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Wolf's Bane

by Thalia Drogna

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, i just like to play with them.

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It was the kind of day that made Stringfellow Hawke forget his problems and think about fishing on the lake. The sun was rising over the mountains and it promised to be a clear and beautiful day. Hawke’s dog, Tet, had recognised his mood when he got up that morning and was waiting patiently by the door for his master to grab his fishing gear and get out on to Eagle Lake.

Hawke was pulling on his shirt whilst finishing a mouthful of toast when he caught the disturbance in the air that meant he would have company. His friend, Dominic had often teased him about his sensitive hearing and his supposed sixth sense for the arrival of a helicopter at the lake, but the warning it gave him often proved useful. Hawke was not expecting any guests this morning and it would be unlikely that Dominic would visit him so early. That left only one person and when a white helicopter landed beside the lake he knew that his intuition had been correct. He moved into the kitchen area and put on a fresh pot of coffee.

Knowing that the door was always unlocked, Michael Archangel didn’t bother knocking, but breezed in followed by his shadow, Marella. Both were dressed completely in white, which was the uniform of the section that Michael headed up at the Firm. The only part of Michael’s dress that was not white was the black left lens of his glasses and it stood out starkly against his otherwise perfectly white well-tailored suit. He walked with a confident step and it was only the cane that he carried which belied the fact that his leg was badly injured. Marella wore a white flight suit and was not only Michael’s pilot but was also his closest aide.

“You’re too late for breakfast, Michael,” said Hawke.

“I didn’t come all the way up here for breakfast with you, Hawke,” replied Michael, with a slight tone of annoyance in his voice.

“Why did you come up here, Michael? Its got to be important if you want help from Airwolf, so spit it out.” Hawke, poured black, treacle coloured coffee into three mugs and brought them over to the coffee table. He waited while Archangel sat in an armchair before taking his own seat. Marella hovered by her boss’s left side. Michael fingered his moustache and Hawke got the impression that he wasn’t going to like whatever it was that Michael had come to say, but then he very rarely did.

Marella spoke. “Three hours ago we received a dispatch from an agent in East Germany that Dr Franz Mannen had escaped from prison within the Soviet Bloc. Dr Mannen was responsible for the development of some of the most deadly biological weapons that the Soviets have ever created. He was arrested some months ago after “testing” a new biological agent on a fellow scientist. The East Germans called it murder.”

“Even the East Germans will only go so far,” said Archangel.

“He has been put on the KGB wanted list and…” began Marella, but Hawke interrupted.

“Okay, so the Soviets have a mad scientist on the loose, what has that got to do with me?”

Marella sighed, gave Archangel a sideways look and sat down on the sofa.

“Dr Mannen was a friend of Charles Moffet,” said Archangel.

“Moffet?” said Hawke. “How did an East German scientist meet Moffet?”

“They both studied at Cambridge for a period. At that point Mannen hadn’t made his allegiances clear, he’d been living in West Germany with his mother, his father lived in East Germany. We’re not sure when he crossed over, but he corresponded with Moffet for years after they left Cambridge. I would assume that they saw something in each other that they recognised. Franz Mannen is also a first class pilot.”

Hawke looked down at his coffee and scowled. He was unwilling to confront the thoughts and emotions that hearing the name of Moffet had re-awakened.

Archangel continued “They may even have met again in later years.” He leant towards Hawke slightly with his hands clasped over the handle of his walking stick. “There is a very good chance that Mannen knows about Airwolf.”

Hawke looked up at Archangel.

“The last information that we have on his whereabouts suggests that he was heading for the United States,” added Marella, “we have to assume that he is coming for Airwolf.”

Airwolf was probably the most hi-tech helicopter in the western world and currently it was in Hawke’s care, much to the annoyance of Archangel and the Firm. She was a black painted, stealth equipped, armour plated, flying gunship, and Hawke’s main complication in his life. Hawke would not let Airwolf be taken from him.

“I want your guarantee, Hawke, that you won’t take Airwolf out, from wherever you have it hidden, until we have Mannen safely on his way back to East Germany,” said Archangel, looking Hawke straight in the eye.

Hawke held Archangel’s stare. “You’d better be being straight with me, Michael. The Firm has had its reasons for keeping Airwolf on the ground before now and they have nothing to do with any East German scientist”

“Damn it, Hawke!” said Archangel, exasperated he rose from the chair pushing his walking stick into the floor as if it was his source of annoyance. “I don’t need to remind you that Moffet has caused us trouble from beyond the grave before. I don’t want Airwolf to fall into the hands of anyone like Mannen. I’m concerned for Airwolf’s safety!”

“Sure you are, Michael,” replied Hawke, not satisfied by Archangel’s explanation. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going fishing.” He rose from his seat and grabbed his fishing rod from beside the door.

“He’s telling the truth,” added Marella, more calmly then her boss.

“He’d better be,” said Hawke, opening the door and stepping out onto the porch. “He’d better be,” he said more quietly to himself as he strode towards the boat moored on the end of the jetty. Five minutes later the white helicopter started its engines and lifted off, heading towards Michael Archangel’s next rendezvous.

In the helicopter Marella looked at her boss. “Will he do it?” she asked.

“Maybe, depends on whether he believed us,” said Archangel. “He’s stubborn and if we’re right…” Michael shook his head. After everything that he and Hawke had been through he would have thought that Hawke would have trusted him on this. But with a man like Hawke, you had to go a long way to earn his trust.

“We could loose Airwolf,” Marella finished Archangel’s sentence.

“You left the file?” Archangel asked.

“Yes,” replied Marella.

“Good,” said Archangel and settled back in his seat.

Determined not to let his day’s fishing be ruined by Archangel’s visit, Hawke stayed on the lake longer than he would have normally. It was only when the air began to turn cold that he realised he had spent the whole day sitting in the boat. He had caught some fish early in the day but later his mind had wandered away from the task at hand and to the past, to Gabrielle. She had been murdered by Moffet whilst Hawke was pulling Airwolf out of enemy hands and once again he had lost someone close to him. He knew that if he had arrived earlier he might have saved her. But Michael should never have put her in that sort of danger, Hawke told himself. The helicopter, no matter how special it was, could not replace Gabrielle. Although Gabrielle had also been determined to help recover Airwolf and she wasn’t the kind of woman Hawke could leave at home and expect to be happy. That was why he had liked her when they had first met, she wasn’t like Archangel’s other employees, she had a sparkle that his other female companions had never had. He felt the great sadness of loosing her rise within him and he pushed it back down deep inside.

Tet greeted him at the edge of the lake, looking at him hopefully and he shook off all thoughts of the past. Time to think about the present and his hungry dog. He tied up the boat on the wooden jetty and went in to cook his fish for supper. It was only when he sat down later that evening that he noticed the file on the bar. The label on the file said “Wolf’s Bane”. Damn you, Archangel, he thought, why do you always have to get your own way. He knew Archangel would never leave it there by mistake, but if Archangel wanted him to know something… Hawke picked up the file, poured himself a second glass of wine and settled down to read.

When he had finished he knew why Archangel was so worried about this man, Mannen. He also knew why Archangel had left the file for him to read and it chilled him to the bone.

Dominic Santini was not an early riser, and was not surprised when he arrived in the hangar of Santini Air that morning to find Hawke already working on the chopper that was in for routine maintenance. A muffled “hey, Dom,” emanated from inside the engine compartment, letting him know that he had been spotted.

“Hey, String, how’s it going?” asked Dom.

Hawke pulled himself up straight for a moment, “fine, couple of worn couplings, that’s all.”

“Caitlin in yet?” asked Dom.

“Haven’t seen her,” replied Hawke. “Listen, Dom, I had a visit from Archangel yesterday.”

