Chapter 9- A little unsteady.
Hey guys- Thanks for the reviews, i really appreciate them. They motivate me to write. Here's another one, i hope you like.
Cheers!
...
Face down in the desert now there's a cage locked around my heart
I found a way to drop the keys where my failures were
Now my hands can't reach that far
I ain't made for a rivalry, I could never take the world alone
I know that in my weakness I am stronger
It's your love that brings me home
...
After going through the contents of the card, Danny made a call to Joe.
"Hello."
"I know where Steve is Joe. You got to get here quick."
Ten minutes later Joe was knocking on his door, but he wasn't alone. Junior was right behind him.
"So much for wanting to protect the team, Joe. Thanks so much." Danny said with sarcasm, letting them both inside the house.
"I didn't know he was as stubborn as y'all. Is that how you hire people on this team?" Joe said
"Detective Williams, Commander White, with all due respect sirs,, I could not just sit back and continue to pretend that I didn't know what was going on here. I had to help." Junior said.
"Oh yeah? What's going on here?" Danny asked, still trying to keep the secret.
"Commander McGarrett is missing. I know that much, and you could use my help. I happen to have some experience in black ops too. I'm Navy, remember?"
"How can I forget?" Danny said with a grimace.
"Contrary to what you may think son, this is not your typical black ops. It's…" Joe said to Junior.
"I know, now it may involve the CIA and we don't know who else, it's dangerous, and it's high stakes, I get that. But don't you go on thinking that you could go on a rescue mission and leave me out of it." Junior said stubbornly.
"Me, neither." Tani said, walking in.
"Oh, just great, where did you come from? Joe, you had to bring the whole clan?" Danny complained in exacerbation.
"It wasn't Joe bro, it was me. They got suspicious and I had to tell them. As you can guess, they want in." Lou said, walking in too, with Jerry behind him.
Danny made a sour face, "Sure, please make yourselves at home." He said with sarcasm. Some had already found some places to sit, some helping themselves to beer. The entire 5-0 team settled in, awaiting Danny's briefing.
"I'll help with Tech." Jerry said, walking in to sit on the couch. He popped his beer and took a swig.
"I can't believe you kept this from us, Danny. We want to help too." Tani complained. 'McGarrett said we're ohana- family.'
"I didn't deliberately keep it from you at first. I didn't have anything to go on than a hunch and I could not put the whole team in a panic over nothing. Now that we have something concrete, at least I hope its concrete, I want Joe to give you guys the same lecture he gave me. The floor is your Joe." Danny said.
"Fine, what I told Danny about two hours ago is that he had to let this go. As you can see, he didn't listen." Joe said.
"Oh, you really thought he would?' Lou asked incredulously, rolling his eyes.
"Anyways, what I said to him was, the enemy had become bigger; bigger than we all could ever have imagined. And poking into this thing, let's just say, it's at the risk of your lives and everyone you love. That said.: are you still sure you want to go ahead with this?" Joe asked.
"We have been here before, I don't know about Tani and Junior since they are still new on the team but what they have to know is, this team will risk everything for each other. However, it's up to you guys to decide." Lou said.
"As much as that is true Lou, you have to take into account that this time, it's not Wo Fat you're dealing with. Yeah, as dangerous as that guy was, he might as well be a kid in grade school compared to these guys. This is not your typical Mafia or serial killers. This is THE Government. This is a guy behind a guy behind a bunch of other higher-ups whose identities we don't know. These guys are shadows. They don't exist. You can't see them, but they see you. And everyone connected to you. You have to rethink this." Joe said
The room was quiet for a moment.
"My answer is not going to change, man." Lou said.
"I'm in too." Junior said.
"I'll help with Tech." Jerry repeated hesitantly.
"You've already said that Jerry but bear in mind that that doesn't put you in the clear. Every print you leave on your hacks can be traced back to you and before you know it, bam, wham, your name is engraved on a tombstone accompanied buy the words, 'beloved son and friend'." Danny said to Jerry's chagrin.
"He's just trying to scare you, Jerry." Junior said with a toothy smile.
"Protect. The word is 'protect'." Danny said.
