Chapter Thirteen "Yet"

"If it doesn't break your heart, it isn't love. If it doesn't break your heart, it's not enough. It's when you're breakin' down, with your insides comin' out; that's when you find out what your heart is made of. And you haven't lost me yet."~Switchfoot

McKenzie bit her nails in the backseat of Kono's car. She was starting to feel like this had happened before. Except that time it had been Danny driving, and no matter the situation, Danny was a better driver than Kono. He drove too fast most of the time, but his passengers rarely noticed it. McKenzie figured it was from driving in New Jersey.

It was easier for her to think about these sorts of things, rather than worrying, but it didn't really help. She was worried. Because someone had been killing everyone she loved, and she didn't think she could handle it happening again. Especially now that her brother was involved.

And McKenzie wasn't exactly in the mood to be worrying about two people. Not that she really had a choice. There was no scenario where whatever happened was not extremely bad. McKenzie had had just about enough of extremely bad things happening.

Through the front seats, she watched the little red dot move across the phone screen. It was almost back to their destination. McKenzie hoped that was a good thing, but she was pretty sure it meant Kyle would be there when they arrived.

The chances of salvaging the brother/sister relationship were long gone, and McKenzie was only hoping to get Steve back alive.

H-5-O

"Dad?" Steve's tongue felt like it was tied in a knot. The room seemed to tilt and he saw movement in the shadows. "Dad?" he said again, but he didn't know why. The man who stepped into the light was not Jack McGarrett.

"I'm here, Son," Jim said, kneeling in front of Steve and putting his hands on his knees.

Steve was pretty sure this was some kind of drug-induced hallucination.

"Hold on, Steve," Jim said. "You're gonna make it."

"I can't," Steve said, but he wasn't talking about the same thing. "I'm not like you."

"No." Jim seemed like he was trying not to laugh. "Not much like anyway. Except in the important things." He dipped his head, so that Steve couldn't see his eyes. "You'll be a better father than I was."

Steve shook his head emphatically. "That's not possible," he said.

"You don't know." Jim looked up again. "There's a lot that I regret."

Steve bent forward so that his head was almost touching Jim's. "I wish you were still here. There's so much I want to ask you."

"You already have the answers, Son."

"But I miss you."

"Steve." Jim's voice became urgent. "You need to wake up now."

"I want to stay with you."

"You can't stay here. You have to wake up!"

"No... Dad... I love you."

"Wake up, Steve." The voice was softer. "It's time to say goodbye. I love you too."

The haze began to lift. Steve felt cold, but immediately, his mind cleared.

"Where are my keys?" he demanded of no one in particular.

"These?" Kyle asked, pulling them out of his pocket. "They're not going to do you much good anymore."

Steve feared the worst. That they had discovered the GPS and destroyed it. However, Kyle alleviated that fear.

"I mean with your truck at the bottom of a cliff. Sorry about that, but you know it's better that no one else gets involved."

Steve shook his head. "You don't know my team," he said. "They're not going to give up that easily."

"I know what you're trying to do. You want to convince me to help you so I won't get as bad a sentence or something. But that doesn't matter to me. I've sufficiently screwed up my own life. I'm just trying to make sure McKenzie makes it out of this alive."

"They are going to find us, Kyle," Steve said. "And when they do all the threats you're so afraid of will mean nothing. McKenzie will be safe."

"See, you don't know what you're talking about. You don't know how deep this goes."

"Then maybe you should tell me."

Kyle didn't answer, and Steve heard a door open and close. Then measured footsteps approached.

"Ah, he's awake," came the female voice. "Perfect."

H-5-O

McKenzie had never worn Kevlar before. At this point, she'd stopped counting all the strange things she'd been doing. She switched her .357 for a semi-automatic. Six shots might not be enough.

Danny had arrived right after the other three, so all of them stood together outside the seemingly abandoned storage building.

"I don't suppose anyone has mentioned how against the law this is?" Danny asked, nodding at McKenzie.

"We've done worse," Kono said. "Anyway, she's gonna be our eyes. This is just a precaution." Kono gestured at McKenzie attire.

"I've called for backup," Chin said, "but they're still about 15 minutes out."

"Okay," Danny said. "Seems like you already have a plan."

"We'll follow the signal," Kono said. "McKenzie's gonna keep an eye on it and the exit for us."

"This is the only way in or out," Chin said, indicating the wide opening in the chain-link fence. "But with all the rows of storage units inside, we'll need someone out here, just in case anyone tries to get out."

"You okay with this?" Danny asked McKenzie.

She bit the inside of her mouth and then smirked. "No, I wish I was going with you," she said. "Don't worry. I'll be fine. Just get in there and get Steve out."

"All right." Danny looked at the other two. "Let's go."

H-5-O

"We have a problem," the woman said tonelessly. "Company."

"Are you serious?" Kyle asked.

Steve couldn't help smirking. "Told you so," he said.

"I wouldn't be gloating in your position, McGarrett," the woman said. "Here. We're out of drugs."

Steve heard a noise that sounded an awful lot like someone catching a gun. That did not bode well for Steve.

He figured he should be thankful that Kyle only knocked him almost unconscious, rather than shooting him. His vision blurred and he couldn't be sure if it was from blood in his eyes or not. He heard Kyle and the woman talking and he was just starting to remember where he had heard that voice before, when several things happened at once.

There was shouting outside and Steve felt the chair start to move. Without thinking, he rocked it as hard as he could in the general direction he last remembered Kyle.

Unfortunately, Kyle wasn't there and Steve landed hard on his right arm. He couldn't be sure he didn't feel it crack.

There was more shouting, gunshots, and Steve started to drift in and out of consciousness. He pulled at the restraints until a jolt of pain shot up his arm and he woke up a little.

He still couldn't see very well, but Steve was more aware of what was going on. He was on his side on the floor and he didn't think his arm was broken, but probably cracked.

And he heard the last voice he wanted to.

H-5-O

McKenzie cursed and ran across the street.

"Danny, the signal's moving," she said.

"Where?" came the reply in her ear.

"Uh, east of you. I'm coming in."

"No! Stay where you are."

"I can head them off. I'm closer to where they're headed."

"Hey! We don't know who's in there. Stay where you are!"

McKenzie didn't say anything, but kept running.

Sorry, Danny, she thought. I can't do that.

Navigating the rows of storage units, McKenzie found the spot where the GPS signal was coming from. It looked like an office at the end of one of the rows. She approached slowly, holding her gun at her side and trying to regulate her breathing.

Coming up on the door, she tried the handle, but it was locked. Next to it though, was a bigger door, like those on the rest of the units. It didn't have a lock on it, so McKenzie reached for the handle and pulled as hard as she could. She was so focused on the other side of the door, that she didn't see Danny, Chin, and Kono coming around a corner down the row from her.

The first thing McKenzie saw was Steve's chair tip over and Kyle standing behind him with a gun pointed at his head. Then the others arrived and the shooting started. But they were focused on the people behind Kyle.

McKenzie had no awareness of anything but the gun in her brother's hand. Three months ago, she had been faced with a similar situation and acted immediately. But this wasn't some mindless killer. This was her brother. He got one warning.

"Let him go, Kyle," she said. "Let him go, or I will shoot you."

Kyle looked around him, seeming lost. "Once he's gone they'll leave you alone," he said, as if trying to convince himself it was true.

McKenzie's finger slid into place. "Now," she said. "I won't tell you again."

Something snapped. Kyle took aim and a shot rang out.

"It's when you're breakin' down with your insides comin' out; that's when you find out what your heart is made of. And you haven't lost me yet. I'll sing until heart caves in. No, you haven't lost me yet."