CHAPTER TWELVE

ANOTHER TWELVE HOURS HE'D BE AS GOOD AS DEAD

FIVE-0 HEADQUARTERS - DOWNTOWN HONOLULU - O'AHU

After finding evidence at the sports fields, Steve and Tani returned to their headquarters. On the drive back, Steve didn't say a word. Instead, he kept going over all and everything that happened ever since he had been back from his mission with Junior. He was missing something, and Steve knew it. He was close; he could feel it, yet they had no clue whom Danny had taken. Or, more importantly, why someone had taken Danny? Was it ransom? Revenge? Or worse, murder? Steve kept all the possibilities in mind; it was part of the job. A job Danny desperately wanted to retire from, and Steve had refused to let him. Steve knew he shouldn't go there. However, it was a hard door to keep shut closed.

Now standing at HQ around the smart table, Steve asked his team. "What do we know?"

Lou shook his head. "So far, no witnesses. No cameras on the parking either, traffic, ATM or private. But HPD locked the perimeter down and is still searching and canvassing the neighborhood block by block. Right now, anyone wearing a badge's looking for Danny."

Junior tried to give it a positive spin. "That's right, and CSU is processing the blood through CODIS," he paused. "Haven't heard back from them, though."

Steve sighed. "What else we got?"

Jerry shared his findings. "Kyle's confession stands. There's a bus stop at the Nakamura Fields. I also checked the Camaro's GPS, and he took it straight from the parking to the body shop. No stops in between."

"All right, what about those tire tracks?"

Jerry started typing on the technical table and showed a picture on the screens standing in front of them. "Tire tracks are a match to a Ford Transit. It's a transporter van."

Junior asked. "Any traffic cameras in the vicinity?"

Jerry searched. "There's one-two blocks away from the sports field."

Steve ordered. "Get me the footage from yesterday, between ten in the morning till twelve o'clock,"

Jerry typed even faster. "All right, here we go." Traffic footage popped up on the screen, overlapping the picture of the transporter van. Jerry hit play, and the footage started rolling.

"Push forward," Steve instructed, and the footage rolled forward 32 times its speed. "Freeze. Roll it backward," he said. "That one, right there," he pointed at a transporter van blowing past the intersection. "Jerry, run those plates."

Jerry executed the request and searched the database. After a minute, he concluded. "It's coming back to a stolen vehicle."

Another dead end. Steve leaned with both his hands on the tech table. "Lou, where we at with the videos send in from the parents?"

"I'm going through it, but most of them are like sixty minutes of recordings. So far, no sign of Danny or the mystery man. It's gonna take time to get through all the footage."

Steve balled his fist and smashed it hard on the tech table. "Listen, someone took Danny. I don't care how deep we have to dig or how much evidence we have to work through, but we have to do it fast. We have to get him back safe."

Nobody said anything. Maybe nobody dared after that enraged blow on the tech table.

Junior was the first one to speak. "Commander, with all due respect, we exceeded the twenty-four-hour time frame hours ago. All they did was send us his phone. Nobody has made an actual ransom demand, so how do we know he's still alive."

Steve lapsed into silence. Junior was right. Danny was now missing for more than thirty-six hours if their time frame was accurate. With another twelve hours, Danny would be missing past the forty-eight hours. They really had to find him before that because, with another twelve hours, he'd be as good as dead. Steve ran his hand tiredly over his face. Everybody in this line of work knew that the second day of kidnapping was a kind of threshold. Any early chance of resolution was gone. After that, the situation starts to harden up. The chances of finding the victim get smaller. The search begins to become a long, intractable set-piece. Most importantly, the danger to the victim increases.

