Chapter 2
"Danny…" Catherine frowned as she walked out on the veranda. "What are you doing?"
He stood, fixated on the area Steve and Grace should be emerging from. "It's starting to snow, the wind is picking up… I spoke to Steve nearly an hour ago and he said they would be 30 minutes."
"So maybe they're being careful?"
"Or he's punishing me." Danny argued. "He likes doing that. He does it all the time."
Catherine smirked and shook her head.
Danny pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. "Okay, I have this tracking app on my phone which is linked to Graces." He said as he stepped over.
Catherine raised her eyebrows. She was surprised even though she knew she shouldn't have been.
"What's that look? Don't look at me like that. I'm a cop… don't judge me." He snapped before turning his attention back to the screen. "This is where the GPS picked up Grace's phone last."
"Okay…" Catherine nodded. "What's your point?"
"My point is, it last picked them up near the top of the mountain and that was over an hour ago."
"Danny, I admire your new found interest in using your phone as it was made to be used, but you can't rely on Apps you bought for $1.99 in a situation like this." She shook her head. "You need to come inside, open a beer. They'll be back soon."
"You know I'm going to kill him, right? You know that."
"Okay…" she rolled her eyes and grabbed his arm. "You can do that inside too."
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Steve looked up through the medium sized opening about 8 feet above them. It appeared they had fallen into a small cavity of large rocks. Grace had slipped into a shallow pool of ice cold water when she'd fallen.
Steve looked at her shivering as she crouched down on the dry ground to one side. "Here… Grace…" he whispered as he took off his own jacket and wrapped it around her. "Just let me figure out a way out and we'll be back at the cabin in no time, okay." He said calmly.
"Yeah…" she whispered.
He looked around, hoping that there would be parts of the rock that he could use to climb out. He sighed as he identified one part, lifting his foot up onto a narrow edge. When he pushed himself up his foot slipped on a sheet of ice, causing him to slip back down. He sighed with frustration as he looked back up, the snowflakes coming in fast and heavy, landing smoothly on his exposed face. "You checked your cell?"
"There's no service." Grace replied as she held it up.
Steve looked at his and shook his head. "Same." He whispered. He glanced to Grace again, noting that she was still shivering. Scanning their confined surroundings he noticed a small area which was protected by the snow falls, only just big enough for Grace to take shelter. He held out his hand and walked her over, placing her down and kneeling beside her as he clawed through his bag. "Here…" he said as he offered her a polar fleece to layer under his jacket.
"What about you?" she asked as he held the clothing out in front of her.
"I'll keep moving." He smiled gently.
She reluctantly took the fleece from him.
Steve looked at his watch. "It's been two and a half hours since I spoke to your dad. He'd be getting worried by now. People will be out looking for us soon, we just got to hang tight."
Grace nodded but he could see her concern.
"Hey…" he whispered as he tilted his head, cupping his hand under her chin softly to drawing her to look at him, giving her complete eye contact. "Trust me, okay?" He said with encouragement.
She seemed to relax with his voice, her shoulders dropping and nodding her head with more confidence. "Okay."
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The afternoon had worn on and now dusk was setting in. Danny knew something wasn't right, that this wasn't just Steve playing with his fragile mind. Something was seriously wrong. But he had been calmed, for the most part, by Catherine who had remained level headed.
With the sound of voices outside the cabin his nerves were set to soar again as he pushed back the net curtains and saw Catherine standing with to members of the Mountain Rescue Team. He hurried out and down the stoop, onto the cold crisp blanket of snow as the falling flakes whipped around them almost violently.
"Sir…" One of the men acknowledged him.
"Danny, this is Matt Rendwood and David Ashton." Catherine introduced cautiously.
"Has something happened?" Danny asked.
"No. I called them here." Catherine shook her head and looked to him.
"Right." Danny nodded. "What happened to the 'don't panic' attitude?" He asked quietly.
"Not panicking, just being cautious." Catherine replied.
"You're the young girl's father?" Matt asked, clutching a small note pad and pen in his hands.
"Grace… her name is Grace." Danny nodded urgently.
"And you were saying that your boyfriend is experienced in difficult conditions." He confirmed with Catherine.
"Yes, he's a SEAL." Catherine nodded.
"Well I guess if you have to be lost on the mountain, he's the person to be with." David said encouragingly.
"With all due respect, I'd rather she not be lost at all." Danny growled.
The pair could see Danny was distraught, completely different to Catherine's attitude. "We are going to get some people out there looking for them right away." Matt nodded.
"The weather report is saying it's expected to get worse." Danny nodded.
"For now it's considered manageable weather for us… and my guys will go up, we'll take each hour as it comes." Matt answered reassuringly.
"Thank you." Catherine nodded.
