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When Darkness has Dominion

"Steve!"

No reply.

"Steven J. McGarrett, you answer me now!"

Once again nothing. Not a 'Chill, Danny' or a 'You're overreacting, Danny.' The silence was deafening. Well, the silence from his absent partner at least. There was still the persistent but subtle roar of distant waves and the lapping of surf at the nearby beach and the wind was picking up causing a whistling in the open corridor.

Nature, in general, was not a friend to Danny Williams. The increasing, vexatious breeze was whipping at his fastidiously groomed hair, his most prized object of vanity. The stifling humidity was causing sweat to bead on his forehead, or maybe it was the gut-level feeling of apprehension.

Now, as the waning daylight started to play with them, he didn't know if he could trust his own eyes. Dusk was the time of day he hated most. His brain had to make the transition from using the remnants of natural light from the deep sinking sun, to trusting the artificial illumination supplied from the tactical beam of his flashlight that was held as a support for the arm gripping his weapon. His frustration and anxiety weaving together began to feel like an inkling of desperation.

When had things gone south? ~~

The anonymous call had come in to the Five-0 headquarters less than an hour before. Lou, Chin, and Kono had already left at staggered intervals as they finished up their day. Danny had made it to the parking lot, and was about to get into his car, when Steve jogged out to stop him.

"Hey, Danny, wait up! We just got a call about a disturbance on the coastline. Let's go check it out."

"A disturb… a disturbance? You've got to be kidding me. HPD can handle that. What're you thinking?" Wedged between the open door and the car's interior, Danny leaned his elbow on the top of the car door looking at his partner like he had finally lost his last marble. "I'm ordering a 5150 for you tomorrow, babe." He started to climb into the car.

"Come on. It'll be fun. It's been somewhat quiet around the office lately and this call came in to us specifically." Except for lending cursory support to the Honolulu Police Department with their latest John Doe homicide investigation, it had been slower than normal lately. Since there were no other cases, Steve seemed to be brimming at the edge, looking for action.

"Look, Braveheart, I know this is your kind of thing, but I'm tired and there's a game on tonight. I just want to get home."

Steve turned and started walking away. "Alright, have a good evening. Enjoy the game."

He gave up way too quickly. "Where are you going?" Danny called after him.

"I'm going to go check it out myself."

"You're gonna… of course you're gonna check it out yourself." Danny let out a long sigh and dropped his head in resignation. "Would ya hold up?!"

A smile spread across Steve's face, unseen to Danny since he was facing away from him. He tried his best to wipe the evidence off his face before turning around but remnants of the grin remained.

Danny rolled his eyes and shook his head in an expression of annoyed indignation and stepped out from behind his car door and threw the key to Steve as he made his way to the other side.

"What is the matter with you?"

"What do you mean?" Steve played ignorant.

"You must have an abnormal gene defect or something. There's gotta be a scientific explanation for why your brain works the way it does. Maybe we can get Noelani to look into that."

"Noelani only works on cadavers."

"So, what's your point?"

"Cute, Danny."

"You didn't tell me. Where are we headed?"

"Kailua Beach."

"Okay… a little more than that would be nice."

"Some old abandoned motel. The caller said they heard screams."

"And this caller was anonymous? What's up with that?"

"I don't know. Maybe they were scared."

Danny pursed his lips and nodded. "Well, why would they call Five-0 and not the police? It doesn't make sense." Now that Danny was giving it more thought, a tingle went down his spine. Something seemed very wrong with this scenario.

"Let's just check it out and we'll make conclusions after we have more info." Steve was trying to appeal to Danny's ingrained sense of reason derived from his detective training and experience.

"Well I don't like it."

"Shocking."

Danny was very logical, but he also had a keen sense of intuition and his pessimistic side kicked in. He was the glass half empty kind of guy but he had great instincts when it came to crime solving. Steve would be the first to admit that. His partner was one of the elite in his field. But right now, Steve's interest was piqued, and after a boring week, he was ready for a little excitement. Maybe that's what Danny had meant. Maybe there was something wrong with him. Eh… no, he was perfectly normal. Danny must be the one with issues. Steve smiled to himself as he dismissed his musings because they had arrived at their destination.

They pulled up at the abandoned motel as the sun was setting. There was very little light left to the day. Danny reveled in the sight of this relic as it took him back to some of the beloved doo wop motor lodges he had stayed in during spring breaks at the beaches of Wildwood in Jersey. This small, dilapidated, two-story motel's best days were long gone. It probably had a good run for a while in prior decades since it was close to a good surfing area, but the centralization of tourism closer to Honolulu and Waikiki had surely been the catalyst in the death of this cute little place.

The place looked like it belonged on an antique postcard from the sixties. Danny fantasized the card would be faded, and in front of the motel would be a woodie, complete with a surfboard on top, an Edsel for the nuclear family, and the then-new-to-the-market Ford Mustang, red like Chin's, all prominently parked outside, appealing to each of the motel's target consumers.

