A/N I'm excited to be posting this chapter - it contains the scene that popped into my head to inspire the whole story. I do love a bit of action. I really hope this works for you - let me know.
Thanks, as always, for reading and reviewing.
Chapter 8
You were right, Steve thought, as he took in the scene. Danny had said there would be no time to call for extra help and sure enough, they really had no choice here...Just you and me Danno.
He had to admit, as a tactician himself, this was a good place for its purpose.
A long corrugated iron storage shed, rusting and creaking in the strengthening breeze. Large and faded white writing showed it had once housed Hawaiian Delight Fruit Packers Ltd but there was no further evidence now of any legitimate business happening here. Its loosened sheets flapped and banged against each other like some experimental percussion band. One side was open where the doors had long since dropped away from their decayed hinges. Access to the remote spot was only via one muddy track, in and out, any approach that way could be clearly seen.
But Steve wasn't coming that way.
He'd left in Danny's wake but peeled away a mile from the destination they'd been given, testing the Camaro's non-existent off-road capabilities to the limit. A quarter of a mile out, he abandoned it, checked his weapons and ammo and took off at a hard, distance eating run.
By the time he crested the hill on the eastern side of the building, the breeze was gusting and the rain was starting again, mixing now with the sweat that ran from his brow and down his back. He slowed his breathing and could make out the sound of Danny's car approaching.
A quick glance to his left and he saw the red ford making its way down the track. Down and to his right he could see into the building and counted at least eight men lounging in readiness but he was aware there could be more. Four vehicles were parked outside, including a silver Jag. Inside, a black Grand Cherokee Jeep with darkened windows. He couldn't see who was inside but from the way three men ranged close to it, Steve guessed that was where the hostages were being held.
We're coming for you Gracie...Your dad's coming...
As the men were also alerted to Danny's arrival, they moved towards the doorway. Steve took advantage of their shifting attention and quickly sprinted low into the brush covering the slope ahead. He was well out of sight and still moving silently as the men fanned out and, rather belatedly, scanned the land surrounding them to check that Danny had obeyed his orders to come alone. Two South American, two Caucasian, four Hawaiian, Steve judged. Even from his hidden distance he took in the familiar bulk and rainbow tattoo of one of them. Muscled, hard and all of a type. Dangerous.
Steve had been trained by the best, to be the best and even the birds seeking shelter remained undisturbed as he pushed on, slipping through and under and over whatever lay in his path. Their timing had to be perfect...On my way, Brah...I'll be there...
Danny scanned the hillside ahead but didn't dare move his head to look closer as he passed along the track and once he saw the building and the men waiting, his attention was only ahead.
"Hey Soda!" he called without turning. "Nearly there, Man. It'll all be over soon." It seemed like he should at least keep the guy informed. Considering what he was about to do to him.
He drew up twenty meters from the V formation of waiting heavies. Cutting the engine, he blew out a breath but didn't hesitate. He'd seen the darkened Jeep inside and drew the same conclusion as Steve had.
Hold on, Baby...
Stepping out, he adjusted his loose shirt over the Kevlar...not gonna make it too easy for you bastards...then waited, the rain soaking him in seconds.
From the gloom of the building, two men stepped out into the gray of the day, hunching slightly against the weather. Their appearance hit Danny like a punch in the gut, twisting it with a hatred so strong he felt he could spit it out and throw it like a rock...I'm going to smash you...
Kahumoku smirked as he waved for Danny to come forward. The slighter, younger figure of Pedro Fuentez stood a little to the side, a little aloof, and watched without expression.
Danny moved to the rear of the car and lifted the back. Soda's wild begging eyes stared back at him and he shook his head desperately. He had to admit he felt sorry for the guy but grabbing him, Danny hauled him up and out, carefully adjusting the dark blanket that he'd draped over his shoulders as he stood up.
He could feel Soda shaking against him as he pulled him in close and rested his gun hand on his shoulder. Then, with the end of the barrel of his Sig automatic pressed under Soda's jaw, they began their slow walk towards the building.
