"What are you doin' aboard my chopper?" "I'm on my way to see my Father." "I chose the field." "I set the trap." "There's no way they're gonna let you just pack up and fly out." "He's coming in with everything he's got!" "Tracking." "2 hits." "I'm losing rotor control." "...never have come after me." "But what I do not need is a trip to Mexico." "This ain't Mexico." "It's Acapulco, man!" "Aca-sun-and-the-sand-Pulco!" "Oh, come on, kid." "Take this shuttle job with me." "We'll deliver the old bird and then make some customer happy, and then, Whoo-hoo!" "Some customer, Dom?" "This customer wouldn't happen to be, Queeny May Shapiro, would it?" "Well, yeah, yeah." "Look..." "But, well, this is strictly business, strictly business, String." "And, besides, Queeny knows just about everybody down there and she was, sort of hoping' that she could introduce you to a..." "A certain gorgeous..." "What in the hell is Queeny gonna do with an antique chopper?" "House calls." "House calls?" "House calls." "Here." "The shutter ring was offset." "It'll work just fine now." "Take a picture of Queeny's little girlfriend for me, will you?" "I'd like to see what I'm missin'." "You're missin' a whole lot, String." "A... and I'm not talking about Queeny's friend either." "Look, you can't spend your whole life sitting up there in the cabin with Tet." "I know it." "Well, then come with me." "Maybe next time, Dom." "There may not be a next time, you ever think of that?" "I'll send you a postcard." "I'm gonna miss you." "Van Nuys 4 Tango Alpha." "4 Tango Alpha at Santini Air." "Requesting clearance for departure." "4 Tango Alpha." "Departure approved." "4 Tango Alpha, thanks." "The bird's on its way, and set for a tailspin." "A very delicate job, if I may say." "Very well." "Thank you." "Good night." "Project 58205." "Just some clerical details that will need my attention." "Wait until you move into my job, Mitchell and see how the details begin to breed all around you." "It'll be some time before I move into your job, sir." "All things being equal, that's probably true." "But let's not waste time with maudlin musings on the inevitability of decline." "Laura, the champagne, please." "Good luck in Mexico, Mitch." "And may you avoid the drudgery of details for at least a few years more." "Salud." "Bruck, see you in 10 days." "Do you really believe he'll replace you someday?" "He could." "But why speculate when we have the answer?" "The bird's on its way, and set for a tailspin." "A very delicate job, if I may say." "Very well." "Thank you." "Good night." "Doesn't sound like clerical details, does it?" "No, sir." "The call originated at a payphone, the 213 area." "Specifically, Van Nuys Airport." "We've nothing active in Southern California at the moment." "Van Nuys is the home field for Santini Air." "You think it has something to do with Stringfellow Hawke?" "I'd bet on it." "Try to reach Santini." "Take me back to the airport." "I want the company jet brought online immediately." "Have a helicopter standing by at Norton Air Force Base." "Let's see if we can beat Bruck to the land of salsa and sunshine." "Port of entry, 17." "This is helicopter 4 Tango Alpha crossing international border marker" "42 Delta Poppa." "Roger." "4 Tango Alpha, this is Port of Entry 17." "Flight plan to Acapulco, clear." "Roger, Port of Entry." "Hey!" "Terrific, man!" "What're you tryin' to do?" "Kill me?" "What are you doin' aboard my chopper?" "I was gonna try and hijack something to Acapulco, but then I heard that you were going there, so I decided to just sort of be a stowaway." "The name's Phoebe Danner." "Unreal." "You can say that again." "Hey, listen, man," "I would not have taken this stupid old chopper if I'd known that you had, like, weird personal prejudices." "Wait a minute." "Hold it." "Hold it." "I ain't got no... no prejudices except one, Miss Donner." "And that is, I don't like freeloaders." "Now, for the third and last time, what are you doin' aboard this vintage aircraft?" "The name's Danner, Phoebe Danner." "And if you gotta know, I'm on my way to see my Father, and..." "Mayday!" "Mayday!" "This is helicopter 4 Tango Alpha." "4 Tango Alpha." "At approximate coordinates 520-2-762" "Auto-rotating in." "What's happened?" "A... are we gonna..." "Are we gonna..." "Yeah, kid, we're gonna." "I don't believe it." "Believe it, kid!" "Believe it." "Here comes good old Mother Earth." "Here, bury that big mouth of yours in this." "Who's