Title: Unravel

Author: Anna

Rating: Ehhh…K for themes probably.

Disclaimer: Not mine in this universe or any other (I've been on a Fringe kick as of late).

Summary: Kono has been taken by Wo Fat in exchange for Shelburne.

AN1: Ahhhh, readers, the final installment in the "Un" trilogy. This opening chapter is by far my favorite that I have ever written with the opening to Unseen as a close second. It will probably run 4-5 chapters depending on how it goes. I'd hoped to have it up sooner but the finale blew a hole in my plot and I had to re-plot for lack of a better term, but I think the story will end up better for it. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and please review on the way out.

Oh, and there will be plenty o' swearing in this one…you are warned.

Chapter One - Breakdown

So break me down if it makes you feel right
And hate me now if it keeps you all right
You can't break me down if it takes all your might
Cause I'm so much more than meets the eye
Breakdown, Seether

Waking slowly, she became aware of two things, her head was absolutely pounding and her wrists and ankles were bound to each other.

Tightly.

With zip ties that cut into her skin at the slightest movement.

Blinking several times to clear her fuzzy vision Kono saw she was locked in a small room, minimal light coming through the cracks in the door around the frame. Her head felt muddled and lifting her arms took effort - she had been drugged, obviously to keep her out until they got to wherever the hell they were.

Concentrating as best she could, Kono took in the area around her. Small room, concrete walls and floor that she was sitting on and propped up against, respectively, with one door directly in front of her and one boarded up window too high for her to reach when standing. It was still night, she was pretty sure, since there was no light at all coming in around the plywood on the window.

"Fuck me," she hissed and tried to remember what exactly had happened.

Pleased that she could hear the music out on the lanai, Kono thought maybe she should change to the classic rock channel before Steve got home. She gauged the heat of the grill before nodding to herself and started to turn to the house, but an arm came around her neck, squeezing tightly.

Instinctively her hands came up and started scratching the arm, desperate for her attacker to let her go.

It wasn't long before her vision started to blur and Kono intensified her effort to escape, thrashing about violently.

She heard her attacker grunt when she gave him a half-hearted elbow to the rib and the next thing she knew he was swinging her head toward the doorframe. She felt shooting pain then everything went black.

Slowly she worked the zip ties around her ankles, they seemed to be looser and it hurt less to wiggle them, but stilled when she heard footsteps outside the door. Then it swung open and there was the imposing figure of Wo Fat was standing in the doorway, another larger man behind him.

"Ah, Officer, you are awake."

She remained silent and her abductor approached, shaking his head.

"Going to play that game, are we?" He asked and still she refused to talk even though every derogatory name she could think of was going through her head.

"Fine then," he said and pulled out a cell phone. "We are going to call your boyfriend and he's going to want to talk to you. I suggest you do so."

Kono stared at him angrily; she knew there was no use trying to deny her connection to Steve. The man had kidnapped her from his house. "Up yours."

"That's not very polite for such a lovely woman."

"What do you want?"

"I want Shelburne and your Commander is going to give them to me in exchange for your life."

She snorted. "No chance."

Fat took a quick step toward her, bending down and grasping her chin hard, forcing her to look him in the eyes. "McGarrett is well aware what I am capable of, Kono. And you will learn soon enough."

For a moment fear spiked through her, but Kono pushed it down; she could not give this man an inch. Steve rarely talked about North Korea but she knew that Wo Fat had killed Jenna Kaye in cold blood along with Steve's parents; she had little doubt about the cruelty he was capable of.

He stepped away and Kono spared a glance at the man standing behind Fat, he was over six feet, dark hair and eyes but a fair complexion, not a local for sure. The polo shirt he wore did little to contain his muscular arms.

And he was staring at her in a way that sent shivers up her spine.

Kono only returned her attention to Wo Fat when he uttered, "Commander" into the phone.

Steve didn't allow himself to wallow or panic, she didn't have time for that. He needed to take control of the situation, formulate a plan and get her back. Because not getting her back was simply not an option.

And if he started to think about it, really think about what was happening to her, Steve knew he would unravel right there. So instead he picked up his cell and made two calls he never thought he would have to, instructing the other Five-0 members to get to his house.

