This story is the sequel to "Invincible". I suggest you read that one first because there are a lot of character back stories and plot that carry into "Deceptions".
Extended summary: Steve's fiancé, Alex, has gone back to Virginia to tie up loose ends with her job and prepare for her new life in Hawaii. She has left eight year old Natalie behind to begin school, which presents Steve with the challenge of learning how to be a father. Kono's attraction to Steve's younger brother, Nate, becomes more apparent to Chin and the others, but Nate seems to be the only one not catching on.
When Paul Keller, escapes from prison, Steve can't shake the feeling that Nate knows more than he is telling. Secrets threaten to part the brothers forever, but Danny tries desperately to keep them together. When Steve's life is turned upside down and he finds himself on the wrong side of the law, he is forced to join a mysterious operative to take down their common enemy in exchange for his freedom. The rest of the Five-0 team and several other skilled professionals join in the dangerous task. But will the mission, which is meant to obtain justice, twist into a sinister plot of revenge, placing all their lives at risk?
Deceptions
by: Riter's Fury
Chapter 1
"And So It Begins"
"Could you please take your corners a little slower?" Danny requested as he clutched the door of his new Camaro. "You almost ran over that little old lady back there."
Steve glanced in the rear view mirror in time to see the little old lady just beginning to cross the street. Shaking his head, he gave his partner an annoyed look. "That's the third time you've done that today."
"Done what?"
"Accused me of driving recklessly when I'm not, you're annoying me."
"I'm annoying you!" Danny exclaimed. "I'm trying to keep you alive."
"Don't worry about me, I'm fine."
"Of course you are, today is only Wednesday."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Alex left on Monday, so I'll give you until tomorrow night before you really start losing it."
"I'm not going to lose anything. Why are you even bringing Alex up?"
"Because I can tell her absence is bothering you. Do you want to talk about it?"
Steve looked briefly out his side window in an attempt to keep himself from saying the first thing that came to his mind. Turning back to face his partner, he replied with a sarcastic tone, "Sure, Danny, let's talk about it."
"Okay," Danny said with enthusiasm, "where would you like to start?" Several moments of silence passed as Danny watched his partner. "You're not going to say anything are you?"
Steve did not reply, but merely smirked and gave Danny a side-long glance.
Danny shook his head and turned away to look out his window. "I don't know why I bother to try and help you."
Steve appreciated Danny's concern; in fact he had grown to like it, but right now he could not talk about Alex. Danny's observation that her absence bothered him was true. It was not enough for him to hear her voice on the other end of the phone or see her on a video call. He needed to be able to take her hand or pull her into his arms. He knew he could function without her, but he knew he could not live without her. Sunday could not come fast enough.
"Hey!" Danny yelled suddenly, throwing his hands up in alarm. "You're supposed to stop at red lights!"
"Will you shut up and let me drive!" Steve snapped.
Danny twisted in his seat so he could face Steve. "Oh, I'm sorry if I want to be safe while driving in my car."
Steve jerked his head towards Danny "Safe?"
"Keep your eyes on the road!" Danny ordered.
"I've never been in an accident while driving your car. I'm a safe driver."
At that moment the Camaro made a strange noise that sounded like gunfire mixed with exploding rubber. The car swerved and Steve struggled to regain control of the vehicle. Unfortunately, he was unable to correct its course and they collided with a fire hydrant, causing the airbags to deploy. Danny's curses were drowned out by a geyser of water exploding from the ground and several gunshots ringing through the air.
* * * * * * H50 * * * * * *
Nate McGarrett adjusted his sunglasses as he scanned the outlying area of the park. At a quick glance, one might mistake him for his older brother Steve, but upon closer inspection one would notice the differences. He sat perched atop a picnic table, his feet resting on the bench seat, waiting for his overdue associate.
He thought back to the order given to him by his boss, two days previous, and what it would mean if he followed through with it. Breaking Paul Keller out of prison was not something he desired to do. He knew this action would cause his brother anguish and turmoil. It was not unknown to Nate the past his brother had with Keller and the trauma that man had inflicted upon Alex Reilly.
However, Nate understood why he needed to carry out this order, but if this plan went awry and he was caught, Nate dreaded his brother's reaction. He knew it would be anger and then utter disappointment. He could not handle his brother feeling that way about him because their father went to his grave viewing him as a failure.
Nate observed a man walking towards him, wearing a suit, minus the tie, sunglasses and a smug expression.
Nate groaned inwardly. And so it begins, he thought.
* * * * * * H50 * * * * * *
"You said you never what?" Danny roared, yanking off his seatbelt.
