Thank you for the reviews you have left. Would just like to agree with Mari that, yes, Danny is absolutely not himself right now, which is fully intended for the nature of the story. He's had a lot to drink and taken a lot of those painkillers, so we know poor Danny is suffering and not thinking very clearly, but fingers crossed Steve will find him soon and start piecing him back together. :)
Chapter 4
Five-0
Al's rentals was known locally as chop'n'shop; the place to get wheels, fast, without questions. Steve had found it ironic that this was the place Danny would turn to after trying to pin something, anything, on the owner, Al Lorenzo, so he could shut the place down.
"You do not understand." Danny had protested, waving his hands passionately. "This is the kind of guy that helps criminals, criminals, stay on the streets. And, whilst I appreciate Mr McSEAL here doesn't have any immediate family on the island to worry about – and no, your mother does not count because she probably knows ten ways to kill me with her pinky – I do. I have Grace. And whilst there are losers like this guy hanging around Hawaii, I am not adequately doing my job, or protecting my daughter."
"He's just a car dealer, Danny." Steve had rolled his eyes. "He deals with cars."
"That is exactly what he wants you to think." Danny had pointed to Steve's head. "I've seen plenty of asses in my time, to know when I am seeing one, and he is most definitely one of them."
"Okay." Steve had raised his hands in surrender, chewed his tongue to stop the grin reaching his lips. "Whatever you say, Danno. I believe you."
Danny hadn't given up until Steve reluctantly agreed to try to help him take the owner down. But now, he'd disappeared, going via his suspect for help.
Steve and Catherine stepped through the metal door, over the lip, and into the offices. Al Lorenzo looked up from behind his laptop computer, and closed it quickly when he laid eyes on the two before him. They practically oozed 'cop' from their pores.
"Can I help you?" He asked, standing to greet them, the gold chain around his neck catching Catherine's eye.
"I'm look for someone that may have come in here last night, looking for wheels. Do you have any security camera's we can look over?"
"We don't record no one. Respect our customers privacy." Lorenzo practically sneered.
"Were you on shift last night?" Steve's nostrils flared and his hands twitched.
"I wasn't." He shook his head, looking from Steve to Catherine and back again. "My boy, Ben, he's on a double. Working 10 til 10. He's washing the cars, due to finish up."
Catherine turned and peered out of the office window. There was a lanky boy with ginger hair and glasses washing one of the old Fords with a large, soapy sponge.
"Mind if we have a word?" Catherine asked, eyes still on the lad.
"Help yourself." Lorenzo ushered, watched as Steve practically marched out of the door and up to the boy. Catherine followed, a slower pace, and as she stepped over the lip, noticed a red-brown smudge. Crouching lower, she realised it was blood, and turned back to Lorenzo.
"Has anyone hurt themselves lately? A paper cut? A graze? Anything?"
"No, lady. No accidents."
"Huh." She'd huffed thoughtfully, before heading after Steve and letting the door slam behind her.
She could hear Steve's raised voice from across the forecourt, see the terrified look on Ben's face. He couldn't have been more than eighteen, a child in Catherine's eyes.
"Did someone come in last night, looking for a car?" She heard Steve demand as she approached. Ben dropped the sponge into a bucket of soapy water, and took a step back to distance himself from the pissed off cop.
"I-I didn't see anyone." He lied, stammering.
"No one at all?" Steve continued, taking another step towards the teenager as he indicated to his shoulder. "About this high, blonde hair, drunk?"
"N-No, we were quiet all n-night." He lied again, his eyes widening, his body shaking.
"Are you sure?" Steve's voice lowered, intimidating, and Catherine found it too hard to watch.
"Steve," Catherine interjected, gently pulling Steve away by his arm so she could speak to him without Ben overhearing. "He's just a kid, calm down."
"He's lying." Steve had hissed back.
"I know, but can't you see how you're scaring him? Look, there's blood on the lip of the door, I'd say less than 24 hours old, possibly Danny's. If he was here, we need to take it easy on him. Shake it off, Commander." She explained, before taking a step towards Ben. Steve, thankfully, stayed back, allowing her to take the lead for once.
"Hey, Ben...can I call you that?" She spoke softly and carried on when he nodded, eyes flicking from her to McGarrett and back. "Ben, this guy is our friend, and he's missing. We're really worried about him and just want to make sure he's okay." She pulled her newly acquired FIVE-0 badge from the belt under her shirt and handed it to him. "We're the good guys, here. You can be honest with us." Ben handed the badge back before finally confessing.
"He told me not to say anything."
"It's okay." Catherine encouraged, and Steve stepped forwards to listen.
"He came by at about 1, stank of booze, and looked really rough. I thought at first he was homeless, looking for somewhere to sleep."
"Did he say anything to you?" She continued to probe.
