Airwolf Rule The World

1991 New Years Day



Kristien was asleep in bed. She had laid down after Alfred had spoken to her hoping to divert her sadness of Hawke and Dominic arguing over her. Exhausted she thought if she lay down for a few minutes she would regain some strength and hope to change Hawke’s mind. An impossible task but she felt she was up to it.



As she slept she entered her dream state. Hawke and Kristien were on a mission in Airwolf. They had both gone into a building and when they returned to Airwolf, Hawke was injured, although he did not let on how injured he was. Hawke flew Airwolf out of danger and then landed, struggling to breathe. As he fell out of Airwolf, he staggered over to some tree’s where he fell. Kristien ran to him and turned him over. Hawke had been shot in his chest, very close to his heart. As he struggled to breathe he told her that he loved her and she was to live life for the both of them. Then he died in her arms.



Kristien awoke, drenched in sweat, herself struggling to breathe. Then as the realisation slowly dawned on her, it wasn’t a dream, her precognitive ability had come to the surface again.



Slowly she started to calm herself and she looked at the clock it was 0030. Kristien sighed deeply realising what it meant. Her pyjamas were drenched in sweat so she got up and headed for the bathroom for a shower.



Hawke had spent working until the early hours on Kristien’s computers planning the route he was taking into Laos. Tired he felt having a couple of hours rest before he would get into Airwolf and take off to rescue Saint John. He walked into the bedroom that he shared with Kristien. Kristien came from the bathroom having showered, she was covered in a towelling robe and she looked up at Hawke.



“I thought you would be going.” Kristien replied.



“Not without saying good bye first.” Hawke told her and he walked over to her and put his arms around her. Hawke used all his senses to absorb the hug with Kristien. He fought back the tears of sadness that he felt at the thought of leaving Kristien. Hawke released his arms around her and he placed his lips onto hers. Their embrace was more to console each other rather than to release any passion between them. Hawke broke off the embrace feeling his male instincts trying to take over. “I’m going for a shower.” Hawke told her and walked off to the bathroom.



Hawke turned the shower on and took off his shirt and dropped his jeans revealing the painfully hard erection he was forced to deal with. He stepped into the shower and started the ritual he had been doing for the last few months since Kristien was pregnant. Hawke had abstained from sex from her worried that he would cause their unborn babies premature appearance to the world. Hawke gripped his erect penis and started the ritual that he tried to do at least twice a day to relive the strong male instincts that he was left to deal with. God how he hated to do this. He remembered all the lonely times over the years at the cabin that he had to deal with his male instincts, usually on a daily basis. Whilst his mind was elsewhere he did not hear Kristien enter the shower and stand behind him. Hawke spun round shocked and embarrassed that Kristien had found him during this necessary pastime. He had tried so much to keep his aroused male instincts from her, hoping not to engage her in any sexual activity during her pregnancy, often climaxing in private before taking a very cold shower so that he could be sure that he would not initiate any sexual activity. Hawke spent the time just caressing her pregnant body, although Kristien’s sexual appetite always craved Hawke since Hawke had been caught on camera Hawke was unsure of his place in Kristien’s life, if indeed she wanted to have a place with him.



Hawke looked at Kristien with his cold piercing blue eyes. Kristien ignored his stare. She was not removed from the world that she did not know what Hawke was up to in the shower. She didn’t care. Since the incident with the prostitute Kristien herself was in turmoil with her relationship with Hawke. There was many a time that Kristien actually wanted to be in the shower with Hawke, she would have loved to have explored different techniques together, for some unknown reason neither of them had explored oral sex. Kristien gently placed her hands on Hawke’s muscular body, caressing it and allowing her hand to touch his hard erect penis . Hawke inhaled deeply and he firmly took Kristien into his arms, his mouth descended upon hers and he explored her mouth with his tongue. Hawke pulled them both down on to the shower floor, he pushed himself between her legs and he entered her and began thrusting, just glad of being inside of her at last. Kristien’s fingers were digging in deep into Hawke’s shoulders, she was pinned underneath him unable to move, partly due to the severe pain that the intercourse was producing, it had been less than 7 days since she gave birth, and the fact that Hawke had not even attempted to arouse her. Had they had not been in the shower Hawke would have seen the tears that were falling from her pain ridden eyes. Kristien kept quiet and did not even murmur about the pain, the same pain she had felt when her brother brutally raped her. As Hawke felt the burning in the pit of his stomach, he climaxed inside her and slowly relaxed. He laid on top waiting for her to initiate another session, when nothing happened he looked at her.



