Mirror
Chapter Four

"When you light a candle, you also cast a shadow."
-Ursula K. Le Guin

Chin took the steps as carefully and quickly as Steve and Lou had tackled the other staircase. The carpeted stairs absorbed his footsteps; he was able to climb with almost no sound at all. It unnerved him, simply because it meant that nearly anyone could also take the same steps without making much noise. The silence had him turning to watch over his shoulder more than once. The sleek, black shotgun was an old trusted friend in hand and his gaze was wary and worried.

This whole damned situation was going to fall apart, Chin could feel it. The team had already near fallen apart over stolen money once before and here it was again, coming back to bite them all in the ass. But what else could they do? Chin would do the same thing over and over again, if it meant that he could give Danny just a chance to try to save Matty. His career was hanging by a thread because of it and Matthew Williams was long dead, but Chin had no regret.

Did he wish that Steve and Danny had kept better track of millions of dollars? Absolutely, but upon hearing what had actually happened in Colombia, Chin hadn't been able to keep an iota of blame in his heart. For the most part, Danny had been pretty quiet about Matty since his brother had up and disappeared years ago, but there had been occasional conversations in which Danny expressed concern and regret. There was a look in Danny's eye when it happened and Chin hadn't struggled at all to place it; he'd felt the same guilt time and again over the course of his own life.

So Chin didn't regret any of it. What was done was done and now they could only deal with what came on the heels of everything.

He did owe Danny a nice long conversation after all this was over, though. Beers and talk and hell if Chin wasn't going to make damned certain that Danny was holding it all together. First though: make sure that Danny and everyone related was safe, sound, and able to hold such a conversation later.

Chin was only a few steps from the third floor landing when Steve's voice echoed in the earpiece. Acknowledging the order, Chin turned abruptly and fairly flew down the steps. His steps echoed dully, buffered by the wide hallways and the carpet. He hit the door at a flat run, pulling up short to find his bearings – and possibly the suspect. Gaze immediately going toward the front of the building, where Steve and Lou had ascended, Chin caught movement: a body disappearing about the corner of the building.

He broke into a run, oddly comforted by the sound of his footsteps slapping pavement. The carpeted hallways had been almost eerily silent. Chin rounded the corner, slowing just enough to look around. To his right, motorists on a busy street slowed upon seeing a man approaching the sidewalk with a shotgun in hand. Before him, a gas station and convenience store stood silent sentinel on the corner. Between the motel lot and the convenience store, a narrow alley ran and instinctively, Chin went in that direction. There had been no sounds of snarled traffic, so he didn't think his quarry had run across the street and there wasn't anywhere else to go.

Shotgun held at the ready, Chin entered the alley. Behind the store, a half-full dumpster stood, a few cardboard boxes stacked beside it. An old fire escape hung on the building adjacent. The end of the alley opened onto a fairly busy sidewalk and street. Gaze ever watchful, traveling over the alley and everything in it, Chin caught sight of a man turning the corner. Lips pressed together, Chin broke into a run.

And very nearly fell flat on his face as something else caught his attention.

Near the dumpster, a box fell from the stack and Chin barely had time to move the shotgun up and away before a small form practically tackled him. Small hands clutched at his tac-vest; she rocked into him with such force and speed that he was forced back a few steps. His heart stuttered as he looked down at her, jaw agape and eyes wide – and the man he was chasing all but forgotten.

He wrapped one arm around her shoulders – and Danny would probably kill him for having that shotgun so close to his daughter, but it wasn't as if he had a choice here – and reached down to tilt her jaw up with the other hand. Grace didn't say a word, but she did look up, tears in her eyes and an ugly carpet-burn decorating one cheek.

