Beth, Kate got their barbecue dinner ready. It took about an hour for them to clear the entrance enough for them to walk in.
When St. John saw the white covering was still intact, he sighed in relief. "Well I think we are pretty lucky to see that's it's still intact. When we get everything cleared from the entrance, we can roll it out here. The tires are still good because they're made of solid rubber, not tires with inner tubes."
After they got all the boulders cleared from the cave entrance, Dominic said, "Great, let's get the covering off and we'll hook up the tow line and pull it out."
It took another thirty minutes to completely clear the entrance of debris for them to pull the aircraft from the cave out to the light of day for the first time in sixteen years. After they refueled it and hooked the cables to the charging outlet in the fuselage Dominic commanded, "Sergei you and I will check the engines while Maggie and St. John install the new computers and the avionics."
Sergei looked on gleefully as Dominic opened the engine hatches and started his check. He willingly pointed out some of the engine components that made Airwolf special. Maggie and St. John were busy getting the computers and avionics up to date. It was late in the day when they completed their checks and the sun was just about to sink below the western horizon.
"Well everything looks good. Still I don't like the idea of flying out at night. We can leave at first light tomorrow," Maggie said.
"Good because we made dinner here," Beth announced from under the picnic shade canopy. She pointed out the grilled hamburgers, hot dogs on the small charcoal grill, soft drinks and salads that they packed in the cooler from Desert Rock. The group set to partake of the barbecue meal.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
0030 Zulu
Skull Mountain
Mercury, NV
It was decided that St. John, Kate and Maggie would fly Airwolf as cover for the Humvee and trailer as they returned to Desert Rock Airport. The arrangement appeased Kate's protective side. As planned, they set off just after first light. It took about two hours for the convoy to reach Desert Rock.
When they landed Airwolf, they wheeled into a hanger that they procured for that purpose. It was decided that they would have Kate, Michelle, Beth and Sergei guard Airwolf in shifts until they decided where to take it.
"Do you think the Wolf's Lair is compromised?" Maggie asked St. John.
"I don't think so. We kept it very secret while we worked there. But who knows if the CIA sold the location to someone? Remember, we didn't work with anyone but the CIA when we flew it."
"Well keeping that in mind we'll need get Airwolf to Andrews in DC. We'll need a transport plane. No way are we going to fly this cross-country unobserved," Maggie said.
"This airfield can handle up to a C130, which won't be able to fit Airwolf. We have to get this to another airfield that can handle a C5 Galaxy which can handle the oversized load of Airwolf," Maggie explained.
"Where's the nearest base that size?" Sergei asked.
"The nearest is Nellis AFB just outside Las Vegas, about seventy miles away; well within Airwolf's range. Let me call John Marshall to expedite landing permissions for Airwolf at Nellis and the allocation of a C5," Maggie said, pulling out her cellphone.
Friday, October 14, 2005
0640 Zulu
Nellis AFB, NV
Montecito Resort and Casino
Las Vegas, NV
After they made those arrangements, it was decided that Sergei would fly with St. John while Maggie, Kate, Michelle, Beth and Dominic would ride the NCIS Gulfstream to Nellis. They had to wait three days for a C5 to be available. On Wednesday, they flew to Nellis in formation. Diane had also arranged them to stay in one of Las Vegas' most luxurious hotels, the Montecito Resort and Casino. The owner, A.J. Cooper was an old friend of Maggie's and Thomas. They were confident that the Nellis Air Force Base Security would protect Airwolf in one of their secure hangers.
In the meantime, Maggie, Beth, Michelle and Kate would just veg out in a private cabana at the pool. While Beth and the two NCIS agents were the sunbathing type, Maggie was of Irish descent. Her red hair told of that. When she went out in the sun, it didn't matter how much sun tan lotion or sunscreen she used; it was always the same for her, burn, peel, repeat. Sergei, Dominic and St. John went to the shows. When Jennifer and Jo found out that their husbands were at the Montecito, they both forbade them from gambling. Still the hotel's casino hosts treated them like whales, showing them to the best shows the hotel and the city had to offer.
What they didn't know was that they were being observed by the same two men that were following them in Florida. They knew the "Airwolf party" was in Las Vegas because they managed to secret a listening device on the phone in Dominic's apartment. So, when Dominic came back from the first meeting with the Hawkes to pack for the trip to Nevada, he let his friends, Wendell and Harry know his itinerary. After leaving a cheap local private investigator to listen and report further utterances about Dominic's travel plans, the two got on a plane out to Vegas during the week Maggie's party was waiting for permission to fly into Desert Rock. They waited the week out in a cheaper hotel until the PI notified them that Maggie's party was staying at the Montecito.
While Maggie was lying on a lounge chair in the shade of the cabana reading a Stephen Coonts military thriller, her cellphone chirped Thomas' ringtone. She picked it up asking, "Hello husband of mine. Miss me?"
"Yes, I do and so do the twins. Diane told me that the C5 will arrive at Nellis tonight ETA 2000 and fly out tomorrow afternoon after the Thunderbirds do an airshow at 1200 hours to kick off their latest international tour."
