Chapter 10
Ex's and Death threats.

String had taken Airwolf up to 35'000 feet and using turbos was happily speeding through the clouds undetected. He had spent most of the flight answering Cait's question's about Tess and her reason's for witness protection. He'd also let Cait know that last time he'd seen Tess five months ago she was pregnant. That had bought more questions, and Cait had been upset on his behalf, that Tess had chosen to have this baby after getting rid of his.

String was past Tess's betrayal, his only concern now was making sure she got to safety. He had Cait and there child to think about, at the back of his mind he was already making plans for a future with them. He knew Dom had some expectations concerning the two of them, but was for know keeping silent on the subject. He had no intentions now of them raising the baby separately, he wanted to do things as a couple. There conversation this morning, had clued Cait in on his feeling's, and it looked like she was happy with everything.

String could already imagine a cute little red headed imp with pig tails, and lots of freckles pestering the life out of Tet, pulling on the hounds tail and his ear's. The poor mutt wouldn't no what to do with himself, String thought. He was looking forward to a future with Cait and the baby.

"We're 50 miles out, and closing." Cait informed him, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"Disengaging turbos, bringing rotas back online." He said, cutting Airwolf's speed. " Find me a good spot to set her down."

"Co-ordinates are on your screen, I'm picking up a small truck, with 2 passengers. Looks like it's Marshall O'Donnley, and the package." She said, as she checked the thermal scans on the screen in front of her.

String shook his head at her words, he had a feeling it was going to be a long flight back. "I'm going to bring her down slowly, I want to make sure it's them before we land. Keep the scans running, I don't want any surprises."

"Will do." She said.

"Cait, I want you to stay in Airwolf. If someone has managed to find them, I need to know you'll be safe." He said, glancing over his shoulder at her.

She was quiet for a moment, just looking into his eyes, before she nodded her head. "Because of the baby," she stated.

"Yes, because of the baby." He turned back around and began to bring Airwolf lower into the clearing, watching as the blue pickup truck came into view. He spoke again, "Cait, we're going to have a long talk over what I'll be letting you do in Airwolf. I know I can't keep you out of the cockpit completely, but I will be setting some ground rules."

"Fine, we'll talk once we get home. You better believe I ain't giving up my seat in Airwolf any time soon." She said, a hint of steel in her voice. "Scans are still clear, just the two in the truck."

"I wouldn't expect anything else from you, Cait." He said, watching as the occupatants of the truck stepped out. "The woman is definately Tess, run a facial recognision scan for the Marshal."

"Yeah it's definately him, still nothing on the thermal scans." She informed from her seat in the back.

"Cait, play nice." String said lowering Airwolf's landing gear, bringing her down to land. Cait didn't answer, and he had the impression that she had probably just stuck her tongue out at him. He powered The Lady down, and got out heading in the direction of the Marshall and Tess.

The Marshal was a large man, easily 6'4" with a stocky linebackers body. He was wearing blue denim jeans and shirt, a black leather stetson on his head. He approached String, an easy smile on his face, and offered an outstretched hand. "Mr Hawke, I sure do appreaciate you pickin up Ms Cullen."

String shook the offered hand. "Marshall, how about we get Tess inside. The sooner we get airborn, the better I'll feel."

"I hear ya," He said.

"Hello, String." Tess said, adding. "You seem to be alone this time."

"I have Cait with me in the back." He grabbed the bag from the Marshall and ushered Tess towards The Lady, the Marshall following. "I wanted her to keep running scans of the area."

"Cait?" Tess asked curiously.

"Yeah." He didn't elaborate any further, just openend the door and helped her inside. The Marshal tipped his hat towards Tess, wished her well and headed back to his truck, as String made his way round to the other side of Airwolf. He climbed into the pilots seat, pulling on his helmet before running through the start up. Tess turned in her seat and introduced herself to Cait. Airwolf was just lifting of, her landing gear retracting the when Cait's voice came threw String's headset.

"String, I'm picking up a chopper 10 miles out." She said waiting for the computer to pick up the identity of the approaching craft. "It's a Black Hawk, she's fitted with chain guns and Hellfire's." She was already reaching for the switch to lower the ADF's as Sting called for combat mode.

"Combat mode, Cait." String ordered, taking Airwolf into a steep climb, placing her in an advantageous position for combat.

