Hawaii Five-0
"Ho`okipa"
By A. Rhea King
Chapter 1
Rain Forest
Pu'upe'ahinai'a Trail
Wind howled through the trees. Branches cracked and groaned. The rain had begun twenty minutes ago, a tease hiding a rare peek at Mother Nature's rage she was about to let loose on the fiftieth state.
Danny didn't realize he was alone until he looked back to yell at Steve that they needed to head back before things got worse.
And discovered no one was behind him.
Danny was alone in TAC gear, with two killers somewhere in the rain forest and a hurricane blowing in from the south. He stopped to check the GPS on his phone so he could head back to the trailhead – and discovered it was dead.
As he tried to turn the device on, Danny muttered threats at Steve for getting him lost in the rain forest with a hurricane headed for the islands. He finally gave into the belief that the rain had destroyed the phone, and shoved it back in his pocket. There was nothing to do but to keep moving.
He froze.
Did he hear voices to his left?
Danny moved slowly toward them. With a crack of lightning and thunder, the sky opened with renewed intensity. Hard, heavy raindrops stun his skin. Water poured down his face and into his eyes, blurring his vision. He could hear the wind screaming through the trees as it thrashed tree limbs and bushes against him like whips
"This is… Why do I listen to him?" Danny muttered. "We have to catch them, he says. Steve, a hurricane will make landfall in an hour. We'll have them in an hour, he says. I ask how? He says trust me. Look where that's gotten me? Lost. In the rain forest. Wet and…"
Danny gasped when pain shot through his back, up and down his side. The pain nearly immobilizing him. He turned, seeing a man in the rain. He willed himself to lift his rifle and found the movement made each breath even more painful. The man charged. Danny fired at him but missed.
The man tackled him to the ground. The pain seared across Danny's back and side. He grabbed for the pain, finding a handle. Danny yanked the knife from his back and went after the man with it. The two wrestled in the mud and rain and wind. Somewhere in the midst of it, Danny lost his FLAC vest and sidearm. The man suddenly rolled off into the foliage.
Danny staggered back onto his feet and tried to run in the opposite direction. He ducked when something whistled past his head and spun around. The man was aiming his own sidearm at Danny.
Danny got one shot off with the rifle and then it jammed. He muttered curses, trying to free it.
He gasped when a burning sensation tore through his chest. He came to a standstill and looked down. The rain wicked blood from the gunshot wound down his shirt. Danny's head began to spin and he watched the jungle swirl into colors. He tried to walk. He lost his footing and fell, rolling down a hill. His roll stopped in tall grass next to a chain link fence.
Danny reached up, trying to pull himself up. His grip slipped and he sank back in the grass, staring up at the darkening sky overhead.
Shantytown
Pu'upe'ahinai'a Trail
"Hey," someone said. "Hey, wake up. Come on. Wake up."
Danny opened his eyes and found the pain in his back and chest were real. He had been shot and stabbed, rolled down a hill, and was lying in the rain forest as a hurricane charged across O'ahu.
His eyes found a movement and then a dark figure leaned over him. His heart skipped with fear – what if it was…
"Are you awake?" she asked.
It was female – not the man who had tried to kill him. Her face hid in the darkness of a gray hood. He felt a hand wrap around his upper arm with a gentle but firm grip.
"Roll under the fence," she ordered, giving his arm a light push toward the fence.
He looked at the fence. There was a small space underneath it, just high enough to roll underneath the fence. Danny rolled under, making his chest and back pain flare. The female climbed under and got to her feet. She grabbed his arm again, tugging up.
"You have to help me. I'm not Superman, here," the female urged him.
Danny let her help him to his feet. He leaned hard on them and used his rifle as a cane. The world was swirling around him. Each breath felt like his lungs were ripping apart.
"One foot in front of the other," she told him. "There you go."
He didn't feel like he was moving, but she didn't order him to move more. Then they were going in and out of buildings until they entered one. There was a blur of faces, campfires, assorted tents and shanty houses. The female led him into one shanty house and the world stopped moving. He realized he was staring at the ceiling of the house – no, that was too high. He was so confused and hurt too much to sort this out.
Danny closed his eyes…