Chapter 11
Jo's eyes fluttered open and pain swam all over her body. Her throat called out for water, cool water. She looked around the room and all she saw was the white ceiling, she was leaned to far back. She knew where she was immediately. The smell of Lysol and bleach swam into her nose, she was at a hospital. She lifted her hand gently and felt along the edge of the bed for the buttons. When she felt out the up arrow she pressed it and the bed slowly lifted upward. She grunted as her chest and abdomen protested so she stopped. She was up far enough. She immediately spotted Mary, sleeping soundly, reclined back in the chair. Her mind was running away with everything. She'd been stabbed and shot, but worse, Luke was gone. Her son, her baby, Nico had him. If he got back to Russia, she would never get him back. Tears came to her eyes and her throat cried out. She spotted the water next to her bed and she reached out with a shaky arm, her fingers gripped the rim and slipped as her arm shook. The cup tipped to the side, spilling all the water across the small table and floor. That was all Jo could take, she broke down, tears streamed down her cheeks and painful sobs racked her body. Mary jerked awake and leapt up.
"Jo, you're awake." She said rubbing her eyes.
"Oh…Joanna." Mary said gently as she eased down on the bed.
"He's got my baby." Jo croaked through her dry throat. Mary gathered her gently in her arms and rubbed her back. The curtain was pulled back and Steve stepped into the room. Jo's head came up immediately and her eyes sharpened. She was glaring full on at her ex husband.
"Joanna." Steve nodded. She frowned at the tone he used and Mary carefully pulled away out of firing range.
"Look, I know you probably don't have the slightest clue as to why I'm here. But I run the Five 0 task force here. We're investigating three murders committed by your husband. I don't know how or why you're in this Jo but I need to know everything. I am going to try my hardest to help you get your son back." Steve said stepping further into the room. Jo hit the button on the side of the bed to call for the nurse.
"Yes." The perky voice shouted.
"Could I get some water?" she asked.
"One second." The nurse said. Jo glanced back up at Steve. Here he was, promising to try his hardest to help her get Luke back. While it was true there was no way she could do this by herself, but she was just so damn mad at him. He'd left her three years ago. Just up and left, without even enough balls to come to her face and tell her why. She hated him all right. Steve stood staring at her as the nurse walked in and handed her the water. Jo's hand shook violently as she took it from her, she took a deep breath and sipped the water. Her chest and abdomen were hurting bad, excruciating pain was running all through her, but she wasn't about to let them dope her up, she needed to be lucid.
"How are you feeling Ma'am? This is a morphine drip, I'll start it now, but if you need more just let us know." she smiled and pointed.
"I'm fine." She nodded. The nurse smiled and left the room. Mary and Steve watched in astonishment as Jo reached out with a shaky hand and flipped off the morphine.
"Jo, you need that." Mary said.
"No, I'm fine. I want to stay awake. I need to find my son." Jo said.
"Being in pain isn't going to do anyone any good." Steve shook his head.
"Let's get something straight right now Steven. I didn't ask for your help and I don't want you here telling me what to do. We're going to work together, I'm going to find my son and that is it. After that we're done. Just like you wanted. I didn't mean to step back into your perfect life but I swear when I find my son I'm gone again." She said. Steve looked hurt briefly before he shook his head.
"Joanna that's not what I wanted. You don't understand." He shook his head.
"Oh I understand. You wanted me gone so you could come back home and live your life. I'm fine with that, I don't care anymore Steve." Jo said. Her voice was growing louder and her body weaker. Just as Steve opened his mouth a soft knock outside the curtain brought their heads up. Kono, Chin, and Danny stepped into the room. All eyes were on Jo, each one of them looking over her, running their eyes up and down her face, hair, and body. Danny Williams noted that the woman was exceptionally beautiful, and he could already see the attitude present in her face. He had been very excited to meet the woman capable of taming Steve McGarrett, at least for a little while. He'd willingly been tied down to her, and that made Danny smirk.
"Joanna this is Detective Danny Williams, Officer Chin Ho Kelley, and Officer Kono Kalakaua. My team, they are here to get all the information they can on Nicolai Kamlov." Steve said. Jo's eyes jerked over them quickly.
"Guys this is Joanna Philips." He said. "You can call me Jo." She smiled.
"Nice to meet you Jo." Danny said stepping forward. Jo gritted her teeth and forced a smile as she lifted her arm and shook his hand. Her grip was weak as she shook the other two hands offered. Kono noticed immediately how very weak the woman looked. She glanced over at the morphine drip that had been turned off and she wondered how that had happened. She must be in terrible pain without any kind of medication. Jo could tell by the way that her body protested that she would pass out soon, but she had been a doctor, she knew how much she could take.