"So, you figure that we fly out about 1400 hours?"
"Yes, your ETA at Andrews will be 2200 hours DC time."
"So, tune up the Ferrari, I'll get off the plane with bells on.
Thomas laughed at that saying, "Okay see you then, I love you."
"Love you to." At that Maggie ended the call.
Saturday, October 15, 2005
1210 Local Time
Secure Hangar
Nellis AFB, NV
The Thunderbirds Airshow was just beginning when Maggie, Michelle, Kate and Beth pulled up to the hanger to see St. John and Sergei waiting for them.
"Did you guys see Dominic off?" Maggie asked.
"Yes the Gulfstream just flew out with him. It just beat the T-birds into the sky. I'll fly down to Miami from DC tomorrow," St. John replied.
"I'll bet that Dom's enjoying the extra pampering that was laid on for him. When the base CO found out he flew Airwolf, he was very gracious to assign a couple flight attendants to cater to him," Sergei said.
They all shared chuckles imagining Dom taking full advantage of the special treatment. After they looked into the massive cargo bay of the C5 as the flight crew was inspecting the packed and strapped down Airwolf, they went out to enjoy the Thunderbirds Airshow.
As the show ended, they turned to get ready to leave. As they approached the C5, they heard from behind them, "Thank you for packing "The Lady" for us."
They turned around to see a Caucasian and Asian man pointing handguns at them.
Skates and Maggie recognized the two right away. It was Skates who exclaimed, "Buxton, how the hell did you get here?"
Maggie then added, "And Colonel Ki. I thought you would have abided by Buck Green's threat on what would happen if you came back into this country."
"No such luck Captain Poole. I still have much unfinished business here to finish with you and your family. Airwolf will help me fulfill that. Now be so kind as to get onto the aircraft and tell the crew you have two extra guests."
"And if we don't?" Maggie asked.
"Then we start shooting your friends one by one until you comply. I took one woman from your Magnum; I'll have no trouble taking the other."
Maggie felt a chill run down her spine at the threat. Still she sighed seemingly in defeat and turned to as if to comply. Then she called out, "Now would be a good time Gunny and Commander."
"As you wish Mrs. Magnum!" Gunnery Sgt. Victor Galindez said from the hangar opening. He walked into the hangar with Kate Pike, who was spreading out to his right as she and Gunny pointed their weapons at Ki and Buxton.
As Ki and Buxton turned to look behind, Maggie and her friends scattered to cover and draw their weapons. This had the two enemy agents looking back and forth in confusion as they saw their plan fall apart.
Buxton started the shooting as he snapped a shot toward Pike, thinking that she was the weak link. Kate just stood calmly unmoving and fired two quick shots back. While Buxton's shot was high and wide, hers were true as two expanding spots appeared on Buxton's chest and he collapsed onto the hangar floor.
Ki for his part fired toward the NCIS group, but in vain. They returned fire from behind the cover they found. It was Maggie who scored a hit as she saw Ki go down and his gun fly away from him.
Maggie got up and holding her weapon down at the ready, went over to him as he lay clutching a wound at his chest. Maggie could see a froth of blood at his lips, indicating a sucking chest wound and that he was dying.
Training her Sig Sauer at him she said, "Buck Green said if he caught you in the US again, he'd reach down your throat and pull your heart out. He made me promise the same thing. I'll be satisfied that you're dying anyway. But just to make sure you don't survive to come after my family again, here's one for my husband and the woman he loved."
At that she fired at him. Ki fell back from the impact of a bullet through his forehead. Blood pooled on the floor under the large hole in the back of his head.
Michelle came over and said, "Wow that was a little harsh Maggie. To think, you needed our protection."
"Well, Thomas let him live before to let a POW come home. I swore if I ever saw him, Ki wouldn't be so lucky."
As she said that Air Force Security personnel came flooding into the hangar led by the base commander, Colonel Taggart. He went up to Maggie and said, "Nice to know your draw play worked without any of your party getting hurt or killed Captain."
"Thank you, colonel. John Marshall came through again when he had the Gunny and Commander Pike shadowing us as our back-up team. He knew that the people looking for Airwolf would keep coming. Gunny and Kate saw Ki and Buxton following us in Florida. I know it went against all of your security procedures to let them come to this hangar; but we had to lure them into the open. Now we can get "The Lady" safely to Andrews."
"What about any accomplices?" Taggart asked.
"We'll let Diane Rabb's teams go after them. She'll work with the DEA and FBI, who have very large files on them. Also, their cellphones should reveal beaucoup information," Maggie replied.
"Well let's get our base coroner and MP Forensic team here to clean up this mess and collect their evidence. The we can get you out of here. I gotta tell you Captain, you've been nothing but a disruption to the good order of my base operations."
Maggie turned and looked at him as if to reprimand him, but she saw the twinkle in his eye realizing that he stuck his tongue firmly in his cheek. "Well colonel, we'll be out of your hair shortly."
"Thank you, captain, let me know if I or my people can help you again. Safe travels," Taggart finished putting his hand forward.
Maggie took it in a firm grasp replying, "Thank you colonel."
When she let go, she turned and joined her team to get on the C5.