"What?" Danny asked in shock. "Can you repeat that, sir?"
"McGarrett has, apparently, quit," Governor Denning duly repeated. "I found his resignation on my inbox when I checked my email this morning."
"Jesus," Danny hissed, beckoning for Chin and Kono, quickly and quietly letting them know what was going on before switching the phone to speaker. This was the last thing they needed right now. It had been a nightmare month for the 5-0 team, nightmare case after nightmare case and Danny was tired. He honestly didn't know whether he had the energy to save Steve from whatever half-cocked plan he'd concocted this time to catch Wo Fat. "Sir, you're on speaker with Lieutenant Kelly and Officer Kalakalua."
"Is an email the only contact you've had with Steve?" Chin asked in his usual, quiet manner. "You haven't spoken to him?"
"He hasn't returned any of my phone calls," the Governor replied. "So I'd like you three to try and track him down. Find out what's going on. Resigning is, of course, entirely his prerogative if he so wishes but doing it via email isn't exactly protocol so until I have a hard copy, delivered in person I will still consider him employed. Lieutenant Kelly, you rank makes you acting head of 5-0 in Commander McGarrett's absence."
"Yes sir," Chin said, having picked up on Denning's unstated request to find out whether there was something amiss with Steve's sudden resignation. "We'll let you know as soon as we have more information."
"See that you do," Denning said, ending the call.
"Jesus, why does he always do this?" Danny burst out as the trio gathered around the smart table. He seemed to have taken it as a given Steve had resigned to go after Wo Fat. Again.
"Jack was his father but he was my friend, too," Chin said. "Steve should know I want to help catch his killer."
"Steve's been alone for a really long time, remember," Kono pointed out. "I don't think he's used to having people in his life who will help him out. He's also terrified that someone else is going to get hurt or worse because of him. That being said we need to find him and bring him home so we can kick his ass for doing this to us again."
"His cell's switched on and at his home address," Chin said, typing a few things into the smart table.
"But of course he's not answering," Danny said, dialling his partner's number and getting the answer phone. "Yo McGarrett, call me!"
"He's not answering his home phone, either," Kono said, trying that number. "Steve, please let us know you're okay!"
"Well it doesn't look like he's home but let's head to his place anyway," Chin decided. "Maybe he's left something behind that will give us some sort of indication what he's thinking and where he's heading."
They headed for Danny's Camaro. The irony wasn't lost on the detective that practically the only time he ever got to drive his own car was when his partner went missing. "Has it occurred to anyone that Steve could be about to do something really stupid?" he said, bringing up something that had been in the back of his mind ever since he'd heard the Governor's announcement. "I mean Steve's pulled some pretty crazy stunts since he took this job. What the hell's he planning that he feels he needs to quit for?"
That sort didn't sit well with Chin or Kono and they wordlessly encouraged Danny to drive faster. Within 15 minutes the detective pulled the car into Steve's driveway. By now a potent combination of anger and worry was coursing through Danny which left him extremely frustrated. He would have loved to vent his feelings by kicking Steve's door in but he was smart enough to realise that having the Head of 5-0 missing was bad enough. They didn't need his house unsecured as well, which would surely attract a whole bunch of crazies.
Instead he used the key which he'd forced Steve to give him after the incident where Mary had been kidnapped and Steve tasered. He pushed open the door. "Yo, super SEAL?" he yelled, not really expecting any reply, especially when he saw the burglar alarm was still armed.
He didn't get one. He disabled the alarm and he, Chin and Kono spread out. "Hey guys!" Kono called a minute later.
"His truck's still in the garage and the Marquis is out the back," Chin said, coming to see what Kono had found.
It was Steve's 5-0 badge and service weapon. They'd been left lying in the middle of the kitchen table, accompanied by a note written in Steve's own hand which simply read: I'm sorry.
"He must have known we'd come looking for him," Kono said quietly.
"He's sorry!" Danny seethed, his anger now beginning to overpower his worry. "He's sorry! Well that's just great. That makes everything okay then, doesn't it! While he's busy being sorry what the hell are we supposed to do in the mean time? Just sit around waiting for news? I mean, he was tortured last time he did this! What's next?"
"We'll find him, Danny," Chin said soothingly, even though he was just was worried as Danny. "And when we do we'll bring him home and make it clear that he can't keep doing this."
"I mean he has to realise by now that he has people who care about him," Kono said.
Chin sighed. "I think he does but that doesn't mean much while Wo Fat's still out there. He feels like it's his responsibility and duty to catch him and won't be able to really focus on anything else until he does."
"I'll give him focus," Danny huffed indignantly. "Anyway, let's just check the rest of the house."
They did so but the only thing of note they found was that Steve's gun safe was wide open and completely empty. Usually that would be cause for concern but the note on the table seemed to indicate Steve had left on his own accord. "There's nothing left to see here," Chin finally decided. "Let's head back to the office and see if we can track his credit cards."
"Do you think we should see if Mary's heard from him?" Kono suggested.
"No," Chin finally decided. "Steve sent her to live in LA specifically so she wouldn't be involved in all the Wo Fat business. He would never willingly involve her in the plans he comes up with."
"And if we call her he'll just be pissed when we do get him back," Danny pointed out.
Back at the office they quickly discovered that there was absolutely nothing new they could tell the Governor. Steve hadn't used his credit cards in a couple of days and the only incoming and outgoing calls on his phone records were all to or from them, the Governor and Max. Unless Steve had another cell phone, which the searches they ran didn't seem to indicate he did, their friend and boss lived a very quiet, solitary life outside of work and there was absolutely no sign of where he might have gone.
All three of them were worried but none more so than Danny who was the only one of them who had any real idea how many weapons Steve had had in his safe. The thought of the highly trained SEAL running around somewhere, heavily armed and very dangerous with revenge on his mind, did not fill the detective with joy. Steve had an unfortunate knack for getting into trouble and seeing as he hadn't left any clues as to his whereabouts he wouldn't have anyone but himself to depend on to get him out of it.
Danny had a horrible feeling that something really bad was about to happen. Unfortunately the only thing he could do was pray that Steve knew what he was doing because Danny sure as hell didn't.