Throwing Darts

by XOMaggieWrites

Steve shoved his hand in his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He passed it to her and watched as she read through the list of places he had scribbled down. Catherine laughed, "What'd you do, throw darts at a map?" Steve grinned and put it back in his pocket. "Something like that." Follow Steve and Catherine's adventures after the series finale.

28. Chapter 28 - Spain

THROWING DARTS

Based on the Hawaii Five-0 Series Finale Season 10 Episode 22: Aloha

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CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

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LOCATION UNKNOWN - JULY 13, 2020 - 1200 HOURS

Catherine's vision was blurry as her eyes adjusted to her new surroundings. The pounding in her head made her groan as she slowly sat up. Her neck and back radiated with pain from being slumped over in a chair for God knows how long. She attempted to stand, but her wrists screamed in pain at her first budge. Her eyes darted down as the handcuffs restraining her wrists and ankles to the steel chair came into focus. Save your energy. She suppressed the urge to fight the shackles, and swallowed painfully. Her throat felt as if she had eaten sandpaper.

The room was bare. She could tell that at one point it had been a bedroom. There were baseboards along the floor and trim on the ceiling. She spotted a warped spot in the wall and assumed that it had once been a window that was now concealed with drywall and a little paint. What was probably carpet at one point or another had been replaced with some sort of practical tile. She noticed the slight slope in the floor that led to a drain. Shit. Floor drains were never a good thing.

The click of a padlock turning and the slide of a deadbolt diverted her attention to the door. Almost instinctively, her hands curled into fists, although given her current restrained situation, they weren't going to do her much good.

"Ah, Lieutenant Rollins. I'm glad to see you're awake." The man's words were unnervingly cheery as he set a tray of food on her lap. He unlocked the handcuffs restraining one of her wrists and stepped back towards the door. "I wouldn't waste time trying to escape, dear. Eat something. I'll be back in five minutes to take your tray."

As the man exited the room and slid the locks back into place, Catherine's mind went back to her days in Navy SERE training: Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape. First step: survival. It was unlikely that the food was poisoned, given that whatever purpose these people had with her hadn't yet begun. Surviving meant that she had to have enough energy to fight. She took a bite of the sandwich provided and downed the entire bottle of water. Not a moment after she had finished the sandwich, her five minutes was up. The man entered the room, secured the handcuff around her wrist, picked up the tray, and exited without a word.

Catherine closed her eyes, attempting to remember what had brought her to this moment. She and Steve were at the park. She crossed the street to the basilica. Coen handed her the file. A large man threw her against the stone building. She landed punch after punch on him until she heard the sickening snap of her wrist. And then everything went black. Not a minute later, the door opened again. This time a taller, silver haired man stepped in the room and closed the door behind him.

"Igor Basayev." Catherine stated coldly as she clenched her jaw. Her eyes pierced into his.

A twisted smile turned up on his lips, "Ah, so you do know who I am." He chuckled grimly, "And here I was thinking that we'd never get to… meet. After all, I evaded you so well in Chechnya."

"So what is a man like you doing taking orders from the likes of Coen?" Catherine smirked. She knew that the person who interrogated the prisoner was rarely the one who was actually calling the shots. They were simply the guinea pig. Catherine never did well with interrogation practice during SERE training. She had the nasty habit of turning the tables on her interrogators and asking them the questions. Admittedly, it drove her instructors nuts, but she tucked that skill away in her brain for the day where it would be life or death.

Basayev smiled as he cracked his knuckles, "I always heard you were a feisty one." He chuckled. "Watching you break will be fun." His heavy Russian accent did nothing to hide the sadistic tone in his voice.

"I mean, I'm just curious…" She shrugged. "I'd always heard you were this savage Russian mobster and then somehow you managed to slip through my fingers at the final hour in Chechnya… Although, now that I see what's really going on, Coen probably helped you out, didn't he? I mean, I know I'm good… But you? You had to get some pathetic, weasley, dirty CIA handler to save your ass before I got too close. Isn't that right?"

Catherine didn't have a chance to continue her monologue. Basayev's fist connected with her jaw in one fluid motion. Her head snapped back as she absorbed the blow. Igor stepped back and laughed as Catherine's head lolled back to face him. "Here's a little piece of advice..." His voice was hoarse and threatening. "The next time I walk in this room, I will ask you a question and you will give me an answer. Do that and you'll get to live. You try to play your little mind games again, and I promise you, all those rumors you heard about me?" A demented smile played across his lips. "I promise you, sweetheart. You'll experience just how true they are."

A trickle of blood ran down the corner of her mouth. She spat at him before smiling sweetly, "Just tell Coen to come talk to me himself."

