CHAPTER 6

Thursday afternoon, unknown location:

Steve's return to consciousness was sluggish and painful. He kept his eyes closed as he tried to concentrate on his surroundings. He found himself lying on his uninjured side, on a cold, hard floor. As he concentrated on the pounding in his head, the throbbing in his shoulder joined in. He groaned and shuffled, trying to relieve the pain.

He quickly realised his hands were zip-tied behind him, which put pressure on his injured shoulder. His feet were also bound in a similar manner. He opened his eyes and looked around. He was surprised to find that he was in a different vehicle, a van. It was definitely more spacious and allowed him to stretch out. They must have changed vehicles because of the broken taillight housing, or because they were smart and changed vehicles frequently. Steve had long since lost track of time and had no idea how long he had been travelling for or how long he had been missing.

The ride, this time, was much rougher. They must have left the main roads ages ago. Steve's heart sank when he thought about the implications of that fact. Wherever they were going was somewhere off the beaten path. Help was not going to come quickly.

Steve tugged and strained against the ties, but they refused to yield. He decided to take advantage of the time to save his energy for when he would need it the most. Steve didn't know what was going to happen, but he was going to do everything he could to escape.

Suddenly the van stopped and Steve heard two doors opening before slamming shut. He heard muffled voices outside the van. Steve could hardly catch a word as they conversed in another language. The only thing Steve did know for certain was that they were angry.

Steve heard the sound of gravel crunching underfoot before the sliding van door was opened and revealed three men. Steve assumed these were the same men that had recaptured him. Two of the men reached in and pulled Steve out of the van.

"Get off me!" Steve yelled as he struggled against the hold of the men.

One man bent down and cut the tie from around his ankles. Steve felt the blood rushing back to the deprived area, but his legs felt numb after having not moved for what was probably hours if the afternoon sun was anything to go by. They left his hands bound behind his back.

Steve looked around and all he saw was green. He assumed they were in the middle of the Hawaiian rainforest, hopefully still on Oahu. The bumpy ride indicated they were far from civilisation. The men holding him started speaking, but again, Steve couldn't understand what they were saying. They appeared to be arguing, but Steve paid them no mind as he tried to get as much information about his surroundings as possible.

That effort was cut short when a hood was forced over his head. He tried to resist but was rewarded with a fist to the stomach for his trouble. It took Steve a few moments to catch his breath again. What he had seen before he was effectively blinded did not inspire much hope for a timely rescue.

The two men holding his arms pushed him forwards and forced him to walk. Steve tripped over the uneven ground, but the two men stopped him from falling. Steve knew there were three men; the leader and the two goons holding him. With his hands still tied behind his back and his injured left shoulder, the odds of him escaping right now were not good. Steve decided to bide his time and wait for a better opportunity to make his move.

That didn't mean that Steve would be making it easy for them. Steve struggled against the men with every step, slowing their movement through the bush significantly. They kept pushing and Steve kept pulling back. It was a constant tug of war until Steve felt the cold metal of a gun at the base of his neck.

"Do not make this harder than it has to be," Steve assumed it was the leader talking; his voice heavily accented. Steve narrowed it down to something European.

The two men holding him pulled Steve forwards again. Steve reluctantly stumbled onward, the gun moving from his neck to his back as an incentive to keep moving and not make trouble for himself. If he was going to escape, he needed to remain on his captor's good side. If there even was such a thing.

Suddenly, they approached a steep downhill section. When they reached the bottom, they stopped. Steve was just wondering why when he heard the screech of what must've been a very rusty door. Steve felt the pressure on his arms, pushing him forward once again. The air felt cooler on his skin and their footsteps echoed off the hard ground. Steve assumed they were in a bunker.

A bunker in the middle of the Hawaiian rainforest.

There were hundreds of bunkers over the islands.

Secluded bunkers.

Secret bunkers.

And no one knew where he was. Steve didn't know where he was.

Thursday afternoon, Five-0 Headquarters:

The day had started out normally. The team had arrived at the office, ready for another day of chasing down leads and doing paperwork. Danny, Chin and Kono had been ready with some zingers to throw at their boss when he walked in late. Only he never did. From there, the day had gone downhill very quickly.

First, they thought he had just gotten caught up at the crime scene at Mr Chang's Supermarket. They were now feeling guilty for not getting there sooner, for not knowing something was horribly wrong. When they discovered that Steve had actually been shot and then abducted, they had thrown themselves into searching for anything that could lead them to the perpetrators, and by extension, their boss.

Except all they had were a few blurry images of their suspects. There were no prints, no witnesses and no leads. Steve had been missing for sixteen hours now, and they had nothing to show for it. They all knew that the first twenty-four hours of a kidnapping were critical.

After working for hours with no success, Danny had reluctantly suggested they take a break. Chin and Kono had protested at first, but they all knew they would need to be well rested if they wanted to find out who had taken their leader and friend.

Kono had decided on a nap in the break room whilst Chin had opted to work in his office. Danny had been left with the unfortunate task of informing the Governor that the head of her taskforce had been kidnapped and no, they don't have any leads.

