Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in updating. Night classes have been brutal the last week or so, but I hope to get back to regular updates now. I hope that you guys enjoy this latest update, and will drop me a line to let me know what you all think. Thanks again everyone for being so patient with me :) Enjoy :)
Partners
Chapter 10
The gang is standing on the small hillside finishing up their last-minute preparation for the assault they are about to embark upon. The conversation for the last few minutes has been focused on just how the four of them are supposed to escape once they find Deeks.
"I'm just saying I'd like to know what happens once we're inside, and how we plan to get back out again. I don't think that's too much to ask." Danny says, as he reaches down into one of the crates and produces an assault rifle from within.
"And what if I say, 'you don't need to know'." McGarrett replies, arching a brow at his partner.
Danny shakes his head. "This…this is ridiculous." He says with a chuckle. "Care to elaborate for me, please. Tell me why it is that I don't need to know?"
"You just don't."
"Are they always like this?" Kensi asks Joe quietly.
Joe tilts his head to one side for a brief second. "Only 98 percent of the time."
Kensi chuckles to herself.
Suddenly everyone, accept Danny, falls silent where they stand. No one moves a muscle, but all eyes are trained on the exact same spot just over Danny's head. First Kensi, then Joe, and then Steve slowly lower the weapons they're holding to the ground.
When Danny finally looks up from making some adjustments to his assault rifle he notices that everyone else has their hands raised up into the air as if in surrender.
"What?" he asks, a little confused by what he is seeing. "Why's everyone got their hands u-"
A familiar, metallic clicking sound coming from just behind startles Danny at that moment. "Oh geez." He instantly drops his rifle to the ground, and brings his hands up over his head. "Someone's pointing a gun at me, aren't they?" he says, his voice just a little bit shaky.
"Yeah." McGarrett replies, very matter-of-factly, and with a slight nod.
"Fantastic." Danny remarks.
"لا احد يتحرك." (Nobody move) the man obviously in charge of the hostile group barks, his accent think and his voice harsh.
Just behind Danny there stands a group of about 5 or 6, well-armed men. All of them have their guns trained on the members of the small rescue team. Serious expressions hang over the faces of all six men.
"التعادل. سوف نقدم هؤلاء السجناء الكولونيل." (Tie them up. We will deliver these prisoners to the Colonel)
"What are the chances we have a plan B?" Danny asks, as he feels one of the men pulling his hands down behind his back. The other five men move around to subdue Steve, Kensi, and Joe.
Kensi Blye stands just inside the compound's main lobby area. The female federal agent is decked out in full military-style protective gear. The guards are certain they searched her well enough for any potential weapons that they do not seem worried. Kensi stands firm as the infamous Colonel Rahman slowly descends a nearby staircase.
The Colonel begins to speak to Kensi in his native tongue. He does not know whether or not she will be able to understand him this way, but the Colonel does fancy a good game—and that's exactly what this whole thing is to him.
"مرحبا بك إلى منزلي" (Welcome to my home) The Colonel greets Kensi, his voice thick with his middle-eastern accent.
Kensi does understand what the Colonel is saying, though her Arabic is a little rusty right now. Still she remains silent. So far everything is going according to the plan. All she has to do now is wait for the next phase to begin, and then she can make her move.
"اخبرنى ما هو ما جلبك هنا?" (Tell me, what is it that brings you here?)
"لديك ما اريد" (You have something I want) Kensi replies plainly.
"المهم" (Interesting) The Colonel muses. He appears thoughtful for a long moment, but then a knowing, and yet mischievous smirk crosses his face. "ماذا لو قلت فوات الاوان. انه مات بالفعل." (What if I said you're too late? He is already dead)
"بافتراض أنك وقول الحقيقة?" (Assuming you're telling the truth?) She poses evenly. "ثم ليس لدى اى سبب لك العيش" (Then I have no reason to let you live)
"سيمكنك قريبا لكم لم ياتوا الى هنا" (You will soon wish you had not come here) the Colonel says threateningly. "جب عليك تسليم الكريم لى عندما يكون لديك الفرصة" (You should have delivered Kareem to me when you had the chance)
"سنرى" (We'll see) Kensi replies calmly.
Down below in the lower level of the compound, Steve, Joe, and Danny are being lead through a dimly lit hallway towards a creepy looking rusted, wrought iron door at the far end. They've already been stripped of their gear at this point, and their hands are bound in front of them.
"I really don't like where this is headed." Danny remarks quietly.
"Just relax." McGarrett reassures him. "We're gonna be okay."
"Easy for you to say." Danny replies.
Somewhere else in the compound three other men are guiding the Humvee they acquired from Steve and his team into a garage area within the compound. To them it is a new toy to be exploited like any other. What they do not know is that underneath the vehicle, attached to its underside, is a small C-4 based bomb planted there as part of the plan by Steve McGarrett.