… … …

BARCELONA, SPAIN - JULY 13, 2020 - 1400 HOURS

Steve and Harry sat side by side as they furiously typed on their computers. Steve had found Catherine's bag on the side of the road about a block away from the spot of her abduction. For the last sixteen hours, they had been combing through hours of CCTV footage, but had no luck in tracing the van that had careened down the road with Catherine supposedly stuffed inside.

"What about the CIA chap? Yeah?" Harry asked after a long stretch of silence.

Steve clenched his jaw. The next time he saw that man's weasley little face, it had better be in a body bag. "He's in on it." He mumbled.

Harry leaned back in the desk chair and stretched his arms. "So we track him down, we find her. He's a suspended American spook in Europe, which means he has little to no legal backup. Not to mention, he's a handler, not a field agent. He's bound to leave a bigger footprint than your average spy."

Steve shook his head, "He's suspended, facing termination. That's basically a death sentence with the CIA." He looked over at Harry. "You wanna know who the most dangerous kind of person is?" His eyes flickered over to Langford's. "The one who's got nothing left to lose."

Harry pondered his statement for a moment before looking back at Steve, "Are you talking about Coen or yourself?"

Steve shrugged. "Both."

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LOCATION UNKNOWN - JULY 13, 2020 - 1800 HOURS

Catherine watched as the door creaked open again. Half of her was expecting Basayev to come back in and finish her off, the other half thought it was the sandwich man coming back. God, she hoped it was the sandwich man. What she didn't expect was to see Coen rolling in a cart with covered dishes.

"The fuck?" She sneered.

Coen chuckled, "Not quite the reaction I expected, but fair. I get it." He rolled the cart in front of her and uncovered the plates. Catherine's stomach immediately began to rumble at the sight of the food. "Now, where were we?" He pulled a chair in from outside the room and sat across from her. Coen leaned over and uncuffed her right hand before sitting back in the chair and digging in to the plate of food in front of him. Catherine stared at him coldly, not making a move towards the food. "I'd eat if I were you." Coen stated nonchalantly. "I mean, with the baby and all, you've got to be hungry." Catherine's demeanor didn't change. "If you're worried about the food being poisoned, I'll give you my plate." He offered. Catherine's jaw clenched, but she made a move for the fork and took a bite. "Good choice, Rollins." He chuckled. "I mean, you can have what's on my plate, but I like alot of black pepper and I know that's been making you nauseous lately… isn't that right?"

"Are you gonna to sit there and talk me to death or can I eat my dinner in peace?" Catherine snapped.

Coen chuckled, "You see, Catherine. You have something I want."

"A brain?" She quipped with a smile.

"Insurance." He stated. "I know that Doris McGarrett gave you unredacted action reports. They have my name in them and I want them back."

Catherine rolled her eyes, "Even if I had something like that, do you think I'm just gonna hand it over to you after you kidnapped me and tied me to a chair?"

Coen patted his mouth with the napkin and set it aside, "That was Plan B. Admittedly, it's a little messier than Plan A, but you and your SEAL didn't exactly cooperate with my 'less invasive' option." He stated pleasantly as if he were just catching up with an old friend.

"And what was that exactly?" Catherine snapped as she finished her plate.

Coen took a long drink from his glass. "I employed Gustav Bastyr to follow you when I found out that you and Steve were going to be in Prague. His job was to report back on your comings and goings, but being as he is always eager to please, he, uh, went the extra mile."

Catherine accidentally dropped her fork on the ground. She leaned down and struggled to pick it up with her one good hand, but finally grasped it and set it back on the table, "So, what? Bastyr cloned Steve's phone when he took our picture on the bridge? Probably embedded some spyware in the email he sent to us?"

Coen chuckled and crossed his arms, "Like I said, Rollins. No one ever accused you of being stupid."

"And all this time you've been monitoring our communications to see if I would mention anything about whatever "insurance" you think I have…." Catherine smirked. "In that case, I'm gonna make the assumption that you're grasping at straws, and you're not actually going to do anything to me. Because you've been monitoring us, so you know that Steve doesn't know anything about what his mother allegedly left." She scoffed. "You're just grasping at straws trying to save your own ass from being terminated." A sarcastic laugh escaped her lips. Catherine knew that she was getting under his skin, "How's that working out for ya, Andrew?"

Coen pushed back from the dinner cart and secured her wrist back into the handcuffs. "You may not be stupid, but the confidence you have in your misguided belief that I won't hurt you will be what sends you to your grave." He wheeled the cart to the door. "I tried to be civil, Rollins. But if you don't tell Basayev where Doris hid the files, this will have been your last meal." He chuckled, "Hope you enjoyed it." He slammed the door shut and slid the locks back into place.

