Hawaii Five-0

Stuck

Chapter 3

Breaking speed limits left right and centre; Steve turned a corner and began speeding down Kapiolani Boulevard in a desperate effort to get to the Ala Moana Shopping Center as fast as possible without wrapping him and Danny around a telephone pole in the process. They were yet to get a phone call from Catherine, Mary or April, stating that they were okay; and the fact that they were yet to receive a phone call from any of them, worried them intensely. But it wasn't long before the phone call that Steve and Danny were praying would come. Just as Steve dodged another car, Danny's phone went off. Looking down to see who it was, a feeling of relief washed over him when he saw that it was his little sister April calling.

"Who is it?" Steve asked in anticipation.

"It's April; thank god" Danny replied. "I'll put it on loud speaker" he stated.

"Danny?" April answered, much to Danny's relief.

"April, are you okay?" Danny asked.

"Yeah, yeah I'm okay" April replied. "Um, is Steve there?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm here April, you're on loud speaker" Steve replied. "Are Cath and Mary okay?" he asked.

"I'm okay" Catherine replied.

"But Mary's been shot" she added, setting alarm bells off in Steve's head.

"How bad is she?" Steve asked.

"She's been hit twice; once in the leg and another in her shoulder" April replied.

"I'm not too worried about the shoulder; but I am worried about her leg"

"Why, what's wrong?" Danny asked.

"Well, unlike the shoulder wound, the bullet's still lodged in her leg, which means we don't know if the bullet hit her femoral artery or not. But we've managed to get the bleeding under control with what we've got" April replied.

"Okay" said Steve. "Mary?"

"Yeah" Mary replied, sobbing in pain.

"Listen to me" said Steve.

"Everything's going to be okay; I promise we're going to try and get you out of there as soon as we possibly can, alright" he added, trying to reassure his badly injured sister.

"Okay" Mary replied. "I'm going to hold you to that"

"Okay, where are you right now?" Danny asked.

"We're in the ladies' bathroom on the second floor" Catherine replied. "But I don't know how long we can stay here before the gunmen find us; and by the way, I don't want to alarm you, but they're sounding a little trigger happy"

"And we're not exactly hiding" April added.

"We're just in the bathroom because it was the first place we could find that wasn't in the line of fire!"

"Okay look, if Cath's right about these gunmen being "trigger happy", then you've got to get out of that bathroom and find somewhere safer" said Danny.

"Okay" April replied. "But define safer, Danny" she asked him.

"Safer, as in somewhere where these gunmen can't find you, April" Danny replied.

"Fine, but we can't move until I'm sure Mary isn't going to bleed out when we move her" April informed him.

"How long do you think that's going to be?" Steve asked, worried that if they didn't move soon, they'd be sitting ducks in that bathroom and could end up getting killed.

"Hopefully, not too much longer" April replied, sounding hopeful as she continued to work on Mary's leg wound.

"Alright" said Steve.

"But when you do make your move to leave that bathroom, be sure you're not walking into an ambush and get shot once you walk out there" he said, warning them of what could be outside their current hide out.

"And please, please be careful" said Danny.

"That's the plan" Cath replied.

"Okay" said Steve.

"We're going to hang up the phone so you can make your move; when you've found a safer place to wait this thing out, you call us straight back, so we know you're okay, alright?" he asked.

"Okay" Catherine, Mary and April all replied.

"And by chance something does go wrong, do as exactly Steve said, call us straight back" said Danny.

"Alright" Cath replied. "We'll talk to you soon"

"Same here" said Danny, before disconnecting the call to their loved ones.

"Are you alright?" Danny asked.

"Yeah" Steve replied.

"You're lying, terribly I might add" said Danny, knowing full well that his partner was indeed not alright.

"Look, I'm not afraid to admit that I'm not alright, okay; the one time I want my little sister to have her gun and she doesn't have it" he admitted.

Once April was sure it was okay to move Mary without the fear of her bleeding out; she, Mary and Catherine decided to make their move to somewhere safer to wait the shooting out or until they were rescued. But before they could make their move, they decided to take Steve and Danny's advice and check to make sure that it was indeed safe to move elsewhere. Catherine thought it would be best if April stayed with Mary, so she volunteered to go and make sure there was no ambush waiting for the three of them outside the bathroom. April assisted Catherine in getting up off the bathroom floor because being almost nine months pregnant was making it difficult for Catherine to do it on her own. Once off the floor, Catherine headed for the door and slowly opened it and poked her head out and looked down the dark eerily quiet hallway that led back out to the shops.

"Anything?" Mary asked.

"No, nothing yet" Catherine replied. "I'm going to go check down the other end of the hallway"

"Alright, just be careful" said April before Catherine walked through the door and closed it as gently as possible.

While Catherine walked down the hallway, she rubbed her hands on her belly in an effort to calm herself as she approached the end of what seemed to a hallway that went on forever. When she reached the end of the dark hallway, she stopped and took a deep breath before stepping out slowly to see if any of the shooters were waiting for them. Once she stepped out, looking around she saw no shooters, only a woman who lay dead in a pool of her own blood, unable to outrun the gunmen.

"Oh my god" Catherine exclaimed quietly, as she looked down at the poor woman lying dead on the floor.

After having a brief look around she was satisfied that it was safe for her, Mary and April to come out of the bathroom and find someplace else to hide out. Turning around to go and get Mary and April, Catherine felt a sudden pain in her belly and quickly placed her on her stomach. Thinking it was probably too early for the baby to come, she put it down to her baby kicking. She continued on back to the bathroom and to go and inform Mary and April that it was okay to leave the bathroom.

"All clear?" April asked as Catherine re-entered the ladies' room.

"Yeah, all clear" Catherine replied.

"So does that mean we can get out of here?" Mary asked them.

"That's exactly what it means Mary" Catherine replied. "You guys good to go?" she asked.

"Yep" Mary and April replied in unison.

"Alright, let's go" said Catherine. "Need some help?" she asked April.

"Yeah, that would be great" April replied as she gestured for Catherine to come over.

Getting into position to help April lift Mary up, Catherine nodded to signal that she was ready.

"Okay, have we got everything?" April asked.

"Yeah, we've got everything" Catherine replied.

"Alright, on my count" said April. "1…2…3" she counted.

"You good Mary?" April asked.

"Yeah, I'm good" Mary replied.

"Okay, let's go" said Catherine, as the three of them moved towards the bathroom door.