"He said he was working undercover and that he really needed a car. He had a badge like that one." He pointed to the golden crest sitting under Catherine's blouse. "I gave him the keys to my SUV, but it had less than a ¼ tank of fuel."
"Do you remember anything else?"
"No, I don't think so." Ben shook his head, and then, after a thoughtful look passed over his face. "He had a gun, and no shoes. I thought that was odd. Looked like he'd fallen and cut his knee, too."
"You've done really well, Ben." Catherine smiled, almost feeling the tension in Steve's body next to her. "We're going to need the license plate for your SUV and a description to give to HPD."
Ben nodded, a little more relaxed, and handed over all the details he thought Catherine needed.
"He is going to be okay, isn't he?" He'd finally asked, the worried expression reminding Steve of Grace. "I don't want to get him in trouble."
"He's going to be fine." Catherine nodded, not sure if she was trying to reassure Ben, herself or Steve. "We'll be in touch if we need anything else. Thank you."
"Let's go." Steve ordered, turning on his heel and heading for the Mercury parked on the side of the road. Catherine gave a departing smile, before catching up with Steve. "I'm going to call Chin and update him, you call HPD and get an APB out on that SUV. With a bit of luck, we'll find the car and Danny along with it." He continued as they reached the car. Catherine pulled her phone out of her pocket.
"Hey, Steve." She said, facing him over the car's roof, before either got inside. "Danny wouldn't drive drunk. He's not himself."
"I know." Steve nodded, worry lines etched deep into his forehead, before he yanked open the driver side door and slid in behind the wheel. Catherine took a deep breath, sent a silent prayer to protect her friend, before joining her partner in the car.
As Steve pulled away from Al's, he dialled in Chin's number and put it on speaker. The lieutenant answered on the first ring.
"Kelly"
"Chin, I need you to do a cam search for a black SUV, License plate; HGX 778. Danny took one from Al's this morning, at around 1am. Also check gas stations, ATM's, the airports, train stations, harbours." Steve commanded.
"I've got it covered." Chin answered. "Are you heading back to HQ?"
"Not yet, I'm going to drive around for a bit, see if I can find him myself. With a bit of luck, he's parked up somewhere and passed out."
"Roger that, Commander." Chin ended the call shortly after Catherine had ended her call to HPD.
"There's a BOLO out on the SUV, so with a bit of luck, we'll find him within the hour." She informed, not quite believing her own words, but that didn't matter.
"I think we should scour the residential roads. Maybe he didn't go far?" Steve suggested, and Catherine agreed.
"Let's start with Rachel's house. He might have gone to see Grace."
"Yeah, we'll start there." Steve nodded, the worry line increasing in depth. Catherine desperately wanted to reach over and smooth it out, but a squeeze to the knee would have to suffice.
Several hours had passed, dragging time slowly, but Steve didn't stop looking. Twice he put gas into the car, twice he'd argued with Catherine about returning to HQ and carrying on the search there, digitally.
"I'm not leaving him on the streets." He'd stated.
"I'm not asking you to abandon the search." Catherine had defended herself against the hard tone. "Just to start looking from a different view point."
"If Danny is out there, I'm going to find him."
"You look tired." She's counteracted. "At least let me take over behind the wheel?"
"No, I'm good." Steve shook his head, ignoring the tired sting of his eyes, the headache from concentrating on the roads for too long, worrying and playing bad scenario's in his head. "We'll look up here next." He'd diverted the attention as he turned into the next residential road. Cars parked neatly along the curb, some on driveways of expensive looking houses, but there wasn't a black SUV parked on this street, either.
"Maybe we should check the airports? He might have headed for the mainland?" Catherine suggested as the clock ticked past 2pm.
"No, Danny would have known we'd check there."
"But maybe..."
"He's not there, Catherine." Steve snapped, tired of all the 'maybes' and 'what ifs'. His partner had been missing now for over 12 hours, drunk and depressed, and Steve was starting to get frustrated.
"Okay." She'd submitted, softly. The tense muscles in Steve's arm, the white knuckles as he gripped the steering wheel, the narrowing of his eyes, the furrowed brows, all told Catherine that, for the first time in a very long while, Steve McGarrett was scared.
He thought he knew Danny, that he'd never disappear like this, that he'd always come to Steve, his friend, his best friend, if he needed to get something off of his chest. Never, in this lifetime, did Steve think Danny would just leave; leave Grace, leave Five-0, leave him.
'I feel like I'm losing control...I don't think paperwork is the answer to my problems..."
Steve took a sharp intake of breath.
"Shit." He mumbled, gripping the wheel tighter, catching Catherine's attention, as they headed for Pearl City.
"What's wrong?" She asked almost immediately.
"He came to me last night." Steve answered, shaking his head, seemingly disappointed. "What if he's hurt, Cath?"
