"Salvation"
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Title: "Salvation"
Author: Michelle Heath
Rating: MA for adult language and situations
Summary: He was her salvation.
Date Written: October 27, 2010
Disclaimer: The author makes no profit from this work of fan fiction and no copyright infringement is intended.
(Danny's face is as dark as a thundercloud when he arrives at the office and storms into the conference room. Steve, Kono, and Chin are already there as is the Governor and a Navy Admiral. Glaring daggers at Steve, Danny sits down with a mutinous expression on his face. Steve sends an irritated scowl in Danny's direction before looking back at Gov. Jameson.)
"Thank you all for coming in on a Sunday morning. I wouldn't have asked you to if this weren't so urgent. This is Adm. William Harte. Adm. Harte is the U.S. Navy's Liaison Officer to Homeland Security. I've asked him to brief all of you. Admiral."
"We've picked up some chatter about an Al Qaida cell buying arms from a Russian dissident by the name of Dimitri Kasavich. Over the last two years, he's rapidly taken over most of the arms deals in the Middle East and brokered them for a very healthy profit. We have it from a very reliable source Ksasvich is close to completing the arms deal and we need your help."
"Why is that, Admiral?"
"Because, Cmdr. McGarrett, this particular terrorist cell is located right here in Hawaii, Honolulu to be exact. This is your island, you have . . connections it would take us months to establish. We need to shut this cell, and Kasavich, down as soon as possible."
"What's our time frame?"
"Intel says the deal's going down within the next forty-eight to seventy-two hours. Kasavich is in Afghanistan and that's where the money's going to be delivered. Once he has his money, he'll reveal the location of the weapons. Your job is to find the members of this cell and take them into custody as soon as possible."
"How's the money being delivered?"
"We have an operative in place to deliver the money personally. However, unless you can round up the other members of the cell and do it quickly, our operative's life could be in danger." (He slides file folders down the conference table to each of them.) "These files contain the names and photographs of the seven known members of the cell. We've included as much information on each of them as possible, but we've been unable to locate them. One of them left yesterday en route to deliver the money to Kasavich. She was intercepted and taken into custody by the CIA in Tokyo. Our operative is en route to Tokyo as we speak to pick up the money and meet with Kasavich."
"I don't have to tell all of you that I want these people in custody as soon as possible so the Admiral can get them the Hell off my island."
"No, Ma'am, you don't. We're on it."
"Good. Please call me periodic progress reports, and . . Thank you."
(The Governor and Adm. Harte take their leave and the team gets to work on trying to locate the six terrorists. Kono is running the necessary, but most likely useless checks through H.P.D. and the F.B.I., Chin is calling in favors from former snitches, and Danny is attempting to run financials on all six suspects. Satisfied that his team is on top of the situation, Steve pulls out his cellular phone and calls Sam. The call goes straight to her voicemail and, deciding she's still asleep, he hangs up and goes to help Danny. Hours later, the team has made little headway in locating the six suspects. Chin Ho, however, has a promising lead on one of them, and he and Kono are going to meet with the informant. Walking into Danny's office, Steve overhears Danny talking on the phone with Caroline and realizes he hasn't heard from Sam. When he calls her and again her phone goes straight to voicemail, he starts to get a bad feeling. Walking closer to Danny, Steve gets his attention. One look at Steve's face and Danny asks Caroline to hold on for a minute.)
"Ask her if she's talked to Sam today."
"Caroline, have you talked to Sam today? . .(Danny shakes his head in the negative.)
"Damn it!" (Steve strides toward the conference room and Danny rapidly follows.)
"I'll call you back. Hey. What's going on?"
"I think I know who Adm. Harte's operative is."
"You're not thinking . . "
"The Hell I'm not!" (He hits a few buttons on the console and the pictures of the seven terrorists pop up on the screen. Punching another button brings up one photograph and description in particular and both he and Danny stare in stunned silence at the screen. Kono and Chin, walk into the conference room while two H.P.D. officers put two belligerent suspects in different interrogation rooms.)
(Kono does not like the looks on either man's face; Danny looks thunderstruck and Steve looks positively murderous.) "What's going on?"
"I'll let you know when I get back from my house."
"Hey, hold up, Batman, I'm coming with you."
(When they are in the Camaro and literally flying low on the way to Steve's house, Danny tries to get Steve to see reason.)
"Okay, so one of the terrorists sort of looks like Sam and Sam's not answering her phone. Doesn't mean she's the operative," (Nothing. They take a curve at an alarming rate of speed and Danny holds on for dear life) "Hey. Hey! You can't help Sam or anyone else if you're dead! . . If Sam is the operative, she's a big girl; she can take care of herself. I mean, she's had all this Navy superwoman training, right? (A seriously dark glare this time.)
"If Sam is on this op, there's nothing you can do except find the other four members of the cell."
(The car has barely come to a stop when Steve is out and running to the house. Unlocking the front door, he heads straight to his bedroom, and Danny nearly collides with him when Steve stops abruptly in the doorway. Then he walks over to the bed where Sam's cellular phone is lying on his pillow and picks up a sheet of folded paper with his name on it. A muscle twitches in Steve's jaw as he reads the note, turns around and strides out of the room; his face unreadable.)
"Sam's the operative and she doesn't think she's coming back."
"What makes you think so?"
(Steve shoves the note at Danny as he passes him on his way back to the car. Unfolding the note, Danny reads it and, closing his eyes, leans back against the door for a moment. Danny wisely says nothing on the ride back to the office. When they get there, Kono is on the phone and Chin is just stepping out of one of the interrogation rooms. Steve walks straight over to him.)
"Get anything out of those two?"
"Nothing but a lot of whining about wanting their lawyers."
"Is that so?"
(Steve shoves open the door to the room Chin just left and in two strides has the suspect pinned up against the wall by the throat. The suspect isn't a small man, but Steve holds his struggling form in place with one hand and glares at the man.)
"I want the locations of the other four members of your cell!"
"Go to Hell!"
"That's exactly where you're going if you don't give up your buddies!"
(Chin and Kono can't believe Danny is calmly standing by while Steve is employing this particular form of interrogation and Chin calls him on it.)
"You're okay with this?"
"We need to find those other four terrorists and find them fast. Sam's the operative delivering the money and, Steve thinks she's convinced she's not coming back."
"What makes him think that?"
"This." (And handing the note to Kono, Danny joins Steve in the interrogation room. Kono reads the note and looks up at Chin with a stricken expression.)
"What's it say?"
"I love you."