Chapter 4

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Present time

"Thanks again for driving me here, Chin."

"No problem," Chin replied, looking at Steve in the rear view mirror.

Chin had to pull a few strings to be able to drive Steve to the Halawa Correctional Facility. The Sheriff Division, which was responsible for transporting inmates, had not been too pleased with the idea. Nor were they pleased with the side trip to the cemetery to visit Laura Hills' grave. However, the HPD, still trying to get back in Chin's good graces and probably avoid a wrongful termination lawsuit, was agreeable. All it took was one call from the Police Chief to his golfing buddy, the Deputy Director of the Sheriff Division, and Chin was granted permission.

Naturally, there were a few conditions attached to the arrangement. Chin had to give up his weapon for the drive and there were two sheriff cars escorting them at all times as well. He also had to keep his radio frequency open so any conversation he and Steve had would be monitored. But at least he got to be the one to drive Steve to his new, and hopefully, very temporary, home.

It was almost dusk when they pulled up to a stop outside Halawa. It was still cloudy from the rain and the prison looked even more gloomy and foreboding than usual in the grey evening light.

A guard stepped out of the guardhouse with a clipboard in hand. "Inmate name?" he asked.

"McGarrett," Chin answered.

The guard nodded, made a check on his clipboard, and stepped back inside the guardhouse. He consulted a computer, picked up the phone, and spoke to someone. After a brief conversation, the guard hung up the phone and stepped back outside. "You're cleared to proceed. Prisoner intake is down on your left," he said, pointing with his hand. "Park in front of the door. A guard will be there to meet you." Then the guard stepped back inside and pressed a button.

Chin heard a buzz as the gate lock released. The razor-wire topped gate began to roll aside slowly, screeching and groaning every inch of the way. How appropriate, Chin thought.

He looked at Steve one more time in the rear view mirror, not knowing when he would be able to see him again. All prison visitors had to be cleared before they could talk to an inmate and there was no telling how long the paperwork would take. Chin knew that getting to drive Steve to Halawa had used up most, if not all, of the favors he could ask of the Chief. He, and the rest of the team for that matter, would have to wait through the red tape just like everyone else.

He watched as Steve sat quietly in the back seat, looking out the car's side window. Chin wanted to see the Steve he knew- a confident, determined, and capable one-man A-team in cargo pants. And while he could still see the determination, it was now mixed with wariness and resignation. The cargo pants had been replaced by an orange jumpsuit. And looking through the wire mesh grid that separated them, Chin could tell Steve was already in prison.

He sighed as he drove the car through the now-open gate, the sheriff cars following right behind. He parked on the left, in front of the door, as instructed. After the gate finished closing, the door opened and a guard stepped out from the building. He walked over to the police cruiser and opened the back door.

As Steve climbed out of the back seat, Chin opened the front door and got out as well. He walked around the front of the car and over to Steve, whose arm was now securely grasped by the guard.

"McGarrett," Chin said, firmly.

Steve looked over and met Chin's eyes.

"Good luck," Chin said. However, it was his eyes, not his words, which conveyed what he really wanted to say.

Hang in there, Boss. We'll get you out.

Steve nodded once. I know. Take care.

The guard tugged Steve's arm and they walked through the door into the prison. Chin watched his back as he disappeared.

Then the heavy metal door closed with a dull clunk and Steve was gone.

***H50***

Knock, knock, knock.

Danny sighed. The last thing he wanted to do was get up off the sofa and answer the door. The day had been long and hard enough without having to deal with someone wanting to sell him something. If he sat there quietly, maybe whoever it was would just go away and leave him alone.

Knock, knock, knock.

Or not.

Danny sighed again and set his beer on the side table. He got up, walked to the door, and began to open it. "I'm telling you now, I'm not interest…" He stopped talking the instant he saw who had been knocking.

Chin.

Danny set his jaw. "What do you want?"

"I thought you might want to know that Steve made it safely to Halawa," Chin answered.

"No thanks to you, I'm sure," Danny snorted.

"Danny, I'm the one who drove him there."

"And how exactly did you do that?" Danny asked, his voice rising in anger. "You weren't even at the arraignment!"

"I was there," Chin replied, clearly irritated. "I was in the holding room. With Steve."

"Well, it's nice to see you finally showing some loyalty! Too bad you didn't have any yesterday!" Danny scoffed, bitterly.

"Is that what this is about?" Chin asked, his voice now rising to match Danny's. "You're mad because I arrested Steve at the Governor's mansion? I told you then, I had to do it. He was standing there with a smoking gun in his hand! There was nothing else I could have done!"

