CHAPTER 12
It had been one heck of a ride, but now all scopes appeared to be clear and they were ready to go home.
"String, why don't you let Cait take over for a while," Dom suggested,now hearing the clearly audible heavy breathing over the headset.
"No," Hawke rasped in reply.
"Hawke, please," Caitlin requested, "just for a while. A long flight from Russian isn't anything all that exciting or something you haven't done before."
Hawke shook his head adamantly then spoke at the same time as realization hit Lexa.
"The Hind."
Reappearing from beyond the horizon, the Hind came up, slowly, but loaded for bare.
Four missiles came pelting towards them at breakneck speed, right on their six before any of them even had time for a surprised look to cross their face.
"Climb!" Lexa ordered, "climb now."
If anything, dropping down looked to be the safer bet her, flying on the deck being preferable to dodging missiles at higher altitudes.
They lost a few feet, heading for the ground instead of higher up.
"No you need to climb," Lexa instructed, " whatever you do, don't, do not drop altitude."
"Last I checked, I was the one with more combat flying experience, the one who didn't give up flying. And you aren't the one flying, are you?"
"I'm going to climb over this console and pound you if you don't climb already, dammit, I know what I'm talking about."
"I have flown combat before, far more than you actually."
"You stupid, stubborn, bloody idiot!" Lexa screeched as she clawed off the seat restraints and struggled towards him, fighting for the stick despite their desperate situation.
"Lexa!" Dominic placated, laying a restraining hand on her.
"He's going to get us killed!" she spat, "cause he's too pigheaded and stubborn to listen to me."
The first missile flew by, soaring past them and plowing into the mountainside, missing them easily.
"See we're fine."
"They aren't supposed to hit you, they aren't that stupid. They're trying to force you down."
"Then we fly on the deck, we can always out run the Hind."
"But not the missiles," Lexa reminded. "If necessary they'll shoot you down, but that isn't the plan. They want to force you down, to take you and Airwolf captive. There was a double agent that messed up their first attempt, but this one will not fail if you don't listen to me. There are more waiting for you if by chance you did make it past the Hind."
The second missile crossed their path, this time closer, but not injuring the aircraft's integrity as Hawke started to adjust their course.
"You had better be right."
"Trust me, I know."
"And just how do you know?"
"Look Hawke, I'm sorry you got shot over something that shouldn't have really been your problem, but you signed up knowing the risks. I couldn't let anyone else know, not ever you. It had to be realistic and I couldn't risk it."
"So getting shot wasn't even necessary? I risked my life for you for no good reason?" he growled. "I should have followed my instincts and left in in Russia. You know, there are more important things than finishing every mission no matter what the cost. You have to keep in mind the reason for the mission. Would it really do any good to technically have a successful mission and rescue one man if cost the lives of everyone else in your group?"
"It would still be a success. When someone, anyone, goes to work for an agency like the FIRM, they know there are inevitable inherent risks. They agree to take those chances same as you and I did. If you don't like it, leave, like I thought you were planning on doing. What, you find out you were more of an adrenaline junkie than you care to admit?"
"My brother," Hawke retorted.
"The FIRM lets you fly their suped up jet copter so you can look for your MIA brother who had been missing over fifteen years? Somehow I doubt it."
"They don't have much choice. I took her and hid her after Moffet stole Airwolf and took her to Libya, only to be returned when they find Saint John."
"Yeah," she said, still skeptical.
"Don't forget about the missiles," Dom interrupted.
"Chaff."
The chaff took out the remaining missile, but the Hind's intrepid pilot was far from giving in.
Gunfire from the GSh-30K side mounted guns chattered along Airwolf's metallic sides.
"Bring up an Agile."
"Agile," Caitlin confirmed.
"Gunfire continued to rain down from the Russian Hind whose pilot apparently wasn't getting the fact Airwolf was armor plated, or maybe he just wanted them to think that was the case.
Suddenly dropping several feet and drifting toward the left, the Mil Mi-24 shifted its vantage spot and round after round of ammunition pelted toward the rotors.
"We're hit in the tail rotor bad," Dom warned unnecessarily. Before he had even said a word, Hawke could feel the aircraft buck him as he struggled to keep her in line.
"Cut the engines."
Dom obeyed and watched the bulky Soviet helicopter fly by them, then the Agile as the two collided raining tongues of fire and shrapnel. The eruption shook them all, pieces of metal being flung against the fuselage and bulletproof glass windscreen.
"Give me turbos," he requested.
Dom acquiesced, but not without warning. "We can't make it all the way home like this. The turbines would overheat and besides that we'll never make it to the fuel pickup."
"Got in better ideas?"
"Well, what are you planning on doing?" Lexa piped in.
He shrugged in response. "I don't know yet. I guess we'll just have to wait and see."