Thanks to everyone for the lovely reviews. Sorry I haven't been as diligent in replying as usual, but work's been heck for two months and after being on a computer at work all day at double speed, I just don't want to get on a computer after I get home. Now things are settling down, I hope. Maybe I can get some more writing done.
Just a reminder, this story is set first season. Danny's still wearing ties, Jameson is governor, etc. This is set at Danny's first apartment, which looks like heaven compared to some of the places he's lived since. Now we'll see what's going on with the rest of the ohana and we'll kickstart their angst.
Chapter 4 - Beginning
His kidnapping was well timed. Danny was missing for 63 hours before anyone realized it.
It wasn't his weekend with Grace and he didn't even expect a phone call from her, because of the time difference. Stan and Rachel had taken her to St. Louis. Stan would attend a business meeting while Rachel and Grace visited the Gateway Arch and saw the Budweiser Clydesdales.
It was Steve's reserve weekend and he would be spending it at Pearl Harbor teaching underwater demolition. Kono was off to the North Shore to root for her Coral Prince friends at a surfing competition and Chin was reconnecting with family, now that he and Cousin Sid had come to an understanding.
Danny expected to spend a blissfully quiet weekend at home, watching sports on TV, maybe going out to see the latest action thriller (though that wouldn't be as much fun without a friend to make snide comments to).
The attack came out of nowhere.
Danny pulled the Camaro into his parking spot. He waved at the little girl on the swings in the tiny playground nearby. He saw his new neighbor and a man who looked enough like him to be his brother, maybe even his twin, unloading furniture from the back of a van. A stack of kitchen pots and pans were on top of the trunk, but when one man put a foot wrong, they tumbled off.
"I'll get them," Danny offered.
"Thanks, detective," said the new tenant, Mark, who had been introduced to Danny by the landlord two evenings earlier.
"Danny, remember," the detective said good-naturedly, as he picked up two frying pans and a saucepan.
"Danny," the muscular Hawaiian accepted. "This is my brother Luke. He's helping me move in."
"Nice to have family to impose on," Danny joked, as he went inside Mark's apartment.
The brothers, who wore identical striped shirts, set down the heavy trunk with identical sighs of relief.
"Where do you want these?" Danny asked.
"The dresser there will do for now," Mark said.
Danny turned to set down the pans and Luke shoved Danny's head into the edge of the dresser. Danny fell, astonished and half-unconscious already. He clawed out his gun, but Mark casually kicked it away.
"Thanks for the help, Danny," he said, then kicked the detective in the temple.
Danny dropped, out cold. Luke took a preloaded hypodermic out of the dresser drawer and pumped the full load into Danny's arm. Luke searched Danny, removing his ID, phone, keys, wristwatch and backup gun with ankle holster and leaving them all neatly on the dresser. Then the two men tipped a stack of books out of the trunk and loaded the limp detective in.
The men had been wearing work gloves the whole time, so they didn't even bother to wipe the room for fingerprints. They simply carried the trunk out to the van, locked the apartment door behind them and drove away.
The little girl on the swings saw them carry out the trunk, but was called into dinner before the van drove away; so she didn't realize that Danny never came out of the apartment.
The snatch took less than half an hour. It was 63 hours later when Chin looked at the clock and wondered why Danny was late for work.
"Danny say anything about being late, Steve? Is that why you drove separately?"
Concentrating on trying to find a pattern in a series of high profile robberies, Steve took a moment to register what Chin had said. After a glance at the clock, concern quickened in the commander's eyes.
"No, I didn't know whether I'd get home last night or stay at the base until this morning, so we didn't plan to meet."
"I hope he's not sick," Kono said. "Though he would have called..."
They could all think of simple scenarios. Sick all night and only falling asleep at dawn. Or maybe a flat tire and a dead cellphone. But, they could think of more frightening ones: home invasion, heart attack, attack by an old enemy, fall in the shower — Danny lying unconscious and alone for an entire weekend.
Steve was already dialing Danny's cell. It rang, but then went to voicemail. "No answer, but the phone's not dead," Steve interpreted.
Chin quickly called up the phone's location on the smart table. "He's still at home, or his phone is, anyway," he reported.
