The rest of the day was busy for Steve. He summoned the Attorney General to his office and they pored over the things Danny had gathered and then arrest warrants were issued. Chin, Kono, Yuri, Duke and several other HPD officers set off to make the arrests and Steve lay down for a moment to rest on the sofa at the urgings of May, his secretary. He was chagrined to awaken several hours later when his detectives returned.
"You don't look as happy as I thought you would," Steve commented. He had hoped to be in on arresting Po himself, but he had simply been too exhausted.
"Lee Wing Po escaped," Chin reported.
"What?" Steve found he was pacing. "How did that happen?"
"It seems he was tipped off somehow," Duke explained. "We'll probably find out as we question the gang members we've picked up."
"Tipped off," Steve mused thoughtfully. There was something nagging at his memory and he couldn't quite bring it in to focus. His headache was back big time and his neck was stiff again after his nap. He rubbed fretfully at the sore muscles, hoping that would stimulate his memory. It didn't.
"We've got the island sealed off," Kono offered. "He ain't getting away."
"Let's hope not," Steve agreed. He glanced at the clock and saw that it was gone 7pm. They had all had a long day. "Let's call it a night, gentlemen, and start afresh in the morning."
As the others filed out of the door, Steve turned and reached for his suit jacket. The phone rang. "McGarrett," he offered in a resigned tone. How many times had the phone rung as he was trying to leave for the night? he mused wearily. He supposed it was an occupational hazard.
"Steve, its Bergman," growled the familiar voice. "Where is Danny Williams?"
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"What? What do you mean where is Danny Williams?" McGarrett demanded. "He was sleeping when I left the hospital earlier."
"Well, I can assure you he isn't sleeping in the hospital any longer," Bergman snarled. "His IV is dripping on the floor and he's gone!"
"Are his clothes there?" Steve asked, for Kono had packed a small bag for Danny with a few essentials. "It was in the closet."
"Hold on." Bergman seemed to sense the unease that was growing in Steve with every moment that passed. While Danny had indicated that he would leave the hospital AMA if need be, he had been too sore that afternoon to do something so rash. Steve wasn't sure how he knew that, but he just did. Besides, hadn't he all but ordered Williams to stay put? Steve drummed his fingers on the desk while he waited. In moments, Bergman was back. "His clothes are still there. What does that mean?"
"That means that he was snatched!" Steve knew, with a sinking feeling in his gut that he had overlooked something very important earlier and he now remembered what it was – Danny had told him that Po had eyes everywhere and anyone who stepped out of line and spoke to the wrong people paid the penalty. "I'll be right there!" he told the coroner and hung up the phone with a crash.
It was too much to assume that nobody had gone home yet, but as he exited the office, he saw that Yuri was still there. "Yuri! Come with me!"
"Yes, Steve," Yuri replied obsequiously. "Where are we going?" he enquired as he trotted down the stairs at Steve's back.
"Danny Williams has been snatched from the hospital. I think Lee Wing Po has him."
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As they drove at breakneck speed to the hospital, Yuri clinging to the dashboard for dear life, Steve issued a BOLO for the missing officer and requested contact be made with both Kono and Chin. He wanted his top men all on board for this search. "I should have known!" Steve chastised himself as he strode quickly along the corridor towards the room where he had last seen Danny. "Danno told me about Po's habits himself!"
"It's not your fault," Yuri assured him in a rather patronising tone. "Williams will be all right. He probably hasn't been snatched at all; he's probably gone to the cafeteria for something to eat."
That stopped Steve in his tracks and he swung around to glare at the other man. "What did you just say?" he demanded. "Are you really implying that Danno would be dumb enough to do something like pull an IV just so he could get something to eat?" Steve's tone ably implied that he thought Yuri was a complete idiot.
"He's a stupid kid!" Yuri shot back. "He should never have been given a gig like this because he clearly isn't fit to carry it off. Undercover work is difficult and dangerous and he didn't do a good job!"