Chin's breath caught in his throat. For a moment, he hadn't believed it could be Grace. They had known that Amber had pulled Grace from school, but since getting the call that Grace had been sighted across the island, they had assumed that Amber and Grace had been separated. If they hadn't – and Chin was looking at the evidence right here – then Danny and Kono were, at best, following up on a dead lead. (Chin winced inwardly at the phrase. 'Dead' was not a word he wanted in the same sentence with 'Grace.') Chin took a long breath, cupped the back of Grace's head, and pulled her in for an embrace.

Words could come later. For now, she was trembling violently and sobs had started to wrack her shoulders. Calling Steve on the radio, he said, "Steve, you're not gonna believe what I just found." And speaking of, Chin was going to have to start heading back that way soon, but only after McGarrett gave the all clear. No way was he walking Grace back into a possible situation.

As he waited for McGarrett to answer – and what was taking him so damned long? – Chin murmured reassurances to the girl currently hanging onto him like her life depended on it. (Maybe, in her mind, it did, and that thought nearly stole Chin's breath again. For all that Grace was Danny's daughter, his absolute pride and joy, she was also an integral part of their team – their little family. The day that anything happened to Grace was a dark day for all of them and not simply because they felt for Danny.)

Chin. What does that mean? Steve's voice was distant and preoccupied through the earpiece. Chin frowned, brow furrowing and wondering at Steve's tone.

"Grace," he said. "I found Grace in the alley behind the motel. She was hiding back here."

He could hear Steve blow a hissing breath and, in it, all the anger and worry that Grace's disappearance had incited was given sound. Is she all right?

"A little banged up, I think." Chin's arm tightened around her shoulders. Grace leaned into him, her soft sobs slowly turning to sniffles.

"Uncle Steve?" she asked, voice wavering.

Chin nodded at her, vaguely surprised that she had been aware and listening well enough to know he'd been speaking to Steve. "He wants to know how you're doing."

"M'okay," she answered, leaning her head against Chin and tucking herself neatly under his arm. "Tell Uncle Steve that he had to save Amber."

Chin nodded again. "She's worried about Amber."

Rightfully so. Steve's tone was hard-edged with concern. Amber took a beating. She's secure, though, and an ambulance is a few minutes out. She told us Grace was with her. Lou's trying to call Kono.

"Any luck?"

A pause. Straight to voicemail.

Chin bit his tongue against the curse that welled up all too easily. As if reading his mind, Grace turned her face up to him. "Where's Daddy?"

Chin managed a quick smile for her, absolutely unwilling to wipe that hopeful, frightened gaze off her face. "A little bird somewhere," and when Chin got his hands on that "bird," he was certainly be "singing" something, "told us that they thought they saw you way over on the other side of the island, so your dad and Kono went to go check it out."

"Will he be okay?" There was so much worry wracking her small frame; she was still trembling.

"He's your Danno, isn't he?" It was the best he could: an answer that was nowhere near an answer, but it was hopefully enough to deflect the question.

Grace nodded quickly and tucked her head back up under Chin's arm. In the earpiece, Steve's voice sounded again. Take Grace back to my truck. Lou will meet you there. Ambulance is here. I'm gonna turn the scene over to HPD and ride with Amber to Queens.

"We'll be right behind you," Chin assured him.

Try not to let Grace see too much of what's going on. It won't do her any good to see Amber right now.

"Understood." Chin gently turned Grace back toward the motel, careful not to dislodge her or somehow aggravate some hurt he didn't yet know about. "Come on, Grace. Let's get you taken care of."

Grace fell into step beside him, arms still wrapped around him. They moved slowly, but Chin was relatively certain that Grace moved so deliberately out of fear, rather than pain. "Did Uncle Steve find Amber?" she asked so quietly that Chin almost didn't make out the words.

"He did," Chin answered slowly, uncertain of how much information to divulge. Grace wasn't in much of a state to deal with anything overly difficult and Amber's injury might be just that, especially so since Chin didn't have a clear idea of how severely she was wounded.

"Good." Grace sniffled. "They kept saying that they would..." She swallowed hard and her breath caught on a soft sob. "That they would kill her."

