OK, we will begin with a glimpse of Catherine. That is what you have continued to ask for. Unfortunately, it isn't a lot... yet. :)
'Uhane, Chapter 7
By Cokie
After his surprise visit earlier in the day, Beau had only laughed then turned around and walked out, leaving Cath alone. He hadn't even spoken. Another man had brought her a bottle of water and some fruit sometime in the afternoon, but she had no appetite. Catherine had spent her time waiting, either sitting on the bed or pacing the small space her tethered ankle would allow. And her thoughts once again returned to Steve, as they had numerous times throughout the day.
Was he injured badly? In the hospital? Or at work, driving everyone crazy?
They had thought Beau was dead. How would Steve ever figure out that he wasn't dead and come looking for her? How would he find her when she was somewhere in the damn jungle?
Well, one thing was for sure. She wasn't going to wait around like a damsel in distress. She had tried to pull the bed closer to the window, but the iron bed frame didn't even budge. She didn't know if it was just that heavy or if it was somehow bolted to the floor. But either way, it wasn't going anywhere.
Unable to see outside, she listened for anything that would clue her in to the house's location. At times during the day, she had heard hushed voices and some laughter, but nothing distinct. Other than that, things were quiet. Deathly quiet; and the silence caused her nervous energy to escalate. Periodically a generator would run and for that, she was grateful as it pushed cooler air through the vent near the ceiling. But after hours of listening, she had nothing.
So she waited. For what, she didn't know. She didn't even have a watch to check the time, but as the afternoon wore on and the shadows increased outside, she knew it was around six, nearing sunset. Once the sun was down, the room was plunged into darkness; from her small view of the window she could see a few stars, but inside the room, all the illumination she had was from the small crack at the bottom of the door.
Catherine had thought she heard a vehicle start up, but she couldn't even confirm that. Am I alone?
The thought slammed into her like a knife. What if he left me here to die?
And as much as she hated the thought, she then realized that maybe she was a damsel in distress after all.
I miss you, Commander. She smiled at the thought of his rank rather than his name; their own little private joke. Then her smile faded.
Come find me.
Please.
~~~H50~~~
The empty pizza boxes were tossed into the recycle bin and the group moved into the house, settling in the living area.
Once everyone had found a seat, Danny looked at Holly. "OK, I guess you have the floor if you're ready."
She nodded and looking to Steve for permission, she began. "In the beginning of 2007, Cath and I went for training at Coronado and met Beau at a mixer on base. He was immediately drawn toward Cath, and he was, for the most part, fun to be around. He was from Louisiana and had that southern drawl and a quick smile, and was pretty likable but when something didn't go his way he could change in a heartbeat." She took a drink and then continued, "He asked her out near the end of January, I think and she told him she wasn't comfortable dating a colleague, so she turned him down. He kept badgering her every day and they finally went out. Their first date was for Valentine's Day."
"How'd that work out?" Kono asked.
"She hated it. Said all he could talk about was himself and how great he was and in what good shape he was… which, trust me, he wasn't, and what a good catch he was… on and on. He was bragging that he would be at the top of the next SEAL class and she would be a fool not to fall in love with him." Holly shook her head. "Only she was so turned off, she vowed to never go out with him again. He would call all the time and finally she got hold of the work roster and would purposely take on extra shifts on the days he would be off so that she had a reason to not go out with him."
"That's big time harassment," Kono added.
"Yes, it was," Jen agreed. "And we tried to get her to report it, but Cath said she could handle it and didn't want to make waves."
Danny grinned. "That's a Navy joke, right? Making waves?"
"Least you didn't say it was an Army joke," Steve told him. "And Catherine refused to report Nordhoff because she thought he was harmless."
"Right," Holly continued. "But then he caused a scene outside our barracks one evening when she asked him to leave. He started screaming and called her every name you could imagine. A couple guys told him if he didn't back off they would call the MA. He calmed down and left, then apologized the next day with flowers, begging her to forgive him. He said, 'all I want is one more date to prove to you that I'm a nice guy'."
"And?" Danny asked.
"There was this bar near base where we went to dance or sometimes play pool. We had planned to go there on Friday night, so she agreed to meet him there… not as a date, but she agreed to hang out. There were a lot of us with her and we were going to watch him like a hawk because we didn't trust him." She paused for another drink and then grinned. "But… around this same time, Catherine had met a young lieutenant that she was more than infatuated with, but when he asked her out, she still said no."
"Ah," Danny said. "The plot thickens. Wait…" he turned to Steve. "So, you really did strike out?" He shook his head and grinned. "Man, if Smooth Dog got shot down, how can the rest of us even have a chance?"
"I eventually wore her down," Steve replied, giving them a sheepish grin.
"Yeah," Holly added. "And it wasn't that she didn't want to date you, she just had all these rules for herself. But I'm really glad you were there at the bar that night. There's no telling what would have happened to her if you hadn't intervened."
Steve took over the story-telling. "Cath and a lot of her friends were already there when we arrived. I came in with a couple of guys to play pool and saw her, so I went over and said 'hi'."
"Flirting," Kono said.
"I wasn't flirting," he argued.
