Danny blinked as he was yanked through a heavy metal door and into the starlight.
It's night time? Maybe we've been here longer than I thought, Danny's subconscious seemed to be having a conversation with itself. The majority of his mind though was completely focussed on the sounds of gunfire he could hear. It was muffled, which meant it was either a long way off - unlikely, this yacht could only be so big – or it was inside somewhere on the boat.
Danny started praying to every god he knew of, though this wasn't too many; he had failed RS as a child. If those bullets weren't designed to get him and his partner out of there, then Steve was going to be in serious trouble.
The ex SEAL in question was still upright, though almost all his weight was on the two guards now pinning his arms to his sides. His eyes were open, but they stared blankly into the distance, and Danny would bet that his partner couldn't see anything at all at the moment. The most worrying thing though was the sound of his breathing. The air rasped in and out of his mouth, his lungs barely expanding. Not that he was a doctor, but Danny was beginning to believe that Steve had finally punctured a lung.
"It seems that Sang Min was telling the truth. How strange," Taylor's musing voice reached the Jersey native's ears and he twisted around his guard to face him. His face was shadowed in the dim light, but his eyes shone in defiance and anger. The ex SEAL glared at Danny and Steve with a burning hatred.
"About what?" Danny inquired.
"Your friends." Danny's heart suddenly soared with relief. Help was here! Even in his half conscious state Steve was able to pick up his head at this information. Despite the fact that his vision was fuzzy and grey and the pain that was all consuming, he was able to listen to what was going on. "I should have listened to him." The words from Taylor's mouth were directed internally, but it was obvious that he no longer cared what the two cops heard. Steve's spider sense began to tingle. Once your captive started to spill the beans it meant that things were drawing to a close. Not that he was sad to be getting out of this situation, but he had a feeling Taylor would try his hardest to make sure they didn't leave alive.
"Speaking of which, where is our little friend?" The words were slurred slightly, but Steve was able to make them coherent. It was the best he could do. At the sound of his voice, Danny's head snapped back round towards his partner, aware he was beginning to look like a cartoon.
"Steve!"His vision wasn't clear enough to see much, but the ex SEAL gave a slight nod in what he hoped was Danny's direction.
"Sang Min had..." A sadistic grin crept onto Taylors face, "...business to attend to." Steve shuddered at the thought and he heard his partner curse loudly. "Now all that is left to do is the cleaning up. You know that you can't leave here alive McGarrett, but Detective Williams here..." Blinking rapidly to clear his vision, Steve was able to see the gun Taylor waved in Danny's direction. "I have no quarrel with him. Tell me what I want to know and I give you my word that he goes free, unharmed."
"Let him go then. My people are here, aren't they? As soon as Danny is safe, I'll tell you everything."
"What? Are you crazy? He'll kill you!" Danny was panicking. He struggled against his captors in an effort to go over and slap Steve. Clearly his mind wasn't working straight.
"What guarantee do I have that you'll tell me once he's safe?" Taylor seemed to be genuinely considering this course of action.
"My word." Steve's voice was low and desperate, the words becoming quieter as he began to lose his struggle to remain alive.
"No!" Danny began to fight against the restraining hands in earnest. There was no way he was going to let Steve give his own life to save his. That was something that he couldn't live with. "You want to send me home to tell Gracie that I got her Uncle Steve killed? To tell Chin and Kono?"
"Silence!" Taylor's panic seemed to be brewing as the noise of gunfire grew closer. "I don't think your word is good enough this time Steve." He turned to the Jersey native. "Nothing personal, I promise."
Danny went completely still as he watched the muzzle of the gun swing towards him. Suddenly the world seemed to be moving very slowly. Out of the corner of his eye he saw his partner lurch free of his captives and take two steps towards him. He felt, rather than saw, Steve's weight crash into his side as the ex SEAL dived into a flying tackle, the force carrying them both over the side.
There was an explosion of light and sound as Taylor's gun went off.
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Kono ran as fast as she could down the small, dimly lit corridor, knowing her cousin was right behind her. They hadn't expected such a large amount of resistance on such a small yacht, but it seemed that whoever they were against was well prepared.
The door at the end was solid metal, watertight. The two Hawaiian natives had to slow considerably to avoid skidding into it.
"On three?" Chin whispered almost silently. Kono nodded, counting in her head. At the third beat, she pulled the door open wide and the pair of them surged through. Off to the right of the boat there was a loud splash, but the noise was almost immediately drowned out by the gunfire that ignited the still air.
The five guards were down in a flash, leaving a man in dark clothing standing with his back to them. Slowly, he turned around to face the cousins. Taylor grinned at the surprise on their faces as they took in his features, recognising him. Then, very slowly, he brought his gun up to his temple and pulled the trigger.
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Danny's head broke the surface almost straight away, and he pulled in a welcome breath.
"Danny!" The Jersey native looked up in surprise to see Chin's face hovering above him, leaning over the edge of the boat. The Hawaiian's dark eyes scanned the water. "Where's Steve?" Danny suddenly realised that his partner should have been bobbing next to him, and looked around in a panic. Without a word to explain, Danny duck dived, trying desperately to see in the pitch black waters. A pale movement below him caught his eye and he swam towards it with increasing desperation.
Steve, despite all the odds was still conscious. He was still aware, even now of the numerous aches and pains that being beaten had engendered. But now, there was a new ache. Not far above his heart, there was an intense stabbing agony; that made all the other bruises and breaks pale in insignificance.
The ex SEAL also knew that he was underwater and that if he didn't surface soon he was going to drown anyway. How ironic: a SEAL, specially trained in water combat, drowning. A ghost of a smile touched his lips. The darkness beckoned, and he began to drift towards it. There was suddenly something restricting his chest, but he didn't have the energy to work out what it was.
Letting go, Steve floated in to the depths of his mind without fear.
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I'm aware that this isn't great. It's really late here and I'm really tired, so yeah... sorry! I'll probably redo this in the morning Anyway I wanted to get this out there. Special thanks to Gone2Far, for explaining the 'traffic' tab, and Krishnaa who really made my day So yeah, thank you To the people that asked, I'm from and living in England. Also, as a side note: if you have any ideas for stories you want me to have a go at, feel free to ask Oh, and reviews are like cake to my muse :D (I know that I'm shameless, you don't need to tell me)