Colonel Rahman is staring at Kensi, thoughtfully, trying to decide what to do with her. Then an idea seems to pop into his head, and a fiendish grin crosses his lips. As is true to his nature the idea involves having his sick, twisted fun with the brunette beauty before killing her.
"لها أدناه. "الغرفة"." (Take her below. To the 'Chamber'.) The Colonel barks at his men, with a wave of his hand.
Kensi's Arabic, again, is rusty but she understands what's going on at this point, and she finds herself hoping that where these two men are taking her is where Deeks is too.
The three men from before are now laughing and having a good time as they explore the newly acquired Humvee, both inside and out. The man messing around on the driver's side suddenly stands up. He holds his hand up in the air, and in his hand he appears to be holding some fine cigars that were left inside the vehicle. He waves them around excitedly, and cheers loudly over his find.
Another man is kneeling on the ground on the passenger's side. He has decided to take a look underneath the vehicle. He rolls onto his back, and then slides himself under Humvee. The other men wait patiently for their friend to say something, but for a few long beats there is only silence.
"كل شئ طيب?" (Everything alright?) One man asks, leaning over a little bit towards the man underneath the Humvee.
The man underneath the Humvee is staring at the slowly ticking timer device on the bomb that he has just found, and beads of sweat roll across his face. The time on the device reads 15 seconds and counting.
"اصدقائى" (My friends) the man underneath the Humvee says in a tone of reverence. "وقد تم تكريم العاملين معك جميع" (It has been an honor serving with you all)
Down below in the lower level of the compound Steve, Joe, and Danny suddenly feel the immense shockwaves given off by an explosion coming from somewhere up above. The whole room seems to shake violently around them startling their captors, and Steve wastes no time in taking advantage of the situation.
Steve stands at the head of the line with one guy behind him. Danny is the third person in said line, and then behind him is an armed guy and then Joe at the end with his own personal armed guard.
Danny accidentally trips forward, and when Steve slams himself backwards into the armed man directly behind him, the force of the blow sends the man hurtling across a stooped over Danny, landing hard against his head on the ground.
"That looks like it hurt." Danny quips.
Joe spins to the side, and grabs the barrel of the third guards' assault rifle. He forces inward slamming it hard into the man's gut, doubling him over in pain. Then he raises the barrel upwards sharply, clocking the man in the head, and sending him toppling to the ground backwards.
Danny stands up, and tries to get his bearings. While doing this though, he misses the man approaching him from behind ready to attack.
"Danny, lookout!"
Suddenly Steve leaps onto the man's back, and wraps his arms around his throat. He pulls his arms tight then, in a scissor-like headlock. After a minute or so the man finally falls to his knees, and then slumps over onto his side unconscious.
"Everyone okay?" Steve asks, breathlessly, as he looks from Danny to Joe.
"Yeah. Just peachy." Danny replies, holding his hands up so that Steve can see they're still tied. "What was that anyway?" Danny asks, referring to the explosion.
"The explosion?" McGarrett asks, as his eyes wander over the now incapacitated bodies littering the floor at their feet. His gaze finally falls upon a knife clipped to the belt of one of the unconscious men on the floor. "Ah ha." He says, more to himself than the others.
"Yeah, the explosion. Wait, how do you know it was an explosion?"
"Easy." Joe replies, as McGarrett pilfers the knife off of the unconscious body. "He set it up." Joe nods towards McGarrett.
"Seriously?" Danny retorts. "So I take it that was 'Plan B'."
"Actually that was 'Plan A'." McGarrett informs his partner as he finally cuts through the remaining threads of the ropes binding his hands together.
"Plan A…seriously. You're telling me this now!? I though we went over 'Plan A' earlier…outside?" Danny fumes, disbelievingly.
"Nope, that was 'Plan B'." McGarrett replies. "Danny, I'm sorry. I lied." He adds, trying to suppress the smirk playing at the corners of his lips.
"This is unbelievable." Danny mutters as he holds his hands up for McGarrett to slice through the ropes around them.
"Look, we didn't have a choice." McGarrett reassures his partner. "We couldn't take any chances with this one. And I promise it won't happen again."
"Yeah, see there…that, I don't believe." Danny retorts.
"You don't?" McGarrett asks, slightly amused.
"Not for a second." Danny replies. "So what's phase two?"
"Phase two…we meet up with Kensi. Hopefully she'll have the 'package', and then we leave." McGarrett explains, very nonchalantly.
Kensi has been lead down to a separate section of the lower level, and she and her two guards have reached an open room, which leads off into a long, narrow hallway. At the end of said hallway is the room where Deeks is being held captive.
