In a hanger at Van Nuys Airport St. John Hawke and his wife Jo were in the office with a family friend Mike Rivers, who happened to be in a wheel chair, talking about the past. Jo asked "Do you ever regret saving those people in the bank robbery?" Mike shook his head and said "Not at all. I might have be paralyzed below the waist but when that robber lost his mask and decided that everyone had to die so he couldn't be identified I had to act. I could have escaped but then I would had to have to live with knowing that all those people died, so I engaged the robbers." St. John then asked "One against three that you knew about. Not good odds." Mike replied "True, they never stood a chance. It was the man they put in the hostages who shot me in the back." Jo then asked "So why haven't you come see us in the five years since, or returned our calls?" Mike sighed and said "I didn't want you guys to feel pity for me. It wasn't until Laura informed me your kid subpoenaed her as a witness that I realized I had been out of touch too long and you needed my pity having a lawyer in the family." St. John laughed and said "We need a lot more pity then. Both of the twins and String's daughter are lawyers." Mike looked shocked and said "I didn't know. What about Alex and your nephew?" Jo smiled and said "Alex is in the Air Force, he's a fighter pilot. You were a bad influence. Allen is a helicopter pilot in the Army, a Major. Looks like his dad and St. John were bad influences too." Mike laughed and said "At least Alex was smart enough to go Air Force. What's he fly?" St. John laughed and said "I don't know, it's classified. But when we ask him he gets that look we all do when we think of our old lady." Mike laughed and said "Wouldn't it be a hoot to find out they put her into production and he's flying one?" Jo shook her head and said "She would have to have a lot of upgrades to keep up with today's systems. Even though some of her systems are advanced even still the underlying technology isn't." Mike sighed and said "True, I do regret not keeping up with what the company did with her after Jason died." St. John remembered learning Jason Locke had died in a car wreck. He was sitting in traffic and had been rear ended by a truck driver with a trailer full scrap metal. The trucker had a heart attack and was likely dead before the impact that killed Jason. St. John was about to bring up how he and Jason had gone camping only to find Mike already there with tents setup for everyone when his and Jo's phones made noise.
Jo looked at her phone and said "St. John, we have a problem. Wolf's Bane." "Mike, we need to go to ground. Since you know where we will be going wanna go with us?" Mike looked at them and said "Sure, I have my stuff in my van so I don't need to grab a go bag. How about you guys?" Jo said "We have go bags here. We need to toss our phones, and get a vehicle that doesn't have any systems that can track us then check it to make sure no one has added anything." Mike said "My van will do the job. It's four wheel drive, and a mid nineties model with no add on electronics. We can find an oil change place that will let you inspect the under carriage and run an RF detector on it." St. John said "In that case lets get moving." Phone calls were made, arrangements made, cell phones were turned off and placed in the safe. Finally the first oil change shop they stopped at refused to let them look at the van, but the second agreed at no charge but was thrilled when Mike requested a full service on the van. Once they were back on the road a number of devices were turned on that both detected RF signals, emitted an audible tone, and jammed any detected signals. After two hours of a route intended to misdirect any surveillance they were finally on their way to their destination.
Amelia Dominique Hawke was riding a street legal dirt bike though the Los Angeles irrigation and drainage network. This was being done to hide her location from the Eurocopter EC145 setup as a gunship that had attacked her while she was camping. She didn't know what they were after but considering she had recently been part of a legal team prosecuting a military contractor so she assumed the attack was meant to send a message to anyone who would later go against them. When she finally had a chance to do so she went to turn her phone on and send a distress message her father had drilled into her as long as she could remember. The problem was that the message she planned to send had already been sent, by her mother. Pocketing the faraday bag she kept her phone in she purged her phone and later tossed it into traffic on the freeway. Once she made her way though Los Angeles she stopped before heading out into the desert and bought a backpack that she filled with water and food as well as two saddle bag gas cans.
About an hour earlier Caitlin Hawke had been visiting her husbands grave when two armed men tried to grab her. Both men died for their efforts. Caitlin's Ruger Alaskan revolver had proven more than effective. The problem was she had to shoot three more men who tried to take her as well. One suspect lived long enough for her to interrogate and learn that they were going after all the family. After making her way back to what was originally her father's , now her, airfield she grabbed a Cesena she owned and took off after leaving her phone behind after sending warning everyone.
Alex Hawke reported to his commanding officer and informed him he needed to take emergency leave. He explained that he wasn't sure what the problem was, but it was a prearranged emergency message from his aunt. He explained the protocol had never been used, but it had been ingrained in everyone in his extended family since they had been born. His C.O. agreed to bend a few rules to let him take leave as Alex never took more than a week end pass.
Levi Hawke had just convicted a predator, and gotten the man sentenced when he left the court house. Per his personal rule he never turned his cell phone on until he was in a cab and on his way. When he saw the message told the driver to take him to a bus stop. Levi called his boss and told him he had to take some time off for a family emergency and would let him know more when he could. His boss agreed without hesitation. One of the perks of being the best assistant district attorney in the office was the ability to get time off whenever you asked for it. Once at the bus stop Levi walked a short distance to a bank where he accessed his large safety deposit box and swapped his briefcase for a duffle bag. Once he secured everything he left the bank with the duffle bag and went to a used car dealership.
Lori Hawke had been in a meeting with the two other senior partners in her firm when she got the Wolf's Bane message. She left informed them she had to go, and asked they cover for her, before leaving. After securing her phone and grabbing a go bag from her office Lori got a cab to a used car dealership. At the dealership she bought a 2006 Jeep Wrangler with cash and was about to leave the lot when she spotted her brother getting out of a cab. After stopping and offering him a ride they immediately set off into the desert.
Author's Note: This chapter sets up the rest of the cast for this story. This chapter also addresses the fates of Jason Locke, Mike Rivers, and Stringfellow Hawke. While this story is not a 'shipping' story, we learn what the ultimate relationships were between Stringfellow and Caitlin as well as St. John and Jo. We will also learn about Hawke children. Chapter 3 begins the building the of the new Airwolf team.