"ADF deployed, bogey is 3 miles out and closeing, should have visiual any time."

"Got him," String said as the Black Hawk came into view. "Give me full turbo's."

"You've got em." She called, pushing the lever upwards to give him full power to the turbo's.

The Black Hawke opened fire with chain guns, the 30mm shells pinging of the armour plating of Airwolf's hull. String engaged the turbo's, closing the distance between the two helicopters. Tess screamed in terror as she watched a hellfire missile being fired towards them. String pulled up hard, taking Airwolf up another 5,000 feet and banking hard to the left, watching as the missile passed beneath them.

"Sunburst," String demanded.

"Sunburst." cait replied, releasing the Chaff.

"Give me a Hellfire, Cait."

"Hellfire." She replied, pressing the weapon selector.

String fired the Hellfire, watching as it streaked across the sky hitting the tail section of the craft. String knew the pilot should be able to safely set the bird down, but he was out of the game in the mean time. Cait's voice came through his headset.

"The scopes clear, looks like he was on his own." Cait said.

"Just keep an eye out, and get me Michael." He said, wondering why one of Michael's simple pick ups was never easy.

Cait flicked the scrambler, connecting Airwolf to Knightsbridge. "String we have a open channel."

"Thanks," He said keying the mic to talk to the agent, it wasn't Michael's voice that he heard in his head set, it was Marella's.

"Hawke, we have a situation here. Michael has been shot, someone has leaked the information on Tess Cullen. Don't bring her in, you need to find a safe location for her." Marella said, filling him in on the situation as quickly as she could.

String could hear the worry in her voice. He was sure the two spies were more than just work collegues, besides he was worried aswell. Although the two of them often had diffrent opinions about things, and did argue quite often, he still considered the agent as a friend. "How is he, Marella."

She sighed, "It's a through and through of the left shoulder, he'll be fine. I'll fly him home later, I'm having to staying with him. The committie have insisted on Zebra squad acting as security for us both."

"Good. We'll get Tess hidden, I think it's best if you don't know anything of my plans for now. At least till you get your leak plugged." He said, out lining his plans.

"I'll let Michael know things are handled on your end, keep her safe, Hawke. Knightsbridge out." She said ending the communication.

...

"You up for some camping, Cait." He said glancing over his shoulder.

"Not a chance flyboy. I want a hot shower, a proper bed and real food. Besides don't think Ms Cullen is gonna be up to sleepin on the floor." She said, glaring at him.

"Camping." Tess blurted out, looking at String. "I'm seven months pregnant, I'm not sleeping on the floor. I've never even been camping in my life."

String looked at her but didn't say anything. "I'm fresh out of idea's on this Cait. We can rule out any of our usual hangouts, for a start if someone has managed to get to Michael, then there going to check the cabin, your apartment, the hanger and Dom's place." He said. He hated not having too many options. And truth be told, he didn't want Tess at the cabin, he planned on that being Cait's home. "If you know of somewhere safe, let me know."

"I do. The co-ordinates are on your screen." She said as she sent the information from her terminal. "We're 30 miles out."

String looked down at the information that she had displayed on the screen, looking closer at the map that crossrefrenced it's self with the figures. "Devils Canyon." He read.

"Yeah, Rocking Horse Ranch, 45,000 acres of good quality grazing land with 12,000 head of cattle. There's an airstrip down by the stable block." She said, with a grin on her face. "You want any more information?"

String chuckled, "Your mama up for some guests?"

"Ow, I'm sure she will be. You might wanna be on your best behaviour around Dad though. Don't want him goin after you with a shotgun, for gettin his little girl in trouble." She said cheekily, as he changed course towards the O'Shannsey Ranch.

Tess was quietly watching the byplay between String and Caitlin, they were both real familiar around each other. Tess couldn't remember String ever being like that, he had always had a very serious side to him, and hadn't been one for banter. He'd never really had friends that he kept in touch with, just former army friends. Caitlin was really nice and friendly towards him, except she'd been a little cold towards Tess.

When the Black Hawk had fired that missile at them, she new she'd almost lost it. Yet those two had been so calm about it, like they were taking a walk in the park. She'd turned around to watch Caitlin working on the console, she'd been flicking switches and typing on the computer before String had even spoken. It was kinda freeky the way she was reading his mind.

