Author's Note: I told you I'd be back either yesterday or today and ta-da, I am here with the latest update. I would have posted yesterday but I was too busy binge watching Bob's Burgers. I know, I have a serious problem. But don't fret my pets I am here now. Thank you to all you wonderful readers who have been reading and reviewing this fic. You guys are so amazing and I love you for it. Thank you Meagan for your beta work. You are possible a miracle worker when it comes to fixing my mistakes. Now on to the disclaimer:
Disclaimer: Don't own. There, that's clear enough for any idiot to understand.
A Race Against Time
Summary: He was trying to do the right thing, helping out a stranded stranger on the side of the road. Instead, the situation leaves Danny kidnapped and evidence proves that the situation wasn't random. With Danny missing the team discovers a ruthless plot involving the Russian Mob and relocated witness. The race is on to find Danny before it's too late where every second counts
Chapter Eight
Steve wanted to throw his chair through the glass wall after Kono's call from the hotel. She and the team had searched the entire room but had found nothing, not one clue to where Natasha and Ian were keeping Danny.
"Dammit," yelled Steve who kicked his chair in anger.
Danny had been missing for five hours and they had no leads whatsoever.
"Steve-"
"Unless you're here to tell me that you've found Danny then I couldn't care less about what you have to say," barked Steve loudly at Chin who gave him a disappointed frown.
Chin replied sternly. "I'm worried about Danny too."
Steve instantly felt terrible for the way he spoke to the detective. Danny may have been his best friend but he was also a loved and valued member of the team. Chin and Kono were missing him just like he was.
"I know Chin," Steve sighed, leaning against his desk. "I'm sorry. I'm scared we won't find him in time. I'm terrified that I'm will have to tell Grace-"
"You won't have to tell Grace anything because we will find Danny. He's tough and stubborn. He's not giving up without a fight."
"You're right. But I do need to call Rachel, she deserves to know."
Chin nodded his head in agreement. "Okay," he said. "I'll give you some privacy."
"Thanks," Steve replied completely grateful for the privacy. He sighed again, moving to his chair when his cellphone began to ring. He immediately answered when he saw Kono's number flashing on the screen.
"What have you got Kono?" he asked, desperation dripping from his voice.
"We almost missed it but CSU found a second cellphone taped behind the headboard. I'm coming in now. Hopefully there's something on here we can use to find Danny."
"Hurry."
Natasha was pacing the floor while her brother leaned against the wall nonchalant as usual.
"It's been been an hour," she said suddenly as she came to a halt.
Ian shrugged unaffected. "So."
"So she was clear that she was going to call us every hour to check on our progress."
"Not much progress if you ask me. Two doses of truth serum and several beatings and he's still not talking," grunted Ian, slightly annoyed.
Natasha sighed. "I know, he's stronger than he looks." She paused and then nodded her head towards the left side of the room. "Well we still have the little girl to use if he still doesn't cooperate. She should be waking up soon."
"You think that will work?"
"It will, especially after I give him another dose. He'll tell us everything we want to know and then some."
"What about Eva?" asked Ian. "You're worried that she hasn't called yet."
"Yes, I am because it could mean that she's been compromised."
"Hey, if she gets caught then that's on her. We tried to warn her against her plan but she insisted. Who am I to argue against the pocket that paying me."
"I don't know if she has been captured or not but it really doesn't matter if she has. The police have no way of finding us," stated Natasha.
"What if she gives up our location?"
"She could try but we'll be long gone by then," Natasha replied.
Ian began to smirk slyly. "Does that mean we get to kill the cop?"
Natasha shook her head. "No, I have an even better idea. We could take him with us."
"You can't be serious?" he said disbelievingly.
"Think about it Ian," replied Natasha as she grabbed her brother's chin and pulled him closer to her. "If we take him with us it will only be a matter of time before he cracks. He'll give us the information on Mikel and then we find the man ourselves. We get the account information we get the money."
Ian took a moment to let her words sink in before he started to smile once more. "I gotta admit that does sound like a good plan."
"Doesn't it," grinned Natasha. "This could be the payoff we've always dream about. We'll never have to work for anyone again."
Ian gave her a nod. "Alright," he agreed with a shrug "We give her an hour. If she doesn't call we split and take the cop with us."
"Keep him till he talks and kill him after he does."
"What about the girl? Are we still gonna use her?"
"Might as well," Natasha said with a nod. "You did go through all that trouble getting her."
"And after?"
"Once she does her part we'll let her go. Go get her ready."
Kono flew through the doors of HQ and ran to the computer where Chin was waiting for her. She waved the phone victoriously before handing it too him. Chin immediately went to work and Kono looked over to find Steve's office unoccupied.
"Where' Steve."
"With Eva, trying to convince her to talk," answered Chin
Kono shook her head. "But she won't. Not until she gets what she want."
"Who knows, maybe Steve will be able to get her to tell him what he wants to know."
"Do you think he'll go that far?"