"Well, she was flirting, you big lug!" Holly told him, nudging his leg with her foot. "Big time. All of us had set her down and told her she was stupid for not going out with you and that if she didn't drop her rule about not dating co-workers and let you know she was interested, we would. "
"So that was why she turned me down?"
Holly added, "Of course. Well, that and Beau. He was there when we got to the bar and came to our table, really being a jerk. He had already started drinking and was on the way to being tanked. He wanted to dance and ordered her to get up and jerked her arm. She told him she had agreed to see him, but hadn't promised him a dance and she wasn't going to dance until he sobered up."
Steve's relatively-good mood disappeared. "Yeah, Beau." He continued recollecting the story. "I had seen him around; my team was there for yearly drills and I heard he was a hot head who hadn't passed the SEAL endurance test...twice. So anytime he had the opportunity, he would make snide remarks to those of us who were SEALS. Honestly, I didn't think he was worth the time of day. But he was there that night, almost like a stalker."
He swallowed, his eyes narrowing. "Watching Catherine. While the other guys were playing a game of pool, I bought her a drink and we stood near the pool tables, talking while they played. She kept her eye on Beau and I could tell she was pretty nervous. She finally told me how he had acted, so I kept track of him, too."
"Beau was at the bar, by this time drinking whiskey. He couldn't keep his eyes off Catherine and we kept our eyes on him," Holly added.
Steve continued. "My friends called me to play the winner, so I asked Cath to stay there and guard my drink. She was next to the pool table when Beau came over. He started saying how she had promised to meet him but 'dissed him' and apparently stood him up to hook up with a SEAL. I remember she asked him to calm down but instead he got in her face and said that he never took her to be a Frog Hog*, but she was a slut just like the rest of them. I started... well, I got pretty pissed, and was heading over to them, but she motioned me away. Beau yelled, 'All I want is one dance, but you won't even do that, will you?' He kept getting louder and she set down her drink and said she would dance with him. 'One dance and then I have to go.' She looked at her friends and they confirmed that they did have to leave."
"That was our pre-set cue," Holly explained. "In case he got too obnoxious. It just didn't work out like we planned."
"Anyway, I was trying to watch the dance floor and he kept putting his hands in places she didn't want them and I was ready to break the pool cue over his head," Steve explained. "They were dancing along the edge of the floor and all of a sudden, I looked up after my play and didn't see her."
"We noticed, too," Holly added. "It happened so fast. All of a sudden Cath was gone. One of us went out the front door and I checked the ladies room."
"I came down the hall, saw Holly come out of the bathroom, and I checked the men's room," Steve told them. "It was empty, but the back door was right there at the end of the hall. Holly and I went that way and ended up in the alley behind the bar. Didn't see anything, but then we heard her." Steve stopped talking and took a deep breath, his nostrils flaring in anger.
Holly decided to continue. "He had her a couple of doors down, behind a dumpster. She was fighting with everything she had, but Beau was too strong for her. He was the same height as Catherine, but he's stocky and thick. He easily had both of her hands pinned above her head against the concrete wall, his knee was between her legs and he was fondling her breasts with his other hand. Steve… well, he took care of him."
"For some reason, I was still carrying the pool cue, so I used it," he told them in a low voice. "He had already ripped her shirt and had his hand…" Steve swallowed convulsively before continuing, "he wasn't going to stop. I hit him in the side of the head-" he stopped again and a look of understanding crossed his face. He looked up and stared at Danny.
"You remembered something, didn't you?" Danny asked.
"Yeah… my head's so mixed up, but I should've thought of it before. I used a pool cue and hit him in the side of the head, then when he fell, I popped him in the shoulder with the butt end of the cue. Same thing that happened to me this morning."
"So, you think it was him who did this to you?"
Steve shook his head. "No, neither of the guys in my house were Beau. But that doesn't mean he didn't instigate the kidnapping."
"Well, that MO convinces me that Beau's got to be our man," Danny concluded. "Now we just have to find him."
"And I'm working on that," Chin told them. He had been quiet during the discussion, but now had something to show for it. "Lt. Foster, is this the man you saw at Home Depot?" He turned the laptop so that she could see it.
"That's him," she confirmed. "Look at him, Holly."
Holly nodded, convinced they were searching for the right man. "I can't believe it, but it's him."
Steve glanced at the screen, then muttered, "son of a bitch," beneath his breath, fuming at the thought of this man anywhere near Catherine.
"I couldn't get a good visual inside the store," Chin added. "Looks like he was checking for cameras and kept his head down. Under the bill of that baseball cap, I couldn't get a clean photo. But," he hit a couple computer keys and continued, "He didn't think about cameras in the parking lot. I got this shot as he was putting his bags in the back of the van."
The photo showed him looking at the camera mounted above the light pole in the lot, his face fully visual.
"And would you look at that," Danny commented, with a grin. "He just gave us half his license plate."
"And we are already running it through the DMV database," Chin told them. "We should have a hit soon."
"Thank goodness," Holly breathed.
"Good work, Chin," Steve said. "Mahalo."
Chin shrugged his shoulder, locking gazes with Steve. "We're ohana, Brah. That's what we do."
~~~H50~~~
*Frog Hog: From Urban Dictionary:
A slutty woman who's primary goal is to get her hooks into a Navy SEAL.
