A/N: Well here it is the long anticipated sequel to Hamau Pohaku.
I'm bringing back the cast of characters and the team dynamic that I love. Doris will pop in and out and so will Lori Weston (sorry to those of you who don't like either character). Daniel McMahon is DEAD, but his spirit lives on in Gladys and Danny's Nightmares…
As always I own nothing, the characters of the property of CBS.
Chapter 1: Prologue
"We, the jury, find the accused guilty!"
The words were like music to Danny's ears – but it was short lived. It had taken months to mount the case against Gladys McMahon. To have the insane woman - twin sister to Daniel McMahon - finally charged, to the highest degree, was like the weight of a million cases lifted off Danny's shoulders.
She was now officially guilty and as Danny sat in the courtroom in uniform - flanked on both sides by his friends also in uniform - a chill of foreboding ran down his spine and made all the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Not quite the feelings he'd been anticipating when the verdict was read.
In the same room, shackled but professionally dressed, sat the woman in question. As the verdict was read a smirk of amusement crossed her face, and in that moment it was plain to see that she was indeed a twin to the now deceased psychopath. Danny saw it, but he was sure that he was the only one. He must have tensed up because the Navy SEAL to his right turned and stared at him.
"What is it Danny?" Steve asked as their eyes met and then his gaze was pulled toward the woman at the front of the courtroom who had started to wail and cause a scene.
"It's all for show," Danny whispered harshly as Gladys was lead out of the courtroom. "Something is about to go very wrong, very fast."
"Don't be silly. She's going back to the mainland to serve out her life behind the bars of a max security women's facility." Steve stated with a wave of his hand.
"That didn't hold her brother." Danny said under his breath.
"Finally you will be free of all the McMahon horror." Steve stated as he reach out to shake hands with the lawyer who had fought the case on the side of Five-O.
"I won't be free, not until they are all dead, and even then they have messed with my mind. Daniel McMahon lurks in the darkness - every darkness I come into contact with - but he's been dead for months. I've been in therapy even longer."
"This is another step toward healing," Kono said as she wrapped her arms around Danny's neck. "We all need time to heal after what happened to you, but for now we're safe and the odds are in our favour. We are safe, and sound, and together right now. That's what matters the most."
Danny tried to smile as Lori Weston - who'd returned to the island just for the trial - also reached out to hug him.
"I'm glad you came, Lori."
"Like I was going to miss this?" Lori stated and pecked Danny on the cheek. "It's my closure too, Danny. I know this case and that family scared me half to death - I can only imagine what they have done to you. I needed to be here for you and for my own peace of mind."
"Well I hope you get to stay for a while." Danny smirked but there was weariness in those baby blue eyes.
"Just long enough to celebrate this win!" Lori stated energetically.
"And cause a ruckus I hope!" Kono said playfully.
"A ruckus and maybe even some shenanigans," Lori played along.
"All right, keep it together and be professional people. You two, we're not even out of the courthouse yet," Steve scolded but there wasn't anything serious in it.
"You're not the boss of me - anymore," Lori stated with a laugh.
Steve rolled his eyes but there was a genuine smile that crossed his face.
"So what, take five, change out of these terrible uniforms and meet back at the shrimp truck in an hour?" Lori asked as she rubbed her hands together excitedly. "I only have a few more days. I gotta get my Aloha fix!"
"I could go for lunch," Chin said with a nod.
"Then I guess it's settled." Steve said with a shrug as he glanced toward his brooding partner. "Let's get outta here."
Danny nodded, snapped himself out of his thoughts and forced a smile.
"Don't look so excited, Danny. I can't take it!" Lori teased and passed out of the courtroom.
5-0
Outside the courthouse the Five-Os watched solemnly - one hand already on their weapons - as the court security and HPD handlers escorted Gladys McMahon from the holding cell in the court house into the armoured vehicle. She would be moved to Halawa where she would be held in solitary - with an armed guard - until it was time to transport her to the mainland. The exchange would take place in a little over two days, and that would be the last Hawaii would see of Gladys McMahon and her reign of terror.
"With our luck she'll be out by lunch time." Danny stated as the heave steel door on the back of the armoured vehicle clanged shut and was bolted with two armed HPD SWAT officers inside.
"Lord, Danny! Don't jinx us!" Kono stated, playfully punching him in the arm as the armoured vehicle drove away with a convoy of about a dozen cruisers. She then practically skipped toward her car - followed by Lori because she was staying with Kono for this visit.
Danny was darkly silence as he fell into the passenger side of his car.
"You okay?" Steve asked before he put the key in the ignition.
"Don't you feel it?" Danny asked as he turned to look at his partner. "There is a storm coming. Something isn't right and it all has to do with that girl and a ghost."
"I can call and have security doubled on her until she's off the Island. Would that make you feel better?" Steve asked sympathetically.
"It won't help," Danny said with a sigh and a shake of his head. "It's probably me just being paranoid."
"You have every right to feel that way." Steve said and pulled out of the parking lot. "I don't care what anyone says, what Daniel McMahon did to you - physically and emotionally – it changed you, Danny. Hell, it changed all of us. It split us up and it brought us together. It scared the crap out of me in ways that war never did. It's not something you just get over, but you can't let it run your life either."
"You sound like my Shrink!" Danny tried to tease his partner but there really wasn't any resolve in it.
"I see the same Shrink, remember," Steve said with a sigh, "and he thinks I have PTSD after what happened to you."
"I just think McMahon broke me." Danny said and sighed again as he stared out the window now. "I didn't need a doctor to tell me that and he's not doing a very good job trying to put the pieces back together. Maybe I can move forward now that Gladys is going, but there will always be that broken piece with jagged edges that will poke at my emotional state."
"That is ever so poetic of you," Steve couldn't help but laugh.
Danny shook his head.
"You want to go out with the gang for lunch, or would you rather go home?" Steve asked after a long silence.
"I can't let McMahon run my life," Danny stated and this time there was resolve. "I want to go out for lunch."
"All right," Steve said with a nod and steered the Camaro toward the shrimp truck.
5-0
Three days later, somewhere between the airport and the maximum security women's correctional facility in Colorado, Gladys McMahon escaped leaving three men dead, and two severely mutilated. She went to great lengths to make sure that her first victims resembled those of her brothers, and then disappeared without a trace. She was sending a message.
5-0
Detective Danny Williams was woken from his nightmares by the sound of his ringing cell phone. It was Steve with the news that started the storm.
