Second Chances Part 1 - A Second Chance

Second Chances Part 1 by bethhawke

Chapter 4

Hawke's Cabin Midday

Hawke sat on a tree stump outside his cabin. He was holding his cello but had stopped playing a while ago and was now just sitting and watching an eagle diving for fish in the lake. He was worried about Beth. She had been distant all morning after talking to him during the night. He knew she was holding something back and was pretty sure what it was. There was never an easy way to tell your lover the things that another man had done to you, even if it was forced. He just hoped that she would talk to Marella about it. But for the moment she wanted to be alone and had stayed in bed, that was why he was sitting alone outside; even Tet had abandoned him to be with her.
He wished Marella was still at the cabin, or even Caitlin. Caitlin didn't like Beth much, but she was female and could offer Beth a different type of comfort than he could, and was kind hearted enough to help anyone who needed it whether she liked them or not. He couldn't understand why they didn't get along. They had so much in common. Both were pretty and confident, loyal, the same age and they had both been cops. He loved them both, but in different ways, and he was sure they both loved him. With unusual insight he suddenly realised that could be the problem. Caitlin hadn't been friendly with any woman he had been involved with and he wondered if she was jealous. But that would mean that she was interested in him as more than a friend and he couldn't recall her indicating to him that she was, except for their first kiss on a film set, but that had been acting, hadn't it?
Hawke stood up and carried his cello back into the cabin. He was too tired to think straight and his thoughts were getting jumbled. After putting the cello away he opened the doors to the cupboard that held the radio, intending to call Caitlin, and nearly jumped out of his skin as it called his name.
“Angel One to Hawke, come in Hawke!”
He grabbed the radio, “Hawke here. Go ahead Michael.”
“Hawke, I'm approaching the cabin, Dominic and Caitlin are close behind in the Lady. Marella is in trouble.”
Hawke went upstairs to wake Beth and wasn't at all surprised to see that she wasn't sleeping, just lying on her back gazing blankly at the ceiling.
“Beth?”
She sighed and sat up, “I heard, I'll get up,” when he made no move to leave the room she glared at him pointedly until he took the hint and left her alone to get dressed.
Ten minutes later they were all sitting around the dining table with Michael bringing them up to speed on the situation.
“Marella didn't turn up for work this morning. I have tried phoning her home and have paged her but got no reply. I know she had a date last night and I have talked to everyone who may have seen her after she left my office. It appears she arrived at the restaurant at 20.00hrs with a man named Robert Hunter, who works for The Firm. According to the other girls in the office they have been dating for a few weeks. They left after the main course and no one has seen them since. They didn't go to either of their homes and her car is still at Firm HQ.”
“What do you know about this Hunter guy?” asked Dominic.
“He's dangerous if he's turned. He was in Zebra squad until a bullet in his thigh meant he had to take a desk job, but he's still a trained killer.”
Beth, who had been sitting quietly until then, turned an even paler colour and looked at Michael. “Which leg was shot? Describe this Robert.”
