Here's a beefy crossover for you patient people. Two of you guessed what the crossover was! Cookie to you guys, you know who you are.
Shout out to Phoebe Miller for beta reading and to that one weird dream I had a few weeks ago...
Fact #157: Being a cop is just living the suite life.
Season: 5th Season
Mr. Moseby waltzed into the grand lobby of the Honolulu Tipton. It was far more airy and tropical themed than the one he managed in Boston. Marble floors polished to a shine stretched from white wall to white wall, pops of lush green plants added a desirable texture and splash of color. And beyond the check-in desk, an expanse of floor to ceiling windows showed the picturesque beach.
He smiled.
Finally. He had finally made it to Hawaii.
"Mom, can we rent surfboards, please?"
"Come on. Babes dig surfers."
And they had made it, too.
The bane of his existence.
How they had managed to weasel in on his prize of a trip of a life time, he would never know. Mr. Tipton, having a moment of generosity, had granted not only Moseby his dream vacation to the Honolulu Tipton for winning the rather complicated contest, but had also granted a few of his employees their dream vacations to Hawaii. Grudgingly, he inwardly admitted no one would have probably won the prize if they hadn't have pooled their resources and minds, but did the twins really have to be in the same state as him, let alone the same hotel?
"Welcome to the Honolulu Tipton. How may I help you?" the manager behind the front desk asked.
"Marion Moseby," he said. One of the boys bumped into him as the chorus of rolling luggage came to a halt behind him. He forced a grin. "And company."
High heels click-clacked on the marble floor around him in a rhythm he knew by heart now. He took a step back before he was shoved aside in a gesture that wasn't so much mean as it was careless.
"I hope my suite with the ocean view is ready!"
London clapped her hands and hopped up and down on her toes.
"Ah, Ms. Tipton, welcome back," the manager greeted. She was a native Hawaiian woman with long dark hair falling almost to her waist and almond eyes. She made all the right expressions, telling Moseby she was familiar with London. "Your suite has been prepped just to your liking, and your favorite sushi chef is currently preparing your dinner for later tonight."
"Yay!"
Maddy sidled up to London. "Can I come see your suite? Is just the like the one back at home?"
London guffawed. "Even better. This one comes with its own private section of beach."
Maddy's jaw dropped. Moseby shook his head. Like Maddy, he had come from a family of little means, and while he had worked his way up in the world, being friends with someone like London Tipton who treated ten thousand dollars like pocket change was quite the experience.
"Let's go see my suite so you feel bad about your own!" London pivoted and snapped her fingers. "Come on, Hawaiian Esteban, this luggage isn't going to get to my suite by itself."
Moseby and the manager watched the long suffering bellhop shove the weighed down luggage cart after London. Maddy kept stride with London, used to her better than thou attitude by now.
A second luggage cart zipped by.
"Hey! You two hooligans! No luggage cart derbies in my–" Moseby paused. He breathed out serenely. "This isn't my lobby. Not my lobby, not my problem."
"Boys! Boys!" Carey dropped her stuff next to the desk and took off down the corridor after them.
The manager quirked a brow at him.
He leaned on the counter. "Those two constantly raise the dead in my hotel dead, racing luggage carts and dropping out of ventilation shafts and sneaking horses through. I'm sure their mother apologizes in advanced."
The manager hummed and went back to typing. She slid a key card across the counter to him. "At least all you've got are kids. I've got cops raising hell."
Moseby's eyes widened. "Cops? Whatever for?"
"You name it, you got it. Five-0 does pretty much whatever they want when they're hunting somebody."
"In that case, I hope the twins are all you have to deal with while we're here."
The managed rapped her knuckles of the wooden counter.
"Steven J. McGarrett? Who do you think you are? Tarzan?"
Steve gave his partner a boyish grin and shoved the suspect towards him. "Book 'em, Danno."
Danny caught the suspect around the arm and gave Steve a dirty look. He shoved the suspect into a march forward toward the nearest exit where one of the squad cars was waiting.
"You can't just treat the mall like your personal jungle gym," Danny said.
Steve rolled his eyes. Danny was always worried about property damage. He didn't even break in any doors this time. He didn't think he broke anything this time. Except maybe a mall directory or something. There had been a crash, but he had been too focused on pursuing their suspect to take note of what had been in his way.
"I mean, who swings off the second floor to the ground floor using a Victoria's Secret sales banner, huh? There's this wonderful invention called stairs. You should try it sometime."
"It would have taken too long," Steve said.
"It would have taken too long, can you believe that?" Danny asked the suspect. "Would you have rather him taken the stairs or the wild man way down?"
