I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.
Note: thank you all so very much for the fantastic reviews and comments. I appreciate every single one and I'm humbled truly, that you like this story so much.
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Chapter Ten – The Deep End
"What do you mean he's been released?" Steve was practically shouting into his cell phone at the poor nurse unfortunate enough to pick up the phone in Danny's old hospital room. He was standing outside his truck being heavily pelted by a chilling rain while simultaneously gearing up.
"Where the hell is Doctor Ramirez? When did this happen .. where did he go?"
"Released?" Kono stared at Chin with wide eyes as she buckled her vest and ensured her weapons were ready. The rain was not letting up and it only created yet another annoying issue for the team to have to contend with. Steve had only wanted to tell Danny about the change in plans for that day. And how that change would very well conflict with a visit from his team later that afternoon or even into the early evening hours depending upon how it all might play out. However, the unexpected news that Danny had already been released unraveled their already frayed nerves.
There was a pause and Steve angrily thumbed the device off. "Danny's been released. Around ten or eleven this morning, she wasn't sure of exactly when. Ramirez is in emergency surgery. No one else seems to know anything."
"Yeah, got that boss." Kono said with a slightly worried tone in her voice as she rechecked her weapons out of habit and then stowed extra clips. None of them could afford to be distracted with the current mission a firm 'go'. But the emailed files from Duke weighed heavily on her mind and now with Danny out of Tripler, a new concern loomed.
Glancing over to Steve who had begun an aggravated pace in front of the truck, Kono frowned at a disturbing thought and whispered to herself. "How could he have? There's no way he saw the files yet .. he was just released. How could he have had the time …?"
She groaned and then looked to her cousin. "Chin, the files .. suppose he saw them."
Not entirely convinced himself, Chin shook his head and tried to smile. "No, I don't think so. He's probably home with his feet up. He knew we were supposed to be at a meeting all day .. that's the only reason he didn't call."
But Steve's dark mood had only blossomed into a full-fledged storm and he couldn't shake a rising tide of dread. Ignoring them, he tried Danny's now long dead cell phone and then the office lines. Failing at both, he walked in an aimless circle staring at his device in a silent fury.
"Where did you go, D. Where would you go?' Willing himself to quiet, he checked the time and had less than four minutes before the Five-0 team was required to be in position. Dialing Rachel on his last hunch, he was disappointed when she answered and told him that she hadn't yet heard from Danny.
"He actually wouldn't call unless he knew Grace would be home. That's hours away, Steve. But if I do hear from him, I'll have him get in touch with you."
Pocketing the phone, he turned now towards his team, schooled his features and grimly convened with HPD SWAT. Wiping sweat mingled with rain water from his face, Steve was forced to lead them forward.
"Let's go people. We have our orders. No deviating from your particular assignment unless absolutely necessary."
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Out of breath and trembling, Danny stood in the now nearly empty DEA offices soaked to the skin from the heavy downpour in total astonishment. Recognizing him from prior visits, the one remaining receptionist intercepted Danny at the door and was worried when she saw the fresh bandages and his drawn, pale face.
"You're welcome to stay. But they scrambled early. I'm not privy to any of the details … I only know it was urgent. Sir, maybe you should sit …"
"When? Girardi? My team?" Trembling from both cold and anger, Danny interrupted her in a harsh breathless whisper. "Where's Joe Cano?"
"They all left about an hour ago now. And Agent Cano went too." The receptionist replied slowly with a worried frown. "But I do know Agent Cano's going to be at our mobile command center. Shall I try and reach him for you? I have permission to contact the command center …"
Danny almost barked his stunned reply. "No! Absolutely not." Jaw clenched, he stood fisting his left hand in frustration and then repeated himself as he turned on his heel.
"No. Definitely do not call him." Danny had just enough information from the first meeting to know where the sketched plans for the command center would be in relation to the primary warehouse. There would be two in actuality – one for the DEA and another for the combined Five-0 and HPD SWAT teams. Entering the windy storm again, Danny jogged to the Camaro and then drove directly to the site of the DEA's command center. He parked close enough to watch the activity, but not too near the large van. Recognizing the Camaro and its driver, a lone DEA agent thought nothing of waving once before entering the van's side door.
But Danny merely studied the van through the Camaro's winshield wipers as the rain hammered overhead and simply waited. Without communications, not even a cell phone, Danny had no idea of the status of the raid. His own team was on the opposite side of the sprawling complex. And from the DEA's perspective, he didn't know who to trust and so was fearful of even approaching Bobby Girardi.