As he waited, Steve eyed the blood on the doorframe. He had to know. So he snagged the first aid kit kept under the kitchen sink and pulled out some gauze, taking a sample. Back in the kitchen he tossed the blood-soaked square into a zip lock and sat it on the counter. Now there was nothing to do but wait.

He took in the scene in front of him. She had been making dinner, probably dancing to that damn music, had gone out to start the grill and Wo Fat or one of his men had grabbed her off the lanai. The security system wouldn't have been on if she was home and her gun was…

Was where?

Steve moved to the other side of the kitchen and opened a drawer. Her 9 mm was there, where she always put it when they were home. The Kal Tec he had given her for graduation was upstairs in the nightstand.

Her cell was on the counter.

Her bag was in the entryway where it always was.

Her favorite board was propped up on the lanai next to his.

Her fucking car keys were hanging on the hook above the drawer with her gun. Next to his.

But she was not there. The most important piece was missing.

Steve felt his chest clench in pain at the thought that he may never see her alive again. That the last time he saw her was when she left the office that evening, waving to him through the glass windows of his office as he got ready for his meeting with the governor. She had been smiling and bouncy, moreso than usual; it had put a smile on his face. She did that to him, lightened his life, even Danny had commented how much more relaxed Steve had been the last couple months.

And the reason for that was gone. Just…gone. Taken by a man bent on revenge.

Just as he started to come apart a little at the seams the front door opened and he heard Danny yelling his name.

"Kitchen," he called back and resumed his SEAL persona, schooling his features into stone. He couldn't fall apart in front of them, they needed him to be strong, he was the leader and they would look to him.

"What's going on? You just said you needed me, at nine pm no less." Danny waved his arms around. "And then you used that blasted emergency word you insisted we have."

Steve remained silent, how was he supposed to say this? He wasn't sure he could.

Danny looked around curiously. "Where's Kono?"

"We need to wait for Chin," he pushed out.

Panic crossed the detective's face. "Steve, where the hell is Kono?"

"She's-" he started but was interrupted by Chin walking into the kitchen.

"What's up?"

Steve looked at the two men a moment before picking up the note and showing them. "When I got home Kono was gone and this note was next to her cell."

Chin blanched as much as his complexion would allow. "Wo Fat?" he asked, a tremor in his voice.

"No one else I can think of looking for Shelburne. He wants a trade. Kono for Shelburne."

"You sure?" Chin asked.

Steve picked up the zip lock bag. "There's blood on the lanai door frame. I'm going to have Charlie confirm it's hers, but it is. You know it is."

"Why isn't forensics here?" Danny asked.

"I haven't called them. We know who took her and knowing Fat he won't want HPD anywhere near this."

"Steve! There could be evidence here!" Danny exclaimed.

"We get HPD involved at all and we are risking her life, do you get that?" he practically shouted back at Danny. It was enough, though, to get the detective to back off.

"Ok, ok…" Danny said calmly. "I know you're stressed out man but let's not lose our cool. We'll find her."

Chin had been shockingly silent, his face blank. Steve took notice and guilt ate at him a little more. His baby cousin, the girl he had helped raise was kidnapped because of Steve. Anger flooded through him again, anger at himself, anger at Wo Fat, anger at everyone involved that it had come down to this. To the woman he loved being held hostage by a psychopath.

And finally he let it out, picking up the bottle of beer she had been drinking and tossing it across the room to shatter against the wall, leaving a trail of beer and broken glass that dripped to the floor.

It was then his phone rang, cutting through the silence in the room. Immediately Chin was on the phone with HPD, requesting a trace. Steve may not have wanted forensics there but there was no way in hell they weren't tracing the call.

Without picking it up, Steve answered, placing the call on speaker. "McGarrett," he said in a tone that was strong and no-nonsense.

Wo Fat's smooth, slick voice came through the speaker. "Commander. How nice to talk to you again."

Steve's voice cracked just a bit. "Can't say the same. Let's cut the bullshit, where is she?"

A clucking sound came through the phone. "Not so fast McGarrett, I'm offering a trade, Miss Kalakaua for Shelburne."

Steve bit his bottom lip and looked at the other men before speaking again. "How do I know she's alive?" It killed him to say it, because the alternative was too horrific to contemplate.

"Oh, she's alive, not very happy as you can imagine. But alive."

"Put her on the phone," he demanded.

