Unexpected
Chapter 3
Lying in the back of the ambulance, Danny Williams recalled the shooter's face. "I've seen him before," he said, feebly shaking his head. "Can't remember where."
"Hush, Danny, take it easy," EMT Ab Riley instructed, as he took his patient's blood pressure.
Danny focused on the memory, but the image refused to resolve. It was static, frozen. Then part of the puzzle came clear to the detective.
"No, never saw him," Danny muttered to himself. "Saw his photo. But when?"
Danny puzzled over it all the way to the ER.
The paramedic eyed his friend in concern. The improving vital signs didn't match his observations. Danny was quiet and a quiet Danny was not well.
"How are you feeling, pal?" Riley asked. "You're awfully quiet."
His musing interrupted, Danny glared at the paramedic in outrage. "Quiet? I've been shot. My daughter has been kidnapped. Should I be singing jazz and tap-dancing around the back of the ambulance?" The vexation in his voice was clear despite the muffling oxygen mask.
Riley grinned. "So you are feeling better?"
Danny took his mind off Grace and put it on himself. He was feeling stronger, less lightheaded, though his side throbbed painfully. The oxygen and the IV were helping banish the shock of his shooting.
"Yeah, thanks, Riley," he admitted.
Riley's partner Margrette Chandler backed the ambulance toward the Emergency Room entrance.
"You cooperate, Danny, and you might get out of here sooner than later," Riley advised. "Dr. Huang is a father, too. He'll understand why you want to get back to work. But he wouldn't be doing his job if he didn't run tests to make sure you're not bleeding internally."
"OK, I'll be good," Danny sighed. "But Grace …"
"I'll pray for her," Riley said, as he pushed the rear doors open.
That meant a lot. Absalom Hezekiah Riley was the son of missionaries and firmly believed in the power of prayer. Danny Williams wasn't so sure God would listen to him, but, for Grace, he'd take all the help he could get.
Steve watched the ambulance leave. His hands twitched with the desire to grab the wheel of his truck and follow; but he turned back to the investigation, as he'd promised his partner.
He picked up the pink backpack dropped in the parking lot. Grace's cell phone fell from a pocket. When activated, the phone displayed the message "One missed call from Danno." Lips tight with suppressed emotion, Steve bagged Grace's belongings. When he was sure he had his voice under control, he said, "Kono, Danny said the gun was an automatic, so there should be shell casings."
"Right, boss." Kono surprised Steve by dropping to her knees at his feet, next to the items left behind by the EMTs. She bagged Danny's Hawaiian shirt as evidence, then studied his Kevlar vest. She pried at the layers of Kevlar cloth with tweezers and pulled out two bullets, dropping them into an evidence bag she held up for Steve to see.
"Twenty-two caliber," Steve commented. "Lucky for Danny it wasn't heavier."
"Amen," Chin said, as he came up with the teacher who crossed himself in agreement. "Our shooter probably chose a small gun, easy to conceal," Chin continued. "Can you tell us where the gunman was standing, Mr. Martin?"
The teacher pointed to a space between two SUVs. The Five-0 officers spread out, searching for a gleam of gold on the ground.
"Here," Kono said, collecting a casing lodged beneath a tire.
"Here's the other one," Chin said from nearby.
The crime scene techs were just arriving. Steve gave them the bullets and the casings, then directed them to fingerprint the two SUVs in case the gunman touched one of them. One of the vehicles looked promising. It was clean and shiny from a recent carwash.
"There are prints here," Gus White said, as he set down his case and pulled on his gloves. "Might be the driver's, but maybe we'll be lucky."
"It's not the driver's," Martin offered, seeing the large handprint become visible under the dusting of powder. "Mrs. Han is a tiny woman and there aren't any men in her household, but it could be the guy who washed the car," he added, growing discouraged again.
"Or someone who just walked through the parking lot," White agreed. "We won't jump to any conclusions. We just follow the evidence."
"The trouble is, following the evidence takes time we don't have," Steve said tightly. "We've got a kidnapped child to find."
"Missing children are always a top priority, commander. And Grace Williams is one of ours," White said calmly. It didn't matter if you liked Danny Williams (Which Gus White did) or Five-0, a member of a cop's family was missing and that hit home to every officer on the force. "All this evidence goes to the front of the line."
"Thanks, Gus."
"Anytime, Steve. But let's not make this a habit."
