Outside the room, Rachel nervously glanced back at Danny's room as she led her daughter to the waiting room.
"Mom, what's wrong with Danno?"
"I'm sure it's just a tummy ache, honey," she ventured a diagnosis that may have succeeded in alleviating the child's fears, but failed to convince her.
Within minutes, Doctor Hanson and his nurse breezed into the room with Kono in tow. "What's wrong?" he asked concerned.
"All over sudden he started feeling sick to his stomach," Chin explained.
"Has he vomited?"
"No. Just dry heaves."
Dr. Hanson gave a quick gander at the heart monitor and checked Danny's pupils. "Where does it hurt?"
Danny moaned and groaned, writhing in obvious pain. "Stomach something fierce. I feel like my body is on fire."
"Came on all over sudden?"
"Not really, I felt it coming a while ago."
An intern rushed into the room with a medical chart. "Doctor Hanson, here are the results of Detective Williams's blood and urine work. I thought you'd want to see them right away."
Hanson's eyebrows shot up at the findings. "Are you sure?"
"Positive. We doubled checked."
"Notify Dr. Brown in toxicology STAT. Make sure you have Prussian Blue on hand for her."
"Right away Doctor." All eyes were on the intern as he hurried out of the room.
"What's happening? What's wrong with him?" Kono queried worriedly.
Doctor Hanson grabbed a fistful of Danny's hair and looked down at his palm. "No hair loss. Good, I believe we caught it in time."
"Doctor Hanson, what is it?" Chin insisted.
"Thallium poisoning."
"Oh my God!"
"We must act fast. I suspect this is an acute exposure, but luckily it appears to be in the early stages. On a lighter note, Commander McGarrett will be right up. The crisis passed. The embolus dissolved on its own. The Greenfield filter we had inserted in the vena cava hadn't fully deployed and thus didn't trap that clot. We had to replace it."
"But he is going to be all right?" Chin asked, needing reassurance.
"I wish I could say yes, but bear in mind that this is a man that should have died within twelve hours of admission. He has one tough constitution. At this point we can only hope that the worse is behind him."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~H50~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Joe arrived to his destination. He eyeballed the area warily before heading out back to meet with Wade.
"Ah shit!" Joe cursed upon setting sight on the CIA agent dressed in civilian clothes.
"Nice to see you again, Commander White. You're looking well."
"Spare me the pleasantries, Sheridan. What are you doing here?" Joe asked crossed.
"Funny, I was going to ask you the same question."
"Doing Uncle Sam a favor."
"By getting rid of the one man who was keeping our economy afloat? I don't think he'd take too kindly to that. All right, I'll ask you the same question I asked these men here: which one of you killed him?"
"What makes you think it's anyone of us?" Joe replied wittily.
"We told you, he was dead when we arrived, sir," Wade chimed in. "We got an anonymous call where to find him."
"And whoever it was did us all a big favor."
"I'll find out who it was and when I do…"
"You'll do what? We've got proof that Sam Alexander was corrupted to the core. I don't think our government would take too kindly to this dirt being dished out onto the street. Besides I'm sure Alexander wasn't the only big player in this organization. Believe me, you're better off with him dead."
"We have ways of finding out who got to him," the agent threatened.
"Good luck," Joe said with a mocking grin. "In the meantime, you want to dispose of the body or shall we?"
"We'll take care of it. Better make yourself scarce, Commander. But I guarantee our paths will cross again."
"Looking forward to it. Come on, men. Let the professionals handle this mess," Joe teased, as he, Wade and members of the team left the premises.
"Joe, we did our best to cover Danny's tracks. But if they remotely suspect that he was here…"
"I know. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it…IF we get to it."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~H50~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back at the hospital, Danny was resting in satisfactory condition while Kono kept a vigil on a slumbering Steve.
Suddenly, a small groan caught her attention. She stood from her chair and leaned over Steve.
"Chin, I think he's waking up."
Chin crossed to Steve's bed to stand beside Kono. Both waited for the boss to open his eyes. A few flutters later and the eyelids slowly prised apart. Two vacuous blue eyes first peered through a slit. A few blinks later, they settled on the two familiar faces.
"Steve, can you hear me?" Chin asked expectantly.
Steve closed his eyes heavily and nodded.
"You've got to stop scaring us like that," Chin teased, getting a strained smile in return.
Steve's eyes then caught sight of Danny sleeping in the next bed. He frowned.
"We found Danny. Alexander poisoned him with thallium but," before Chin could finish his sentence, Steve was already pushing his way up. Both Chin and Kono held him down. "Listen to me, Steve. The doctor said they caught it in time and he should be fine. Right now he's resting and so should you."
Steve shook his head vehemently and groaned. He pointed to the wheelchair in a corner of the room.
"What?" Kono asked, puzzled. She followed his finger to the object in question. "Wheelchair? What about it?" Steve gestured to bring the wheelchair over so that he could sit in it and go to Danny.
"I don't think that's such a good idea, Steve," Chin said. "It could be harmful in your condition and besides, you can't be moved with all those tubes in you."
But Steve was adamant and wouldn't take no for an answer.
"Steve, you can see that he's ok. Just take it easy. You can keep an eye on him from where you are. Both me and Kono are here at all time."
"Steve," Kono said softly with a hand on his shoulder," Danny's alive and he's going to be all right. He killed Alexander." Steve reacted. "Joe, Wade and his group are taking care of the body and making sure Danny will not be held accountable for the murder."
Steve somewhat settled knowing that Joe was tying the loose ends.
"You rest now. You and Danny are going to be just fine. The nightmare is over, Steve. Alexander's dead," Chin reassured, prompting Steve's breathing to steady. With a last nod of the head he closed his eyes and soon drifted off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~H50~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile in a remote part of the island, the CIA agent met with his contact in a secret hideaway, far from prying eyes and ears.
"Alexander's dead. Don't know who killed him but Joe White's involved. He's privy to our little market and has the dirt on Alexander."
"Then forget it. If he smells us coming he'll blow our operation wide open."
"He'll find a way to put us out of business anyway. I say we waste him and make it look like an accident," the agent suggested.
"Navy Intel will nose around. We can't risk it, especially after Alexander failed to deliver on his promise to get rid of McGarrett. We can't afford another failure."
"I won't fail. I'm the top in my field," the agent said confidently.
"We'll just let the dust settle for now and then we'll weigh the odds: If McGarrett and White get under foot, we'll make them disappear for good."