Lost Souls
Chapter 8
"The manager description is pretty vague," Kono told Tony and Ziva as they stood on the sidewalk. "No distinguishing marks. Brown hair, brown eyes, average height and weight."
"That means it could be McGoo," Tony grumped.
"Or you," Ziva pointed out drawing a glare from the agent.
"Maybe one of the artists could sketch something," Kalakaua said.
"Do you think Daniel is ok?" David changed subjects. DiNozzo thought about teasing her but refrained. Williams was suffering; even Tony could see that.
"Tony and I can stay down here in the lobby," Kono offered. "Why don't you go upstairs and see how he's doing? Make sure the CSI is doing a thorough job." With a nod of thanks the dark-haired woman turned and ran lightly up the stairs.
To her trained eye Williams seemed better. At least he was no longer struggling against the taller Navy Seal. Gibbs was in the room looking over the scene. She moved closer to the pair on the floor and crouched down putting a hand on a trembling shoulder.
"Daniel?" she said gently. "How are you?" Troubled blue eyes turned towards her. Steve shifted him a bit so he was leaning back onto his shoulder and chest, snugged in tight. She could see his confusion as he slowly processed his surroundings.
"It's ok, Danno, we've got your back," Steve murmured into his ear. A cleansing sigh and the exhausted Haole leaned back into the protective strength. The Seal wasted no time in holding him close offering his heat to warm the shocky man. Eyes closed he dozed.
With a small smile Ziva rose and walked back into the room. Gibbs was grumbling in the corner. There was nothing in the room except the paint drops and knives. Even the paralytic wasn't there. The empty bed was stripped down to the bottom sheet and the rest of the bedding carefully laid on the small table under the window.
"He left nothing," Jethro said. "No clothes, no personal effects except the knives. Even those are easily purchased at the local restaurant supply." Ziva looked over the pitiful bits of evidence that were being bagged.
"At least we saved the victim," she pointed out. "It will throw him off his game, yes?"
"Hopefully," Gibbs said. "How's the detective?"
"Better," she said. "Back at least. I think the medication calmed him down." Her boss nodded as he walked out of the room.
^-,-^
Leaving an HPD presence, the team split up, Gibbs, McGarrett and Williams to the hospital to pick up McGee and the other four straight to the Palace to review the new evidence coming in. For his part, Danny was silently tucked in the back, wrapped in a light blanket and half-asleep.
Arriving at the ER, Gibbs carefully guided the sleepy detective behind McGarrett. As they wove through the busy hallway the older man had to put a firm hand on Danny's elbow, then draw closer still as he stumbled. They approached the nurses' station a familiar face looked up from charting.
"Well, look! It's 5-0," Dr. Lewis smiled although there was some apprehension in his eyes. McGarrett seemed fine, but the grey-haired agent had a firm grip on a very wobbly Williams.
Who was not fine.
Quickly, the doctor came around the counter and supported the other side of the trembling detective.
"What happened?" he tersely asked.
"Uh, um," Steve hedged.
"He had two of the pills you gave us, doctor," Gibbs answered. "Had a rough time of it this afternoon."
"Does this have anything to do with the paralyzed man they brought in?" damn, the doctor was good at putting two and two together, McGarrett thought.
"Yes," Gibbs responded.
"Come on, Danny, let's get you into a quiet corner," Lewis carefully guided him down the hall and into his own office. There the detective was settled on the couch (which doubled as Lewis' bed away from bed) and a throw tucked around him. Williams blinked a few times then slipped into sleep.
Lewis quickly checked vitals before standing up and facing the ambulatory of the group.
"Ok, so, he's down for the count," the harried physician said. "I distinctly recall telling you that the diazepam would probably put him to sleep but here you are dragging him all over the island!"
"Not all over the island, just parts of Honolulu," Gibbs said dryly. Lewis spared a disapproving look before turning back to the head of 5-0.
"What happened?" Lewis asked, "and don't tell me he went 'deep'."
Steve ran his hand through his hair and explained what had transpired. He watched the doctor go from disapproving to flat out concerned. Once brought up to speed McGarrett changed gears.
"About the man we brought in, how is he?" he queried.
"The paralysis is starting to wear off," Lewis replied as he tucked a pillow under Williams' head. "He should be able to answer questions within the hour."
"Which means our perp would have been returning while we were there," Gibbs said.
"He saw the cars and spooked," Steve grumbled.
"The manager is sitting down with a sketch artist," Gibbs pointed out.
"I'm not holding my breath," came the retort. "Maybe the victim can identify the perp."