"Don't give me that crap!" Danny yelled, pointing at Chin's chest. "There was something else you could have done! You could have stayed with us! But when you found out Steve was going to be arrested you couldn't get out of the office fast enough! And after all Steve did for you! He took you from a dirty cop working security to a great job with respectability at Five-0! He even committed a felony to save your life! And this is how you repaid him? You ran away from him, away from us, as fast as you could!"

"I didn't want to leave! But I had to!" Chin yelled back. "They were coming for Steve! I know how things work, Danny! And you do, too! HPD was going to freeze us out! All of us! The only way we are going to know what is going on, the only way we will be able to help Steve, is if we have someone on the inside!"

"And you just conveniently volunteered yourself for that job, didn't you? And without consulting any of us! What did you do? Just walk in and say 'hey, I'm here. Wanna hire me?" Danny sneered.

"No!" Chin retorted. "I called the Chief back and told him I'd take the job he had offered me that morning! The job that, at the time, I had turned down!"

Danny froze for a minute, a confused look on his face.

Then he furrowed his brow and scrubbed his hands over his face, and exhaled, deflated. "You had already turned the job down?" he asked.

"Yes," Chin said, nodding. "The Chief had offered me a Lieutenant's job in his office that morning. I told him I had a home with Five-0 and that's where I'd be staying."

Danny looked down and rubbed his hand over the back of his neck a few times before looking back up at Chin. "Lieutenant, huh?" he questioned.

"Yes," Chin answered with a nod.

"Well," Danny admitted, "you'd have to be crazy to turn that down."

"Or loyal," Chin replied.

"Yeah," Danny said slowly, agreeing with a nod. "Or loyal."

The two men stood on Danny's porch for a moment, looking at each other, before Danny broke the uncomfortable silence.

"So, uh, would you like to come in for a beer?" he asked, pointing over his shoulder with his thumb.

"Sure," Chin replied, accepting Danny's unspoken apology.

Danny stepped back inside his apartment and went to the refrigerator. He got out a beer, walked back into the living room and handed it to Chin, who took it and then sat down in a chair.

Danny sat back down on the sofa, picked up his own beer, and took a long drink.

Then he turned his head, looked at Chin and asked, "So… what do you know about Steve's case?"

**H50**

The intake process took several hours. It was after dinner and already dark outside before the guards were satisfied that Steve did not have any weapons or contraband. He left the intake area to go to his cell, flanked by a guard on either side of him.

Protective custody was definitely isolated. They passed through several locked, secure doors, which required the guards to swipe a card key before a buzzer would sound, indicating the door was now unlocked. After a few minutes, they made it to cell #38, which would be Steve's home for the foreseeable future.

One of the guards opened the thick, metal door and motioned for Steve to go inside. "Lights out in five minutes," the guard said.

Steve stepped inside and the door slammed shut behind him. He heard the lock click, followed by the guards' retreating footsteps, growing more and more faint as they walked away.

Steve looked around the cell, quickly assessing it.

It was a sterile, 6x8 room with a stainless steel toilet and sink, both of which were bolted down, similar to what he had found in the courthouse holding room. A bar of soap sat on top of a neatly folded towel on the side of the sink. There was a twin-size bed, bolted to the wall, with a thin mattress, pillow, threadbare sheets, and a single blanket. He lifted the mattress up, and, seeing nothing underneath it, placed it back down. The only light came from a fluorescent bulb on the ceiling, which cast a depressing glow about the room. The bulb was protected by a hard, plastic cover encased in a wire cage. The door was solid other than a window at eye level made of thick Plexiglas and a thin slot, at the bottom, which could be lifted, allowing food to be delivered and taken away. The room itself had no windows.

Steve sat down on the bed and sighed.

He had been visually assessing the prison from the moment they drove up, looking for weaknesses. He had taken in the locations of the guard towers as well as every entry and exit point of the prison. He had counted the number of guards in the tower, intake facility, and protective custody ward. He counted how many locked doors they had passed through and noticed which guards had the card keys needed to get through. He had committed all of the details to memory, adding them to what he already knew about the prison from previous visits to question inmates.

The conclusion he drew was not an appealing one.

There was no way out.

There would be no escape.

Steve leaned back against the wall and sat there for a minute, his head resting on the hard concrete wall.

Then, a buzzer sounded and the lights went out.

He sighed again, deeply.

Steve had been in tight situations by himself before. He had hidden in deserts, caves, forests, and jungles. He had been on every type of dangerous mission possible, in every corner of the world, relying only on his wits and training to get him through.

But as Steve sat there on his prison bed in the dark, he had never felt more alone.

To be continued…

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