CHAPTER 12
Saint John launched himself toward Dirk Fleischer, but the henchman caught him before he could get there. Dirk spun around in time to see his security man hauling the struggling older brother away and let off a couple rounds. The first went wide, felling his muscular accomplice, but the second hit Saint John squarely in the chest, ending the struggle from him. String took advantage of the distraction and leapt toward Dirk, tackling him and pinning him to the ground while he wrestled the gun out of his hands and killed him with his own weapon. Once he was satisfied both mean were dead, he dropped to his knees by his brother's side.
"Sinj, talk to me."
He grunted in response. "You're a lot of trouble. I hope you know that."
"This is exactly what I was trying to avoid."
"By what? Getting yourself blown to pieces?"
"That wasn't quite the intent. This does answer the question of who was after us though."
"Yeah, hopefully the only ones."
"Better be, now let's get out of here. Can you walk?"
"Chyeah, no problem. Breathing on the other hand…."
He struggled to sit up, hand against the bleeding wound. "Did it go all the way through?"
"Looks like it. Come on, I'll help you up." He offered his hand which Saint John gratefully took and staggered to his feet.
"Thanks," he said appreciatively. "I think we're going to have to work on this communicating ideas thing though. I'd rather not get shot again."
"Understandable. In the meantime, let's get you patched up and figure out where the hell we are."
\A/
"All the more reason," the dark suit-clad woman concurred. "The Airwolf project is officially cut off until further notice, and Stringfellow and Saint John Hawke are to be found and report back in within thirty six hours or they'll be declared rogue."
"This meeting is adjourned."
Now this one would be a difficult one to get out of, Michael thought to himself. And where were the Hawke brothers anyways? As far as they were concerned, they didn't work for the FIRM, and therefore didn't have to report in regularly, but their connection with the FIRM was a strange one and it'd make everyone's lives much easier if they came in, problem was, he had to find them before he could bring them in.
"Marel…" he stopped midword, remembering his favored senior assistant had been transferred to Brazil, and sighed. It looked like he was on his own with this one. "Lauren, get the helicopter ready, we've got some errands to run."
\A/
After stopping by the Santini Air hangar and finding it empty, Michael had instructed Lauren to head on to the cabin, hoping he'd at least find Caitlin and the kids there. The skids of the all white helicopter touched down lightly and he climbed out even before his aid came to get the door.
As usual the front door was unlocked and he walked straight in, relieved to catch sight of the two boys playing in the living room. Caitlin appeared from the kitchen with two hot mugs of coffee, carrying them to the other two by the bar.
"See String, she' trying to keep us out of trouble - bringing us coffee so we'll stay out of the whisky."
"And she does make good coffee."
"But does it have the same pain relieving properties?" Saint John joked.
"If you're in that much pain maybe you should see a doctor," Caitlin suggested, still eying the two men with unbelief.
"Yeah," he replied, flinching away as String applied the gauze over the wound, "that probably wouldn't be an all bad idea, but it isn't that likely to happen either."
"How about a nurse?" Michael interjected, "Lauren is one you know."
"Thanks, but I think I've had enough poking and prodding for one day."
"You want to put this one yourself? It'd be a lot easier if you could hold still."
"It'd be a lot easier if I hadn't gotten myself shot, but I didn't realize I had a suicidal little brother."
He got a cold glare from the last comment.
"So things didn't go quite as planned, but-"
"But it's high time we move on. However it happened, you two have taken care of whoever was after us and things can get back to normal."
"Not quite normal I'm afraid," Michael warned. "The Committee has frozen the Airwolf program, maybe permanently, and they want you to come in for debriefing."
"But aren't you head of the Committee now? Between you and Marella you should be able to figure out some was to get around ending the project altogether."
"Technically head of the Committee, but now much has changed. If everyone else votes against it, there isn't anything I can do about it, and Marella's been transferred to Brazil. So it looks like you're confines to regular civilian life, at least for now."
"I don't know if I can do that, Michael; blowing things us is… stress relieving… and I've been doing it on a regular basis since I was seventeen."
"Yeah, some people just aren't cut out for that kind of like," Saint John rejoined.
From the look he gave him, Caitlin guessed Michael didn't appreciate his comment any more than he had String's.
"But you will get it up again eventually, right?"
"I certainly hope so, but I can't say anything for sure at the moment."
\A/
The Next Morning
"Hey String, wait up a sec!" Saint John yelled, raising his arm to signal his brother to come back, and just as quickly letting it down, forced to be the pain and stress it put on his injury. "String!"
The jeep jerked to a halt then a second later came quickly backward toward him.
"Yeah?"
"Can I catch a ride up to the hospital with you?"
"Just can't wait to see Chance until I return?" the younger brother teased.
"I just got a phone call from the hospital."
"And?
"Ellie's awake."