CHAPTER 8

Outside the Santini Air Hangar

7:49 am

Darkness fled and hot California sun flooded light onto everything, leaving her exposed and in the open, an easy target for all her enemies. This was the price she paid for running late, but the people here had already been more than generous by caring for her dear Tommy and she had to see that she had done everything within her power to see that he was cared for.

When she got to the door though, she didn't see anyone else around, not even the usual sight of the patriotically colored helicopter. Where was everybody? she wondered. Setting her meager replenishing supply down in front of the door and intending to scurry away as usual, she came across a note similar to her own except that it was addressed to her, as Tommy's guardian.

She stuffed it into her pocket and ran for cover, not stopping to read it until she was sure it was safe. They wanted to meet her, to sort through this whole mess and return things to as they should be; otherwise, Tommy would be handed over to the police and investigative services for them to work out what should be done.

Letting out a long sigh, she conceded. This couldn't last forever, she didn't want it to like this. She didn't want to involve them or anyone else anymore than absolutely necessary, but necessity it had become. She was to meet with them back at the hangar where they would offer safe refuge until it could be sorted out.

\A/

The white limo pulled up and deputy director stepped out, not bothering with the cane, only to find out no one was there. Muttering curses under his breath as he returned to the limousine, he wondered why exactly he worried about it so much.

He had known personally Hawke since he was thirty and first started working for the FIRM as a field agent and pilot, almost two years of constantly butting heads with the stubborn, hot tempered younger man before he had joined the Airwolf project as a test pilot and quickly worked his way to the top there. That hadn't lasted long though - too many disagreements with Moffet he'd said, so he left. Simple as that. For two years he hadn't had to deal with the constant pain in the neck Stringfellow Hawke was to him, and then he had to come back to him for help, to recover Airwolf because of a mistake in judgment, a mistake that had cost him dearly. Since then, they had been working together - Hawke and his team flying missions in the nation and FIRM's best interest and he interceding between them and the Committee while looking for Stringfellow's MIA brother. Nothing there gave him much desire to go the extra mile, or in this case, miles. He had kept him from being arrested once and offered safe haven, but when he deliberately left the premises, refusing what help he had been offered, what reason was there for him to continue helping?

Unless there was more to the story…

There had been that time he went after Maria, which turned out to be nothing more than a clever scheme to get control of him. Thirty six hours after said capture, he was no longer of any value as far as the FIRM was concerned - scratched. And he had gone into the situation knowing the rules of engagement, but even after twenty years of faithful service he was no more important to the FIRM than any other ordinary person. But they had come after him, risked their live because… Because why? They weren't exactly in the best condition to be mounting any kind of rescue at the time, yet they'd gone anyway. Perhaps there was more than just using each other… a strange form of friendship maybe?

\A/

9:35 am

The Cabin

The white clad spy had no qualms about coming in and making himself at home, what bothered him was that neither Hawke nor any of the others appeared to be here at the moment. And when they disappeared, they really disappeared.

Tet was still here and the table was already set for Hawke and an extra five visitors, with a nearby large basket that looked to have been recently used as a crib, but he knew none of those meant he would be back anytime soon. Hawke left Tet alone sometimes for weeks at a time and, living alone, and often not even here a lot, there weren't many things to make it easier to tell if he'd been here recently or not. But why the basket? It would only suffice for a reasonably small baby, but Hawke didn't have any children, at least none that he knew of. And what was with all the extra place settings?

A sudden noise from the back door off the kitchen startled him, and he was surprised to see none other than Stringfellow Hawke walk in, baby with irresistible dark, red-streaked hair, in his arms and Caitlin carrying in a bottle a step behind.

"Make yourself at home," he invited with characteristic nonchalance, "you will anyway."

Picking his jaw up off the floor, he did just that. It had been a while since he'd last seen either of them, but surely not that long. How could there be any mistaking those distinctive features though?

"What's his name?" he finally inquired, hoping to shed some light on the subject without looking like a complete idiot.

"Tommy," was the one word response he received.

So much for not looking like a compete fool.

"Would you like to hold him?" Caitlin offered.

"Uh, no that's alright…" he replied, not really relishing the idea of having a messy, gurgling, little baby in his lap, not to mention he wouldn't have the slightest clue what to do when it didn't like him and started fussing.

"So, I'm sure you had some reasoning for coming by."

"I'm sure you could figure out why that is."

"I'm not going back. Somebody is after me and I want to know why."

"The police and because they think you intentionally murdered someone."

"It was intentional; he was shooting at us and I shot back with the intention of eliminating the problem."

"Disappearing isn't going to help your testimony either and running away makes you look guilty, so why are you doing it?"

"What if it's not just me they're after? In the last few days I've been in an accident and shot at, and I don't think it's a coincidence. And the only thing I've been doing in any differently is taking care of this kid. If watching him puts all of us at risk, there has to be a reason and I want to know what it is."

"And running is going to help?"

"I have to do all I can to protect the only family I've got and I can't do that from your office. I wasn't finding out anything either."

"What could this infant, however old he is, be the cause of someone to go after you so intently? What could he know or be able to do or prove that is so valuable?"

"I don't know how old he is, and I don't know what it is, but it is obviously something."

Puzzled, Michael cast a questioning glance at the child in Caitlin's arms greedily guzzling down the formula.

"And before you ask, he's not actually either of ours."

"But…" his words trailed off. All along he knew that logically it couldn't be, but seeing him he couldn't figure out how it wasn't. "Whose is it then?"

"He's somebody's baby, whose we don't know yet. We should though when Dom gets back."

As if on que, the Santini chopper could be heard, first by Hawke then the others.

Moments later Dom opened the front door and allowed the slender young woman to enter first. She approached cautiously, relieved when she found her precious baby in her arms once again.

"Thank you all so much," she whispered, tears of joy caught in her throat, "thought I'd never see him again." She pulled one hand free of his tiny grasp to brush back a wisp of ebony hair. "I hope he didn't cause you too much trouble. I wouldn't have just left him like that if I'd had any choice." She gestured toward the couch. "Is it alright if I sit?"

"Of course."

She gingerly sat on the edge of the sofa, cradling the half asleep child in her arms and smiling down at him then at each of them with genuinely heartfelt gratitude. "Well, I guess I should star at the beginning. My name is Ly' Thi Nhu and by birth I'm Vietnamese and lived there until I was ten, but after my father was killed in the war my mother married one of the soldiers, so we came to live here in America. As a result, I spent a lot of time at the base growing up and later married the son of one of my parents' friends. My husband, Trenton, is gone a lot and Tommy is like piece of him. One day he might not come back, and Tommy means the world to me partially because of that. I never wanted to leave him like I did, but felt it was the only choice I had. I don't want to loose him, but as a mother, I'm supposed to do what is best for him and being with me is far from that at the moment."

"Why? What suddenly makes staying with you so bad?"

"It's not me, it's who's after me."