Chapter 35

Once they were safely airborne and at cruising altitude, Steve leaned over his shoulder and called out to everyone on board, "The Captain has switched off the seatbelt sign, you are safe to move around the cabin." Wade came up behind him with a smirk,

"Very funny, Lieutenant Commander. You've a little way to go before you make Captain. Say, how much does one of these sweet rides go for anyway?" Steve chuckled,

"Around the $60 million mark. If you don't mind getting an older one with a few miles on the clock then you'll get a bit of change from $20 million." Gutches let out a low whistle,

"And they say crime doesn't pay . . ." he leaned on the back of the pilot's seat, "we're gonna get our favorite crime lord all set up for his photoshoot. I want to get the pictures and then get him wrapped up again as quickly as possible – the body's gonna start smelling pretty bad soon." Steve nodded in agreement,

"Copy that, Sir. How's Agent Hirsch doing?" Wade looked back at the rescued man who was currently laid out on one of the sofas,

"As well as can be expected. Samson has been giving him food and water, little and often. His stomach can't take too much at once." Steve's thoughts went to Jenna and he realized that he didn't know anything other than she was still alive when the extraction team reached the hospital and had been rushed straight into surgery,

"Any word on Jenna Kaye? Did she survive the surgery?"

Wade replied with a nod in the affirmative, "Last I heard. She's on life support, there may be some brain damage but the doctors won't know any more until she wakes up. They have her in a medically-induced coma for now," he glanced over in Josh's direction, "does he know anything?" Steve shook his head,

"No, I didn't divulge anything about Jenna or the mission. I couldn't risk him revealing the plan to Wo Fat under duress and he had enough to worry about without knowing that his fiancée was fighting for her life in hospital." Wade tutted and shook his head sadly,

"It's a FUBAR situation all round. He's soon going to be home safe, but it won't be over by a long shot. He'll have serious physical and psychological trauma to overcome – 3 years in captivity at the hands of someone like Wo Fat is not something you just shrug off. And then he's going to learn that his fiancée sold out her own teammates and condemned a man to exactly the same fate as him trying to get him back . . . will she face any charges?" Steve had to stop to think about that, he hadn't really given it any thought,

"To be honest, I don't really know. It's not illegal to ask a friend to come with you to Japan. She could claim that she had no idea that they would take me to North Korea or want to hurt me." Steve looked wistful as his thoughts turned to Five-0, "I had recommended that she be offered a position on the Five-0 Task Force, but after this she should have her security clearance revoked and that will prevent her from working in any type of law enforcement or government agency ever again."

Wade pushed himself up off the seat and sighed, "Her career prospects will be the last thing on her mind if she wakes up, she could be left with serious disabilities . . . hmmm, a very sad situation indeed." He was just walking away when a thought struck him, "Where are we going by the way, Commander?"

Steve cracked a smile, "Well I was considering a little R and R in Bali, Sir but thought it best to head to Fleet Activities Yokosuka." Gutches smirked at the man's reply and added,

"Ah, the U.S. Naval Base in Tokyo Bay. It's been a few years since I was last there . . . I'll have the Admiral contact the base on our behalf, get us cleared for landing. I'd put money on this baby not having an operational transponder – we don't want to get shot out of the sky by a not-so-welcoming committee!"

Steve waited for the CO to leave the cockpit and then slumped back in his seat and rubbed his eyes wearily. It had been a very long couple of days and he hadn't had any time to process the shocking revelations about his mother or the death, by his own hand, of the man who had caused him so much pain – a man who, as a child, had been damaged by Doris McGarrett's actions before Steve had even been born. He felt inexplicably angry at the woman - how could she have let his father believe that it was his investigation into the Yakuza that had directly caused her death. All the fear and the guilt that the poor man must've felt, feeling that were strong enough to warrant estranging himself from his own children in a desperate attempt to keep them safe. His Dad had spent the next 17 years scared for his family's safety and it set off his obsessive secretive investigation into the people responsible, probably as some sort of twisted self-imposed penance. And then he had paid for his dogged determination with a bullet to the head.

Steve tried to see things from her point of view but couldn't see how her actions could ever be justified. Did he want to see her again, after all Wo Fat was dead now and Hiro Noshimuri was facing prison time - theoretically she could come out of hiding? But then, how would she find out that her other 'son' was dead if she was deep in hiding? Steve had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that Joe White knew far more than he was saying. The anger bubbled up again, if Joe had known all along and never told his father then Steve didn't know if he could forgive the man – he was meant to have been his father's closest friend, how could he have personally witnessed the damage that his mother's 'death' did to his Dad and not ever let him know that it wasn't his fault. His Dad could've stopped his investigation and had his children returned home to him, where they belonged. It would have been hard, but they could've at least tried to become a family again. The overwhelming emotions were exhausting Steve and he dropped his head into his hands and tried to stop thinking. About his mother's selfishness, Jenna's betrayal, Wo Fat's obsession and Joe's deceit.

Wade walked back into the cabin and had his Team unwrap the body of Wo Fat and stage it for the photos. They cleaned up his face and arranged him in a natural sitting position. They covered his bloodied shirt with a blanket and tied up his hands in front of him. Two of the SEALs flanked him, their faces obscured with scarves and the end photos really did look like Wo Fat was being transported back for rendition. As soon as they finished, the dead man was securely re-wrapped and the SEALs dumped his body at the back of the cabin next to the pilot and crew member.

Gutches observed the two men stare wild-eyed at the corpse laid beside them, "It doesn't look like your employer will be paying your wages this month, gentleman."