The best time to clear up a kidnapping was the first day. On the second day, the progress gets tougher. Steve knew that. The team knew that. Everyone searching for Danny knew that. Steve leaned with both hands on the technical table and hung his head disheartened. Usually, within twenty-four hours, the kidnappers start to communicate. That had always been Steve's experience. This time they hadn't even received a phone call. No ransom demand. Nothing. It had also been Steve's experience that if they didn't call within those twenty-four hours, chances were they weren't going to call at all. Meaning the case would no longer be considered a kidnapping, but instead, it turned into a homicide.

Despite that knowledge, Steve put confidence in his partner. Danny had been a cop for almost half his life. He's trained. He's a good negotiator. Good shooter too. Steve witnessed Danny handle himself more than just fine. Steve trusted the man with his life. No doubt. If anyone, Danny would be capable of surviving captivity. Steve looked back up at his team. "No, he's alive."

Tani spoke with a soft voice. Purely concerned and no harm intended with the question. "How can you know for sure?"

"Because I know Danny," Steve stated. "He once flew all the way to Afghanistan just because he had to be sure I was okay after the Taliban captured me. He didn't know whether I was alive or dead, but he did it anyway."

Lou looked directly at Steve. "You know that's not the whole story, right? That man saved your ass. Without him, SEALs wouldn't have gone looking for you."

Jerry nodded. "He would do that for anyone on the team. That's the kind of guy he is."

Steve nodded along. "Trust me, Danny's stubborn and alive, okay? And he's out there somewhere holding on to the thought of us doing the same for him. He's not giving up, and neither should we. So we have to give everything we have, understood?" Steve paused shortly. "Find me something or someone that can tell us where we can find Danny."

As Steve paced away, Tani asked what everyone else was thinking. "Boss, are you okay?"

Steve turned back around. "No," hurt dawned on his face. "Not until we find him." He said, and without another word, he went into his office.

The team stayed silent. Unable to find the right words to lift their leader's spirit. Lou placed his hand on Tani's shoulder. "Don't take it personally. He and Danny? Man, the friendship they have's very unique and hard to find," he paused. "Honestly, if we don't get Danny back, I'm not sure he'll survive."

Tani grabbed a tablet. "Then let's keep digging."

SKATE HANGAR - O'AHU

Danny should be calling the emergency number or, better, be on his way to the ER. Instead, he watched his chest tube slowly fill with blood. His mind started to answer how it was possible, but that came relatively quickly to mind. He'd been catching fists to his chest like a punching bag hanging in a free gym. It had actually been a miracle that the chest tube hadn't come out yet or simply that there hadn't been a complication. Or maybe there was. Maybe on the inside it was even a bigger mess than he could see on the outside. Perhaps that had been the plan all along, to let him die slowly. To let him suffer. To let him bleed out, drop by drop.

Danny was brought back to the present by a sound. Footsteps, closing in from a distance. After a few more footsteps, Kim Leung came into view, looking way too satisfied with himself. Danny glanced around. Leung seemed to be the only one coming his way. No guards at the opening of the hangar nor around the skate bowl. The man-mountain was nowhere to be seen either. For the first time in hours, the situation seemed to Danny's advantage. Him lying on the ground wouldn't do him any favors, so, with his chest aching badly, Danny struggled to his feet. He grabbed onto a skate rail to hoist himself up. He tried to stand up straight, but his right knee buckled the second he put the littlest of weight on it. Pain ripped through his leg, and it burned along every nerve.

Danny gritted his teeth to ride through the wave of pain. He didn't want to acknowledge that his leg slowed him down, so Danny turned. He faced Leung and mustered a smile on his face as he looked the man in his eyes. Danny smiled because there was only one reason he could think of why Leung was closing in on him without any of his dogs.

"You're almost out of men, aren't you?" Danny said, but talking was harder than it had been before. So concerned by that, it wiped the smile right off his face.

Leung stepped closer. "I wouldn't count on that, Detective."

"If you want me dead, why don't you just kill me."