"Mind if I sit?" Danny asked pointing. Jo nodded and gently moved her legs to the side. Danny sat down and smiled at her.
"So tell me how it's done. Give me some tips on how to calm him down." Danny said jerking his head back to Steve. Jo couldn't help the smile that touched her lips. Steve was never much one to settle and Jo could understand Danny's trouble.
"Danny. Really?" Steve asked. Danny shrugged and slid off the bed.
"Ok uh…Jo tell us about Nico?" Kono asked.
"Russian born and raised. He has two summer houses one in Paris one in London. He runs the lower half of Moscow. It's his territory. He runs drugs and guns through there and he's incredibly smart. He doesn't have many men at his disposal, but the ones he does have are strong and stupid so they follow orders blindly. He has two sets of fake IDs. One is Nick Polack, the other is Henry Gordon." She said. Kono nodded and wrote some information down.
"So uh…I know this is personal, but we need to know the level of your involvement in this." Steve said. Jo rolled her eyes.
"You mean you want to know how and when I met him? How many times I slept with him? And whether he sleeps on his left side or right side?" Jo asked frowning at him. Mary covered her mouth with her hand and fought a smile.
"That is not what I meant." Steve said crossing his arms over his chest. Jo waved him off and Steve noticed her fist clench as it fell back to the bed. She was hurting, and bad.
"I met him in Paris right after you left me. We were together for one night, I found out I was pregnant shortly after. I told Nico and he brought me into his home. He took care of me and treated me wonderfully. Shortly after Luke was born I found out what Nico was doing. He told me if I tried to leave he'd kill me. So I stayed. He beat my ass on a regular occasion, I fought back at first but then I learned that if I kept fighting it would only be worse. He's only grabbed Luke once though. When he found out the three murdered men had given the police information on him he had them brought to our home where he planned on killing them. I let them go though and gave them Jeremy's name in hopes of them escaping and finding shelter. At least then they would live so that I could have witnesses, but he hunted them down and killed them. He found out through one of them that I let them go and he came after me in the hotel room. I got out and took Luke, I was leaving when he caught up with me at the airport." Jo said. All the talking was making her weaker. She was having a hard time breathing and she needed to rest, but this was about Luke and right now she didn't matter.
"We'll need the names of the men who came here with you." Chin said. Jo glanced at Steve and noticed he looked rather frustrated.
"You know Nico. Then there are Sam, Hal, and Peter Juson, brothers of course. Benota Sillac, Malcolm Zalin, and Whelan Rushal." She said. She briefly let her eyes slip close and relaxed into the bed.
"Jo are you alright?" Mary said standing.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." Jo said opening her eyes.
"Jo maybe you should turn the pump back on." Steve said.
"Shut up Steven." Jo said trying to lift her arm to wave him off, but pain shot down her arm and through her chest causing her to gasp and clench her teeth.
"Damn it. Stop this Jo. You're purposely hurting yourself." Steve said. He pushed past Mary and flipped the machine back on. It beeped to life and began dripping.
"No! I don't want to be high. I need to find my son." She nearly yelled as she lunged for the machine. Steve's arms wrapped around her carefully and quickly and he gently eased her back onto the bed.
"Let me go." She said through clenched teeth.
"No, and if you try that again I'll handcuff you to this bed and put two cops outside this door." He said.
"I dare you to try." She said meeting his eyes. Danny watched in amazement as the woman went toe to toe with Steve. She was injured and still fighting him.
"All I have to do is say you're a suspect and I can cuff you and they'll never ask questions." He said. Jo's eyes filled with new found hatred and she ducked her head as tears welled. He was purposely keeping her from finding her son.
"Joanna I'm not trying to hurt you. Please." He said, his eyes searching for her eyes to come back up to his. He'd hurt her feelings. Jo's eyes came up and two tears ran from her eyes. With one swift movement she pushed his hands off of her and leaned back as her body ached.
"Ok. Yeah. Just go." She said leaning her head to the side and more tears rolled. Everyone in the room was silent as Steve sat on her bed, staring at her. She was in pain and he'd done nothing but make it worse.
"Joanna." He said softly. Mary's hand landed on his shoulder and she pulled him back. He stood and turned to his sister.
"Watch her." he said. Mary nodded and he waved his team out.
"Let's go." He said. He felt like shooting himself in the foot, he'd hurt her bad. He hadn't even realized what he was doing when he'd threatened to cuff her to the bed and label her as a suspect. All she wanted was her son back and Steve had threatened to lock her down successfully preventing her from finding him. He'd only meant until she healed, but she hadn't taken it that way. Steve shook his head as his team followed him out of the room. He was going to find both her son and that bastard that had hurt her.