"We need to get in the shaft!" Bryan called, shouting over the noise. The armed company Matt brought back to the office with him seemed eager to break the door down, banging and hollering. "How?" Will asked, shouting as well. "It's taking all of us to keep the door shut!"
"One person goes, the rest stay!" Bryan said.
"Harper, you go," Matt said. "We got this."
"Are you kidding me? I won't make it out. Will, you go. Get out and get to Five-0 headquarters—they'll hear you out," Harper said, pushing harder to keep the door closed. Will looked to Bryan, and Bryan nodded. "Go!" Bryan ordered. Will darted away from the door, dropping a load on the others, and ran to the access shaft.
He looked back at the others a second before climbing in and shutting the door. "Now what?" Harper asked, looking to Bryan.
"We need to buy him some time!" Bryan said. "Open the door on three. One!"
"Two!" Matt said.
Harper momentarily sighed ruefully. "Three!" They all moved away from the door right as those behind it pushed, causing them to fly through into the office. It was four men in black. Three had guns on them, and two had them drawn. Bryan and Matt disarmed the first two gunmen easily. Harper on the other hand, didn't know how to fight—physically or emotionally—and her assailant gave a good hit to her jaw.
It knocked her into a filing cabinet and she landed on the side of a desk. On the desk were some pencils and pens, along with a pair of upward pointed scissors. The scissors lodged into her left side, and were pulled out when she moved. She cried out from the pain and the man she fought with landed another hit to her jaw.
Her head spun and she was knocked to the floor. Her side burned with a fiery heat, and she felt the wound. When she pulled her hand away, she saw it was covered in blood. There were a few thuds and then Bryan was at her side. "How bad is it?" Matt asked, standing just behind Bryan. Bryan moved her shirt to get a better look at the wound.
It was deep, and bleeding faster than it should. "Bad," Bryan answered, concentrating.
"We need to get moving," Matt said, shifting his weight between his feet. Harper was slightly out of it. The sudden blood loss was not only nauseating but it was debilitating—mentally speaking. She couldn't focus on anything even if she wanted to.
Bryan ripped off a good four inches on his shirt hem and wadded it, then pressed it to the wound. Harper audibly winced. "Hold this here, okay?" he instructed. She gave a small nod, just barely hearing his words, and held the shirt piece in place. Bryan then slid his arms under and hefted her up with him as he stood.
It was painful for Harper, and she bit her lip to keep from screaming. Matt led the way out of the office while Bryan carried Harper along behind. They hurried down the hallway. There seemed to be only one option: find medical supplies for Harper. Since the all-of-them-escaping plan couldn't happen, they were a bit cornered.
Steve and Danny drove as fast as possible without breaking the law to headquarters. Chin and Grover were surprised to see Steve returning to the office with Danny, but didn't ask. "We got a lead," Danny said, as he and Steve approached the men at the table.
Chin and Grover shared a look. "How?" Chin asked.
"We just got a call from Harper," Steve said. That shocked the men even further. "She said she was at some warehouse."
"With other people that were kidnapped, too," Danny added.
"Whoa, hold up," Grover said, holding up a hand. "You mean to tell me that Harper's still alive, and she's with some group of other kidnapped people? And you know this because she called you?"
"I know, it sounds crazy," Steve sighed. "But she spoke to Danny, too, not just me." Chin and Grover looked to Danny, and Danny nodded. "He's telling the truth," he said.
"Alright then," Grover said, still shocked. "What else did she say?"
"She said we might be able to find her using information about Megan Reynolds and Derek West—two people that were also kidnapped," Steve explained. Chin started typing on the table, looking up the two people Steve mentioned. The results popped up on the screen, accompanying pictures of both people. Megan Reynolds was a petite and blonde, sweet looking girl.
Derek West looked like a cocky businessman of some kind. "Megan Reynolds is a twenty-year-old psychology major at HSC," Chin read aloud. "Derek West is an accounts manager at Jet Enterprises, whose CEO and founder is Harrison Morgan—Ellie Morgan's father."
"A guy that works for Ellie's dad was kidnapped, too?" Danny asked. "Seems a little fishy."
"Yeah. And that's not all," Chin said. "According to this, Derek West and Megan Reynolds both went missing within a month of each other, two years ago."
"Were there any witnesses?" Steve asked.