“Uh oh,” said Dom, “I know that tone, we’ve got one of those crazy jobs on for Mr. Clean, haven’t we?”

“Sort of, he asked me not to take The Lady up for a while.”

“What! Why? And how is it any of his business?” said Dominic, gesticulating wildly.

“He has his reasons,” replied Hawke.

“He always does,” said Dominic, in a resigned tone. “But does that mean that we have to jump when he says so?”

“On this occasion I think he’s right.”

“Morning Fellas!” shouted Caitlin from across the hangar. “Isn’t it a beautiful day for flying?” Hawke sighed and looked at Dominic.

“Do you always have to be so cheerful in the mornings?” asked Dominic.

“On a morning like this, sure I do,” replied Caitlin. Then she noticed their faces. “What’s up?”

“Not us,” said Dominic, “and that’s for sure.”

“What are you talking about? Are you talking about Airwolf?” asked Caitlin, her eyes getting wider.

“Shhh, not so loud,” said Dominic. “Let’s go into the office.”

The three of them moved into the small office at the side of the hangar and Hawke shut the door behind them. He picked a corner of the desk, sat down and gave Dominic and Caitlin the gist of the conversation he had had with Archangel the day before. “Archangel also left behind a file on Mannen,” he finished.

“Left behind?” said Caitlin, “I can’t believe Archangel would ever leave anything behind by mistake.”

“Neither can I,” agreed Hawke and Dominic nodded sagely from the corner. “I read it. He left it behind because it gives details of Mannen’s involvement with the NVA’s weapons programme. Mannen was doing research into producing a biological weapon for use by the North Vietnamese and he was testing it on American prisoners of war.”

“Oh, Hawke,” said Caitlin, putting a hand to her mouth, obviously shocked.

“String, you can’t think that that’s true?” said Dominic. “It would have come out by now if that had happened. I know that bad stuff went on over there but the North never had those sort of resources. Its just propaganda, to throw you off, you know.”

“Dom, I don’t know what to think. All I know is that St. John may have been one of those prisoners and I have to follow this lead.”

Hawke looked up at his mentor and Dominic knew that he could not dissuade his friend when he was in this frame of mind. Where Hawke’s brother was concerned, reason could not compete with family ties.

“Okay, so we have to find this Mannen guy,” said Caitlin, “where do we start?” Even though she had left the police force some time ago, Hawke, could still see the detective instinct in her.

“Yeah, I bet Archangel didn’t leave you without anything to go on,” said Dominic.

“No, he didn’t” said Hawke.

****

Hawke stood outside a small house in the suburbs, it had a perfect green lawn and a white picket fence. No one would have suspected that an East German defector lived there, he guessed that the Firm looked after its sources. He swung back the gate, strode up the path and rang the doorbell. He stood on the porch with his aviator sunglasses in his hand, waiting to find out what kind of woman would have married Dr Mannen.

The door opened, and Hawke was greeted by a gaunt middle aged woman, about 5’ 3” with dark hair and tired dark eyes. “Yes?” said the woman, her German accent audible even in that single word.

“Dr Denheim?” asked Hawke. The woman nodded. “I’m Stringfellow Hawke, I need to talk to you about Dr Franz Mannen.”

“Archangel said you might call. Come in Mr Hawke.”

Hawke hesitated but followed her into the house. Dr Eva Denheim had a comfortable home, she made coffee for Hawke and then sat looking at him, waiting for him to ask his questions. Hawke had the feeling that she had done this before, possibly even for Archangel.

“You know that Dr Mannen escaped from an East German prison two days ago?”

“Yes, Archangel called yesterday to let me know. He believed that Franz was on his way to America. I don’t think that he is coming for the famous apple pie, Mr Hawke.”

“No Ma’am, I don’t think he is.”

“I met him at the government laboratory that we both worked at. I was working on counter agents, antidotes to Franz’s weapons. He was very exciting, a very interesting man. He hid his true nature from me; I had no idea who he really was. Until he killed Dr Berghof…” she covered her eyes and took a long deep breath. “I defected, and I never thought that I would see or hear of him ever again. It seems I underestimated him, Mr Hawke.”

“Where do you think he is now?”

“I don’t know. I can only guess. He had some friends who used to be in the East German military, they were fanatics and turned to terrorism. They were reported to be working in America most recently, Archangel can probably give you the details. They called themselves Kira’s Army.”

“Kira’s Army?” asked Hawke.

“After Kira Krischkov, the head of a terrorist cell, executed by America for her crimes. If you can find them then I think you will find Mannen.”

****

Hawke, Dominic and Caitlin sat in Archangel’s office at the Firm’s headquarters. Archangel had dimmed the lights and Marella had turned on a slide show.

“This is Kira’s Army,” said Archangel showing them a picture of four men and one woman.

“Not much of an army,” said Dominic. Archangel ignored him.

“Their leader is Alia Krischkov, Kira’s sister. They’ve been bombing targets within the US for five years now and we have only just managed to catch up with them.”

“So where are they now?” asked Caitlin.

“We tracked them to an abandoned warehouse,” he nodded to Marella and she changed the slide. “Here,” said Archangel pointing to a red dot on a map with his cane.

“There has been some coming and going in the past few days but no sign of Mannen,” said Marella. “It looks like he hasn’t made contact yet.”

“Or he knows that his friends are being watched,” said Hawke.

“Impossible,” said Marella and began to cycle through some of the surveillance shots of the terrorists. “We’ve been discreet, they don’t know that we’re there.”

“Then what is that?” said Hawke, and pointed to a small point of light in the window of the warehouse.

“A gun sight?” said Marella, “how could we have missed that?”

“That’s not all you missed, I’m betting Mannen is already inside.”

“What makes you think that, Hawke?” asked Archangel

“They’ve been playing you, Michael. They know you’re watching them, they’re staying there for a reason.”

“What reason?” asked Archangel. “If they know we’re watching them, then why haven’t they moved on somewhere else?”

“I don’t know, but I’d like to find out.”

“You’re talking about taking Airwolf in there? No, absolutely not. You’d be playing right into Mannen’s hands.” Archangel was emphatic. “He could have discussed anything with Moffet, we just don’t know how much information he has on Airwolf. For all we know he could have some way of disabling Airwolf and he’s leading us into a trap.”

“I had considered that. Dom, Cait, we’re leaving,” said Hawke and turned to go.

“Look, if you’re going in anyway, at least let Marella take a team in with you.”

“That’s your call, Michael. We’ll be going in at oh five hundred” with that Hawke left.

“You sure this is the way you want to play it, String?” asked Dom when they were well out of Archangel’s earshot.

“Archangel does have a point, you know,” added Caitlin, “if Mannen wants Airwolf that badly maybe we shouldn’t be waving it in front of him. This could be just what he wants.”

“If you don’t want to come then I’ll go alone,” said Hawke.

Caitlin gave Dominic a look that said it all. They both had their reservations about this mission, but neither of them would let Hawke go in alone.

“String, you know we didn’t mean it that way,” said Dom. “We’re just concerned. Whenever there’s chance that you might get some information on St. John you stop thinking with your head and start taking chances. We’re just saying, is all.”

“Dom, I’ve thought about it and we need to get Mannen. This is the best lead that we have.”

“Sure, String but would it kill us to accept a little help from Marella,” said Dominic.

“Yeah, it did seem like it might be a good idea to have a little back up on this one,” added Caitlin.

“I guess not,” said Hawke, resigned. At least he knew when he was beaten and the plan he had in mind would work a lot better with some extra man power. Ideally he wouldn’t have used the Firm’s men, but he didn’t have the luxury of choice. “Okay, we’ll do it your way.”

