A/N: Apologies for the possible chaotic feel of this chapter. I hope it engenders suspense instead. I didn't know how I would cover such widespread points of view with so much going on, soooo… I played a game of pass the POV (loose definition of POV). Where one ends, the next begins.

Steve watched everything play out before his eyes as if it was all in slow motion.

The first shot fired was the one that made Junior fall.

The second was from Kono's gun. She had fired as soon as Gabriel no longer had his human shield. She had hit her target. He slapped his hand on the upper part of his shooting arm. Blood was steadily leaking through his fingers. He abandoned his hostage as a lost cause or maybe because he knew he had another, stuffed away securely somewhere else and she was no longer needed.

The hooded hostage, 'miraculously' freed himself from his bonds and ridded himself of the blinding hood. He took up cover with the other men that were already there and produced a weapon to help in their effort. The poser was Steve's first shot and first victim, falling to the ground from behind his barricade.

Several vehicles screeched to a stop behind and in front of the united Five-0 task force and unloaded armed men who opened fire. He wasn't sure where these cars had come from. They would not have been able to get past the perimeter of HPD's backup. They must have been there already, concealed inside their own barricades.

Gunfire filled the air and also rained from above. A helicopter was hovering above with a spotlight shining down, looking for its targets.

The Audi, now with Gabriel at the wheel and the original driver in the passenger seat, hightailed it out of the fray in reverse. After about a hundred yards, the car was whipped around and sped off into the darkness. Their plan had been foiled again. Gabriel had once again managed to slip from their grip.

Steve could not linger on or beat himself up about that, though. Their favorable odds of five to four had now flipped upside down and sideways. Their situation was overtly laughable as their small squad was now going up against an army. Junior was down and his status unknown and Danny was still unaccounted for. His ohana was in trouble and he was responsible for them.

It was Adam's voice that brought him out of his daze and reset time back to its normal pace. "Adam?"

\~/

"Steve! Did you hear me?" Adam yelled. "Junior went down. I'm pinned in. I can't get to him. Steve? Are you all right?"

Adam was crouched behind the corner of a white, portable storage building that looked like twenty others just like it. It was made of thin metal sheeting to allow for easy relocation but served its purposed of sheltering cargo loads awaiting transport to and from flights. The material would do no good as protection against the barrage of bullets that filled the air. His intention was to use the building to stay concealed from sight and his hope was that whatever may be stored inside would act as an added buffer if needed.

He finally heard an answer from Steve. He was okay but the full message didn't register as gravel and dirt kicked up at his feet at the same time the transmission came through. That was too close for comfort. He ran to the other corner, still at the end of the building. From this angle, he could no longer see Junior but now had a direct line of vision on the cousins.

\~/

"Damn it!"

"You got him, Kono," Chin reassured, unclear of the reason for her aggravation.

"No, I missed. He should be dead, but he's getting away." She and Chin both fired return shots in one of the directions the attack was coming from.

"Junior's hurt. I'm going to him. Stay here," Chin ordered.

"Chin!"

"Don't try to stop me, Kono."

"Never, cuz. Just wanted to let you know I'm going to go get Tani."

Chin smiled at his cousin in understanding. Kono held up three fingers and started the silent countdown. At one finger left, they each took a deep breath and left the safety of the car. Splitting up, Chin went for Junior and Kono went for Tani.

\~/

Even though it had been dark for hours, the tarmac where Tani lay was still very warm to the touch. She was lying on her stomach with her hands still uselessly bound behind her. She was pretty sure the car she had been brought in had left with Gabriel in it. She didn't witness it, but she heard it, felt it, sensed it, especially since she hadn't been snatched up and carted off to God knows where again.

The gunfire was still ringing in the air, but the sounds were more sporadic than before. There seemed to be a lull. The calm before the storm? Unlikely, as the storm had already hit with ferocity. Should she dare look? Affirmative. Now was the time to find out what the hell was going on.

When she opened her eyes, her cheek flat against the ground, she saw the white car that Chin had arrived in with both doors wide open. She didn't see anyone but saw flashes from gunfire every now and then. She lifted her head and looked ahead of her, her chin almost touching the uncomfortable surface below. As soon as she did, a bullet whizzed nearby and skipped off the hard macadam, ricocheting into her pantleg. There was a sting but nothing more and she quickly put her head back down again.

This is ridiculous, she mentally scolded herself and looked up again, this time turning her head the other direction.

It took a couple of beats for her to realize the perverted sound she heard was her own muffled scream. 'Junior!' would have been her cry at the alarm of seeing him lying lifeless, barely yards from her but she couldn't get out more than the muted scream due to the confounded cloth shoved in her mouth. 'Juns!'

\~/

The first shot had hit smack dab in the middle of Junior's Kevlar vest. It had knocked him onto the ground. He had found himself heaving to replace the air that had been forced from his lungs. His chest felt like he had been impaled by a metal object and if not for knowing he wore the protection where the pain surged, he would have thought the bullet had claimed its prize.

He had to get up. He had to get to Tani before they took her away. He decided his effort would be much more effective if he allowed himself another moment to pull in a couple more draws of much needed oxygen.