"God, no," Kono murmured.
"How's Danny?" White asked, as he methodically photographed and collected the handprint. Haste would only spoil the evidence.
"Broken ribs, maybe internal injuries, but the only thing that matters to him right now is finding his daughter."
"Right. Evidence coming ASAP."
"We'll leave you to it," Steve said. He gestured at his team to follow him.
"Where are we going?" Kono asked.
"First, back to the office to collect some gear," Steve answered.
"Then we need to talk to Rachel," Chin deduced.
Steve nodded. He hesitated by his Silverado, seeing Danny's Camaro in the next aisle over. He couldn't bear to drive his partner's car right now. He tossed the Camaro's keys to Chin.
"Pick up Kono's car downtown, then meet me at the office."
The closed van stopped. The engine shut off. Nine-year-old Grace Williams heard the driver's door slam shut and footsteps on gravel, then the back door swung open.
A tall, skinny Hawaiian stood there. Even to Grace's untrained eye, he was obviously the brother of the man who'd grabbed her. He glowered at the man called The Boss.
"You didn't say there'd be shooting," he accused, not as if he worried about the shooting, but because he didn't like surprises.
"He was a cop," his brother said, at the same time The Boss said, "He had a gun."
The driver, who Grace dubbed Grouchy, frowned more deeply.
"That'll stir up a hornet's nest," he warned.
"What's done is done," The Boss snarled. He climbed out of the van and reached for Grace.
She shrank back. "Don't touch me!" she ordered.
The Boss paused, tilting his head in consideration. He absently fingered his sore nose while he thought.
Grace was glad to see the eye she'd hit was red and swollen and both eyes were gaining dark rings from the nose she'd broken.
"All right," The Boss decided. "You do what I tell you and I won't touch you," he told Grace. "Now come out here."
He stood back and let Grace scramble down by herself.
Grace saw they were in an abandoned construction site. A chain-link fence with gaps surrounded an unfinished parking area. A four-story office building stood fully built but unfinished, concrete slab walls unpainted, grounds unlandscaped.
The Boss fiddled with a complex electronic lock on a side door, then he pointed Grace up the uncarpeted, concrete stairs. Construction litter lay here and there, bits of electrical wire, random lengths of PVC pipe, tufts of cottony insulation and lots of dust.
"Third floor," The Boss instructed.
The girl climbed two flights of stairs, closely followed by Grouchy and his brother that Grace silently named Scaredy. Grace stopped beside the door that had a tattered paper labeled "3" taped to it.
Two more complicated locks were on the door. Grace noticed a camera high in a corner with red lights blinking.
Unlocking the door, The Boss gestured down the hall. Without being told, Grace walked to stand beside the only door with locks on it.
"Smart girl." The Boss unlocked the door and stood back to let Scaredy escort Grace inside.
Originally intended to be a small office, the room had been converted into a bedroom. There was one twin-sized bed, a table with a lamp and a bathroom with a toilet, sink and no door.
Scaredy looked nervously at his boss, standing in the door, then spoke to the girl.
"I noticed when we were following you last week that you like to color, so I brought some paper and crayons," he said, pointing at a cardboard box in the corner. "And a couple of books my sister liked when she was a kid."
As creepy as it was to think they had been following her, Grace recognized kindness when she saw it.
"Thank you," she said.
"There are crackers, fruit and bottles of water in there, too. If you need something, bang on the floor and we'll hear you. We're right downstairs."
"It's not a hotel and you're not room service," Grouchy growled.
"She's just a kid," Scaredy answered.
"Dinner in two hours," The Boss told his captive.
When Scaredy passed Grace on his way to the door, he whispered, "I'm sorry about your father."
Grace waited until the door clicked decisively shut. She looked for more cameras, but didn't see any. She looked out the window, and saw a bare field, a copse of ragged trees and a sheer drop two stories down.
She went back to the bed, put her bruised, cut and tear-stained face in her hands and cried. She was trying so hard to be brave like her father would have wanted, but she was just a little girl and her father was dead.
There was no easy way to tell a pregnant woman that her daughter had been kidnapped.
Rachel Edwards shrieked so loudly her husband came running from his office, forcing Steve to explain again.
"Kidnapped!" Stricken, Stan put his arm around Rachel's shoulders. She calmed enough for her screams to become coherent words. Angry words.
