AIRWOLF

The (SEXII) Lady

1. Rotors and Roundabouts

"What's this I hear about that bird being all dressed up with nowhere to go?" Michael asked Branson Richards, knowing full well that it would rattle the heck out of the man he enjoyed riling up.

He could almost hear the gears grinding, causing Michael to smile to himself. He was absolutely certain that his former and somewhat puzzling adversary was at a disadvantage and slow to act, thanks to the freshly woken state he'd been caught in after a night of considerable celebrations.

After a short pause, Branson chose to divert the conversation. "You really know how to ruin a perfectly lovely morning, Michael. Do you have any idea what time it is?" He said as he drew the phone from his ear momentarily, to recheck the time for himself.

It was 0830.

"Why, Richard's of course I do, I've been up for hours! I'm just downstairs actually, having breakfast at the buffet. Compliments to the chef by the way. Care to join me?" Michael asked jovially while he rambled on, imagining the look on Branson Richard's face as he continued to tease.

"What are you doing in Vegas?" Branson asked as Jo sat up next to him. She was now also more alert and drew up the sheets to cover herself.

"Well Richards, aside from gambling and hot women," Michael said while staring at Marella who was sitting across from him at the table and giving him a devilish grin over her bowl of Yogurt and fruit. "I can't really disclose, because you know what they say, what happens in Va..."

But he didn't get finish his sentence, because Branson sat forward abruptly and said sharply, "I'll be down shortly," and hung up.

"Shit" Branson said quietly under his breath, rubbing his eyes in frustration.

"Did I just hear right? Is Archangel here?" Jo asked getting up to go to the bathroom and start preparing for the day.

"Indeed you did my love," Branson said affectionately. Unable to look away, he appreciated Jo's form while she sauntered from the huge bed until he caught himself and sobered.

Needing to snap out of it, he finally got up and started to deal with the new turn of events. "I guess I'd better let the others know," Branson said with a grumble.

Fifteen minutes later, Jo and Branson walked through the lobby and towards the buffet on the ground floor. Jo still had to get used to the percentage of people who recognised her tycoon boyfriend and also the security he had with him when he was at major events.

With the delicious smells permeating through the restaurant, the pair couldn't wait to tuck in after working up a considerable appetite, but they'd have to wait. Branson had reserved one of the ground floor conference rooms and also arranged a sample of the buffet to be delivered for the impromptu meeting.

Scanning the room, he spotted Michael when the man raised his arm to gain Branson's attention.

Walking toward Michael's table, Branson and Jo watched the man take a sip from his coffee and then stand to greet the couple on their approach. Rising from the seat across from him, was a tall, stunning olive skinned woman who, even though no longer in her youth, still looked like she belonged on the catwalk.

"Marella? This is a surprise. Do you know each other?" Branson asked curiously, waving between her and Michael before he reached out to shake the tall man's hand.

"Michael," he nodded sharply before turning back to Marella, kissing her on both cheeks and catching her eye with a questioning look.

"You could say that," Marella answered her boss, "Branson, Michael is my partner."

"Is that right?" Branson asked, smiling pleasantly enough, but it didn't reach his eyes. His gut churned, but he ignored it and went on to introduce the statuesque woman to his beautiful Jo.

"Jo Santini, this is Marella Dwyer, the head of security here at The New Black."

Jo shook the woman's hand. "Pleased to meet you Marella," she said politely before nodding reservedly in greeting to the man with the eyepatch. "Michael".

"Jo" he said with a slight bow of his own, his one eye glinted a hint of mirth and Jo suddenly lost her appetite too.

Clearing his throat, Branson suggested, "Why don't we take this somewhere more private. The others will be along shortly," he said while he briefly scanned the room and confirmed the feeling that he was being watched.

He showed the way with a sweep of his hand, eyeing Jo who appeared a little like how he felt, while Michael and Marella gathered their things to follow.

There was an awkward silence that seemed to stretch on forever as they waited in the sizeable conference room. Firstly, Le arrived followed minutes later by Nash and Dale who came through the doors hand in hand. They'd been an official item now for eight months and were going strong.

The food arrived shortly after and then finally Saint John and Caitlin made their entrance.

Caitlin stopped in her tracks the moment she set eyes on the supermodel. "Marella? what are you doing here?" she asked glancing between her and Michael with a small but cautious smile.

"Wait. You two also know each other?" Branson asked, stepping toward the two women. Now he was even more perplexed.

"Well, sure we do Branson. Marella was an agent with the FIRM with Archangel." Caitlin grinned, remembering how protective Marella used to be over the Deputy Director.

"Oh wait!" Caitlin said with a gasp - ever the romantic, "Are you guys...?" she asked questioning their relationship and waving a finger between the two former agents.