"Not necessarily," Lewis said. "If the paralytic is what Agent McGee said it was, he wouldn't be able to see clearly. Unless he saw him before the drug was on board he won't have a clear memory."
"Great. Another dead end," the 5-0 head growled.
"No, not a dead end," McGee stated as he walked into the office. "We may not have a good description, but we stopped him. That will throw him off and give us a better chance to catch him."
"What do you got, McGee?" Gibbs jumped in.
"Our victim is Ensign Collin Stewart," the agent began. "Attached to submarine maintenance. Not married, lives off base. Good to excellent reviews from superiors."
"In other words, just another sailor targeted by the perp," Steve surmised.
"Looks that way. Once he can talk we can get some better intel," McGee concluded.
"I want to speak with him," Steve decided.
"I'm going with you," Gibbs asserted and the two Bosses sized one another up. It was 5-0's case but so much of NCIS was involved he felt he had every right to cross-examine the victim.
"Agreed," McGarrett replied. "Tim, stay with Danny. I don't want him to wake up alone and I'm sure Dr. Lewis needs to get back to ER."
McGee looked from the Lt Cmdr to his own retired Marine gunny. Gibbs wasn't known for allowing anyone command his people, not even the Director of NCIS! But for whatever reason the silver-haired man easily agreed with the Hawai'ian with a grunt and nod.
"If he wakes up, McGee, get some food into him," he ordered.
Not able to completely mask his surprise the agent agreed and moved to sit down in a chair as the other three men filed out.
^-,-^
Waking up was a bit... disorienting. Slitting his eyes open he did not recognize the wall or ceiling. The throw over his body wasn't any one he'd seen before. It looked more like an office, but not one at work.
"Hey, Danny, waking up?" a solicitous voice drew his attention. He located the NCIS agent with no problem and suddenly recalled everything that lead to this couch. Wherever it was.
"Tim," he said, his voice rusty. "Where?"
"We're at the hospital, Dr. Lewis' office," he replied. He did not continue rather allowed the man to regroup. Slowly Williams sat up, bracing himself against the arm of the couch.
"Damn drugs," he grumbled. "A truck would have been less painful." Tim smiled as he took the throw, folding it neatly and putting it on the couch.
"I don't like meds too much, either," McGee agreed. "Makes me feel altered. At least with physical pain I still feel like me."
"Yeah," eloquent reply as Danny ran a shaky hand over his face and through his hair.
"I bet something warm would help," the NCIS agent suggested. "Long time since lunch." The tired man considered this, trying to balance his needs with the case.
"Don't need to worry about the victim. He's coming up out of the paralysis just fine. Gibbs and McGarrett went to question him," Time explained.
"Poor guy, one crisis to another," he said as he stretched working out a couple of kinks. "Yeah, something to eat might be good. How bad is the hair?" McGee gave him a critical once over.
"Not bad, a little tousled. Maybe splash some water on your face," he suggested. They slowly wandered out to the bathroom. Danny was pleased that Tim was there but not hovering like an over-protective Seal of his acquaintance. The cafeteria was familiar, having spent enough time at the hospital in the past couple of years. They pushed their trays along the rails looking at the offerings.
"Soup's good," Danny said as he poured out a bowl of chicken noodle and veggies then snagged a bag of chips. He ordered a BLT and iced tea. McGee chose a fresh fruit bowl to tide him over to dinner.
^-,-^
A frustrated set of bosses joined them just as Danny's sandwich arrived. Steve immediately latched on to half of the BLT and a took a swig of tea from Danny. Both Gibbs and McGee waited for the explosion, but the Haole just smiled and nudged the chip bag towards his partner.
"Ziva would have stabbed you," Tim stated.
"He knows I won't finish it," Williams said with a shrug.
"You haven't been eating much," Gibbs pointed out. Another listless shrug as soup was brought up to his mouth. Steve changed the topic.
"Ensign Stewart didn't get a good look at his kidnapper," he said. "He was tasered from behind outside the Pink Lady in Pearl."
"He said he remembers walking out and the next thing he knew he was lying on the bed unable to move or talk," Gibbs added.
"Someone pulling video?" Danny asked as he swirled his spoon in his soup before pushing it away. All three seat mates frowned. He picked up his sandwich and took a small bite, considering the effort of eating.
"Got Chin on it," Steve said as he pulled the soup over and sampled it. Gibbs assumed a more defensive position not liking the fact Williams was not eating enough to keep going.
"Ziva, Tony and Kono are heading over to the bar to interview the bartender and serving staff," he muttered.
