Thank you so much for your fantastic feedback, for all the reviews, favorites and alerts - you are the best!
Still chuckling good-humoredly, Steve watched how Danny slowly walked downstairs until he had reached the second light switch at the foot of the staircase. Different from the first one the lamp downstairs went on immediately and bathed the cellar in a faint orange color. Even from his place at the top of the staircase Steve could clearly see the myriads of dust particles that danced in the dim light and he unconsciously rubbed his nose that started to tickle when he just thought about all the dust in the air.
Thinking back to the conversation with his partner, Steve grinned slightly; he was pretty sure that Danny wasn't afraid of the dark or of a little bit of dirt, but it was just so much fun to tease him about it. Danny was the last one who hesitated to get his hands dirty if a case demanded it. Steve had seen his partner digging through tons of dirt to rescue a busload of children or jumping into a muddy pit to get to a kidnapped little girl but he also knew how much the Jersey cop cherished his neat and clean attire. So it was just double fun to make him search the dusty cellar and Steve congratulated himself for his fantastic idea.
"Are you going to stand there forever and stare down at me, Steven, or will you finally get your ass in gear and start searching your part of the building?" Danny's voice sounded muffled from downstairs, even if the man himself was nowhere to be seen. "Or maybe you're afraid, all alone in that huge house?" he added sarcastically, causing Steve to snort in amusement before he finally turned around and left the kitchen.
Heaving a little sigh, Steve slowly looked around and tried to decide where to start his search. To be honest, he was just as certain as Danny that they wouldn't find anything of importance but he refused to give up that early.
Slightly shaking his head he set off for the bedroom and the small bathroom at the other end of the building, planning to work his way back to the kitchen and the adjacent living room. He estimated that Danny would be done with the cellar at about the same time he had finished the first floor so they could move on together to search the messy backyard and the little tool shed.
Quickening his steps he crossed the small distance between the kitchen and the bedroom; totally oblivious to the shadowy figure that silently followed him through the dim corridor, Steve pressed down the handle and tried to open the door, but he didn't manage more than a few inches before it got stuck with a loud creak. Raising his eyebrows Steve tried his luck a few more times before a feral little smile crept across his lips. He quickly took a step backwards and then rammed his right shoulder forcefully against the wayward door.
Half falling and half stumbling into the bedroom when the door finally gave in surprisingly easily, Steve immediately shrank back when he took in the horrible stench, a mixture of rotten food, feces and some other stuff he wasn't able to identify. Contorting his face in disgust, he raised his right arm and covered his mouth and nose in the hope of keep off the terrible smell but it was to no avail.
The pungent smell brought tears to his eyes and he coughed reflexively; hastily turning around he bent forward and stuck his head out of the door and into the corridor to take a deep breath of fresh air. At this moment he would have gladly switched places with Danny, convinced that whatever the other man encountered in the dusty cellar, it certainly couldn't be worse than this.
Preparing himself, Steve took another deep breath and stepped carefully further into the room. He had barely reached the small window to let in a bit of fresh air when a fast movement to his left caught his attention and he turned his head just in time to watch a large rat disappearing under the bed.
Steve wasn't able to suppress a small shiver at the sight of the gray-brown rodent; rats were definitely not his favorite kind of animal and he would give everything he had if he never again came in contact with one of them.
Trying to ignore the rat as well as the horrible stench, McGarrett looked around for anything useful, for any hint that might indicate where the two Miller Brothers had disappeared to or where they had hidden the stolen diamonds. Steve pulled two black disposable gloves out of his pocket and slowly slipped them on, starting to meticulously search the whole room. The gray-brown rat curiously watched his every movement from its place under the bed while it hectically nibbled at a large piece of moldy bread.
For the next fifteen minutes Steve looked into every corner of the messy bedroom, opened every drawer and even rummaged through the garbage that covered the floor; he was so immersed in his task that he didn't see the large shadow in the corridor that repeatedly passed the open door. He also failed to notice that the rat had suddenly dropped its meal and had quickly retreated to the far end of the room where it hastily disappeared through a small open slit in the wall.
He just looked up when the door behind him suddenly started to move with a faint creak and then snapped shut with an ominous click.