From his cover, Steve watched their progress and made his own move as six of the men also returned to the building. The two left outside to keep a watch missed seeing him make a dive behind one of the vehicles, then creep silently along its nearside to angle behind them.
Danny didn't see it either but he felt Steve's presence, with a certainty that had grown from their time together, first as reluctant partners, then as a trusted team and now, most importantly, as friends. He knew in his heart that Steve would be there. He had to be there.
Danny moved his captive to the center of the building's darkness as the hired men fanned out in a wide arc around him. Kahumoku stood in front of the Jeep, Fuentez at its rear door.
"Ah Detective Williams...So nice of you to come." Kahumoko had to shout above the clanging of the iron cladding. "And you've brought us the gift we wanted too."
"I want my daughter."
Danny's voice carried clearly. Hard as steel, it cut through the background din.
"I want my daughter. And my brother...That was the deal."
He was poised with feet braced apart, rigid and alert to the slight movements of the men around him but centered on his task. All the confusion and whirling emotions of the last few days had faded. He was in the eye of that storm now and his heart pulsed hard with purpose.
He watched as Fuentez opened the side door and stepped back.
After a moments pause, Matt stumbled out with Grace pressed tightly to his side.
Danny felt the quick burn of tears of relief and blinked hard once to hold them back. His eyes met his brother's and a lifetime of trust was reinstated in an instant. Pain and fear shone back at him. Regret too, but most of all Danny saw determination. Thinner than when he'd last seen him, beaten and scared, but Matt was there for Grace.
His gaze dropped to his daughter when she squirmed against her uncle to twist her white, terrified face towards him, her eyes wide with terror and tears.
"Danno!"
Oh Gracie, Baby... At her cry, Danny's own voice nearly failed him but he swallowed hard and called back to her.
"It's gonna be okay, Monkey...you're going home, I promise, Baby...it's going to be alright."
It was wrenched from him and grated painfully through a throat that seemed to have closed up. A tiny nod to Matt and he saw his brother turn her head into his side once more, stroking her hair as he whispered onto the top of her head. Danny longed to be doing that himself, hurt with the need of it. He couldn't tell the words but was so grateful for the comfort that it offered.
"How sweet!" Kahumoku sneered.
Fuentez moved up. In his mid thirties, his was an athletic build, fine boned and well groomed. He held a quietly superior air and seemed somewhat out of place in this company and yet completely unfazed by it.
"Just get it done," he ordered, nodding to the .42 Berretta the Hawaiian held.
Make some time...Give Steve his chance..
"Yeah, you're good with the orders, right Pedro?" Danny called out tauntingly. "Was it you that ordered my brother to be tortured? Or for Soon Li to be killed?" He took brief pleasure in seeing the surprise that flashed on both the men's faces at what he knew.
Oh yeah, I know it all and it will end you...
"What did the guy do to you, huh? Did he see something he shouldn't, see too much?"
"Nah," Kahumoku snarled. "He talked too much ...just like you."
Fuentez stared hard at Danny and there was a flash of realization in his eyes. Danny had watched this pair on many occasions over the weeks, photographed them and trailed them. He'd always kept himself well out of their sight but now his determination was there for all to see.
"As for your brother there...well, he wasn't much use to us, even with his all his fingers," Fuentez entered into the conversation dismissively. "He really doesn't have the stomach for the business."
He looked over at Matt with disdain, nodding at his bandaged right hand, black with dried blood and held protectively up against his front, his elbow protecting Grace's head. "Now of course, he's even less use ... can't write all those zeroes."
Kahumoku snorted at that and his tattooed goon even looked a little proud...Sure, laugh it up...I'll be coming for you too...Danny fought to contain his temper, still intent on buying valuable seconds, as Fuentez went on.
"Oh, and Detective... I thought you knew, I'm an accountant."
"Yeah? Well you made a pretty lousy calculation throwing in with Mr Over-Eager there. Whoever it was that pulled the trigger, you're both implicated, you too."
"That's not my thing - I don't kill people."