Leung laughed. Pleasurable. "I'm not gonna kill you, Detective. You're gonna kill yourself," he pointed at the blood-filled chest tube. "And by the looks of it, it won't be long now. It's a shame, really. I was starting to enjoy the fights," he paused, looked at his watch, and back up at Danny. "Now tell me, do you want me to dump your body somewhere your children can easily find you, or should we hide you far out in the forest to see if anyone even cares to show up and start looking for you?"

Panic combined with anger hummed in his veins as Danny spit out. "You leave my kids out of it, you hear me?"

"Fine, forest it is," Leung said emotionless, reached behind his back, and took a gun from his waistband.

Danny closed the gap between them and had his hands on Leung's wrist in a split second. Danny pulled Leung's arm up like a proud fisherman hauling something from the sea. Except Leung was a couple inches taller, and he grabbed with his left hand onto Danny's hands. He forced Danny's arms way above his head. Hoisted it so high that Danny was raised up on his tiptoes. Danny let out a yelp as he could feel the stitches in his chest pull and the incision widen.

Then Leung drove his left fist into Danny's right side. Hard. The kind of punch that would usually knock a man down. And keep him down. Only Danny didn't fall. Leung made sure of that by pulling Danny up by his wrists, but at the moment, Danny hardly noticed any of that. Because his entire upper body was convulsing in agony. Searing bolts of pain shot through him, all stemming from one place. A spot just below his fourth rib. The same spot as where the chest tube was inserted. Also, the exact spot that had just been crushed by massive knuckles.

The pain barely subsided when Leung let go, and Danny dropped back on his feet. His right knee sagged the minute his foot touched the ground. Danny tried to break his fall and let Leung's right hand go. The hand with the gun. Turned out it was not a gun that Leung had grabbed from behind his back. It was a taser. Something Danny realized as he heard the rattling frying-bug-zapper sound of the taser sending out its electrical current.

The prongs buried themselves in Danny's chest. It was a straight and direct hit. Every single cell in his body went insane. Danny snapped rigid, his body trembling, unable to even blink, and thinking was impossible. Electric agony held him in a vice grip. He couldn't defend himself. A billion volts might have something to do with that. A billion volts were way more than his system could handle. Danny remained upright for another half-second, already unconscious. Then he toppled onto his back and lay there, as still as a fallen tree.

FIVE-0 HEADQUARTERS - STEVE'S OFFICE - DOWNTOWN HONOLULU - O'AHU

Steve was at his desk, but working would be a relative term. Instead, he stared at his partner's tablet standing in front of him. Steve had opened and reviewed every piece of data on the tablet, and he came to the same conclusion as hours ago. They were dead-ending. There was nothing on there that was going to expedite the search. But he had become desperate thirty-five minutes ago when Junior mentioned that they had indeed passed the twenty-four-hour time frame by hours. Not minutes. No hours.

Steve had stormed off and withdrawn himself in his office to be alone with his thoughts and feelings. And if he had been alone with his thoughts and feelings, he would've cleared his entire desk with one big angry sweep, but he hadn't been alone. The whole team had been watching him. He had felt their eyes burning in his back. So instead, he had taken a big breath, went over to his desk, sat down behind it, and folded open the cover of Danny's tablet.

As of this moment, Steve was still staring at the tablet. The time on the screen flicked; it was precisely twelve o'clock at night. For Danny, officially the third day. With this hour added, it was about thirty-seven hours since the snatch. Run-down by these numbers, Steve sighed. Thirty-seven hours was an incredibly long time for a kidnap to sustain itself. Most were over in less than twenty-four, one way or the other, good result or bad. Mostly law enforcement gave up after thirty-six. Not Steve. Even knowing that each passing minute made the likely outcome more and more dire. He was not about to give up. No matter how desperate the situation had gotten, he was not about to give up.

A polite double-knock on the glass office door pulled Steve out of his thoughts. He looked up and watched Jerry step inside.

"Commander, I know it's probably something you don't want to deal with, but I'm not sure what to do."

Steve shrugged. "What is it?"