Chin squeezed her shoulders. "She's hurt but Steve's with her." There was no sense in lying to Grace. She knew better.

And she proved that right by nodding once. "I know. I saw." Tears flowed freely down Grace's dirt- and blood-smeared cheeks. Chin tucked her up close and led the way to Steve's truck. By the time they met Lou there, the motel lot was host to a number of police squad cars. One ambulance stood at the entrance, lights flashing harshly.

Kono drove.

It was an unspoken agreement: Danny knew he was in no shape to drive anywhere and Kono knew it full well, too. Had Danny been driving, he might have actually done any number of the dumb things he accused Steve of doing. It was a mostly silent ride, which had Kono on edge. The address was a good ways from the heart of Honolulu; Kono had ridden that far and further even with Danny before and silence had never filled the air.

Today, silence reigned.

Oh, Danny had spoken here and again: to confirm the address, to ask Kono to repeat what Duke's words actually were, to ask if there was any word from Steve, though he knew that answer already. McGarrett would have called the very second he had something. There had been a desperate, frail sort of hope underpinning the hard tones of his voice when he did speak and Kono's heart broke anew each time she heard it.

They pulled up at the address Duke had given them. For a moment, neither moved: Kono waiting for Danny's lead and Danny held secure by fear for Grace. After a harsh sigh, Danny opened the door. They exited the car and Danny caught her eye as she came around the hood.

"Whatever happens," he said – and Kono caught her breath at the words, a very real fear rising to close her throat. "Thanks." His casual one-shouldered shrug belied the words. Kono saw his hand shaking as he reflexively checked the weapon on his hip and the straps on his tac-vest.

Kono stepped past him, hand resting on his shoulder for a moment. She had no words for that, but she could offer support. Let's do this, she wanted to say. Everything will be fine, she wanted to promise. The words stuck in her throat, though, and she couldn't make the promises – no promises beyond having his back, whatever happened here.

The house was modest and stood, it seemed, empty. A realtor's sign stood in the front lawn. The driveway had been long, off a fairly desolate road, and it backed up to a forested area. Desolate and empty, it seemed as if the house itself held its breath. No neighbors stood nearby, no sound save for the breeze rustling foliage, met their ears. A gate leading to the back stood open. Kono gestured toward it and Danny nodded; she peeled off, heading for the back while Danny jogged silently to the front door. She saw him press himself against the wall beside the door just as she rounded the corner. Before she crossed to the backdoor, she thumbed her phone to silent. (One amazingly dumb incident where her phone rang at the most inopportune time taught her that a silent phone was great for silent maneuvers.) Knowing Danny was giving her time to get into position, Kono scurried toward the back quickly. She touched her earpiece and almost whispered the word: "Now."

She had seen Danny when Rick Peterson took Grace. She had seen the determination, the rage, and the fear that had driven him. She had seen him at the edge – and had watched as he'd pulled back from it. If she had any doubts that Danny could do the job when it was personal, they had dissipated then. He had done what he had to do and somehow managed not to go completely off the rails. He had wavered, and he had shot two unarmed men that day, but he had put himself back together when Grace had needed him most.

If that was the man she was working with in this – that man who had showed himself as human as the rest of them but still somehow managed to swallow all the fear and let it drive him – then she was comfortable with it.

Danny murmured an acknowledgment in her ear. Kono put her hand on the doorknob and turned, snatching her hand back quickly when it opened easily. A series of soft clicks caught her attention and, eyes wide, she cursed and danced backward. As the booby-trapped doorframe exploded in a shower of sparks and splinters, Kono turned away from it, hand rising to protect her head and face from the worst of it. The explosion itself wasn't much: more than a flashbomb but it certainly wasn't designed to kill.