****

Alia Krischkov stood on a metal walkway in the warehouse that they had made their base of operations. She looked down on the activity below her. Her troops were preparing themselves for the inevitable onslaught by the Firm agents, that much she knew was coming but she also knew that they wouldn’t get much warning. Beside her stood Lorenz Richter, he was her second in command both now and when they had been part of the East German army.

“Well Lorenz,” she said, “are we ready for Archangel and his dogs?”

“We are, yes.” His tone told Alia that he had some reservations though.

“Is there a problem?” she asked.

“I don’t like the fact that Mannen’s vendetta is dictating our actions,” said Richter.

“Mannen’s vendetta is useful to us. If we can gain control of Airwolf then we can set our own agenda.”

“If this Airwolf is as good as he says it is,” replied Richter.

“It is,” said Mannen approaching them along the walkway. “It may even have more capabilities than I’m aware of.”

“I’m not convinced that it is worth exposing ourselves to attack in this way,” said Richter.

“Mannen has convinced me,” said Alia. “This is not a democracy, Lorenz.”

“Are we sure that Archangel values the pilot enough for this to work?” said Richter.

“Archangel values assets that he can use. But Archangel isn’t completely in control of Airwolf as far as I have been able to ascertain,” replied Mannen. “If it was Archangel alone that we were dealing with then I have no doubt that we would fail.”

****

Airwolf flew low over the terrain, keeping under the level of radar detection.

“Are we all clear on the plan?” asked Hawke.

“Yeah, sure, we run interference while you go in with Marella’s team,” said Dominic. “If any of them get away from you guys on the ground we hold them up long enough for you to get there.”

“Caitlin?” asked Hawke. She was sitting in the back of the helicopter manning the computers.

“I find targets and Dom blasts them,” she said.

Hawke raised an eyebrow under his helmet. “Yeah,” he said, “just don’t get carried away.”

“Hawke!” she said, scornfully.

Hawke ignored Caitlin’s complaint and concentrated on the helicopter, they were nearly at the rendezvous and he needed to stay sharp.

Marella was waiting for Airwolf with a team of agents in night combat gear. She had a mobile control centre rigged up in the back of a van. She would monitor the operations from there and direct the agents. Hawke was going to be an unknown quantity but she could adapt. Archangel had refused to stay away and was now pacing as best he could with his bad leg.

“Where are they?” said Archangel impatiently. Marella said nothing she knew it was a rhetorical question. As if on queue the sleek, black machine rose over the hill and landed near by. Hawke jumped out and ran across to the waiting Firm agents.

“Are we ready?” he asked.

“Yes,” said Marella. “Hawke, you’ll need one of these” and she passed him an ear piece, miniature microphone and battery pack, “so we can keep in contact with you.”

Hawke put the ear piece in and attached the microphone to the collar of his flight suit, tucking the battery in his top pocket. He pulled his gun from its holster and checked the clip.

“This is the team you’ll be working with. They have orders to capture Mannen and the terrorists,” said Marella. “This should be a simple extraction. We have good information on their movements and the team have been thoroughly briefed, I suggest you let them do the initial sweep and you follow them in”

Hawke nodded, “and Airwolf creates a distraction once we’re in.”

“Right,” said Marella, and strapped on her headset.

“Be careful down there Hawke, these are dangerous people,” said Archangel.

“You don’t have to tell me, Michael,” replied Hawke. “Okay, let’s go then.”

The Firm’s agents put in their own ear pieces and set off towards the warehouse, with Hawke slightly in front. The warehouse was completely dark and there was enough cover for them to reach the entrance without being seen by the sentries that were patrolling the perimeter. The Firm agents took out the sentries quietly and efficiently.

Hawke waited at the back entrance for the agents to finish with the sentries and then, holding his gun ready, he carefully opened the door and edged through. “I’m in,” he muttered into the microphone. He heard the other agents check in. “Dom, you’re up,” he said and heard Dom acknowledge before all hell broke loose outside. The Firm had estimated that there were 6 gun emplacements around the compound and about 15 terrorists inside. It seemed that they had underestimated.

Hawke wasn’t interested in the main battle, he was looking for one man. He moved into the building which was a maze of walkways and stairs. He headed up the nearest flight of stairs and towards the first floor. Two terrorists were guarding the stairs and Hawke ducked behind some oil drums before they were able to hit him, however he was now pinned down and every moment he wasted here was time that Mannen could use to escape. He stole a shot and managed to hit one of the terrorists but that left the other one. However, just then Airwolf hit a stock of the terrorists ammunition with her chain guns and created a huge explosion. The windows on one side of the building shattered and blew inwards towards where Hawke was hiding. Hawke hit the ground behind the oil drums and the terrorist who had him pinned tried to protect himself from the blast by sheltering around the corner of the stairwell, which brought him easily into Hawke’s sights. Hawke pulled off another shot and the terrorist lay dead on the stairs.

Hawke moved on upwards. “Marella,” shouted Hawke over the pretty much constant noise of gun fire. “Marella, do you have a position on Mannen?”

“Hawke, where are you?” replied Marella, she wished he would follow radio protocol, he was supposed to give them regular updates as to his position. “We think he is on the second floor.” Archangel was sitting beside her listening in to everything and he looked worried.

Hawke crept up the stairs with his back to the wall, but most of the fighting seemed to be centred around the ground floor now. He reached the second floor without meeting any resistance and pushed open the fire door at the top of the stairs. He stepped through into what looked like some kind of laboratory. Immediately he knew he had found Mannen, this was his lab and obviously hadn’t been empty long. At the end of the room was a glass cubicle with various pieces of equipment inside it and a blond haired man in a lab coat. He was tall and Hawke recognised him as the man he was looking for.

“Mannen!” he shouted. Mannen turned and opened the door to the glass cubicle. He showed no sign of being worried about escape. Hawke raised his gun to cover Mannen.

“Stringfellow Hawke, I assume?” he said as if he were meeting an everyday acquaintance.

“How do you know my name?” asked Hawke.

“Let us just say that we had a friend in common,” said Mannen.

“Moffet was no friend of mine,” replied Hawke.

“Ah yes, poor Charles. It was such a shame, that business in Libya.”

“Put your hands up,” said Hawke, “you’re coming with me.”

“I don’t think so, Mr Hawke. I have something you need.”

“I don’t need anything from you,” replied Hawke.

“I want you to give me Airwolf, and you are going to give me Airwolf.”

“Just like that,” said Hawke sarcastically.

“Well, there may be some coercion involved but in general terms, yes, you will just give it to me,” said Mannen cryptically.

In his ear Hawke heard Marella say “Hawke, have you located Mannen?”

“Marella, yes, I have Mannen,” he kept his eyes on Mannen. “Hands up!” said Hawke more forcefully.

“You really are quite annoying, Mr Hawke,” he said but Mannen started to raise his hands. It was then that Hawke realised that Mannen had a gun in his hand and he hadn’t seen where it had come from. Hawke hit the ground behind one of the laboratory benches, just as Mannen fired off two shots and took a similar dive.

“You can’t win, Mr Hawke,” shouted Mannen and suddenly a smoke canister came soaring over the benches towards Hawke. Hawke tried to fire at Mannen but he had disappeared into the smoke and then Hawke was choking and his eyes were streaming.

“Marella,” he coughed, “Marella, I need backup, Mannen is escaping down the back stairs.”

“All agents, Mannen is escaping down the back stairs, locate and capture,” said Marella. “Hawke, are you okay?”

“He threw a smoke canister at me, I’m finding it hard to breath.”

“Hawke, get out of there and rendezvous at the front of the building.”

“Acknowledged,” he coughed and stumbled towards the stairs, cursing his stupidity at having let Mannen escape.