The bygone days had definitely taken its toll. Even the street lights had been extinguished with time. Weeds had gradually grown up through the cracks in the concrete. The "lacy" looking railing made of decorative, perforated, concrete blocks along the walkways was breaking off in chunks and what was sure to have at one time been pristine white shutters draped along the sides of the individual windows were now rugged and chipped. Some were hanging, only a nail or two keeping them from falling. The dark teal paint of the wide vertical plank siding boards, though crackled and peeling, was still persevering and Danny imagined that inside the rooms, there was surely wooden paneling on the walls and high-pile shag carpeting.

"Wow, I don't think even Norman Bates would be found dead here." Danny's use of the chosen cliché may not have been the best decision due to the irony of the locale and the reason for the men being there.

"Who's Norman Bates?"

"Seriously?" Danny paused and looked at his partner as if he'd just asked who Babe Ruth was. "Another time, sweetheart. I've got a lot of work ahead of me… cultureless animal."

Steve was already opening his door, eager to check out the area.

Danny was eager as well, but to get this over with. Upon exiting the vehicle, he headed in the opposite direction of Steve, toward the trunk to get the tac vests. He had to call Steve back as he had already started to approach the motel.

"Hey! Forgetting something, Dory?" gesturing his hand toward the gear now exposed in the open trunk. He would not have to explain that pop culture reference as Steve was with them on movie night watching one of Charlie's favorites.

Steve looked from Danny to the motel, itching to get going, but threw his arms up in acquiescence and turned back toward the car. He let Danny have his way because another argument would just slow down the process. They both geared up as Danny verbally danced around his reticent feelings. "The place looks deserted. Doesn't look like anyone's been here in years. You think we've got the right address?"

"Yep. This is it. Let's go."

"Steve, how 'bout we call in for some backup. Something doesn't sit right with me."

"It's fine, Danny. We'll be each other's backup. Come on."

Removing their firearms from their holsters and keeping them at the ready, they approached the L-shaped building. Steve motioned his hand for Danny to take the north wing and he would take the east. Danny kept to the same side of the building that they had approached from, Steve traversed through the central breezeway to the interior, poolside courtyard area to check his wing.

That had been the last time Danny had seen his partner.

On the lower level, two of the former "rooms" didn't have an outside wall any longer and three were missing doors completely. Danny found it easy to quickly clear those and move on. He quietly and meticulously tried and found every room that had a door on the lower level locked. He would stop every now and then to just listen. He didn't know what he was listening for, but he would understand when he heard it.

Nothing.

He ventured as quietly as possible to the upper floor, but the rusted metal stairway was uncooperative in his objective. Nonetheless, the small noise didn't seem to have alerted anyone so he again methodically listened and then checked each door. This time he turned the knob on one of the doors and was not met with the same resistance as before. It fully turned indicating it was unlocked. He listened first and then slowly pushed on the doorknob he held in place after turning. He shined his light into the darkened room and entered.

The room was stuffy and had a foul, stale odor. There was no furniture and no wood paneling as he had imagined, but there was shag carpet, complete with large stains, of which, he was positive he did not want to know what the source was. There was also graffiti painted on the wall, but the place appeared to have not had inhabitants in quite a while. He gave up on that room and went back to the exterior walkway.

After two more locked doors, he turned the knob to another unlocked door. Again, he cautiously opened the door and immediately, the edge of his beam caught a mouse scurrying across the floor.

"Filthy creatures." He murmured disgustedly, snarling his nose. Grace and Charlie would consider the thing "cute". The amusing thought was a welcome temporary diversion.

The room was similar to the last open one, minus the graffiti, but was more aired out. However, sitting on the floor, there was also a partially burned column candle placed on a disposable soda cup lid, and beside that, a paper bag filled with trash from the same fast food joint. After checking and clearing the bathroom as well, he went back outside. He quickly checked the remaining doors on the upper level to find them locked.

This is a ridiculous waste of time. We must have been hoodwinked… some wisenheimer out for fun. I missed kickoff for this?

He made the decision to forego the other side of this wing and went to find his partner, certain he would have had the same outcome. He holstered his weapon but maintained use of his flashlight out of necessity and descended the steps at the other end of the walkway.

The courtyard side of the decrepit edifice was just a few steps from the stairs that had taken him to the breezeway that cut through the center of the two parts of the building. The natural light from the darkened orange sky was very limited. He didn't see or hear his partner so he tracked his light beam along each of the doors on Steve's wing. Sweat began to roll down his face but the stronger breeze on this ocean side of the motel cooled and dried it. Even though his body didn't feel cold, he felt an unanticipated shiver surge through him.

"Steve." He made the spontaneous choice to break the silence knowing that if someone were there it would surely alert them, if they weren't already aware of their presence. He spoke casually in his normal voice.

"Hey, Steve."

He began to climb the stairs on Steve's designated side to check upstairs. Steve must be inside one of those rooms up there. Or… maybe he's made it around to the other side already.

His lackadaisical state began to fade with the silence and something inside his gut made him pull out his gun again and raise it to the ready position. All of his senses were heightened. He had only ascended a few steps when he heard a thud. His body reacted instantly. The sudden noise in the quiet air made him quickly turn in that direction.

It had come from the opposite side of the part of the building he had just left, the side he had failed to clear, the one he had given up on. He turned and raced back in the direction from which he had come. ~~

~to be continued~

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