"Is that a trick question?" the suspect asked.
Steve had planted both his boots in the man's backside as he swung down, sending him sprawling across the tiles mostly on his face. Besides a dent in his nose and some skid marks on his face, he was fine. Fine enough to go straight to booking.
It would go down in Steve's book as one of his more precise tackles.
"We should go get lunch," he said as Danny handed the suspect off to HPD.
"Lunch? You want to get lunch?" Danny glanced at his phone. "Lunch at noon? Who are you and what have you done with Steve? Are you sure you don't want to try and invade a small country before you let us go get some food? Or perhaps dismantle the Yakuza?"
"Brah, don't give him any ideas," Kono chided. She had already dropped her and her cousin's suspect off with HPD and had been waiting by the squad car for them.
"I think you mean don't look a gift horse in the mouth," Chin said.
Danny held up his hands. "Fine. I'll eat. They put in a new place in the food court that's supposedly Italian."
Steve frowned at him. "Didn't you get enough Italian food while we were in Jersey?"
"There's no such thing," Danny objected.
"Hey, don't get it if all you're going to do is complain about it," Kono said. "Because I now know from experience that I'm never going to have a pizza like that again."
"See? I told you the pizza was better over there. They know how to make a pie." Danny eyed Steve. "Without pineapple."
Kono snickered.
Steve shrugged. "It's just fruit."
Danny turned to Chin to clarify. "All my buddies almost threw him out of the bar when he casually asked where the pineapple was. It's like one of the cardinal sins of pizza in Jersey."
Chin patted Steve's shoulder. "Just be glad they didn't ship you out on the next flight."
Steve pouted as the others laughed.
"Boys, remember your sunscreen!"
Zack sighed while Cody obediently slathered it on.
"Mom, we're not even going to the beach yet. We're going with Maddy and London down Kalakaua Avenue. I'm getting me some new trunks and shades to impress the ladies," Zack said.
"Well, I'm not gonna look like a tomato. I don't think ladies find the boiled alive skin tone very sexy," Cody said and tossed him the bottle.
Zack slapped some on his nose and ears just to appease his mom. "I don't think they find the whiter than snow skin tone very sexy, either."
"You'll thank me when you're my age," Carey said, and added under her breath, "God help me."
Zack underhanded the bottle back to his mom. "You might want some, too. Don't want to get leathery."
Carey raised a deadly looking eyebrow at them.
"Not that you're leathery at all right now. You're more like a porcelain China doll," Zack quickly amended. "An older porcelain China doll, but–"
Carey pointed to the door. "Go. Now. Before you dig yourself a hole so deep you'll need an elevator to get out of it."
"Okay, bye, Mom!" Zack edged around Cody out the door.
"Behave while we're gone, young lady!" Cody added.
Zack smiled and winked at every woman they passed in the hallway as they headed up towards London's suite. There were women everywhere. Of course, it wasn't like he didn't see women back in Boston, but the ones in Boston weren't in bikinis and crop tops and short shorts.
"I never want to leave," he said wistfully.
"Remember what Mom said when we got off the jet," Cody warned. He knocked on the suite door.
Zack crossed his arms and leaned against the wall beside the door. "I know, I know. Women are people, not objects. And if I get slapped, it's my own fault."
The door opened and London skipped out into the hallway, closely followed by Maddy. Both of them had changed clothes, London into a breezy, tropical outfit with a sunhat and sunglasses that probably cost more than a week's stay in the hotel's suite, and Maddy into a more modest tank top, jean shorts, and Converse.
Zack almost melted.
London peered over her sunglasses at them. "Really? You're wearing that?"
Zack held his arms out and looked down at himself. "What's wrong with this?"
London pushed her sunglasses back up and trotted off with them in tow. "Honey, everything's wrong with that shirt."
"It's a classic," Zack said and popped the collar on his red Hawaiian shirt. It was better looking than whatever plain button down his twin had on.
Maddy leaned over. "I like it."
That was all the reassurance Zack needed.
The bellhop watched Miss Tipton and her entourage load up into her limo. They were headed to the shopping strip on Kalakaua Avenue. The incredibly rich hotel heiress made sure everyone knew she was going to blow some money like it was nothing.
He pushed the stray luggage cart back into the room with the other carts and pulled out his cell phone. He glanced up and down the hallway. That hotel manager kept an eagle eye on her employees, especially the new ones like himself.
The coast was clear.
The number he dialed picked up after only one ring.
"It's me," he said. "She's on her way. She's got some company with her."
He paused while his boss asked a question.
