Just after sunset Allen and Addie entered the first site. Allen whispered "Holy shit. None of those are Direwolf, or anything I recognize." Addie responded with "They look Russian, but those weapon pods look Chinese." Allen confirmed "I think your right, we need to get a closer look and see if anything on those birds could be adapted to Direwolf." A quick inspection revealed three complete attack helicopters, no spare parts and no missing parts. All three birds were armed with Chinese weapons and the cockpit had been retrofitted with state of the art Chinese language avionics but there were plenty of Russian language markings on the machinery. Additionally a large stash of military grade weapons including QBZ-95s rifles, type 80 machine guns, DZJ-08 recoilless rifles, and QW-2 shoulder launched anti-aircraft missiles. Addie told her brother "These guys are planning something, and I want to bet it's linked to Direwolf. Everything here is in Chinese, but I'm worried because I don't see any guards." Allen said "Agreed. We need to get someone to raid this site. When we get out we'll have our backup pass the word up stream." After sneaking out, Allen and Addie requested Zebra Squad pass the word up the chain of command about their discovery. As the company assembled another Zebra squad and coordinated with various agencies the three helicopters took off. The raid did recover most of the small arms that the Hawkes reported.
The second site was even more interesting because it was completely clear of anything that might indicate it had been used by anyone recently, except there was a lack of dust. Allen informed Addie "Something was here but who, what, and why are good questions. I doubt that Direwolf has been here because it had to be leaking fluids that would leave serious stains as bad as it was hurt." Addie simply nodded and said "The place is too clean, I'm willing to bet it's been cleaned professionally, but not in the last two or three days based on the thin layer of dust." Allen simply nodded as he continued to look around and check for any kind of evidence. After leaving that site they moved on to their third and final target where to no ones surprise they found thirty or more people camped out in the building. After walking the site, Addie began asking people if they saw helicopters. One old oriental man began speaking in broken English about there being no helicopters because of the dragon. Addie asked him if he spoke Mandarin, he shook his head no. She then asked about Japanese and he answered affirmatively. Addie asked him about the dragon he saw. When they finished talking she gave him a card and told him to talk to the man whose name was on it.
After leaving the third site Addie told Allen "I think he has dementia, he says he's over ninety years old. But he told me about a black dragon that lives nearby. He said it flew into the sun which swallowed it and the smoke was all that it left." "Why a dragon?" Allen asked. Addie informed him "If he's truly 90 years old dragons were more real when he was a child than helicopters were. If these other folks had spoken, they would have probably told us about alien spaceships." Allen considered it and said "So it's hidden to the west." Two hours of walking around the siblings spotted a burned out warehouse, with a tarp in place of a roof. The most noticeable feature that made the building stand out was the three two man teams walking the perimeter of the building. The siblings were making plans to raid the building when the tarp was retracted away from them and they heard the distinctive. Sound of Turbine engines being started. Unable to enter the building in time, the Hawke siblings were forced to watch as the biggest Airwolf variant to date lifted off. Thanks to their front row seat they could spot the repairs, along with the damage to the stealth coating and more importantly the missing ablative armor on the tail section of Direwolf.
As they made their way to be extracted by Airwolf Allen asked Addie, "You see the damage?" She replied "Yeah, that armor didn't hold up as well as it should have. What do you think the deal is?" Allen replied "A number of possibilities including our missile having a hotter warhead, a defect in the armor's chemical composition or even improper installation, and so on. We'll need to get the company to look into it, especially if it's low bidder syndrome." Within seconds of Airwolf touching down, Allen took the pilot's seat, and Addie was in the back with David as St. John guided Airwolf back into the air. David commented "We're having no trouble tracking Direwolf. In fact we don't even need the stealth tracking software we used to detect it the last time. The radar profile doesn't match up with what the computer expects, almost like it's lost about ten to fifteen percent of it's radar absorbent material. I've already reported their launch site, Zebra squad is moving in as we speak." Allen asked "Do we know where they went?" David said "I have them on the scope, headed west at one hundred thirty five knots. There is an oscillation on the radar return, I think the tail rotor isn't properly repaired." Addie informed him "Yeah, you should see the damage, especially the stealth coating and armor are severely damaged on the tail." David informed the crew "Airwolf's sidewinders have an experimental warhead that has an incendiary component designed to damage the stealth materials applied to Direwolf. We think the heat of burning the stealth materials would ablate the armor. Remember that the U.S. Government doesn't just new develop weapon systems, we develop counter measures for them as well."
Airwolf was hunting it's prey that had escaped it once before, and it was not alone. As Airwolf stealthy stalked it's prey waiting for an opportunity to take it out while limiting collateral damage it's radar spotted a new threat. The computer identified it as an unknown attack helicopter with a fifteen percent match to a Mil MI-28 "Havoc". As Direwolf moved to avoid the threat a second helicopter cut off it's escape route forcing it to head out towards the ocean. Before Direwolf could escape the third helicopter lifted off from a freighter and trapped Direwolf. Addie said "I bet they plan to force her down on the beach, failing that they plan to knock her out of the air and pick up the pieces. Then load whatever they end up with on that freighter." St. John said "I think your right kiddo, so we have a three way fight winner takes all." Allen said "We saw enough gear in that warehouse to equip a small army, they have a team to secure the site and pick up any pieces. We need to make sure that Direwolf doesn't go down on the beach." David said "We could miss our opportunity to capture or take it out, so where do we move the fight to if we get the opportunity?" Allen said "Anywhere but the beach or over civilization. Over the ocean if we no where else."
Just as St. John was about to speak the first missile flew from one of the Chinese operated birds. Direwolf immediately tried to evade it and successfully did so, only to have the other two birds launch missiles at it as it attempted to evade. Multiple missiles made the pilot flying Direwolf work harder than he was used to. While he was an Air Force fighter pilot before being recruited by the company, he was not a helicopter combat pilot and what works for a fighter jet doesn't necessarily work for a helicopter. Fortunately for him he was a fantastic fighter pilot and shifted gears to do what he did best. To shift gears, he kicked in the turbo's and Direwolf went from a combat helicopter to a combat jet. Direwolf was now in it's pilot's domain and became an instrument of destruction. It evaded one of the two incoming missiles, as he used a missile to take out the second and fired a second missile at one of the Chinese helicopters. The Chinese helicopter attempted to evade as it used it's flares and chaff to try and confuse the missile. The problem was that it's pilot and countermeasures did not measure up and the missile plowed into the cockpit killing the flight crew instantly. Now the fight looked like it was a bit more in the Direwolf's favor, only that it wasn't.
Authors Note: The enemy of my enemy is my friend, or are they simply my enemies enemy? Going by my current outline there is one, possibly two chapters left. I do plan a sequel story to pick up the aftermath of losing Direwolf and the company's plan to approach to restarting the program.