"Oh sure...Not by shooting them, or slicing their throat maybe," Danny conceded. "You have plenty of friends in the cartel to do that for you, don't you. But you're part of the filthy business that feeds them drugs until they crawl away and choke on their own vomit in a dark corner. You facilitate it. And that's just about as bad in my book."
Danny looked around to catch Rainbow's eye before turning back to Fuentez.
"Oh...And by the way...my brother's left handed, asshole."
Inching through the shadows, Steve couldn't help a smile at his partner's ability to wind people up. It certainly had an effect.
Kahumoku raised his arm and pointed his gun straight at Danny's chest.
"You know, Williams, you've become a problem to us," he pointed at finger at Soda. "But right now not as big a problem as him. So, let's just do this."
Danny stepped back slightly and Steve held his breath. It was a calculated risk, Kahumoko could simply give the order to kill them all, right there, right then, and be done with it. They were relying on the men's greed, counting on them to value future business over more murders that would attract unwanted attention, assuming they would try to keep Danny under control through further threats to his family.
Soda though, would have to die. He knew it too and when Danny separated himself from his side he released a high keening whine, that rose above even the noise of battering wind and rain.
"Know what? People tell me I'm an obstinate kind of guy. My partner says it all the time. Says I'm difficult sometimes." Danny's shouted tone was a strange deliberate mixture of conversational and wicked. The men around him heard it and tensed further as he continued.
"It's true, I guess I can be a little...loud...at times. So, yeah, I've got your guy here, but it's not going to go down the way you think."
He stepped further back and with the quick flourish of a master magician on an Atlantic City stage, he pulled the blanket off Soda to leave him standing, trembling and alone, before them.
Matt's hold on Grace tightened at the sight of the quaking man but also of his brother. He'd never seen quite that sort of feral grin on Danny's face before.
"You can take him," he growled. "But he'll be taking you with him."
Soda took a stumbling half step forward, whimpering and snuffling behind the gag. It only took a moment for his audience to register his strange shape, the clearly identifiable blocks of C4 attached to him, the wires and the red numbers flashing on his chest.
Soda Martinez was a walking human bomb.
5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0
You were right, Chin thought, as he took in the scene. When Steve had called en route to his own rendezvous, he'd warned the rest of the team they would have to move fast, there was no choice...Just us then...
From his crouched position below a window at the side of Rachel's expensive home, Chin peered quickly inside before ducking down once more. From her position at the next window along, Kono checked too, then watched his hands and noted their silent signals of communication.
Yes, Rachel was inside – a captive – held at the back of the room – two men in sight – one towards the rear, the other to the right – I'm taking the lead, you cover me.
Kono turned to Ed Kipton at her side to confirm he'd also registered the instructions. The agent nodded his grim understanding and they both looked back to Chin in readiness.
Five seconds.
Gripping their weapons tighter they prepared themselves.
Three – two – one.
As Chin swung the heavy base of a garden sprinkler against the window, shattering it in an explosion of glass and noise, Kono and Kipton rose up and fired side by side.
Shots blasted back but as a shape darted away, Chin leapt inside while Kono and Kipton stood firm and continued their rapid fire.
The second man had taken cover behind the kitchen breakfast counter as Kono broke off to follow her cousin over the ledge. She hit the floor rolling and came up against a low coffee table still covered with Grace's colored pencils and drawings. More lay scattered about on the floor, swept off in an earlier struggle.
Glancing up, she saw Rachel, tightly bound to a high backed chair. A towel was tied around her mouth and her dark eyes were wide with terror as she drew her shoulders up against the blasting gunfire around her.
Kipton was still firing, sending up splinters from the wooden cladding and Kono saw the man hiding behind it slowly backing away. Her angle on the ground gave her a chance and she took it. Her bullet caught him in the shoulder and he spun back against a cupboard, bringing a stack of saucepans crashing down too.