"Are you okay?" Steve asked.
"I'm fine, but my brand new car isn't! I now have a yellow fire hydrant as a hood ornament! This would never happen in Jersey!"
"Danny, calm down."
Any chance of him calming down was annihilated as a bullet punched through his side window and buried itself in the dashboard. The blonde haired detective threw himself into his partner's lap trying to escape the now disabled vehicle without getting a bullet to the head.
Steve struggled to open his door. "Get the hell off me so I can open my door!"
"If I move backward you're going to have a dead partner on your hands."
"If you don't get off me I'm going to have a dead partner on my lap!"
Danny shifted his weight slightly to allow Steve to move and push open the door. Water showered down on the two men as they escaped the wreck. Several more gunshots resounded in the air as they took cover near the back side of the car, enduring the downpour of water on their heads.
"We have to get away from Old Faithful here," Danny yelled.
"Let's get behind those cars over there until we can figure out what's going on," Steve replied in a loud voice.
The men hurried away from the drenching spray of water and made it safely to their new cover. In the distance they heard sirens approaching their location.
"Where are the shots coming from?" Danny asked. He noticed Steve already scanning the area for the answer.
"From the angle of the gunshot through your window it's probably coming from somewhere up there," Steve judged, pointing toward a five story concrete building. "The shooting seems random, no particular target."
"I don't call it random that he blew out my back tire and put a bullet through my window. I'm going up there to get that guy."
Steve glanced at his watch. "I'm sure S.W.A.T is on its way. They can handle this, we have other things to deal with."
Danny looked at him with bewilderment. "Did that water short circuit your brain or something? You, Steve McGarrett, are really going to leave S.W.A.T. to deal with this maniac?"
"It's two-fifteen, Danny."
"Since when does the time have anything to do with us going to get a suspect? He destroyed my car and he is going to destroy other people's cars, or worse, shoot the people themselves if we don't do something about it."
Steve looked back at the crashed Camaro as he remembered the conversation he had with eight year old Natalie earlier that morning, while driving her to her first day of school.
"I don't wanna go to school, I'm not going to like it," Natalie whined. "Can't I go to work with you and help catch the bad guys?"
"How do you know you won't like it?" Steve replied.
"Because."
"That's not a reason."
"What if I can come up with a better one?"
"You need to go to school."
She frowned, but tried to negotiate a deal that would make her feel better. "I'll only go if you're there to pick me up at three o'clock when it's over."
Steve quickly looked in his rear view mirror at the little girl in the backseat as he calculated what his day consisted of. He thought he could be available at three, although, one never knew what might come up. In the end, Natalie won; he had a hard time saying no to that face. "I'll be there."
"Promise?"
"Yeah, I promise."
Steve sighed, unsure how to proceed. He wanted nothing more than to get up there and nail this guy, but he promised Natalie he would pick her up from school and he did not want to disappoint her.
"Hey, earth to Steven," Danny exclaimed. "Where are you?"
"Sorry," Steve said focusing on his partner, "call Chin and Kono and tell them what's going on."
"I already did. They're on their way. Do you know what's going on? We have a sniper shooting up the town while you're daydreaming! What the hell is wrong with you?"
Steve threw Danny an irritated look. "Give me a minute," he said as he pulled out his phone to make arrangements for someone else to pick up Natalie.
* * * * * * H50 * * * * * *
"You're late, Lynch," Nate said, greeting the CIA agent.
"Fashionably so," he replied. "When I was told I would be going to a clandestine meeting with someone I hoped it would be a woman and not you. I'm still annoyed with you for not informing me sooner about Keller's location. You know I wanted to apprehend him myself."
"So you could put a bullet through his head?"
Lynch shrugged. "I won't deny the thought crossed my mind."
Nate knew the tension that lay between the two men and he purposely had waited to inform Lynch about Keller's location until he was sure Steve and his team would arrive first.
"We're in a park, what's up with the suit?" Nate asked.
"I like to look good," Lynch said, straightening his jacket.
"For a meeting in a park?"
"There are women in the park."
"Is that all you think about?"
"Oh, I'm sorry," Lynch apologized, placing a hand on his chest. "I quite forgot that you don't have time for such trivial pursuits."
Nate shook his head in annoyance. "Can we just get on with it?"
"Yes, the meeting of the SSCO will now come to order." Lynch pounded the table for emphasis.
"What are you talking about?"
"Super Secret Covert Ops. I came up with that myself, do you like it?"
"You're an idiot. How did I get stuck working with you."
