Rage Against the Dying of the Light

Chapter Three

"I'll call Max, Boss," Kono said softly.

Steve nodded. He bent down, holding one hand to his nose as he knelt next to the body. Max would officially confirm the identity, but there was no question the man was Deke Linton. He looked exactly like his mugshot.

Death made the man look small, pathetic. The hands he'd used to pummel his wife and children were lax. His face had frozen in a look of surprise, as if he'd never expected his murderer to actually pull the trigger.

Kono knelt down next to Steve. "You think Bobby Linton killed his father?"

"Yeah…I do," Steve nodded. He glanced around. "There's no sign of forced entry. Looks like nothing's been stolen. Ten to one the slugs Max pulls from the body match Bobby's gun."

Kono stood up. "I don't get it, Boss. What logic is this kid following? He shoots and kills his father then goes to the deli, shoots Danny, and then takes Danny, Lori and Alana Wong hostage. All so we'll re-open his brother's case?"

"You're looking for logic where there is none, Kono," Steve slowly pulled himself to his feet. "Or at least not a logic we'd ever understand."

Steve looked around the small yard. A butterfly hovered over a rose bush along the fence. A bird chirped and next door the dog began to bark again. The butterfly startled and moved on. The sun was beginning its slow descent into the west—the shadows in the backyard already beginning to deepen.

"What are you thinking?" Kono asked quietly, shoving her hands deep into the pockets of her jeans.

Steve cast one more glance over the crime scene before responding. Finally he turned to Kono and said gravely, "I think it took this kid a long time to bring himself to act, but when he did, he acted out of blind rage."

"Controlled rage, though," Kono pointed at the body. "I mean look at the body. Three shots, dead center. He didn't just fire wildly hoping to hit something."

"No," Steve shook his head, peering down at the body. "He was close enough not to miss. From the look of things Deke didn't even try to defend himself. It must have shocked the hell out of him when Bobby pulled that trigger."

"Do you think it shocked the hell out of Bobby too?" Kono asked.

"Definitely," Steve nodded.

"Why did he shoot Danny?" Kono asked, puzzled.

"This kid has a heavy trigger finger when panicked. He's like a bomb with a short fuse, just waiting to go off," Steve sighed. He turned and began walking back towards the house. "Let's go. I want to be there when Charlie Linton arrives."

"You think he can talk Bobby into coming out of there?" Kono asked, hurrying after the taller man.

"I hope so," Steve muttered. "Talking Bobby down may be the only way we get everyone out of that deli alive." He scrubbed his hand over his face. He just hoped to hell Danny could hang on long enough.

- H 5-0 -

Chin watched on the monitor as Lori reached over and grabbed her ringing cell phone. She put the cell on speaker, set it on the floor, and returned her hand to monitoring the pulse on the underside of Danny's wrist.

"Steve?"

Lori's voice was calm and cool, but her body language told a different story. She was rigid and tense, her head bent anxiously towards their fallen teammate. Just looking at the monitor, it was hard to tell if Danny was dead or simply passed out. But from the lack of reaction on Lori's part, Chin hoped it was the latter.

"No, my name is Lt. April Reign. I'm a hostage negotiator, and I'll be here with all of you until we get this situation resolved safely," April said, leaning over the counter and studying the video feed carefully as she spoke. "Can I speak with Bobby, please?"

They watched as Lori's eyes flicked to the teenager. The boy shifted uncomfortably on the table, but he didn't speak.

"Bobby?" April asked, her voice as kind as it was insistent. "Are you there?"

"Yeah," Bobby's voice squeaked and he cleared his throat. "Yeah, I'm here."

"Can you tell me how everyone's doing in there?" April asked. "How's Danny?"

"I…he…" Bobby abruptly stopped, his breath hitching in his throat. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with one hand. "Has McGarrett cleared my brother yet? You tell him…he needs to hurry."

"He's working as fast as he can, Bobby. I can assure you he's taking this very seriously," April said. "We all are. So tell me Bobby, how's Danny really doing?"

Chin knew April could already see how Danny was doing. The detective had been steadily bleeding for well over an hour and was as close to death as he'd ever been outside of the sarin exposure last year. But April seemed intent on getting the teen to acknowledge it for himself.

"He's…God."

They watched as the teen held the long edge of the gun barrel to his cheek and looked down at Lori and Danny. He gasped out small sob.

"He might be dead…is he dead? Oh my god…did I kill someone?"

As Bobby spoke, he was staring off into space, his eyes nearly glazed over and glistening with tears. To Chin, the kid looked positively destroyed.

"No, Bobby," Lori's soft voice broke in. "Danny's alive. But he needs help. Now."