The sun was beginning to set on the horrible day when Kono's phone rang. With eyes bleary from sleep, she found her phone and clumsily pressed the answer button.

"This is Kono," she answered around a large yawn.

"Uh, Officer Kalakaua?" the voice on the other end asked.

"Yes?"

"Sorry. It's Ioku from forensics. I'm sorry to disturb you, but we've got something that might help you," Ioku Hanula said, sounding way too cheerful.

"What is it?" Kono asked, now fully awake as she sat up straight on the couch.

"The cameras from outside the shop. They are corrupted, but you can still get the general idea of what is happening."

Kono jumped up and ran to Chin's office. "Awesome. Can you send it over?"

"I already sent it. It should be in your inbox," the forensic technician replied.

"Thanks Ioku. We owe you big time," Kono said with a smile.

"Just doing my job," Ioku replied before hanging up.

Kono knocked on Chin's door, motioning for him to join her at the smart table. He immediately dropped what he was looking at and followed her.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Forensics were able to retrieve some of the footage from the outside cameras. They sent it over," Kono answered.

"Where's Danny?" Chin asked, looking around at the otherwise empty office.

Kono shrugged. "Maybe he's still talking to the Governor?"

"Maybe," Chin replied. "Let's see what we have."

Kono quickly opened up her email and instantly found the link that Ioku Hanula had sent them. As soon as the video file came up on the screen, hope that they would finally catch a break shattered. The footage was definitely corrupted, to the point where it was difficult to make anything out.

"Is that the footage from the outside surveillance cameras?" Danny's voice came from behind them.

"Yep," Kono said. "We just got it. It doesn't look like it will be much help, though."

Kono fast forwarded to the time when Steve arrived at the supermarket. They could see what they assumed to be his truck pulling in to the parking lot. They watched as a figure walked into the store. A few minutes later, another vehicle parked in the lot, close to the entrance. Four figures emerged and entered the store. They kept watching until they emerged from the shop, McGarrett in tow, and placed him in the trunk of the sedan.

"Wait, rewind the footage until a few minutes before Steve pulls in," Danny demanded.

"Okay. Why?" Kono asked.

"If we're lucky, we can get a plate or maybe a clearer image of their faces," Danny replied.

Kono rewound the video until Steve's truck pulled into the lot. A minute later, a dark coloured sedan pulled in after him, without its headlights on. Danny paused the footage and pointed at the sedan on the screen.

"He was followed. That's how they knew where he would be and when. It wasn't a coincidence," Danny announced and started pacing, thinking. "Kono, is there any chance we can get the footage for the Palace parking lot from last night?"

"Yeah. I can access it right now…Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?" she asked.

"If you're thinking that they waited for him to leave here and then followed him, then yes," Danny answered. "I remember there was a dark sedan in the parking lot last night when Steve and I left. There were no other vehicles. I think they were waiting for Steve to leave."

"If we are lucky, we may be able to get a clear shot of their faces," Chin said, catching on.

"Exactly," Danny replied with enthusiasm.

Kono accessed the cameras in front of the Iolani Palace and quickly found when they left the building. They watched in tense silence as Steve and Danny left the building together. They continued watching as the partners went to their respective cars and pulled out of the parking lot; Danny first, followed by Steve a minute later. Then, another minute later, the dark sedan also pulled out and when in the same direction as Steve.

Unfortunately, it was night time and there was no light, so they weren't able to capture an image of the driver or the plate of the dark coloured sedan.

"Wait. That car was in the lot before we left. It was obviously waiting there for a long time. Let's see if we can find when it arrived. Maybe we will get a better image," Danny suggested, not wanting to be deterred.

Kono scrubbed through the footage until they found the sedan entering the parking lot, a little bit after ten in the morning. Kono quickly grabbed a screen cap of the number plate and ran it through the DMV database. It quickly came back as stolen. Another dead end.

"That's a long time to be waiting in a car," Chin commented when he saw the car hadn't moved for four hours.

"Yeah," Kono agreed and smiled happily. "But lucky for us, long enough that they had to take breaks."

Kono was able to capture a good image of the driver as he emerged from the car to take a cigarette break four hours after pulling into the lot. She ran the image through a facial recognition program and almost instantly got a hit. Kono brought the image up on the screen so everyone could see.

"Well, I'll be damned," Danny whispered, looking at the face on the screen.

Thursday afternoon, unknown location:

The sound of a rarely-used door opening echoed off the walls of the bunker. Steve was led into a room and forced to sit in a chair. His hands were cut free, only to be bound to the arms of the chair by more ties. Steve didn't want to make it easy for them, so he kicked out and was rewarded with a cry of pain. Steve smiled under the hood, pleased with himself.

The men began yelling at each other in a foreign language. Italian, Steve had decided. His legs were grabbed and tied to the legs of the chair similarly to his hands. The voices faded as the men left the room, the sound of the door screeching shut following behind them.

As far as Steve could tell, he was now alone. Tied to a chair, inside a bunker in the middle of the Hawaiian rainforest. All in all, not the worst situation he had ever found himself in, but it rated up there. If only he knew why he was here and why he was still alive.