got a big mouth?" "Put it in front of your face, damn it!" "And hold on!" "Come on, baby, come on." "Keep your nose up, sweetheart." "Come on." "Keep your nose up." "Get your tail down, sweetheart." "That's it." "Hit it down." "O-o-oh, hell!" "Hey!" "What are you, nuts or somethin'?" "With a head like this," "I should've gotten drunk, at least." "Holy mackerel!" "What is it?" "Let me look." "No, no, no, no, no!" "Don't move." "Don't move." "Don't move." "Look, you... you give me your legs." "Give me your legs and m... move very easily." "That's it." "Don't..." "That's it." "Easy does it." "All right, give me your legs." "Easy." "Easy." "That's it." "All right." "D... drop right out." "That's it." "That's it." "It's a miracle." "Dumb luck, if you ask me." "The bird's on its way, and set for a tailspin." "A very delicate job, if I may say." "Very well." "Thank you." "Good night." "Mitchell Bruck is my Executive Officer." "He's hardworking, smart as they come." "But for some time now I've had circumstantial evidence he was attempting to undermine my position." "To get the committee to, retire me early." "I think he realized I was on to his game plan." "It's politics." "Facts of life, Mr. Hawke." "Bruck knows his days are numbered at the Firm." "If he can deliver Airwolf, it would be worth at least an Undersecretary position in any of a dozen intelligence agencies." "So, he sabotages Dom's helicopter and drops him in the Sonora Desert and waits for me and Airwolf to arrive?" "Dom's the bait." "There's no doubt about that." "And any air search will most likely be held up or minimal, at best." "Bruck's worked before with a Colonel Arias in the Mexican Air Force." "And he controls the area where Santini went down." "Where are you going?" "After Dom." "Not in Airwolf." "Then why'd you tell me all this?" "Sooner or later, the information would've reached you." "And I don't want Bruck getting his Machiavellian hands on Airwolf." "Then fly with me and make sure he doesn't." "You serious?" "You are." "All right, you got yourself a copilot." "Engineer." "Mr. Hawke." "No." "She is a top pilot." "So was Gabrielle." "I'm not Gabrielle." "The man said no." "The answer is no." "Our concession to propriety, 2 search planes." "4 hours since Dominic Santini sent out his mayday." "I sincerely hope, Colonel Arias, that your efforts at rescue will not be considered too little, too late." "Mitchell, how can 2 search planes be not enough, if they are the only planes I have in working condition?" "You have a point, Colonel." "The device was set." "It went off." "I presume your men are waiting and ready for this Mr. Hawke?" "Readiness is only an accomplished fact when the need for it is over." "Hawke is not the kind of man one can ever truly be ready for." "Although we're as close to that desired condition as can be hoped for." "Maybe it's just a ruse." "Trying to get away without our hassling him." "Not his style." "He'll be here." "I'm not so sure." "I am." "My God!" "That seems to be everyone's reaction." "Mind the store." "Hang on." "Do you have to fly this low?" "Better that than radar." "Hawke, you made your point." "I'd like to get there in one piece." "Besides, if I'm reading this right, we'll be out of fuel before we reach the border." "Not if that tanker you ordered is where it's supposed to be." "It'll be there." "You know, if you can order tankers in support..." "Why don't I throw all the Firm's resources into the game and swarm in there with a platoon of agents?" "'Cause the committee would realize" "I let the situation develop too far." "Maybe Bruck won't replace me, but someone would." "Politics." "Hey!" "I didn't even know you were gone." "Yep." "Here, you pull this." "Oh, yeah." "Thanks a lot." "What'd I tell you?" "The idea of hopping all the way down there..." "Choppers!" "Oh, yeah." "Hey!" "Over here!" "Here!" "Bravo, this is Alpha." "Lock and load." "Roger, Alpha." "Lock and load." "Hey!" "Hey!" "Over..." "Hey, hey." "Kid, I got a funny feeling." "What kind of feeling?" "That kind." "Mr. Santini, you are our prisoner, but we do not want you or the passenger you have mysteriously acquired." "You are aware, I'm sure, what we do want." "You will stay within the perimeter outlined by my gunners." "If you do not, you will be fired on." "I have a marginal contact at 23 miles." "Azimuth line 140." "Grid 7." "Moving very fast." "Contact, 326 Northwest." "A pair in the air, one on the ground." " Choppers?" " Choppers." "And I'll lay 10-to-1 I killed myself getting the allocations to pay for them." "No bet." "Hang on." "Ground Control, this is Alpha chopper." "Oh, my God." "They hit the tail rotor." "I'm losing rotor control." "He should never have come after me." "Disengage rotor systems." "8-count on my mark for turbine ignition." "You're crazy!" "We can't..." "Mark, 8... 