But before she could finish the sentence Branson interrupted. "Marella is that true? You were a bloody agent?" Branson looked sharply between the two former FIRM operatives. "With him?" he gestured to the man.

Caitlin's smile dropped from her face and the room fell eerily silent again.

"Ah I see," Branson said, shaking his head as the penny dropped and he started pacing the floor.

"You might have retired." He nodded at Michael as he passed near him, "but you!" Branson said pointing, although not aggressively to the woman. "You're still active aren't you Marella?" he asked as he put his hands on his hips and turned to pass back. "Great!" He said in frustration.

Marella at least had the decency to look moderately guilty. She really liked Branson Richards, but she was assigned to do a job that was part of a much bigger picture. She had already managed to get information alluding to what both her and Michael had suspected all along. But it still needed confirming

Airwolf was still viable.

"I know how it looks, but it's not what you think," Marella held up her hand in an attempt to placate Branson as she watched his demeanour.

"Oh? How do you know what I'm thinking Marella?" Branson asked completely unimpressed. "I'm simply wondering why a government operative would go under cover and just happen to land a job with my hotel? Surely, you're not spying on me Marella, because I assure you that I have nothing to hide."

Michael made a noise of disbelief, "psht. Are you certain of that Richards?"

Marella grinned, Michael had well informed her that Branson Richards was very good at playing coy.

"Let's just cut to the chase, ok?" Marella was done playing games, she wanted to work with Branson and not against him. The only way that would happen is with some gentle persuasion and the truth about who she was really working for.

"Shall we?" Marella asked, gesturing for the others to serve up breakfast. Which they did somewhat ritualistically before they each sat around the table.

"So what's this all about,?" Dale asked as she spread a generous portion of cream cheese onto her bagel.

Without easing into the conversation, Marella came straight out with it after only a moment of thought. "Were pretty sure that Airwolf didn't ditch, we're also pretty sure that your good friend Bob McKearnen has been leading the AMRB on a wild goose chase. RV Dolphin is the most advanced research vessel available and she's found zip after more than eighteen months.

"What can I say? It's a deep ocean." Branson said with a shrug but didn't deny anything.

Marella gave Branson a brief and weary look but continued on unfazed. "Sure Branson. Look. We know you staged it. We just can't prove it. Yet. But we needed to get to know you some more, before we approached you about Airwolf."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Branson defaulted to the pretence that the Santini crew always took with regards to The Lady.

"And in there is the reason we're here." Marella said raising a knowing eyebrow.

"Who is we? What reason?" Nash asked intently, his eyes shifting between the two opponents.

"You know how to keep a secret. Some of you did that superbly for more than thirty years." She said glancing between Caitlin and Jo. "And I'll get onto who we is shortly."

Nash tore a piece off Dale's cream cheese bagel and shoved it into his mouth, chewing aggressively. With Dale glaring at him for stealing her food, he wasn't at all comfortable where this conversation was heading.

"There was almost nothing to go on but gut instincts, Michael knew right from the moment that Branson called and told him Airwolf was dead in the water."

"Then why didn't he act on his gut?" Nash said after swallowing heavily. The food felt like it went down square, he probably should have chewed more thoroughly.

"What makes you think he didn't?" Marella questioned sharply with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, we're not doing time, or been blown up yet. There's a clue." Saint John said cynically. It was the truth. If the powers that be really wanted to put anyone behind bars or worse, they would have done it by now. It wouldn't be the first time it had happened within this family.

And while they may or may not have the helicopter at that given moment, it didn't take away from the fact that it had been stolen from the Government in the first place.

And not just the once.

"I think," Le said speaking for the first time realising an epiphany, "that we played right into the plan."

"What plan? Who's plan?" Jo asked coolly, scanning Michael and Marella's faces repeatedly for some sort of answer.

Marella gave a small tight lipped smile before she spoke. "Let's just say that the end game may share similar characteristics."

"The end game?" Jo asked. Realising she was starting to sound like a parrot, she wanted Marella to elaborate and the woman's replies were only generating more questions.

Thankfully Jo and the others were about to be put out of their misery and Marella did start to explain.

"I had been working in the Secret Service since 2003. After the last election I was approached by the new POTUS, Darrian Tobias off the record." Marella said as she started her explanation.

"Is that so?" Saint John said, shaking his head with a small grin. "Well I'll be." His return back to America was such a contrast to the relatively simple life he'd led in Chile and it continued to surprise him.

Marella began. "Three years ago, while on board Airforce One, I was called into The President's office whereupon he sat me down and asked me about cold case file A56-7W."

Leaning forward, Caitlin asked, "is that where all this started?" She gave Michael the stink eye who drew in his lips and agreed with a contrite nod. "Huh." She said with a huff of realisation and sat back again.

