Before you start reading part 2 of "Liability" I wanted to say 'Thank you!' to you all for reading my story. I do appreciate all of the reviews, and wish I had time to respond to them all individually. Your comments keep my muse happy & typing.
I wasn't fibbing when I said this was another Flangell re-write. The part of the original story I'm going to use just needed an opening story-line, but that 'opening' has taken on a life of it's own and turned into what you've read so far, with more chapters to come,... which also explains why it is taking me so long between postings, but I hope it's been worth the wait.
Remember Adam's Business Manager, Yoshio? Good. He's back.
Remember SWAT team leader Lieutenant Jose Diaz and his side-kick Bradley? I hope so. They're back, too.
As always, my thanks to PoisonedShip for the beta read.
"Liability" part 2
Still Sunday, 11:00 am, now 64 hours missing...
"What have we got?" Steve asked as he and Danny both exited their respective offices at seeing Chin's sudden activity at the Smart Table.
"Fong just called." Chin stated.
"Good. Please tell me he has something, because the 60+ case reports on my desk are getting me nowhere. All but 5 of those perps are still behind bars, 2 of which are accounted for and have alibis. So, unless someone is orchestrating something from the inside, we've still got nothing." Danny said.
"Well, according to Fong, we've got something now." Chin began as he flipped files from the table onto the wall monitors. "This is the ballistics report from the bullet taken from Noshimuri's arm. It comes back to a cold case."
"Armed robbery, 2007, 3 casualties, suspects never caught, sitting cold every since." Steve read aloud.
At that moment a ping was heard, Chin ran his fingers across the table, and Max's face appeared on the screen.
"Looks like all of HPD is working through the weekend." Danny surmised.
"That's because none of us are gonna stop until we get Kono back." Steve stated as he made eye contact with Chin, earning a nod in return. "What have you got for us, Max?" He asked, turning his attention back to the monitor.
"Gentlemen." Max greeted. "I have the toxicology report back from our drowning victim. She had a blood alcohol level 2x the legal limit when she died. I also managed to extract some trace from under her nails, which turned out to be varnish. I did some research and it turns out it's marine varnish, for use on boats. That got me thinking, so I did some calling around. Turns out our victim is not from O'ahu, but from Molokai, where she and several friends borrowed a catamaran several days ago and went out to party on the water. Apparently their inebriated state led them to not realize how far off course they had gotten when several of their passengers went overboard."
"Several passengers?" Danny immediately questioned. "Should we expect more bodies?"
"Unfortunately that is a possibility, Detective. None of those aboard the catamaran can seem to agree on exactly how many were present to begin with, as some had invited additional friends, while others had simply not shown up. You factor in their inebriated state, and they are not sure exactly how many were on board or how many went overboard." Max explained.
"If they got too far off course, the trade winds would have carried the current towards O'ahu." Chin said, showing his findings on the Smart Table's display.
"Great. Just great." Danny mumbled sarcastically as he threw his hands up in the air.
"I just wanted to confirm for you that this appears to have nothing to do with Officer Kalakaua's abduction." Max said, then quickly added, "But, please, do call me if I can be of further assistance."
"Hey, Max," Steve called out just before the connection ended. "What was her name?" He asked, reminding himself again that although the victim wasn't Kono she was still someone's daughter.
"Kim Li Chang." Max answered in a solemn tone before ending the connection.
As Chin took a closer look at the cold case file connected to their ballistics report, Danny went back to his office to track down the 3 remaining released convicts that Five-0 had put away, and Steve headed to his office to call and update the Governor.
"McGarrett." Steve said to answer his phone as HPD Dispatch called shortly after his call with Denning had ended. "Get all available units in the area to my house immediately." He said as he rushed from his office, putting Chin and Danny on instant alert. "Be advised that there is possibly a second civilian there, and both are possibly armed. Scratch that,... probably armed. Actually,... just,... they're armed."
"What's going on?" Chin and Danny both asked as they rushed after Steve to get to their vehicles.
"Silent alarm at my house, followed by a 9-1-1 call." Steve barked out as Danny tossed him his keys.
With lights flashing and sirens screaming, the team made their way to Steve's house. Arriving with the screech of tires, they exited their vehicles to the sound of a gun shot as they drew their own weapons. Several HPD units had arrived right behind them and Steve quickly barked out orders before heading towards the front door himself.
"Catherine?!" He called out upon entering and seeing his living room in disarray, not bothering with an attempt at a quiet entry. "Cath!"