"Danny's been getting texts all night," Jerry informed, holding Danny's cell phone up in the air. "Few calls too."

Steve frowned. "From who?"

"Grace."

Hearing Danny's daughter's name felt like a fist punch to Steve's stomach. "I'll-I'll handle it," he said, raised from his chair, and extended his hand. Jerry stepped over and handed over the cell phone. Steve grabbed onto it and added, "Thank you, Jerry."

"Sure thing." Jerry nodded firmly, turned around, and left Steve's office cubicle.

Steve stared down at the phone in his hand. This was indeed something he did not want to deal with right now. He sat back down again, ran his hand over his face, and scratched his few-day-old stubble. Steve paused a second, exhaled, and touched the screen. He watched the cell phone light up. As it did, all kinds of notification alerts popped up. E-mails. Appointments. Missed incoming video calls. Text messages. Phone calls. And a whole lot of it. Steve pressed onto the text message notification to open the application and scrolled to the top. He sighed once more and started reading.

8:45 PM text by Grace Williams : "Danno, I think I left my physics homework at your place. Can u check if it's there somewhere?"

8:46 PM text by Grace Williams : "Danno?"

8:48 PM You have one missed call from Grace Williams.

8.49 PM text by Grace Williams : "I need it this Wednesday? Can u check? Pls?"

9:32 PM text by Grace Williams : "?"

9:33 PM You have one missed call from Grace Williams.

9:34 PM text by Grace Williams : "Why aren't u answering?"

9:42 PM text by Grace Williams : "Danno? Where u at?" R u still mad about the other night? I said I was sorry."

9:44 PM You have one new voicemail from Grace Williams.

9:44 PM text by Grace Williams : "U working or something?"

9:45 PM text by Grace Williams : "Danno?"

9:51 PM You have one new voicemail from Grace Williams.

Steve clicked onto the notification and lifted the phone to his ear. An automated female voice popped up.

"You have two new voicemails. The most recent, received today, at nine-fifty-one PM. Press one if you would like to listen to the message."

Steve lowered the phone, pressed one, and put it back to his ear. There was a beep, and then Grace's voice popped up.

"Danno, it's me again. Could you please check if it is somewhere at your place? I really need it," there was a pause. Then a sigh. "You know what, never mind. I'll come looking for it myself. Apparently, you're too busy and can't be bothered. As usual."

The automated female voice popped back up. "To repeat this message press one."

Not in a million years wanted Steve to hear this again. Repeating a message like that felt the same as a giant hand squeezing his heart. Tight. He knew Gracie didn't mean it like that. But she did say it. And it hurt to hear her say those words. Out of protection, Steve disconnected the call. He swiped back to the home screen. The big hand wrapped around his heart squeezed even tighter as he was forced to glance at a picture of Danny together with Charlie and Grace. Staring at it, Steve went a little cold. Danny was closer to never seeing his kids again now than at any point in the last three days. Or bluntly speaking, Danny was closer to dead now, and Steve knew it.

FIVE-0 HEADQUARTERS - STEVE'S OFFICE - DOWNTOWN HONOLULU - O'AHU

It was Junior that knocked on Steve's office door and said the redeeming words.

"Sir, we need you. Eric has found something."

Steve jumped up from his chair, and within seconds he joined the team around the tech table. A Skype call beamed on the big screen hanging in front of them. Eric Russo, hyped on high caffeinated energy drinks, was sitting on the other end of that Skype call at the crime lab.

"Eric, tell me something good," Steve said, with a hint of hope.

The kid powered up immediately. "So I ran the blood work from the scene, and some of the blood drops definitely belongs to uncle D, but the good news is, most of them belong to someone else, and I got a hit on CODIS."

Tani swiped a photo of a big guy onto the left screen for additional information. The man was big in a muscled kind of way. About thirty, thirty-five years old. His head completely bald; however, his face was inked with tattoos. Probably to compensate for the lack of hair. Who knew. One thing was for sure; he looked like an alpha man and certainly, ex-con or ex-fighter or ex-both.