The sudden, violent shaking around them tells Kensi that the planned diversion has been activated. It is now time for her to act. The whole walk down she has been eying a combat knife strapped to the waist of the guard on her right.
Without warning Kensi snatches her arm away from the guard, and then elbows him in the gut. Next, she quickly seizes the combat knife from the sheath strapped to his waist, and spins it in her hand. Before the man can react to the woman, she stabs the blade of the knife into his chest. Blood oozes forth from the fresh wound as she removes the blade afterward. The man then falters backwards to the ground.
Kensi then turns on the other guard, repositioning the blade once more, and stabs him in the throat. He crumples to the ground in a heap, grasping at his throat, as blood spurts out from the wound. She does not hesitate, but immediately sprints off down the long hallway towards the room where Deeks is being held.
She makes it about half way down the corridor before a side door opens up on the right, and a lone sentry ambushes the female federal agent. She reacts quickly though, and manages to incapacitate the assailant fairly easily.
In the main area of the compound, Colonel Rahman is greatly upset by the explosion that has just taken place inside of his home. Several men come dashing into the room then, and two of them appear to be mildly injured.
"ما الذى حدث?" (What has happened?) Colonel Rahman asks angrily.
"هناك نوع من الانفجار ... جنوب شرق نهاية انهار" (There was some kind of explosion…The Southeast end has collapsed.) One of the men replies breathlessly.
Colonel Rahman seems to be deep in thought at this point. An expression of anger slowly spreads across his face as realization and understanding begin to set in.
"لقد خدع." (We've been fooled!) Colonel Rahman exclaims angrily. "لعثور عليهم. العثور عليها بقتلهم. اقتلهم جميعا!" (Find them. Find them, and kill them. All of them!)
Kensi reaches the door, and wraps her hand around the handle. She yanks open the door, and steps inside the dimly lit room beyond. Sitting at the center of the room, bound to a heavy wooden chair, is a dirty-looking, shaggy-haired man. Kensi swallows a lump in her throat as she moves towards him.
Is he still alive?
He is silent, and unmoving. She can tell from this angle that his once muscular frame has slightly diminished over the course of his time in captivity here. It is only once she finally reaches his side that she is able to hear his slow, rhythmic breathing.
She kneels down in front of him, and it seems as though he's not even aware of her presence in the room. She starts to undo the shackles around his ankles seconds later, and before she undoes the restraints around his wrists, a thought occurs to her. She raises her head and examines Deeks' dirty face, with locks of his hair matted to his forehead.
In case we don't make it out of this. She thinks to herself.
Her heart pounds like a thousand jungle drums in her chest as she slowly brings her lips up to his. She only lingers for a brief moment, before pulling back again. She swipes the back of her hand across her cheek to remove the stray tear there.
It only takes her a couple of seconds to undo the restraints around her partner's wrists, but as soon as she does, though, life seems to spring spontaneously into the unmoving body in front of her.
Her reflexes aren't enough to help evade the pair of hands that shoot out suddenly, and wrap themselves around her throat. She immediately feels his grip tightening around her, and the flow of air slowly being cut off.
"D-D-Deeks." She manages to croak out, as she claws at his strong hands. "Please, D-Deeks…I-It's me…K-Kensi." She feels the world around her beginning to grow darker and darker.
Then the hands around her throat suddenly loosen their grip. Air instantly rushes back into her body, and with it a feeling of relief.
"K-Kensi?" he asks in a quiet voice. His voice is dry, and harsh sounding when he speaks now. "Is it…is it really you?"
She nods. "It's me. I came to bring you ho-"
He doesn't let her finish her sentence though. He leans forward, and quickly wraps his arms around the brunette beauty, holding her firmly against him. He can tell by the feel of her that she is real.
The maneuver surprises Kensi at first, but she eventually returns the gesture. The sound of quiet sobs fill her ears as she listens to him finally breaking down after all this time.
"My God, Kensi." He mumbles. "It really is you."
"It's me. I'm here." She reassures him softly.
"I missed you so much. I was sure I'd never see you again." He tells her, as he pulls back to look her over. "I dreamed about this…this face. Every time I closed my eyes in this room." he admits, as he strokes a finger gently over her cheek.
"Deeks," Kensi struggles through her own tears now.
Deeks gently pulls her face up to his, and presses his lips to hers. Kensi's hand slowly snakes its way up to his face where she holds it firmly against his cheek. Neither one seems able to get enough of this moment.
Finally, however, they do part from one another. The two of them stare into each other's eyes for the longest moment before any words are spoken. "Deeks," Kensi says at last, having to swallow first to regain her voice. "We…we should get out of here." She tells him.
He nods, and then lets her carefully help him to his feet.
…TBC…