CHAPTER 3

Knightsbridge

10:45 am

Michael flipped through the files on his desk with disinterest. Maybe he let the Deputy Director title go to his head, he though soberly as he looked through the stack yet again, or maybe Kara, new head of the Committee, was just trying to keep him occupied and out of her business. But it was all still busy work, things that would require more work to complete than the benefit that would be gained from doing it. Maybe it had its place, but not on his desk. There were too many mercenaries and too much political unrest in the world for him to get stuck with a possibility of a potential embezzler in a small organization that in some way in the past had worked for the FIRM back before even the Airwolf project had begun. It was simply too far fetched and far too trivial in the grand scheme of things for him to have to be worrying about. And speaking of the Airwolf project, he had better work on coming up with some reasons it was necessary so they didn't end it altogether. The whole Committee had been pretty adamant lately that they thought it was no longer necessary, and especially under the current circumstances. To them, Stringfellow Hawke was too impractical and unpredictable, not a carbon copy of their ideal company man and therefore not right for the job. Granted, he wasn't your average agent, and technically he was holding a top secret piece of military hardware hostage from his own government, but in all fairness, if he was willing to take that chance it was probably better for everyone that way. With what happened in Libya, he knew there was no way the government would ever allow the FIRM to utilize Airwolf's abilities, and even he had to rethink how great of an idea building an entire fleet of them would be. Even then there would be the issue of finding trustworthy pilots good enough to fly them. It may not be everything they had hoped for, but Hawke really was the only way to go. Now all he had to do was convince the rest of the Committee of that.

\A/

"We feel that the Airwolf project is no longer conducive to our needs here at the FIRM and believe it would be b in all of our best interests to turn it completely over to the Department of Defense."

"I disagree. If we relinquish total control, we loose it completely and all the benefits it brings."

"But we can't use these benefits while Hawke has control of it," another committee member joined in. "I vote we cut all funding to the project and Hawke will no longer be able to afford the costs of maintaining it and will ultimately be forced to give it up."

"Or better yet, we simply bring Hawke in and demand he tell us where he has it hidden."

"What if he doesn't talk?"

"We have ways of making people talk. Besides, he could be brought up on charges for the theft and suspicion of treason. He'll be behind bars the rest of his life, if not worse."

"It won't get you anywhere," Archangel warned, resisting the urge to just walk out of the room; that would only make his job more difficult he knew though otherwise he would have done it long ago. "In my dealings with him I've come to realize this if nothing else - Hawke is a very capable and talented pilot, and he and Airwolf make a nearly unstoppable force, but once he gets an idea into his head nothing will stop him from achieving it.

"Your best hope it to convince him that you and he are on the same team and give him some incentive to want to work for you. In the long run, that would be far better than trying to find a suitable replacement anyway."

\A/

With a doctor at the head of the team and a handful of nurses at his die, the medical personnel efficiently unloaded the currently convulsing child, positioning him on the gurney and disappearing beyond the elevator doors.

"What happened?" Caitlin asked as she tried to put the pieces together. "He was fine when I went to fix breakfast then…"

"I didn't realize he was running such a high fever until he rolled over. He was burning up, then just started throwing up, fussing, shaking… I should have realized something was wrong earlier, taken him to the doctor yesterday, something."

"Or maybe if you hadn't been pulling a triple shift while I slept."

"Cait, it's not your fault you were tired, and I was the one who volunteered for it."

She shook her head, knowing blaming themselves or each other would help. "I don't know; maybe we both could have done better, but for now let's get inside and see what the doctors say."

\A/

11:02 am

Santini Air

"Dom, I still can't reach them."

"Maybe Michael wanted them for something?"

"Already tried there too. From what I heard it's chaos over there. Marella has been reassigned to station in France and Michael has been in a Committee meeting all morning, evidently battling it out with them over funding for the Airwolf program. Samantha said she hasn't seen any of them though."

"Any ideas where they might be then? It's not like String to not show up when he's supposed to be here, and he was scheduled to be the one flying the scene at the studio."

"He could be suffering from some long lasting side effects from the last mission. He was taking a little longer to fully recover and he sounded pretty tired when I talked to him yesterday. How about I fly the scene then if I still can't get them on the radio, I'll fly out to the cabin and see what's going on."

\A/

"It looks like a viral infection, something reasonably rare, but probably copeable. He just caught a real nasty strand of it."

"But he's ok?"

"He still has a fever, although we have been able to get it to go down some, and with your permission would like to give him some preventative medicines while his immune system is still weak to hopefully avoid and more of the seizures and some of the vomiting. But other than that, we pretty much have to let it run its course."

Both parents nodded.

"I also take it he hasn't been eating very well the last couple days?"

"Hasn't been able to keep much down."

"I suspected so. He was also a little dehydrated so we've hooked him up to an IV. Afraid I can't say he's the happiest, but he seems to be ok at the moment."

"Where is he now?"

"A nurse is settling him in a room down the hall, 317, but since he is still contagious I want to limit his visitors to immediate family and you need to have masks and gown as well as wash before and after visiting."

"Alright. Can we see him now?"

"Give it five minute or so for the nurse to finish then someone would be glad to show you proper washing procedures so you can go in."

\A/

The Jet Ranger spun, rocking back and forth as smoke plumed from the tail, and the director was loving every second of it. It came spiraling down, appearing out of control as more supposed gunfire continued to spray across the fuselage.

"Keep it up!" the director yelled into the radio, his voice ringing through the headset so loudly Saint John ripped it off. He pulled back in the stick, but the helicopter continued to dive, tail swinging around in a tight circle. "Beautiful!" he could hear the director shout through the headset even from its new position on the seat beside him.

"Not beautiful, about to be a disaster, " Saint John muttered aloud as he continued to wrestle the controls, real smoke now coming from the back end of the Jet Ranger.