CHAPTER 7
"Target missed." He knew Hawke had his battle sometimes with nightmares, but who knew they had such good timing?
"Then try again; I need Hawke out of the way. For good."
Abandoning the sniper idea, he set off with an M-16 instead, sneaking up towards the cabin for a closer shot.
\A/
"You're not going to lose me. We're all going to make it."
"Then figure out someway to do it from here because I'm going to be right by your side the whole way."
"Anyone ever tell you you're too darn stubborn for you own good?"
"Yeah, and I've got nothing on you."
He sighed, half smiling, and silently admitting she was probably right, and that wasn't necessarily such a good thing.
"Alright, I can't afford to have you against me too. We have to stay under cover, but preferably not get the cabin destroyed in the process. So if we can safely get out of here and draw him away that would be best. The police wouldn't be able to get here soon enough to do us any good, and neither will anyone else, so it looks like we're on own. Kill or be killed."
Caitlin nodded in understanding. "Ok, I got it. Now you got a plan on how we're going to do that?"
"Still working on that. First off, you need to be armed."
"Taken care of, I grabbed the rifle when I heard the window break upstairs."
"Good. No you take the back of the house and I'll take the front. You see him, you shoot him, no hesitations and stay where you aren't visible."
"I can handle it; you be careful too though. And no funny stuff, otherwise knowing you, you'd intentionally give away your position so he comes after you instead of me."
"No funny stuff," he agreed. "You wanted in on the action, so now you've got it."
\A/
"Approaching target. I've got some movement going on inside. No moving, radio silent." The shadowy sniper crouched down into the shrub and crawled across the ground, repositioning his night vision goggles in search of his target.
Was that two people? He took a second look, but now found no one. Maybe it was. After all, Hawke did have a wife and child now, it wouldn't be that unlikely. A child, he remembered, Chance Hawke, and he was about to kill his father and anyone else that might be in the way, eventually maybe even the kid himself. How had he drifted this far - murdering for money? Yeah, it paid well, very well actually, but at what cost? He couldn't just 'quit' though. I f he did, he'd be dead himself before he could finish the sentence.
No, no, no. This was all wrong. He didn't think about it, he just did it. Sight, aim, pull trigger, confirm kill - those were the four things, the only four things he was supposed to do, all this second guessing had to stop.
That was Hawke, had to be, just beyond his hiding place about fifty feet ahead by the slightly cracked open green front door. Carefully moving into position so not to give away with location, he lined up for the shot.
\A/
Stepping silently across the packed dirt pathway, Caitlin walked toward the front of the cabin where she though she had seen their attacker flee. Or was he in pursuit?
There he was, she though, amazed she had actually managed to find him.
Four shots rang out almost simultaneously, one towards the cabin where Hawke fired back, and one towards the sniper from behind. The sniper had turned, one of the bullets, caught his shoulder and let off a round toward Caitlin then disappeared into the darkness.
Hawke, only now realizing Caitlin was out there, rushed out, heading for. "You alright?"
"It's just a graze. And I actually mean that, barely nicked me. He got away though."
"He was hit though; maybe that'll make him think twice before coming back."
"I sure hope so. What even happened up there? I just heard the glass shattering and was going to see what it was."
"Nightmare…"
"And you what, threw a pillow through the window?"
"No, the nightmare saved my life; I just hope it wasn't at the cost of Chance's."
\A/
9:20 am
Knightsbridge
"What do you want me to do Hawke? Any protection I could offer you you don't like. I have no idea who might be after you, and quite frankly I've been busy doing all I can just to keep the rest of the Committee from trying to arrest you for treason and end the Airwolf program for good. I'm sorry, but I'm not sure there is much more I can do."
"There's got to be something."
"If you're afraid the cabin isn't safe, stay at the hangar, or sleep on the couch at your brother's of Santini's for a while until the danger is past. If your life is in danger, I'm sure they'd probably manage to fit you in somewhere. Or can they not handle having a three year old running rampant in their homes? I'd think he's got to be pretty well behaved for you to leave your priceless Stradivarius and art collection within his reach."
"Chance isn't the problem, he's in the hospital."
"He's… why?"
Hawke shook his head. "Don't know. He isn't doing very well though, quit breathing on his own twice yesterday."
"Is he going to be alright?" Michael asked, now genuinely concerned.
"He's quarantined; doctors don't know much else they can do."
"I'm sorry, Hawke."
"It's not your fault. It's just, it's like someone's trying to wipeout the whole family. Saint John had a near miss at the studio, Chance is suddenly sick, then a sniper comes to visit Cait and I last night.
Chance could have gotten sick for any number of reasons, and Saint John could have made a mistake or not done a thorough preflight check. I'm not saying it was all his fault, and taking into account the howl sniper incident, somebody is after you or Caitlin at least, but that doesn't mean they're trying to take out the entire family. I could be a coincidence."
"There's no such thing."