"After all the arrests we made today and all the evidence he collected, you have the gall to say that Danno is a stupid kid?" Steve's fists were tightly clenched and it was taking all of his not-inconsiderable control to keep his fists down by his sides.
"He got lucky," Yuri retorted. "You wouldn't be making this fuss over him if he hadn't saved your life. He nearly got killed because of what he did – he should have let you take your chances with the gang and kept his cover intact."
"His cover was intact right up until I took him from this building earlier today," Steve snarled. "In fact, for all we know, it is still intact; perhaps the people who snatched him are rescuing him from us – the cops!" He took a deep breath and made a conscious effort to lower his voice. Public fighting with his second was not a good idea. "However, I suspect that his cover has been blown because of the arrests. Danno told me that Po keeps a close eye on people who leave his organisation; what is to say that he doesn't keep a close eye on everyone?" At the moment, that was speculation, although a tingling in his gut told Steve he was on the right track. "Be that as it may, Danny Williams has been snatched from this hospital. He is a member of HPD and as such, we will do everything in our power to find him before harm comes to him, is that clear?"
"Oh, it's clear," Yuri agreed. "Crystal clear. Williams is your new little pet, isn't he? You're grooming him for Five-O – you've even given him a Five-O nickname." He laughed, but there was nothing mirthful about the sounds. "Kono, Chin Ho and now Danno; only I didn't get the nickname."
Steve was stunned. He genuinely hadn't realised that he was calling Danny Danno. He had no idea why he was doing it; it wasn't a conscious decision, it had just happened. He wasn't even going to defend himself against this ridiculous accusation; Yuri wouldn't believe him whatever he said. "Let's go," he ordered curtly and strode off.
There wasn't much to see in the hospital room. The abandoned IV was no longer dripping on the floor – someone had clipped it off – but the puddle of fluid was still there. The bed clothes were pushed aside, but there were no obvious signs of a struggle. As Bergman had reported, Danny's clothes were still in the small bag Kono had packed and it was still in the closet. Yuri noted those details down in his notebook as Steve perused Danny's chart.
"Your nurses did observations at 5.30pm," Steve observed. "It says here he got something for pain – what was it? I can't read what that says."
"He's been pretty sore," Bergman replied without taking the proffered chart. "I ordered some morphine to help him rest."
"So he'd have been sleepy," Steve theorised. "Not able to put up much of a struggle."
"He'd have been out for the count," Bergman countered. "Morphine knocks him right out."
They exchanged a grim look. On one hand, that ruled out a further injury, for the young officer wouldn't have been able to resist. On the other hand, it left him completely vulnerable to whatever his kidnapper intended to do. "What was he wearing?" Steve asked, pushing that thought aside for the moment. "He had on scrubs earlier."
Bergman glanced at the nurse. "He just had on pyjama bottoms," she replied and blushed. "The scrub top was uncomfortably tight and he was feeling it rather warm in here."
"Warm?" Bergman picked up the chart and glanced at the recorded vital signs. "Hmm, his temperature was normal." He glanced at the nurse, who was still blushing. "It has been warm in here with the sun streaming in all afternoon," he admitted. "Still…"
"Still what?" Steve asked.
"He was suffering from smoke inhalation yesterday when he was brought in, as you know. With those cracked ribs, breathing deeply is seriously painful and patients with that combination of injuries are more prone to developing pneumonia. Feeling warm might be a precursor to that, or he was simply too warm. I can't say for sure right now." He put down the chart. "Either way, I want him back here as soon as possible. That little jaunt of yours this morning took more out of him than he was willing to admit."
"Believe me, Doc, that's exactly what I want, too," Steve agreed. He glanced around as he heard footsteps and found Chin and Kono arriving together. In a few short words, he updated them on what had happened. "Get out there and hustle your snitches," he ordered. "We need to find Danno right away."