Disgustedly wiping the dusty cobwebs from his face, Danny walked proudly down the stairs and tried to ignore Steve's low chuckle that followed him all the way downstairs and into the dirty cellar. The second light switch at the foot of the staircase fortunately worked without problems and as soon as Danny had switched it on, a lonely light bulb in the middle of the room flared to life.
Quickly disappearing out of Steve's line of sight, Danny once more scrubbed his hand over his face to get rid of the last sticky threads of the spider's web he had stepped into on his way downstairs. They were still clinging to his hair and now to his fingers and he stared down at his hands for a long moment before he breathed out a defeated sigh and wiped them on his dark blue dress pants.
He listened carefully to any sound from upstairs but when he didn't hear his partner leaving, Danny sighed once more before he called out loudly, "Are you going to stand there forever and stare down at me, Steven, or will you finally get your ass in gear and start searching your part of the building?" He just knew that Steve was still standing at the top of the stairs, probably congratulating himself for his 'great' plan of sending the stupid city slicker into the dark, scary cellar. Grinning smugly to himself, Danny couldn't help but add sarcastically, "Or maybe you're afraid, all alone in that huge house?"
Now it was Danny's turn to congratulate himself because soon after he had finished his sentence he heard a faint snort and then Steve's fading footsteps. He waited another short moment until he was sure that his partner had really gone to work; then he slipped on a pair of disposable gloves and slowly turned around his own axis.
Slightly shrugging his shoulders Danny decided that it really didn't matter where he started, so he just picked one of the many shelves that were stuffed with tools, empty jam jars, old tattered books and lots of other useless things and set himself to work. He meticulously looked into every single one of the jam jars, lifted every book and opened every closed box, but just as he had already guessed he found nothing new about the Miller Brothers.
The light bulb above his head suddenly flickered tiredly a few times, causing Danny to give it a brief scowl but after a few seconds the lamp seemed to have calmed down. The Jersey cop threw another scrutinizing look at it before he resumed his work and rummaged the remaining shelves.
Danny was just on his way to the old wardrobe that stood in one corner of the cellar when he heard a faint creak, obviously coming from the kitchen upstairs. He hesitated briefly and looked back over his shoulder but the noise didn't recur so he blindly continued his way to the wardrobe, where he stepped directly into another spider's web; this time with its eight-legged owner still sitting in the middle of it.
Cursing loudly he angrily wiped his face for the second time that day, unintentionally brushing away the small black-brown spider. Apparently being offended by the rough treatment and the destruction of its masterpiece, the small animal rappelled from Danny's shoulder and slowly disappeared between two empty cardboard boxes.
The faint creak Danny had heard only moments ago repeated itself a little bit louder and this time it seemed to come from the other end of the room. Stopping dead in his tracks, Danny reflexively held his breath and tensed his muscles when he felt more than he saw a sudden movement behind his back. Without another second of hesitation he quickly whirled around while his right hand dropped down to his weapon. He almost expected to see his crazy SEAL partner standing right in front of him, bursting out in laughter about the fact that he had been able to sneak up on him.
His eyes quickly skimmed through the room and Danny finally breathed out a small sigh of relief when he found and heard nothing suspicious; he loosened the grip around the butt of his weapon, convinced that his mind had played a trick on him. He almost laughed out loud when he thought about his exaggerated reaction; there was really nothing to worry about – except maybe the shadowy figure that slowly disappeared back into the darkness, soundlessly and completely hidden from Danny's view.
"Very funny, Danno, really very funny," Steve murmured quietly to himself while he stared at the closed door for a long moment, thinking about his next actions. He had whirled around after the door had snapped shut behind his back and had quickly come to the conclusion that his partner was probably trying to play tricks on him.
"Better be prepared for the payback," McGarrett smirked, a smug little smile slowly creeping across his face; Danny was certainly not the only one who had a few surprises up his sleeve.
Soundlessly tiptoeing to the door Steve placed his right hand on the handle and took a deep calming breath before he swiftly pressed down the handle and tore open the door, hoping to catch the other man red-handed.
Well, at least that was his plan.