"I don't know. They're all staying in the suites on the top floor. Probably all loaded," he said.
Another pause.
"Understood."
He closed his simple flip phone and stripped off his bellhop garments. Another pair of civilian clothes were waiting for him in a tucked away corner in the storage room.
Perfectly disguised as a hotel guest and no longer an employee, he sauntered out of the hotel lobby and casually chucked his phone into the decorative fountain out front.
He climbed into the passenger seat of the nondescript car that had pulled up to the curb with perfect timing.
He grinned at the driver. "Let's go make a lot of money."
Maddy had only dreamed of going to places like this. Even working two jobs as a candy counter cashier and a fast food employee, she would never have been able to afford the flight out to Oahu, never mind the hotel and all the amenities. That contest was the best thing to have happened to her in a long time.
And cruising the shops on Kalakaua Avenue would have been more fun if London didn't have a comment about everything she tried on.
"That dress with those shoes?" London asked.
Maddy looked down. "What's wrong with these shoes?"
"Everything," London said. She plucked a different pair off a shelf and handed them to her. "These would go much better."
Maddy flipped the tag on them around. Her ankle gave out and she stumbled backwards. "London! Do you see how much these cost?"
"Ah ah ah, Daddy says don't look at the price tag until after you've decided whether or not they're cute," London said.
"In my world the price tag dictates whether or not they're cute," Maddy grumbled.
She slipped out of the pair of sandals she currently had on and sat on the bench nearby to strap on the wedges. Someone slid onto the bench next to her.
"I think you look hot in whatever you have on."
She turned and eyed Zack sharply.
"I mean, you look like a respectable, beautiful woman in whatever you choose to wear," Zack corrected sheepishly.
"Yeah, that's what I thought you said. Think you have enough sunglasses?" Maddy asked and nodded towards the two sunglasses hanging on his shirt, the pair on his head, and the three in his hands.
"These ones are for Cool Zack," he said and slipped one of the pairs on. He whipped them off and put another pair on. "And these are Party Zack. And these are Beach Zack. And these little babies are for Night Club Zack."
Maddy rolled her eyes and stood up in the wedges. She looked at herself in the body length mirror. Darn it. London was right. These ones looked much better with her flowery sundress.
"Okay, okay, you win," she said. "How do you just know what goes with what?"
At the lack of response, she glanced at the wall of shoes London had been looking at.
"London?" she called.
"Back here. I found the cutest jumpsuit to try on."
She looked back at Zack. "This could take a while."
Zack stood up from the bench with a shrug. "What do you say us two go grab some shaved ice from that stand we saw on the corner?"
"London, we're going to grab some shaved ice outside, okay?" Maddy said. She wasn't sure why she even bothered. London walked around like she owned the place and it probably wouldn't have even crossed her mind to let them know she was taking off.
"Ooo, get me purple!"
"Purple isn't a flavor," Maddy said.
"Yes it is!"
Sighing, Maddy kicked off the shoes and set them back up on the shelf. She didn't feel like hauling a bunch of shopping bags around with her. Yet. Zack held the front door open for her as they walked out of the shop into the bright Hawaiian sunlight.
She stopped. "Where's Cody?"
"Apparently already beating me to the punch," Zack said and pointed.
They strolled up to the shaved ice cart parked on the corner of the intersecting streets and sidewalks. Cody was already there handing money over to the rather large guy manning the cart.
"Are my eyes deceiving me?" the man asked once he spotted Zack. "Two blond keikis."
"This is my twin brother Zack," Cody said.
"Shoots, it must be blond hour," the man said and winked at Maddy. "Got a blond wahine, too."
He handed a cup of red shaved ice over to Cody.
"Dude, cherry? Really? You're so basic," Zack said. He slapped a gold card down on cart. "Set me and the lady up, my man."
"Sorry little brah, cash only," the man said and point at the sign.
Maddy chuckled as Zack grudgingly slid the card back in his pocket and pulled out a five dollar bill instead.
"Alright," the man said with a childish smile. "Whatchu want?"
"Watcha got that's fun and exciting?"
"Got a shrimp flavor that's still in the testing phase if you're interested."
The three of them cringed.
"And it's going to stay in the testing phase," Cody said.
"How about a Blue Hawaiian?" Zack said.
The big man waved him off playfully and scooped ice out of the freezer. "You haoles play it too safe. Watchu want, sistah?"
"A Pina Colada, please," Maddy said.
"Can do. Hang tight."
Within a minute they each had a pile of shaved ice.
Since no one else was waiting in line, Maddy asked the man, "You get a lot of business here with your shaved ice cart?"