That wasn't much comfort. The majority of accidents happen in the home. Kono picked up her car keys, but waited for Steve's decision.
"Let's go," Steve decided. "Crime stats can wait. But if he's OK, he's in trouble," Steve muttered. Yet they all hoped Danny was OK.
Steve knew their hopes were in vain when he saw the door to Danny's apartment shut, but not fully latched. He pulled out his gun. China and Kono followed suit. They looked worried, frightened even; but Steve's eyes were cold with concentration. The fear for his friend compressed into a tiny, solid lump at the base of his throat. His eyes showed only grim determination. He nudged the door open.
With hand gestures the Five-0 officers spread out through the tiny apartment. It hardly took a minute to scan the one room and peek into the bathroom.
"Clear," everyone reported.
Good news and bad news. There was no sign of Danny, but there was no body and no blood either.
Kono reached for the fast food bag on the table beside the door.
"Gloves!" Chin snapped, more harshly than normal, but this was Danny missing.
The rookie was forcibly reminded that this wasn't Danny's apartment now; it was a crime scene. Flushing with embarrassment, Kono snatched her fingers back as if they'd been burned.
While Steve prowled through the apartment like a caged cat and Chin called for HPD assistance, Kono pulled on latex gloves and checked the bag. The burger and fries were stone cold and looked untouched. She fished out a receipt with two fingers.
"Friday night," she reported. "Less than half an hour after he left headquarters."
Fear and guilt warred with each other in all their hearts. Danny had been missing all weekend, and none of his friends had noticed.
"His keys are right here, too," Kono said. "But I don't see his phone."
Yet they traced his phone to this address.
They all searched through the apartment, looking under the foldout couch and checking under its cushions. Nothing.
"I don't think he got past the front door," Chin said, when they gathered again to stare at the burger bag and discarded keys. "He set his stuff down and went back out. To the car?"
"But where's his phone?" Kono said. "It's supposed to be here."
"We need to check the Camaro," Steve said.
"And there are a lot of other apartments at this address," Chin reminded them.
Steve stalked out, headed for the manager's office, but diverted when he saw the man leaving another apartment carrying a plunger and tool kit.
"Commander? Something wrong?" The manager had met Steve at Danny's a couple of times.
"Detective Williams is missing," Steve said curtly. "When was the last time you saw him?"
Carlo Dominic's eyes automatically flashed to the silver Camaro sitting in its assigned spot. "He's not in his apartment?"
"No."
"I don't …" The manager thought. "I haven't seen him since Thursday morning. He was on his way to work and I introduced him to a new tenant." His arm flapped in the direction of a nearby unit. He frowned at the empty parking space associated with the apartment. "I guess he's not home. His truck's not there. He's probably gone to work."
A little girl passing by broke away from her mother and ran to Steve.
"Are you talking about Gracie's daddy?"
Steve folded himself down to the girl's level.
"Yes, we are. Have you seen him?"
"I saw him come home Friday night," Jenny said confidently. "He waved at me. He was helping the new guy move in." She pointed at the same apartment the manager had indicated.
"Did you see Detective Williams come out of the apartment, honey?" Chin asked.
"Mommy called me in for dinner," the girl said apologetically. "But … I saw the new guy take a trunk out of his apartment and put it back in his truck. That was kind of funny, wasn't it? He and his brother had only just carried it inside."
The child recognized this was out of the ordinary, but didn't associate it with the missing detective. But all the adults looked horrified.
"Thank you, sweetie. You've been a big help," Kono said. "You'd better go with your mother now."
Jenny's mother clutched her daughter to her side and hurried back to the apartment where she would double-lock the door.
When they'd gone, Steve demanded that the manager open the apartment under question. Though he found Steve intimidating, Dominic insisted he couldn't open the door without a search warrant.
"She's just a little girl. There's no reason to believe Detective Williams is in there."
Suddenly they heard the sound of a Beach Boys song playing inside. Kono held up her phone. "That's Danny's ringtone for me," the Surfer Girl said.
The three Five-0 officers glared at the manager, but he was already fishing out his master key. That was proof enough for him.
To Be Continued