Note: I really appreciate everyone taking the time to review. Plenty more story to come. Time to get Danny to safety and start that recovery.
Chapter Eight.
"Well, well, Detective. It appears you were right. Your team did find you. But they underestimated me. Now I get to have the pleasure of killing your partner in front of you, before I then kill you. I'll find Mathew another way, and trust me his death will be slow and painful. He will pay for every cent he stole from me. Now say good bye to your partner."
Vargas pointed his gun straight at Steve's head and went to pull the trigger. Steve attempted to pull his gun but was unable to reach it in time as two shots rang out through the air.
Steve felt one bullet graze his thigh. Ignoring the pain he turned his gun on where Vargas had been standing. Had been was the key bit because he now lay dead, the back of his head blown away. Rising quickly Steve peered over the boulder and sighed with relief to see Chin standing there, his trusty shot gun still smoking. "Great timing, brah." Steve smiled.
"No problem." Chin said lowering the gun. "All clear guys." Chin said into his comm link.
"Chin, call a Medivac, Danny's in a bad way?" Steve instructed returning to Danny's side.
"Chin save the day?" Danny whispered.
"He sure did, now let's get you out of here." Steve smiled.
"You might want to take care of that first." Danny said pointing out the wound to Steve's thigh.
"It's just a scratch. I'm fine." Steve replied checking Danny's IV.
"That's more that just a scratch you Neanderthal. At least cover it. "Danny said weakly flapping his right hand around.
Steve grabbed some gauze, and a bandage, and quickly secured it in place. "Happy?"
"Ecstatic." Danny said before a bout of coughing came over him. As Danny fought to get control of it, Steve desperately tried to coach him through. But he could only watch helplessly, as Danny's lips took on a blue colour. Chin urgently called in the Medivac as Kono came racing along the beach, closely followed by Grover. Dropping down by Danny's side she grabbed hold of his hand to reassure him as he fought for every breath. Tears sprang to her eyes as Danny lost the battle to stay conscious, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head.
"Oh my." She said lost for words. "Look how burnt he is. Steve, why can't he breathe?"
"He's got several broken ribs and they...they,"
"They what Steve, what did they do?" Grover asked.
"They water boarded him." Steve replied looking up sadly at the rest of his team, "and by the smell of him, the water wasn't fresh. How long 'til Medivac get here?"
"Their 10 minutes out. I told them they could land straight on the beach." Chin explained.
"We need to cool him down." Steve explained, "Can you get me some wet cloths."
"On it." Grover said running back to the house and returning with a wet table cloth and sheet.
"Thanks Lou." Steve said taking the table cloth and placing it over Danny's chest. Chin helped Steve roll Danny so they could place the wet sheet under him, and as they did so all of them winced when they saw the angry red skin and blistered areas on his back.
Steve was limited with what he could do to help Danny with his small medical kit, but he busied himself cleaning the gun shot wound to his arm. By cleaning it he could see how angry and red it looked, it would need properly cleaning at the hospital and probably debriding, but at least he felt like he was doing something to help his partner.
They all signed with relief as the Medivac helicopter came in to view and landed on the beach. The team protected Danny from the sand that was whipped around by the choppers blades.
Running over to join the team the Medivac medic asked, "what do you have?"
"Detective Williams, he's been missing over 24 hours. During that time he's been severely beaten. Water boarded and left out in the sun to burn." Steve informed the medic. "He's suffering from heat stroke and dehydration, so I've started fluids and tried to cool him down. He has several broken ribs, and I suspect internal bleeding in his abdomen. His skin is really burnt too." Steve added peeling back the table cloth to show the medic Danny's chest. "He was in so much pain I risked giving him a half dose of morphine. He obviously has a concussion ,but was lucid and talking to me, but passed out 10 minutes ago after a particularly nasty coughing fit."