"I've got one down in here!" Danny called out from the kitchen.
"Steve!" They all heard Catherine call out from upstairs, sending Steve racing for the steps with Chin and Danny right behind.
"You make one move and I'll put a bullet right between your eyes." They all heard Catherine command as they entered the master bedroom to see her with a gun held on the man before her.
He had the 'cat burglar' look down, dressed in head-to-toe black, ski-cap and all, and stood with both hands in the air, clearly having no where to go. Danny and Lukela both rushed over to cuff him and were rewarded with an eye roll. Yeah, interrogating this guy was gonna be fun.
Meanwhile Steve went directly to Catherine, who maintained a shooters stance and still held the raised gun, which he gently took from her hand before pulling her into his arms. She had clearly been in a fight; her disheveled hair and bloody, swollen lip a testament to that fact. Her breathing was still ragged from the adrenaline rush and recent take-down in the kitchen, and he had no doubt she would be sporting several bruises and sore knuckles later on.
"Three perps,... all in black,... fought one in the kitchen." She detailed, clearly in military mode and trying to get all the pertinent information out. "This blood is from a,... double-knee jerk,... broke his nose." She gestured to her leg without looking down.
"You did good, Cath. He's still unconscious downstairs. Did you shoot someone, too?" He asked, trying to get her to make eye contact.
Catherine slightly raised her left hand, which had a black ski mask in it. "Pulled this off one,... tried to get hair, too,... shot him in the shoulder,... he went through... the door." She said, almost mumbling into Steve's chest as she gestured to the glass door to the upper lanai. These words sent Chin out the door with several officers on his heels.
Danny took the ski mask from her as Steve guided her to sit on the bench at the foot of his bed. "I'm sorry." He said, taking in the scrapes on her cheek. "I'm sorry I didn't answer when you called."
Catherine didn't speak, just gave a nod of understanding.
"Which gun?" Steve asked, taking a closer look at the weapon now in his hand.
She silently pointed to the night stand as she rubbed her shoulder with the other hand.
"Which gun?" Danny repeated. "How many do you have?"
"Two." Steve answered, but Catherine held up 3 fingers. "Three." Steve quickly amended.
"Oh, well, that's not to bad. Three guns in your house is about what I'd expect." Danny said with a shrug.
"No, Danny. Three guns in this room." Steve corrected.
"Oh." Danny fish-mouthed as he walked to the door, hearing the paramedics entering the house, obviously headed towards the unconscious perp in the kitchen. "Remind me to never let Grace play hide-and-seek in your house." He said with a smirk. "I'm gonna go check on the perp she beat up." He added with a jerk of his thumb as he proceeded through the door.
Steve gave a nod to his partner to do just that, then turned his attention back to the woman seated next to him. "Did they say anything, Cath? Were they looking for something? Do you know why they were here?"
But she had leaned forward, elbows on her knees, one hand held her head, the other rubbed her shoulder.
"Cath?" He prodded, wondering if she just needed a moment, but he got no response.
He placed his arm across her shoulders and gave a gentle nudge, only to have her nearly fall over.
"Danny! Send those medics up here instead! Now!" Steve yelled out, which brought his partner running right back into the room.
Danny re-entered to see Steve reclining Catherine back across the foot of the bed. Her eyes were half open and she was clearly having trouble breathing. Despite her sudden weakened appearance, she had a firm grip on Steve's hand.
"Talk to me, Cath." Steve implored as he leaned over her. "Tell me what's wrong."
But the paramedics quickly pushed both men aside to get to their newly designated patient, and soon had oxygen on her as they calling out medical stats and searched for a cause to the problem.
"This is all my fault." Steve thought out loud as he ran a hand through his hair.
"Whoa, whoa. Just stop right there." Danny half-ordered and half-soothed towards his partner. "This is not your fault. Okay. Three men broke into your home while she was here. They did this. This is clearly their fault."
"I know that Danny,... it's just that,... she called me for help." Steve said, then saw the surprised look on the other man's face. "I was talking to the Governor when she tried calling me. So I let it go to voice mail, thinking I'd just call her back later." He explained, both hands now running through his hair. "Oh, God."
"Found it." They both heard one of the paramedics say at that moment. "She's got a stab would to the front of her shoulder." He said as he cut the wide strap of Catherine's black tank top and peeled it back to expose the wound.
"Had to have nicked the lung. I'm not getting good breath sounds on this side." The other paramedic said as she continued to listen to her patients lungs.
