CHAPTER 13

Thursday morning, Five-0 Headquarters:

Danny was sitting in his office early that morning. He had gone home the previous night to see his daughter. Not long after sitting on the couch with her, reading a story, he had fallen asleep. He had awoken to Rachel shaking him awake early in the morning. She had handed him a cup of coffee and sat with him, not saying anything. Danny appreciated her support. He knew she was still shaken up about Grace being kidnapped. He knew the constant police presence was also stressing her out, but he knew she understood, deep down, why it was happening.

Danny twirled his pen through his fingers as he glanced out the window. He wondered where Steve was right this minute. He missed Steve's presence in the office. He had a sort of contained energy that seemed to spur everyone on. Right now, they were missing that and it showed. The team was beyond exhausted, having barely rested since this started over three days ago. The adrenaline from his discovery yesterday had long since faded, leaving him feeling even more fatigued.

Danny was startled from his moody thoughts when Chin rapped on the door with his knuckles, signalling that Kipton had arrived. Danny looked at his watch; the man was ten minutes early. Sighing, Danny gathered up the file on his desk and followed Chin to where Agent Kipton was waiting. Danny surveyed the Agent, noting he looked tired too. Danny couldn't bring himself to feel sympathetic.

When Agent Kipton walked into Five-0 headquarters that morning, he wasn't expecting to be greeted by the stony faces of the Five-0 team minus their leader. He didn't really know what to expect, but it wasn't this.

"Detective. I hope this means you have some information regarding Fuentes?" Agent Kipton asked, getting immediately to the point.

Chin hadn't revealed why they wanted to see the Agent, only alluding to the fact that it involved sensitive information. At this point, the reluctant collaboration between the Major Crimes Taskforce and the FBI was tentative, to say the least. Neither side trusted the other, and for good reasons.

"I want you to take a look at this, Kipton," Danny said, waving the file in his hands. "Tell me what you think."

Kipton took the file from Danny's hands with a look of confusion. Danny watched as the man's face paled considerably as he flipped through the contents of the file. When Kipton reached the photo of himself and Matthew Williams exiting the plane in Massachusetts, he swallowed nervously and peered up into Danny's face. Danny was smirking humourlessly as he surveyed Kipton's reaction.

"I can explain…" Agent Kipton began.

"It had better be an excellent explanation. If my partner dies because of your deceit, there will be hell to pay!" Danny said in low voice, his eyes flashing with anger.

"Wait, what about your partner? I thought you said he was on medical leave? Where's McGarrett?" Kipton asked, clearly surprised by Danny's announcement.

"Like you don't know, Kipton," Danny responded angrily, turning away from the agent to compose himself and get his anger under control.

Chin took over at this point. "Commander McGarrett, along with Detective William's daughter, were abducted Sunday evening from McGarrett's house. Matthew Williams received a ransom call from Fuentes, asking that he return the money he stole. Apparently, Matt hasn't paid the ransom. Commander McGarrett has managed to get Grace Williams free, but we believe he was recaptured. Fuentes called Danny yesterday morning with new demands. Fuentes demanded that we give him Matthew Williams in exchange for Commander McGarrett. If we don't comply with Fuentes' demands, Commander McGarrett will be sold in an auction to one of his enemies."

Agent Kipton's eyes widened at that. "Damn. There goes our plan," he muttered.

"Your plan?" Danny demanded, rounding on Kipton.

"Danny…" Chin said, placing a warning hand on the Detective's shoulder.

"Is this why you were tailing Chin and Kono earlier? Your plan?" Danny asked, slightly calmer.

"Um…it was…um…" Kipton stammered.

"I would like to know why you thought it was a good idea to endanger the lives of my team mates," Danny said, his voice icy with dislike.

"Okay, okay," Kipton said, holding his hands up in surrender. "Give me a chance to explain what happened."

Danny crossed him arms over his chest while Chin motioned for Kipton to continue.

"We got word that Pedro Fuentes was looking for his money. More specifically, the money that Matthew Williams had stolen from him five months ago. What you don't know, is that Matt turned himself in to us two months ago. He agreed to give us information in exchange for his safety. The information he gave us was more than satisfactory and helped to put away a lot of people in Fuentes' organisation. We put Matt into Witness Protection and I was part of the team handling him. When we heard Fuentes was looking for him, we moved him. We had Matt call you on an open line, hoping Fuentes would make the connection and come looking for Matt, here. That's why were were tailing you."

"All you did by tailing us was make us more of a target. Great job, Agent Kipton," Chin said.

"No, Chin. He was using me as bait to lure Fuentes out into the open. Isn't that right, Kipton?" Danny said accusingly.

"I apologise, Detective. We used what was available. We needed to draw Fuentes out. He has been upping his game and needs to be stopped," Kipton said sincerely.