But once more the wayward wooden door stubbornly remained shut, this time not even opening a few inches.
Angrily gritting his teeth, Steve pushed down the door handle a few times – very similar to Danny's action earlier that day when he had tried to get the light switch to work – but just like before absolutely nothing happened. Almost expecting to hear his partner breaking out in laughter at the other side of the door, Steve reluctantly removed his hand from the door handle and slightly cocked his head, listening carefully to any indication that Danny was waiting outside.
Raising his eyebrows when he heard not a single sound, he tried the door handle one more time and to his utter surprise the door opened smoothly with a faint little creak as if nothing had happened.
"That was really funny, Danno," Steve repeated a little louder as he stepped out of the bedroom and looked out for his partner, furrowing his brow in confusion when he found the corridor completely deserted. For the blink of an eye he thought that he had seen a shadow where the corridor opened into the kitchen but when he narrowed his eyes and took a closer look there was nothing to be seen.
"Danny?" McGarrett called loud enough that his voice easily reached down to the cellar.
"What's up, Steven?" Danny's reply came almost immediately and judging from the muffled tone of his voice he really was still downstairs. "Don't tell me you're afraid and need me to hold your hand."
Grinning about his partner's sarcastic questions, Steve shouted back cheerfully, "Nah, I just wanted to make sure that you didn't wet your pants, all by yourself in that scary cellar." The strange behavior of the bedroom door or the shadowy movement from before were soon forgotten when Steve immersed himself in the familiar banter with his friend.
"Hilarious," Danny answered drily and Steve was almost able to hear how the other man rolled his eyes at his remark. "I'm almost done here; you better get a move on up there."
Not wasting his breath to come up with a fitting answer, Steve grinned good-humoredly and turned around to re-enter the bedroom before he moved along to the next room, planning to close the window he had opened a few minutes ago to reduce the terrible smell. He barely contained a frightened little squeak when the same large rat from before suddenly scurried in front of his feet and disappeared under the bed.
"Dumb little animal," he cursed angrily, trying to calm his throbbing heartbeat. He knew that his fear of rats was rather irrational but he just couldn't help his feelings. He clearly remembered that one time in the jungle when his SEAL team...
His dark thoughts were interrupted when once more the door snapped shut with a loud bang; at the same time Steve felt a cold breath of air behind him and he involuntarily rubbed the back of his neck when a small shiver ran down his spine.
The old holey curtains at both sides of the open window flapped slightly in the gentle breeze from outside and Steve was suddenly sure that he now knew the reason why the door had closed on its own. Almost laughing to himself he tried to ignore the large rat that was curiously watching him as he stepped forward, quickly closing the open window before he turned around to leave the room. On his way to the corridor he threw the gray-brown animal a last disgusted look which was answered with an indignant little squeak before the rat completely retreated into the shadows under the bed.
Leaving the messy bedroom behind, Steve closed the door behind him and crossed the dim corridor, heading toward the adjacent bathroom. He remembered from their last visit to the Miller house that the room was tiny, containing nothing more than a walk-in shower in one corner, a toilet and, hidden by the open door, a wash basin underneath a small wall cabinet. Assuming that he barely needed two minutes to search the room, Steve stepped into the bathroom and carefully looked around for anything unusual. There was no shower curtain and the only place where something could have been hidden was the small cabinet, so Steve swiftly closed the door behind him to have enough space to work.
Looking into the dirty cabinet, McGarrett let his gaze travel across the shelves, quickly adjusting his time estimate when he found them completely empty - two minutes were definitely far too long for this tiny room.
A slight flapping sound to his left suddenly caught his attention and when he turned his head he saw that the closed toilet lid moved rhythmically. Briefly staring at the lid in utter surprise, Steve involuntarily drew in a sharp breath of air when he realized what was probably causing the movement. He absolutely knew that he didn't want to take a closer look but his right hand moved almost on its own and before Steve knew what was happening he had lifted the lid.
Staring in horror at another gray-brown rat, smaller than the one in the bedroom, Steve was greeted with a cacophony of shrill squeaks. The mother rat threateningly rose to its hind legs, revealing a flock of tiny, naked baby rats.
