Author's Notes: Well, Episode 5.07 certainly put a kink in this story! Now I feel redundant using hallucinogens and flashbacks, but this was begun long before I knew what the Show had planned for Steve in Episode 100. If you can stick with the story, we will soon be finished. Again, sorry for the delay, but real life decided that I had too much time to play and wanted to ensure I had other things to keep me busy…
~~~H50~~~
Kea akua lapu
Chapter 10
When the door closed behind her, he muttered, "Take your time. Commander, we meet again," he said, turning and smiling at Steve who was staring back at him.
~~~H50~~~
"You know they're going to hunt you down, don't you?" Steve weakly asked.
Mendez looked around the room. "If you want to continue to believe that, go right ahead." He touched the closed blinds. "I must thank the nurses for closing these. Makes my job so much easier." He moved closer to Steve and reached into his pocket and pulled out a syringe.
"The plan was for you to die over the weekend. And here it is, Tuesday night and you're still a pain in my ass. I couldn't take the risk of leaving the island with you still alive, so I'm going to have to do this quick and dirty. Although you should suffer like my brother did. Did you even know he didn't die immediately after your attack? He lingered… between life and the hereafter… for three days after you and your men came in for the slaughter." The man huffed out a laugh. "So, I suppose you've had your three days, too."
Just come a little closer, Steve thought, not taking his eyes off the man. "Your brother was getting little kids hooked on drugs and then selling them to the highest bidder as sex toys," Steve said in disgust.
Mendez shrugged and reached out to grab the IV line and uncapped his syringe. "It was a living. This is the straight stuff… no messing around this time, Commander." He slid the short needle into the port of the IV and depressed the plunger. Watching the clear liquid travel through the tube, he added, "I understand digitalis overdose is a horrible way to go. Sometimes the heart actually explodes in a person's chest."
He dropped the IV line and leaned over the bed. "How's that feel, Commander? I hope you rot in hell."
~~~50~~~
Liz opened the door moments later only to have the door pulled from her grasp. Once she was inside the room, it was shut behind her. "What—OH, my God, what have you done? You killed him." She rushed to the bed, staring at the man not bothering to feel for a pulse.
It was obvious he was dead, his carotid severed.
Steve stood near the door, trying to suck in air. In his hand was a bloody butter knife from the tray of food Lizzy had brought in earlier. The gown he wore was splattered with Mendez's blood, mixed with Steve's where another IV line had been ripped out of his arm.
"Steve, I need to call for help," Lizzy said, trying to move around him.
"No," he wheezed. "Stay back" he ordered, pointing his shaking hand with the bloody knife in her direction. "You—you're sorry he's dead," Steve accused her. In a lower voice he continued. "Did you… were you working with him?" Steve shook his head, hoping to clear it, but that small action almost knocked him to his knees. He grabbed for his chest and stared at Lizzy.
"Commander, this was the doctor who came to help you. Please let me call for help."
"Tried to kill me," he slurred. "Hunting me."
"No, Steve, you're wrong. This is a doctor. It isn't the man who was in the hallway. I swear. Now, let me help you," Lizzy tried to reason with her patient who was in obvious distress.
Not only did she have a dead doctor in the room, her patient was holding a knife on her and panting for breath, sweating profusely and holding his chest tightly.
Steve backed into the door. "I said stay back." He grabbed the IV pole which had been pushed towards the door and wedged it through the door handle. "Be quiet and let me think."
"Let me help you. Please," she begged.
~~~H50~~~
Grover had been at the crime lab when the call came in that Mendez was at the airport. He left Fong to head that direction, but then doubled back. His gut just didn't feel right and one thing he had learned in his years on the force was to follow his gut. He listened on the police band while racing toward the hospital. Once there, he headed in the door, just to double check and make sure things were all right. He knew he had some explaining to do by not following orders, but pulled out his phone and called Danny anyway.
"Lou, where the hell are you?" Danny yelled. "We've got a DB in the airport bathroom."
"Decided to come by the hospital first," Grover replied. "Is it Mendez?"
"No, but we're getting confirmation now." He paused and listened before saying, "Shit. It's the doctor. Where's Steve?"
Grover took off in a run toward the stairs, thankful Steve was only on level 2. "On my way up now," he yelled before sliding his phone back into his pocket. He raced up the two spans of stairs and burst out the door, nearly running into Dr. Hwang.
"Captain, not so fast," the doctor smiled. "Dr. Connor just arrived. I'm on my way to—"
Lou took off toward the ICU. "Dr. Connor is in the airport bathroom… dead." He stopped by the MP who was seated outside the ICU doors. "Anyone go in for McGarrett?"
"Only the doctor they were expecting," he told him.
"Call in back up. That's not a doctor." He and Hwang went to Steve's cubicle and tried to see in the cracks between the blinds. The room only had one dim light near the bed and they couldn't see anything. He drew his weapon and tried to slide open the door.
"Mendez, I know you're in there," he called. "Open the door."
"Captain!" Liz called out with a shaky voice. "He killed him."
"Let her go, Mendez. Open the door and let her go."
"No… it's Steve. He killed the doctor."
"Shut up," Steve shouted. "Get back from the door."
Grover breathed a sigh of relief at hearing his friend was alive. "Steve, let me in, man. Everything's gonna be all right."
"Wait. This is Mendez?" Liz asked. "He is the man… Steve, I'm so sorry I didn't believe you."
Steve's hand clawed at his chest and she noticed his lips were tinged blue. His hair was slick with sweat and he was having trouble breathing. Yet, he leaned against the door, not allowing her to touch him.
"Captain, get a nurse," Lizzy called through the closed door. Still in professional mode, but Lou could hear the slight panicky undertone. "I need a crash cart available in here. The commander doesn't look too good."
"Liz, I'll get the cart," the doctor told her. "What's the status?"
"Did Mendez do something to him?" Grover asked and rattled the door. "Steve, let me in."
"He said… Steve, you said he tried to poison you. Again?"
"No," he slowly shook his head. "Yes," he amended, looking at his bloody arm. "Drugs."
When he looked back at her, his eyes glazed and the knife clattered to the floor. All Liz could do was slow his fall when he hit the deck, unconscious.
She scooted out from beneath him and jerked on the IV pole in an attempt to dislodge it. The crook in it was caught beneath the handle and she panicked. "It's stuck," she yelled, rattling it to jerk it loose. I need help in here."
With a final tug, it was free and she tossed it down and turned back to her patient, making sure he had an adequate airway before the doctor came to assess him.
Grover entered the room, weapon drawn, just to ensure Mendez was indeed dead. Dr. Hwang and another nurse entered with a cart.
"He's not breathing," Liz told the doctor as he dropped to his knees beside her.
With a quick check, he confirmed her findings.
"We've got a Code Blue," Dr. Hwang yelled out the opened door.
Grover watched from the door how the doctor bent Steve's head back and inserted a tube down his friend's throat. It only took a moment to expertly place the breathing tube and then Lizzy started bagging the unresponsive commander.
The leads were reattached to the EKG and Grover was shocked to hear a wailing sound. The last he saw, before he was pushed out of the door by more medical personal, was Dr. Hwang placing the paddles on Steve's chest.
~~~H50~~~