Catherine waited for a moment until she knew the coast was clear. Her mishap with the fork had merely been a distraction to get the switchblade out of her boot. Using the slight-of-hand trick that Doris had taught Steve all those years ago, she had slid the switchblade into the sleeve of her leather jacket for when she needed it most.

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BARCELONA, SPAIN - JULY 13, 2020 - 2000 HOURS

Steve's attention broke away from his computer screen as a knock on the hotel room door startled him. Harry glanced up from his laptop as his eyes darted to the door, "Who's that?"

"The first round of reinforcements." Steve muttered as he walked over and opened the door. "Hey." He tried to force a smile.

Kono pulled him into a hug, "We're gonna get her back, Boss. You know that right?"

Steve nodded, "Let's get to work." He closed the door behind her and followed her into the suite. "Harry, you remember Kono Kalakaua? Kono, Harry Langford."

Kono smiled as she took a seat in between them, "Good to see you again."

Harry chuckled, "How could I forget this lovely lady." He chuckled. "I know you're not with Five-0 anymore, so what have you been filling your days with?"

"FBI Human Trafficking division." She smiled as she began setting up her tablet.

Harry chuckled, "Ah, so you find scumbags who like to take people and hide them."

"Exactly." She grinned.

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BARCELONA, SPAIN - JULY 13, 2020 - 2300 HOURS

A few hours later, there was another knock at the door. Harry glanced up at Steve, "More reinforcements?" Steve nodded as he got up to answer the door. "I hope they brought coffee." Harry grumbled.

Just as Steve walked back in the room with Danny and Junior, Harry stepped out into the hallway to make a call. Steve excused himself to the bathroom as Junior and Danny settled in beside Kono.

"How is he?" Danny mumbled as he began pulling tactical gear out of the duffle bags they had carried in.

Kono sighed, "Quiet."

Junior's eyes cut over to Danny, "It's scary when he's quiet. He's like a ticking time bomb."

"I've been here for a couple hours and he hasn't said anything more than a few syllables." She sighed.

Harry quickly walked back in the room and signaled for Kono to look at her computer, "I just got off the phone with a friend. She's former MI6 and had a run-in with Coen in Spain a few years ago." He furiously typed in grid coordinates onto Kono's tablet and pulled up satellite imagery. "Start looking here. We're looking for a defunct CIA safehouse. Hasn't been used in a couple years, so go back and see if you can find any sudden activity when there shouldn't have been any."

Kono nodded and got back to work.

Danny looked up as Steve stepped out of the bathroom. He tilted his head towards the balcony, silently suggesting that they go have a chat. Steve nodded and followed him out there, closing the door behind them.

"So, uh, I can officially cross off having a phone conversation with the Director of the CIA off of my bucket list." Danny chuckled dryly. "She, uh, she sent us a plane and everything."

Steve nodded, "Gina and I, we, uh, we go way back. We worked together at Gitmo for a while when she was just an agent."

Danny rolled his eyes, "Of course you're on a first name basis with the Director of the CIA." He glanced over at Steve who was leaning against the balcony railing, staring out at the city. "We're gonna find her… Catherine's she's uh, she's a tough lady. She's gonna be just fine."

Steve shook his head, "I shouldn't have let her go, Danny. I knew it was a bad idea."

"Whether it was yesterday or today, or ten years from now, if that son of a bitch was gonna come after her, he was gonna do it, you hear me? There's nothing you coulda done to stop it." Danny reasoned as he got up from the chair he was seated in and leaned against the railing beside his partner. "We're gonna find her, you two are gonna go back home and have this baby, and you're gonna live happily ever after, okay?"

Steve's eyes cut down at him, "Who are you and where did my cynical Danno go?"

Danny chuckled, "I'll let you get away with that one because I know you're hurting." Just then, Junior tapped on the glass doors and furiously waved them inside.

Steve whipped the door open and hurried over to where Langford, Kono, and Junior were huddled around a screen. "What's going on?"

Kono looked up from the computer. "We found her."

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UNKNOWN LOCATION - JULY 14, 2020 - 0400 HOURS

Catherine screamed at the top of her lungs as black spots entered her vision. Hot pain shot from the tips of her toes all the way to her scalp. Her arm hung limply from her body at a gangly angle as Igor Basayev sadistically laughed.

"Let's try this again, Lieutenant Rollins." He chuckled. "Where." He twisted her already bruised wrist again. "Are the files."

"I don't know, I don't KNOW!" She screamed in pain as tears poured out of her eyes.

