CHAPTER 3

Dom checked out of his hotel room and hauled his overnighter into the back of the Jet Ranger. A severe thunderstorm had hindered him from being able to fly back the night before, as well as, ruin just about any chance he had at getting a clear connection to Van Nuys.

Fortunately, the weather seemed to have cleared up enough for an overcast but enjoyable flight.

The rotors turned slowly as he counted off the seconds until he could lift off. Finally, they had gathered enough speed and he took off. Once enroute to Van Nuys, he reached for the radio.

"Santini One to Van Nuys Airport."

After a moment's hesitation, the radio crackled ominously. He tried again.

"Santini to Van Nuys, do you read?"

"Van Nuys Airport to Santini one, we read you."

"Request for a late landing. I got a late start and might have to come in just after sunset."

"Affirmative, see you later, Santini one."

"Over and out."

Dom wondered about the unclear of the call. 'Maybe they were getting some of the storm he'd sat out last night,' he tried to reassure himself; It was nothing.

\A/

String stood in front of Santini Air's second Jet Ranger. It wasn't the same distinctive red, white, and blue hues, but it was essentially the same helicopter.

"Dom's not back yet?" String questioned nervously.

"No," Saint John answered. "I even tried radioing him, but I didn't get anything."

"If he's not back by the time I come back, I think we need to start a search. I heard Vegas got hit by some bad weather last night. Maybe he had to sit it out and that's what delayed him," he said more to encourage himself than actually believing it.

"String, are you really sure you want to do this stunt? If you miss, you could get really hurt….or even killed" she struggled to say the last word. "I want to be encouraging, I really do, and I'd love to have you flying stunts again, but I don't want to loose you."

"Cait, I can do this. The business needs it, and so do I. I need to know for sure that I can do it."

"Even if it kills you?" she sniffled.

"Yeah, even if it kills me, but don't worry. I'm not planning on letting that happen."

She nodded understandingly. There wasn't anything she could do to stop him, and she knew it. Not letting him fly would just kill him just as quickly, not to mention put him through more misery. "Be careful."

He kissed her forehead gently as he turned to leave. "I promise I'll be careful."

Rubbing a dirty hand across her cheeks, she rid herself of the tears she'd shed worrying about him and tried to recompose herself. "Come on, Saint John, let's go find Dom."

\A/

Dom fiddled with the radio some more. They'd all be worried about him and he knew it, but there wasn't anything he could do about it with the radio out.

A loud rumble of thunder brought his attention back to the sky. If he was lucky, he'd be able to out fly most of the rain, he decided and continued on, increasing his speed. The thunder only seemed to get closer and flashes of light lit up the gray heavens as the rain came pelting down. He had no choice. He had to set down and wait it out.

\A/

The director looked out at the ominous black clouds forming in the distance. He picked up his portable radio and gave String the signal. "Ok, Hawke, we can fit in one run through now then we'll see how the storm looks."

"Roger."

After rising almost effortlessly off the top of the semi trailer he slung the helicopter up into the sky.

"Go ahead and dive!" the director instructed. The immediate response was almost a completely vertical nosedive to the ground. The ground rushed up to meet him, closer and closer. He needed to pull out, but it was just a little farther.

The wind started to pick up, adding an additional unwanted challenge to the difficult stunt. He struggled to maintain on course. It had to be perfect or he'd mess up the stunt and end up dead, or at least seriously injured. Neither option was good, especially the previous.

"You're beyond the hill," the director's voice sounded over the radio, "pull up now."

Now fighting wind, as well as velocity and gravity, he fought the collective and the cyclic, trying to pull out in the very few feet allotted. Gravity pulled him down, 'trying to flatten him like a pancake,' he thought grimly. A mere five feet separated him from the ground by the time he had regained full control of his helicopter and had it righted. He landed heavily on the grass still wet with morning dew.

"How was it?" String asked over the radio. He hoped it would be good enough so that he wouldn't have to do it again, but at least he knew he could. If he could do that, the other stuff should be easy as pie.

"Very good," the director praised. That was a new one; maybe he had learned his lesson last time when String had come in close scaring him half to death because he was annoyed at the director critiquing his flying no matter how many times he did it right. "I think that should work, but if not I'll give you a call, after all, I want the best."

Soon String was paid and heading back to the hangar. Maybe it hadn't been the smartest thing to do, but he had survived unscathed, and he knew for sure that he could do the stunt flying again.

Upon entering the hangar, he called for Dom. No answer. Next he tried Saint John and Caitlin. Still nothing. "I guess they went ahead with the search." Not that that hurt his feelings any. He wanted his surrogate father back as soon as possible, especially with the wedding scheduled for the following day and a storm moving in.

There were 280 miles between Las Vegas and Van Nuys and Dom could be in any one of them, perfectly fine waiting on a storm to blow over or injured from a crash. He needed to be found and fast. The incoming storm wasn't going to leave much time for looking though. Taking the Jet Ranger back out, he flew off, determined to find Dom.