Even as the thought occurred to her, Kono was straightening. Danny's voice rang in her ear, worriedly calling her name, telling her he was on his way. "It's a distraction," she called, stumbling back and bringing her weapon to bear – but she had no target. Movement caught the corner of her eye, a dark shape through smoke and fire. As she turned, it connect with the side of her head. Pain exploded behind her eyes and she collapsed, weakly grappling with the hands that pulled her weapon from her reach.

It was as if she was still seeing the world through smoke. Her vision blurred and swam. A hand fisted in her hair and pulled her to her knees. Kono gagged at the movement, one hand clawing at the fist in her hair and other making some attempt to fight back; it was uncoordinated and clumsy. A hand closed around her wrist and forced her arm behind her back.

She saw Danny come around the corner. Saw his expression dance through a gamut of emotion – fear, concern, rage – before it settled into hard lines. She heard shouting, but couldn't make out the words. Her body felt leaden. She tried to raise her hand again, but a sharp cuff to the side of her head had darkness closing in on her.

The last thing she saw before that darkness claimed her was Danny tossing his weapon to the ground.

When Grace had finally seen Steve in a waiting room at Queens, she had launched herself at him and refused to let go. Amber had been taken in immediately off the ambulance; Steve had followed long enough to give an accounting of the events he knew. He had questions but, while Amber was still lucid, she was in pain and fighting what looked to be an overwhelming urge to let unconsciousness have her. He let her go with a final word of reassurance, once again telling her that Grace was safe.

And then he'd been adrift for a few seconds, running his hand over his face. He tried Danny's phone, then Kono's, lips pressed together into a thin line when both calls went straight to voicemail. Again, his hands went through his hair and he turned toward the opening ER doors to find Chin with Grace tucked under his arm and Lou following like a silent, looming guard. Grace's eyes had lit up when she'd seen him; Chin let her go with an indulgent little smile, tempered by worry. Steve, having caught a glimpse of the skinned knees and scraped cheek, nodded toward the nurses' station. With a nod, Lou and Chin headed that way. Within moments, a nurse was leading both Steve and Grace to a room; Grace had refused to go alone. Chin had followed partway, assuring Steve that he'd keep him abreast of any changes and of any communication. Innocuous words for a child's ears, but underpinned by a worry that had them all on edge.

Grace had been treated quickly and given mild painkillers. Her wounds were completely superficial. She had confided tearfully to Steve that she had run into the alley and froze: so frightened that she had been unable to call for help, or go anywhere else, she had hidden, afraid that the men who had grabbed her and Amber would be following. And, she said, hoping against hope that Amber would follow her. It hadn't been until Chin had come into the alley that Grace had found something safe and familiar. Steve had tucked her head into his shoulder at the tearful confession. At a loss for words, that was how Lou found them some minutes later.

Lou – big, intimidating Lou – had melted in the face of Grace's tears. He knelt in front her, asked her what was in her head, and, as Steve urged her to speak, gently got the whole, horrible story from her. Through tearful statements, they learned exactly what happened from the moment Amber had picked Grace up at her school to the moment she found Chin in the alley.

Steve's body was rigid with anger as her story concluded. Lou looked at her with an expression that spoke all too clearly what he thought of this whole thing: sorrow intermingled with rage.

"You did good," Lou said at the end of all that and offered Grace a quick, sad smile when she shook her head. "I know you don't think so but you did exactly what you needed to do. Your dad's gonna be proud of you. I know that much."

Grace looked up at Steve, who nodded in agreement. She sighed and melted back into Steve's side. Lou stood and crossed his arms, once again the imposing sentinel. "Amber's settled in a room and ready for visitors. I had a feeling a couple people in this room might want to see her." He glanced at Grace.

"How bad?" Steve asked.

"Broken arm," Lou answered, still giving Grace a considering look. His gaze shot to Steve, as if asking if Grace was all right hear this. At Steve's slight nod, he continued. "A little banged up, bruised to hell and back. Moderate concussion but she's awake."

Steve looked at Grace, who was frowning, brows scrunched together. "So a good prognosis?" he asked, prodding Lou to give Grace the words she was hoping to hear.

