Chapter 42
Chin had called for backup as soon as he knew that they were heading for Dillingham. He looked up from the captured prisoners to the welcome sight of a sea of flashing blue lights coming down the access road towards the small airfield. In a matter of minutes, Five-0 were being relieved by HPD and a team of paramedics and Steve's eyes were drawn to a flurry of activity around a truck. He ran over and his breath hitched as he recognised Gabrielle as she was being strapped onto a gurney. He muscled in between the paramedics and one of them chided him, "You need to give us space to work, Sir. Can you tell us her name?" Steve stepped back a bit with a mumbled apology and replied,
"Agent Gabrielle Greer, age 32, blood type O neg." The paramedic raised her eyebrows at the detailed report, but carried on intubating the woman,
"She's been shot once in her stomach and has lost a lot of blood - are you riding in the ambulance with us?" Steve shook his head,
"No, she needs to be at Tripler, they have more experience with GSWs. It's too far by road. I'll get us a helo and fly us there." The other paramedic looked up in surprise, never in her life had she known someone to commandeer a helicopter to take a patient to hospital if a medevac wasn't available,
"Um, can you do that, Sir?" Steve nodded,
"I'll clear it with the Governor if I have to. Get your gear ready to load," and with that Steve ran over to a nearby helicopter tour operator booth. There was an old man in the booth and he had just been quietly sat in his comfy old deckchair watching all the commotion with interest. He hadn't been this entertained for years, normally just dealing with bookings from the same old tourists for the same old tours. Steve flashed his Five-0 badge and explained his predicament. The old man stroked his white beard,
"Take it, Brah. We all need to kokua, yeah? You look like you've done your fair share of that. I'll arrange for someone to go the hospital to fly it back later today." Steve smiled warmly at him and thanked him profusely before running to the helicopter and starting his pre-flight checks. HPD officers had been called over to help the paramedics with their essential medical equipment and between them they soon had the patient, the two paramedics and their equipment loaded into the back. It was a tight squeeze, the chopper not designed for medical transport, but between them they made it fit. Steve wasted no time in taking off and got the short flight to Tripler Army Medical Center underway. He called Joe White on the way,
"Sir, we apprehended Kray – he's on his way to hospital by ambulance, two GSWs but not critical. HPD are providing a police escort. They're taking him to Tripler, can you inform the CIA? He's their problem now." Joe frowned at the sound of the helicopter,
"Where are you, Commander?" Steve replied but couldn't keep the emotion out of his voice and Joe immediately picked up on his distress,
"The bastard shot Gabrielle, I'm taking her to Tripler by helo now – she's losing a lot of blood. Can you clear me for landing and have a trauma team on standby? Normally all that would be done by the medevac crew, but I borrowed an island tour helo and the paramedics are both busy working on Greer." Joe was quick to reassure Steve, dropping his formal title – his protégé needed a friend, not a CO, at this moment in time,
"I'll clear it, Steve . . . they've got the best surgeons on the island there, she couldn't be in better hands, Son."
"Thanks, Joe. Can you get hold of Agent Hennessy and let him know what's going on." He disconnected the call and glanced back at the scene behind him. The paramedics were worried, that much he could tell from their tense body language and the looks that passed between them, but at least the downed agent was still breathing. And that gave her a chance.
When Steve landed there was a blur of urgent, but not chaotic, activity. Gabrielle was very quickly transferred onto a hospital gurney and taken straight into surgery. A nurse firmly put her hand on Steve's chest to stop him coming any further into the restricted area, "You can't do any more for her, Commander McGarrett. Captain Nakamura's an excellent surgeon, your friend is in good hands," and with that she turned and followed the team of medics into the operating theatre.