Fat crouched in front of her and held out the phone, setting the speaker on.

She remained silent.

Anger flashed in the other man's eyes and he lashed out, slapping her hard across the cheek, the sound travelling through the phone to the men standing in Steve's kitchen. They all flinched, and the anger in Steve all but exploded, it took effort for him not to scream down the phone.

On the other end Kono tasted blood in her mouth from the split lip the slap had caused but otherwise didn't react, instead meeting Wo Fat's eyes directly, almost challenging him to try that again.

"This one is something else, McGarrett. Very feisty. Very pretty…"

Her captor held out one hand as if to touch her, and Kono pulled as far back as the concrete would allow.

Steve's voice came through the phone, the fury clear as day, "Lay one hand on her and the next time I see you I'll be putting you six feet under."

The phone was held in her face again. "Talk," Fat demanded and the other man – she had mentally named him Brutus – stepped forward, clearly ready to take action if she continued to be uncooperative.

"Kono…" Steve's voice was desperate, pleading.

"I'm ok," she finally said and Wo Fat pulled the phone away.

"You have forty eight hours, McGarrett. After that all you'll get is her body back. And not necessarily in one piece. Oh, one more thing…contact HPD and I'll start sending pieces."

Then he snapped the phone closed before turning and marching out of the room, Brutus directly behind him.

Kono sagged against the wall.

Steve ended the call and looked to Chin who was shaking his head. "They didn't get it, it was a satellite phone, signal was bouncing all over the place."

Any relief he felt at hearing her voice was overshadowed by the incredibly small time window they had been allotted. Looking down at the phone, Steve had to resist sending it to the same fate as the beer bottle, smashed to a million pieces on the wall.

Instead he tossed it to the counter and scrubbed his face, he knew what his next move had to be but wasn't sure how much Joe would be willing to give up. The man had staunchly protected Shelburne's identity to the point of trying to convince Steve it had been his dead father. The SEAL hadn't believed his former mentor for a minute.

"Now what?" Danny asked.

"Now we get Shelburne," Steve replied.

Danny cocked his head at Steve. "I thought Shelburne was dead."

"That's what Joe wanted me to believe."

"But you don't."

"Not even a little."

"Soooo…" Danny drew out.

"So I have to convince Joe to sell out whoever Shelburne is to save Kono's life."

Chin nodded his agreement and Steve picked up the damn phone again, this time calling the one man who could bring this to an end.

She was on the floor, as far from the door as she could get. Terrified and unsure what to do, how to handle this. Then the door opened again and she tried to curl into herself, make herself a smaller target. It didn't work.

A foot came into contact with her shins, then her arms which were protecting her face. The blows were violent, bone crushingly so, but as of yet, nothing had actually broken. Physically at least.

The assault stopped a moment and she thought he was leaving until his fingers wound through her hair, pulling her up to sitting. She let out a squeak of pain as he yanked.

"What am I gonna do with you?" he asked, his eyes darting around the room. As if there was something there she couldn't see. This was not the man she knew, Ano was so far gone Kono wasn't sure there was a shred of him left in the person before her, abusing her.

"I don't-" she started and he punched her with a closed fist right to the temple, which then sent her head slamming back to the wall and Kono saw stars.

"Please stop," she begged. "What do you want?"

"What do I want? I want a girlfriend who stays with me, not leaves at the slightest whim. I want someone who obeys me!"

It was completely nonsensical and in that moment of true fear and terror Kono realized she was probably going to die in that room. She was hours away from curfew and anyone realizing she was missing.

If she was lucky they might find her body.

Oh God, Chin…he would fall to pieces.

Chin.

Steve.

Kono startled awake, a strangled "Steve" on her lips. Her heart was pounding in her ears and there was sweat on her back despite the cool concrete she was still somehow propped against.

She didn't know when she had fallen asleep; it could have been minutes or hours ago. In the small, dark (familiar) room she had no sense of time.

While the circumstances were similar, Kono was no longer a terrified seventeen-year-old. She was a capable member of 5-0. But this was no kid hopped up on drugs she was up against, it was a violent, unforgiving man who had her at a distinct disadvantage: she had no idea her location or how many of them there were. And she was restrained.

Kono allowed the fear to finally take over and dropped her head into her forearms that were propped on bent knees. And then she cried.

tbc