...

String headed to the spot around the back of the Stables, that Cait had indicated as a good place to set down. He'd lowered the landing gear, and brought The Lady down, her tyres settling into the dusty hard packed earth, as her down wash from her rotors blew the sand and gravel towards the corral which housed a few horses. He could hear Cait's quite sigh come through his headset, as he powered Airwolf down, cutting of power to her systems. He removed his helmet, and turned in his seat to check on Cait. She was looking through the cockpit window at the large sprawling house in front of them.

She had a small smile on her face, almost wistful. He watched as her eyes flicked across the porch, taking in the battered Rocking Horse that sat on one side of the front door, and the rocking chair that sat on the other. The house was made of wood, and painted in white, the railing and shutters were painted a deep green colour, contrasting with the clear varnished wood of the steps, and the floor of the covered porch.

"Caitlin, you ok." He asked quietly.

"Yeah, I am." She smiled at him.

String opened the door, noting that Tess was also doing the same. He looked round himself, taking note of the landscape, and the buildings. He sensed Cait come up behind him, coming to stand beside him. She placed her hand on his arm, gave it a squeeze and moved forward to greet the woman that had just come out of the house.

"Caitlin, good lord what are you doing here? And what in the world is that?" The older woman said indicating the black and white craft behind her.

"Hi, mamma." She said giving the woman a hug.

Her mother pulled back from the hug, and stared into her face. "Caitlin O'Shannssey, I asked you a question, now I expect it to be answered."

"That's a Helicopter that I sometimes fly. We are here," She said indicating the two people behind her, "because we need a place to stay for a little while."

"Just what type of trouble have you got yourself into? I knew this would happen when you ran of to California. Flying stunts and such nonsense, you should be looking for a husband to settle down with young lady."

"Mamma, stop, please. I'm not a kid anymore, I'll settle down when I'm ready too. I have a perfectly good life in California, and I'm not in that sort of trouble with the law." She said defending her lifestyle, and String. Although her mother didn't need to know about String and the baby just yet.

Her mother seemed to notice that she had guests to take care of. "You folks might as well come on in. It's mighty hot out here this time of day. Caitlin, show our guests into the great room, and I'll fetch some refreshments." She said as she headed back into the house.

"Are you sure I shouldn't be more scared of you mother." String whispered in her ear as he came up beside her. He chuckled as he saw the look on her face.

"Shoot me please," She said to him as she made her way towards the steps. "She's been trying to marry me off since I turned 18. She didn't approve of me learning to fly, joining the THP, or moving to LA to fly movie stunts."

"Cait, calm down. If your so uncomfortable being here we can find somewhere else to stay." He said in reassurance. He gave her a wink and headed up the porch steps, with Tess close behind. Tess gave her a small smile as she came to the bottom of the steps. Cait just glared at her, she was uncomfortable with the woman, and hated what she had done to String.

Tess stopped at the side of Cait, and placed her hand on the other woman's arm. "Have I done something to offend you, Caitlin. We've barely spoken, yet you seem to hate me, I just can't understand why?"

Cait looked at her, realising she was probably being petty with Tess. "String told me about the baby." Was all she said.

Tess frowned, "You mean because my babies father is an Arab?"

Cait shook her head. "No, I've nothing against the babies daddy. I'm talking about what you did to Strings baby." Cait said, shaking of the other woman's hand and stomping into the house.

Tess stood there a moment in shock at Caitlin's words. She didn't even notice when String came back down the steps to check on her. He came to stand beside her, looking her over to see what was wrong. Tess looked up at him, tears in her eyes as she spoke. "You told her about the baby, why?"

String sighed, it seemed Cait had lashed out at Tess. "Caitlin and I have been friends for a few year's, I've shared a lot of things with her. Cait probably knows more about me than anyone I've ever known except for Dom and Sinj." Tess just nodded her head, and headed up the steps with String close behind her.

...

Cait had disappeared down a hallway to the left of the great room not long after they'd entered the house. Tess had dropped down onto one of the dark leather couches that filled the room, and String had took the opportunity to look round the room, lots of solid dark wood furniture filled the room. Photos and paintings filled the walls, two tall bookcase framed the stone fireplace and were crammed with a variety of books, some old and some newer titles. A photo on the mantle place, caught his attention, he smiled as he picked it up.

