CHAPTER 10

This was a bad idea Dominic realized, a really bad idea. So far there had been no sign of Saint John and now he could have very possibly lost the other young man that he knew and loved as a son.

Somewhere along the way he had lost radio contact with String and Lexa, Cait's being only shaky at best. Even with Airwolf's sensitive scanners he wasn't getting them, at least not so far as he could tell. There were more constantly moving people than he could count, and where they were suddenly getting all this ammunition to shoot at him he couldn't tell.

He had to be down there somewhere. String was a smart boy, he'd figure a way out to safety. He would," and he would continue telling himself that until it happened. In the meantime, was there anything he could take out without taking out the rest of the team, wherever they were?

Taking another look, he determined he still couldn't figure out exactly where they were, but he could go ahead and eliminate the few places he knew that weren't. He loaded a Maverick and a second later reduced an outpost into smoldering remains.

Before he could load another he heard a familiar voice over the radio. "Dom," it repeated in a barely recognizable voice.

"I'm here," he answered, knowing that as much as he wanted to, now was no time to ask lots of questions.

"Cait… prisoners safe… can't find… know where they are?" was all he could make out.

"Where are you now?" he asked even as he began triangulating her position.

"Not…" was all she got a chance to say before he lost the connection. Not enough to get a position and he obviously wasn't getting any further with that conversation. It was beginning to look like he was alone fighting a loosing war.

\A/

It was mid-day and the sun was scorching, but that was the least of their problems. It was only a graze, Lexa kept telling him, but he suspected it was a lot more than she was letting onto. She needed some serious antiseptic and bandaging at the very least.

"Gotta get out of here somehow," Lexa murmured, "somehow…" She risked another glance over the edge of the ditch they found themselves holed up in, nearly losing her head in the process. "They know right where we are and are only getting closer. We've got to move now."

"Only if you're suicidal. There aren't any openings - we'd never make it through."

"Then we make an opening. On the count of five we run for it and don't look back."

"I'm not going to-"

"It's not an option," Lexa cut him off. "You can stop running when you safely reach Airwolf, until then you don't quit is they brought out a full air strike over a minefield you're trying to tiptoe through."

"You're not exactly making me feel better about this either."

"That wasn't my goal. I don't want any heroic - you're a big boy and I can take care of myself so they shouldn't be necessary anyway."

"You're-"

"Five, four, three…" Lexa counted off, throwing a M67 grenade. "Run!"

There was a clearing where Dom could hopefully spot them and pick them up not much farther than the other end of the camp if he could get there, the catch being getting there. He could feel the heat of the explosion as the ground shook from Lexa's grenade; it was much closer than he would have asked for, but it was a diversion all the same and the only one he was likely to get so he might as well make the most of it. He could hear Lexa's footsteps pound along behind his, but somehow managed to resist the urge to turn around and make sure she was really there. Instead, he cast a brief glance skyward, hoping to catch a glimpse of Airwolf hovering above the tree tops, but to no avail.

Realizing there was no way he could outrun the rebel army at his heels, he ducked into the trees and disappeared amongst the dense vegetation. They, undoubtedly, knew this area better than he, but if he was lucky maybe he could lose them and find some place to hopefully be able to radio a pickup.

\A/

Breathlessly, Caitlin pulled herself into the seat beside Dominic and began to relate all she knew. "The POWs are safe for now. String and Lexa went off in the other direction, but things weren't looking good; practically the whole town is after them and they don't have much ammo left.

"Any idea where they were headed?" he asked hopefully.

"Not much," she admitted, "somewhere on the other side of the camp, I think trying to distract them while I got the prisoners out. After that I don't know, they just disappeared…"

"Whoa, slow down. You all were getting the POWs out and what? Long's mean came after you? I'm assuming String and Lexa got separated at some point during the firefight?"

"Pretty much."

"So I should start looking on the other end of the camp then. Now, why don't you hop into the back and give me a hand."

"You got it."

\A/

He had started to scramble up from the ground where he had ended up courtesy of a jutting tree branch, but stooped mid-movement. He appeared to have lost them. The noise of the men tramping through the jungle seemed to be deadening, the constant backing of orders fading and all becoming oddly quiet. It was over; all he had to do was make it back to Airwolf.

Carefully crawling as noiselessly as possible across the ground, Hawke made his way toward the outer edge of the jungle toward the river.

What seemed an eternity later, he finally reached it, leaning against a rough tree and pulling out the handheld radio only to find it had been destroyed. Now what? He sat quietly for several long minutes trying to figure out how to get Dom's attention without alerting the entire Vietnamese army of his position until he thought he heard the distant whine of rotors overhead. Great, just what he needed, unless…. Unless, yes, it was!

Airwolf's distinguished howl filled the air as she shrieked by, leaving a strafing line of fire behind.

"Ok, Dom, you better be scanning audio because my life may very well depend on it."