Tani confirmed. "This is Tao Feng, former MMA fighter. If we had to print out his rap sheet, we would need an entire forest. Multiple arrests. Been in and out of jail a bunch of times."

It was good that they had a lead, but Steve had trouble connecting the dots. "What does a former MMA fighter want with Danny? I don't see the connection."

Junior revealed. "He has ties to the Chinese Triad."

Steve's face fell slack. "The Chinese Triad? You sure?"

Tani said. "We are. There are multiple arrests linked with criminal activity from the Chinese triad."

"Plus, I think you wanna see this," Lou added and nodded at Junior to go ahead. "It's from the footage sent in by the parents."

Junior replaced Tao Feng's mugshot with footage of Charlie's soccer game. Junior stopped on a frame showing Danny in the background. He wore a pair of faded jeans, chucks, and a dark T-shirt. Black or blue, it was hard to tell. The footage didn't consist of the best quality. Then Junior inched the tape forward. He jumped to Danny standing on the sideline, just him. Then to him chatting with an unfamiliar guy, but he did match with Charlie's description. The man was wearing a pitch-black two-pieced suit with a plain black collared shirt underneath. However, Steve was more interested in the other distinctive features. Dark short hair. Medium height. Muscular, in a fitness kind of way. There was not much to go on, but it was a bit more descriptive than a black business suit. Junior inched the tape forward again, up to both men leaving the soccer field. He rolled back and played it for a second time.

"Can you zoom in?" Steve asked, intrigued.

Junior zoomed in a little. "That's all we can do. It's too blurry for facial recognition. We already tried."

Steve stepped over to the screen, standing only a few inches apart from it, and said. "Play it again."

Tani joined Steve up close at the screen. She pointed at something the unfamiliar man was holding in his hand. "Is that a gun?"

Junior paused the footage immediately. Without a doubt was the unfamiliar man pressing a gun at Danny's back. Definitely not a good sign, but something was bothering Steve even more.

Steve tapped the screen before Junior could press play again, pointing at the unfamiliar man. "I've seen that guy before."

Lou looked skeptical at Steve. "What are you talking about?"

Steve faced the group. "The other day, when Danny and I went to pay Jin Leung a visit, that guy stopped us at the door," he pointed again, but this time at the no longer unfamiliar man. Steve was certain. It was one of Jin Leung's guys. The other day this guy had guarded the door and asked Danny for a rematch. Steve swallowed the big lump in his throat and then said.

"The Chinese Triad took Danny out revenge."

CHINATOWN - HONOLULU - OAHU

It was coming up near one in the morning. However, Steve had no trouble pounding on this man's door at this time of night. If necessary, he'd wake up the entire block, but that was the adrenaline speaking. It coursed unchecked through his system, urging him to do something he would regret afterward. Jin Leung wasn't some low-life criminal where Steve could kick the door down and drag into the rendition room at HQ. Jin Leung was the head of the Chinese Triad and a highly respected member within the criminal syndicates. Steve needed to do this respectfully, or else he'd be declaring war between law enforcement and probably every criminal on the island.

Therefore, Steve took a few deep breaths, flushing the adrenaline from his system. Then Steve and Tani went up the steps leading to a modest modern house. At the door, they were stopped by two muscled guys guarding the front door, just like the other day when Steve went to see Jin Leung together with Danny.

Steve lifted the tail of his shirt and tapped on his badge. "We're here to see Mister Leung."

First, nothing happened. The two men kept looking at them with an icy stare. Then the guy standing left knocked three times on the front door. After a beat, it opened. The door that opened was heavy oak; the color of honey and the warm light that spilled out from inside was the color of honey too. A warm welcome, some might say. Unfortunately, when stepping inside they encountered the complete opposite of a warm welcome. Additionally to the two guy's guarding the door outside, Steve and Tani faced another four guys as they entered the house.

