HIB by Maureen S. O'Brien Disclaimer: Airwolf belongs to Belisarius Productions and MCA/Universal. The X-Files belongs to Chris Carter and Ten-Thirteen. Everything else is mine, mine, mine. Nyeh. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "Look at this, Scully. It's a bonanza! A black helicopter sighting by a member of the Texas Department of Public Safety Traffic Division -- that's Texas for Highway Patrol. She's also a pilot. A trained observer, who gives all sorts of details and is an absolutely credible witness. This is great! We have to talk to her!" "Her?" "Officer Caitlin O'Shannessy. Granted, it's been almost 10 years, but she should still remember...." "Cait? Sure she'll remember. She went on and on about this big black helicopter that saved her life, and how nifty it was, and how good the pilot must have been, and so forth." Scully sighed. "A girl and her chopper." Mulder boggled briefly. "You know her, Scully? Didn't it occur to you that this sort of sighting is fairly unusual?" "I was in med school, Mulder. Nothing struck me as unusual unless it came with a toetag attached." "But she left the Department of Public Safety pretty soon afterwards. Silenced?" Scully raised her eyebrow. "Silenced? Cait? No, Mulder. She went to California to take back the remains of the man whose murder she'd been investigating. I never heard the whole story, but somehow she met a couple of stunt pilots and got a job offer. And that was it. The next thing you know, she quit the Department." "Liked flying better?" "Yes. And that was the strange thing. She loved her job. She was putting in her eight years till she could apply to become a Texas Ranger, and she had a pretty good chance at getting it. She used to harass me to come on out when I was done with school, since I wanted to go into pathology. But one day, she just said goodbye to it all, and I started getting calls from Van Nuys instead of Texas." "Starstruck, huh." Mulder rolled his eyes. "The lure of Hollywood...." "I think it was a different lure. The last time I saw her was at her wedding. She married one of the pilots, a man named Stringfellow Hawke." "At least I'm not the only one in the world whose parents had deficient naming skills." "They gave him some good genes, though. I swear, half of Cait's bridesmaids were drooling." "Which half were you in?" Scully blushed. "I?ll take the Fifth...." Mulder smirked. "So how did you meet Ms. O'Shanessy-Hawke?" "She was in my dorm. Me, Cait, and Cait's cousin Maggie Poole, who ended up joining the Navy. The Redheads With Guns." Scully looked embarrassed. "We were young. We were too conservative for Berkeley -- which didn't take much. And we didn't have steady boyfriends, because we weren't California blondes. Going to the firing range helped get rid of the frustrations." Mulder smirked again. "No wonder you're such a good shot." "Guns get rid of frustrations permanently," Scully warned him. "Ooh. Maybe I should ask Ms. O'Shanessey-Hawke where the corpses are buried." She smiled enigmatically. "You know what they say, Mulder. Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies...." He started to ask her to promise to move his. Then he stopped. He knew she wasn't serious. But he looked at that smile and decided not to take any chances. "Well, Scully, since you were too busy memorizing causes of death to investigate the finer points of paranormal aviation...." He turned on the slide projector and turned off the lights. Click. "First slide. This is an artist's rendering of a so-called 'black helicopter'. Note the absence of markings, a violation of FAA rules. Sightings are relatively common throughout the west and southwest, often in suburbs or near military bases." Click. "The helicopters often are accompanied by a blinding light or strange noises...." -------------------------------------------- "Hello. My name is Dana Scully. I'd like to speak to Caitlin Hawke...Sure, I can hold. Thanks, Le Van," she smiled. Mulder looked inquiring. Scully covered the mouthpiece with her hand. "Her nephew by marriage. He's half-Vietnamese." Her attention shifted back to the phone. "Hello, Cait? It's me, Dana...." SANTINI AIR VAN NUYS AIRPORT VAN NUYS, CALIFORNIA Cait smiled into the phone. "Dana! I was just thinking about you! There's this new hospital show we're working on -- I was getting aerial shots of the CareFlight flying over the city, and Hawke was flying the CareFlight helo. This poor guy had to lay down in there all day, pretending to be the accident victim. I kept thinking, shouldn't that guy have some blood splatted around him? And then I thought, Dana would know." "Dead people make you think of me?" Dana retorted. "Now that's good to hear." A male voice started singing next to the phone. "Why do stiffs suddenly appear Every time you are near? Just like me...." "Mulderrr!" "So, is that your partner I hear? You never did send me a picture of you two working or something." "Cait, he's my partner, not...." "Yeah. Uh huh. That's why you felt called upon to tell me he was cute." "I did not...." "Yes, you did." "No, I didn't. Cait, I...." Cait heard that voice again. "Squabbling with your little friends, Scully? Tsk, tsk." Dana's hand must have gone over the receiver. Just not well enough. "Do you mind, Mulder?" "Not at all. I could listen to your voice all day." Cait held in a laugh. She thought she liked this Mulder. "I'm flattered," Dana said dryly. "And you're leaving. Otherwise, I won't ask Cait about your black helicopter." Cait quit laughing. "Sorry about that, Cait. The reason I'm calling you on the Bureau's time is that my partner here is interested in hearing about that time you saw that big black helicopter." Cait breathed a sigh of relief. "In Polk County, you mean? With that polecat sheriff?" "That's the one." Dana sounded puzzled. "Well, pass your partner the phone and I'll tell him as much as I can remember." "Actually, we're coming out to California in a few days. Mulder could interview you in person, and I could see you for once...if you don't have any schedule conflict." Cait looked through her calendar, feeling a little better. "We're not too busy this week. Which day should we expect you?" ----------------------------------------------------- "Pretty nice spread. Is the stunt pilot business that lucrative?" "We also do aerial photography, helicopter and antique aircraft rental, and flight instruction," Hawke said. "But no. I inherited this place." ----------------------------------------------------- "They're hiding something, Scully." "Such as?" She glared at him. "Mulder, they've been very polite. They've let you interrogate Cait, poke around their place of business, and even invited you up to their home, which is something of a rare honor. Now, can you give me some kind of concrete evidence that something strange is going on? Or do you simply intend to harass my friend until she isn't my friend any longer?" ------------------------------------------------------ Scully couldn't help overhearing. Cait sounded tired and sad. "Why won't they let us alone, Hawke? Why do they keep lookin'? And Dana, of all people. She useta be such a happy person, and now she's just another spy." Scully froze. "I don't think so," Hawke answered slowly. "These two don't know what they're really after. You heard Agent Mulder. The UN? Abductions? Nothing real, and nothing to do with the firm or our missions." "I hope you're right." Cait sighed. "But I'll be glad when they're gone." -------------------------------------------- "They weren't talking about a company, Scully. They were talking about the FIRM. It's one of the more shadowy organizations funded by our government. I'm not sure if it's an agency or a defense contractor that provides intelligence instead of goods; I've heard evidence for both." --- this would be a good thing for the Gunmen to talk about instead. Maybe they did a story on it. --------------------------------------------
A picture from a kindred spirit. Do check out the rest of Nate the Bear's gallery.