The fierce gunfight in the kitchen echoed through the hallway as Chin ducked back and flattened himself against the wall of the ornate staircase, listening for further movement in the house. A slight sound drew him towards the next room. A gun muzzle was rising in the gap at the side of the door and Chin threw himself forward to bring the hard edge of his hand down on the weapon. Darting around the door he pressed his own gun hard up against the man's temple.
"Don't. I really cannot miss from here," he ordered.
All the fight drained away as his opponent's cross-eyed gaze was drawn up to the weapon pressing between his brows. Chin kicked his gun away and quickly cuffed him, then, forcing his prisoner ahead of him, he rejoined the others.
Kipton was already on the phone calling for HPD and an ambulance while Kono struggled to undo the rope around Rachel. With her freedom came a mother's hysteria.
"They took Grace...yesterday afternoon...came in...just took her...I couldn't do anything...Grace...Oh God, my baby...Grace..." She was hyperventilating and sobs wracked her body.
"Rachel. We know," Chin assured her. "We know..." His gentle words brought her up short and all strength left her.
Passing his man to Kipton, Chin helped Kono lower Rachel onto the sofa and quickly passed her a glass of water. Her hands were shaking so much, it slopped onto her lap. Tears spilled down her face as her stark eyes pleaded for reassurance, for the answer she needed to hear.
Chin cupped his hands around hers and hoped he wasn't wrong to give it.
"Danny and Steve are getting Grace back right now."
5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 5-0
The prospect of imminent death is a sobering thing and the digital countdown on the improvised explosive vest gave everyone there just enough time to consider it.
Five seconds.
Eyes widened and feet shuffled as the men glanced at each other. Their bosses. The numbers.
Three – two – one.
Like a starburst, they flung themselves away, scrambling for cover with urgent cries of fear and warning.
Danny and Steve were ready.
In a fluid movement, Danny launched himself at Soda, knocking him flat and rolling over the top of him.
"Stay down and get to cover," he growled as he rose and sped towards where he'd seen Fuetez and Kahumoku melt into the darkness. Keeping his gun level as he dodged, he squeezed the trigger again and again and again at anything near him that moved.
In contrast, Steve chose his own marks precisely and, bursting from the shadows behind the jeep, downed two men with four shots shots. Head and chest. Head and chest.
Matt spun around as the men fell right beside him and Steve was immediately by his side, grabbing and turning him and scooping Grace up, in one lightning move.
"I've got you Grace, hang on," he told her as she latched onto a limpet hold around his neck and wrapped her legs tightly around his waist.
"Go!" he ordered Matt. He was still stunned by the speed and noise of events but it was not a voice to ignore and he ran ahead as Steve turned back to take further aim.
"Don't look, Honey..." he whispered and used his chin to force her head down into the crook of his neck. He was vaguely aware of the wet warmth of her tears on his skin but his shoulders were a protective shield even as he leveled his gun and fired once more. She didn't see the spray of brain matter that splattered against the side wall.
Further back, Danny was drawing fire – just as he intended. The men were moving fast now that they realized they'd been taken in and he was their main target. He made sure of it.
Darting out from the cover of a metal shelf unit, he made a dash for another but changed direction when one of the Hawaiian's appeared from behind it, blasting at him gangster-style with a stiff arm and sideways hold.
Sprinting towards a stack of packing cases piled in the corner Danny kept up his firing. Keeping a subconscious tally of his shots, he had no time to slam in a new clip but instead dropped his Sig and grabbed a second from the small of his back as he skidded behind the nearest crate. Without waiting he pushed his weight against the stack and the rest toppled with a satisfying crash. He took four more shots and doubled back, zig-zagging towards the Jeep with bullets passing so close he heard the zap as they flew by.
Stuttering muzzle flashes splintered the gloom, eerily lighting the faces of too many attackers like black and white battlefield snapshots. The noise was deafening, as gunfire added to the crashing of the wind whipped metal building itself.
Matt was nearly at the doorway now, but dangerously silhouetted for those who heard Kahumoku's shout and spotted their escape attempt.
"Down!"