Michael looked puzzled but answered anyway. “His left leg I think and I brought his file in case he is involved rather than an innocent victim,” he took a file out of his briefcase and showed it to Beth. The file contained detailed information on Hunter, including medical reports and photos of his injury. Beth stared in silence for a few minutes then suddenly stood up, hand clamped over her mouth. “That's Bobby,” she said her voice shaking, “I feel sick,” she ran upstairs to the bathroom while the others just stared at her, shocked at her revelation. Hawke reacted first and ran after her. She was kneeling on the bathroom floor retching painfully and he knelt beside her and held her long hair out of her face.
“I'm sorry,” she managed after a few minutes.
“It's OK,” Hawke answered, “it must have been a shock, seeing his photo like that.”
“It's not just that, you heard what Michael said, Marella was dating this guy at the same time as he was holding me captive. He was fucking both of us but at least I knew I was being used. If I feel bad imagine how she's feeling.”
Hawke couldn't think of anything to say and Beth told him to go back downstairs. Michael was continuing to brief Dominic and Caitlin and he looked up when Hawke returned.
“I was just saying that Marella's pager has a tracking device built in. We can easily find her but there's a good chance that Hunter knows that too and we'll be flying into a trap. He could be after Airwolf.”
“I'll take the risk,” Hawke said, noting the look of concern for Marella on the spy's face, “I don't suppose it'll do any good asking you to stay here?” he asked Michael rhetorically, as the older man shook his head, “Cait, you stay here with Beth and keep the guns loaded,” he paused, “Cait, can you manage a gun with your sprained wrist?”
“I'll be fine, it's just about better, you just go get Marella.”
Hawke and Michael changed into their Airwolf flight suits, which Caitlin had remembered to bring into the cabin, then the three men rushed out to the waiting aircraft.
As soon as they had left Beth grabbed her painkillers and a glass of water and, making the excuse of not feeling well, went back to bed, leaving Caitlin alone downstairs. Lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling, Beth tried not to think back to her ordeal but found her mind kept drifting to it. Eventually she fell asleep only to dream she was back inside the locked room with him standing over her. She awoke with a start, not sure whether she had cried out or not. When she heard Caitlin's footsteps on the stairs and her quiet voice ask if she wanted anything, Beth pretended to be asleep. When Caitlin went back downstairs, Beth took another two painkillers with a sip of water and drifted back to sleep again. She woke a little while later feeling fuzzy and took another two painkillers to try to stop the undefined pain she was feeling.
Sleep eluded her now and she thought about String, about her and String. He couldn't possibly want her now, she was soiled, used. He was bound to send her away as soon as he could, as soon as he had filled his obligation to Archangel to protect her until her kidnapper and rapist was captured. She wasn't sure what hold Archangel had over String but it must be a strong one for him to even look at her. The thought of losing him again was more than she could bear; she hadn't wanted to leave him before but Archangel had insisted on the temporary separation if she wanted to work for him. Taking two more painkillers she fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