“You ok?” Hawke asked concerned that Kristien’s sexual appetite had not returned.



Kristien hid her pain and kissed Hawke. “I’m fine.” She lied. “It’s cold in here.”



Hawke had been so engrossed in the sex that he hadn’t noticed the temperature change. To him it was just right, but Kristien had lost so much weight that she got cold easily. Hawke leant up and changed the temperature of the shower, Kristien also sat up and pushed Hawke towards the shower wall, and she straddled his lap. Her hands working on his penis again, making it instantly hard. Hawke allowed Kristien to take control and this time it was his turn to have his breath taken away as she allowed his hard erect manhood go inside her very tight entrance. Kristien ignored the pain, almost enjoying it and the new sensation she was feeling. Again her fingers dug into Hawke’s skin this time on his shoulders and drew blood. As she thrust away she allowed Hawke to come near to climaxing and then stopped him, building him up again and then stopping him. Hawke looked at her in total control and smiled to himself. He rolled her over and laid on top, Kristien pulled him close and pinned him to her as her hips fell in time to his thrusts. Ignoring the pain she was in she allowed him to climax again inside of her. Hawke was exhausted. He stood up and picked up Kristien in his arms and carried her into the bedroom. He laid her down in the bed and lay alongside her, pulling the bedclothes over their damp bodies. Hawke fell asleep quite quickly.



When he awoke two hours later Kristien had gone to feed Metteo. Hawke got dressed into his Airwolf flight suit. He thought if he left before dawn it would cause less hassle. Dominic hadn’t spoken to him since the brief meeting with Archangel a few hours earlier. As Dominic had point blank refused to go Hawke felt a quiet exit would be best under the circumstances. Kristien quietly walked back into the bedroom. She was dressed in cream silk pyjamas. She looked up in the dimly lit room at Hawke just fixing his belt on. Hawke looked up surprised at Kristien’s return.



“You were just going to go?” Kristien realised what was going on.



Hawke’s guilty face said it all. “I need to make an early start.” He told her.



Kristien knew Hawke’s mind was elsewhere when they attempted to make love, Hawke’s obsession with Saint John certainly kept him from making a connection to Kristien. “I can’t believe you are breaking our family up already.” Kristien was clearly frustrated at Hawke’s decision to go to Laos.



“I am trying to bring my family together.” Hawke snapped back.



“So what shall I tell Bastian in the morning?” Kristien asked knowing their seven year old who doted on his new father would ask hundreds of questions to which sadly she would have no answers.



“Tell him I will be back in a week with his Uncle Saint John.” Hawke told her confidently and walked to the door.



Kristien just looked with total despair. There was no way that Kristien was even going to tell Bastian anything of Hawke’s obsession. “Just go and for God’s sake be bloody careful. This is the wrong year to be playing hero.” Kristien knew her curse would make its self apparent during 1991, the fact she had had a premonition did nothing to stop her thinking it was going to happen. She didn’t know when or where but she knew deep down there was no way she could prevent it.



Hawke stood at the open door and looked at her and remembered her curse and realised that it was 1991 already. He felt her pain but also her rage which was bubbling away. He strode over to her and took her into his arms and kissed her hard and full, more to console him but as he broke off the kiss he could feel that he was in danger if he stayed. Hawke looked at Kristien knowing this would be the last time that they would see each other.



“I will come back.” Hawke told her and he walked though the door.



Hawke checked Airwolf over for pre flight. Every so often he paused as he allowed the grief of leaving Kristien and his new family to engorge him fully. As he got to the tail rotor Dominic’s stark words hit him and the thought of him never seeing Kristien again took over and he ran to the bathroom and completely recycled his evening meal. As the reality of the shock of set in, the dry heaves started to take over, causing him severe pain.



He sat for a while regaining his strength as he sipped a glass of water. How the hell could he convince her that this was the right decision? Perhaps if he went back up to the house and spoke to her. He stood up and made his way across the hangar floor and stopped. No, she would need to calm down first. If he flew Airwolf around for a while then came back he would have time to think and so would she.