A total of six men. Steve looked directly at them, one at the time. All six were standing there in complete silence. All six were dressed the same. A pitch-black two-pieced suit with a plain black collared shirt underneath. No matter how expensive the suit appeared to be, Steve knew immediately all six men were ex-criminals. Just like the guy that had taken Danny. They all had that look. All full of subdued menace, all as hard as nails, all looking right back at him and Tani, all full of loyalty and hostile suspicion of the outsiders.

However, none of the six men said a word, nor did they stop Steve and Tani from taking another step into the house. So they went ahead and left the small square foyer that led to an open big rectangle living floor. The exterior wall was made entirely out of glass and offered a stunning ocean view. At daytime, Steve imagined, because right now, the ocean was dull grey in the starlight. Steve looked around the living. Took it all in. There was a dining area to the right, with a pale wooden table and eight chairs. Not much to see there. To the left, there was a sitting area with two sofas and two armchairs. Bookcases lined the walls. All packed with books containing knowledge. The room had cool air and white painted walls. Yet the light coming from the low table lights made it feel warm and welcome. The comfortable chairs and sofas were all covered in the same printed fabric. Steve noticed it as one of the chairs was occupied by the man he was looking for.

Before Steve could start, Jin Leung turned his chair around and said. "Commander McGarrett, let me save you some trouble. I didn't take your partner."

"Now I would really like to believe that, Mister Leung," and although Steve believed the man, he stayed firm. "Perhaps you can explain to me why we found blood near my partner's last known location that belongs to one of your men? Tao Feng."

Leung's hands were curled protectively around a rocks glass full of ice and amber liquid. "That I might do know," he said, staring down at the glass with a focused gaze. "But I need your word that you're not going after the people that are responsible for this."

"Give me one good reason why I wouldn't," Steve commanded. "Is it your grandson?"

Jin Leung looked up. "No, it's not my grandson. His hands are insured for thousands of dollars, so he's not going to ruin his hands by beating up a cop."

"Beating up a cop?" Steve looked aside at Tani and back at Leung. "Nobody said anything about that, and besides, he's not just a cop, all right? He's my partner."

Tani stepped in front of Steve. "Sir, with all due respect, I suggest you tell us who's responsible for taking Detective Williams, like right now."

"Another one with a big mouth," Leung said, annoyed by the interruption. "Is that a requirement upon hiring?"

"That is not the point here, Mister Leung. Tell me who took my partner, and we'll leave."

"Do we have a deal, Commander?"

Steve studied the man. There was something about the way he looked. Like he was concerned or caring or worried about the situation. Steve couldn't pinpoint it, be he couldn't afford to lose any more time searching for Danny, so Steve agreed. "We do."

Jin Leung looked away. Held still and quiet for a long, long time. Then he looked back like a decision had been made. "You should be looking for Kim Leung."

Steve's aneurysm face appeared. "Your son? What does your son want with my partner?"

"Don't all sons act strange at one point? Your father would agree with me if he'd see you right now."

"Probably," Steve admitted. "I don't get it. What does your son want with Detective Williams?"

"My son believes that the Detective insulted my grandson when he broke his jaw a couple of days ago," "He's been given a chance to prove himself by fighting against numerous potentials, but I heard it's not working out too well for him."

Anguish overtook Tani's face. "Oh god, is he even alive?"

Leung spoke genuinely. "Knowing my son, I'd say barely."

Fear and panic had Steve by the throat. "Where is he?"

"I believe he's being held in one of those abandoned hangars."

"Which abandoned hangar? I want an address. Now!"

There was a long pause. "900 Hangar Avenue, Joint Base."

Steve jabbed his finger at Jin Leung. "He better be alive when I get there, or there's no deal at all, you understand?"

— TBC / HAWAIIFIVE0 —

A/N: They're finally getting somewhere.

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Next chapter will be uploaded next week. Let's find out if Steve will make it in time...

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