"And you thought by increasing your presence where Matt's family lived would bring Fuentes out of hiding?" Chin asked, catching on.

Kipton nodded.

"Well, congratulations. You brought him out, but instead of going after me, they took my partner and daughter. Now my partner is going to have to pay for your screw up! You should have told us this from the start. You could have prevented all of this!" Danny yelled.

"I'm sorry. We knew Fuentes was resourceful, but we didn't think he would make such a big move," Kipton said, glancing down at the photographs in his hand.

"Hang on. We know Matt's not on the island. If you are here to find Fuentes, then where is Matt?" Chin asked.

Kipton sighed. "Not long after Matt got the news that his family had been kidnapped, he managed to slip away from us. We have no idea where he is."

"Well, there goes our only playing card," Danny muttered to himself.

Danny turned to face Kipton. "Just so you are aware, if you try anything like this again, I will find you and beat you into a pile of dust. You got that, Kipton?"

Kipton eyed Danny carefully before responding. "Understood, Detective."

Danny nodded before clapping his hands together. "Excellent. So how are we going to find Fuentes?" he asked, effectively dismissing their previous argument.

Before anyone could answer, Kono walked through the front entrance with a file in her hand. If she was aware of Kipton's presence, she didn't show it as she made a beeline for the smart table.

"So, CSU just finished processing the house. They found several DNA samples on the beer bottles from the kitchen. Hopefully we can identify some of Fuentes' men. They are running the samples through the databases now. The shell casings were your average nine-millimetre variety, nothing special. Not much use there. They did find a small patch of blood in the forest. Charlie confirmed it belonged to Steve."

Danny groaned slightly at the news.

"It was a really small patch. It means he wasn't hurt that badly," Kono said, trying to reassure Danny.

"Was it anywhere near where we found Grace?" Danny asked.

"No, it was in the other direction. I think Steve purposefully led Fuentes' men away from Grace, but got hurt in the process."

Danny rubbed a hand over his face before walking out of the office. Chin shook his head as he watched Danny exit. Kono went to go after him, but was stopped by a hand on her arm. Looking up, she was surprised to see it was Kipton who had stopped her.

"Let him cool off. He needs some time to process it all, to get his head back in the game," Lipton said,

Kono snorted. "Yeah, no thanks to you," she muttered before she retreated to her office.

Kono had just reached the door to her office when Danny came running back inside, holding his phone like it was a bomb.

"Kono! Trace this call. It's Fuentes!" Danny yelled.

Danny stopped at the smart table, working to get his breathing under control while Kono pulled up the tracking software. Kono nodded that she was ready and Danny quickly pressed the answer button.

"Fuentes," Danny answered.

"You took your time answering, Detective. Are you sure your partner means something to you?" Fuentes taunted menacingly. "I wouldn't want to have to accidentally kill him because you were being negligent."

"Alright, I get it. I'll answer quicker next time. So, are you going to tell me where this trade is going down?" Danny asked, impatient.

"You know, your partner surprises me. I knew he had enemies, but wow. Some people really want to get their hands on him. The auction is already up to 1.5 million dollars. Oh, sorry, now it's 1.75 million."

"Cut the crap, Fuentes. Where do I need to bring my brother?"

"I will send you a message closer to the time. Meanwhile, you have some detecting to do. Time is ticking. I suggest you get a move on."

"Wait!" Danny yelled into the phone. "I want proof of life. Let me talk to Steve," Danny said, stalling for time.

"I'm afraid that won't be possible at this time, Detective Williams. Your partner is quite a belligerent hostage. Maybe I will let you talk to him later, when he has finished his nap." Fuentes laughed as he hung up.

The chilling laugh echoed throughout the room. The implications of what was being done to Steve weighed heavily on the shoulders of the team.

"What did he mean about an auction?" Kipton asked.

"If we don't deliver Matthew Williams by tomorrow morning, Steve will be sold to the highest bidder. Just another upside to this whole messed up situation," Kono said sarcastically.

"That auction may actually help us find the Commander. Excuse me, I need to make some calls," Kipton said, leaving with his phone pressed against his ear.

Chin looked at Danny. "Do you think we can trust him?"

Danny sighed. "I don't think we have a choice. As much as I hate his guts right now, I agree it was the best way to get Fuentes. He seemed genuinely surprised when we told him about Steve and Grace. It wouldn't hurt to have the FBI on our side. Plus, he will have a better idea of how to find Matt."

The others nodded in agreement. They didn't have to like it, as long as it all worked out in the end. Kipton walked back in, tucking his phone into his jacket pocket.

"Quantico is working with the Navy to see if we can get a bead on this auction. Hopefully, we can access it and prevent the Commander being sold."

"Thanks Kipton," Kono said.

