Chapter Ten "The Cloudburst"
Thanks for all the great reviews!
Chin was discharged from the hospital early that evening with his arm in a sling. The doctor told him he would be able to use his hand just fine, but he shouldn't move his shoulder. So, driving was out of the question along with hunting for suspects and other fun things.
Danny and Kono took Chin back to his house and he ordered pizza. Half with pineapple, half without.
"This is gonna have to count for taking you two out to dinner," Chin said as they were eating.
Kono smiled. "I think everyone can live with that."
"Just so long as you two keep your icky pineapple to yourselves," Danny said, in all seriousness.
"You can't have my pizza," Chin said.
Kono nudged his good arm. "Our pizza," she said between bites.
"You share with the haole." Chin nodded at Danny.
"You should have gotten two pizzas," Danny said, taking another piece.
"Save room for ice cream."
"Do you know how much I eat?"
Chin looked between Danny and Kono. "Yeah. You were made for each other."
"I think he's calling us fat," Danny said, looking over at Kono.
Chin laughed and stood up, picking up the now empty pizza box.
"Cos', I can do that," Kono said.
"Thanks, Kono," Chin replied, "but I have two arms and one of them is still in pretty good shape if I do say so myself." Chin cleaned up after dinner and got a carton of ice cream out of the freezer. "Someone else is going to have to do this part though," he said, holding up the scoop.
"I'll do it," Danny said, getting up from the floor.
"And I'll pick out a movie," Kono said, going over to the shelf.
Once everyone had their ice cream and they were safely situated on the couch, Kono picked up the TV remote and pressed play.
"We're watching The Incredibles?" Danny asked, giving her a curious look.
She nodded. "Chin likes Pixar movies and I thought we could compare Mr. Incredible to Steve since he's not here."
Danny grinned. "Sounds like fun."
H-5-O
The sensation of falling always woke Steve. Usually it wasn't someone else falling, though. He shot up in bed, breathing hard and sweating. It was three AM and Steve couldn't go back to sleep. But he wasn't ready to think about his dream. He didn't have to since there was a soft tapping at his door. It opened a second later and McKenzie's face appeared. The rest of her soon followed, draped in a blanket.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
It took Steve a second to register what she was talking about. "Yeah," he said. "What are you doing up?"
She came over and sat next to him. "I heard you talking in your sleep. You seemed upset."
The color drained from Steve's face and he was glad it was too dark for McKenzie to see. "What did you hear?" he asked.
"I didn't understand any of it, except I think you called for help. Were you dreaming?"
"Yeah." Steve leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
"I know you don't want to talk about it, but can I stay here for a while? I can't sleep."
Steve got out of bed and pulled on a t shirt. "I won't be going back to sleep," he said. "But you can stay with me if you want."
"Was it that bad?" McKenzie asked as she crawled under the covers.
"No," he said, coming back and sitting next to her. "I just haven't been sleeping much lately."
"Why not?"
"Go to sleep. I'm the one who worries, not you."
McKenzie pulled the covers up around her ears. "You don't have to."
Steve ruffled her hair gently and smirked ironically. "Yeah. I do."
H-5-O
Chin fell asleep halfway through the movie, probably due to the pain medication he was on. By the time it was over, Kono was starting to nod.
"Hey," Danny said, nudging her. "I have to go home. I have Grace in the morning."
"Okay," Kono said, sitting up and stretching. "I'm gonna stay here for a couple of days probably. Just in case Chin needs anything."
"Okay. You have a car?"
"I can use Chin's bike if I need anything. If you and Grace want to come by tomorrow, that's fine."
"Speaking of that, I'm still trying to figure out how to tell her about us."
"You could just ask her what she thinks."
"Well I already know she likes you. I just... I don't know, I've never had to deal with this before."
"What? Telling your daughter you have a girlfriend?"
"Yeah."
"I can't help you there."
They got up and headed for the door. Chin stirred slightly, but didn't wake up. At the door, they said goodnight.
"Give me a call if you need anything, okay?" Danny said.
"Sure," Kono replied, smiling. "Don't worry; me and Chin are used to looking after each other." She leaned out the door and gave Danny a kiss.
He smiled as they separated and said, "Goodnight, Kono."