The man rubbed his hand fondly over the metal cart. "This one goes where the people are, but I've got a bigger shave ice stand up that way, and a shrimp truck down by the beach. Got a helicopter tour service, too, if you want to see Oahu from the sky. Thinking 'bout settin' up a second shrimp truck on the North Shore, too."
Cody stared. "Now that's what I call the entrepreneurial spirit."
"Gotta keep up with the competition," the man said.
Maddy switched her shaved ice to her other hand and pulled out a couple of bills. "Almost forgot. We need a…purple shaved ice, too."
"I got two purples."
Maddy looked at Zack helplessly. She looked back at the man. "What two purples do you have?"
"Got grape and taro."
"Knowing London, it's probably grape," Cody chimed in.
"Okay, one grape, please."
Now with a cup of shaved ice in each hand, Maddy gestured for the boys to follow her back to the store so they could wait outside for London.
"Thank you!" she called back.
"No problem, blond peoples. You should go get lunch from my shrimp truck."
Maddy laughed. He definitely was an entrepreneur and a salesman, but friendly. She leaned against the wall next to the front door of the shop and set London's shaved ice down. Shaded under an awning, she and the boys simply watched people come and go as they finished their shaved ices. London's was starting to become a slushy.
She sighed. "I guess we should go find her."
The shop didn't specifically have a no shaved ice sign, but it was the kind of shop that felt like food and drinks shouldn't be allowed in. Despite that, Maddy brought London's shaved ice in with them. The shop was pretty empty. Leading the way to the back where the changing rooms were, she paused by the only closed door.
"London?" she asked.
"I knew girls took a long time to change, but this is ridiculous," Zack said.
Maddy looked back at them. "You think she ditched us?"
"It is London," Cody said.
Maddy was about to reluctantly agree that it was highly possible that in an airheaded moment London had forgotten about them and continued on with whatever she wanted to do when two men stepped out of the back of the shop. What she liked to call her 'living in the slums sense' went off.
They were big burly guys dressed in tacky shirts that weren't out of place among all the tourists, but the gun stuff in the waistband of the one man definitely stuck out like a sore thumb.
When the man pulled the gun on them, the best day ever in Maddy's life turned into a horrifying nightmare.
"Garlic bread is too greasy."
Kono dropped her chopsticks into her noodles and raised her arms above her head. "Yes!"
Danny looked at her suspiciously. "Why are you so excited about terrible Italian food?"
"Because, it was five minutes until we heard a complaint," Kono said.
Steve and Chin both forked over ten dollar bills to their rookie.
"I feel vaguely offended that you're making money off of me and I'm not getting a cut," Danny said.
"Come on, brah. You were the one that had the pool going on how many days it would be before Steve shifted during a case," Kono said.
Chin stifled a laugh.
Steve turned to Danny with an incredulous look. "What? You were betting on me shifting?"
"And I nailed it," Danny said. He jabbed a finger at him. "Because you can't help yourself."
Steve opened his mouth to retort when his phone rang.
The other three shoveled food into their mouths faster. Whenever the boss' phone rang, that either meant he was in trouble or another case was getting thrown their way. Eating without chewing had disturbingly become second nature.
"Yes, Governor. We'll be there right away." Steve hung up and stood from the table. "A friend of the Governor's just called him. He wants us to personally handle this situation."
"Just please tell me it's not another dead hooker," Danny said as he stood up and tossed what was left of his meal in the nearest trash.
Steve's face hardened. "His sixteen year old daughter, her friend, and two thirteen year old boys were kidnapped an hour ago and are being ransomed."
Danny clenched his teeth. If there was one thing that raised his hackles more than anything else, it was kids being involved.
Of all the scary things Zack had done in his short life, everything from crawling through ventilation shafts to standing in front of bulldozers to getting in trouble with his mom, this was by far the scariest.
Maddy was huddled against one side and Cody against the other. The men that had dragged them out of the shop were there, quietly arguing in the doorway of the room they were trapped in. Both of them had guns, one of them had a handgun and the other a shotgun. His eyes couldn't leave them. Guns were much more intimidating in real life than they were in video games.
Finally, the two men left and pulled the door closed after them. It locked with a hefty clank.
Maddy jumped up from the floor. Zack grabbed after her arm but missed. He reluctantly let her go, slightly ashamed of his fear and want to stay crouched in the corner with his brother.
"London, are you okay?" Maddy asked.
Zack set his jaw and stood up with shaking knees. He bent behind the chair London was tied to and dug his fingers into the knots in the ropes while Maddy pulled the duct tape off her mouth.