"What the hell am I doing?" Danny whispered as his eyes flew from the distant warehouse where the main team waited for the Yakuza and then back to the closed doors of the black van. He had abandoned the sling but the cast remained. He was also already wearing his bullet proof vest and his gun lay across his lap, fully loaded with the safety off. Leaning his head on the steering wheel, Danny closed his eyes and fought a war to for self-control.
Thinking he had come to a decision, Danny's hand finally thumbed the weapon's safety back on and his hand strayed to open the door. But before he could get out of his car, another pulled past him to park very close to the command vehicle. Peering through the rain, Danny glowered when he recognized Joe Cano and unconsciously slipped the safety of his weapon back off.
Their eyes met briefly as he drove past, and Cano laughed out loud when he saw the driver of the idling Camaro. Only needing to check on and replace a faulty communications device for one of his people, he'd retreated for a few minutes to a secondary staging location to run diagnostics.
"What a nice surprise." Cano chuckled as he parked and stared into his rearview mirror. "Coming to me .. what a very, very nice surprise." In seconds, he'd adapted his plan to end the issue with Willliams in a remote corner of the warehouse. "So much better that it's here too."
So now instead of entering the van, Cano got out of his own car and turned to boldly face the Camaro. Adjusting his cap and casually turning up the collar of his windbreaker against the driving rain, he smiled and then reached back into his car. With a flourish, he pulled out what looked distinctly like one yellow rose and made a show of pocketing it gently inside the jacket. And then, he simply walked away towards a far corner of the rambling warehouse.
"Come along now." Cano whispered as he took his gun out from its holster, slipped through the tall wet grasses and then through a jagged hole in the broken chain link fence. Geared up for the raid, he also wore a vest for protocol and his two weapons were loaded with extra clips stowed and ready for use. Glancing back once, he smiled wickedly when Danny did exactly what he'd hoped.
Unable to stop himself, Danny growled as a new surge of anger boiled over. Taking the bait, he dove out of his car to give chase at a slow and cautious jog. Bending down, he too went through the broken fence and tried to see where Cano had entered the old building. With his fingers now chilled to the bone, Danny panted and ran his left hand through wetly matted hair. Resting up against the side of the metal building, he shoved his gun under his belt and then fumbled to get the soft cast off his right arm wincing at the persistent spikes of pain thrumming through its entire length. The wet Velcro resisted, but he finally managed to unwrap it and drop it to the muddy ground.
In the distance, he could hear gunfire and shouts as the Yakuza were surrounded and hopefully brought into custody. But he had one goal in mind as he forced the fingers of his right hand to take up the gun. Cradling and supporting the arm with his left, he slowly propped the closest door open and peered into the darkness.
Going in low, Danny ducked behind old crates and barrels to enter the depths of the warehouse. As he grew accustomed to the poor lighting, he saw that the section had an array of high metal catwalks and ancient holding tanks of varying sizes. The roof's old skylights were broken and open to the sky and the floor was slick with rain water. A narrow rusty staircase led down to a lower level that was fully concealed in an eerie blackness. Danny barely gave that black hole a second glance as he skirted the dark edges. But the odd dank smell was sharply reminiscent of garden fertilizers and moldy grasses and he had to bite back a sneeze as the pungent odor assaulted him.
Cautiously, Danny sidled along a wall and tried to hear or see where Cano might be hiding. But the echoing whisper and chuckle had him ducking nervously behind a tall stack of pallets.
"I see you. This won't take long." Cano's harshly whispered voice ricocheted off the large tanks. "You destroyed so very much .. too much. It's time for payback."
Danny frowned in confusion and then refused to answer the man as he rapidly searched high and low for the origin of the voice. His gun was wrapped tightly in the painful fingers of his right hand, and he needed his left to maintain the grip and keep his weak, throbbing arm steady.
The first shot that rang out hit a metal strut near Danny's right ear and he found himself diving and rolling roughly behind another stack of rotten wooden pallets. The rapidly fired second and third shots kept him actively on the defensive and he was out of breath by the time he'd been forced into a much too dark void. The space was a small landing for yet another rusted and broken staircase that led to the lower warehouse level. Crouched in a corner, Danny was virtually trapped with no options but down.
Forcing his arm up, he groaned at the excruciating pain that lanced into his elbow as he vainly searched for movement. Before sighting his weapon, he wiped his forehead on the sleeve of his shirt and then pulled off one shot.
Cano winced as the unexpected bullet lightly creased his upper arm. Hissing at the sharp pain, he looked at the minor bleeding wound and smiled. Flicking his headset on and sounding very nervous, in pain and greatly out of breath, he radioed the Command Center for help. For effect and to keep him down, he peppered Danny's location with three rounds.
"This is Cano. I need assistance at the western section of the warehouse. I have at least one suspect pinned .. shots fired .. "
~ to be continued ~