Basayev dropped her hand from his grasp and crossed his arms, "You're only making this more difficult on yourself." Basayev had to admit, she was a tough nut to crack. He had seen grown men cower away from him out of fear of death, but not this one.

Catherine spat blood from her mouth towards him, "You keep asking for things that I can't give you answers to because I don't know what they are!" She pleaded.

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EN ROUTE TO VILANOVA DE SAU - JULY 14, 2020 - 0400 HOURS

"Let me be clear. This is a CIA sanctioned op. The director knows we're here. They, however, do not care about what happens to Coen or whoever else is in that house. All they ask is that Coen is either killed or captured. In their eyes, a bullet is cheaper than a trial."

"Copy." Junior acknowledged as Danny, Kono, and Harry nodded in agreement.

"Harry, you're our wheels. If we're going out hot, you're driving." Steve barked. "Danny, Kono, you're on the ground. Keep the perimeter secure. No one gets in or out without us knowing about it. Junior, you're with me."

Harry glanced over his shoulder as Steve was giving orders, "Juliet said she'll be nearby working the other side."

"Juliet?" Steve racked his brain, "As in Juliet Higgins?"

Harry's eyebrows raised, "You know her?"

"Yeah, but how do you?" Steve chuckled. "Former colleagues at MI6 I'm guessing?"

Langford grinned, "That… and the fact that we've been seeing each other for a few months."

Steve let out a genuine smile, "So I'm guessing once her visa issues are worked out, that I should, uh, should expect to see you on the island a lot more often."

Harry nodded and looked back at the team in the back seat, "We're fifteen minutes out. Gear up. Comms on."

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VILANOVA DE SAU - JULY 14, 2020 - 0500 HOURS

Igor Basayev watched as Catherine's head rolled back before it slung forward, her chin connecting with her chest. He had been going at it for hours and she hadn't given him even an inkling of where the files Coen wanted were. He watched for her eyes to blink open again as they hazily connected with his. Catherine took a deep breath. Four seconds in. She exhaled. Four seconds out. Combat breathing. Basayev noticed her technique and then it hit him: she was no ordinary mark. She was a battle tested soldier who would go to her grave before betraying her country.

A demented smile twisted up onto his lips as he pulled a dagger from his belt and ran the blade across the fabric of her jeans. "I'll ask nicely one more time, Lieutenant Rollins. After all, I am a gentleman, and you are an expectant mother." He cleared his throat as he poised the tip of the knife against her thigh. "Where are the documents."

Catherine swallowed and exhaled slowly. "I don't know." She whispered.

Without a second of hesitation, Igor Basayev drove the dagger straight into her thigh, up to the handle.

Catherine's blood-curdling screams were deafening until she blacked out and everything fell silent. Basayev leaned against the wall with his ankles crossed as he waited for her to regain consciousness. A few minutes later, Catherine's eyes flickered open. Basayev hovered silently over her. "You'll thank me for not pulling that out." He pointed to the knife. "It's the only thing keeping you from bleeding to death." His hands gripped the back of the chair on either side of her shoulders as he leaned down and whispered against her ear, "You will tell me what I want to know or I will pull that knife out and slice you into ribbons, Miss Rollins."

His threat was empty, because the next sound Basayev's ears heard was the click of a switchblade opening, milliseconds before Catherine drove it straight into his heart. "It's Mrs. McGarrett." She whispered weakly.

And then, for what felt like the fiftieth time, everything went black.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

Ah! Another cliffhanger! I know guys, it was mean of me, but I love a little suspense! I promise you the next chapter will give you some answers to the questions you've left in the reviews, but I don't want to give anything away just yet!

Please let me know what you thought of this chapter! Thank you so much for sticking with me through 28 whole chapters! (And we've still got a ways to go!)

Fun fact: when I write these, I do it in a word document on my computer. We're currently up to 287 pages. (That's a lot, y'all!)

Two things before I go:

1. I totally ship Langford and Juliet Higgins and to all my Magnum PI fans out there, I desperately want to see Harry show up in the MPI world!

2. COEN! When I was outlining this story, I knew that I wanted to have some sort of case for McGarrett, Catherine, and the team to work. Ever since we were introduced to Coen in 10x7, I LOVED his weasly little character. I loved the idea that this one man who we originally met when he coerced Steve into going after Doris in Mexico, could somehow also connect Doris and Catherine, and Catherine and Steve. I think the idea that there's this one guy in the CIA that is such a jerk that Doris, Cath, and Steve all hate (and is a running joke) was hilarious and I wanted to bring it into this story. SO! We'll have to see if Coen makes it out of this one alive or not!

I love you all! Have a WONDERFUL day!

XO,

-Mags-

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