The thing that impressed Zack about the whole situation was that London didn't really look scared. She looked mad.
"Oooo, those guys are going to be in so much trouble once Daddy gets a hold of them," London said. She frowned and mashed her lips together. "You ripped my lipstick off!"
Maddy threw her hands up and rolled her eyes. "Unbelievable. We've been kidnapped and you're complaining about your makeup."
"This lipstick isn't cheap, you know." London stood up too quickly out of the chair once Zack had the ropes off and stumbled.
Zack caught her elbow and Maddy braced her shoulder.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Zack asked.
Those guys hadn't been the gentlest when they had hurried them into the dark van and blindfolded them. He was sure he had a massive bruise on his upper arm from where he had been grabbed by the shotgun toting man.
Cody cleared his throat. "London, do you think your dad is going to pay the ransom?"
"Daddy doesn't pay ransoms." London said.
Zack combed his fingers through his mop of hair and paced around the dim, dank room. There wasn't much in there except for cardboard on the floor, the single chair London had been in, and a couple of empty beer cans.
Maddy leaned against the wall with a thousand yard stare in her eyes. "My parents don't have the kind of money they want."
"Mom couldn't come up with that cash even if she sold her soul to the Devil a hundred times," Cody said.
"Come on, guys, maybe…maybe this all just a big misunderstanding," Zack said.
The others stared at him.
"Okay, okay, maybe not. What if they just let us go once they realize our parents are broke?" he suggested.
"Mine's not."
"Not helping." He eyed London severely.
Cody pushed himself up the floor, hugging his arms around himself and pressing back in the corner as far as he could. "Zack, they don't just let people go once they realize they're poor."
"How do you know that?" he questioned.
"Because they just don't. And we've seen their faces. I think…."
Maddy walked over to Cody when he cut off and tears flowed down his cheeks. Zack sniffed and blinked. Unlike his brother, he didn't cry. Not even when he had been kidnapped and stuffed in a room somewhere at least an hour's away from the city if the car ride was anything to go by.
"I think they weren't going to let us go even if London's dad paid the ransom," Cody finished between hiccupping sobs.
Maddy wrapped her arms around him and held him close.
Zack rubbed his hands down his face, erasing a few stray tears. He looked up at the four walls and bare bones ceiling. They had to get out of here.
Danny knew that it was going to have to be Chin or Kono that held it together for this case. He and Steve got too emotionally involved when children were in play. Of course, they all pushed themselves to the brink when kids were at stake, but he and Steve delved deeper than the cousins. Whenever a son and father was involved, Steve made it his personal mission to resolve it, probably out of a need to fix someone else's life when his own had been so screwed up.
Danny? Danny just couldn't let kids get hurt on his watch, especially not ones so close in age to his own daughter. She was twelve now. The missing boys were thirteen. He was a divorced parent trying to care for her whenever he could. The boys' mom was a divorced parent taking care of them all by herself. It was too close.
"Did you know where they were going to be hanging out this afternoon?" he asked.
Carey, the boys' mom, was staring anxiously at the police cruisers parked outside the hotel and at the uniformed officers milling around the lobby. She blinked and focused back on him.
"They were going with London and Maddy to Kalakaua Avenue. They wanted to shop. Zack wanted some new sunglasses," she said. She cupped her hands in her face and started to pace back and forth. "I shouldn't have let them go alone! I should have gone with them."
Danny knew better than anyone the would've, should've, could've mentality when it came to a kidnapping. Grace had been kidnapped twice.
"Carey, be strong. Maddy is a smart young lady and your boys are resilient," Moseby comforted.
"Marion, if I had gone with them they wouldn't be gone, they'd be here with me. Safe."
Or dead. But Danny didn't voice that thought.
"Hey, hey," he said and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Listen to me. We're going to get them back. Okay?"
They had all agreed that guaranteeing a child's return wasn't something they should do, and yet they all did it anyway from time to time. He wasn't sure what was worse. Having hope only for it to be taken away in the eleventh hour, or coming to terms with the worst outcome right off the bat.
Personally, he preferred to cling to hope.
Steve stalked over to him, having just gotten off the phone with the Governor again. He radiated an intense fury and drive. Danny excused himself from Carey and Moseby.
"What do we have?" Danny asked.
"Tipton doesn't pay ransoms."
"Well, at least there's one good thing. We know what happened last time a parent paid the ransom," he said.
"Chin traced the ransom call back to a burner that's been deactivated now," Steve said. "But, Kono got a ping off London Tipton's phone. Its last known location was on Kalakaua Avenue."