"Goodnight, Danny."
H-5-O
McKenzie didn't snore or talk in her sleep or even move more than to breathe. Except for that steady sound, Steve might have forgotten she was there. He sat with his back to the headboard and had McKenzie's blanket over his legs. He stared into the dark, thinking about his dream. Steve didn't usually spend much time focusing on his dreams, but nothing about the last five days had been normal.
He had dreamed that McKenzie was hanging onto his neck, smiling. He was holding her off the ground, if there were any ground; he couldn't tell. Then as he tried to move closer to her, she started to fall away. She slipped out of his hands and the rest of the dream consisted of a succession of falls. Always, McKenzie was falling out of his reach.
Steve wasn't sure what it meant. He was so sure he could protect her if Hadley found them, so why would he dream of not being able to help her? Why would he be scared of that?
Not scared; rationally concerned.
Steve looked down at McKenzie, almost as if making sure she was still there. She had her hands balled into fists under her chin, keeping the blankets framing her face. She looked excessively comfortable. Steve slid down so that he was laying on his back facing her.
The storm had become very noisy outside, but McKenzie never stirred. Steve wondered how she could sleep so soundly in spite of everything that was going on. He determined that the common denominator was himself. Initially, he had assumed that was a good thing, but he was beginning to question if perhaps it meant something more to him than he was yet willing to admit. He was used to people having to trust him, but not having those same people embrace the concept wholeheartedly. From what McKenzie had told him of her conversation with Dr. Eisner, Steve thought that she much more than trusted him. This was an assumption he did not want to make. It made things too complicated. What made matters worse was that he liked her trusting him. He liked being responsible for her. He did not want to know what that meant. He had to keep her alive; beyond that, he did not want to be concerned.
It was seven AM when Steve realized that he had been watching McKenzie sleep since three. In any other circumstance, he would have considered that creepy.
H-5-O
Grace arrived at exactly nine AM. Unfortunately, a rather unwelcome guest arrived fifteen minutes later. Danny and Grace had enjoyed their waffles and were just cleaning up the stickiness when there was a rather insistent knock on the door.
Danny went to answer it, but there was no one there. He looked out for the source of the noise when suddenly, something struck the back of his head.
When he woke up he was on the couch and there was a soft whimpering coming from across the room. His vision started to clear and he tried to sit up. The pain forced him to return to the couch and he let out a low groan.
"Don't move to quickly, Detective," said an eerily familiar voice.
"Hadley," Danny muttered, unable to focus on anything other than the fact that his daughter was in the same house as this monster.
"Our last meeting had an unfortunate end. I would hate for this to be a repeat performance."
Danny finally turned his head to where the voice was coming from. Hadley was standing in the space between the living room and the kitchen. Grace was sitting at his feet. Her hands and ankles were tied together and she had duct tape over her mouth. Her frightened eyes met Danny's and once again, he tried to get up.
"Don't make any sudden moves," Hadley said. Telltale clicking resounded in the silence that followed.
"If you hurt her—" Danny began.
"Please," Hadley interrupted. "I have no interest in killing children. That little redhead, on the other hand. I am very interested in killing her."
"I don't know where she is." Danny made his way to his feet, deciding to pretend to be rational. He felt his palms begin to sweat and he analyzed his chances of getting to the gun in the end table before Hadley killed one of them.
"I doubt that very much," Hadley said. "You and your boss keep close tabs on one another, don't you?"
"Usually." Danny shifted his weight back and forth. His equilibrium did not want to cooperate. "This is a special case."
"I'm flattered. But I have no time for games. You are going to tell me where the girl is, or I am going to put a bullet in this one. And if I'm really angry, I may just go finish the job I started yesterday."
Danny really felt like screaming at the guy, but he knew that wouldn't help. He didn't know where Steve and McKenzie were, but he could find out. Hadley must have known that.
"You have ten seconds to agree to my terms," Hadley said, moving his gun in a circular motion over Grace's head.
Danny's phone rang. Hadley held out his hand.
"Slowly," he warned.
Danny handed over the phone but not before seeing it was Kono who was calling.
"Answer it," Hadley said, handing it back. "Tell her you're going to the beach with the little one. Just the two of you."
