The gunfire was slowing but was still active and with the lack of communication with Steve, Kono's worry ramped up. "Steve, this is Kono. Do you read?"

Adam answered Kono's previously posed question, "He responded when I let him know I was stuck here. He seemed a bit off. I haven't heard from him since."

"Steve, do you copy?" Kono adjusted the fit of the earpiece to make sure she did not miss the smallest sound with all the gunfire in the distance. When she didn't hear anything, she frowned at Adam and shook her head.

"I'm here," Steve finally responded. "I copy."

"Oh, thank God," Kono whispered. At hearing the voice of their leader and friend, the others breathed out a collective sigh of relief.

"Stay put. I'm on my way to you," Steve announced determinedly.

"He's on his way here," Adam informed Tani and Junior whose communication device was lost when he threw off his night vision goggles.

"That's not a good idea." Even with the blood loss and pain, Junior had been actively engaged in listening to what was going on around him. His military training was pushing him past his physical pain and he was locked in on keeping the rest of the team safe. "We shouldn't all be gathered in one place. That's tactically inadvisable and he shouldn't come out into the field of fire."

"Here, Tani. You okay to take over for me?" Chin asked.

"Yeah, sure." She actually had been aching to help somehow and was glad when she finally got the opportunity. She replaced Chin's hand with her own and began applying pressure to Junior's wound.

Chin stood and eased behind Adam in his firing point position at the back corner of the building. "Steve, maybe you should hunker down where you're at. Junior doesn't think it's a good idea right now and I tend to agree. It's not safe."

Steve replied, "Listen. Hear that. It's slowed to nothing."

"Maybe they're waiting on us," Adam offered.

"No. They're not firing at us… not anymore."

When Adam looked back with puzzlement at Chin and then Kono who had also taken her eyes from the far corner as well when she heard the odd comment, Chin took over. "Steve, what're you talking about? Who are they firing at?"

"Stand by. I'm almost there."

Adam saw him coming their way. He was walking with a fast gait and keeping to the darkest shadows. As he rounded the corner, he raised his eyebrows at Adam, "Hey, how is he?" Without allowing time for an answer, he went straight to Junior and Tani. Holding his side, he squatted down and wrapped his other arm around Tani's shoulders. "You okay?" he asked her first.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"You sure?" Steve asked with concern.

Tani nodded.

"Sorry, sir," Junior started, "I shouldn't have…"

"Save it," Steve stopped him. He knew his action was foolhardy but he understood and had more pressing things to deal with. "It's done. How bad is it?"

Chin approached and answered, "The gunshot wound appears to be clean, just giving us some trouble in stopping the blood flow."

Steve stood as it appeared Junior was in good hands for the time being. "We'll have medical help here soon. Lou called for an ambulance as soon as he heard."

Chin added, "He's going to have a nasty bruise under his vest. It also took a hit."

Steve whipped his head back around to Junior in surprise before giving his attention back to Chin. Chin nodded. "That's the shot that took him down and speaking of, what were you saying about them not targeting us?" They could still hear a distant sound of a shot being fired ever so often.

"This last wave? When the other cars and helo came in? Those guys were not aiming at us. They were firing at each other. We got caught in the crossfire."

"What like some kind of gang war?" Adam conjectured.

"Not sure, but if they had been Gabriel's reinforcements, I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be standing here right now. Look, I need to get outta here. Gabriel's got to be on his way to Danny. We've got to get to him."

"So, it wasn't Danny? The other hostage?" Chin asked.

"No," Tani confirmed. "They left him, back at… I'm not sure where it was… or what it was. They had me blindfolded coming and going."

"It's okay," Steve consoled. "I'm pretty sure I know where he's being kept. We got some intel from one of Gabriel's men that I think is reliable." Steve hesitated. He needed to ask a question that was burning him from deep inside but was unsure whether he wanted the answer. "So, Gabriel sent us a pic. You were with Danny. How is he? It didn't look good."

"No lie, he was pretty banged up. He tried to be my knight in shining armor and that didn't go over so well."

Junior looked to Tani with an intense stare, making a mental note to get more information on that statement at a later time.

"Highly fortified?"

"I don't know. I just saw the room we were being held in. The other times I was hooded. It felt like an old industrial kind of building of some sort." That piece of information helped to confirm Steve's intel. "Besides Gabriel, I only saw three men. I know at least one, the jerk-off that did the damage to Danny," she lowered her voice in restrained contempt, "stayed back with him. I have no idea how many others there were that I didn't see."

"Okay, all right," Steve spoke as he was thinking. "I just gotta go. We're losing our window of opportunity. I need to catch up with Gabriel. He doesn't know the information we got. He won't know we're coming, so he may be lax on his vigilance. Tani, can you stay here with Junior until the ambulance gets here?"

"Yeah, sure, of course," she said, wanting to help her team but wanting to stay back with Junior more.

"Chin, Adam, you come with me. Kono, stay here and maintain a post until help arrives."

"Boss?" Kono couldn't refuse, especially knowing that what he was asking was legitimate, but she was torn. She wanted to be a part of the group that took down Gabriel.

"We're good, Steve. Let Kono go with you," Tani implored at seeing the visible internal struggle written on Kono's face. "God knows you may need the help."

Steve wanted to argue against it. He wanted to give the idea more thought, but he didn't have time. "Fine. We've got to get going."

"You up for this?" Chin asked about Steve's endurance, aware of his recovery that had been forced to the sidelines.

Steve was physically and mentally exhausted. His wounded torso was screaming in pain, but he was not done. He had to call on his stores of adrenaline to see him through and when his ohana was safe, he would crash… for days. He glared at Chin in answer to his question.

"Okaaay. You're up for this," Chin conceded.

Steve bent down and pulled up his pantleg and removed a compact nine-millimeter that was stashed there. He checked the load and racked the slide and stepped back over to Tani and Junior. Then holding the barrel, he reached the grip to Tani. "Just in case," he stated matter-of-factly.

Tani took the gun. "Thank you."

~~~~~H50~~~~~

Gabriel tried slamming the door in frustration when he entered the deteriorating building just to have the door bang against the frame and swing back and forth in opposition. Following behind his boss, Simon hesitantly peeked through the same door to see if it was safe for him to enter as well. Gabriel was heading in the direction of the stairwell to the basement.

"Sir!" Gabriel stopped and turned toward Simon. "You need to get a bandage on that arm. I'll go find something."

"Hey!" Gabriel hailed him before he could get out of sight. "Are Piper and Russell still here?"

"Should be around here somewhere," he shrugged.

Besides Ron, Gabriel had left two other henchmen behind and he was now grateful that he did because his numbers had been cut in half. "Find them. I want Russell on the perimeter and Piper in here."

"Yes, sir."

Gabriel galloped down the serrated steel steps into the dark basement that was lit by only one light in the far corner. "Where is he?" he demanded, speaking to a large empty room. "Bring him here? It's time for them to pay." With one hand still holding the oozing wound on his other arm, he began to pace. Impatience began to mix with his anger and he believed his heart was beating faster instead of calming.

At hearing the rage in the command, Ron was startled from his catnap and almost fell out of the straight-back chair that had been precariously balanced on two legs leaning against the wall. He took a second to glance to his charge and then hustled out to greet his boss.

"Boss? Your arm. What happened?"

Gabriel ignored the question. "They didn't follow through. Now they're going to pay. Where is he? Fiiive-0," he mockingly sing-songed the name, "is about to lose their number two. Go get him!"

~to be continued~

\,,,/BronsonL