"We've gotta get her to the hospital before her lung completely collapses." The first paramedics said, looking up at Steve and Danny.
Catherine was quickly loaded onto a transport gurney and carried down the stairs. She attempted to speak just before being loaded into the ambulance.
"Ste,..." She attempted through the oxygen mask over her face.
"Shh. Don't talk now, Cath." He said softly, not wanting her to use up dwindling strength.
But Catherine ignored him, "Ste,... mo-" She attempted again, but breathing was getting harder. "Mo-"
"Commander," The female paramedic said to gain his attention, "We have to go now."
"They're gonna take good care of you, Cath." Steve soothed as he again leaned over her and fiddled with her hair. "I'll follow real soon. Okay." He assured her, and got a silent nod in return, then watched as the ambulance drove away.
"How's she doing?" Chin inquired as he approched from behind.
"A knife wound to the front of her shoulder nicked the top of her lung, which is now partially collapsed and making it hard for her to breathe." Steve answered in a monotone voice without even moving even though the ambulance was long gone from sight.
Chin silently held up the evidence bag with a steak knife from the kitchen in it, which finally got Steve to turn and look. "If it's any consolation, it looks like she used one on him, too."
It wasn't.
Forty minutes later...
Charlie Fong approached the guys outside on the front lawn. "I've collected blood samples from the kitchen, where Lieutenant Rollins beat the crap out of perp #1." He said in surprisingly blunt honesty, setting down his evidence collection kit . "I also collected samples from a blood trail across the upper lanai, from her shooting perp #2, and can confirm that she did indeed get quite a few hairs when she pulled off his mask." He added, pulling off his medical gloves.
"At least she got to a gun before she had to do anything more than hold off perp #3." Chin said.
"Let us know as soon as you get any matches." Steve requested of Charlie, who nodded before picking up his evidence collection kit.
"I also found traces of a white powder that appears to have been on the shoes of all three perps, but I won't know what it is until I get it back to the lab." Charlie said.
"Thanks for coming in, Charlie." Danny said as the man walked away. They all knew that everyone there was doing everything they could to help find Kono.
"Before Catherine was taken to the hospital, she was trying to tell me something." Steve informed Chin and Danny. "But all she got out was, 'Mo'. She just couldn't talk any more than that."
"She'll be okay, Steve." Danny assured his partner and best friend with an encouraging hand to the shoulder. "You can ask her more when you see her."
"Could she have been trying to say something about your mom?" Chin asked.
Steve shrugged, "I don't know."
"That's right,...This could have absolutely nothing to do with Kono's abduction, and everything to do with Doris and her CIA history." Danny chimed in.
"Or this has everything to do with Kono's abduction, and she was just the first." Chin spoke his theory for pondering. "Which means you were just next on the list." He added, looking at Steve.
"Damn. We have too many questions and not any answers." Steve said in frustration, voicing the key aspect that bothered all three men the most.
"Well, maybe she can help." Danny said, referring to Doris, who was approaching on the sidewalk.
"Where have you been?" Steve questioned when she got closer.
Doris gestured back over her shoulder, "The police cars are all over the place, so I had to park down the block. What happened here?"
Chin and Danny looked at each other before looking at Steve, who was clearly the one designated to answer the woman's question. "Three men broke into the house. Catherine was hurt."
"Oh my God." Doris breathed out as she took a step closer. "Is she okay?"
"No, Doris. She's not." Steve answered sternly as he crossed his arms over his chest, clearly in a frustrated mood. "Where were you?"
"I was out apartment shopping." She answered. "Where is she now?"
He hesitated before answering, not liking the mental images it evoked. "Paramedics took her to the hospital with a collapsed lung."
"Does this have anything to do with Kono's abduction? Are you three in danger, too?" She asked.
"We don't know that yet,... and since we aren't certain, we also have to wonder if what happened here has to do with you." He said.
Doris looked at her son in surprise. "With me? Because of my work with the CIA?"
All three men nodded in confirmation at her question.
Meanwhile...
With blood slicked fingers, Kono pulled on the sharp shards, desperate to extract them from her skin. Their sharp edges making for a viscous cycle.
Between the dizziness and the sweat dripping into her eyes, it made the smallest of them hard to even see.
But she had several hours to accomplish this before they would return. And return they would.
A/N: I remembered in 3.11 when Catherine was in a fight protecting the boy and his father, but afterwards she looked just fine. I need a little more realism than that. Hence the messed up hair and bloody lip.