Danny nodded, seeing a potential out. "Hey, Kono," he said in the brightest voice he could manage. "I'm sorry we won't be able to come over today. Grace and I are going to the beach."
"The beach?" Kono said.
"Yeah. Just the two of us. You know how much I love the beach."
"Danny."
"I have to go." He hung up. He hoped Kono would get the message. He would never have ended a conversation so abruptly with her. And nothing would ever make him willingly go to the beach.
Hadley had no way of knowing that.
H-5-O
The first thing McKenzie saw upon waking was Steve's face. He was staring at her and she wondered if he'd slept at all. From the dark circles under his eyes, she didn't think so.
"So are you going to make a habit of this?" she asked.
"Of what?" Steve asked.
"Watching me sleep. Am I in that much danger?"
"There was nothing else to do."
"Why didn't you go to sleep?"
"There was too much to think about."
McKenzie wasn't sure what he was talking about. She wondered if it had anything to do with her. It wasn't that she was so conceited, but strange things had been going on between the two of them. The strangest thing of all was that nothing actually felt strange.
Steve got up and went over to the closet. "You're gonna have to leave now," he said, turning back and holding up his clothes.
McKenzie feigned a dramatic sigh and snatched her blanket. "I'll make breakfast," she said. "Of course it might just be toast."
When Steve came out to the kitchen, McKenzie was just putting something in the oven.
"That's toast?" he asked.
"No," McKenzie replied. "We had enough eggs for German pancakes. But we'll need more food soon."
"There should be some coming tomorrow with the shrink. But pardon my ignorance, what are German pancakes?"
"Um... eggs, milk, flour, sugar."
"I shouldn't have asked."
"You put powdered sugar and lemon juice on them."
"Lemon juice?"
"Maybe that's just what my dad does."
As it turned out, they couldn't find any lemon juice, so they settled for the powdered sugar. When they finished breakfast and were in the process of cleaning up, the phone rang.
For a second Steve just stared at it. Maybe it was news that the murderer had been caught. Or that he'd struck again.
H-5-O
Danny sat on the couch holding an icepack to his head with one hand and holding Grace with his other. Kono had gotten the hint and now she was talking with other officers who'd reported to the scene when a neighbor called the police. Apparently, Kono didn't know how to execute a rescue quietly.
The bad news was, Hadley got away again. The good news was he didn't get what he came for.
"Danno," Grace said quietly, "are you okay?"
"Yeah," Danny said. "Are you?"
Grace nodded and fell silent. Kono came over to them a short time later.
"I'm going to call Steve," she said, sitting next to Danny. "What's the number?"
Danny handed her his phone and she found it. After the fifth ring, Steve answered.
"Hey, boss," Kono said. "I have some good news and bad news."
"Please tell me nobody's dead," Steve said.
"We had a close call, but no. No deaths so far today."
"Okay, give me the bad news."
"We almost had him. He came to Danny's place this morning and Grace was here. I called and Hadley made him tell me they were going to the beach. That gave it away and I made it over here before he hurt anyone."
"What was he after?"
"He thought Danny would know how to find you. The good news is no one got hurt and he still doesn't know where you are."
"This is getting out of hand."
"I know, boss, and I 'm sorry. This wouldn't have happened with you here."
"That's not what I meant. Nothing this guy has done makes sense. Why take all the risks?"
"They seem to be paying off for him so far."
"Let's hope his luck runs out soon."
"Well, he's certainly made a lot of enemies. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know what happened."
"Thanks. Is Chin doing all right?"
"He's fine. Probably still sleeping in fact."
"Okay. Keep me posted."
"Sure, boss."
Kono handed Danny back his phone and stood up.
"Come on," she said.
"Where?" Danny asked, looking up but not moving.
"Back to Chin's place. You're staying with us."
"Kono—"
"No. You're not arguing. What was it you said: 'we Five-Os have to stick together'?"
"Yeah, I did say that, didn't I?"
Kono smiled. "You did. So get your stuff."
Danny and Grace gathered their things and Danny undertook the daunting task of calling Rachel. It wasn't as difficult as he thought it would be. She was more worried than angry. In the end, she agreed to let Danny drop Grace off in the morning.
Danny knew the complications were only just beginning, but for now, he would just appreciate his family and worry about all that later.