CHAPTER 7

"What happened?" Michael demanded.

"Airwolf just disappeared, there's some kind of interference obstruction the signal it should be sending off. That or the Russians disabled it."

"What can we do to get it back?"

"I'm resetting it in case something is cause interference but other than that there isn't much I can do but hope."

"What about the emergency locator on the agent?" Michael inquired.

"It was deactivated nineteen minutes ago. Before that she was headed toward the eastern coast where we lost sight of Airwolf."

"Did we 'lose sight' of her, or was the locator manually turned off?"

"It was destroyed, stepped on I believe."

"Try radioing Airwolf then and see what we find out."

\A/

"Airwolf, Knightsbridge, come in."

"I'm here Michael," Dominic answered.

"What's your status? We lost connection with you and Lexa's locator was destroyed."

"I'm just peachy, currently hiding in the cockpit to stay out of the storm out there. String is putting up a fuss bigger than I've seen in years. You have any idea what he and that agent of yours had in the past? Because he doesn't seem to like her much and we haven't even seen her yet."

"Classified, need to know basis only."

"Well I have a need to know! If something is eatin' him like that I have a right to know about it, at the very least so I don't say something to hurt him more."

"Sorry Dominic but I can't help you. I have the mission report, but I doubt anything of it would be much help to you anyway. There were only three people to go to for details on that one and now one of them is dead. The only other two are Lexa and Hawke.

"How long until you pickup the agent?"

"I don't know; I'm only along for the ride. String had everything planned out but he isn't currently talking to me."

"You can't just leave her out there while he throws a temper tantrum; we're talking about another global war!" the spy warned, incredulous.

"What do you me to do? Tranquilize him and pickup the first agent I find?" Dom demanded. "I don't know hardly anything about this all. He just said he needed our help if he planned on coming back at all so we trusted that and came along. Now he's hardly talking to me and we're just camped out here in the countryside for I don't know what."

\A/

"Hawke," Caitlin gently pried, realizing he was already burrowing deep within himself and that now was neither the time nor the place. "Hawke, I'm not saying you have to want to, even that you have to like it, but you did agree to take this mission and you haven't given Dom or me anything to work with. The air traffic has been picking up the last few minute and I'm sure police forces on the ground aren't any less so; we've got to pick up that agent and get out of here."

"I'm suddenly regretting taking this mission a lot more. I thought I was done with her, that I would never have to see her again after what she did, but now suddenly I have to risk my life, and those of the only family I have to rescue her of all people. Doesn't seem hardly fair. I didn't go after revenge, didn't try to hurt her, but that doesn't matter, she doesn't care who she hurts. The job - the mission- that's what she does, that's what she succeeds at and won't stop anything short of it.

"When we get back you want me to have Michael arrange a restraining order on her?" Caitlin offered.

"No," he answered, not particularly amused by her joke. "I'd like him to arrange a firing squad."

"Oh it can't be that bad."

"Yes it can, Cait. You weren't there; you wouldn't know. There is a reason she only gets assigned to one person missions and undercover work now. I am that reason."

"I don't see what you mean."

"I worked with her, worked for the FIRM."

"Yeah, but Airwolf missions…."

"No," Hawke interrupted. "Before Airwolf. After Saint John went missing I was desperate. I'd follow anything hoping to find him. My career didn't matter; my life didn't matter, only finding him. Finally I was ordered home on leave; they thought some time away would help. I had already served my tour, my duty was done."

"So what happened?"

"I buried myself in my misery, had Dom drop me off at the cabin, much to his own personal displeasure, and I stayed for weeks on end, refusing to talk to or see anyone. The first time I came back to see Dom again was to tell him I had re-upped, I was going back to look for him."

"But you never found him," Caitlin supplied, knowing it to be fact rather than a question.

"I caught a round in the shoulder, and that kind of postponed my hunt. By the time I got out of the VA Saigon had fallen and the war was over. Saint John had just disappeared along with twenty five hundred others. Then I started following any lead I could find, as few and far between as they may be. A few mercenary jobs but I couldn't live like that either, going against the very same morals and standards I had set for myself and been taught my whole life. So I worked for the FIRM for a while, maybe not the best undercover agent ever but it was one more than they had and I could fly about anything they threw at me.

"She and I worked together, posed as husband and wife for a while and in return occasionally they would dig up something on my brother."

"You must've gotten along pretty well to work as husband and wife."

"Purely professional, at home it was a different story."

"So what went wrong?"

"I left for a while to chase a new lead on Saint John. I even planned for my absence with reasonable and logical explanations, but she was convinced I didn't care about the mission, that my brother was the only thing that mattered to me, that I would do anything, including blow our cover and risk both of our lives to follow whatever clue I could get a hold of. She wasn't too far off the mark, but I wasn't intending on sacrificing her life for his either; she didn't deserve that and didn't want that, but that didn't mean I wouldn't have given up my own life for his. To make a long story short, she didn't trust me and went in own her own to complete the mission, believed that I had betrayed her and our country. She broke her promise, totally blew our cover and nearly got me as well as many others killed because she couldn't trust me. Later I almost ended up with her again, even attempted to work things out between us, but she'd have no part in it, said she would rather I did die rescuing my brother because she wouldn't have to deal with me, and figured he'd be better without me anyways, everyone would."