"Bobby," April broke in. "I can tell, listening to you, that you didn't mean to hurt anyone. Am I wrong? Did you mean to shoot Detective Williams?"

"No!" Bobby wailed. He wrapped his thin arms around his slender frame. "I don't know what happened. The gun went off. Why didn't he listen to me? Why didn't he just help me? This never woulda happened. I don't know….I don't know…"

"Who are you talking about Bobby?" April frowned in concentration. She was scribbling notes as she talked. "Who didn't help you?"

"Commander McGarrett!" Bobby yelled angrily, rubbing at his hair with one hand. "I asked him to reopen my brother's case. He…he said…" Bobby gasped, sobbing. "He said there was nothing he could do. But I was….I was running…out of time… I didn't have time."

April arched an eyebrow and shoved a pad of paper towards Chin. On it was written, underlined twice, "subject talked to McGarrett?"

To Bobby, April said, "Bobby, I want you to calm down. Okay? We're helping you now. We're listening now. We didn't know how desperately you needed help. Listen Bobby, do you want to talk to your brother?"

"Yes," Bobby hunched over, tears streaking his face.

"I can make that happen, Bobby, but in order to do that, you need to do something for me," April said, her eyes never leaving the video feed. "Do you understand?"

"What do you want?" Bobby's voice was plaintive.

"Danny Williams, Bobby," April said firmly. "If you want to talk to your brother, you have to give me Danny."

"No, I can't!" Bobby shook his head frantically. "If I let him go you guys will stop looking for the real killer. You'll stall until you can bust in here and kill me. I can't die…not before…not before she's…" Bobby broke off, his voice hiccupping as he fought to catch his breath.

"I'm telling you Bobby," April's voice flowed with conviction. Again she made a notation on the pages in front of her, writing the word "she" and underlining it several times. She wrote and circled the word "mother" next to it.

"If you let us get Danny the help he needs, we won't stop looking. We will talk to your brother, and continue to investigate his case – I promise." April's voice filled with empathy. "Do you know what my job is Bobby?"

Chin saw Bobby simply shake his head. The teen's chest heaved. But Bobby didn't know they could see him.

"Bobby, do you know what my job is?" April asked again.

"To save the hostages."

Bobby's voice was small and scared. To Chin, the kid looked tired and worn out. He was in deep. Something so big he didn't know how to get out.

"And you, Bobby," April said. "My job is to make sure everyone comes out of that deli alive. Everyone. Including you. I know you don't want to hurt anyone else Bobby. You never meant to hurt Detective Williams. Help me make it right. Help me get everyone in there with you out alive."

"I have to…I have to think…"

Bobby hung his head, pulled his knees to his chest. He slid one hand around his neck as he balanced the gun on his knees.

"Okay, Bobby," April said. "I'll let you know when your brother arrives. Then you tell me what you want to do."

Bobby nodded, and then motioned for Lori to hang up the phone.

When Lori did, April pulled the headset from her head and dropped it on the counter. She flipped a knob on the monitor to bring up the audio feed. Then she grabbed her cup and took a long sip. She held up a hand and snapped a finger towards one of the cops in the trailer.

"Do we have any word on the mom's condition?" she called out.

"I think she's still comatose," the cop responded, "the hospital is supposed to call if that changes."

April nodded. She pursed her lips and turned back towards the monitor feed, watching Bobby thoughtfully.

"Do you think he'll let Danny out?" Chin asked softly.

"I think there's a good chance," April nodded. "When do we expect Charlie to get here?"

"The Governor sent a helicopter for him, so he should be arriving within the half hour," Chin glanced at his watch.

He looked back at the monitor. Lori was bending over Danny, talking quietly to him as she gently stroked his cheek.

April leaned forward and sighed. "Look Chin, I know I can talk Bobby into letting Danny out. I just don't know if it will be in time."

- H 5-0 -

Steve and Kono barreled through the crowds of bystanders. Flashing their badges at the cops working the barriers, they made a beeline for SWAT's command post. The door to the trailer was guarded by a burly guy in SWAT gear, but he must have recognized Steve because he'd swung the door open before the Navy SEAL even said a word.

Steve nodded his thanks and bounded inside. The interior of the mobile unit could only be described as controlled chaos, and at the center of it was a tall, lithe redhead. She was dressed for the long haul—fitted jeans topped by a dark green blouse. A beige jacket hung from a nearby chair.

"You must be Commander Steve McGarrett," she said, walking towards him even as she motioned him further inside.

"And you're April Reign," Steve nodded, holding out his hand. "Chin filled me in. I'm told you're the best."

"I'm good at my job, Commander McGarrett," April's green eyes were somber as she firmly took hand. "I'll do everything I can to get your people safely out of there."