"I think its how did I get stuck working with you. Oh, yeah! I'm one of the chosen few, unfortunate enough to know your little secret," Lynch said, sarcasm seeping from every pore in his body.
"Hey, did you not want me to save your life two years back?"
"I'm having second thoughts about it now."
"Sadly it's too late. Now, can we get down to business?"
"Anything to get this over with."
"Okay, first of all, here's your lunch," Nate said handing him a paper bag.
"Oh, what did my wife pack for me today?" he said peering into the bag. "Too bad I already ate."
"You have to eat again. This meeting will look ridiculously suspicious otherwise. If it doesn't already," Nate said pointing to Lynch's suit. "Now sit down and eat."
* * * * * * H50 * * * * * *
The subject on the roof seemed unaffected by the emergency personnel gathered below as he continued to fire at nothing specific. The area surrounding the shooter's location had been cordoned off by the police and now the 5-0 team stood geared up and ready to make entry into the building.
"S.W.A.T is five minutes out," Chin informed his team members.
"If we wait any longer he is liable to hit someone," Danny said.
Chin looked at Steve. "It's your call, Boss."
"Well, we've taken on worse without S.W.A.T.," Steve said.
At that moment, a police officer approached them escorting a man who was clearly agitated. "Commander McGarrett," the officer called, "this man claims to know the shooter."
"What's your name?" Steve asked the man.
"Nolan Tarella," the man answered. "That's my brother up there."
"Why do you think that's your brother?" Danny questioned.
"An hour and a half ago my brother called me, but I was in a meeting and I couldn't pick up. When I checked the message he said, 'I'm sorry, I love you'. I tried calling his cell phone several times, but he didn't pick up. He finally sent me a text message that said 'too late, cops here' and then I heard about this shooting and I knew it had to be him." A look passed between Steve and Danny causing Nolan to quickly add, "I'm sure he doesn't want to hurt anyone. He's probably just waiting for you to go up there and shoot him because he can't do it himself. Please, you've got to help my brother!"
"We're going to do what we can, but can you tell us why he would do something like this?" Steve asked.
"He's in the Army. He just came back from Afghanistan three months ago; he had a rough time over there, he lost a couple of his buddies. I could tell he was struggling, but he was working through it. He was so glad to be home with his wife and son, but a few days ago his wife told him she wanted a divorce and he just fell apart." The anguish on Nolan's face was tangible. "When I asked him yesterday how he was doing he joked with me about ending his life. But then he said he was doing fine. Why would he lie to me? I-I should have seen this coming."
"Hey, this is not your fault," Danny assured him. "We're going up there to do whatever we can to bring your brother back safely."
"What's your brother's name?" Steve asked Nolan.
"Nick," he replied.
"Okay, we need you to stay here in case we need your help," Steve said. "Officer, stay here with this man." He nodded to his team and they made their way across the street just as his phone vibrated, with the reminder he had set to pick up Natalie. She'll forgive me, he thought. Right?
They entered the building without incident and began making their way up to the roof.
As Danny pounded up the stairs he could not help but think about what happened when his brother, Matt, had been in trouble. It saddened him that he had been unable to help his younger sibling. Yes, Matt was still alive, but as far as Danny knew, he was gone from his life forever. He determined to not let the Tarella brothers lose each other.
They arrived at the entrance to the roof. Steve eased the door open and peered out, but the subject could not be seen; he was out of sight behind the large air vents on the far side of the roof. Stepping out into the bright sunshine, Steve motioned for them to fan out and make their way toward the shooter. They separated. Danny went left, Steve and Chin went up the middle, while Kono took the right side.
Danny felt the familiar sense of urgency building within him as he moved carefully across the roof. He could hear the sound of gunfire echoing around him while he concentrated on what needed to happen in the next few minutes.
He looked around one of the large air vents and spotted the subject. He noted with dismay the man also carried a handgun tucked into the back of his pants. The man faced away from Danny and would not see him if he approached, but in the shooter's peripheral vision, Steve, Chin and Kono would not remain undetected.
In light of Nolan's information, Danny worried how Nick would react when he realized he was surrounded. Would he draw his gun on them so they would have to shoot him or would he pull the handgun on himself? The blonde haired detective only had a matter of seconds before the rest of the team converged on the man. He decided he needed to somehow get the weapons away from him. He needed to make sure Nolan Tarella did not lose his brother today.
A/N: I want to thank my partner in crime (my mother) who spends so much time writing with me now that we often finish each others sentences and thoughts.
And thanks to Shakespeare's Lemonade for all her input and SandraAnna for her encouragement.
Thank you for reading. Comments are very welcome. :)