He got into Airwolf and pressed TURB START ONE. Nothing happened. Typical he thought, for her final insult she would show him that she can still disable Airwolf any time. He reached for the blackberry and emailed her.



Kristien entered the Hangar. Hawke stood leaning up against the work station with all the computers and screens. His arms were folded and he was furious. Kristien paused before walking over to the computer station. She could feel Hawke’s rage from up at the house. He stared at her with cold expressionless eyes. He felt her tremble with fear. Good he thought.



Kristien stood across from Hawke. The hangar floor was like the battlefield. Neither of them moved.



Minutes passed.



Kristien took a deep breath and walked forward, breaking the stalemate between them. She stood next to Hawke and was about to type in the release code to Airwolf when Hawke spoke.



“Have I lost you?” Hawke asked staring blankly across the hangar floor.



“I don’t want to do this now, you will need all your strength to go into Laos.” Kristien tried to divert Hawke’s attention to his mission that he was set to go on.



Hawke turned to Kristien and put his arms on her shoulders and turned her to him. He swore he felt her tremble with fear when he touched her.



“I need to find Saint John and then I will bring him back.” Hawke whispered to her and he brushed his lips over hers. Kristien held back her fears and allowed herself one last kiss.



“Go do what you need to do so that your mind can rest.” Kristien told him and pressed the keyboard. The screen flashed up ‘accepted’. “So off you go.” Kristien left Hawke and walked over to the hangar door.



“Kristie.” Hawke called to her his voice cracking under the emotional strain.



“String, don’t come back here, stay away from me, I have seen your death.” Kristien spoke without turning back. “You die in my arms.” Kristien walked out of the hangar leaving Hawke speechless.



Hawke walked towards Airwolf and got in closing the door. He pressed TURB START ONE and Airwolf’s turbines sprang into life. He pressed TURB START TWO and Airwolf’s engines started to reach full power quite quickly. As he put on his helmet the computer screen sprang into life. Kristien had programmed Airwolf with everything he needed, coordinates of friendlies, refuelling points and places for munitions. He looked at the co pilots seat and a leather case was there. Hawke opened it and he saw over one million US dollars for bribes should he need them. Kristien had funded everything.



Kristien was walking down to the lodge with Carsten. She wanted to be alone, oh dear God how she wanted to be very alone, to cry to pour out her already shattered heart. Alfred met her at the door and nodded to Agent Carsten. Alfred closed the kitchen door and looked at Kristien who just sat in the captains chair, deflated. Alfred brought over Kristien’s favourite, hot chocolate with everything and placed it down in front of her. Kristien did not move nor did her eyes blink.



“It must be hard to let go of something that you love.” Alfred sat stirring his lemon in his earl grey tea.



Kristien looked at Alfred. “Am I supposed to feel this bad then?” Kristien was in physical pain from the intercourse she had with Hawke, the mental torment from telling Hawke to stay away from her and the fact that her precognitive ability was making it painfully obvious that she couldn’t have a quiet life.



“Well a wise man once said, if you have something and you want to keep it set it free. If it doesn’t return it was never yours in the first place. But if it returns of it’s own accord then it was always yours.” Alfred told her.



Kristien looked at Alfred and smiled weakly. “Thank you Alfred but what happens if it returns and because it returns it dies, then what?”



Alfred looked over at Kristien with a note of concern. He never questioned her about what she could foresee nor did he try to divert her from the four year curse that she did seem to have. “Master Stringfellow will be away for 12 months then?” Alfred replied rhetorically.



Kristien stood up. For a moment Alfred thought that she may go down to the Hangar and change her mind, but as he looked at her calm and quiet face, he knew that she wouldn’t change her mind.



“I am going galloping.” Kristien headed for the door and then paused. “Alfred, as soon as the boys are up, bring them down.”



“Of course, Miss Kristien.” Alfred spoke quietly and watched Kristien leave.



Airwolf flew over head with Hawke sobbing quietly to himself knowing that Kristien had backed him for the mission for Saint John but also she had seen his death, so he was not to return to her for at least a year. This tragic thought could not be dwelled upon for Hawke’s forthcoming mission to retrieve Saint John. Hawke took a deep breath and as he exhaled his deep, cold, brooding eyes returned. He put out of his mind that he had a new family, something that he had never dared hoped for and concentrated on emptying his mind.



