The Choice

A/N: I do not own Airwolf or any of the characters portrayed in the television show. Only the original characters and twisted plot bunnies are my own. I do not profit from this story in any way, it is meant for entertainment purposes only.

Chapter 1

Caitlin's apartment, Tuesday morning.

Caitlin O'Shannessy looked at her watch again and sighed as she put the finishing touches on her makeup. It was already 8:15 am and she was due at her doctor's appointment in 45 minutes. "If I don't get a move on, I'm going to be late," she thought to herself. Giving herself one more look in the mirror, she quicky picked up her purse and headed for the door of her apartment.

Caitlin felt fine but had been promising Dom that she would get her annual pilot's and insurance physical for weeks. It could no longer be put off. "Man, I hate going to the doctor," she thought as she headed down the steps towards her apartment complex's parking lot. It only took her a few minutes to get to her car, unlock it and start it up. Taking a minute to put on her sunglasses she put the car into "drive" and began to pull out of the lot.

Just as her car began to roll, Caitlin was grabbed by a hand around her neck coming from behind her in the backseat. Feeling something cold and hard against her temple, Caitlin instinctively knew it was a gun. "Just stay calm and drive around behind the back building," a rough male voice whispered in her ear. "Do as you're told and you'll stay alive."

Being caught off guard and having no chance for recourse, Caitlin did as she was told. As soon as her car was hidden behind the building she was directed to, she was instructed to shut off the car and throw the keys out of the window. As soon as the keys were out of the car, another masked man appeared at the side of the car, pulling open the driver's side door and forcing Caitlin out of the car. She was immediately blindfolded, gagged, hit over the head and thrown in the back of the van as all went black.

AWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAW

An undisclosed location, Tuesday morning

"So we have the girl?" the man in the black suit asked as he watched the younger man in the room hang up the phone.

"Yes, sir. The boys just confirmed it. They are on the way to the warehouse with her now."

Nodding his approval as he brushed back his thick white hair, the man in the black suit calmly took a pull off his cigar. "Make sure she's not harmed any more than necessary. As soon as she regains consciousness, make the tape," he directed the other man.

"Yes, sir."

"What about the other items? I assume you were successful in getting everything I asked?"

"Yes, sir. It's all right here in the envelope," the younger man confirmed. "As soon as the tape of the girl is complete, I'll add it to the envelope. There's already a messenger waiting to hand deliver it to the Santini Air hangar."

"Good. I expect to be informed as soon as Mr. Hawke has received the package. That will be all for now, Connor."

Picking up the package the younger man left the room leaving the other man on his own. Once the black-suited man was alone, he walked towards a shelf on the far side of the room that held a silver-framed picture of another man. Picking up the frame, the man took a long look at the photo. "It's coming together my brother. Soon we'll have our revenge and Airwolf will be back where she belongs."

AWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAW

Santini Air Hangar, Tuesday, Early afternoon.

"Hey, Dom!" Stringfellow Hawke yelled across the hangar from where he was working underneath the Stars and Stripes painted Hughes helicopter that was the signature chopper of Santini Air. "Can you bring me that wrench from over on the workbench?"

"I'm buried under a ton of paperwork," Dom hollered back from the office. "Have Caitlin get it for you."

Rolling out from under the helicopter, Hawke took a quick look around the hangar. Seeing no one else around, he took a quick glance at his watch. "One - thirty. Cait should have been back a couple of hours ago," he thought. A prickly feeling ran across the back of his neck as Hawke began to feel that something wasn't right. Getting up he headed towards the office. "Dom, Caitlin's not back yet. What time was her appointment?" he asked as he used a rag to wipe the grease off his hands.

"Nine o'clock," the older man said as he looked up at Hawke with concern. "You think something's wrong, String?"

Before Hawke could answer, a messenger entered the hangar. "Package for Stringfellow Hawke?" he questioned as he approached the office.

Reaching out, Hawke took the large, plain, manilla envelope. "That's me," he said as he signed the messenger's sheet. As the messenger turned to leave, Hawke stopped him. "Tell me what you know about this package. Where'd you get it?" Hawke sensed that whatever was in the package, it would have to do with Caitlin and he would eventually need to know all of the information he could.

"Hey man," the young messenger said as he held up his hands. "All I know is that the manager at the store gave it to me and said to deliver it. How do I know where it came from? Can I go, now?"

"Yeah, fine." Hawke said as he quickly turned his attention back to the package. Opening it, he dumped the contents out on the desk between himself and Dom. A black, unmarked video tape and a smaller sealed envelope now lay on the desk. "Dom, put in the tape," Hawke instructed as he tossed the tape to the older man.

As the TV warmed up, a clear picture of a blindfolded and gagged Caitlin tied to a chair came into view. A small trickle of blood ran down the side of her right temple but she appeared to be breathing normally and otherwise physically okay. A newspaper clearly showing the current date was on her lap.

"Damn!" Hawke said under his breath as Dom muttered a "Mamma Mia" at the same time.

Turning around Hawke reached for the smaller sealed envelope and tore it open. Turning it over, the contents that included a photograph, a set of dogtags and a lapel pin in the shape of a small helicopter clattered to the desk.

Picking up the pin, Dom audibly gasped. "Mother of God, String...is this what I think it is?"

"Yeah," was all the response that Dom received from the younger man who was visibly fighting back tears as he studied the photograph.
After about a minute, Hawke lowered the photo and picked up the dogtags. "Sinjin" was all he said as he tenderly rubbed the raised lettering on the thin metal tags.

"String...this can't be," Dom said as he studied the photograph that Hawke had put back on the desk. "It sure as hell looks like Sinjin but this photo has got a date stamp of 2 days ago on the back! And that lapel pin, it looks like the one your mother gave to your father on their wedding day. Didn't Sinjin take that with him when he left for Vietnam?"

Nodding his head, Hawke laid down the dog tags he'd been holding. "And these are Sinjin's dogtags...that's his serial number. He's alive, Dom, and somebody knows where he is!"

"Yeah, okay...it sure looks that way, String. But what the hell does this have to do with Cait?" the older man asked as he looked back at the image on the tv screened and cringed.

"I don't know but I"m sure as hell going to find out!" Hawke exclaimed as he jumped up from the edge of the desk where'd he'd been sitting. Before he could even get to the door of the office, however, the phone rang. Somehow knowing this was no random call, he picked it up before it could ring a second time. "Hawke"

The voice on the other end was obviously electronically distorted and wasted no time with informalities. "Mr. Hawke, I assume by the tone of your voice you've received your package. Then you have also figured out that we have not only your red-headed co-worker but the location of your long-lost brother as well."

"What the hell do you want?" Hawke spat out.

"I'm sure you know the answer to that, Mr. Hawke. It's Airwolf, of course. Hand her over and you'll get to see either Ms. O'Shannessy or your brother again. It's as simple as that."

Hawke was about to tell the caller to go to hell when what the distorted voice had just said fully registered in his mind. "What the hell do you mean, 'either'?

"Just what I said, Mr. Hawke. When you deliver Airwolf, you'll get to make a choice. Either your brother or your little red-headed friend here. One lives and one dies...you get to make the decision. Of course you can refuse all together and both will die but I hardly think that's much fun, now is it? Surely one deserves to live, don't you think? I tell you what...I'll give you 24 hours. I'll call you back at 2:00 pm tomorrow afternoon with the coordinates on where to deliver Airwolf. That should give you enough time to check out the photographs and other items with Archangel to verify they are legitimate. As for the woman, I'll have her call you every four hours to let you know that she's still safe and sound. If you can't make a decision by this time tomorrow...both will be killed." And with that statement the line went dead.

TBC...