7... 6... 5..." "Hawke, there's 45,000 pounds of thrust in those turbines." "What'll happen to the tail rotor... 2... 1... ignition." "On first contact, he was approximately here." "Less than a minute later, he was here." "He bounced across a ridgeline, right into our lap." "Then why is he still not in your lap?" "Because he has more guts than sense." "Going to Mach 1 like that put him into critical fuel consumption." "And his tail rotor was hit by a rocket." "He can't have gotten very far." "We'll start searching at first light." "We could search for a week, and in country like this, we could miss him by 50 meters." "And while we search, he could return." "The ground forces would never be able to hold him." "No." "I chose the field." "I set the trap." "Now I have to wait." "When he comes back, I'll get him." "Comes back?" "But, Bruck, what if he does not come back?" "I mean, by now he knows it's a trap." "He also knows that I'm not wining and dining his friend out there." "And Santini's passenger, that was a wrinkle I didn't expect but it's one which I believe might help us." "If you couldn't take him today, what makes you think you can do it tomorrow?" "Because I didn't get a chance today to use the Leech." "Leech?" "Air-to-air missile, of the Sidewinder variety." "It's called the Leech because instead of exploding on impact, it attaches itself." "Santa Madre!" "After attachment, it fires a shaped head into the skin of the aircraft followed by auditory or visual disrupting agents." "Incredibly high-pitched sound, or gas, or both." "The gas is not lethal, with a 3-minute leeway before unconsciousness, giving Hawke enough time to decide between a crack-up and death or an emergency landing." "Where do you think this Hawke is now?" "Well, he'll need to repair the rotor." "There are salt and mining camps scattered all through this area." "I got to set it down." "You don't know what's down there." "I've got no choice." "It doesn't look deserted." "Where are all the people?" "Probably took off." "Well, wouldn't you if something like us dropped into your backyard?" "Probably think we're a UFO or something." "Or something." "That's just what we need." "Let's get that rotor off." "Good thing it was a little bomb, just enough to bring her down, but not enough damage to kill me." "Us." "I think I can patch her up..." "Ow!" "Dominic." "You can't fix what you can't see." "Yeah, you got a point there, kid." "A very definite point." "But I would like to leave these premises at the first opportunity." "Good luck." "These creeps, whoever they are, seriously want you to stay here, correct?" "Correct." "So, there's no way they're gonna let you just pack up and fly out." "You know what I mean?" "Yeah, I know what you mean." "Dominic?" "Do you think these guys are gonna kill us?" "What?" "Are you kidding?" "Nah." "Is this your folks?" "Mom died when I was like, 5." "Dad was off at sea." "A sailor." "He'd been gone ever since before I was born." "So, they put me in a foster home." "Last year, I started looking for him." "Running away." "This is the dress that I'm going to wear when I meet him." "He'll be coming off the ship, walking down the gangplank." "I'll be waiting for him at the dock." "He'll recognize me right away because I look a lot like my mom." "Hey, you know, it'll..." "Oh, yeah." "Dominic?" "Yeah, Phoebe?" "Why is all this happening?" "Well, it... it all has to do with a friend of mine named Hawke a... and that helicopter you saw." "Y... you got a few minutes for a story?" "Well, I..." "I knew this guy, Hawke's old man, you see, in World War II." "And... well, we were friends..." "We got company." "Do me a favor." "Next time that super-hearing of yours clues you in, don't say anything." "Just let me be surprised." "Yeah, if there is a next time." "Buenas noches." "Please, please stop." "Both of you." "Never speak Spanish to me again." "Your Spanish is horrible." "Yours is not as bad, but let us stick to English, since along with dollars it's the closest we have to anything in common." "Dollars?" "That's what the man said." "My name is