I am utterly grateful for all your reviews/fav/follows to my story.
This chapter has a character's death in it, but not one of the main four.
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It wasn't long before fire trucks and police cars converged on the scene of the blast. For their own protection, curious onlookers were advised to remain behind the cordoned off area as the fire raged on. Firemen were having a tough time containing the flames and until it was deemed safe to go in and sift through the rubbles for survivors, Duke and his men busied themselves gathering eyewitnesses' accounts. No one reported seeing anything or anyone unusual minutes before the explosion nor did they smell a potential gas leak. Firefighters nevertheless scoured the area with detectors.
Governor Denning arrived on the scene minutes after being notified of the explosion. He called on the Special Weapons and Tactics squad to investigate the cause of the blast.
"There are no reports of a gas leak," informed the SWAT team leader to Duke and Denning. "Safe to assume an explosive device was set off somewhere in the building."
"If that's the case, how could anyone have had access inside with the equipment without security knowing about it?" There are guards at their posts twenty-four-seven," Duke argued the conjecture.
"Hopefully we'll find survivors that can provide us with clues as to what happened."
"Do you think anyone could have survived that blast?" Duke asked with a distinct pessimism.
"If there are pockets of air underneath the debris, chances are good."
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Hours lingered on until late morning when firefighters deemed the remaining structure safe for rescue teams to begin rummaging for bodies and hopefully, survivors. Only plumes of dim smoke were seen billowing from the drenched rubbles as the men and women settle to their painstaking task.
"Hey! I've found one!" shouted one member of the rescue team. SWAT team leader and Duke strode over debris strewing the floor to go help remove the hindering concrete slabs, twisted metals and charred wood from the maimed body.
"Who is it?" Duke asked with a dreaded fear of the victim's identity.
"It's a woman," the man said, taking her pulse at the wrist as his colleagues finished clearing the spot when she laid. He shook his head dejectedly. "I'm sorry, she's dead."
The SWAT leader turned to Duke. "You know her?"
"Yeah, that's Lori Weston. She worked with Five-0. If she's here then chances are the rest of the team was with her. Come on, let's dig deeper," Duke pressed on.
"Found another one," cried a second member of the rescue team. "This one's alive."
Duke hurried over to identify the survivor. "It's Lieutenant Kelly. Quick! Let's get him out. Easy. Be careful not to jostle his head and neck."
They gingerly extricated Chin's mangled bloodied body from underneath the rubble and delicately set him down on a portable stretcher where two paramedics set to work on giving him oxygen, inserting an IV line and checking his vitals.
"How is he?" Duke asked worriedly.
"Respiration extremely shallow and the pulse is thready." One medic gently pressed against Chin's abdomen. "Distended abdomen. He has internal bleeding and a serious concussion on the side of the head."
"Will he make it?"
"Depends on other life-threatening injuries that he might have," the EMT said as he applied a piece of gauze against the head wound to stem the bleeding.
"We found another one!" shouted another rescue worker. "It's a woman."
"It's Kono. Is she alive?" Duke asked while helping remove the hindering debris off and around her twisted body lying at a crooked angle.
"I don't have a pulse." Albeit contraindicated to move a critically injured person, the medics however had no choice but to gently roll her onto her back for one of them to quickly apply CPR, while his teammate maintained manual in-line stabilization of the head and the neck.
Following a tense three minutes of manual cardiac resuscitation and shocks with the portable defibrillator, Kono's heart started beating. "We got her back. Barely. Quick, let's get her on that stretcher," he urged on.
They carefully pulled her out of her death trap and strove to keep her alive.
"McGarrett and Williams have to be under there somewhere."
The workers toiled away, working against the clock to find other survivors beneath the pile of smoldering rubble. Nearly ten minutes later, Steve and Danny were still nowhere to be found.
"Keep digging. They've got to be here somewhere," Duke egged on with a feeling of doom and gloom growing in the pit of his stomach.
"Chief Lukela!" a young member of the rescue team called as he strode his way up to Duke. "I've found this."
"It's McGarrett's phone. He's under there. He's got to be."
The governor stepped up to Duke. "Chief Lukela, I'm going to go with the medical examiner seeing how Agent Weston's was my responsibility. You call me when you find McGarrett and Williams."
"Sure will."
Denning made his way out to his car and settled in the back seat, He took a moment to steel himself before setting his eyes on the body bag containing Lori's corpse being wheeled out of the ruins and pushed in the back of the coroner's hearse.
"Let's follow that hearse," he instructed to his chauffeur.
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"All right, I've kept my end of the bargain. Now will you release my daughter?" cried the man over the phone.
"She will be returned to you once we are safely off the island," assured the grave voice on the other end.
"I want to speak to her."
"At the moment she's not with me."
"How do I know she's still alive?"
"Now why would I kill her?" it taunted with malicious undertones.
"You killed innocent people back there. Our deal was for you to access classified documents nothing more. I even gave you the combination of the safe so it would be easy and you wouldn't have had to sacrifice human lives."
"Let's just say I like to clean up after myself. Besides papers were not what I came here for."
"Then what?"
"None of your business. Now I advise you to ever forget we spoke or I'll make certain your name is involved with this and you'll be prosecuted. Understood?"
"Understood." The man resentfully agreed before hanging up with a trembling hand. He cursed his fate that dealt him a bad hand and feared that it would be a matter of time before police would put the pieces together and come knock on his door to arrest him. However he had no choice seeing how this man abducted and threatened to kill his innocent little daughter if he didn't comply with the demands.