Outside the building Airwolf had had a fair share of the action, destroying enemy gun emplacements and scaring terrorists who thought they could make a run for it. When Dom and Caitlin heard Hawke’s radio message to Marella, Dom immediately steered the helicopter to the back of the building.

“I have a heat source coming down the back stairs,” said Caitlin, “that must be him.”

“Right,” said Dominic. “Give me the chain guns.”

Caitlin pressed the sequence of buttons which activated the weapon, “they’re online, Dom. The heat source is nearly at ground level.”

“Easy does it,” said Dominic.

“What?” said Caitlin.

“What do you mean “What?”,” asked Dominic.

“That heat source has disappeared,” said Caitlin in disbelief.

“It can’t have,” said Dom, equally unbelieving.

“Do you want to come back here and have a look?” asked Caitlin, slightly crossly. “Its just gone, it was there one minute and gone the next.”

“String is not going to be happy,” said Dom. “Come on lets go back and give the guys a hand with the clean up.”

“Sure thing, Dom,” replied Caitlin.

Hawke made his way down the stairs still coughing and wheezing. Outside the Firm agents were rounding up the remaining terrorists, they had declared the building clear. Airwolf rounded the corner of the building and set down on the courtyard. Hawke lent against the door frame and holstered his gun, he couldn’t see Mannen among the prisoners and it didn’t look as if Airwolf had got him either. Caitlin and Dominic climbed out of Airwolf and made their way over the group. Hawke watched a white jeep drive into the courtyard with Archangel in the passenger seat and Marella driving. Archangel barely waited for the jeep to pull to a halt before he leapt out and made his way towards the prisoners.

“Where is Mannen?” asked Archangel.

“He escaped,” said Hawke.

“He escaped?” said Archangel, in complete disbelief.

“Yeah, he went down the back stairs,” said Hawke.

“We tried to catch him when he came out the back, but he never did,” said Dominic.

“He can’t just have vanished into thin air!” shouted Archangel.

“He got away, Michael,” said Hawke.

Archangel hung his head and ground his cane into the tarmac. “Okay, lets find out how he did it. Marella, get a team to sweep the second floor and Mannen’s escape route.” Marella nodded. “Hawke, what happened up there?”

“I had him covered and then suddenly he had a gun in his hand, I didn’t see where he got it from. He had some sort of lab set up on the second floor. I ducked behind a lab bench and that’s when he threw the smoke canister. I guess that’s when he was able to escape.”

Michael nodded. “Wait, he threw a smoke canister?”

“Yeah,” replied Hawke.

“God damn it Hawke, he’s a biological weapons expert and you were in his lab. We have to get you checked out right away.”

“Michael, I’m fine,” said Hawke.

“I don’t care if you’re turning cartwheels we need to get you to hospital. I may be worried over nothing, but for once listen to me.”

“I don’t need to see a doctor,” said Hawke, emphatically. “I need to find Mannen.”

“String, maybe you should listen to Archangel on this one, who knows what was in that gas canister,” said Dominic. “I mean would it hurt to get yourself checked out?”

“What is this, Dom? That’s the second time that you’ve taken Archangel’s side,” said Hawke turning to face Dominic.

“It is?” said Archangel in surprise. Dominic Santini was not well known for being one of his supporters.

“Keep out of this Archangel,” growled Hawke. He looked Dominic square in the eye and wondered what was up with his friend.

“String, we’re up against a nasty piece of work here and we shouldn’t be taking chances,” said Dominic.

Caitlin stepped in and put a hand on Dom and Hawke’s shoulders. “Dom just has your best interests at heart, Hawke. You know he does,” she said looking from one to the other.

“Sure I do,” said Dominic.

“Okay, you can have one of your doctors check me out, Michael, but I’m going in Airwolf.”

“Fine, Hawke, we’ll do it your way. Marella, give Hawke the co-ordinates he needs.”

“One thing,” asked Hawke, “why is Mannen’s Firm file called “Wolf’s Bane”?”

“That’s his code name,” said Archangel.

“It’s a poisonous plant of the Aconite family,” said Marella.

“I know that, Marella, but why that code name?” asked Hawke.

“Because it was appropriate,” said Archangel.

****

Despite Dominic’s complaints Hawke insisted on flying Airwolf himself. It didn’t take Airwolf long to reach the Firm’s secret medical complex. Marella had made all the arrangements and Hawke was met by a female doctor and orderly with a wheelchair.

“I’m Dr Kingsley, Archangel has asked me to take care of you. If you wouldn’t mind, Mr Hawke,” said Dr Kingsley indicating that Hawke should get into the wheelchair.

“I’ll walk,” replied Hawke and ignored the further protestations of the doctor. Caitlin and Dominic followed Dr Kingsley after making sure that Airwolf was secure. Hawke had given them very specific instructions about guarding the helicopter while it was on Firm property. The self-destruct mechanism was ready to be activated should the Firm try to force Hawke into handing it over.

The Firm doctors put Hawke through a barrage of tests while Caitlin and Dominic waited outside the room. They sat watching doctors coming and going from the room with pieces of equipment and blood samples. Dominic knew that Hawke was not keen on hospitals and would much rather have been back at his cabin on Eagle Lake, but it was for his own good.

Archangel arrived a couple of hours later. “Any news,” he asked Caitlin, Dominic had fallen asleep in the chair beside her.

“They haven’t told us anything,” said Caitlin. “Do you think you could find out what’s happening?”

“I’ll see what I can do,” said Archangel and went back down the hall to find one of the doctor’s he had placed in charge of Hawke. He returned accompanied by a woman in a white coat that Caitlin recognised as the woman who had met them. She shook Dominic awake.

“Its not good news,” said Dr Kingsley. “We’ve found something, possibly a virus, in the blood samples that we’ve analysed. We need to do more tests to find out exactly what he has been infected with. We’re going to move him to an observation room where we can isolate him and keep an eye on his condition.”

“String isn’t going to like this,” said Dominic.

“Is he going to be alright?” asked Caitlin.

“At this stage we don’t know,” replied Dr Kingsley. “It could be a cold virus, it could be something more sinister. Until we’ve conducted some more tests we won’t know.”

“Can we see him now?” asked Dominic.

“I don’t see why not. We’ll come and move him when the observation room is ready for him,” said Dr Kingsley.

Dominic knocked on the door and went in, followed closely by Caitlin. Hawke was sat on the bed with his flight suit unzipped to the waist.

“How you doing String?” asked Dominic.

“I’m fine, Dom, and I don’t care what those doctors of Archangel’s say. We should be out there looking for Mannen,” said Hawke.

“Look don’t cause trouble, String, it just isn’t worth it. Just let the doctors do their stuff.”

“Mother Hen Santini,” said Hawke.

“Go ahead, make a joke out of it, but you could be really sick, and we’re worried!” said Caitlin.

“Cait, I’m fine, really. I’d feel better if I was out in Airwolf looking for Mannen but if its going to make you and Dom happy, I’ll stay here. Just do me a favour and take Airwolf up and look for Mannen while I’m stuck here.”

“Sure, String, no problem,” said Dominic patting Hawke on the back. An orderly came into the room with a wheelchair. Hawke didn’t bother to put up an argument this time, he slid off the bed and got into the wheelchair.

“Don’t worry about me,” he said, “just find Mannen.” Hawke was worried himself about what the doctors had found but he wasn’t going to let anyone know it. He also didn’t want Caitlin and Dominic to know that he had started to feel strange even before they had landed Airwolf at the Firm’s medical complex. The reason why he hadn’t chewed the orderly out about the wheelchair was that he was feeling worse now and he didn’t want Dom or Cait to see that he was ill.