The photo was of Cait, she must only of been about six or seven when it was taken. She was sat on a dapple grey pony, dressed in a western shirt and jeans a little Stetson covering her mass of red curly locks. Her pony wore a yellow rosette on it's bridle, and Cait was proudly holding a trophy in one hand as the other gripped the ponies reins.

He heard someone come into the room, he noticed it was Cait's footfall, he could hear. He turned slightly to look at her, he grinned at her flashing her a view of the picture he was looking at. She'd changed out of her flight suit, and was now wearing a pale yellow cotton sundress and white leather sandals. "I see you found the family wall of embarrassing photos." She said with a chuckle.

"You were cute," he told her grinning. "I have to admit I have an image of a little freckled faced red headed imp in pigtails tormenting the life out of Tet." He whispered so no one would over hear.

That brought an even bigger smile to Cait's face. "I have the image of a brown haired little boy with gorgeous blue eyes, and the cutest smile following his daddy around." She whispered back. "How come there isn't any of photos of you and Saint John when you were kids. The only ones you have at the cabin are from when you were in the Army."

"I have them, there just not on show. There's a few dozen albums on the book cases, going back to my grandparents time at the cabin. I know Dom has a couple as well, he always had the camera out when we were kids." He said wistfully. "I haven't looked at them for years, to many memories." He finished.

Cait let the subject drop, she new the memories he was talking about. Dom had filled her in a little on his parents death, and also that of his high school girlfriend. Cait reached over to grab a more recent photo of the mantle, passing it to String. "Meet the family," she said, tapping each of the people in the photo. "Mom, Dad, my older brother David, his wife Sharon, and there two kids Rose and Dylan. My little sister Erin, her husband Matt and there daughter Megan. The two older women are my dads sisters, Catherine and Maureen."

"Caitlin would you mind fetching the tray from the Kitchen." Her mother said as she breezed back into the room with a tray holding a pitcher of Lemonade and several glasses.

"Sure, Mom." She said replacing the picture on the mantle, and heading into the kitchen to fetch the tray. When she returned, she noticed her mother was fussing over Tess, making sure she was comfortable, and fetching her a drink. String was still by the fire place looking over the photos.

Another photo caught his eye, a broad grin came over his face. "Miss Texas?" He said, smirking at her.

"Caitlin was runner up." Her mother said proudly. "The winner went on to take runner up in the Miss United States pageant."

"So what was your talent, Cait." He said with a twinkle in his eye.

"What do you think I did?" She said with a challenge.

He chuckled, and shook his head. "With you, I'd imagine a demonstration on how to take an engine apart, or how to beat some poor defenceless guy."

"And you'd be right. I gave a karate demonstration showing women how to fend of an attack." She said, pleased that String knew her so well.

"Don't most of the women do things like baton twirling, water glasses or singing and dancing." Asked Tess, curiously.

"Most normal women, yes." Said her mother. "Unfortunately the female vibes seems to have escaped, Caitlin. She felt her talent was Karate, much to my disappointment."

"Mom, that's not fair." Cait said, tired of defending her actions.

String was trying his hardest not to laugh at Cait, he could see she was embarrassed. Her face was starting to flush, making her freckles more pronounced across her cheeks and nose. He couldn't resist another look at the photo of her. She was wearing a full length evening gown in yellow. The bodice of the dress was made of lace, which was completely sheer, except for heavily embroidered and beaded panels across her breast. The straps rested just of her pale creamy shoulders. The skirt was slit up one side to her thigh, showing of her long leg, as the skirt billowed out behind her.

Her hair was pulled up on top of her head, diamante slides holding it in place. She had an elegant diamante chocker around her neck with matching earrings at her ears. Cait was also wearing a lot of make up in the photo, her eyes wear heavily made up, and she was wearing red lipstick. She looked young in the photo, probably about 19 or 20, but String couldn't help his reaction to her. He quickly replaced the photo on the mantle, willing his body back under control.

"So what type of trouble are you in?" Her mother asked changing the subject. "And when do you plan on introducing me to your friends."

"Is dad out in the Cessna?" She asked. " I'd much rather explain everything to the both of you at the same time." She said, stalling for time.

"He is, he should be home soon." Her mother replied.