He was waiting near the nurse's station when Tom Hennessy came rushing into the hospital. Steve gave him a succinct sitrep. Tom cursed, "That bastard! I'm gonna kill that piece of shit." Steve noted the shocked stares from the other people in the vicinity and gently steered the irate agent into an empty room,
"As tempting as I found that option myself, we need him alive. He's got other contacts inside the agency, we need him to start naming names." Steve squeezed his friend's arm, "Gabrielle's one tough cookie and if anyone can pull through, it's her." Agent Miller ducked his head in the room at the moment,
"Ah, you're both here. Any news on Greer?" Steve shook his head, last he had heard it was going to be a while,
"No, nothing. Last time I asked the nurse told me it was a complicated surgery and not to expect to hear anything for a few hours. What's happening with Kray?" Miller spoke up,
"Both GSWs were through and throughs, he's having the wounds cleaned up now and is receiving antibiotics and fluids. We should be cleared to transfer him into custody in the morning and he has an armed guard until then. When he's been interrogated he'll be charged with espionage and murder−"
Tom cut in, "Gabrielle's not dead yet!" His partner laid his hand on the agitated man's arm,
"No, Hennessy – that's not what I meant. Kray shot and killed Daiyu Mei during his escape attempt. He'll also face multiple charges of attempted murder for the two agents on Maui, as well as Greer. He'll get life in prison without parole – he's gonna die seeing nothing but the same four walls for the rest of his miserable life. We have pretty good leverage to get him to talk," at that the man's mouth twisted into a grim smirk, "after all, the relative comfort of prison accommodation can vary quite a bit, if you know what I mean."
Miller left the Tripler medical facility to oversee the arrangements that would lead to Kray's arrest, he needed to go to HPD HQ to verify all the evidence that had been collected to date. As they were dealing with an American national on U.S. soil then this would now become an FBI matter and Miller had been assigned to the case as the CIA liaison. Tensions were running high within the agency and they wanted to provide the FBI with as much incriminating evidence as possible to ensure that the corrupt agent who had sold them out to terrorists and shot 3 of their own would be going down for life.
HPD sent an officer to take Steve's statement so he didn't have to leave the hospital before they had word on Greer's condition. Steve recognized the officer and addressed her by name, he had started to talk to all of the officers on duty at the Palace whenever he came into Five-0 HQ and knew quite a few of them by name now. Noting the relatively low-key police presence at the Palace, he was formulating an idea to pitch to the Chief of Police to offer an advanced training session for SWAT and HPD, where they would simulate an armed take-over of Iolani Palace - it wasn't too much of a stretch to imagine that it could happen, considering the high-profile criminals who were often guests of the 'blue room'. Some of these scumbags were very well-connected and may have 'friends' who would be prepared to risk it all to break them out. Steve knew that the Navy would be willing to lend them a team of special operators to play the role of the bad guys, as it would be a good training exercise for everyone. SWAT and HPD would gain valuable insights into potential security weaknesses and the Navy would see how things were done in a civilian setting.
After the police officer had left, the two men talked while they waited for news - Tom admitting that he had been making some tentative first steps towards a more-than-just-friends relationship between himself and Gabrielle. He had been emboldened by her subtle flirting during the dinner with the three of them in Shanghai and had been waiting for his current assignment to be finished before he was going to just bite the bullet and ask her out on a date.
Steve was gutted for Tom, he couldn't imagine how he would feel if something happened to Catherine after all the time it had taken to finally admit his feelings for her. He cursed to himself - neither of them were getting any younger and they were in a dangerous line of work, what the hell were they doing dancing around their feelings like they had all the time in the world? He resolved to man up and expose some of his inner feelings that he normally kept locked up like bloody Fort Knox. He slouched into the chair, letting his head rest on the wall behind and closed his eyes. He didn't like to relax his iron-grip control on his emotions, having learnt the hard way that people let you down if you let them in. But that was before he came back 'home' and met the people who would become his ohana; before he discovered that his Dad hadn't sent him away because he didn't love him enough and before he found a surrogate family in the shape of the Brown family. Steve hoped that Catherine hadn't been deployed since the funeral, he wanted to say all of this to her in person, not over a satellite link. His musings were interrupted by a nurse entering the room, "Gentleman, please could you come with me."
The two men jumped up and followed the nurse as she led them up to the surgical suite. A couple of minutes later the doors swung open and the doctor wearily walked over to them. Before he even opened his mouth, Steve just knew and immediately placed his hand on Tom's shoulder in support. Tom hadn't picked up on the non-verbal cues and was looking expectantly at the surgeon for news. The tired medic spoke, "I'm so sorry, we did all that we could but we lost Agent Greer on the operating table." Hennessy staggered back and Steve supported some of his weight to keep the man upright,
"No, no! She's got to be alright . . . she's got to be alright . . ." he trailed off in despair, his voice turning to a whisper, "what am I gonna do?" Steve just held the distraught man, keeping his own feelings in check. He was devastated too, but right now Tom needed him to be strong.