Dominic watched Hawke being pushed from the room and leant on the edge of the bed shaking his head.

“Don’t worry, Dom, they’ll take good care of him,” said Caitlin trying to be cheerful.

“You’re just as worried as I am so don’t tell me otherwise,” replied Dominic.

“Come on, Dom, lets take Airwolf up and find Mannen for Hawke,” said Caitlin. Dominic nodded, knowing it was about all he could do to help his friend.

Dominic and Caitlin flew Airwolf back to the warehouse. Marella and her team were still there raking through the debris of the battle to see if they could pick up any clues.

“How’s Hawke?” asked Marella.

“Okay for the moment, they want to do more tests,” replied Dominic. “Mind if we take a look around?”

“Go ahead,” said Marella, “we’ve drawn a blank so far. All the major players that we were after managed to escape and we have no idea how.”

“You haven’t found anything?” said Caitlin.

“We’re still looking, but so far nothing,” said Marella.

Dominic and Caitlin made their way up the stairs to Mannen’s lab and started going over the room, looking for anything which might explain Mannen’s disappearance. Caitlin flicked through lab notebooks filled with scrawled German handwriting, which she assumed was Mannen’s.

“Archangel may be interested in these,” said Caitlin, “my German isn’t good enough to read them.”

“Huh?” said Dominic, who had been staring out of the window.

“Mannen’s lab books,” said Caitlin.

“Yeah, sure,” said Dominic. “Cait, did you notice those manhole covers out in the courtyard?”

“Yeah, what about them?” asked Caitlin.

“Where do you suppose they go?”

“Sewer, I would assume,” said Caitlin.

“Yeah, but do you think they go under this building?”

“Hey, you might have something, they could have escaped into the sewer,” said Caitlin.

“But how come Marella didn’t find their escape route?”

“May be its just well hidden.”

Ten minutes later Caitlin, Dominic and Marella with one of the Firm’s agents had prised up a manhole cover and were wandering along the dark, cramped passage of the sewer. Their torches were trained on the roof, looking for a hidden exit from the warehouse.

“Okay, we’re under the warehouse here,” said Marella, “if they came this way, then the exit from the warehouse must be here.”

“Marella,” said Caitlin, “up there.” Caitlin had spotted a ladder leading up to a hatch way. She climbed up and pushed the hatch open. She came out in a small dark room, but when she stood up she hit her head and the room moved. She put her hands above her head and pushed, the structure that she had taken for a room turned out to be a cube made of plywood, and she pushed it over easily. From the outside it looked like a machine housing and she could see how the agents hadn’t even given it a second look. As expected, they were in the stairwell where Mannen had disappeared.

Dominic, climbed up behind her. “Hey,” he said, “who would have guessed this was only plywood.”

Marella followed Dominic. “Now we know how they did it, perhaps we can work out where they went. I’ll get our agents on it right away.”

“Now we’re getting somewhere,” said Dominic.

An agent came running into the stairwell. “Marella, phone call for you.”

“Excuse me,” said Marella and went to take the call.

“What do we do now?” asked Caitlin.

“I guess we stick with Marella and see what she turns up,” said Dominic.

“Mr Santini,” said an agent, “Marella would like to see you outside.”

“Oh, okay,” said Dominic, “you coming Cait?”

Caitlin nodded and followed Dominic to where Marella was standing next to a white limousine.

“I have some bad news,” said Marella. “Its Hawke, his temperature is up and he has a fever. He’s been asking for you both. Archangel thought you might want to know.”

“We had better get back there,” said Dominic and Caitlin just nodded.

Dominic and Caitlin arrived to find Archangel standing outside Hawke’s room looking through the large window that all the observation rooms had. Archangel looked about as worried as Dominic had ever seen him.

Inside the room Hawke lay with sweat pouring off him, moving restlessly. He had a drip plugged into his right arm and several monitors attached to his chest and other parts of his body which blipped away in the corner of the room. A nurse stood beside the bed taking the readings from the various machines beside his bed and occasionally mopped his brow. She was wearing a gown, a surgical mask and latex gloves.

“The doctors just confirmed it,” said Archangel. “The virus is a biologically engineered strain of influenza that they haven’t seen before. They’re doing all they can to find a cure but its going to take time, which is something Hawke doesn’t have.” Archangel didn’t want to look at Dominic, he knew that Hawke was Dominic’s family and he hated to be the bearer of such bad news.

“Isn’t there anything else we can do?” asked Caitlin.

“They’ve started him on anti-virals but we don’t know how much good that will do,” said Archangel. “I have asked Dr Denheim to come down here. She worked with Mannen and hopefully will know his techniques. Marella tells me that you found some lab note books that may help us as well.”

Caitlin was desperately trying to hold back tears.

“Can I go in and sit with him?” asked Dominic.

“If you put on a mask and gown, yes. Just be aware that even by going in the same room there is a chance you could be infected too,” replied Archangel.

“As if I care about that!” said Dominic and opened the door to the airlock of the room. He donned the required clothing and went in. He grabbed a chair and sat down beside his friend, putting a latex gloved hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, String, how you doing,” said Dominic, quietly. Hawke turned and opened his eyes, screwing them up as if he was having trouble focusing.

“Dom?” he said, his voice brittle.

“Yes, String, its me.”

“Did you get Mannen?” he asked.

“Not yet, String, but we will.”

“How am I doing?” he asked.

“You’re doing fine, you’ll be up and about in no time.”

“You’re a terrible liar, Dom,” replied Hawke and closed his eyes. He was shivering but too hot at the same time. His head felt fuzzy and when he opened his eyes he couldn’t focus. He wanted to sleep because he was so tired but at the same time he wanted to stay awake, that way he still felt as if he had some control. He opened his eyes again, “You shouldn’t be in here, Dom” he said.

“What kind of thing is that to say?” replied Dominic.

“Just don’t take any chances for me, Dom,” said Hawke.

“Awe, String,” started Dominic, but Hawke had fallen asleep.

Dominic stayed beside Hawke’s bed for the next four hours before Caitlin came in and told Dominic to get some sleep. Hawke had fallen into a fitful sleep of twisted dreams and occasionally woke himself calling out for Dominic or Saint John or Caitlin. Dominic didn’t feel he could leave him, someone needed to be there to calm him down and get him back to sleep. He knew the nurses were doing their best but what Hawke really needed was a reassuring presence and only he could provide that.

“You’ve been here for hours, its getting late” said Caitlin “and you haven’t once taken a break. Let me sit with him, while you get some sleep. You won’t help him by doing this you know.”

“I know, Cait, but I want to stay.”

“Okay, Dom, but you’re going to have to let me take over soon.”

“Sure, Cait, just a little while longer.”

Archangel waved at the two of them through the plate glass window. He switched a switch beside the window which turned out to be an intercom into the room “Can I see you two outside?” he said. Dominic and Caitlin went into the small airlock room and pulled off the gowns and masks and threw them into the contaminated garment bin. They met Archangel out into the corridor.

“Mannen has been in contact. He has offered a cure for Hawke in exchange for Airwolf.”

Dominic shook his head and sighed. “I suppose that’s what I was waiting for,” said Dominic. “He must have had this planned out from the start. Get String close enough to infect him with that virus and then demand Airwolf in exchange for his life.”

“You can’t give him Airwolf,” said Archangel.

“We know that,” said Caitlin.

“How do you know that what he gives you is even a cure?” asked Archangel.

“I guess we don’t,” said Caitlin.

“Yeah, but do we have any choice,” said Dominic.

“You’re not suggesting that we do it?” said Archangel. “Have you any idea what a man like Mannen would do with Airwolf?”

“I know that, but String is in there fighting for his life. There must be some way we can use this deal of Mannen’s to get String that cure.”