The second shot did hit flesh. It came from an odd angle after the hailstorm of bullets was at its peak. He was pretty sure that if he had initiated his attempt at standing, the slug would have found its way to a place in his body, most likely above his shoulders, where he would be less likely to come out on the other side of this alive. As it happened, his last second decision to catch his breath turned into a fluke that may have saved his life. Time would tell, though, as he was unsure of the damage done by the bullet that found his side right above his hip. He knew it hurt like hell, but if his pelvis had not been shattered, he was going to renew his attempt at getting up.

Then he heard the muffled cry of Tani. She was still there. He opened his eyes and turned his head in the direction of the sound. Gabriel was nowhere to be seen and she, too, was lying on the ground, face down versus his supine position. Their eyes met and he smiled at her.

What was that? Was she laughing? It took a minute for him to see that she was crying. "Don't cry," he spoke, not believing she heard him. He realized her tears were tears of relief. She had been worried about him. The break was short lived knowing they were both sitting ducks out here in the open. He had to do something.

Before he had a chance to devise his escape plan from this less than ideal situation, he heard a familiar voice call his name from nearby. Then he saw the face the voice belonged to, Chin.

\~/

Chin was nearly breathless as he fell to his knees besides Junior. "Man, it's good to see those eyes. We weren't sure for a minute."

Chin reported to the others who would be listening on their comms. "Junior's been hit, but he's alive. I repeat, Junior's injured but alive."

He then addressed Junior directly again. "How are you?" Chin's eyes were scanning to find the bullet's entry point. He saw Junior's hand planted on his side. "Here let me see."

"Tani. We gotta get Tani," Junior pleaded.

"She's in good hands," he blew off the entreaty and concentrated his attention back to Junior. "From what I can tell, it doesn't look too bad. Is this what put you down or are you hit somewhere else?"

"The vest took a slug, center mass. That's the one that put me on my ass."

"All right. Do you think you can walk?" Chin asked as he was putting his arms behind Junior, preparing to hoist him to standing.

"Tani!" he tried again.

"Kono's got her. Let's get out of here." He surveyed the area and saw Adam waving at him from his cover. "Kono! Follow us! Adam's over here!"

\~/

Adam met Chin and Junior half way. He started to take a place on the other side of Junior to help.

"What? No." Junior pushed him away. "I'm okay. Go help Tani and Kono."

From what he saw, it didn't look as though either Tani or Kono needed help either, but if he could hurry the process along, he'd try. He left Chin and Junior and took up a place on the other side of Tani, happening upon an unsought moment where his eyes met Kono's. They managed to get the rest of the way to his refuge behind the building. Kono had already removed Tani's gag and it was hanging loosely around her neck. Adam waited until they arrived at their shelter to cut off the zip tie around her wrists. "Hey. You okay? Any injuries?"

"Yeah, no, I'm fine. Thank you," she voiced to Adam and then spoke her appreciation again to Kono before worriedly making her way to Junior. Chin had laid him down and was commencing to put pressure on the bleeding wound. Tani dropped to her knees across from Chin and started to unbuckle his vest.

"It may be better to leave it for now. Til the coast is clear," Chin spoke with experience and wisdom backing up his words.

"What about you?" Adam asked Kono. "You okay?"

Kono pushed her hair that was hanging in front of one of her eyes behind her ear. She pursed her lips into a half smile and nodded, still blaming herself for Gabriel's escape. "You take that corner. I'll take this one," she said. "We'll hold off anyone that gets close."

"No need. Looks like the cavalry's here," Adam stated. Sure enough, one truck had broken through a chain link gate and two others followed. The police backup succeeded in providing a modicum of relief to the weary team.

"Junior Reigns! What the hell fool thing was that?! Running out into the deluge of a firestorm like that?!" Tani rubbed the back of her arm across her face. She was still trying to get her tears in check as she tried to cover the tumult of emotions as her sense of devastation at the thought of losing Junior had morphed into unadulterated relief in a matter of mere seconds.

"I'm sorry," he uttered in contrition, seeming horrified that he had caused her pain.

She choked back another sob. Oh, no. She wasn't going to start again. "That's beautiful. You're lying here bleeding all over the place, and here I am yelling at you."

"It's okay," Junior soothed.

"Stop it, would ya? It's not okay." This time she couldn't hold back the dam. It broke loose and the tears were flowing again.

Junior smiled at her. "What about you? Did they hurt you?"

Tani stared at him several seconds in awe that he was concerned for her as he lay on the pavement, possibly gravely injured.

"No." Her tears slowed and she abandoned the useless chore of wiping them away. She tenderly placed her hand on Junior's face to make sure he was locked into what she was about to say. When she could finally speak further, she pressed on to ease his worry. "No, I'm fine. Now it's your turn. 'kay? You've got to be fine, too. You got me, Juns? No checking out on me. You hear me? We've still got too much to do."

"You're not getting rid of me yet," Junior promised.

"I'm holding you to that," Tani smiled.

Chin continued to hold pressure on the wound and let the two younger team members have their moment. Then, feeling a bit like a third wheel, even in this predicament, he escaped as best he could by looking over his shoulder toward Adam.

Still hearing the sounds of gunfire, Chin queried, "Adam, is that HPD returning fire? Is that who Gabriel's men are shooting at?"

"Negative. SWAT hasn't established their position yet," Adam answered.

"Cause if we're all here, who are their targets?"

Adam hinted at a shrug and shook his head.

"Anybody heard from Steve?" Kono asked when she heard the direction of the conversation. "Where is he?"

~to be continued~

\,,,/BronsonL