„So, do I understand this right, we had set up this meeting last week before I had left to spend a few days with my daughter and yesterday he had told you guys that we would be late for it?"
"No, Danny. He had just said he might be late for work today. Didn't think he meant the meeting," Chin answered.
"Did he say why?"
"No, not exactly, but he mentioned something about an old friend who wanted to talk to him."
"An old friend? Hope he stays out of trouble this time. You'll never..."
Danny's phone rang and after he had a look at the caller ID he took the call.
"Steve. What's up? You on the way?"
No answer. First there was silence, then he could hear someone breathing heavily.
"Steve? You there?"
"Danny?" Steve's voice sounded hopeful but confused at the same time and it made Danny confused as well - and worried.
"Yeah, it's me. You okay?"
Silence.
"Steve, you okay?" he asked again.
Silence.
"Steve. Are your hurt?" Danny demanded.
Nothing, then a few seconds later barely audible "I don't know."
"Where are you?" Danny's gut was churning, something wasn't right.
A few seconds later "I don't know."
"Okay. Just hold on. I am back in a second…Kono! Ping Steve's phone!" He put his own phone on speaker, so the rest of the team could listen.
"Steve? I am back. You still there?"
"Danny?" it still sounded confused, but it also seemed like the voice was a little further away than before.
"Yeah, buddy, it's me. What happened?" the concern in Danny increased.
There was neither groaning nor complaining nor explaining, just the simple statement "…leg hurts."
"Your leg hurts? Can you move it?" Danny asked even more concerned by the way this conversation went.
"Hurts," came the answer, nothing more.
"Is there anything else that hurts?"
Kono signed Danny that she had the location and all three of them went to Chin's car. While they were on their way down to the parking lot and driving to the location Danny was talking to his friend.
He asked him a few more questions trying to find out more about his condition or what had happened.
All he got though was silence and heavy breathing or the answers "I don't know" or "hurts" and the words got more and more slurred or unintelligable.
Kono had called an ambulance, but ordered them to stay away from the scene until the team had cleared the area of any possible danger.
The twenty-five minutes-drive to the location was torture for everyone and five minutes before they would reach their friend, Danny lost contact. The line was still open, but he didn't get answers anymore and even the heavy breathing was gone. It drove Danny crazy.
It was a small, old and abandoned apartment complex which was waiting for the wrecking ball.
The whole house looked worn, but the one in the middle caught the team's attention, because the stairway as well as the handrail had blood on it and a few feet away lay a body with a pool of blood around him. Kono checked him for a pulse, but he was dead. All three five-0 members entered the house and following the blood trail they entered the third apartment on the right.
One man was lying about three feet from the entrance – with a bullet hole in his head. In the next room another dead body occurred – someone had snapped his neck. The bath- and the bedroom were empty, but when they were about to leave the latter, they heard a faint noise. It seemed to come out of the closet.
Kono opened it while Danny and Chin pointed their weapons at whatever/whoever would be inside.
It was a man in is mid-thirties who held up his hand and cried "Please don't shoot me. Don't shoot me. Please. Please," he begged.
The team looked surprised but didn't lower their weapons.
"We won't shoot. We are police. Who are you?" Chin said.
"I am Winston Montgomery. I didn't do anything wrong. I…I mean I did, but as soon as I had noticed, I tried to make it right again. Please you need to believe me."
"What happened?" Danny asked.
"I had been in Mexico for business and a young woman had approached me at the airport. She said her mother is sick and she needed a special medication. She had bought the meds, but now she couldn't afford the flight anymore. If I would be so kind to take it with me and bring it to her."
"That was stupid. You know that, right?" Danny said.
"Yes, I know – now. But the woman looked so desperate and…and…"
"Young and pretty," Chin chipped in.
"Yes," Winston said embarrassed.
"But could I have said no? But on the plane, I thought about everything and I felt like someone was watching me.
When I left the airport, the feeling was still there and instead of going home, I drove to a mall. I changed my clothing a few times and took several cabs to different places until I felt safe again. I had taken the woman's package with me, but I didn't dare to open it. So, I called a friend – okay, I mean he isn't exactly a friend, but he had helped me a lot of times when "people" started bullying me around in military school. I mean I hadn't been made for this, my parents had sent me there "to man up", but…"
"We are not interested," Danny interrupted. "You called Steve. Where is he?"
"You know Steve?" Winston asked surprised.
"Where is he?!" This time Chin and Danny together.
"I don't know. I was just about to explain everything to him when all hell broke loose. There were people with guns – I don't know how many, I just know they were using them. I ducked – I…I told you, I wasn't made for this kind of stuff."
"And Steve?"
"He shot at them, but…I don't know…he had hit someone right between the eyes and the blood and…and…I don't know. I ran to the bedroom and hid. Last time I saw him, he was in a fight with one of the men."
"Okay, Kono. Stay with him. Chin and I check outside."
They found him in the backyard with another dead body. It looked like both men had made a dive through the window.
The perp had obviously landed between two of the steps that were leading into the yard and had broken his neck.
Steve must have landed with his leg on the handrail – it was lying in an unnatural angle on the perp's upper body and a bone was already visible underneath the skin , ready to pierce it with the next move – before his head had connected with the metal stairs as well.
Thankfully, he had hit the step in a different angle than the guy underneath him. He had a long and deep gash on the side of his head – almost reaching his brow – and a big bruise had already formed on his temple. Danny could also see a few cuts - probably from the window he and the dead guy had shattered - but just one on his arm looked a little deeper, the rest seemed to be minor and wouldn't need stitches.
Danny checked for a pulse, but before he found one the touch startled Steve awake. He tried to fight whoever wanted to harm him even more. Danny – surprised by the action – almost fell down the stairs. But he found his balance again and tried to get through to his friend by talking to him. It took some time for Steve to register. When he did, he squinted his eyes and asked "'anny"?
"Yes, babe. It's me. I am here. We are here. EMTs are on their way. Chin is getting them. There is no danger anymore."
"'anny?" the same question again.
"Yes. It's me."
"'appened? 'urts."
"I know buddy," Danny said sympathetically and put his hand on Steve's arm, wanting to soothe him, but his friends started to fight again. But he hadn't enough energy to keep it up. After a few attempts of defending himself, his arms fell back down - one on his torso the other hitting the steps, then he closed his eyes again.
By the time the EMTs arrived Steve was barely responsive and the two paramedics confirmed a major concussion.
In adddition to the concussion, the SEAL's body was covered in bruises and Danny still wondered how he had avoided getting shot. The broken leg had needed surgery and when Steve was finally alert enough to know what was going on around him and strong enough to stay awake longer than a few minutes, three days had passed.
Danny had sat by his side most of the time. He had calmed and reassured him when the headache had "overruled" the painkillers and had explained what had felt like a thousand times what had happened to him.
But every time Steve had woken up, he had asked the same question: "What happened, where am I, is everyone else okay?"
Danny had been patient the whole time and explained it again and again.
This morning was the first time Steve hadn't asked any of those questions.
He really seemed to know what had happened and where he was. He really looked alert and thanks to the pain medication he felt quite comfortable.
He looked at his best friend and said "Thank you Danny."
"What for?"
"For coming for me and for staying with me the whole time."
"You don't know that."
"Yes, I do know."
"You were totally out of it and even awake you were confused. So, don't tell me you know."
"But I do. I could sense you, feel you, hear you. And I appreciate that very much. It made me feel safe. Thank you Danno – for everything, but most of all for being such a great friend. Means a lot to me."