Chapter 6
It was the first real lead since Steve gad gone missing. They had followed several traces, but they had all been dead-ends very soon.
Danny was worried sick- as were Chin and Kono – but Danny considered Steve a real brother, his soulmate, his mainstay when he needed support. He could always count on him – even when he hadn't expected it. Steve just knew what Danny needed, just like Danny knew what Steve needed.
Danny didn't know what Michael and Sarah Quentin were capable of. None of them had a criminal record. Michael was a medical laboratory assistant and his sister a geriatric nurse. They were supposed to help people not hurt them. But Danny was sure that they were out for revenge for their crazy brother. Why else would they kidnap Steve?
He just hoped that this was the right place. It had been 25 days since Steve had vanished and until they found this lead. He was sure that his partner hadn't much time left – if at all.
Everyone was in position. Chin kicked the door in. Danny and Kono entered the house calling "Five-0. Hands up and drop your weapons." Both sibblings were surprised by their "visitors", but while Sarah grabbed a gun from the table and tried to shoot at Kono – which resulted in a bullet in her head from Chin – Michael fell to his knees and begged "Don't shoot me, please don't shoot me. Don't shoot me."
"Stop wailing! Where is Steve?" Danny shouted.
"Please, I don't want to die."
"Where is he?!"
"In the basement d…door is b…behind that closet."
Danny didn't lose any time, he pushed the closet aside, ran down the stairs and found five doors. He was sure the sibblings were working alone, but you'll never know, right? While Kono cuffed Michael, Chin was hot on Danny's heals. They checked room by room and after they had already found a storage room, a washhouse and an empty room they finally opened the right door.
The room felt colder than the other three. They were greeted with the smell of urine, vomit, fear, blood and the sight of their friend cuffed to a table. They both couldn't determine if their boss was alive or not and even as Danny stepped a bit closer, he couldn't even see Steve's chest rise and fall.
"Steve?"
No reaction.
He took another step closer. "Steve? Buddy?"
Still no reaction, but now Danny could see how tight the cuffs were, how swollen his right wrist looked. He now noticed that the wet stains on his friend's shirt wasn't sweat, but fresh as well as dried blood. He took in the pricks in his arm, the IV line, the nasal tube, the paleness, the skinniness and finally the rising and falling of his chest.
"Chin! He's alive! Get a medivac! And bring me the fucking keys to that cuffs!".
He took the last step and finally reached the table – and his friend, his brother.
Danny pulled Steve's shirt back to have a look at the wounds that had wetted the shirt – and was shocked. Not by the fresh lacerations, but by the rest of his SEAL's torso. It was black, blue, yellow and red - not even one inch flesh-colored.
Chin came back into the room. Handing Danny the key he wanted he wanted to ask "How is he?" but one look at Steve's upper body and Danny's posture made him skip the question.
Danny opened the cuffs one by one. He then carefully took Steve's right arm and put his hand on his chest. Steve moaned with the movement. His eyelids fluttered open, but his gaze was unfocused and his pupils were dilated. "Steve? It's me. Danny. Can you hear me?"
No answer.
"Is he drugged?" Chin asked.
"Yeah. Up to his eyeballs. How long for the EMTs?"
"They were ten minutes out. Maybe six now. Kono is waiting for them outside."
"You hear that Steve? Help is on the way. We have you out of here soon."
He put a hand on Steve's arm.
"Just hold on a little longer."
He had wanted to say "You will be fine", but the way his friend was looking he wasn't sure if that would be true.
Steve had lost consciousness again. Danny wasn't sure if that was exactly a good thing, but in a way, he was glad about it.
In the short moment Steve had had his eyes open, Danny had not only seen the drug induced glaze in it, but also the immense pain, fatigue and the lack of recognition and response.
When the EMTs finally arrived, they wanted to know what kind of drugs had been given to their patient. Chin had found the syringes and the drugs, but he couldn't identify them for sure. He could only guess and that didn't help the paramedics in any way which of course didn't help Steve at all, because they weren't able to give him any kind of pain medication – to prevent interaction.
They tended to his wounds on both wrists and ankles as well as to the lacerations on his chest and abdomen from the whip. When the younger medic examined Steve ribs, he also touched the SEAL's side and part of his back. He noticed something that didn't feel right there too.
"Sam! I need you here for a moment," he said to his partner. While the latter stood up, Danny asked with a concerned voice "What's up? Is something wrong?" – like there was something right…
"I don't know yet. Please stay where you are, detective."
The two EMTs carefully lifted the injured man up – just enough to have a look at his back – and they didn't like what they were seeing. There were 10 equally long, deep and fresh lacerations as on his front. Both his shoulder blades as well as his posterior ribs and lower back were black and blue. His spine had taser marks on at least five different spots and by the way they were looking, they weren't "one-time-marks".
The medics exchanged a concerned look.
"What's going on?" Danny asked even more concerned than before.
"Detective, we are going to transfer your friend to a gurney now. How close are you two?"
"Why? What is going on? Just tell me!"
"Please stay calm, detective. We don't want to have you as a patient as well. We have to slide a backboard under your friend. His back is looking the same as his front, so it is going to hurt when we move him." 'A lot' he had wanted to add, but thought the better of it.
"He might wake up with the pain and I want him to see a familiar and friendly face and hear a familiar voice then. I hope it will reach him despite his drugged mind and prevent a fight and/or further injury. Do you think you can do that?"
"Yes. Yes. I can. But…but what do you need a backboard for? What…what did they do to his back? Is there a spinal injury?"
"Detective! Please. You have to calm down. We'll explain everything to you, but we have to bring him to a hospital now."
"Okay. Okay."
Steve didn't wake, he just groaned and went still again. The transfer was swift and efficient and they secured him for the transport.
Danny saw the blood on the table and got even more impatient, but getting the SEAL medical help had priority and he decided to wait till the medics were ready to answer his questions.
He was lost in thoughts and still staring at the blood when he heard Sam say: "Detective. Hey! Are you coming?"
The flight to the hospital was a blur to Danny. The EMTs had told him what they had seen on Steve's back. They had explained the injuries they had already found, but they had also said that they didn't know about internal injuries and about the damage the taser and the drugs might have done."
He wasn't allowed in the examining room – of course not – and was now pacing the waiting room.
God, how he hated this. He would never get used to this. He hoped someone would come out soon – at least with an update or he would go stir crazy.
When the doctor finally did, he had a serious look on his face and asked Danny into a separate room to talk to him.