"Well almost, but not quite," Marella said, anticipating the question. "Before President Tobias was ever in the running there was a huge change within American military intelligence. Two of the largest agencies merged leaving only five corporations dominating the industry.

"The problem with that is that when the marketplace is so flooded with contracts largely being awarded to the Big Five, that those service providers become far too big to "fail"." She said making air quotes with her fingers.

"The consequence of that is that billions of dollars get wasted unnecessarily if left unregulated, while the Government banks on what they think is a sure thing.

"The problem with having all their eggs in one basket - or five baskets as the case may be - instead of spreading intelligence over a larger demographic, is that they risk inaccuracies or dare I say it major inadequacies in their intelligence that are largely ignored due to the Pentagon's perception of success."

"So, who holds them accountable?" Branson asked when Marella took a sip of water.

Marella nodded, indicating that it was a good question. "As far as intelligence goes, the ODNI oversees the operations, but there was a new player added not long before Tobias came into office."

"Let me guess, the American Military Recognisance Bureau?" Le asked.

"Yes. As the name suggests, it was formed to check in on Military intelligence in particular. Tobias had been informed of my connection when the AMRB came across files from the FIRM only days after his election win and even though he was burning the candel at both ends settling into the role of President, Tobias took a strong interest and thought it was very cool. His words not mine." Marella said as the corners of her lips curled up, quoting the President's often quirky vernacular.

"Since it was a conflict of interest for me, I made sure that they contracted Michael to reopen the case, since he had obviously been directly involved." Marella said recollecting the journey of events.

"But what the AMRB or Michael for that matter didn't know, was that Tobias was also interested in diversifying his intelligence into private sector. He sighted the inefficiency of the big five and it wasn't long before I was asked to investigate Project Guardian for him." Marella said looking round the room and getting the confused but interested expressions that she expected from the company in the room.

"Project Guardian?" Le asked scanning the other faces who looked just as unaware as he was.

Michael pulled out a folder from his attaché case and handed out the neatly bound files to all the people who needed to be briefed – old style. He couldn't afford any information to leak via digital means... this was still the safest way to keep things under wraps.

Once everyone had their information, Marella and Michael exchanged furtive glances, agreeing to continue with a slight nod of encouragement from Michael.

"Project Guardian is a private security company, specialising in military logistics – they do the dirty work that the US Forces wouldn't, shouldn't or couldn't do. They're like the remediators of service SNAFU's that the general populous never hear about." Michael said as the group flicked through the files.

"Of course," Marella said, "that was something that the POTUS was right onto. He abhorrer's the red tape that often gets in the way. Waiting for the green light allowed blunders that inevitably cost his country dearly.

"Whatever anyone may think of our President, since Tobias has been in office, he has very effectively read global security trends, has acted appropriately and has systematically addressed a number of crucial deficiencies that he inherited from the previous government.

"One of these steps is to recover lost ground and invest in private American companies like Project Guardian.

"With their appointment, Project Guardian became a real performer and they in turn had been further contracted to secure any top secret military protection systems that have been scrapped from the commercial market for one reason or another due to their innate volatility.

"To be classified as Volatile, a project has to have proved itself to be so superior that it can't afford to be commercially produced for fear that it falls into enemy hands." Marella said looking at Branson.

"Which is why the Airwolf File is included in the documents," she said, completely expecting the lack of reaction as the Santini crew exercised the fifth and stayed stoically silent. Just like they always did when it came to that chopper.

"Airwolf was listed as a primary weapon of interest for Project Guardian, and that is where it all started Ms O'Shannessy." Marella said, glancing at Caitlin and answering her question.

"What usually happens to these superior machines?" Branson asked out of genuine interest.

"Why, they get decommissioned of course."

"They get scrapped," Nash said at the same time, huffing in amusement while starting to see the bigger picture.

"Sounds expensive." Branson mused out loud.

"To the tune of more than fifty billion dollars since 2000," Marella said before continuing with her story.

"The last time I was called into Number One's office in the air, we had another little off the record chat." Marella pointed out as she thought back to the moment before she was given the contract option to sign up for Project Guardian:

"Mr President, that helicopter's like a cat with nine lives." Marella answered when the man asked of what she thought had really become of Airwolf the day the bird disappeared off the west coast of North America.

"And with the Santini's and Hawkes involved, anything is possible. There is one thing for certain Mr. President. If Airwolf still exists, it'll remain under a lid. Exactly where it should be." Her confidence in Airwolf's absconders was strong and true. After all, the machine had remained well hidden since her retrieval from Libya all those years ago.

President Tobias couldn't help but admire those that had apparently fled with the attack helicopter - yet again. And while he shouldn't condone their actions, from the story that he'd been told, they weren't terrible people, they were people that got things done.

