CHAPTER 9

Tuesday morning, unknown location:

The sound of the bolt sliding across the door broke the silence inside the room. Steve was awake and alert in an instant. He did a quick visual assessment of the room, finding it still empty except for himself and Grace. How long had he been asleep? What about Grace?

Looking down, he was flooded with relief when he saw Grace in the same position he last saw her, snuggled into his side and still fast asleep. He looked up when the door creaked open, flooding the room with light from outside. The light revealed three men in the doorway, the same as before. Again, one man walked into the room, while the other two remained in the doorway.

With Grace still asleep and unaware of what was happening, Steve thought about making a move. Three against one were probably the best odds he was going to get. The fact that his hands were still restrained behind him reduced the odds, but he could work with it. Steve glared at the masked man that approached them. Taking in the man, he saw he had a gun strapped to his thigh. He catalogued that information for later.

"The boss requires the girl," the man said, his voice slightly accented. Spanish?

Obviously it was time to call Matt again. Steve looked down to where Grace was resting peacefully and then back up at the man. This man was different to the one that took Grace out of the room for the ransom call earlier. He had softer, rounded eyes.

"Take me instead. She's tired, she needs some rest," Steve pleaded.

The man looked back at the men in the doorway. They shrugged and the man nodded, turning back to face Steve.

"Okay, but if you try anything, your daughter pays the price," the man stated.

A shiver ran down Steve's spine at that. He nodded his agreement before shuffling away from Grace, hoping not to wake her. Luckily, the change in position didn't cause her to stir. Steve let out a breath of relief at that. Hopefully he would be back before she woke up and she wouldn't even notice his absence.

The man helped Steve to stand, then motioned for him to follow one of the other men from the doorway. He was led along a corridor until they reached some stairs. He followed the man up two flights of stairs. It confirmed his suspicions that they were being kept in a basement. At the top of the stairs was a large door. Entering through this door, he saw three other doors. He assumed one led outside while the other two ventured into other parts of the house.

Steve followed the man through the door on the right. Steve almost laughed when he saw the room. He remembered Grace's description of this room and decided she had accurately explained its appearance. Looking around at the extravagantly decorated room, he spotted the velvet lined walls and the large, plush sofas that Grace had explained. To Steve, it was over the top. It made Steve wonder what the rest of the house looked like.

Steve was sat in one of the plush chairs in front of the large desk. The two men stood silently behind him as they waited. A few moments later, the door opened again and a tall man walked into the room with a slight swagger. Steve watched him walk past, his tailored suit void of creases. The man sat in the chair in front of him, giving Steve a good look at their kidnapper.

Despite having his suspicions as to whom was behind their kidnapping, Steve was still surprised when he saw Pedro Fuentes sitting before him. He remembered seeing this man talking to Danny's brother when they were trying to understand how much trouble Matt was in five months ago.

"Mr Williams…" Fuentes said sinisterly.

The glee present in the man's cold eyes sent a shiver down Steve's spine. He hoped this wasn't what Grace had experienced when she was up here, all alone.

"I was expecting your daughter to be present for this call, but you will have to do. It doesn't matter to me either way." Fuentes paused. "I hear you have been a bit of a nuisance for my men. I believe you managed to give one of them a concussion. Bravo."

Fuentes smiled at Steve, his teeth shining in the LED illuminated room.

"Your brother has something that belongs to me. He hasn't been very forthcoming in returning it to me, so I have had to take severe actions. Let's find out if he has what I want, shall we?" Fuentes said as he picked up his phone.

Steve waited in silence while the phone connected. He started thinking about how he could convey what he knew of their location without the men in the room catching on. He wondered if Matt had contacted Danny yet about the ransom call. His thoughts were interrupted when Fuentes began speaking.

"Hello again, Matthew. Let's get straight down to business. Do you have what I want?…No?…Is that right?…Okay, you have another twenty four hours to get my money before I start to harm them…Oh really?…How about you explain to your brother why he is not at home with his daughter right now?"

Fuentes placed the phone on speaker and motioned for Steve to speak.

"Matt? Is that you?" Steve asked.

"Danny? Are you and Grace okay?" Matt's voice sounded desperate.

"Yeah, Grace and I are fine. Grace is not hurt. Don't worry about us."

"I'll get you guys out of there soon. I'm so sorry, St… Danny."

Steve caught on to Matt's slight slip up and was relieved when Fuentes didn't.

"It's okay, Matt. Tell…"

Steve was cut off when Fuentes turned the phone off speaker.

"I think that is enough. You have your proof of life. Nothing will happen to them as long as you deliver the money by this time tomorrow. If that deadline passes, you will learn what happens when people cross me."

Fuentes hung up the phone before turning to face Steve again.

