CHAPTER 24

Saturday night, TAMC:

Chin and Kono found Danny in the waiting room at Tripler Army Medical Centre. They had spent the last hour getting Chin's neck checked out. According to the doctor, he just had some minor swelling and bruising. It would be sore, but in a few days he would be fine. He was not supposed to talk for the next two days. For a man who used words sparingly anyway, that would not be problem.

Walking into the waiting room, they looked around before seeing Danny in the far corner of the room, away from everyone else. He was sitting with his arms resting on his knees, head down looking at the tiles on the floor. Approaching Danny, the cousins sat on either side of him.

"Have you heard anything, Danny?" Kono asked quietly.

Danny looked up. His eyes were red-rimmed with exhaustion, worry and…anger?

Danny cleared his throat before speaking. "Um…no. They haven't told me anything yet."

Danny returned his gaze to the tiles by his feet. Chin and Kono exchanged looks over Danny's bent posture. They had the feeling something had happened in the ambulance.

"Did Steve regain consciousness in the ambulance?" Kono asked quietly.

Danny nodded, not taking his eyes off the floor. "Yeah. He asked about Grace. His eyes…they were clear, you know? Not glazed over like they were when…how's the neck, Chin?"

"It's fine. If Steve had been at full strength, it could have been a lot worse," Chin whispered hoarsely.

"And he's not supposed to be talking," Kono said, dobbing him in.

That got a small smile from Danny. They grew silent after that, each trapped in their own thoughts. They were all worried about Steve. They had all seen him hanging from the ceiling, they had heard his agonising screams and seen his pain. They vowed Fuentes would get what was coming to him.

"Family of McGarrett?" a voice said.

Danny, Chin and Kono all rose to their feet and approached the person in a white lab coat.

"That's us," Kono said.

The doctor looked at them suspiciously.

Danny sighed. "We may not be blood relatives, but we are the only family he has on the island. I am Detective Danny Williams, his medical POA. Anything you need to say, you can say in front of them."

Chin and Kono exchanged glances at that. They had no idea when that happened, but it made sense. Steve's sister was in Los Angeles and wouldn't be able to make decisions, should it come to that. The doctor nodded and motioned for them to follow him. They followed him into a small room outfitted with a few comfortable chairs and some landscape paintings on the walls.

The doctor motioned for them to sit in the chairs provided. "I am Doctor Eric Palamo. I am the primary doctor in charge of Commander McGarrett's care. Before I begin, I was hoping you could give a rundown of what happened to bring about his…condition?"

Kono cleared her throat. "Commander McGarrett was kidnapped six days ago from his home. As far as we know, he was shot in the shoulder perhaps three or four days ago. The…other injuries came from the last few days. He was beaten, electrocuted and waterboarded. He was injected with a drug a few hours before we found him. We were told it was a hallucinogenic and also caused extreme pain."

The doctor's eyes widened. "Thank you for explaining that." He turned to look at Chin. "Um…did you acquire that bruising recently?"

Chin nodded. "Yeah. Steve is the shoot first, ask questions later kind of person. He was…out of it when we found him. I don't think he knew what was going on."

"I take it you have been checked out by a doctor?" Doctor Palamo asked.

Chin nodded again.

"Yes, he has. He also knows he is not supposed to talk," Kono said, glaring at her cousin, who only looked guilty.

"What can you tell us about Steve?" Chin croaked, getting impatient.

The doctor eyed the group before continuing. "Let me start by saying he is doing remarkably well. I'm sure to you it looked bad, but he is actually very lucky."

"Lucky?" Kono said, surprised.

Doctor Palamo nodded. "Yes. Extremely. The bullet wound to his shoulder was a through and through. It had been cleaned and cared for at the time. There is, however, a small pocket of infection, but we are treating that with antibiotics. He has severe bruising over his ribcage. Two ribs were cracked on the right side, but the rest are just severely bruised. He has extensive bruising over his entire body, but there are no signs of internal bleeding. His left shoulder was dislocated, but we were able to set that easily. With some physiotherapy, he will regain full range of motion. As for the waterboarding, his lungs are clear of fluid. I expect he managed to expel all the water from his lungs. We are giving him a breathing treatment to prevent the onset on pneumonia. He will be breathing shallower than usual due to the cracked ribs, so it's more preventative than anything. He has received multiple hits to the head. All scans show no signs of bleeding, but he does have a moderate concussion. He will have a few issues with balance and maybe memory surrounding the incident. The electroshocks, while initially caused some arrhythmia, have not caused any lasting damage that we can see. We will continue to monitor for the next day or so, just to make sure. My main concern at the moment is the drugs in his system. There is a high concentration of a severe hallucinogenic, DMT, or dimethyltryptamine. It causes intense hallucinations, often causing the subject to lose all sense of reality. In addition, there is another drug causing concern. It's a poison and it is causing the Commander extreme pain, even when he's touched. So, basically anytime we touch him, we are causing him more pain."

The doctor paused, looking at the team's solemn faces.

"I thought you said he was lucky?" Danny whispered, having spoken for the first time since entering the room.

"He is, Detective…"

"Please, call me Danny."

"Okay, Danny. Like I said, he is extremely lucky. He will be fine in a week or so. However, right now, he is struggling. The hallucinations and pain are preventing him from resting, which his body desperately needs to heal."

"What are you saying?" Kono asked.