"Where's Daniel? He was supposed to pick her up. How could he let this happen?"
"Hey!" All Steve's worry and fear came out in a bellow that silenced her diatribe. But he was no angrier than Kono. She moved forward and pushed Rachel in the chest, just a tap, but it forced the woman to step backwards.
"That's enough! Danny took two bullets trying to protect Grace. Don't you blame him for this!"
"Danny," Rachel gasped.
"Shot? Is he OK?" Stan asked.
"Fortunately he didn't have time to change out of his Kevlar vest when he left work," said Chin, the voice of reason. "He's at the hospital for tests, but we think he'll be OK."
"And Grace?" Stan asked.
"We're doing everything we can," Chin answered, giving his friends and Rachel a chance to get their emotions under control. "Now we need your help."
"Of course," Stan said, pulling his shocked wife aside so the Five-0 officers could enter.
"Excuse me," Rachel said suddenly and ran for the bathroom. They could hear her throwing up and then water running.
"It's hard enough to keep your emotions under control when you're pregnant, without being hit with something like this," Chin reminded his friends. With his big family, Chin had suffered through many women's pregnancy mood swings.
Kono looked embarrassed and apologized to Grace's mother when she returned. Rachel accepted graciously. "No, I needed that. Hysteria won't help Grace." Her eyes were full of fear, but she lifted her chin bravely. "What can we do?"
In Stan Edwards' home office, Chin had set up a phone speaker so everyone in the room could hear the kidnapper's call — if he called — but the kidnapper would only be able to hear the person talking into the handset. Chin had his laptop connected to the powerful system at Five-0 headquarters, all ready to track any incoming call.
"Why are you doing this?" Rachel asked nervously. "You think this is a kidnap for ransom?"
"We hope it is," Kono murmured to herself, but not as quietly as she thought, because Rachel heard her.
"What do you mean?" the distraught mother demanded. "What? Do you think this was some revenge plot against Daniel? Has his work followed me even into my new home?"
The pregnant woman cradled her belly protectively, tears flowing down her face. Steve grabbed her by the arms gently but firmly.
"You listen to me. We don't know why Grace was taken. Don't you give Danny any shit about this being his fault. Do you understand me?"
Rachel nodded, gulping down her tears. "I'm sorry. I know Danny would never hurt Grace deliberately."
Seeing she was calmer, Steve released her and repeated. "OK, we don't know why Grace was taken. You and Stan are well off, so ransom is always a possibility. If this is about ransom, we'll be ready for the kidnapper's call. If this is about revenge on Danny or you or Stan, well, all we can do is follow up on the leads we have. Every cop in the city is on the lookout for Grace and the crime lab is working overtime on the evidence."
"And if it's …" Rachel stopped, unable to say the words, but her husband knew her fear. Grace was a pretty little girl.
"What if it's a child predator?" he asked in a quiet voice, putting his arm around Rachel's shoulders. Grace wasn't his child, but he loved her as if she was.
"It's not likely," Chin said in his calm, confident, reassuring manner. "We have evidence that at least three people were involved in the abduction. Child predators usually work alone. This has the hallmarks of a kidnap for ransom, which means we have more time to find Grace."
While they waited for a call, Steve paced and Rachel and Stan huddled together on the couch, talking in low voices. Kono and Chin used Kono's iPad to trace the partial license plate number the teacher had given them. It was the best lead they had, the only one they could follow immediately. Unfortunately, Mr. Martin had only caught the first four digits, which meant there were a lot of possibilities. However, they had hopes the van's description would help reduce the possibilities.
"Thirty-seven? That doesn't narrow it down very much," Kono said.
"I had a thought, cuz. If I was going to kidnap someone, I wouldn't use my own car," Chin said. "See if any of these were listed as stolen?"
Kono typed for a moment. "No luck, cuz. No vans with these license numbers have been listed as stolen. In fact, no vehicles of any kind with these license numbers have been listed as stolen. And, before you ask, no one's reported missing license plates, either."
"Damn." Chin pressed his fist to his mouth in thought.
Kono brightened. "What about rentals?" She typed for a few moments, then thumped her fist on the table. "Oh, come on!"
Eliminating private vehicles had only eliminated six of the 37.
"That can't be right," Chin protested. "How can there be 31 rental vans with the same series of numbers?"
"Looks like our best lead isn't much of a lead at all," Kono said sadly.
Unexpected