"Well, it looks like you will be our guest for a while longer. I apologise for this, but it's just business."

Steve highly doubted that, but nodded as though he understood. He didn't want to be on the bad side of a notorious drug dealer. Steve was made to stand before being led back down to the basement. Before he left the room, Fuentes opened the curtains and Steve was able to see the outside briefly. The dense green brush that was visible gave Steve an idea. He may have a chance at getting Grace out of here after all.

Walking back down the stairs, he could feel this skin develop goosebumps due to the drop in temperature. The door to their cell was opened and he was pushed gently back inside. His eyes searched the dimly lit room for Grace. He was pleased to see she had not moved since he left.

Sitting down next to her on the mattress, he watched her chest rise and fall with each breath. He vowed to protect her, no matter what happened. He settled down and began to concoct his escape plan. He knew as soon as Fuentes had what he wanted, they would be collateral damage anyway. There was no way he was going to let Grace get hurt.

Tuesday morning, Five-0 Headquarters:

Kono was found that morning slumped over the smart table, a small trail of drool visible from the corner of her mouth to the smart table. She had spent the entire night searching every single street camera in the area of Steve's house, looking for the van that Danny had described to no avail.

Chin was similarly sacked out in his office. After spending an afternoon with the FBI agents trying to locate Matt and maybe Fuentes, he was exhausted. Additionally, the crime lab had called to say the blood found at Steve's house was too small of a sample to yield any useable results.

Danny, however, was nowhere to be found. He was not in his own office, or Steve's or anywhere in the confines of Five-0 headquarters. Instead, Danny was at Steve's house. He thought that by being at the place where his daughter and his best friend last were would provide him with some leads. In reality, he was lying to himself. In reality, it brought him a strange sense of comfort.

Late at night, when Chin and Kono had fallen asleep while searching for Steve and Grace, Danny had slipped away unnoticed. He had thought about calling Matt, to ask if Fuentes had called him yet. But Danny couldn't gather the courage to do it. He was so mad, but not at Matt. He was angry at himself.

Danny thought back to the night when Matt ran away from all of his problems. Danny remembered the conflicted feelings he had about whether to let his brother go or to take him in. He didn't want to hurt his brother, so he had let him go. And now, because he had been too weak to stand up to his brother, it was all coming back to haunt him.

The way Danny saw it, the reason Steve wasn't here working the case with them was because of his friendship with Danny. The reason he wasn't tucking Grace in to bed or taking her to school was because of his relationship with his brother, one he should have severed long ago. If Steve were here, Danny knew his friend would be trying to convince him that none of it was his fault.

Danny stood in the living room, taking in the chaos still present in the room. Since the house had been processed, nothing had changed. The lanai door was still in pieces and the glass was still spread throughout the room and on the patio. The small patches of blood were still present. It frustrated Danny that there hadn't been enough DNA to identify whose blood it was. The gun that had been found near the kitchen was gone, now in the evidence locker at the crime lab.

Going into the kitchen, Danny sighed when he saw the mop bucket still there. He gazed around the kitchen, noting the pancake batter that still covered the various surfaces. He would make sure his partner's house was absolutely spotless before he got back. Danny made a mental note to call about getting a cleaner and door replacement in the morning.

Danny was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of a phone ringing. It took him a moment to realise it was his phone making the sound. He took it out of his pocket and looked at the caller ID: unknown.

Danny answered reluctantly. "Hello?"

"Danny!" Matt's frantic voice said.

"Matty?"

"Yeah, Danny. It's me."

"Why are you calling my phone?"

"It's okay, I'm using a new phone. It's safe."

Danny let out a relieved breath. "Okay. What's happened?"

"Fuentes called. I told him I didn't have all the money yet, but he gave me another twenty four hours to deliver it to him. He said if he didn't have it by then, he would harm Steve and Grace."

"Wait, does he know about Steve?" Danny asked, concerned.

"No, no. I spoke to Steve. He's okay. He said that Grace was fine and she's not hurt."

"Oh, thank God," Danny said in relief.

"Danny, what am I going to do? I don't have the money. There is no way I can pay him. If I don't pay him, something bad will happen to Steve and Grace."

"Matt, first you need to calm down. Everything will be fine. Steve will protect Grace. Now, you need to come here to Hawaii and…"

Matt's voice was hard. "Danny, I can't do that."

"Why not?" Danny asked impatiently.

"There are other things going on…" Matt said quietly.

"What is that supposed to mean? What is more important than your own niece?"

Danny never got a response as another call came through. Seeing it was Kono, he hung up on Matt and answered the call.

"Kono, what's up?" Danny said.

"Where are you, Danny?" Kono asked quickly.

"I'm at Steve's house."

"Get here quickly. I found the van!" Kono said excitedly.

"I'm on my way," Danny said as he ran out of the house and towards the Camaro.