The medic nodded and moved in to examine Danny. Listening to his chest with his stethoscope he then reached into his big bag and pulled out an oxygen mask, quickly set it up, and placed the mask over Danny's face. Examining Danny's pupils, then chest and abdomen he looked up at Steve and said, "I can't do much more here, we need to get him to the hospital. He's going to need surgery on that abdomen."
Signalling to his colleague in the chopper, a basket was quickly brought over and using the sheet Danny was laid on they quickly moved Danny into the basket. As they did so Danny groaned and opened his eyes.
"It's ok D, medics are here. We're going to get you to the hospital now." Steve reassured. "I'm coming with you." He informed the medic.
They loaded Danny into the chopper and quickly placed a set of ear phones on to protect his ears from the drone of the blades. Medical cold packs were then brought out and placed around Danny's body, desperately trying to cool him down. Steve jumped in and sat by Danny's head. Danny wasn't completely with them, but he also wasn't unconscious. He let out a pained groan and Steve took hold of his hand, trying to ground him and let him know he wasn't alone.
The chopper took off as the medic inserted another IV and started another bag of fluids. Hearing Danny continue to groan, he pulled out a syringe and injected it in to the port on the IV. Danny instantly seemed to settle.
Dr. Pearce was waiting for them on the roof, and as soon as they were clear of the helicopter she ran to join them. "How's he doing?" She asked the medic.
"Hypotensive, but responding to fluids, chest sounds bad and I suspect an abdo bleed. Temps 105.7. Down from 106.3, with ice packs and fluids." The medic reeled off.
Steve limped after them desperate to stay near his best friend. When they reached the emergency room Dr. Pearce glanced over at Steve, well aware that he was likely to try and barge his way in, no matter what. She usually just found it easier to let him come, as long as she set boundaries. "Steve you can stay with him, but you sit out of the way and let a nurse take a look at you."
"Thanks doc, but I'm fine, I don't need looking at." Steve replied following the gurney into the room.
"Really, cos the blood running down your leg says otherwise." She retorted forcing him to sit on a stool in the corner of the room. "Kelly, can you see what the damage to the Commander's leg is please?" She then focused her attention on assessing Danny.
Steve tried to watch what she was doing, but Kelly, the nurse, kept blocking his view.
"Commander, did you hear me?" Kelly asked bringing Steve's attention back to her.
"What? Sorry." Steve replied.
"I said, this is going to need stitches."
Steve nodded as he looked down at his leg, Kelly had managed to cut his trousers away without him ever realising. Damn, they were my favourite pair of cargos. The bullet wound was now visible, a three inch gash carved along his outer thigh.
Dr. Pearce made her way over to Steve. "What's the damage? Will he live?" She asked Kelly.
"Bullet graze, it's stopped bleeding but will need stitches." Kelly informed her.
"Thanks Kelly, can you set up room three to do them while I fill in Steve on Danny's condition?" Dr. Pearce asked.
"How is he doc?" Steve asked glancing past her to his partner who was now attached to several monitors.
"He is going to surgery in a minute. He has an abdominal bleed which we will take care of. We will continue to treat him for the heat stroke and burns while he is there. I'm also rather concerned about his chest. X-rays show several broken or cracked ribs, and there is extreme bruising present, but his lung sound very congested." She informed him.
"He was water boarded." Steve explained.
"What exactly is that?" She asked. Being a civilian she had no idea about the many ways of torture.
"It's where a cloth is placed over the mouth and water poured over it. When the person tries to breath, all they get is a lung full of water, kind of like drowning on dry land."
Dr. Pearce's eyes became as big as saucers, realising the hell Danny must have gone through. "Ok so we are probably dealing with aspiration pneumonia."
"Most likely." Steve replied. "He stank of stale water when we got to him, so I would imagine it was full of bacteria."
"I'll page respiratory to review. We need to get him to surgery now though. I'll keep you informed. Now behave for Kelly." She said moving back to Danny and accompanying him out the room.
TBC