Again, Matt instinctively obeyed and a bullet pinged off the metal where his head had just been. The shooter quickly took cover too, as Steve unwound Grace's grip and plopped her down to send a volley his way.
In turning, Steve took in the scene behind.
Soda Martinez was moving on his belly along the floor. Hindered by the vest and his tied hands, he resembled a beached pilot whale, lumbering up a shoreline. But, as Steve had noted once before, he moved surprisingly quickly for a big man and was apparently going unnoticed thanks to Danny's barrage on the other side of the shed.
Steve's rapid sweep found his partner next, crouched low and still shooting...Christ... he can't do this much longer...Even as he registered that certainty he saw Danny jerk back, thrown violently against the hood of the Jeep as a bullet slammed into his chest.
The blow was hard and robbed Danny of his breath in a white flash of panic and pain but even as he felt it, he fought to stay upright ...Wearing a vest...wearing a vest...only a bruise...not dead yet...
Twisting with the momentum of his fall, he rolled and crashed to his knees, immediately trying to bring his gun up again but his right side wouldn't co-operate and his arm remained leaden with the shock of the impact. As he scrabbled for the weapon with his left hand, Steve saw him looking around wildly for the next attack.
Their eyes met for an instant. Steve at the doorway, crouched in front of Grace and Matt, Danny at the center of everyone else's deadly attention. Their look held just long enough...
"You get Grace out. That's it!"
Danny had called it and Steve had accepted the terms. In his career he was used to taking orders in operations where he knew the consequences may be terrible but this sacrifice was too much...Danny!
Grace's scream pierced the doubt that consumed him as a ricochet snapped next to them and Steve knew he must move. He had to hold to his promise for Danny's sake. For Grace. Lifting her again, he pushed Matt ahead and they felt the shock of wind and rain slashing at their faces as they ran, low and fast, for the safety of distance.
Danny saw them go and felt a triumphant jolt of relief and gratitude. It was the last thing he registered before his leg exploded in burning agony, and he dropped like a stone.
He cried out as the white light obliterated his vision once more and he could only sense an approach while his head swam with the pain.
I was right...Danny thought, with bleary satisfaction...It's all me now...
"No! Don't kill him...bring him...we've got to get out of here."
The voice was distant but the rainbow was clear enough as it delivered a blow to his head that sent him into darkness.
Outside, without breaking stride, Steve blasted at two figures firing from the shelter of the parked vehicles. One man screamed, arched back and fell against the equally limp body of the other but as he reached the tree-line, he registered the silence that had fallen behind him, the quiet of the building where he'd left his partner.
"Go."
Steve glanced over the top of Grace's dark head to Matt and saw fear that matched his own.
"I'll take her," Matt's voice was weak and shaky, but his arms were strong as he reached out for the little girl and looked back to where he'd left his brother.
"Go," he insisted.
Steve nodded once and pointed to a labyrinthine tangle of fallen branches twenty meters in. "In there. Keep down and don't move until I come back for you." Then he was off and running again.
Hurdling over the bloody body of one of the Hawaiian gun men, the roar of a powerful engine was all the warning he got before the black Jeep tore out of building. He threw himself sideways to avoid being hit, rolled and rose up onto a knee to take aim at the vehicle as it threw up a cloud of spray and sped away, disappearing in the sheeting rain.
The Camaro was too far away, the red hatchback would be too slow, Steve couldn't follow ...and I need to know..
He peered into the shed with dread. The bodies of five men lay scattered inside, contorted and still. Danny's was not one of them. Even as he registered the fact of his absence, Steve struggled with his feelings about the connotations ...Not here...Not dead?...Still hope...
That hope leapt when a tiny sound sent him racing to an ancient rotted tarpaulin heaped up against the base of the back wall. Pulling it back, his heart dropped and he knelt down to meet a gaze, sightlessly glazed with shock. The sharp smell of urine hit him he studied the huddled, rocking figure.
"Danny did tell you it was a fake, Soda," he said, as he first patted, then grabbed a trembling shoulder. "Now, come on, I haven't finished with you yet."
Tbc...
