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Chapter Two
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Three days ago….
"Another body has been found."
Steve didn't need to explain further. He knew Danny would know the meaning of his words. He watched as Danny leaned back in his chair, running a hand through his hair, before standing. They walked out of Five-0 headquarters together. Steve had called Chin, and he and Kono were already heading to the crime scene.
It was a long and quiet ride out to Yokohama Bay. This would be the fifth body found in five weeks. Five-0 took over the case from HPD after the third victim had been found. Each victim was between the ages of 25 and 35, alternating between genders; each found in the same gruesome fashion. This one, like the others, had been found alongside a remote trail in the middle of nowhere. The only thing different was the day.
The other four bodies had been found on a Monday. Today was Friday.
"I think this is it," Steve said as he pulled the Camaro off Farrington Highway and onto an unpaved access road. "HPD got an anonymous tip from some hikers this morning. According to them, the vic is a young female, between the ages of twenty-five and thirty. They were pretty spooked, but said that it didn't look like she had been there long."
Silence from the passenger-side of the car, but Steve saw Danny nod. Steve maneuvered the car carefully down the road, trying his best to avoid the large puddles and potholes that plagued its surface.
"How could anyone possibly enjoy hiking in this weather?" Danny asked, gesturing with his right hand to the forest just outside his window. "It's been raining for days. There can't be any decent trails around any more."
"Well, there are die-hards, Danny. People who hike in any weather."
"Like you, I suppose?" Danny asked, pointing over to Steve.
"You could say that," Steve responded. "However, I…"
Steve was distracted by the conversation, and without him realizing it, he had drifted too far to the right. The Camaro sunk slightly as it traveled over the soggy shoulder of the road. Eventually it rolled to a stop, wheels spinning. But without any traction, they were literally stuck in the mud.
"Great," Danny commented from next to him.
"Looks like we're walking from here."
Steve and Danny exited the Camaro and made their way the best they could up the path. The rain had finally abated, leaving behind a looming humidity and the smell of damp earth. The trail was practically nonexistent. The only feature that distinguished it from the forest around them was the lack of foliage directly beneath their feet.
They didn't make it far before Steve's cell rang. He pulled it out of his back pocket, glancing at the screen to see that it was Chin calling.
"Yeah Chin?"
"Steve, there's no body."
Steve stopped walking, putting a hand up to tell Danny he should hold up.
"What?"
"There's no body," Chin repeated, sounding slightly out of breath. "I went to the area where the hikers claim they found the victim. There's nothing there."
Steve sighed.
"Where are you now?"
"Farrington Highway."
"We're on our way."
Steve hung up, putting his phone back in his pocket.
"The body is gone," he reported to Danny as he turned around and headed back toward the Camaro.
"What do you mean, 'gone?'"
"I mean it's gone, Danny," Steve repeated. "Chin and Kono got here first. There's nothing there. We're meeting them back at the highway."
"Fantastic," Danny scoffed. "What about the Camaro?"
"We'll hitch a ride with Kono and come back for it later with a tow-truck."
Steve turned back to see Danny looking longingly over to his car, which was thoroughly entrenched in the mud. He smiled, putting a hand on Danny's shoulder.
"Sorry, man."
Danny waved him off and walked past him as they began their trek toward the highway.
Twenty minutes later, Steve saw Chin and Kono standing on the side of the road. Chin smiled and Kono waved as Steve and Danny took the final few steps, emerging from the forest edge and back onto the cement roadway.
"Finally!" Danny gasped. "Civilization!"
"Where's your car?" Kono asked, looking over Danny's shoulder as though she expected to see it driving itself behind them.
"Mario Andretti here got it stuck in the mud."
Steve rolled his eyes.
"What have you guys got?"
"Things felt off from the minute we got here. There's no body," Chin reported.
"We gathered that much," Danny remarked as he tried to scrape off several inches of mud from his shoes. "Where is it?"
"Don't look at me," Kono said, pouting. "Chin made me wait by the bike to flag you guys down."
"But, you weren't here when we arrived," Steve observed.
"After I saw there was no crime scene," Chin explained, "Kono and I drove around for a bit to see if there were any other trails leading off the highway to the area. There aren't. This is the only access point for miles. Yet there were no tire tracks. No footprints. Nothing to indicate hikers had been visiting this area today."
"Maybe they took one of the less accessible trails?" Steve offered.
"I thought so too," Chin continued. "But I called HPD. The hikers who called in the anonymous tip were quite clear that they entered this way. They even offered very specific coordinates. They also didn't leave a name or number, and when I had HPD trace the number, it ended up going to a burner."