Cait noticed String turn his head to the side, listening. "Cessna," she said to him. He nodded his head at her in response. "Looks like dad's home."

Her mother stared in astonishment at her daughter and the man in front of her, Caitlin had known from the expression on his face and his body language that her husband was bringing there small plane into land.

Several minutes later, Patrick O'Shannssey came striding into the room, calling out to his wife. "Elizabeth, who does that aircraft belong to, and what's it doing behind the stables?" He asked, not noticing his daughter or the two other people in the room.

"Maybe you should ask your daughter." She said indicating Caitlin who was stood near the fireplace.

"Caitlin," He cried in delight, picking her up and hugging her. He placed a kiss on her cheek, before pulling back to look at her. "So you decided to come home for a visit?"

"We were in the neighbour hood," She said with a grin. "Daddy, Mamma, I'd like you to meet a real good friend of mine. This is Stringfellow Hawke, one of the guys I work with." She said indicating String at the side of her.

"Mr Hawke, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. Caitlin always speaks real high of you and Mr Santini." The older man said, holding out his hand.

String took the offered hand with a smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you too, sir. Please call me String or Hawke."

"I'll call you String, if you'll drop the Sir, and call me Patrick." He said with an easy smile.

"You've got a deal, Patrick." He said, realising where Cait got her easy going side from. He then turned to Elizabeth O'Shannssey, who had come to stand beside her husband.

She didn't hold her hand out, just pulled him into a hug, dropping a kiss on his cheek. "You just call me Elisabeth, and we'll get along just fine." She said.

String could only hope they'd be this friendly towards him once they found out he'd gotten there daughter pregnant. Cait and himself still had to explain the trouble that Tess was in, and what there involvement was. He sighed inwardly to himself, wondering how much they should tell her parents. Cait was introducing them to Tess, and he realised that the time for explanations were here.

"Patrick, Elizabeth, as well as flying stunts and everything else we do at Santini Air, we also do some contractual flying for a government agency called the FIRM. We just pick up there employees and provide them with a flight to and from there chosen locations. That black helicopter out there belongs to them, Dom, Caitlin and myself are the only three people who can fly her though." He paused looking at the face's to see how they were taking the news. They were surprised, turning the information over in there heads.

Patrick, got his voice back asking, "How come there's only the three of you that can fly that helicopter?"

"It's not your average helicopter, and the systems are very complex. I was the original test pilot for it. Her creator was the only other pilot that could fly her at the time, he died three years ago." He didn't add that Moffatts death had come at his hands. "I trained Dom up just after Moffatt died, and we trained Caitlin to fly her a couple of years ago."

"That's a fancy helicopter for just your average puddle jumping. Looks kinda military to me." Patrick said, he'd had a good look at that chopper when he'd brought his Cessna in to land.

String nodded his head, "It is military in design. It's a Mach 1 plus aerial assault helicopter which is why she is difficult to fly. She's capable of shielding herself from radar, and running thermal scans. We have used her a few times, to collect weather data and volcanic ash samples for scientific research." He finished, not adding that Airwolf had a full arsenal of weapons at her disposal.

"So what type of trouble are you in, if your working for the government?" Patrick asked him.

"Dad, Ms Cullen gave evidence on her ex-husband over some illegal activities he was involved in. He's trying to kill her, we were asked to transport her back to LA, but the person dealing with her case has been wounded." Cait told him.

"One of our contacts within the FIRM, asked us to keep her safe, and out of sight. We can't risk her staying at either of our homes, as those will be the first places that anyone would check. I'd normally suggest camping out, but given Tess is seven months pregnant, that isn't an option." String finished explaining, hoping that Patrick and Elisabeth wouldn't ask to many more questions. He didn't want to give them too much information, as it could put them in danger, and also cause Cait a lot of uncomfortable questions.

"That's just terrible, how he can do that when your carrying his baby. What is the world coming too." Elizabeth exclaimed. No one felt the need to explain the baby wasn't Dixon's.

Tess spoke up for the first time during the conversation. "I'm just very grateful to String and your daughter for helping me out of the mess, I've gotten myself into."

"Well you don't need to worry about any of that now, you'll be perfectly safe at the ranch." Patrick comforted, smiling at her. "You know things often have a way of working out right, all by themselves."