"We'll be in touch." David added as the pair made it back to their pickup.
Catherine knew the moment they drove away, Danny would be back in panic mode. She braced herself.
"Don't panic, you said. It will be fine, you said." Danny erupted.
"And it will." She nodded.
"Really? Is it? Because I've read about these kinds of disappearances. About how they don't find bodies until the snow has melted. We've had half a foot of snow already. They could be lying underneath it somewhere."
"These people are experienced. They know what they are doing, they know what they are looking for and they know how to look for it."
"I know that should make me feel better, but it really doesn't." he growled with frustration.
"Danny… Steve will take care of Grace. You know that."
He hesitated before nodding, he knew she was right.
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The snow was streaming relentlessly through the small hole, piling itself inside their tomb. Steve checked his watch, it was now nearing midnight and still they had not heard any signs of help. Their best option would be for him to lift Grace up to the opening, have her climb out and walk until she got help, but that was a massive risk in the weather they were experiencing and a risk he wasn't willing to take.
The catch twenty two was he was well aware that hypothermia was setting in. Having ensured Grace was warm enough, with as many layers as he could possibly spare, it had left him with only a few. His shivering had been under control up until now but the bone chilling cold had set in and his body was responding.
He knew that sitting down would be the worst thing he could do, moving around was at least providing him some kind of heat, however his body and mind was feeling fatigued.
"Uncle Steve?" Grace said softly.
"Yeah?" He whispered as he turned to her.
"You should have this back." She started to remove the jacket.
"No, Grace… you need to keep it on." He insisted.
"You're shivering." She said softly.
"Listen to me. My body has a better chance of handling the cold than yours does." He nodded. "And I promised Danno I would look after you. So you need to keep the jacket, okay?"
"Who's going to look after you?"
Steve smiled softly. "You're doing a great job of looking after me without the jacket, Grace." He whispered encouragingly.
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Danny glanced over at the clock above the fire place, it was close to three in the morning and he and Catherine had been sitting in silence for most of the night. The magnitude of the situation was now finally starting to filter through Catherine's mind, and although she knew that Steve's survival instinct was second to none she also knew that this wasn't just them sheltering from the storm. Something had happened, something serious.
She could feel the burn of the tears forming in her eyes, but she was reluctant to show them to Danny so she pushed her feelings back as much as she could.
Her cell phone chimed, she jumped at the sudden sound before scooping it off the arm of the chair and springing to her feet. "Hello?" she answered. It was a few moments before she glanced at Danny then nodded. "I understand." She whispered. "Thank you for calling."
"What?" Danny asked.
Catherine drew back a deep breath and then exhaled. "That was the mountain rescue coordinator. The search has been abandoned for now… they tried to stay up there as long as they could but the weather was making it too difficult."
"What does that mean?" Danny shrugged with desperation.
"They believe that the storm will pass in the next couple of hours, they'll head back up at first light."
Danny's eyes drifted down as he processed her words. "Okay, they will have been out close to 20 hours by that stage…" he rationalized. "I mean, can they survive in that?"
She didn't know how or if she should answer that.
"I'm going up there… I'm going to look for them myself." Danny said as he grabbed his things, her lack of response gave him all the justifications he needed.
"That's a crazy idea, Danny." She snapped. "This is not like walking up the trail on Diamond Head… if I thought us searching for them, in this weather, would help then I would have been out there hours ago. We could cause a bigger problem for those teams."
"Okay, Catherine… you don't understand." Danny pleaded.
"I don't understand?" She shrugged, hurt by his statement. "What don't I understand? I'm going through this with you. Someone I love is missing too. You don't think I would do everything I could possible to get him back?"
"Like you did in Afghanistan?" Danny growled.
She dropped her shoulders and parted her mouth. "Okay, Danny… you know what, I've had a feeling you've been wanting to say something ever since you got here… only you didn't, probably because you thought it would upset Steve. I get it. But he's not here right now… so go ahead… say what you need to say."
Danny gritted his teeth, he didn't want to get into a mud flinging match but at the same time he was quite prepared to distract himself from one kind of pain to deflect onto someone else, no matter how heart breaking or wrong it was. "You watched him be taken down by those people, thrown into the back of a pickup, taken away at gun point, and you did nothing." He said bitterly.
"I had the lives of a dozen children in my hands… children that couldn't defend themselves." She answered. "I've gone through that moment a million times, I knew Steve had a chance, especially with you and Joe on side… but I knew those kids didn't if I'd been taken or shot too." She paused, the torment of her decision still clearly haunted her. "Children Grace's age and younger, Danny. Used against their will to fight for something they didn't even understand let alone believe in."