"I appreciate that," Steve dropped her hand and jerked a thumb behind him to introduce the final member of his team not trapped inside the deli. "This is Kono."

As the two women exchanged greetings, Steve walked to the front of the command post, exchanging a nod with Chin. He came to a stop in front of the monitors that were displaying the video feed from the deli. His eyes were drawn to them, and once he began watching, he couldn't look away.

"Jesus," Steve muttered, running a hand through his hair. Up until now, he'd been able to keep the image of Danny shot and bleeding out of his mind. He'd pushed it back into the distance while he leapt into action, kept himself occupied with the Governor and executing the search warrant. But now…it took everything he had not to force his way into that deli and haul Danny out.

He felt Kono step up behind him. Heard her sharp intake of breath as her eyes found Danny on the monitor, prone on the floor of the deli.

"He looks bad," Kono whispered, her voice trembling.

"We're gonna get him out of there, Kono," Steve said fiercely. He clenched his jaw, forced himself to steady, and turned towards April. "Deke Linton is dead. It's a fair bet Bobby killed him."

April pursed her lips and nodded. "For the moment, that doesn't change anything. SWAT can't get a clean shot and it's too risky to breach. I'm going to have to talk that boy out of there. I've told Bobby if he wants to talk to Charlie, he has to give us Danny first. Right now, I'm just waiting for Charlie to arrive. Last I heard they're ten minutes out," April responded. "Now that you're here, maybe you can tell me if you remember a meeting with this kid."

"A meeting?" Steve looked sharply at the hostage negotiator. His gaze snapped back to the monitor and he stared hard at the teenage boy sitting on the table. He shook his head. Admittedly the teen looked familiar, but he couldn't place where he'd seen him before today.

"Bobby seems to think he had a meeting with you to discuss reopening his brother's murder case," Chin prompted.

Realization hit Steve like a blow to the chest, knocking the wind out of him. "Crap," he breathed. "Crap crap crap."

"You do remember him," April quietly studied the task force commander's face.

"It wasn't a meeting so much as a drive by," Steve shook his head. "I ran into the kid in the hallway at HQ. We'd just been called to a scene. I was rounding everyone up when he tried to stop me. I blew him off. I didn't even remember him." Steve rubbed his eyes, a headache suddenly stabbing at his temples. "I barely even looked at him. Just told him if his brother was already convicted, he needed a lawyer to appeal, that there was nothing I could do. Dammit! I should have…"

April grabbed him lightly by the arm, her eyes full of sympathy. "This wasn't your fault, Commander McGarrett. Even if you'd taken the time to have a full on meeting, you wouldn't have reopened his brother's case. You didn't know any of this was going to happen."

The burly SWAT guy opened the door, catching April's eye. "The brother's here. Where do you want him?"

"Bring him in," April directed. "But when I call Bobby, I don't want Charlie in here until I'm ready for him."

"We can hold him in a cruiser," the cop nodded. He waved a hand at someone outside the trailer and then a shackled man was escorted inside.

Charles Linton still wore his orange jumpsuit. He was a big guy, well muscled, and Steve could understand how Lenora and Bobby Linton could rely on him to stand between them and his father. Still, he was only nineteen, and he looked it.

"You know what your brother's done." It was a statement, not a question. Steve knew the prisoner had been filled in on the events that had brought him here.

"I can't believe it," Charlie shook his head. "Bobby's a quiet kid. He'd try and melt into the wall if he could. This isn't like him."

"Well, like him or not, this is where we stand," April cut in. "He seems to think you're innocent. And he's willing to let a man die to prove it. Are you? Innocent?"

"No Ma'am," Charlie said softly, shaking his head. "I did it. Didn't mean to, but I did it."

"Do you think you can convince your brother to put down that weapon and come out?" April asked. Her green eyes were laser focused on Charlie's face. "Will he listen to you?"

"He always has before," Charlie shrugged. "But…"

"But what?" April asked sharply.

"That was before I left him alone with that monster," Charlie lowered his eyes and shuffled his feet. "I'm not sure he's ever forgiven me for that."

"Maybe that's where you start then," April mused. "You ask for his forgiveness."

"Steve, April," Chin called urgently from the front of the trailer. "Get up here. Something's happening." He turned up the audio.

Steve bolted to the front of the trailer. Bobby was crying. Lori was pleading. And Danny. Steve's heart lurched at the sound of Danny's voice.

"Tell Gracie Danno loves her."

Danny was saying goodbye.

tbc…

A/N: Wow, thank you for all the alerts for this story. I'm thrilled you're enjoying it.

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Much mahalo to my fabulous beta JoaniexJony.

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