His kind of people.

Once Marella signed up to work undercover for Project Guardian she was appointed under one of their local, corporate Branches in Las Vegas - Superior Security – to head Mr Richards' detail at The New Black. Her alias became Marella Dwyer and she was keen to find out if Michael's gut, or for that matter her own would turn out to be right.

While she only saw Branson Richards a handful of times, it was her job to know where he was at all times, particularly when he was on the West Coast. She, in turn would also keep an eye on the closest people in his life. Being involved with Jo Santini was only one of the reasons he spent considerable time in Van Nuys and not too far where the subject of interest was likely concealed.

"Fast forward to today. The AMRB are still convinced that Airwolf ditched, but neither Michael nor I are quite so sure of that." She said confidently, going by the evidence that had already been gathered.

Michael had been in two minds when he finally found out about Marella's new commission so soon after Airwolf disappeared into the abyss.

On the one hand Michael was furious with Marella for allegedly betraying him. But that only lasted a short while. When he was pulled out of retirement and similarly contracted, he realised that he may be getting exactly what he wanted.

They always say to be careful what you wish for.

"As you're probably aware." Michael said chiming in again. "The AMRB are concluding the search for Airwolf in ten days. After that they'll file it. For good and they'll get no more funding to recover the machine."

It was quite incredible that even with all their resources and all their connections, the AMRB failed to remember the one thing that had always remained the common denominator throughout the secret life of The Lady.

They were so one eyed about acquiring the machine that they completely forgot about the incredible loyalty of the family that created that secret life in the first place and liked the idea that they were now out of the picture so that they could get on with the recovery.

But the ARMB didn't know the Santini's and Hawke's like he or Marella did. Heck, now they were involved with Richards, with his fame and his enviable resources, it would be even harder to play cat and mouse.

They could not afford to let any cats out of the bag.

By the time Archangel had been educated yet again on how impossibly surprising Airwolf could still be more than thirty years on, he had to wonder whether the world would ever be ready for her or the Doppler Attenuation Field Technology that the chopper was rumoured to possess, because once the Genie was allowed out of the bottle, it would be really hard to put it back in.

But he shook that off when the ideal solution seemed to turn up at just the right time. What goes around comes around and this was the perfect opportunity to get Airwolf off blocks and into the air with a purpose.

Albeit in the same position it always seemed to find itself in - which was not necessarily a bad thing in Michael's book.

"Once the search is called off, Project Guardian will take over." He said, leaving the words to hang in the air.

"Good luck with that." Le said, pushing his plate away from him.

Michael rubbed his thumb and forefinger over his white moustache. He and Marella anticipated the group's reluctance to share anything when it came to Airwolf. So rather than try to pry anything out of them, Marella placed a single large envelope onto the centre of the wide conference table and pushed it so that it slid down the shiny surface a few feet.

"What's that?" Branson said, nodding to the offensive article with a wary eye.

Marella hummed with a measure of humour "That." She said with a short tone, "is a job application of sorts."

"For?" Branson asked, already tiered of the lack of direct conversation, although he supposed that he really should be used to it when Michael was involved... perhaps it's an agent thing, he thought to himself, because Marella seemed to also take a detour instead of the most direct route between two points.

"Let's just say that those documents will alleviate any concerns that you may have with what to do with your new toy Branson." Marella said, making the suggestion to what everyone had to have been wondering about at some point since Airwolf's return.

It was all very well to be keeping Airwolf under wraps as part of a private collection that no one would ever see and only pull her out of mothballs every so often to give her a workout. But to what end?

He felt his stomach drop, he wasn't comfortable with this at all and he was certain that the charade coming to an end. He reached out and carefully put a hand on the envelope and slid it toward him, until it was right under his nose.

Both agents looked to each other with mildly triumphant smiles, "No need to give us an answer right away Richards." Michael said with a hint of smugness. "Read the documents and get back to us." He said with a nod towards the package.

The group stared back at the agents in silence, all in various states of ridged unease.

Marella took a sharp breath, "But don't take too long. You have ten days and after that The President will give the order for Project Guardian to do everything in their power to find the proof that you have stolen military property and throw the book at all of you." She said looking each member of the group in the eye in turn.

"Mark my words. The Government will take back what is rightfully theirs if you choose to ignore the deal." Marella said bluntly.

She - like her President and also Michael - had a modicum of appreciation for the tenacity that these people had shown. But the fact was, they were all felons and ironically, it was the group's successive actions that led to Tobias's and Project Guardian's unprecedented agreement which was the only thing keeping them from serving time.

"Which isn't really the most ideal outcome." Michael said cryptically before the pair of agents stood from the table. Michael asked for all the files they'd handed out earlier and both he and Marella left the group with the elephant in the room, contained within the yellow envelope.