"They must've tossed it when they grabbed her," he said.
"We need to go check it out and see if anyone saw anything," Steve said. "Kono's staying behind to trace any further communications from the kidnappers."
Danny cast a glance at Carey and Moseby as he and Steve left the hotel lobby. Hopefully, his promise wouldn't fall flat. Otherwise, several people were going to be left with holes in their lives today.
Zack pointed. "There's a vent."
Maddy followed his finger. "But it's like twelve feet off the ground."
That had never stopped him before. He grabbed the chair and pushed it up against the wall below the grating.
"I can get up there if you give me a boost," he said.
"No, Zack, it's too dangerous," Cody said.
"Hey, you were the one who said we were doomed either way. I'd rather go down trying to escape," Zack said. He regretted his blunt words when fresh tears gathered in his brother's eyes.
Cody dragged his arm across his face, inhaled deeply, and nodded. "Okay, but I'm going with you."
"I can move faster and quieter without you in the vent with me," Zack said.
Cody crossed his arms. "And what exactly is your plan once you're in the vent?"
"Um…" Darn it. He hadn't thought that far ahead.
Maddy came over and stood between them. "This is such a stupid idea. Zack, you either need to get outside of wherever we are and flag down a car and call the police, or get a hold of a phone."
"Good plan. Now, help me up before Scary and Scarier come back."
Maddy climbed up onto the chair and made a stirrup with her hands.
Zack turned to Cody. He clapped his hands on his shoulders. "If I don't come back, take care of my girl. And Mom."
"I will."
"Zack, come on," Maddy ushered.
He placed one foot on the chair and the other in Maddy's hands. Steadying himself on her and the wall, he paused when he was eye level with her.
"Kiss for good luck?" he teased.
She pecked him on the cheek. "Now get up there before my arms give out!"
Fueled by the chaste peck, he scrambled up and up until he could grab the grating. The screws were rusted and two were missing. With a hard tug it popped off and fell. Cody managed to catch it before it clattered to the concrete floor.
Zack pulled himself up into the vent with a boost from Maddy below. He was almost getting too big to be doing this anymore. That or these vents weren't as big as the ones at the Tipton Hotel.
The smell of damp mold filled the ventilation shaft. He was sure he saw a spider the size of his hand scurry away up ahead. Swallowing, he pulled himself along on his elbows, trying to be as quiet as possible.
He checked several other vent openings along his way. Most of them opened into empty rooms or just pitch black spaces. He was starting to get the feeling that they were in a warehouse or storage place of some kind.
After briefly peering out of one grating, he had to pause and do a double-take. There was a table in this room. And he could see several simple flip phones sitting on top of it. No one was inside the room, either.
Cautiously, he pushed the grating off and peeked around. Nope. No one was there.
With a few years of experience under his belt, he maneuvered around and slid out of the vent feet first. He braced himself and dropped the rest of the way to the floor, stumbling a bit and silently cursing at the shock of pain in his ankle.
Trying to ignore the pain, he grabbed two of the phones and stuffed them in his pockets. He pushed the table closer to the wall, freezing when it made a scrrrr sound across the floor. When no one came to investigate after five seconds, he hurriedly stacked a chair on top of the table and climbed up. It was barely tall enough.
After a moment of panic, he finally got himself pulled back into the vents. Home sweet moldy home.
He dug one of the phones out of his pocket and turned it on.
The screen showed two bars. Good enough.
His thumb hovered uncertainly over the numbers. Who did he call? The police? He didn't know where they were in order to tell them. Could they track such a simple dumpy phone?
Instead, he dialed the one number he had memorized.
"Well, look at who we have here," Danny said as soon as he and Steve had stepped out of the Camaro. "The master of the coconut wireless hotline."
"Hey, hoales, watchu doin' out on this fine day?" Kamekona greeted. "Can I interest you in some experimental shave ice?"
"Maybe next time, big guy," Steve said. He held up a picture on his phone. "Did you see these kids around here today?"
"Shoots. It's the little blond keikis," Kamekona said. "They got shave ice from me."
"Did you see where they went?" Danny asked.
Kamekona pointed to a shop just down the street. "They were waitin' on a friend. Went in the shop and I got busy. Didn't see where they went after that. They in trouble?"
"Yeah, you could say that," Danny said. "They've been kidnapped."
Kamekona paled. "Ah man. I knew somethin' felt pupule."
Steve raised a brow. "Why?"
"Saw a van skid out of an alleyway like it had somewhere to be in a hurry," Kamekona said. He plucked a piece of receipt paper out from under his money box. "Only caught a few of the numbers on the plate."