Chin gave her a small smile. "This is Danny we're talking about. There's nothing Steve would do for him," he replied knowingly.
Down in the interrogation room Eva sat handcuffed to the chair, a smug smile on her face while Steve stood in front of her, glaring menacingly.
"I'm gonna ask you one more time," he growled heatedly. "Tell me where Ian and Natasha are keeping Danny."
Eva chuckled. "I think we've already established that I'm not telling you anything. Not until I know where my brother is."
"Danny will never talk," confirmed Steve.
"My people have ways of making him doing exactly that. He will talk."
"You don't know Danny. He will die before he tells you anything."
"Then he is dead, but he doesn't have to be if he just tells Natasha and Ian what he knows. It's really that simple."
Steve took a small step forward. "There are so many ways," he growled as he took another step. "So many things I could do to you to get the information I want," he spat hotly, placing his hands on top of Eva's arms with very little pressure. He looked up and stared Eva right in the eyes. "I could but I won't do any of them."
Fear flickered in her eyes for a brief moment before it disappeared and she gave Steve a sly grin. "Why Commander, scared?"
Steve didn't move.
"No," was his answer. "I won't do it because Danny wouldn't want me too. But what I will do is be the one who that locks you in your prison cell where you will, without a doubt, spend the rest of your miserable life."
He took a step back and then began to smile.
"After I save Danny of course."
"That's gonna be pretty hard to do when you don't even know where he is."
"But you do and you may have erased information on the phone we took from you but you didn't on the phone we found in your hotel room." Steve watched as Eva's smile fell and her eyes widen.
The look on her face made him smile even harder. "Oh, didn't think we'd find that did you," he teased. "Well we did and soon we're going to have everything we need to bring Danny home."
"It doesn't matter," spat Eva.
"Your life, no, it doesn't matter."
"No, it doesn't matter if you find anything useful on that phone."
"Why?"
"Because I'm supposed to check in with Natasha every hour and guess what, I haven't," Eva replied, shaking her head. "It won't be long before they realize that I've been compromised and when they do they won't hesitate to kill your partner before they make a run for it. They really hate loose ends. That's why I chose them of course," she said, a provoking smile on her face but it was too late.
Steve was no longer afraid. "We'll find them long before that happens," he replied confidently.
"If you say so Commander. If you say so.
"I know so," was all Steve said as he opened the door and walked out of the room.
Steve quickly made his way upstairs to the Five-0 offices and spoke as soon as he walked through the doors. "Tell me you got something Chin?"
Chin looked up with a frown. "Unfortunately I wasn't able trace any calls that were made to the phone because they were made by a burner phone.
But-"
"But what?"
"See this app, it's called the Geoapp and it records your every move whenever the phone is on. It's preloaded on some phones and most people don't even realize that they even have the app. It can track you unless you disable the app itself," he explained.
Steve began to smile. "Let me guess she didn't disable it."
"Nope," grinned Chin with a shake of his head. "During her stay in Hawaii she didn't go anywhere except the Hotel and this place. A motel on Kapiolani."
"Why leave a five-star hotel and go to a run down motel?" questioned Kono.
"Well I was thinking that Eva would only go there if-"
"If she was meeting Natasha and Ian to go over their plan of attack," finished Steve, nodding his head.
"That's gotta be it."
Chin nodded as well. "Correct so right now I'm sorting through traffic cam footage to see when they arrived at the hotel and when they left. Hopefully I can keep tracking them and ultimately find us a lead on Danny."
"That's great Chin," congratulated Steve, clapping the other man on the back. He then turned to Kono to find her in the middle of a call. "Hey Kono what's up?"
"That was Duke. A woman just came in to file a missing child report. Apparently she went to pick up her daughter from school for a doctor's appointment only for them to tell her that she never arrived.
The school thought the child was home sick because she'd been out for the past two days," she stated dreadfully.
Steve sighed. "Kono we need to find Danny."
"Steve, they talked to a neighbor who says that she saw a man and woman, that she'd never seen before, driving through the neighborhood repeatedly.
She couldn't make out their faces but she remembers that the woman, who was sitting on the passenger's side, had red hair."
This caught Steve's attention. "You think Natasha and Ian are behind the kidnapping?"
"Duke sent me a picture," replied Kono as she placed her cellphone on the computer table. Seconds later a picture of the missing girl appeared on screen. While they had never seen the child before she had very familiar features.
"I think I know why Ian and Natasha took her," mumbled Steve as he walked closer to the table. "She could pass for Grace."
The girl had long brown hair with brown eyes. The height and weight of the girl was similar to that of Grace. It would be easy to tell the girls apart if they were up close but from far away or under certain conditions it would be harder to spot the difference.
"So you think they're going to use this girl to get Danny to talk?" asked Kono.
Chin nodded. "If they can make Danny believe that they have Grace, there's no telling what he would say."
Steve felt himself starting to break. Not only was the life of his partner at stake but that of a twelve year old girl.