"You know, Kipton, you could have just asked for our help. Then none of this would have happened," Danny said.

Kipton sighed. "After our last run-in, I didn't think you would have agreed to working together in this capacity."

"You're right, I probably wouldn't have, at least, not initially. Instead, it has been blown out of proportion and endangered the lives of two people very important to me," Danny paused before appearing to deflate. "Just, next time make sure you tell us what's going on, okay?"

Kipton nodded sincerely. "You have my word, Detective."

Kipton held out his hand for Danny to shake. Danny only hesitated for a moment before returning the sentiment. After all, they were working towards a common goal now. Finding Steve McGarrett and taking down Pedro Fuentes, once and for all.

Chin, realising there was a temporary truce, stepped in. "Sorry, but time is really of the essence. I suggest we take a divide and conquer approach. Kipton, use your resources at the FBI to find Matthew Williams. We will need him at some point. We will work on finding Fuentes on the island."

Kipton nodded. "How are you going to find Fuentes?"

"We have a lot of resources available to us, believe it or not. We will use the coconut wireless. We have informants that are in debt to us who hear everything that goes on. Also, we are expecting the lab to come back with some DNA matches from the bottles we found at the house. Once these people are identified, we will arrest them and interrogate them for information on Fuentes. We will shake all the trees until we find him," Kono said, a determined glint in her eyes.

"Noted. Okay, as Fuentes said, time is ticking. I will call you as soon as we know anything," Kipton said, departing with a sense of urgency.

As soon as Kipton left, the team convened around the smart table.

"God damn it, Matt!" Danny yelled as the anger he had been containing began to spill over. "This is all your fault!"

"Danny, calm down. If it is anyone's fault, it's Fuentes'," Kono tried.

"Oh, so this Columbian drug lord just decided to have a vacation in Hawaii, kidnap my daughter and partner for the fun of it? How is this not Matt's fault?"

"Think about it logically, Danny. Matt was desperate when he embezzled the money from his clients. He made poor choices, but he's trying to make up for it. He said he sent the money to Fuentes, but it never got there. He tried to make it right, he tried to protect his family the best he could," Chin said calmly.

"I hope the FBI finds him before I do. Fuentes never said anything about him having to be alive when we traded him for Steve," Danny said, rage flashing in his eyes.

"Danny, you don't mean that," Kono whispered.

"Oh, I do Kono. Because of him, a good man, my best friend, has been kidnapped and is in who knows what kind of condition. Because of my brother, my daughter has probably been scarred for life. Because of her Uncle Matt, she is having nightmares and crying for her Uncle Steve! My brother is a coward and only looks out for himself. He probably doesn't even care that Steve is in trouble!"

With that, Danny turned on his heel and stormed out of headquarters. Chin and Kono stood, their mouths open in shock. They had seen Danny angry before; when Steve would pull off some ridiculous, reckless stunt or when a boy dared to even go in the vicinity of Grace. What they had just witnessed was pure, unfiltered rage. If Danny ever saw Matt again, they had no idea what he would do.

"Should we…" Kono asked.

"No…" Chin sighed. "Let's get to work. Hopefully we'll have something for when he gets back."

The pair worked in silence, trying not the dwell on the impending deadline. They knew Kipton would call as soon as he had anything on the auction or Matt. To be honest, they were glad Kipton wasn't around. The man seemed to ignite more of the fury in Danny. After half an hour, Danny had still not returned to the office.

Kono had been staring at the same line on the page she was reading for the last ten minutes. She kept glancing up at the clock. They had under twenty-four hours until the deadline; until Steve was sold to one of his biggest enemies. She hated this, the waiting. What was worse was not having anything to fill the time. She couldn't concentrate. She was too worried about Danny, and Steve, and Grace.

"He wouldn't go far, not when Steve is in trouble. He just needs some space," Chin said quietly.

Kono jumped at the sound of her cousin's voice. She had been so preoccupied with her thoughts that she had forgotten he was there.

"Yeah, I know. I just want everything to be okay, like it was before all this started," Kono replied quietly.

"It will be, you'll see," Chin said confidently.

Kono eyed her cousin suspiciously. "How can you be so sure?"

"Because I know those two. Danny may gripe about Steve, but they have a strong bond. Steve's stubborn, he won't let anything stop him. And Danny…he's just as stubborn. He'll do whatever is necessary to find Steve," Chin explained as he wrapped Kono in a comforting hug.

Kono finally let the tears fall. She had been trying to be strong since this whole thing started, but the anxiety regarding her boss and Grace had finally gotten to her. Immersed in their moment, neither Chin nor Kono had noticed Danny returning until he tapped them on the shoulder. He was motioning to his phone, indicating Fuentes was calling again, probably to taunt them more. Quickly wiping the tears from her face, Kono turned back to the table and began the trace.