Danny continued talking while Steve texted the numbers to Chin to trace. "You always write down license plate numbers?"
"Only when they're on unmarked vans hanging around my shave ice stand," Kamekona said.
"Come on, Danny. Let's go check out that shop. Maybe they know where the kids headed afterward," Steve said and headed down the street at a quick clip.
"Thanks, babe," Danny said and trotted after his partner.
"Hope you find them, bruddah."
The hopes of finding them alive had slowly been dwindling with each minute that ticked by. That hope weakened more when he and Steve pulled up to the shop door. The sign said closed, but when Steve tried the door, it pushed inward without a problem.
They drew their weapons.
No employees greeted them as they combed the shop.
Near the back by the changing rooms and an employee only door, they found puddles of spilled shaved ice and an overturned rack of clothes. A struggle had definitely happened here. They followed sticky boot prints back through the employee only door.
Steve crouched by the employee sprawled on the floor. He shook his head.
"She's dead."
"Great. Now we know they're violent. I'll call it in."
While he called it in to Duke and requested for CSU began sweeping the shop, Steve propped open the back door into the alley and looked around.
"Got tire tracks and three cell phones," Steve said.
"Thanks." Danny hung up and joined his partner outside. He glanced around. "Security camera is damaged. How much do you want to bet that isn't a coincidence?"
"It was a professional grab," Steve said sourly.
Sloppy ones were far easier to track down, though they could be more unpredictable.
Danny smoothed his hair back and gestured to the alley. "They must have had an inside man or must have been following the kids closely to know where to grab them and to have had a getaway vehicle waiting."
Steve nodded. "I don't see any blood."
"At least there's that," Danny said. "But why grab the other three, huh? Only London Tipton is rich. The others have poor finances."
"Probably figured that if they were hanging around Tipton's daughter, they must have been rich, too," Steve said.
Steve's phone rang. He pulled it out and put it on speaker. "What do you have, Chin?"
"One of the boys got a hold of a phone and called his mom. We're tracing the call right now."
Danny's brows went up. "He's a little you, Steven."
"Good for him," Steve said. "Does he know where they're at?"
"Carey's still on the line with him, but it's gone silent. He said it looks like a warehouse or storage facility of some kind. When I asked, he said he thought it took about an hour to get there from where they got grabbed."
Steve was already sprinting down the alley back to where the Camaro was parked. "Text us the coordinates. We're on our way out there."
Zack had to physically cover his mouth with his hand and tuck the phone against his chest when Scary and Scarier walked right under the vent where he was hiding. They had walked under him a few times, but this time they were walking really slowly like they were listening for something.
He had been on the phone with his mom for a while now and was afraid the battery was going to die. Would they still be able to find them if the battery died? He guessed it was a good thing he had grabbed two phones.
"I could've sworn I heard talking out here," Scary guy said.
Scarier guy let his shotgun barrel droop to the floor. "You locked that door, didn't you?"
"Deadbolt and board."
Scarier guy grunted. "Maybe we should go check on them. Make sure they're all still there."
Zack shook his head subtly. No, no, don't go check on them. What would they do if they saw he was gone?
He jumped as a door banged open. A third man walked in. Zack watched them in silent terror.
He was bald with a neck like a tree trunk. A handgun was in the small of his back and he carried a rifle in one hand. In the other hand he held a phone. Scary and Scarier stepped away from him like they were afraid. He must be the boss.
Scariest guy.
"Tipton is beating around the bush. Says he has to get the money together," Scariest guy growled.
"Seriously? The dude drops millions like it's pocket change," Scary guy said.
"I think he's stalling while the cops try to track us," Scariest guy said. He gestured. "If he doesn't want to pay, we'll show him we're serious. Go get one of the boys."
"No!"
Zack gasped and gripped his face harder.
Three pairs of eyes looked up at the vent.
"I knew it," Scary guy said and raised his gun.
Zack clenched the phone and held his breath.
Bang! Bang, bang, bang!
Boom!
He flinched at each shot from the handgun and the final one from the shotgun. Then there was yelling. And screaming. And a lot of cursing.
He opened his eyes. Ran his hands over his body. He wasn't full of holes and bleeding out.
He peered back down the vent.
At first, he couldn't figure out what he was seeing until Scarier guy tried to run and he realized it was jaws that snapped out and grabbed him. It was a dragon. A big dragon. It dragged Scarier guy off quietly while another man in a black vest wielding a handgun approached and fired off steady shots at Scariest guy.
He could hear his brother and the girls yelling back in the room they were trapped in.