Danny paused as he put her words into perspective, he knew damn well what was at risk, and why she did it. He could appreciate her position even if he couldn't completely relate. He could, however, relate to Steve and the struggles he came home with. Both physically and mentally. "Did he tell you what happened over there?"
Her eyes drifted down. "No…" she whispered.
He creased his brow, revisiting the moments in his mind. "When that team reached him, he was seconds… and I mean seconds, away from being killed. I saw the video footage, what they did to him, how they held him back with a blade against his neck." He paused. "The look in his eyes… it will haunt me forever."
Catherine frowned with sadness, it had clearly impacted Danny more than she had ever imagined but she was equally horrified at what Steve had endured.
"They secured him, got him back to the Forward Operating Base… he was beat up. His face was so swollen it didn't even look like Steve." He paused. "And when he came around, the only thing that he was worried about was you. In his mind he had to get back out there for you." He shook his head. "I mean he was willing to go against orders and risk being thrown into military prison just to make sure you were okay."
Catherine nodded gently. "And so when I called him and told him that I was staying…" she whispered, understanding where Danny was coming from. "It looked like I had nothing for him."
He nodded.
"Believe me when I tell you it wasn't the case, nor was it that simple." She shook her head.
"Steve said the same thing… I thought he was justifying it to himself, trying to make himself accept your decision better. Maybe I was wrong."
"The only reason why I am back is because of Steve. I moved heaven and earth to make sure the village was safe, that Amir and his family were secure. I couldn't have their blood on my hands, but I couldn't let the best thing, that's ever happened to me, go either." She said with sincerity. "And I'm not going to do it now."
"That's the thing, Cath." He paused as he looked down. "This…" he pointed towards the door. "This is out of our control and that what scares me." He frowned. "You said something before, about Steve taking care of Grace… and as comforted I am knowing that he will protect my daughter, I also know to what lengths he would be willing to do that."
Catherine's eyes darted up to his.
"Knowing that about Steve… that's why we find them as soon as possible." Danny whispered.
She nodded. "Let me get some of the trail maps out."
"Thank you." Danny answered.
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Most of his body was protected by warm clothing, except for his torso, which ironically was the one place that counted. He could feel his condition worsening and it worried him. He needed enough strength to help Grace out when the time came. If only he could work out a way to get some heat.
He suddenly remembered the small heat pads he'd pushed into the front pocket of his back pack before they'd left. They seemed like a good idea at the time, a small and sturdy bag of gel with an almost solid centre. When crushed the chemicals would mix causing a reaction which would generate heat. There was four in there. If he could use two to help heat up his core up, even just a bit, then perhaps that would bide him some time.
He grabbed the bag from beside of him and dragged it weakly onto his lap before glancing over in Grace's direction. She was struggling to stay awake now that her energy levels had dropped. "Gracie… kiddo, you need to stay awake. I know it's hard, I know you're tired, but you need to try." He pulled out a snack bar from the bag and handed it to her. "You need to eat something." He whispered.
She hesitated for a moment before registering the fact that it was not a suggestion but more of an order. She nodded as she took the snack bar from his grip.
He then moved to the front pocket of the bag, immediately locating the heat pads. The anticipation of actually feeling some warmth was overwhelming as he pulled them out. Suddenly his attention was drawn to Grace's hands, she'd removed her gloves to open the wrapper on the snack bar, but that action had also uncovered her dusty finger tips. Steve knew it was the start to frost bite and had to be dealt with. "Grace… are your hands cold?"
"No, not really." She answered innocently.
He slid himself toward her with the heat pads in one hand. "You need to hold on to these for a while." He said, snapping the solid centre and, for a moment, feeling the warmth that was generated. "Here…" he whispered as he passed them to her. "Okay?" he smiled softly.
"Okay…" she whispered cautiously.
He reached back into the bag for the last two heat pads but hesitated. What if Grace needed them later on? He couldn't use them, he couldn't bring himself to right now. In that instant he found himself shivering uncontrollably and violently and his energy levels plummeted. He needed a distraction for them both. He dropped the bag heavily, to the side, and looked at Grace. "Let's talk." He whispered as he rested his head back against the wall of rock behind him, tensing his body enough to quell the violent shivering.
"About what?" she shrugged gently.
"Anything…" he shook his head.
She gave it a moment's thought before her eyes seemed to light up. "Is Catherine coming back home with us?"
Steve let out a feeble laugh which progressed into a cough. When he composed himself he looked at her. "Really?"
"You said anything." She smiled.
"Yes I did." He nodded. "I don't know… we haven't talked about it yet. She has some things she needs to do on the mainland for now, but I guess she will come home eventually." He said, desperately trying to fight off the need to close his eyes and sleep. Even talking seemed to be draining him.
"I want her to come home." Grace nodded.
"You do?"