They needed a miracle.
"We need to find them now," he stated and Chin immediately went back to combing through traffic footage, Kono at his side.
"I brought you something."
Danny flinched at the sound of Natasha's sing song voice entering the room. He could barely see her or anything else for that matter so he wasn't sure if she was coming to drug him up some more.
"Don't want it," hissed Danny as he shook his head.
Natasha pouted playfully. "But Detective Williams, I think this might be something you like. Bring her in."
Danny could hear two steps of footsteps entering the room. He knew one set belonged to Ian but he didn't know who else had been brought in.
"Daddy," a small voice cried out suddenly.
The voice was shaking and Danny could tell that it belonged to a young girl. His body began to tremble in fear at the thought that it was his daughter in the room with him.
"Monkey," he whispered tentatively wishing he could see. The girl coughed and cried out again.
"Daddy I'm scared."
Tears began to fall from Danny's eyes as his heart beat rapidly in his chest. "I know baby but don't worry, daddy's here," he said as bravely as he could, not wanting to display fear. "Everything's gonna be alright."
"Please Daddy, they say if you tell them the truth we can go home," the girl said as she began to cough wildly. A few moments passed before the coughing stopped and she began to cry again. "Please Dad, I want to go home."
She called him dad.
Danny stopped crying and began shaking his head. Grace called him dad of course but only during rare occasions when she felt as though she was being treated like a child instead of the preteen she was. Most of the time it was either daddy or Danno.
That was another thing, she hadn't called him Danno not once. It also took a while for it to occur to Danny that the young girl in front of him was obviously sick from her constant coughing. Grace, at the moment, was the perfect picture of health. Whoever this girl was she was not his daughter.
"I'm gonna get you home sweetie I promise," he replied when the girl began to cough again.
Natasha grinned happily. "Does that mean you're going to talk?"
"I don't know what you've done but that's not my daughter," he stated boldly.
"How can you be so sure detective?" she asked with a frown.
"Because I know my daughter and that's not her."
Natasha couldn't believe the man hadn't been fooled. She gestured at Ian to grab the girl and bring her closer. "You're certain?" she said snidely. "Would you bet her life on it?" She pointed at Ian and watched as he pulled out his gun and cocked it before pressing it against the young girl's head.
They were close enough for Danny to see what Ian was prepared to do. "Don't you dare," he seethed, pulling against his binds. "Don't."
"She's not your child," goaded Natasha, moving behind Danny and grabbing his face to keep him from moving. "Why do you care what happens to her?"
"She's a little girl," Danny said with a cry.
"A little girl I will put a bullet in," stated Ian gleefully.
"You wouldn't."
"One," said Natasha.
"Please stop."
Ian pressed the gun harder against the girl's temple. "Two."
Danny could see tears falling heavily down the girl's face as she silently pleaded for help.
"Don't do this."
"Three-"
"Okay you win," Danny cried out, nodding his head the best he could. "You win. I'll tell you where Mikel is? Just don't hurt her. Don't hurt her," he pleaded with tears in his eyes. He hated himself for agreeing to talk but he couldn't risk the life of a child. No child's life was worth keeping such a secret.
Both Ian and Natasha smiled. "You made the right choice detective," Ian stated happily as he holstered his gun and then dragged the girl out of the room.
Danny watched them leave, fear gripping his heart at the thought of that young child being hurt. "Don't hurt her," he repeated beseechingly.
Patting him on the cheek, Natasha moved in front of him and gave him a gloating smile. "I won't as long as you start talking," she stated firmly.
It took twenty minutes. Twenty minutes of sorting through hours of traffic cam footage hoping to find the suspects they were looking for.
Before their main concern was Danny but now the murderers for hire were in possession of a twelve year old girl. A little girl they would no doubt use against Danny to get him to talk. They knew the Jersey native could take the brunt of any physical harm they directed at him but when it came to a child, Danny would give his life to protect them. They had to find them now before Danny told them anything. Suddenly amidst all the quiet Chin let out startling shout.
"I got 'em," he said eagerly pointing at the screen. "I know where they took Danny."
Steve didn't waste time, holstering his gun and grabbing his keys, Chin and Kono right behind him.
"Gear up, our only objectives are to get Danny and Nora out alive. If Ian or Natasha get in your way do not hesitate."
"We won't," Kono replied threateningly while Chin nodded.
"Let's go."
Yay the team is off to rescue Danny. I know a few of you were worried about Grace but you should have known she would be safe (well in this fic she was but you never know about the next one). Also GeoApp, not a real app, at least I don't think it is, but totally plausible that the app could track your moments. I saw the same thing on a an episode of CSI:Cyber. Sadly the next chapter will be the last chapter and it will be posted sometime next week. I will do my best to make sure it's up before Friday. If you liked what you read leave a review if you want, don't mind them at all. Until next time,
Don't sweat the small stuff. It's way to hot for it.
Ladycizzle