The atmosphere inside Airwolf was tense. Hawke was concentrating on flying, Dominic was at engineering monitoring all the systems and Michael, who didn't have a job to do, was just thinking. Marella had been in danger before but for some reason this time felt different. He couldn't stop thinking about her, picturing her face, and wondering what she was going through. He hated it when she dated even though he knew she had a personal life and he wasn't exactly celibate. But Hunter! Michael was usually a good judge of character, he was trained to be, and he felt guilty that he had made an error that had caused two of his operatives to get hurt. Hawke's voice in his ear startled him out of his thoughts and he had to ask him to repeat what he had just said.
“Approaching the location now.”
Dominic scanned the area.
“Only one life sign, but the area is surrounded by caves and I don't think Airwolf's sensors can penetrate them. It could be an ambush!”
“Is the life sign Marella?” asked Michael.
“I'll get a closer look,” replied Hawke. He swooped down low and they could see Marella, on her own, in the centre of the field. She stood up and waved her arms in the air.
“She looks unhurt,” noted Michael, “can't we just fly low and she can climb aboard?”
“Too easy,” replied Hawke, “it has to be an ambush. I just wish I knew what they had planned for us.”
“There's only one way to find out,” Michael stated bluntly, daring Hawke to give it a go.
“OK, let's go for it. Michael, you grab her when we get close enough.”
Hawke brought Airwolf as close to Marella as he could and she ran towards them.
Shots rang out all around them as three men ran out from the shelter of the caves.
“Dammit! Michael, jump out and cover Marella,” Hawke shouted, over the sound of the shots hitting Airwolf.
Michael jumped out of Airwolf, landing awkwardly on his bad leg, and rolled over across the grass to avoid the bullets. Marella was running towards him, weaving from side to side, also avoiding bullets. She grabbed Michael's arm and pulled him up and dragged him to one of the caves.
“Am I glad to see you,” she panted, “I think this cave is empty.” She looked around and relaxed a little when it was obvious they were alone.
He looked at her, taking in her dishevelled appearance, “Are you OK?”
“I'm fine, it's just my pride that's hurt. Do you know that Robert Hunter took me? He's working with the Russian terrorists that Beth was observing.”
Michael nodded and was about to say more when Marella remembered their situation.
“Sir, there are crates of electrical equipment in the largest cave, if Hawke could blow the entrance...”
Michael moved to the cave entrance, gun at the ready, and stood waving his arms to attract Hawke's attention.
Hawke was busy using Airwolf's guns to drive the men away from Michael and Marella but spotted him as he turned Airwolf around to make a second pass.
“Dom, scan audio, I think Michael wants to tell us something.”
“Blow the cave entrance,” Michael shouted, gesturing to the cave with the equipment in.
Hawke turned Airwolf around. “Missile Dom.”
Seconds later the cave entrance was a mass of rubble and the men were nowhere to be seen. Hawke positioned Airwolf so that Marella and Michael would be covered as they ran to safety. Just as Marella was about to climb inside she cried out and grabbed her hip, one man had emerged from the cover of a nearby cave and got a shot at her.
Michael climbed in first, pulling Marella up with one arm. He got into the back and Marella positioned herself painfully next to Hawke. He lifted off and flew a safe distance before taking a closer look at Marella's wound. He pulled her hand away and saw that her blood stained skirt was ripped and she had a long graze across her hip bone. She had been lucky, the bullet had just skimmed her.
“You'll be OK,” he reassured Marella, then turning to Michael he said, “It's not life threatening.” His tone was sarcastic and his words echoed what Michael had said to him about Beth. Michael blanched but said nothing. “I still say it was way too easy,” commented Hawke, “they couldn't possibly have expected to defend themselves against Airwolf with three men carrying hand guns.”
“Maybe they are going to follow us to the lair,” suggested Dom.
“There's no sign of any aircraft in the area, unless...” Hawke's voice slowed as he thought.
Dominic spoke to him impatiently. “Come on kid, let us know what you're thinking.”
Hawke turned to Marella. “Could they have planted a tracking device, a homing device, on you?”
“I was unconscious for over twelve hours so it's possible,” Marella was thoughtful, “but I don't know where,” she said, patting down her clothes..
“You need to get all those clothes off. I'll drop you and Michael off at the hospital, they'll expect that anyway with you shot, and you can check there. Michael, get as many guards as you can, I don't want any more kidnappings.”
Marella shuddered at the thought, then wished she hadn't as pain shot through her hip. “OK, take us to the hospital. I'll make sure I get a thorough check over.”

After Airwolf had left the cave area with the injured Marella, the three men emerged from the cave where they had been hiding.
Hunter turned to the other two, a smile on his face, “So, what did you think of the demonstration? She's a beauty isn't she?”
“I'm impressed,” replied Fedoseev, “but can you deliver as agreed?”
“And what about the pilot, he was impressive – no? Can he be bought too?” asked the bearded Ivanov in a heavily accented voice.
“It will take some time to arrange, but I should be able to deliver at the agreed price,” he turned to Ivanov, “I can't get the pilot though, you will have to provide your own if you want to fly her home.”
“Maybe we should just strip her computers and build our own Airwolf,” Fedoseev was the computer expert.
“I can fly her, it should not be too difficult,” Ivanov stated.
Hunter looked dubious “I've heard she is very difficult to fly, you may need lessons.”
“I can fly anything. You deliver, I fly.” He was adamant so Hunter didn't bother to argue. As long as he got his money he didn't care what happened afterwards.
“I will be in touch when I have made the arrangements. In the meantime you had better start digging your equipment out from that cave!” Hunter walked away from the men, not taking his eyes off them until he was out of their firing range.