Dropping the lid, Steve stumbled backwards until he bumped against the wash basin, unconsciously wiping his sweaty hands on his beige cargo pants. Grimacing in disgust, McGarrett wanted nothing more than to leave the room as fast as possible but when he placed his hand on the door handle he noticed a faint shadow in the gap under the door.
Furrowing his brow, Steve shoved the ugly rats to the back of his mind and listened closely to any sound from outside, but just like before he heard absolutely nothing. He just thought about calling out for his partner when he weakly heard Danny's voice from downstairs.
"Oh, this is funny Steven. Really very mature."
A little alarm clock started to shrill in Steve's head at the sound of Danny's words - something was definitely not right.
Placing his right hand on the butt of his weapon he quietly opened the door and cautiously peeked into the corridor. Finding it empty, he quickly glanced to the left and right before he stepped out of the bathroom and tiptoed toward the kitchen, trying to find out what had caused Danny's little comment a few moments ago.
The frown on Steve's forehead deepened when he reached the end of the corridor and glanced into the kitchen. The heavy old door that lead into the cellar was closed and McGarrett could faintly hear Danny's muffled voice from the other side, probably ranting and swearing about the situation he was in right now.
Steve had absolutely no idea who had shut the door and locked up his partner but he knew that something was terribly wrong when he suddenly heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps right behind him.
The lamp over Danny's head flickered for the umpteenth times in the last few minutes and he sighed in exasperation, throwing the dusty light bulb an angry look. He was almost through with searching the cellar and he just hoped that the light kept on working for another few minutes.
So far he had found nothing useful and he seriously doubted that he had more luck with the old cardboard moving boxes in the darkest corner of the cellar. The boxes were piled up in three wobbly stacks that looked like they would collapse if he just looked at them and sure enough, as soon as Danny carefully reached for the topmost box, the whole stack tumbled down with a loud rattling sound.
Having expected something like that Danny managed to jump out of reach just in time. Most of the boxes seemed to be empty but one or two of them obviously contained some heavy pots and pans and Danny was more than glad that the rusty old stuff didn't land on him.
Crouching down he quickly looked in each and every box to make sure they were really empty before he picked up the scattered crockery one after the other and threw them back into one of the boxes. Pensively twiddling with the last of the pans Danny held his breath when he suddenly felt a movement behind him.
Something cold brushed his hair and neck and Danny couldn't prevent the shiver that ran down his spine. His heart literally skipped a beat before it restarted with double speed, hammering painfully against his ribcage.
Tensing his muscles he tightly clutched the heavy pan he was still holding in his right hand, ready to whack whoever was trying to sneak up on him over the head with it. Taking a deep breath, Danny whirled around, not caring at all that he probably looked absolutely ridiculous with the threateningly raised frying pan.
"Danny?"
Steve's voice was not coming from behind him or from somewhere else in the cellar but Danny heard it muffled from upstairs. So whatever he had felt – or thought he had felt – a moment ago, his partner certainly had nothing to do with it.
"What's up, Steven?" Danny quickly yelled back, not wanting to give the other man the impression that something was wrong. He lowered the hand with the pan, slightly embarrassed about his reaction and more than glad that his team wasn't around to watch him. His heart was still beating much too strong and fast and his hands actually trembled a little bit from the sudden adrenalin rush. Trying to calm himself he took another deep breath and added with a smug little smile, "Don't tell me you're afraid and need me to hold your hand."
The grin on Danny's face grew bigger when Steve actually needed a long moment before he came up with a fitting reply. "Nah, I just wanted to make sure that you didn't wet your pants, all by yourself in that scary cellar." Steve's voice was much too gleeful for Danny's liking, causing him to roll his eyes about the comment.
"Hilarious," he answered drily as he tossed the useless pan in one of the empty cardboard boxes, turning around to watch the remaining two piles of boxes and estimating the time he needed to search them. "I'm almost done here; you better get a move on up there."
When there was no other witty remark from upstairs, Danny breathed out a little sigh and squared his shoulders, turning around toward the last few boxes. From the corner of his eyes he noticed a fast movement and without further warning the second pile of cardboard boxes suddenly started to collapse. Barely having the time to raise his arms over his head Danny tried to parry off the worst of the impact but nevertheless the onslaught of boxes brought him to his knees.