“We’ll think of something, Dom,” said Caitlin. “When does Mannen want to make the exchange?”

“Tomorrow afternoon, he will give us more details nearer to the time,” said Archangel, “he’s trying to keep us guessing.”

“Has Marella had any luck tracking down the terrorists?” asked Caitlin.

“No, she hasn’t,” said Archangel, “but she still has some leads.”

“We need some sort of advantage,” said Dominic.

“We have one,” said Caitlin, “Airwolf.”

“Yeah, we do,” said Dominic, “we just have to work out how to use her.” He went back into Hawke’s room, to find him awake.

“Hey, String,” said Dominic.

“What’s going on?” said Hawke, he had seen the conference in the hall. Dominic noticed that String was finding it hard to catch his breath and was obviously in a lot of pain. He went to his bedside.

“Mannen has offered a deal, Airwolf for you.”

“You can’t do it, Dom,” he said taking a deep breath.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to the Lady.” Dominic looked at Hawke, “String, you don’t sound so good. I’m going to get Dr Kingsley, I’ll be back in just a second.” Dom left the room. Hawke tried to concentrate on staying conscious, he was so tired but he had more to say to Dominic. He couldn’t let his friend take Airwolf into danger just for him.

Dominic came back with the nurse, and Dr Kingsley.

“Dom, just don’t give them Airwolf,” said Hawke, gasping. He tried to sit up but was too weak to do more than try. His whole body felt as if it was on fire.

“Try to relax, Mr Hawke,” said the doctor. “Mr Santini tells me you’re not sleeping well, I think we can do something about that.” Hawke started to protest. “Now don’t make a fuss, Mr Hawke, its just for a little while and you need to keep your strength up.” She listened to Hawke’s chest, and she nodded to the nurse who strapped an oxygen mask over Hawke’s face. “He’s contracted pneumonia, I need to start him on antibiotics,” she said to Dominic, “and he needs to get some rest.” She took the top off a hypodermic needle and injected it into Hawke’s arm. “I’ve given you a sedative and some painkillers,” she told Hawke and he started to feel very drowsy.

“I want to go home,” mumbled Hawke as he fell asleep and suddenly Dominic had a vision of the twelve year old boy he had taken in after losing his parents. Hawke had said the exact same thing that night after Dominic had brought him and his brother home, and he hadn’t known what to say then either.

“He’ll sleep for a little while now.” said Dr Kinsley to Dominic, she paused, knowing that Dominic didn’t want to hear what was coming. “The anti-virals aren’t working, his condition is worsening. Dr Denheim is doing her best but we don’t know where to start. The virus is attacking his nervous system and eventually his body won’t have anything left to fight with.”

“I only have one choice left, I’m going to have to give Mannen Airwolf,” said Dominic.

Dr Denheim stood at the window and thumbed the intercom “Dr Kingsley, can I have a word,” said Dr Denheim. Dr Kingsley left the room and Dr Denheim went out into a nearby lab to discuss Hawke’s condition. Caitlin signalled for Dominic to come out into the corridor.

“How’s he doing?” asked Caitlin.

“Not so good,” said Dominic. “He’s a stubborn one though, Cait.”

“Dom, I think I have an idea how we can get the antidote,” said Caitlin.

“You do?” said Dom, brightening.

“Yeah, I think I do,” replied Caitlin. “I just hope Hawke can hang on long enough.”

****

Archangel made his way to Hawke’s room early in the morning with the news that Mannen had been in touch with the details of the rendezvous. The doctors told him that Hawke had not had a good night. Complications had set in, and in the early hours of the morning he had been put on a ventilator. Later they had inserted a chest drain in the hope that they could alleviate some of his breathing difficulties. He had dropped into a coma and the doctors were not hopeful that he would come out of it without some serious help. Santini had sat with him the entire night only being relieved by Caitlin for a couple of hours so that he could get some sleep himself. He suspected that Santini had not been able to sleep even then. Archangel had certainly had trouble sleeping.

Caitlin had pushed together some of the chairs in the corridor and was lying out on those. She lay there with her eyes closed but the steaming cup of coffee on the floor beside her, told Archangel that she was not asleep. He squatted beside her and gently shook her shoulder. She opened one eye.

“Any news?” she said, sleepily.

“Mannen has been in touch,” said Archangel.

“Did you get us what we asked for?” she said.

“Yes,” said Archangel, “it wasn’t a difficult request but did take a little time to put together.”

Caitlin struggled up on the middle seat of the three she had pushed together. “How’s Hawke doing?” she asked indicating the room behind her.

“A little worse,” said Archangel. “They’re trying some new anti-virals but…” he couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence and Caitlin saw his look and knew what it meant.

“Not much hope, huh?” she said and Archangel just nodded. “Dominic still awake?” she asked.

“Dozing,” said Archangel, “but still sitting by Hawke’s bed.”

Caitlin looked at her watch. “What time does Mannen want to do the swap?” she asked.

“Seventeen hundred,” said Archangel.

“I’d better wake Dominic,” said Caitlin and she went to the intercom beside the window. She was about to press the button and stopped for just second. Archangel wondered why and then he too went to the window and saw Hawke lying in the bed, with tubes and medical equipment around him, looking pale and very, very ill. Dominic had fallen asleep in the chair.

Caitlin buzzed the intercom and Dominic jerked himself awake. He looked over at Hawke to make sure that there was nothing that needed to be done and stiffly got up. He came out of the room looking tired and much older than Archangel had ever seen him look before.

“Well, what you got for us?” asked Dominic. Archangel handed him the rendezvous co-ordinates and relayed the message from Mannen.

“I hope this is going to work,” said Dominic.

“So do I,” said Archangel.

“Have a little faith,” said Caitlin. “This was my idea remember.”

“That’s what worries me,” said Archangel.

“Just because none of your hi-tech Firm people came up with it, doesn’t mean it ain’t going to work,” said Dominic. “Sometimes the simple ideas are the best.”

“Yes, but will Mannen fall for it?” asked Archangel.

“We’ll just have to find out,” said Caitlin.

“Look, Caitlin and I are going to go out and get in some practise before the big event,” said Dominic. “Just give me a call if there’s any change in his condition, will you?”

“Sure, Dominic,” replied Archangel. He hoped that he wouldn’t have to call Santini.

The day went quickly. Hawke didn’t get much worse but he didn’t get any better either. Dr Denheim had pumped him full of the nearest thing she could get to the correct anti-viral for the strain of influenza Mannen had engineered. She suspected, knowing her ex-husband, that he had engineered it specially for the occasion. It was his style. She didn’t expect the anti-viral to help much but she thought it should slow down the virus long enough for Dominic and Caitlin to get back with the cure. It seemed to be doing its job so far but she wasn’t sure how long it would last.

Dominic flew Airwolf to the rendezvous point with Caitlin following behind. Archangel had wanted to come along but Dominic hadn’t wanted company. Instead Archangel made do with sitting in a Firm helicopter monitoring the situation from a distance. Caitlin signalled Dominic to let him know that she was going to peel off and land slightly further away. Dominic took a deep breath and flew on to the co-ordinates that Mannen had given them.

When he flew in he could see a couple of jeeps approaching and a jet ranger hovering to give them protection from the air. As if Airwolf couldn’t make mincemeat of them within seconds, but then Mannen knew that Dominic wouldn’t with the threat of death hanging over Hawke. Dominic put Airwolf down gently on the ground and turned off the engines. He climbed out of the cockpit and waited for Mannen and the others to reach him.

“You must be Dominic Santini,” said Mannen when he reached Dominic. “How is Mr Hawke?”

Dominic’s mouth formed a tight line while he tried to control his temper. “You know how he is. Let’s just get this over with.”