Joachim Esteban Santos." "This is my sister, Miriam." "My compadres." "We are miners, we... gather salt out there in the flats." "Our funds are very low, to say the least." "And you are using our facilities." "You frightened our burros, our wives, and our children." "The few chickens that we have will probably never lay another egg, thanks to the arrival of that thing out there on our front street." "Well, Señorita, the next time I land here," "I'll try and be a little more gentle." "You think that you and your compadres might be able to help us repair that thing out there that's responsible for the destruction of your peace and the... the elimination of eggs from your sister's diet?" "You are too close to the truth to be truly funny, sir." "But I like your sense of humor." "We will help." "But first..." "Of course, dollars." "Dollars." "We could take all your gold, you know." "That's impossible." "Especially among 2 men that..." "share the same sense of humor." "We get very little intellectual stimulation up here in these hills." "But there is something else we could do for you, señor." "Possible, no?" "Si." "Es posibile." "How long till dawn?" "One hour and 18 minutes." "Not very much time." "Oh, but now you've got us to help you." "Tell us what we can do for you." "Why do you live out here?" "Why do you live out here?" "Hey, why not?" "It is a nice enough place." "We got our work here." "Our wives to love." "Our children to laugh." "Do you have something like that?" "You are a lonely man." "Oh, it's... it's your business." "But my sister, she obviously thinks you are attractive." "We become friends?" "When we finish here, w... why don't you stay a while?" "You get right to the point, don't you?" "Hey, life is too short not to, my friend." "Did I embarrass you?" "No." "Your sister is very nice." "She's a pain in the burro, but she is my sister." "She is very nice, she is." "Who?" "What?" "His sister." "Yes, very nice." "Is that ready yet?" "Yeah, just about." "You know, we really appreciate your helping us." "I keep warm." "What?" "Trying to keep warm." "Oh, yes, I..." "I see." "I doubt it." "Well, then enlighten me." "W... why are you helping us?" "Well..." "Probably out of the goodness of his heart." "Hey, don't forget the gold." "Yeah, don't forget the gold." "He flies, but what do you do?" "I pay... and pray." "He does have a sense of humor after all." "So much for engine repairs." "How's it look?" "I bought it." "And I'd like to know whether it's fixed or... it's fixed, it's fixed." "I think." "We're gonna have to start it, first shot, though." "Those guys out there are going to turn us into Swiss cheese." "No "us," kid." "It's me that's taking this bird up if Hawke comes back." "Nothing's gonna get riddled if you just do what I said." "This is Bruck." "You got anything?" "Nothing, Mr. Bruck." "Okay, Richards, keep your eyes open." "Yes, sir." "He'll come." "We're leaving a hell of a dust cloud." "They've got radar." "Means we got to stay low." "What about the little girl we saw?" "I figure her only chance is with us anyway." "He's coming in with everything he's got!" "Now, kid!" "Now!" "Behind us." "They're coming the other way." "Yee-haw!" "He's up." "Dom's got her up." "Yeah, looks like we got other company, too." "Missiles on their way." "Tracking." "Heat-seeking missiles." "4, no, 6." "Disperse deflector-pod 6." "We got hit, we're going down." "2 hits." "Purge the cockpit, go on internal oxygen." "It won't purge." "You okay?" "Yeah." "Think you can fly that wreck to the nearest field?" "You want to race?" "Only if you give me a head start." "Done." "Hey, Dom." "Isn't she a little young for you?" "It's him!" "Yeah?" "Phoebe?" "Phoebe?" "What's wrong?" "I'm scared." "Scared?" "Of what?" "Of him." "What if he doesn't like me?" "I liked you, didn't I?" "Not at first." "Oh, sure I did." "I was just shook up a little, that's all." "Sure." "Sure." "Look, I want to tell you something." "I'll bet that he's more afraid of meeting you than you are of meeting him." "Why would he be afraid of meeting me?" "The same reason you have, he doesn't know if you're gonna like him." "Thanks, Dominic." ""Thanks, Dominic"?" "Does she know what it cost the Firm to track him down?" "No, but I've got a feeling I'm going to find out." "You're damn right you are." "Laura?" "Well, we started with a computer search of all Merchant Marine records over the past 15 years." "Computer time alone was over $50,000..."