"Hey, you got these guys?" the man in the black vest asked. He sounded like he was from down the coast below Boston. Jersey maybe.
"Got it covered. Go get the kids." That was the dragon from somewhere deeper in the warehouse out of his line of sight currently.
The other man disappeared down a corridor.
"That was awesome," Zack whispered.
Suddenly, a slender snout and stormy blue eye was right below the vent.
"You okay?" the dragon asked.
Zack nodded and then verbalized his nod. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Are you a cop?"
The dragon ignored his question. "You need help getting out of there?"
Zack pushed the grate open. "Yeah. Kinda a long way down."
"You must be Zack," the dragon said. He sat up like a meerkat and held his clawed forefeet out like a dad waiting to catch their kid when they jumped in the pool. "The one that got a hold of a phone."
"That's me," Zack said. He started to put his arm through the opening and realized the phone was still in his hand. "Oh wait. Mom?"
He held the phone away from his ear as his mom screamed.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm fine. The cops are here. I don't know, I'm trying to get out of the vents," he said. The phone beeped. Low battery. "Mom, I'll call you back. This phone is going to die. Okay, I love you, too. Bye."
It was only once the dragon had a secure hold on him and had lowered him to the floor did he notice how badly his legs were shaking. His whole body was shaking. His heart pounded wildly in his chest and he felt lightheaded.
"Woah. Easy there." The dragon held him against one of his long forelegs gently.
Normally, this big of a dragon with those hooked claws and that many teeth would have scared him almost as much as it awed him, but right now, he just felt safe with this big of a monster at his back.
"I gotta go check on my brother," he said.
The dragon made sure he was standing on his own two feet before he let him go.
"Detective Williams is back there," the dragon said.
Zack gave him one last look and took off for the corridor towards the back room. He restrained himself from looking at the two bodies against one wall. He wouldn't admit it aloud, but he was going to have nightmares from this. If a zombie movie made him sleep walk, this would do it for sure. He might need tied down to his bed for the next month.
He rounded the corner just at the man in the black vest lifted the board from across the door.
The man let him go into the room first.
Once the others saw it was him, they ran to greet him. Cody hugged him and Maddy swept both of them up in her arms. He wanted her to never let go.
"You did it Zack!" She said.
"It was no big deal," he said, pushing aside the feeling of horror when he thought he was going to get shot. "Outmaneuvering the enemy is something I can do in my sleep."
"What really happened?" Cody asked.
Zack glanced at the man in black holding the door open. He sighed. "I called Mom and they traced it back here and this guy and a dragon busted in and took care of Scary, Scarier, and Scariest."
"A dragon?" Cody asked. He turned wide eyes on the man.
"Come on, let's get you guys out of here and back to your parents," the man said.
When they got out of the warehouse, Zack didn't see the dragon again. All he saw was a tall, muscular man with dark hair talking on the phone outside by a black Camaro.
He narrowed his eyes.
"So much for a dragon," Cody muttered.
"See, I told you they would be sorry when Daddy came after them," London said blithely.
Zack furrowed his brow and looked her up and down. Nothing phased her. He didn't know if she was too used to being rich and all the pitfalls that came with it, or if she didn't have enough mind to be worried about all of that.
The other tall man hung up the phone and looked at them. "London's father is sending a chopper to come get the kids."
London clapped her hands. "Yay! I hope it's the blue one."
Maddy smiled softly at the tall man. Zack frowned.
"Thank you for saving us."
The man smirked. Maddy twined a finger through her hair nervously. Zack crossed his arms. He does all the hard work crawling through the vents and almost getting shot and then this guy gets the praise. Figures.
The man set a hand on his shoulder. "If Zack wouldn't have gotten a call to Carey, we may not have found you."
The hairs on the back of his neck rose. That voice. It was slightly different, but it was still the same as the dragon's voice.
Maddy put her arm around his shoulders and pressed a kiss to his hair. "That's my Zack."
His shaking nerves were replaced with a warm fluttery feeling as the whumpa-tink of chopper blades drew closer overhead. This would go down as one of his biggest hero moments ever.
Next time on "Dragons", Hawaii really is paradise between the kidnappings and the shooting.
The next chapter is a bit of a cool down off this one, still part of the crossover. It may go up next week if this week is good to me. If not, it'll go up the week after. And then I've got some world building I want to do, but I don't want to just be like...they went to a museum. They read a book. Watched a movie. Etc. Kinda want to figure out a different way to introduce some of this new material. If y'all are feeling more brilliant than I am currently, hit me up with your ideas.
Thank you for continuing to read, review, fave, and follow! Stay safe guys. :)