“Yes, let’s do that, Mr Hawke doesn’t have an awful lot of time.”

“I did my part, I brought Airwolf. Give me the cure,” said Santini.

Mannen nodded to one of his henchmen and he handed Santini a small black case, about the size of a couple of vials. Dominic opened the case and saw two small vials full of a clear liquid.

“This had better be the right stuff, or so help me God, I’ll hunt you down,” said Santini.

“It’s the right anti-viral, once I have Airwolf who will be able to touch me. I had all the test subjects that I needed in Vietnam, Hawke’s death doesn’t interest me.”

“Well, here she is,” said Santini.

“She?” laughed Mannen. “It’s a machine, Mr Santini.”

“Yeah, well I got what I came for. Take Airwolf and go,” said Santini. He turned to walk away and heard the familiar hiss as Mannen opened the door of Airwolf. He waited until Mannen had climbed into the helicopter and then he ran for it. It wouldn’t take Mannen long to realise what Santini had done. The engines started up and he watched the sleek black machine lift off.

Dominic heard the tell tale sound of rotor blades, Caitlin was incoming. A second Airwolf rose over the brow of the hill and landed by Santini. Dominic scrambled into the rear seat and Caitlin lifted off in pursuit of Mannen.

“Did you get it?” asked Caitlin from the pilot’s seat.

“I did, I just hope he didn’t pull a fast one on us too,” said Dominic. “I’m real glad we’ve got the one and only Airwolf. Go get him Caitlin.”

“Sure thing, Dom. Give me the turbos.” Airwolf shot across the sky in search of its slower and much less agile twin. It didn’t take long to find Mannen, who didn’t have the benefit of turbos to take him out of Airwolf’s reach.

The radio let Dominic know that Mannen was trying to call them. “You’re smart, Mr Santini,” said Mannen. “I never would have guessed until I lifted off that it wasn’t Airwolf. How did you do it Mr Santini?”

“It wasn’t hard, Archangel had the second prototype’s hull, we just put a helicopter inside, with a few modifications. The Firm was working for hours on that bird you’re flying, getting it to look as much like the real thing as possible,” said Santini.

“I know your type, Mr Santini, yours and Archangel’s. I thought that it might be hard to get Airwolf from you so I brought some friends,” said Mannen.

The radio cut out. “Caitlin, we’ve got company,” said Dominic.

“Ident?” asked Caitlin. She was a good chopper pilot but flying in combat made her nervous as hell. Apart from the lessons Hawke and Santini had given her in Airwolf, she had never flown any combat missions. This wasn’t the first time she had sat in Airwolf’s cockpit and wondered why she had ever decided to come and find someone who was so obviously trouble as Stringfellow Hawke.

“I have three jet rangers on the scope, they’re on an intercept course. All armed with sidewinders. Won’t know whether they’re radar guided or heat seekers until they fire,” replied Dominic.

Caitlin turned the helicopter in fast curve to face the on coming jet rangers and tilted Airwolf’s nose upwards into a steep climb. If there was one thing that Hawke had hammered home it was don’t give them an easy target. She needed to get within range to fire her own hellfires but she couldn’t do that and stay out of their range and there were more of them. She executed a hammer head turn and bore down on the approaching aircraft. She closed the visor of her helmet and moved her attention over to Airwolf’s precise targeting scanner.

“Dom, give me the hellfires,” she said.

“You got them,” said Dominic. “Easy Cait, wait ‘til they’re in the sights.”

“I’ve got one Dom,” said Caitlin and fired the missile at the lead jet ranger. It exploded in a cloud of spinning debris as its rotors tore the craft apart.

“One down, two to go,” said Caitlin. She banked Airwolf round and came in for a second run but now the choppers had had a warning and were scattering out of formation. The second and third jet rangers weren’t where she had expected them to be and suddenly Airwolf’s cockpit lit up with warnings.

“We’ve got a sidewinder on our tail,” said Dominic. “It’s a heat seeker.”

“Pop me a sunburst,” said Caitlin.

“Sunburst away,” replied Dom. The sidewinder impacted with the sunburst in a shower of flame. “We’ve got a second rocket incoming,” added Dominic.

“Okay, pop another sunburst,” said Caitlin, her voice sounded calm to her ears but inside her heart was racing.

“Sunburst away,” said Dominic. The second missile locked on the sunburst and exploded. Caitlin breathed a sigh of relief, but knew better than to relax. She put Airwolf into a dive, hoping that if she could get behind the two jet rangers then she could target them. She knew Airwolf was faster than them and had better fire power but she was still outnumbered two to one. That meant that wherever Airwolf was she could be targeted from two angles and if they both got a lock on her then her chances of evading were lessened.

Caitlin pulled a sharp hundred and eighty degree turn and was behind one of the jet rangers. She waited until she was sure the jet ranger was locked as the missile’s target and fired. The helicopter in front of her disintegrated into a ball of fire and twisted metal. While she had been targeting the second helicopter, the third had managed to move round behind her and get locked on.

“Incoming,” yelled Dominic. “Another sidewinder.”

“Sunburst,” said Caitlin. She waited for the explosion but it didn’t happen.

“It didn’t take the bait,” said Dominic.

“Now what do I do,” said Caitlin, “even Airwolf can’t outrun a missile.” She twisted the stick to the left and then back to the right, hoping that she could shake the rocket, but it was persistent. Up ahead was a hillside, she hoped that she could scrape over it sufficiently closely for the missile to catch the brow of the hill but as she approached it she realised that she was going too fast for that to work. Maybe Hawke could have done it, but he wasn’t here now and she didn’t have his years of combat training in dog fights over Vietnam to fall back on. She had one last trick up her sleeve, an old trick that Hawke had once explained to her but could just work.

“The theory behind it is that a heat seeker will go to the hottest target. That maybe an aircraft or a sunburst but the missile doesn’t know the difference once its launched and locked on. You can fool a missile but only if you have something hotter than you are to confuse it,” Hawke had said.

“So how to do you get something hotter than you are?” Caitlin had asked. “Airwolf runs pretty damn hot even for a helicopter.”

“Easy,” said Hawke. “You blow something up. There’s nothing hotter than fire.”

Caitlin let two of Airwolf’s missiles go and watched them slam into the side of the hill. She nearly clipped the top and soil was thrown back over them from the blast. It had to be close otherwise the heat seeker wouldn’t change targets. She held her breath as Santini monitored the missile behind them and then heard a satisfying crump as the heat seeker flew into the side of the hill and exploded.

“That’s one of String’s,” said Dominic. “When did he teach you that? Never mind,” he added quickly, “I’m just glad he did.”

“That’s the first time I’ve tried it,” said Caitlin.

“I’m glad I didn’t know that before,” replied Dominic.

Caitlin circled round. “Where did he go?” she asked.

“He’s protecting Mannen, check your scope to the south.”

Caitlin checked and there were the two helicopters. “Okay, let’s get them.” She manoeuvred Airwolf onto an intercept course and pressed the turbos button on the stick. Airwolf kicked her against the seat with the force of the acceleration. The jet ranger flew alongside the Airwolf clone and was in Caitlin’s sights within seconds. She didn’t wait to be asked twice and launched a hellfire at the helicopter. The missile found its target and the helicopter plumed into flame and debris. The jet ranger had been flying very closely with the Airwolf clone and some of the explosion debris blew back into Mannen’s main rotor.

Caitlin could immediately see that Mannen was having trouble holding the Airwolf clone.

“He’s hit bad, Caitlin,” said Santini from the back of Airwolf where he had technical readouts of the damage on the other helicopter.

“Mannen,” said Caitlin, over the radio. “Try to set her down. We can offer assistance if required.”