"Doubt he'll be on tape," Danny said as he turned the sandwich and took another bite.
"Never has been before," Tim agreed. "Cameras were tampered with or shut off."
"So we've saved one sailor and the perp will now redouble his efforts to complete his sacrifices," Williams dropped the unfinished sandwich on his plate. Steve nudged the soup towards him but a quick shake of the head negated the move.
"And no idea how he's going to react," Tim said. "He could stay in the same area..."
"No, no, he'll move," Danny said as his eyes darkened slightly. "Somewhere not there." Even with the diazepam in his system he was skirting the edges of the perp.
"Which means we need to start over, look for areas he'd choose," Steve determined.
"This is gonna leak to the media," Tim said. "Maybe it will help."
"Gonna get a lot of calls, false sightings," Gibbs said.
"We'll tap HPD to help man the phones, we need to be free to keep hunting," Steve said. "I'll speak with Denning about a press release. That way we can keep some control over what goes out." With that the four men headed back to the Palace.
^-,-^
A very carefully drafted press release was worked on and sent to the Governor for approval. Given that it was run on the news less than an hour later, read by Denning himself, meant he'd agreed. Now the perp would have to be even more careful as more eyes would be looking for him.
It was once more nearly seven and the two teams were back together at headquarters going over the information gleaned from the bar. Chin and Tim were working with the naval base to track their men hoping to catch the perp. It was a daunting task, so many people coming and going, and there were restrictions on violating individual privacies.
Tony sat up and stretched, feeling his spine come into line. His stomach chose that moment to grumble its dissatisfaction at the lack of food. Kono and Ziva snickered while Gibbs just rolled his eyes.
"Hey, it's been like forever since lunch!" the senior agent rebutted. Danny pulled his head up, he'd been studying his hands, eyes wide and dark. He looked around trying to figure out where he was and who these people were.
"Danno?" Steve called over to him and received no answer just the dark glazed eyes as they moved around the room. Gibbs was up and next to the detective, hand on shoulder.
"Chilled," he commented. "Danny? You hungry?" Those soulless eyes drifted over his face.
Damn, that shook him!
"I think we can shut down for the night," Steve said.
"Ok, Tim and I can't do anything more now," Chin said.
"I'll get this stuff downloaded to the pads," Kono said as her fingers began dancing over the keyboard.
"Since it was your stomach alarm, what do you want to eat?" Ziva said, eyebrow arched.
"Well, it's Hawai'i," Tony considered. "Fish? Drinks with umbrellas?"
"Then back to the Hukilau back at your hotel is good," Kono said. There was a general consensus and they began packing up. Gibbs remained next to the bewildered detective. He really couldn't figure out why he was here and not out looking for the next sacrifice. These strange people just kept following him! With a sigh he allowed the grey-haired man to bring him to his feet and guide him out the door and down to a waiting car.
"I need the keys, Danno," Steve said, hand outstretched. Key? What key? He felt someone pat his pockets and tried batting them away.
"Danno! Just give me the keys!" the voice continued. Confused, the Haole stuck his hand into his pocket and was shocked to find a set of keys. He didn't need keys! He used the bus for the most part and any car he 'borrowed' he left the keys under the driver's seat.
Staring at Steve his detective mind and perp mind crossed. This man is a Navy Seal. He would be the ultimate sacrifice! His soul's release would cleanse the islands, the base, his need. Then the other mind screamed at him. It's STEVE! You can't kill him! Overwhelmed, he collapsed in a shuddering heap.
"DANNY!" Steve immediately dropped down and pulled his friend up off the parking garage floor. Jethro was right there with him.
"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked as he checked the man's head for bumps. Danny's pain-filled eyes searched Steve's.
"You're a Seal," he said.
"Yes, I am," McGarrett shrugged not quite following.
"He would think you'd be a special sacrifice, maybe the ultimate sacrifice," Danny said. "He's never caught a Seal."
"Shit," Tony cursed, and the realization shot through them. McGarrett would be the ultimate sacrifice! Before they could respond Danny started to hyperventilate.
"Danno, Danny! Sshh! Slow down!" Steve tried to calm him. Chin knelt down and threw his arms around his friend, hoping to ground him. Gibbs kept a warm hand on the detective's back while the Seal continued to try to coach his partner's breathing.
The Haole struggled to calm himself. To be slammed with the realization his partner was exactly what the perp wanted while in 'perp mode' and the resultant thrust back into the 'Danny mind' was nearly more than he could bear. He felt himself being lifted, being held, being moved. Then he gracefully passed out.
^-,-^