"I know, and thanks for the concern, Danny, but I will be careful. Trust me, you're going to need me to be running Tech for you. The untraceable kind." Jerry said with renewed conviction.
One other person in the room had not said anything yet since Joe's scary speech. Tani could risk her life for the team, she would. She didn't like the idea but the whole 'being a cop' thing meant risking your life for humanity, what better than to risk it for Steve, a dear friend, aside from everything else? She didn't want to leave her brother Kua alone in this world. They have only had each other ever since she could remember, and it wasn't an easy decision to leave him alone. But she would do it, if it came to that. But the thought of her brother being killed, because of her. Because of this? Made her want to vomit. If ever her brother was caught and used as leverage against her she would recant any vows she ever took in order to save his life. And that was not a good thing for a team. Maybe she was not material for this team. Because she didn't know if she wouldn't sell them all out if it meant saving her brother. She was hesitant.
She went out to the balcony for a moment. She needed a moment, some air.
Danny followed her with a beer, handing it to her he stood next to her on the balcony, looking unseeingly at the garden at the back of his house. He sighed before he spoke.
"You know Steve and I are close, right? He is as real a brother to me as any blood of mine. And there is nothing I wouldn't do for him. He's the only brother I have left and ever since I lost Mattie, he has become more so. Now I know that everyone else have their own reasons for wanting to risk everything for him, but that's mine. That's my reason. I won't be doing this for Steve only, no. The more selfish reason here is I'll be doing this for myself. The thought of losing him is driving me insane. When I lost Mattie, it was like losing a limb, like losing a part of myself. And I don't know how I'll be able to go through that a second time. That's why I have to hold on to the hope that he's still alive somewhere out there, and the thought, the chance I've been given to do something about it is more than I could have ever hoped for. More than anything, I completely understand how you feel about your brother. I won't judge you on it. In fact, I'd feel better if I didn't get everyone involved in this. In case it goes south."
"No, I want to go rescue Steve. God, I hope he's alive. I just…I don't know if…Where are you going to hide Grace and Charlie?" She asked hesitantly.
"At the moment we're just being cautious but, there is a safe house that Joe has organized. My family and Lou's family are going to stay there for as long as this thing will be going on. Your brother can join them too. It's just a precaution incase this turns out to be as big as we think it is. You can stay and help run Tech with Jerry from there." Danny said.
"No, no I'll go. I just had to get my head straight but I'm coming with you."Tani said. "Do you have any idea where we will be going?"
"China, Steve left us a map on that chip and Jerry is working on it right now. It's most likely going to be a Chinese military base or a black site if he was captured. There is not much to go on but, well, now we have a start, right?" Danny said with a hopeful smile.
"Right." Tani said and sighed in despair.
He drew her in for a hug. "Your brother will be safe with the others at the safehouse. He won't be alone." Danny said in reassurance, before they both went back inside. He was grateful to her for doing this, grateful to everyone. He knew how much they were risking, but he felt a lot better going with his team.
…
"Steve, it seems we caught a case. There has been a murder at the beach, someone killed an agent or something where those supermodels are doing a photo shoot." Lou said, walking into the office.
"Wait, you had me on supermodels." Steve said, his eyes lighting up.
"Oh, come on, not you too." Lou said
"Me too." Junior said excitedly. His eyes as bight and wide as Steve's.
Tani rolled her eyes, "Men." She grunted with an exaggerated grunt and eyeroll.
"Now, tell me what happened." Steve said, he got the rest on the info from Lou.
He started to make a phone call.
"Now just who are you calling?" Lou asked.
"This involves supermodels Lou. Who do you think?" Steve quipped.
"Danny." Tani volunteered.
"Don't bother a man when he is on his off day,Steve. He is at Rachel's right now, babysitting his kids for her again. You know how he is when he's got one of those days. Let the man try and woo his ex-wife in peace." Lou said.
"Believe me, if I don't call him on this in, I'll be in big trouble. Bro code,man." Steve said with the phone on his ear.
"Put it on speaker, put it on speaker." Lou said with an evil grin as they all now gathered around the table.
The call went through.
"Steven, if this is nothing to do with terrorists or something involving mass casualties, I really can't come to work right now. Because I took a day! You do know what that's means right?" That was Danny's answer to the phone call.