He arrived at the Palace in record time, not that he'd ever tell Steve that. He ran up the stairs to headquarters and rushed inside to find Chin and Kono gathered around the smart table. On the screens above the table were images of the van and of a person.

"Well done, Kono," Danny said as he joined the cousins.

"Well, we'll see if this pans out. I spent the night looking for anything that matched the description you gave me. I found one heading west and followed it. Eventually, the van was stopped at some traffic lights, where I was able to get a good look at the driver," Kono said as she pointed to the far left screen.

"Who is that?" Danny asked, looking at the face staring back at him from the screen.

"That is Andre Fuentes, Pedro's brother," Kono supplied.

"Okay, so we know Fuentes is definitely involved. We already knew that," Danny said exasperatedly.

"Hang on, Danny. I lost the van for a while, thanks to some roads that don't have surveillance cameras on them. Then, by pure chance, I found it again, still heading west."

"Okay…" Danny said, unsure where this was going.

"Danny, the van stopped and has been stationary for the last day!"

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Danny asked, not daring to get his hopes up.

"I think we found where Fuentes took Steve and Grace," Kono announced with a grin.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Danny said as he went to get his vest and gun.

"Should we inform the FBI? We could use the back up," Chin asked.

"No," Danny said, shaking his head vehemently. "If there is something going on, we don't want to tip anyone off. We go alone."

Tuesday afternoon, abandoned warehouse:

The team had piled into the Camaro and followed the directions on Kono's phone to the location of the removal van. The thought of potentially finding Steve and Grace had invigorated the entire team. Danny steered the Camaro through the busy streets of Honolulu at outrageous speeds. Neither Chin nor Kono commented on Danny's driving, which he appreciated.

Danny took one corner way too fast, causing the car to slide around the corner almost uncontrollably. Chin and Kono held onto any available part of the interior of the car to stop themselves from slamming into the doors. Chin smirked when he thought about the way Danny would often criticise Steve's driving. Now Chin had ammunition ready for the next time Danny began a rant about his partner's recklessness.

Kono, however, was oblivious to Danny's reckless driving. Instead, her eyes were glued to her phone as she barked out directions to Danny. She ignored the massive jolts that occurred when the car hit the potholes littering the scarcely used road. She came out of her reverie when Danny stopped the car abruptly in front of an abandoned warehouse.

In front of the warehouse was the van they had been looking for. The warehouse itself was relatively well-kept, if one ignored the overgrown grass and shrubs that surrounded the property. They climbed out of the Camaro and approached the warehouse cautiously, watching and listening for any movement.

Danny took the lead and approached the front entrance. On Danny's signal, they entered the warehouse simultaneously and fanned out around the main floor. The large room was mostly empty, except for a few rusty shelves scattered on the wall furthest from the door. Chin moved towards a room on the right while Danny and Kono continued down a small hallway on the right.

After three declarations of 'clear', they congregated back on the main warehouse floor.

"Did you find anything, Chin?" Danny asked as he re-holstered his weapon.

Chin shook his head. "Nothing but a small office. I don't think anyone has been here in a long time. There is dust covering every surface."

Danny sighed with disappointment. "Let's get CSU down here to process the van."

"I'm sorry, Danny. I thought they would be here," Kono said.

"Not your fault, Kono. You followed the evidence. I think they must have changed vehicles and dumped the van here. Let's get back to HQ and look more into Andre Fuentes' movements. Maybe we'll get lucky"

They walked dejectedly back to the Camaro. The drive back was silent as they recollected their defeat. They had gotten their hopes up, but as usual, they were too late.

Danny was starting to panic. Steve and Grace had been missing for almost two days. Rachel had been calling his phone non-stop, asking for news he didn't have. Danny, it must be noted, was doing a pretty good job of not falling apart at the stress of it all. Danny wasn't sure what was worse; looking for apparently non-existent leads or the horrible limbo between finding potentially valid leads.

Danny shook himself from his thoughts and glanced up to check on what Chin and Kono were doing. Chin was on the phone, perhaps with the FBI or the Governor. Danny didn't know, but he hoped it would get them somewhere. Kono was at the smart table, flipping through bank and phone records of anyone involved with Fuentes, including his brother Andre. Danny could see how tired she was from the way her eyes were starting to droop the more she read.

Danny glanced down at his own desk, where he had the file Kipton had brought them about Matt. Reading through it, he could find no way to find Matt. He had tried calling Matt, but got no response. He slumped back in his chair and closed his eyes, hoping that his tired mind would come up with something to help them.

The shrill sound of his phone ringing disturbed him. Quickly grabbing his phone, he didn't even check the caller ID, hoping it was Matt.

"Williams," he answered.

The voice on the other end was definitely not Matthew Williams.