“Your help is appreciated, but not required,” replied Mannen. “If you think I’m going back to some East German prison then you are mistaken. Although I’d rather that than become a guest of Archangel and the Firm. Tell Hawke I’m sorry about his brother.”

“Why are you sorry?” asked Caitlin, “What happened to Hawke’s brother?”

But Caitlin never got an answer, Mannen was spiralling down, smoke trailing from the engine. Then suddenly he hit the ground and Airwolf’s twin exploded into a huge cloud of flame and helicopter parts.

“Come on, Caitlin,” said Dominic, “we’ve got to get this anti-viral back for String as quickly as possible.”

“Aren’t you the least bit curious about what Mannen said?” asked Caitlin while she set Airwolf on a course for home.

“I gave up on finding Saint John a long time ago, and I don’t want to look too closely at some of the stuff that went on over there. String and Saint John were close and I can see why String doesn’t want to give up, but take it from me Cait, don’t go digging up the past unless you want it to bury you.”

Hawke got better far more slowly than he had become ill. Once the doctors had give him the anti-viral that Dominic and Caitlin had brought back, he started to recover, but it was a couple of days before he regained consciousness. The first person Hawke saw was Dominic, he was sitting beside his bed with a well read paperback book in his hand, but he wasn’t reading. At the first sign of Hawke stirring he had closed the book and looked over at the bed to find Hawke staring back at him groggily.

“Hey, String,” he said, and when Hawke had tried to move he put a hand on his shoulder, gently but firmly and said “take it easy, you’re not ready for that yet.”

Hawke’s lips were dry and he just managed to make his mouth form the words, “How long?”

“You’ve been out three days,” said Dominic. “You had us all worried for a bit.” Dominic reached over for a glass of water that was beside the bed and a straw and held it for Hawke to sip. He spluttered and coughed. “Not so fast,” said Dominic. “You’re going to be fine. Go back to sleep, you just need to rest at the moment and then we’ll get you back on your feet.”

“Mannen?” asked Hawke.

“He’s dead. We shot him down in Airwolf.”

Hawke settled back down and closed his eyes, happy in the knowledge that Dominic was sitting beside him and slept.

As the days past he got a little stronger each day, Dominic went home to pick up his air service business where he had left it and he and Caitlin took it in turns to visit. One day Archangel came to visit and he came pushing a wheelchair.

“The doctors tell me that you’re ready for some air,” said Archangel. “I thought there might be something ironic about a cripple pushing a convalescing pilot around,” he said indicating his bad knee.

“Michael, you have no idea how pleased I am to see you with that contraption. I thought that they would never let me out of here,” said Hawke, he had been getting bored the last couple of days which he knew must mean he was getting better. Equally he knew he was still very tired and sleeping a lot more than he should.

Archangel helped Hawke out of bed and into a hospital issue dressing gown. Hawke’s legs were weak and he knew his limits, he wasn’t too proud to accept a little help from Archangel to get from the bed to the wheelchair. Archangel abandoned his cane in the hospital room, he hardly ever needed it these days and it was mostly for show. Archangel pushed Hawke down the hall and into the sunshine.

“So Michael, is this just a visit to the sick or are you here for another reason?”

“I just thought you might appreciate some company,” said Archangel.

“Liar,” said Hawke.

“I can’t visit a friend in hospital without having an ulterior motive?” asked Archangel.

“Spit it out, Michael. I’m in no condition to fly Airwolf for you at the moment.”

“I know that, Hawke, that’s obvious,” said Archangel. “I don’t need you to fly Airwolf for me. At the moment anyway. Although after Caitlin’s performance in Airwolf maybe I don’t need you at all,” he teased.

“And maybe I don’t need you, Michael,” replied Hawke.

“Perhaps you should reconsider that or you’ll be pushing your own wheelchair,” said Michael.

Hawke laughed but dissolved into a spluttering cough, “ow, it hurts when I laugh,” said Hawke. Archangel looked at Hawke and realised that he was still very ill.

“You want to go back in?” asked Archangel.

“No, I’m okay,” said Hawke, back to being his usual stubborn self, too proud to let Archangel think that he wasn’t fine.

“Before Mannen went down he said something to Caitlin about your brother,” said Archangel.

“Why would I care what Mannen had to say?” said Hawke.

“Because Caitlin pulled a notebook out of Mannen’s lab in the warehouse. It talks about a Saint John Hawke, and it names the prison camp he was in. Nam Ha.”

“But if he was in Mannen’s lab book…” Hawke couldn’t finish the sentence. He closed his eyes and rested his head on his hand. Archangel pushed Hawke’s wheelchair so that it was beside a bench and he sat down.

“We liberated that camp in ’73, and Saint John wasn’t there,” said Archangel.

“Yeah, I know,” said Hawke, visibly pulling himself together. “Every time I get a lead on Saint John it seems to go no where.”

Archangel sat on the bench beside Hawke and wondered what he could say. There was nothing he could think of, Hawke had been looking for his brother for a long time and every little piece brought him a step closer, but it wasn’t enough.

“For all we know Mannen left that book there for us to find,” said Archangel.

“Yeah, maybe. Take me back inside, Michael,” said Hawke.

Archangel stood, turned the wheelchair around and pushed Hawke back into the medical complex. He saw Marella walking down the corridor towards them with Santini. They were arguing loudly and Archangel caught some snatches as they got closer.

“Mr Santini, you can’t expect to use the Firm like a shopping mall!” said Marella.

“Look, you want Airwolf to fly more missions for the Firm, then you have to pay for it,” said Dominic.

“We expect some expense but this is too much…” said Marella.

Hawke sighed. “What’s up, Dominic?” he said in a tired voice.

“Marella says that they won’t pay for my chopper,” said Dominic.

“What chopper?” asked Archangel.

“The one we blew up that was pretending to be Airwolf,” said Dominic.

“That was your helicopter?” said Archangel. “Marella!”

“We didn’t have time to bring in a Firm vehicle and Santini’s helicopter was here. We didn’t think it was going to be blown to pieces,” said Marella. “The fitting out took a lot of time and getting another helicopter would have meant we had less time to do the fitting out.”

“How could you not think it was going to be blown to pieces!” asked Archangel.

“That wasn’t part of the plan, sir. We were meant to capture Mannen alive.”

“Marella, just give Dom his money,” said Hawke.

“That’s easy for you to say, you don’t have to worry about budget committees,” said Marella and folded her arms across her chest.

“Give Santini his helicopter,” said Archangel. Marella started to argue. “Please, Marella, just do it.” He looked at Hawke who was visibly sagging in the wheelchair. Santini noticed too.

“We need to get you back to bed, buddy,” said Santini.

“I’m not going to argue with that Dom,” said Hawke. Santini got Hawke back into bed.

“How you feeling?”

“Tired,” said Hawke. “When can I go home?”

“You’ve been through a hell of a lot, String, you’ve got to be patient. You came closer to buying it this time that you ever have in any dog fight. We nearly lost you, String.”

“Yeah, well I’m okay, Dom,” said Hawke and settled back against the pillows. Hawke knew he had some recovery time left yet, but he was damned if some ‘flu bug was going to keep him in bed any longer than he needed to be. He noticed Marella and Archangel out in the corridor having an animated conversation.

“What’s up with those two?” asked Hawke, but he didn’t have to wait for an answer. Archangel and Marella came into the room.

“We have a problem,” said Archangel.

“What sort of problem?” asked Dominic.

“Mannen,” said Marella.

“He’s dead,” said Hawke.

“We don’t think he’s dead,” said Archangel.

“We searched the wreckage of the helicopter,” said Marella. “There was no body.”

***

The End

***

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