Chin shook his head. "No...There was however an ear witness to Megan's kidnapping, who testified that they heard, 'a scream and car wheels screeching'. Both kidnappings happened at night." Steve sighed, crossing his arms as he looked over the information on the screen. "Okay. Grover, Danny: you two go talk to Harrison Morgan, see what you can find out. Chin and I will talk to this ear witness," Steve said. Grover and Danny nodded and headed out.
Matt stopped at a room marked, 'Medical and Janitorial'. He wiggled the knob, and found it was locked. He sighed and stepped back. Then he lurched forward, sending his foot into the door with a force, and the lock broke. The door flew open and Matt waved down Bryan, who was just down the hall. "Bryan! Over here," Matt called. Bryan hurriedly carried Harper into the room, and Matt flipped on the lights.
Bryan directed Matt to get what they needed, while he carried Harper into the next room through a connected door. It was an un-used, obviously old office room. He cleared off a desk and laid Harper across it. Blood stained his clothes and soaked through the thin cloth that she held to the wound.
"Matt!" Bryan called.
"I got it!" Matt hurried into the connected office room with supplies in his arms. "Here." Bryan took some gauze packages and medicine cream. He moved quickly to first try to stop the bleeding enough so that he could sew the wound closed. Matt readied a needle and thread while Bryan worked.
Harper was barely awake now, unable to comprehend much—but she could still feel everything. The pain was excruciating. Bryan gave Harper a small shot of coagulant to slow the bleeding, and it worked. He worked quickly and efficiently to sew the wound shut.
Matt kept watch at the door. Faint echoes of the sirens wailing in the hallway flooded in the partially opened door. Bryan tied off the thread then spread medicine over it, and after that he held gauze over the wound as he grabbed the medical wrap.
He put a thin-but-thick layer of medical wrapping around Harper's middle to hold the gauze in place and keep the wound clean. Once she was wrapped up, Bryan tried to get her attention. Her skin was tinged pale from the large blood loss. "Harper? Harper, look at me," Bryan said, gently cupping her cheeks with his hands. "Wake up."
Her eyes lightly fluttered, then pulled open. But they were heavy and hard to keep open. She tried her best to keep them open as much as possible. Bryan pulled her up to sit and then helped her off the desk. Her head lolled a little as she moved. "Come on, we need to go," Bryan said, helping her to the door.
Matt hefted Harper's weight while Bryan led the way out and down the hall. As they went, suddenly men in black with large guns were walking toward them, down the hallway. "Split up!" Bryan called, pointing to the left hall in the four way intersection. Matt pulled Harper to dive into the left hallway, moving as fast as possible to cover ground. "Wait," Harper said, her voice quiet.
She forced Matt to stop. "We have to go," Matt said, his eyes feral.
"We can't leave him," Harper said, not completely there. Matt looked back down the hallway and sighed in indecision. Suddenly two men in black started down their hallway and Matt pushed Harper behind the wall of the turn-off. He made a hushing motion to Harper and peered around the corner. He then quickly zipped his head back behind the wall. "Okay, new plan," he whispered, sucking in panicked breaths. "I'll hold them off and you run like your butt's on fire."
"No," Harper said. "I'm not leaving you behind either."
"Oh, for crying out loud!" Matt said. The men were getting closer by the second. Harper did her best to stay on her feet, but she was teetering, leaning heavily on the wall. To say that Matt was panicking was an understatement. He'd never been put in this position before. Thinking fast was not his specialty.
Just then, the men in black rounded the corner. Matt grabbed the first man's gun and shoved it back, rammed the butt of it into the man's face. That man went down, angering the next. Matt didn't hesitate to flip the gun around in his hands and aim it at the man in black.
"Put the weapon down," the man ordered. He aimed his gun at Harper, standing beside Matt. "Or the girl dies." Matt lowered his gun, and side-glanced at Harper. She caught his glance and knew what he was silently saying. She was going to protest, but then Matt swung a fist at the man in black.
"Go!" Matt shouted, tackling the man. Harper stumbled backwards and turned, then hurried down the hallway. She made it to the four-way intersection and skidded to a halt at a cry. Turning around, she just had enough time to see Matt get a punch to the face with the man in black on top of him.
Bryan came running up to Harper from the left hallway. It startled her but she kept her eyes on Matt. "We have to go," Bryan said, grabbing her arm. He pulled her toward the left hallway, when suddenly the man in black wrestling with Matt held up his gun. "No!" Harper shouted, wide-eyed.
But it was too late. The man in black had pulled the trigger, and a bullet was sent into Matt's chest.