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Later that day at HPD precinct, an officer walked over to Chief Lukela's office. He knocked on the door frame. "Chief?"
"Tannen, tell me you have something for me?" Duke asked from behind his desk. He was desperate for clues to find Steve and Danny.
"No luck with the surveillance cameras. They were all destroyed in the explosion as well as the recordings of the past three days."
"Damn," Duke cursed his bad luck.
"However we were able to speak to the watchman who survived." He handed him over a folder and waited for Duke to flip open the file before continuing, "He got a glimpse of one man who entered the building shortly after he was overcome by a pungent gas. Says he was dazed and near passing out, but he clearly saw the face before the guy wore his gas mask."
"Gas mask?"
"Apparently everyone in the building was rendered unconscious before the blast occurred, clearly to keep them from underfoot when they took whatever it is they needed. The forensic lab will soon have the results of the autopsies and hopefully we'll know what type of gas they used."
Duke gave the file a quick glance.
"We did a facial recognition with the artist sketch the guard gave us. His name is Jacquie Montez. He's the primary suspect in a string of murders of Navy officers."
"Navy officers?" Duke exclaimed.
"They were all jurors on his half-brother's murder trial. That's all the information we have so far."
"Look into that, will you? See if there's a possible connection with McGarrett and Williams for that matter. He's not Navy."
"I'm on it."
"By the way, did you by any chance get the checklist of all authorizations into the building for the past week?"
"I've asked the Palace security to look into it. They'll send me the scans once the list is complete."
"Good. I want to narrow down the suspects who might have rigged that bomb. In the meantime I'll get in touch with Joe White. Perhaps he can shed some light on this case.
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Late in the evening, Duke dropped by the hospital hoping to speak to either Chin or Kono about the tragedy. The final toll at the Palace stood at nine deaths with three survivors: Chin, Kono and a security guard. And of course, two unaccounted for.
Duke waited on tenterhooks at the nurses' station for a doctor to finally fill him in on his friends' conditions.
"Chief Lukela?" the doctor called out as he made his way to the station.
"Yeah, that's me."
"I'm Doctor Russell. I was the attending physician when Lieutenant Kelly and Officer Kalakaua were brought in." He held out his hand to shake Duke's.
"How are they?"
"Lieutenant Kelly suffered a laceration of the spleen but luckily we only had to perform a partial splenectomy. He has a concussion on the back of the head, but it's not too deep. He also has a broken collarbone and three fractured ribs. One came dangerously close to puncturing a lung but it could have been worse given what he survived. Also he inhaled what we believe was hydrochloric acid. His lungs are a concerned but the damage appears limited, probably due to a short exposure to the gas. Right now he's resting in a stable condition. We'll be monitoring his vitals throughout the night."
"And Officer Kalakaua?"
"Her condition is critical. She had a subarachnoid hemorrhage but she was admitted just in time for us to relieve the pressure before it did any serious damage to her brain. Right now we have her in a drug-induced coma to reduce the swelling and help with the healing. She also has a fractured arm and tibia and a few cracked ribs. And of course, her lungs are also a concern as a result of the same exposure to the acidic vapors. Fortunately there was no internal bleeding, other than the brain hemorrhage. I say it's a miracle both of them survived."
"Is Lieutenant Kelly awake? It's important that I talk to him."
"I would much prefer you wait a while. He's resting right now and I don't want -"
"Please, just for a few seconds. It's real important," Duke insisted.
The doctor pursed his lips and nodded reluctantly. "Okay. I will allow it for five minutes. I mean it Chief. Five minutes. No more," the doctor warned sternly.
"Got it."
The doctor led Duke down to Chin's dim-lit room. "Try not to tire him. Only ask the urgent questions. Nothing more."
"Understood Doctor." Duke padded up to Chin's bed. He swallowed hard at the ghastly sight staring back at him. Chin's head was swathed in bandages and his face was covered with sutured gashes covered with gauze. He placed his hands on the rail and leaned over the patient.
"Chin, Chin can you hear me? It's Duke."
"Duke?" Chin slurred hoarsely with eyes fluttering to open.
"Yeah. You're all right, son. You're safe."
"Whhhhhat happennnnnn?" he breathed out in a faint croaking voice barely above a whisper.
"There was an explosion at the Palace."
Chin frowned at the news. "Allllll I remember is - is feeeeeeeling sick then it - it all went – went black."
"Yeah. They used hydrochloric acid to knock everybody out."
Chin raised his eyebrows. "How - how -"
"Kono is okay. She got banged up pretty badly but the doctor says she's going to be fine," Duke flinched at the white lie but he didn't want to add anguish to Chin's delicate condition. "Lori however didn't make it."
"Stev - Steve and Danny?"
"Were they with you?"
Chin nodded weakly, "Yes."
"Are you sure?"
"Yesssss, I'm sure," Chin heaved out a bit annoyed by the question. "We were - we were discussing a casssse."
"We only found Steve's iPhone."
"They were with us," Chin insisted. His breathing was growing labored with a sheen of sweat beading on his forehead.
"I'm sorry. I must insist you leave now," the doctor advised.
"All right, Doctor."
"Duke," Chin drew in a last painful breath to utter the name. He then opened his eyes at a slit and gulped, "Find them."
"We will, Chin. Don't you worry. I have my men of the case. You just rest now and don't fret about nothing."