"You can't think like that." She dared to take her eyes from the passing cars, glance at her lover, friend, boss.
"Why the Hell not?" He exploded, making her jump a little as he punched the wheel with his right hand, and then rubbed it over his weary face. "He came to me, Cath. Practically asked for my help, and I called him sensitive."
"You weren't to know." She soothed, putting her hand on his arm.
"I should have listened to him! He'd told me he was losing control, and I laughed. I actually laughed!"
"You are not responsible for this, Steve. Okay? You're not a Doctor, you're a cop. You couldn't have stopped this happening. And when we find him, I promise you, we're going to get him the best possible help, but right now, you need to stop blaming yourself. This is not your fault."
Steve shook his head, disagreeing.
"He's my partner, I should have listened. He needed my help, and I should have had his back. This is entirely my fault."
"Steve..."
"Dammit, Catherine. Stop trying to make me feel better." He shouted, and she sunk back into her seat. She knew he didn't mean it, and she didn't take it to heart. Instead, she brought her knees to her chest, rested her head on the window and resumed her lookout for the black SUV, or the blonde haired Detective.
Chin Ho Kelly tapped furiously at the Smart Table, back at Five-0 headquarters. On six different camera's he'd managed to pick up the Camaro, headed from McGarrett's house to Danny's, and then, fast forwarding an hour and forty three minutes, he'd managed to find Danny stumbling towards Al Lorenzo's car rental place. Chin was dismayed at his appearance; he's apparently left his shoes at home, his hair was no longer slicked back, but falling around his face, and he staggered dangerously. For a split second, he angers at HPD for not picking him up, but then redirects the heat into determination.
"What's going through that head of yours, brah?" He asked out loud, as he watched Danny walk off screen. "You look lost." He'd noticed Danny being quieter lately, hadn't really involved himself in conversations as much, but he'd assumed it was because he'd been missing work, or his injuries were sore, or he just enjoyed listening for once. Mentally, Chin scorned himself for not paying closer attention to his colleague. He tapped away at the touch sensitive glass, trying to locate another camera in the area, but had no such luck.
The vibrating cell phone caught his attention, and he answered it by putting it on speaker phone.
"Kelly." He greeted, still searching through hours of traffic recordings.
"Lieutenant? It's Duke." The voice of Sergeant Duke Lukela echoed off of the walls in the empty office.
"Duke, what do you have for me?" Chin asked, as he flicked 3 different traffic cam footage to three overhead monitors for easier viewing.
"We had a call last night from a concerned motorist, reporting a suspected DUI. Description was a black SUV, inconsistent speeds, wobbly on the roads. We were in the middle of despatching a unit when the motorist lost visual, and then cell reception, before he could give us the license plate."
"Did they say where they were headed to?" Chin asked, peeling his eyes from the monitors and averting them to his phone. Briefly, he allowed himself a flicker of hope.
"Northbound on the 803, Wilikina Drive."
"Thanks, I'll relay to McGarrett."
"Any time, Lieutenant. We have patrols keeping an eye out, too, but no luck so far." Duke regretted to inform him.
"Thank you, Duke. Keep in touch." Chin requested, before ending the call and placing a new one to Steve.
"Chin, what you got?" Steve answered abruptly.
"I've just got a call from HPD. They had a report come in last night about a suspicious car matching the SUV's description. Unfortunately, the caller didn't manage to get a license plate reading before they lost cell reception. It could be Danny." Chin relayed, his eye's tiring as they watch more footage of cars driving past, some too fast, or late night dog walkers shuffling tiredly along side walks.
"Where were they headed?" Steve asked, his voice sounding exhausted, but eager.
"Northbound, along 803, Wilikina Drive." Chin directed as he pulled up Google Maps. "I can't tell where he would be going."
"I don't know, either, Chin. I can be on 803 in ten minutes."
"I have more." Chin interjected before McGarrett could end the call. "I've found Danny on a couple of the traffic cam's near his apartment. So far all I can tell you is that he looks intoxicated, is barefoot, and carrying a large grocery bag. Also looks like his piece is holstered."
"It doesn't sound like the Danny we know." Steve sighed.
"That's not all." He continued, glumly. "I've had the info back on Danny's bank accounts. He withdrew a substantial amount of cash from two card accounts at around 2am this morning. He used a local ATM machine, but I've tried pulling the cams and they're both out of action. He took a sum of $500 from one account, which looks like his main one, but another $400 from a savings account."
"Why would he need that much money?"
"Nobody matching his description has entered any airport. Train station, or the docks, so I'm going to bet my life that he's still on the island, somewhere."
"Good. If he's on the Island, he can't be far away" Steve's voice sounded tight, and never did Chin think he'd use the phrase 'finding a needle in a haystack', but right now, nothing seemed more appropriate.