Airwolf Legacy

Chapter Twenty

Airwolf flew out to the Mediterranean with a cable attached underneath with Bryon swinging under the helicopter. Hawke kept it below 200 knots as much as he wanted to press the turbo’s. The US Aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt came up into view and Hawke saw Special Agent Carsten with his arm still in a sling from his injuries, stood on the Flight Deck. All of the US Navy all stood on the Flight Deck all wanting to see this monster helicopter that they had heard about that had refuelled there the day before. They were all waiting also for the woman beating rapist to be delivered to them.

Hawke matched the speed of the carrier and hovered over the Flight Deck. At twenty feet he released the cable from underneath Airwolf dropping Bryon with some force onto the Flight Deck.

“Signed sealed and delivered Carsten.” Hawke said over the radio

“Yeah, thanks.” Carsten replied. “When you letting Archangel know?”

“We’re not.” Hawke replied. “I am sure you will let him know what’s going on, eventually.”

“Great!” Carsten exclaimed with glee. “We won’t be docking in Dubawi for a couple of days yet.”

“Have fun.” Hawke replied as he pulled Airwolf away from the Flight Deck and flew to the back of the aircraft carrier.

“We will.” Carsten replied and signalled for the Navy Sailors to move in on Bryon who had now sat up.

Hawke flew Airwolf past the Flight Deck at doing Mach One on a flyby. All of the Navy below were celebrating and clapping Airwolf’s dramatic flyby. Watching Airwolf go off in the distance then all then turned and looked at Bryon, circling him like hungry wolves around a downed elk.

Hawke left the hangar and walked across Kristien’s estate. He was heading to sit with her to continue the vigil. To wait for her to get better. Hawke walked through to the infirmary and went into Kristien’s room. There was the bed, stripped and empty. A heaviness struck Hawke. Panic set in. Where was Kristien? Tears welled up and he started to struggle to breathe. He had closed his mind when he was dishing out the revenge to Bryon. He didn’t want anyone to know what deep darkness lay in his head, even he was sickened by what he was capable of. Closing his mind meant he had no connection to Kristien. God, had she slipped away without him knowing?

One of the doctors that assisted in the operation on Kristien saw Hawke. “Mr Hawke?”

All Hawke could do was to point to the empty room with a sad and heavy emptiness in his heart.

“Oh Kristien is at the lodge. She came out of the induced coma and fought all the drugs she was being given.” The doctor replied. “She is in her own bed.”

“Kristien is better then?” Hawke asked.

The doctor frowned. “Well I would say she is the same but she is stable and that’s good. Still wired up to the drips and monitors.”

Hawke gave a huge sigh of relief.

Hawke couldn’t get to the Lodge quick enough. His aching body painfully reminding him that he hadn’t slept in over five days. As he entered the lodge Alfred greeted him with a cup of coffee.

“Master Stringfellow, Miss Kristien is asking for you.” Alfred informed Hawke.

“How is she?” Hawke took a gulp of coffee quickly. One cup of caffeine would not help to keep him awake, he would need a bucketful.

“Well they say Doctors make the worst patients however, I believe there needs to be a special category for Miss Kristien.” Alfred reported. “I think she is allergic to doctors.”

Hawke quickly took another gulp of the caffeine laced black liquid. “Keep this coming please Alfred.”

Hawke left the empty cup with Alfred and marched up the stairs taking two at a time. He was met at the top by Doctor Parsons.

“Thank God you are back. I won’t ask where you have been!” Sarah exclaimed. “Maybe Kristien will rest now.”

“I thought you were keeping her asleep?” Hawke remembered as they both walked towards Kristien’s bedroom.

“Well that was the general idea, however, Kristien fought the drugs and pulled out her own incubation tube.” Sarah replied. “Look, she is still gravely ill but she is stable.”

“I can’t believe she’s awake so soon.” Hawke replied surprised.

“Kristien is physically very fit and healthy. She rides out 25 horses a day. That’s what has saved her.” Sarah told him. “One more thing, she can’t remember anything after the race meeting. I am not going to try to tell her where the last ten weeks have gone missing in her head. Just convince her to rest.” Sarah pleaded with him. “Oh and she does look a mess as all the bruising is out.”

They both paused at the bedroom door.

“She doesn’t remember the beating?” Hawke questioned remembering the medical report did report lots of rohipnoyl in her blood stream as well as other drugs.

“No, we told her that she totalled one of her sports cars” Sarah replied. “I know it’s a lie but it will buy us some time to help her. If we overload her now she will panic.”

“I can’t lie to her, she will know.” Hawke replied.

“Any question you can’t answer refer back to us. We will do the lying for you.” Sarah replied. “Someone of Kristien’s ability not being able to work out where 10 weeks of her life have gone will destroy her.”

Hawke walked in and made his way over to Kristien who was laid on the bed. She still had the machines strapped to her and the IVs but she didn’t look as frail and vulnerable as she did in the infirmary bed. The bruising was horrific and so was the swelling, but a small smile of recognition came on her face when she saw Hawke. Hawke laid on the bed next to Kristien.

He kissed her lightly on her dry swollen lips. “Hey, you’re supposed to be sleeping.”

Kristien smiled weakly and whispered. “Where’ve you been?”

“I will tell you later.” Hawke avoided answering. “I want to hold you but I am not sure how to without hurting you.” Hawke opened up his arms and Kristien moved her aching body into them, the pain showed on her face but she did not let anyone know how painful it was, but Hawke could feel it. Kristien snuggled closer to Hawke and put her head on his chest to listen to his heart beat. He put his arms gently round her, he wanted to hold her tight, to hold her close to him, to keep her safe. Kristien was so warm in his arms. The bruising was a mess, the swelling too made it look worse. Hawke looked at all her injuries, at least he had dished out a helping of revenge for this. He was hoping that the crew of the Aircraft Carrier and Carsten would dish out their helpings also.

It was not long before Hawke too fell asleep, with Kristien gently in his arms. Alfred came in with a cup of coffee on a tray for Hawke. Alfred saw the young couple together, sleeping at long last. He placed the tray down on the table at the bottom of the bed. He closed the large shutters at the window and drew the curtains also, plunging the room into darkness save for the medical monitors that glowed next to the bed. He picked up a blanket from the window box and placed it over Hawke.

“Pleasant dreams, Master Stringfellow, Miss Kristien.” Alfred left the room and closed the door and met Doctor Parsons.

“I was just going to check her vitals before they settled down.” Doctor Parsons told him.

Alfred blocked the doorway. “They are already asleep and your alarms would go off if anything was wrong now wouldn’t they.” Alfred told her. “Just let them sleep. Master Stringfellow hasn’t slept for over five days now.” Alfred reminded her. “Believe me having Master Stringfellow at her side will keep her calmer.”

Doctor Parsons looked at her watch and sighed. Kristien knew as soon as she was back at the Lodge the Doctor would have Alfred to deal with, hence the premature move from the infirmary to the Lodge. “Alright, they can have 2 hours and then I am going to have to change various drips.”

“Agreed.” Alfred replied.