The scramblers sounded on Airwolf. Hawke was in no mood for an argument with Archangel. Resigned he pressed the scramblers and Archangel appeared on the screen.



“Hello Hawke.” Archangel greeted Hawke.



“Michael I am in no mood.” Hawke snapped coldly.



“Well I hope you are in the mood for this.” Archangel said waving a USB stick at the camera. “Details of FIRM operatives that will rendezvous with you in thirty six hours time. Updated information about the area.”



Hawke looked blankly at the screen. “How come the one eighty from the FIRM then?”



Archangel rubbed his moustache and exhaled deeply. “Well the fact you are with the most powerful woman in the world, probably has something to do with it all.” Archangel replied. “When Kristien says ‘jump’ everyone asks ‘how high?’.” Archangel confirmed and uploaded the USB stick. “She made a call to the Pentagon personally.”



Hawke watched the information come on the screen as it went into Airwolf’s memory. The FIRM operatives that Archangel had arranged were actually the Navy SEALS. Hawke felt deeply humbled by Kristien’s covert help as if she hadn’t done enough already. “Michael when you next see Kristie please tell her thank you.” Hawke managed to speak.



“Well you can tell her yourself when you return.” Archangel replied quite upbeat, then he looked at Hawke’s cold expressionless face and knew something was seriously wrong. “Oh, right, well I er, will see her next week so I will pass it on.”



“Thanks.” Hawke whispered.



“If you need anything, just ask.” Archangel replied.



“I need an Engineer.” Hawke stated remembering he was very much alone in Airwolf.



Archangel raised his eyebrow at the request, he wasn’t going to start asking where Dominic was. “I can volunteer if you like.”



“Done.” Hawke replied.



“Great I will meet you at the third refuelling point.” Archangel replied happy to be invited but also he wanted to get a look at what Kristien had redesigned in Airwolf not that for one minute he thought he would be able to remember everything she had done.



“Agreed.” Hawke replied and pressed a couple of buttons ceasing the transmission.



Hawke watched the beautiful sunrise and tried to put the thought of not being with his new family out of his mind. He knew this would slowly kill him if he allowed it to engulf him. As Hawke guided Airwolf over Europe he allowed himself to go back to a time when he was cold and distant. He needed to do this to protect himself from imploding. He had a deep nagging gnawing in his guts that this was the wrong decision that all he was headed for was yet more pain. As he glanced across at the briefcase he looked at the blown up photograph of what he thought was Saint John.



“I am coming Saint John, hang in there.” Hawke murmured remembering the promise he had made to God over Saint John.



Hawke looked over at Airwolf’s controls. His hands smoothed over the cyclic and the collective expressing his awed sense of ownership of the prototype. He looked at the mach meter, it read 0.9. He pulled the cyclic back and the collective up and aimed for the open sky. The sonic boom smashing the quiet air below, the clouds passing by like curtains being swept back. As the curve of the earth came into view and the darkness returned. Airwolf’s cockpit with all its dim lighting looked quite bright in the gloom.



Hawke began to allow his mind to wander. He had started his own decline, his return to the anonymity that he had before the Airwolf project, the emptiness of what he had been before Kristien had resurrected him out of the depths of hell he had allowed himself to descend to. Oh God how he wanted to cry out against the returning darkness that he once wallowed in, a time where he had returned from Nam with Saint John MIA on the same mission, a time he spent at the cabin, grieving for the girlfriend that he lost just before the Nam war and the death of his parents on the lake.



As Airwolf cut through the thin air, Hawke exhaled with total despair as he drifted back to a time before Kristien, allowing his connection to Kristien to be severed and he snapped on the autopilot as tears of immense sorrow engulfed him and his hands shook violently as he placed them on his lap. His already scarred heart seemed to shatter into a million pieces like a mirror dropped onto the floor, the shards jagged and piercing, just like his blue cold eyes.



As the curve of the earth far below Airwolf tilted away, above the sky darkened to almost black.



It was empty.



Hawke was entirely alone in the world once again.









October 2008







Next Airwolf Novel in the Stringfellow Hawke Library



Airwolf 4 Lies and Shadows