"What the hell…" Danny groaned out after the last box had finally tumbled down, shaking his head like a wet dog as he slowly struggled to his feet. He grimaced in pain when he stretched his aching back where the majority of the boxes had hit him but as far as he could tell there were no severe injuries and he would probably get away with a few bruises and a wounded pride.
Sneezing a few times when the blown up dust from the old boxes tickled his nose, Danny briefly fancied a nice cold beer, and right now he wouldn't even mind enjoying it somewhere outside under the blazing Hawaiian sun; anything was better than staying in that damn cellar just a minute longer.
But giving up was not an option, so Danny closed his eyes and silently counted to ten before he heaved a deep sigh and slightly shrugged his shoulders. He could almost see light at the end of the tunnel – or rather at the end of the cellar; there were only a handful of boxes left to search. Danny would be damned if he didn't bring his task to an end and most of all he wouldn't give Steve the satisfaction of seeing him fail.
Speaking of said partner, Danny raised his eyebrows and shook his head when he heard faint footsteps from upstairs, immediately assuming that Steve was trying to play a prank on him. Danny snorted in disbelief, a bright grin slowly creeping across his face; Steve's approach was suddenly not very SEAL-like and he rubbed his hands in gleeful anticipation when he thought about the moment in the future when that fact would come in handy.
The footsteps from above suddenly stopped and for the length of a heartbeat Danny heard absolutely nothing – then there was a dull bump and all the lights in the cellar went off.
"Oh, this is funny Steven. Really very mature," Danny called out as he cautiously stepped over the scattered boxes all around him. There was only a faint stream of light coming from the kitchen, barely illuminating the first few steps of the staircase and Danny cursed under his breath when he tripped over one of the items on the floor and almost fell to his knees.
He just stretched out his right hand and reached for the wooden banister when the heavy old cellar door slowly started to move and almost soundlessly clicked shut.
"Oh come on, you can't be serious," Danny huffed out in exasperation, staring wide-eyed into the pitch-black darkness, his right hand tightly clutching the banister. He waited a few seconds for Steve to reopen the door and stare down at him, laughing loudly at his partner, but for some reason that scenario never took place.
Frowning angrily when nothing happened, Danny gritted his teeth and started to search for the light switch at the foot of the staircase. He sighed in relief when he found the switch after only a few seconds but the happy feeling soon disappeared when the cellar remained dark, no matter how often he flipped the switch up and down.
"That figures!" Danny murmured under his breath, briefly banging his fist against the wall in utter frustration before he groped around for the banister and carefully climbed up the stairs until he finally reached the door to the kitchen. In his mind he already plotted his revenge, swearing to himself that Steve would pay for his little prank.
"I hate him, I hate him so much," Danny said into the darkness, not caring at all if Steve could hear him at the other side of the door. Stretching out his hand he easily found the door handle, but when he tried to press it down, the stupid thing didn't move one bit.
Angrily rattling the handle a few times Danny finally abandoned his attempts to open the door and pensively sucked at his lower lip as he thought about his next actions. He knew that he'd never hear the end of it if he called for help so that was definitely not an option.
Carefully turning around Danny sat down on one of the stairs, breathing out a relieved sigh when the muscles in his aching back slowly relaxed. He tiredly rubbed his hands over his face and almost laughed out loud when a sudden inspiration hit him; congratulating himself to his fabulous idea, Danny grinned brightly as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket to call Chin and Kono. He was sure that the cousins would gladly help him out of his awkward predicament.
Switching the small device on, Danny squinted in the sudden brightness when the screen flared to life. Blinking rapidly he scrolled through his contacts until he found his teammates; he was just about to press his thumb onto the display when he suddenly heard the sound of raspy breathing directly next to his left ear.
The noise literally froze the blood in his veins as Danny sat stock-still, his eyes wide open in shock and surprise. He noticed too late that the cell phone slipped from his numb fingers, its lights going off when it clattered down the stairs, leaving Danny once more in complete and utter darkness.
(tbc)
Next chapter tomorrow :-)