"You think it was a prank?" Kono asked.
"Maybe," Steve answered. "Or someone moved the body. Either way, we should get back to HQ. Once we're there Kono, contact someone at Kaena Point Tracking Station. It's nearby. See if anyone has seen anything suspicious lately."
"Sure thing boss."
"Where is your car?" Danny asked, looking around them.
"I rode with Chin on his bike," she said, realization suddenly dawning all of them. Without a car, there was no way they would all be able to ride together back to the office. At least two of them would need to stay behind.
"Peachy," Danny started, throwing a menacing scowl over at Steve. "Not only do you get my car stuck, but you effectively strand us here in the middle of nowhere!"
"Relax. You and Chin can ride back to HQ on his bike. Kono and I will hike down to where the body was supposed to be. I'd like to take a look at the area, make sure there isn't anything we're missing."
"No way," Danny said, involuntarily taking a step back. "I am not getting on that speeding death trap."
Steve and Chin laughed.
"Would you rather stay here and take a look at the scene?"
"Yes," Danny answered, surprising Steve. Danny had never been one to volunteer to go into a jungle.
"And I'll take Kono with me," Danny added.
"I really should be the one to come with you," Steve insisted. "This topography is unique. I wouldn't want you getting lost."
"Topography? Oh, please," Danny dismissed with a wave of his hand, turning his back on his partner. "You coming, rookie?"
"Right behind you," Kono said with a smile. Before she turned to follow Danny, she showed Steve her phone. "I've got the coordinates right here, boss. We'll see you in a bit."
Steve didn't love the idea of leaving the two of them behind, but since Danny was already twenty yards back down the trail, he admitted to himself that he probably didn't have a choice. Hopping on the back of Chin's bike, he took one last look at his two teammates before the motorcycle roared to life and they took off down the highway.
"That was the last I saw of you for three days," Steve admits, looking back down at his hands, which are firmly clasped in his lap.
"Three days. When I came back in my truck, you and Kono were nowhere to be found. We looked everywhere. The trail. Your Camaro. The highway. Kaena Point. You were both just… gone. Neither of you were answering your phones. It was as if you had just vanished."
Danny stares at Steve for a few minutes after he's finished telling his version of events. It is a strange feeling to hear about something that happened only a few days ago, and yet he can't remember a single thing about it. Danny can see the expectant look in Steve's eyes when he finishes, obviously hoping he would be able to jump right in and continue the story.
But Danny only shakes his head, and Steve's frown grows more pronounced.
"I should have stayed behind," Steve adds softly. "You had no business going into that jungle with Kono. It should have been me."
"Don't… don't do that," Danny scolds. "From where I am sitting, that wouldn't have changed anything. You'd be here and Kono would still be missing."
Steve doesn't look up and Danny sighs, sinking back into the pillows on his bed. He considers Steve's story, trying to recall any of the details of the past few days. He's exhausted and his head hurts, and neither of those things are helping his memory.
"The motorcycle," Danny offers hesitantly, and Steve's head pops up. "I think I remember that. Only, not really. It's just… I dreamt about it last night, I think."
Without anything further to offer, silence falls again between the two partners.
"What happened next? How did I get here?"
Steve sits up again his chair, one hand reaching to rub the back of his neck before he looks Danny in the eyes and continues.
"Yesterday was Monday. Chin and I were just waiting for the phone to ring…"
Steve trails off and Danny sees the defeated look in his eyes and he understands. The case they were investigating… the victims were always found on Mondays…
"You think this is connected?" Danny asks.
Steve manages to shrug and nod at the same time.
"We got another anonymous tip," he shares, his own tiredness seeping into his voice. "Only this time there was a body. Yours. We found you past Peacock Flats in Wai'anae. You were… pretty beat up."
Danny closes his eyes, imagining the scene in which Steve and Chin come across his body, laying in the middle of some godforsaken Hawaiian jungle. The relief they must have felt over finding him alive only to become rapidly dwarfed by the dread of their still-missing colleague.
"A short time after finding you, we found another body," Steve continues and Danny's breath hitches. Kono? But no. She's still missing.
"A man... further up the ridge. He was in… similar shape as you."
Danny furrows his brows.
"Really? Who is he?"
"Jackson Cooper," Steve discloses. "I got quite a bit of information out of him before the docs kicked me out."
"And?" Danny urges.