Steve pulled against his restraints, finding no give in the plastic ties. The only way he would be getting out of those was if someone cut them. He didn't see that happening anytime soon. Not one to give up, Steve continued straining against the bonds, which reawakened the pain in his shoulder, which then caused his head to join in.

Steve took a few deep breaths, spitting out the cloth sack every time he breathed out. He decided to concentrate on what he could hear. Besides his own, measured breathing, everything was silent. Straining his ears, however, he could just make out distant voices. He wondered, not for the first time, what they were saying.

Steve closed his eyes and tried to think. He knew he had enemies from his time in the Navy and his short tenure as the head of Five-0. The more he thought about it, the less his current situation made sense. If they wanted him alive, why did they shoot him? Who were they? Why did they want him?

The door creaked open again, bringing Steve back to the present moment. He heard the door slam closed. Steve turned his head towards the sound of footsteps, deciding there was only one person in the room with him. Steve listened to the footsteps as they circled behind him and back to the front. Steve could sense they were standing just in front of him.

It was quiet for a moment before the man spoke. "I apologise for the accomodations, Commander McGarrett. It appears your reputation precedes you."

Steve didn't reply, instead choosing to concentrate on the man's voice. It was heavily accented. Definitely Italian. He didn't recognise it.

Steve didn't realise the man had moved behind him again until he felt a hand on his injured shoulder. The man squeezed and Steve hissed in pain. Steve could almost visualise the man smiling at his obvious discomfort.

"I apologise for your injury, Commander. My…associates…were not as gentle as they had specified. I assure you, it was not my intention," the man explained.

"Who are you? Why am I here?" Steve asked, his voice slightly muffled by the hood.

The man let go of Steve's shoulder and Steve listened to the footsteps until they halted in front of him. There was a scraping sound as something was dragged across the hard, concrete floor. A chair, Steve figured. The chair was placed directly in front of Steve and Steve felt, more than heard, the man sit down.

"Who I am is not important," the man said.

Steve snorted. So much for getting the information he needed.

The man continued as though Steve hadn't made a noise. "As for why you are here? That purpose is two-fold."

Steve frowned. That didn't sound good.

"Firstly, you are the key to helping me get something I want."

"And what would that be?" Steve asked, curious.

"Let's just say someone stole something from me, something very valuable. I want it back and you are going to help me get it," the man answered confidently.

"Like that's going to happen," Steve said sarcastically.

The man became silent after Steve's comment. The silence went on for a few minutes and Steve started to feel uncomfortable. He hated not being able to see what was going on. As far as he could tell, the man was just sitting there, staring at him. But he didn't know for sure, and that's what bothered him. So, Steve decided to break the silence.

"You said there were two reasons I was here. What's the second?" Steve asked.

"Have you ever heard the phrase 'cut the head off a snake, and the body will die'?" the man asked.

"Yes," Steve answered, wondering where this was going.

"Let's just say it was more a matter of convenience and dealt with two problems at the same time," the man answered cryptically.

"I don't understand," Steve said.

"You will," the man said as he stood up from the chair. "And there won't be anything you can do about it."

Steve's heart rate increased. He was now more confused than ever. What was the man talking about? It obviously had something to do with Five-0. But what? Was the man threatening his team? Threatening to hurt them unless he did what they wanted? Whatever the man had planned, it couldn't be anything good.

"Go to hell!" Steve growled as he jerked at his restraints.

"Relax, Commander McGarrett. You cannot get out of those restraints. I would like you to remain as unharmed as possible."

Steve chuckled at the ridiculousness of that statement. The laughter actually helped him to remain calm.

"What's so funny, Commander?" the hated voice asked, sounding amused.

"That's a bit hypocritical, don't you think?" Steve asked.

"While I am the one holding all the cards, I admit sometimes things do not go according to plan. I am sure you understand this, no? In the future, my son will not be in charge of such important matters," the man assured him.

His son?

That was more information than Steve had a minute ago. Maybe he could use that in the future. He filed the new detail away for later. Steve was too focused on what the implications of the new information were to notice that the man was once again standing behind him.

"I suggest you get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be a big day…Now, I have some other matters to attend to. So, goodnight Commander McGarrett," the faceless man said.

Steve heard the footsteps moving away from him and then the sound of the door opening and closing. The sound of the lock engaging echoed through the cold room, reminding him of how alone he was.

Steve struggled against his restraints, trying to get free. He didn't want to be here when whatever was planned for tomorrow occurred. He sat back, panting from his efforts. He knew he needed to conserve his energy, so he closed his eyes and evened out his breathing.

He thought about his team, hoping they at least knew he was missing by now. It had been almost twenty four hours since he was taken. That much he was now certain of. He hoped that Danny, Chin and Kono were following the leads and would know that he had been taken from Mr Chang's Supermarket.

Steve smiled when he thought about the rant Danny would be giving him about dealing with an armed robbery without backup. Steve just hoped he would be alive to hear it.