Steve matched Lou's evil grin but kept his tone even, almost bored. "Well sorry buddy, but I just wanted to let you know that we caught a case. Some supermodels were doing a photo shoot down on Waiiki at the beach and someone got murdered. I won't be in the office…"
"Supermodels?" Danny asked curiously, not letting Steve finish his explanation.
Lou and Junior snickered and Tani rolled her eyes again.
"Danny, I did say someone got murdered." Steve said in his most serious tone.
"You also said supermodels. Text me the address, you might need my help." Danny said unabashed.
Steve was having a hard time trying not to laugh as he made faces at Lou, "Oh no. We got it. You have your day, buddy. I'll tell you the details when we get back."
"You got it? Oh,you got it." Danny snorted on the phone. Steve could actually picture him pacing around his house, one hand holding the phone to his ear, the other waving around to make a point. "Steven, these are supermodels we're talking about and I hate to break it to you buddy, but you're weird around pretty girls."
"What? Women love me." Steve bragged, with a smirk.
"No, face it Steve, you are a choir boy when it comes to women. You're no different than Lou. Lou would be looking out for Renee the whole time. Afraid he'll get caught."
Lou was about to make an outraged comment and Steve shushed him, they listened some more.
"After the whole case is over, Lou would turn himself in to Renee. Confess to looking a little over a minute at a pretty woman who is not his wife." Danny continued.
Tani was clamping her mouth now, laughing. She didn't make a noise though, they were not to give themselves away until Danny was done with his rant.
"And don't even get me started on Junior." Danny said.
Junior made a 'what did I do'? look, that almost broke the older SEAL's composure.
"Oh yeah? What about Junior?" Steve encouraged , stiffling his laughter.
"Junior will be fumbling around the whole time. I bet he won't be able to string two words together to make a sentence. I'll be surprised if he even gets a word out of his mouth. He'll be star struck."
Steve could not hold it any longer, he burst out laughing. So did everyone else.
"Steven, do not tell me you have me on speaker." Danny said suspiciously.
"Got'ya buddy." Steve said.
"Daniel Williams, I will have you know that I'm not afraid of Renee." Lou said in comic indignation.
"Oh, come on Lou. Tell me right now you're not going to confess to Renee when you get home." Danny defended.
"I'm a married man, you of all people know how wives can be. Don't judge." Lou said indignantly.
"And there you have it folks." Danny announced.
"And I fumble around…?' Junior asked indignantly too.
"Junior, don't get me started. If you weren't such a chicken, you wouldn't still be playing footsy with Tani right now." Danny said. "By now you could be…"
"Danny!" Tanni screamed with indignation.
"Damn it Steven! How many people do you have in there? Tani too?" Danny asked in horror realizing that Tani was present too. Steve had pranked him good this time. Thank God he did not got to finish his statement to Junior.
"Everyone." Steve said, laughing.
"Now we all know what you think of us." Jerry said.
"Jerry, you should be my only friend right now, I never said anything about you." Dany said.
"From now on be careful Danno. I'm going to record all our conversations. I'm sure i can make a lot of money selling them." Steve said.
"Or blackmail." Lou said, laughing.
"I'm gonna get you for this. Just text me the details." Danny said, exasperated.
"I thought you were still trying to woo your ex-wife." Lou said
"Woo is the word and it hasn't been easy. Right now, I'm still in the friend zone."
"Are you sure you should be stepping out with supermodels at a delicate time like this?" Steve asked
"I'm not stepping out on anybody, it's just an insurance. One can never be too sure with Rachel. One minute you think you're making progress the next she's married to a business tycoon and sailing off to Hawaii with my daughter. Text me the address. I'll meet you there." Danny ranted.
"What about the kids."
"She's got them. Address please."
That was a happy moment that just came into his mind at a time of torture. Instead of screaming, Steve laughed. His tormentors may have thought they had done a great job in breaking him. He had finally gone insane. He laughed even louder. Well, maybe he was losing it.
….
Brother let me be your fortress
When the night winds are driving on
Be the one to light the way
Bring you home- needtobreathe.