"They lured us out there, Danny. The original tip was a fake. There never was a body."
Steve is unable to keep still any longer and he stands up, walking to the end of Danny's bed to pace back and forth in the small hospital room.
"I don't understand," Danny says. "Why bring us all the way out there? And who is 'they?'"
"Cooper and his associates," Steve answers, stopping to look briefly at the door to Danny's room before resuming his pacing. "According to him, he and his buddies had a plan to ambush all of us. Their ultimate goal was to separate us and take Kono once we were at the crime scene."
"Why not grab Kono while she was at the bike?"
Steve nods.
"I wondered the same thing. According to Cooper, they were waiting for us down the trail, well away from the highway. They didn't have time to double back when Chin showed up alone. So they waited… and it paid off when you and Kono arrived at the scene. Alone."
Steve swallows hard before looking at Danny once again.
"They planned on killing Kono on Monday to send us a message, Danny. A message showing that they could get to anyone, at anytime. It was supposed to be a message telling Five-0 to back off the case."
Danny sits quietly and waits as Steve resumes his pacing at the foot of the bed.
"So it is connected," Danny states quietly. "This Mr. Cooper… he confessed to killing all those people?"
Steve doesn't stop moving, but nods. Danny bites his bottom lip.
"We must have been getting close, then… figuring out who and where they were. They must be desperate if they are going so far as to kidnap two officers."
"Desperate? Or cocky?"
Danny doesn't have an answer. He remains still, fighting his body's insistence that it fall back asleep, trying to digest Steve's information. Danny had been taken by those lunatics who were murdering people on a weekly basis. Yet, he obviously wasn't dead. Why leave him alive for Steve and Chin to find? It didn't make any sense. Not to mention the fact that if they had kept to their pattern, the next victim was supposed to be female. And if they had stuck with their plan, then that means that Kono...
"Wait," Danny says and Steve stops moving. "You said they planned to kill Kono? Then why I am here, and she isn't?"
Steve shakes his head.
"I don't know," he acknowledges quietly. "I was hoping you would be able to tell me."
"Cooper isn't talking?"
Again, Steve remains silent.
"It must be killing you not being able to throw him in a shark cage or hang him off a roof or tie him to a hood of a car," Danny comments.
"That last one was all you," Steve throws back.
"But there has to be a way to get information out of him," Danny continues. "Have you called the Governor?"
"Yes," Steve says, clearly irritated. "She got me clearance to talk to him in the first place. But his condition worsened as I was speaking with him and I was told that unless I want him dead, I should back off for the time being."
"Unless you want her dead, Mr. Williams, I suggest you back off."
The memory jumps out at Danny so suddenly that he lashes out. He grips the side of his bed so tightly that his knuckles ache. Steve is by his side in an instant.
"Danny, what is it?"
Danny sees his partner's mouth moving, but he doesn't hear what he's saying. The memory has latched onto him and refuses to let go... everything around him is foggy and surreal.
"Okay, okay."
Danny dropped his weapon to the ground. The gun made a squelching sound as it landed in the thick, wet mud at his feet.
A man walked over and bent low to pick it up. He smiled a toothy grin at Danny before clocking him over the head.
"Danny!"
Steve is shouting now and Danny is brought back to the hospital room.
Once again he hears alarms blaring loudly. A nurse is shooing Steve out of the way as she resets the monitor nearest him. She turns to Steve, apparently scolding him for upsetting her patient, but Danny only hears the thudding of his heart. The whooshing sound of his panicky breathing.
Steve sidesteps the nurse to grab Danny by the shoulders and looks him in the eye. Very slowly, Danny can feel his pulse slowing and he begins to hear Steve speaking to him.
"…it, Danny. That's it. Just focus, okay? Relax."
Danny closes his eyes, but when he does, all he can see is Kono standing in the middle of the jungle, a gun to her head, trying to be brave. But he sees past it all… past her defiant façade and straight into her soul where all he can see is a petrified young woman.
"There were three men," Danny whispers. "On the trail… one of them…" He shakes his head, the vision beginning to fade. He tries to hold on, but it's like trying to grasp water. It begins to seep through the cracks in his mind.
"A gold tooth!"
"What?" Steve asks, still gripping Danny's shoulders tightly.
"One of them smiled at me and he had a gold front tooth," Danny finishes, exhaustion overwhelming him now as though conjuring up the memory has drained him of all of his energy.
He sinks back into his pillows and closes his eyes. He feels Steve give his shoulders a reassuring squeeze before he drifts off to sleep.