She nodded. "Because then you'll be happy again."
Steve hadn't expected Grace to read him so deeply. "You think I haven't been happy?"
"You were like Danno when he and mom split up. Sad." She answered. "You just did a better job at hiding it."
He grinned weekly. "Just not from you."
She smirked and shook her head. "Danno always says that you bring people together. Try to make things better for everyone else. But he says he doesn't think you know how to do it for yourself."
Steve's eyes drifted down as he gave her words some thought. "That's just it, Grace. Right now, with the exception of Catherine not being Oahu, I'm happier than I have been since I was your age." He answered quietly, struggling to get the words to a sentence together as his mind grappled with the freezing air. "I don't have much of a relationship with my mom, my dad's gone… Mary and I are better but still not as close as I would like." He drew back a deep breath as he felt his lungs tighten. "But despite the circumstances that brought me back to the island, I struck gold." He nodded slowly. "I got a whole new family… with you and Danno… Kono, Chin, Lou, Max… and the rest of the crazies that make us up." His lips thinned with appreciation. "I haven't felt alone in years… so I got all that I need."
Grace glared at him.
"What?" he asked between heavy breaths.
"You don't look to good." She whispered as she noted how pale his skin was turning and the blue tinge of colour around his lips seemed much more pronounced.
He looked up to the opening, the snow had eased considerably and the signs of first light was filtering through. "Listen to me… I got to get you out of here… I'm going to lift you up and I need you to try and climb out."
"Then what?" She shook her head with doubt.
"Carefully make your way down the mountain."
"I don't want to leave you here." She replied with a distraught inflection.
"You'll see someone the closer you get to the cabin, they can get help." He said softly. "I can't get out of here by myself. You have to go to help both of us."
"I can't." she shook her head.
"Grace…" he pleaded. He knew his next words would frighten her, but he knew the situation was dire and he needed her to understand that. "I don't know how much longer I can go like this. I need you to help me."
She nodded with concern as the full realization hit her. "Okay."
Steve pushed himself to his feet, his limbs so numb and heavy they felt like stone. His body just couldn't take it, he knew it was too late. His knees buckled from underneath him, causing him to fall heavily onto the icy ground.
"Steve…" Grace called as she stepped over to him.
He pulled himself back and leant against the rock, uncomfortably and slightly on his side. He wasn't prepared to admit defeat yet, convinced that this was a mind over matter thing, he could work himself back into the right mind set. But his body was giving up, slowly it was shutting down and no matter what he could get his mind to think he could never get his body to comply.
For the first time, throughout the whole ordeal, Grace could see that Steve was losing confidence and his tough exterior was starting to crack. He seemed agitated, confused and distressed, a far cry from his usual composed self. As he gave in to his body's need for rest he leant his head back and became almost motionless. He kept his eyes on Grace, his expression spoke a thousand words, all apologies for not getting her out of there.
Grace suddenly felt a rush of anxiety, she'd never seen him give up before. She wasn't going to let it happen now without a fight. She removed the jacket that he had given her, and rested it over his torso before laying her head down on his chest in the hope that her body heat would pass on to him.
His eyes closed briefly, squeezing them together and forcing a tear to fall down his cheek. He'd been moved by her actions, even if he wanted to argue the point of taking off the jacket. The warmth he could feel from the extra layer was indescribable, but he knew it would be short lived and almost certainly not enough to bring him back.
She could hear his heart beating but she knew it was dangerously slow, as too was his breathing.
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Catherine pushed a handful of supplies into a large backpack before picking up the trail map and heading out the door. "Danny?" she called out, frowning.
"Hey…" he said as he appeared. "The old timer in the cabin down there… he said he spoke to Steve yesterday morning. Told him the best trails to use."
"Okay, did he have any clue which one they'd be on?" she said as she opened the map up.
"He suggested the old back country trail if the weather turned nasty. He also said that the search guys may not have checked that trail yet because it's only really the locals that know about it."
"Sounds like it's a good place to start." Catherine nodded.
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Grace opened her eyes, something had jolted her from her sleep but she didn't know what. She also had no gauge on time. No idea how long she'd slept for, but the sun was starting to shine in. She looked around, remembering what had happened and why she was there, then suddenly remembering Steve.
She looked up to his face. His eyes were closed, his eyelashes covered in fine drops of ice, his skin almost translucent and yet tinted blue over most of the exposed skin. Her eyes widened. "Uncle Steve?" She said, her face creasing with concern. "Wake up." She said, shaking his body, but he was so incredibly cold and almost frozen solid. "Steve!" she shouted before resting her head down on his chest again, listening for his heart beat, but she heard nothing. "No. No." she shook her head. "Help!" she called out, the terror in her voice clear. "Help!" she said standing up and looking up to the void.