"She'll be all right, given a bit of time. They want to keep her here a few days." Which, in Steve's mind, was a damned good thing. Amber in a hospital room gave them an opportunity to guard her far more effectively.

Steve squeezed Grace's shoulders and hopped off the bed, coaxing her to come along with him. "Whaddya say, Gracie? I'm sure she wants to see that you're okay."

She nodded, a tentative smile playing at the corners of her lips. Steve ran his hand over her head. "It's good, Grace. Everything's okay."

He hoped he wasn't lying.

Lou led the way to Amber's room; Steve walked with an arm draped loosely over Grace's shoulders. As they talked, Grace seemed to shed a good bit of the fear that had taken hold of her. In all honesty, Steve couldn't blame her for the way she'd reacted. Who could? She was young and sheltered in a good many ways. A child, to be protected, and Steve would send anyone to hell who hurt her – and he'd be in line behind Danny, standing with the rest of his team.

Chin was sitting in a chair next to the bed, talking softly with Amber as they entered. Her head turned to see the new arrivals and Grace finally left Steve's side to stand next to Chin. Chin stood, rested a hand on Grace's shoulder for a moment, and then stepped aside. "I'll be right outside with Steve and Lou, okay, Grace?"

Amber caught his hand as he turned to leave. Words failed her, but her expression was both grateful and worried. Chin patted her hand, gave Grace a quick hug, and urged both Steve and Lou to stand just outside the door. Before they left, he heard Amber's soft, tearful "I'm so sorry, sweetheart."

For a long moment, there was silence between the three men as they collected themselves. They all knew that the cartel had just lost their leverage, which could make them more dangerous and unpredictable. They wouldn't simply walk away now, not when they had eighteen and a half million dollars at stake; though the money wasn't actually in play, the powers that be in the cartel didn't know that – and wouldn't believe it, should evidence of it come their way.

In addition, with the information that Grace had never been separated from Amber came another concern: it was absolutely possible that Danny and Kono had followed a planted lead. The cartel's men on the ground in Hawaii would know that there was a very good chance that Danny himself would follow that lead. At best, it was someone who had simply been overzealous. At worst, they had led Danny and Kono into a trap and now, with phones unanswered, it was looking more and more like a trap.

Steve took a breath; from his position, he could see Grace and Amber talking. They were safe and he'd be damned before he let them fall into anything else. "Chin," he said, eyes still on the pair in the hospital room, "get that address from Duke. I want to know where Danny and Kono went."

Chin nodded and pulled out his phone, taking a few steps away so as not to interrupt whatever Steve had to say next.

He spoke to Lou, voice low and earnest, and finally tearing his gaze from inside the room. "I need you here." Voice edging on raw, he continued. "I need to know that they are in capable and trusted hands. I don't want anyone but my team on this."

Lou nodded and clapped his hand on Steve's shoulder, then walked back into the room. Chin followed, stopping just long enough to tell Steve that Duke was texting the address. Steve followed in their wake and went to kneel beside Grace, who sat stiffly in the chair Chin had vacated.

"We're gonna go get your Dad, kiddo." He mustered up a smile for her, shoving worry aside. He nodded toward Lou. "Captain Grover's going to stay here with you and Amber, okay? Anything you need, he'll get it." He leaned over and laid a hand on Amber's forearm, squeezing lightly; she was starting to drift off, despite her attempts to actually converse with Grace. "Keep Amber company. She looks like she needs it."

Grace glanced at Lou before nodding.

Steve mussed her hair as he stood, adopting a casual stance so as not to worry Grace any more than she already was. "We'll be back soon."

He turned on his heel, striding from the room, purpose in every step, and Chin fell into step just behind.

TBC

Author's Note: Again, time to answer each and every review has slipped away from me. I appreciate all of you! I hope you're all still enjoying this sudden burst of weird inspiration. :)