"I would like to place him in a medically induced coma, until the drugs have left his system," the doctor explained.

"Okay…" Danny said.

"But there is a problem. The drugs we use to induce the coma could have an adverse effect with the ones already running through his system. Additionally, the use of any drugs could exacerbate his head trauma…"

"So we either let him deal with the pain and hallucinations until the drugs are out of his system, or we take a risk and hope for the best?" Danny summarised.

Doctor Palamo nodded. "Essentially, yes."

Before they could continue the conversation, there was a knock at the door. Another doctor entered the room.

"Sorry to interrupt, Doctor Palamo, but the patient has regained consciousness. We…uh…we could use some assistance," the other doctor explained nervously.

Doctor Palamo nodded.

"What's wrong? Is it Steve?" Danny asked, now more worried.

"Nothing's wrong," Doctor Palamo said placatingly. "Excuse me for a moment. Please wait here. I will be back to update you as soon as possible."

Doctor Palamo left with the other doctor. Danny stood and started pacing in the small room. Hearing about Steve's injuries didn't make him feel any better. They had rescued Steve, but now they had to deal with the aftermath.

"Has anyone called Catherine?" Danny asked as he continued to pace.

"No," Kono replied for both of the cousins.

"Should we…" Danny started.

"No," Kono said certainly. "If you tell her now, she'll just be worried. Wait until we know for sure that he's going to be okay."

Danny nodded. "Have we heard from Duke?"

"Nothing yet," Kono answered. "They are also looking into the other house that was rented by Fuentes' men. Duke said he'd call as soon as they found anything."

"What about Fuentes?"

"Nothing. He's in the wind. He knew we were coming. That's why he set the trap, expecting us to trip the wire. If he's smart, he'll have left the island."

The room became silent as they thought about Fuentes. Ten minutes later, Doctor Palamo returned, looking harried and stressed.

"Um, Danny? Could you come with me for a moment?" the doctor asked.

The group in the room looked at the doctor questioningly.

"What's wrong, Doc?" Danny asked, his concern mounting.

"The Commander appears to be in the middle of a hallucination. We thought, perhaps, a familiar face might bring him out of it so we can assess him," the doctor explained.

Danny nodded and followed the doctor out of the room, leaving Chin and Kono waiting in the room.

Saturday night, TAMC:

Danny followed the doctor down the hallway and around a corner. He was led to a section full of examination rooms. As they got closer, they could hear yelling and banging. When they approached the room Steve was being examined in, they heard what sounded like metallic objects being thrown across the room. Danny looked at Doctor Palamo, his eyebrows raised. The doctor just sighed and shrugged.

Doctor Palamo reached out to open the door. As soon as the door opened, an orderly rushed out, holding a wad of tissue up to his gushing nose. Danny's eyes shifted to the doctor who looked stricken. Glancing into the room, Danny was shocked by what he saw. The room was completely trashed, medical equipment everywhere. Looking towards the bed, he saw three people holding down Steve's legs while two others were holding down his chest and un-injured shoulder.

Steve was yelling unintelligible nonsense and thrashing around, trying to get free. Danny ran into the room and immediately approached the bed and placed a hand over Steve's forehead. He could feel the head emanating from his partner's skin. Steve's eyes were open and Danny could see they were murky and unclear. What he could also see was fear. Real, raw, unmistakable fear.

"Steve?" Danny called. "Steve, you need to calm down and let these people help you."

Steve made no sign that he had heard Danny and continued to thrash underneath the mountain of people holding him down. How he had the strength to do that in his condition was admirable, but also a little scary.

"Steve, come on," Danny pleaded. "You need to relax. You're safe. We've got you. Grace is safe, you did good, buddy. Come on Steve. Look at me!"

Steve was breathing hard, but he appeared to relax slightly. Opening his eyes, Danny was pleased to see they were clearer than a moment before. This time, there was recognition in them.

"Danno?" Steve mumbled.

"Yeah, Steve. It's me, Danno. Are you going to be good and let these nice people help you?" Danny asked.

"Huh?" Steve muttered as his eyes darted around the room. He started struggling again, but his energy was waning.

"Steve! Calm down. You are safe. These people are only trying to help you. I promise you are safe," Danny started again.

Steve stilled before trying to sit up. "Danny!" he yelled.

"Stay down, Steve," Danny said evenly as he helped push his partner back down onto the bed.

"No…need to tell you…something," Steve mumbled, his eyes beginning to lose their clarity.

"What do you need to tell me, Steve?" Danny asked.

"Not sure," Steve whispered. "Something about…G-Grace?"

"Grace is safe. I promise. She and Matt are in protective custody. They are safe. You saved them, both of them," Danny said.

Steve tossed his head back and forth across the pillow. "N-no. Not safe. Find Grace, Danny. He's going after her!" he yelled.

"Steve…Steve, she's safe. Everyone is safe. Thanks to you," Danny said, trying to calm Steve.

Steve, however, became more agitated as his eyes glazed over again. The drugs took hold again.

"No, no, no, no, no…" Steve muttered as he began struggling again. "Grace! Grace…where…No! Fish! No, n-no. Johnston!"

Steve continued trying to get free of the hands holding him down, his mind locked somewhere other than this reality. Doctor Palamo pulled Danny aside.

"Danny, I think we need to sedate him. He's going to hurt himself more. He's already pulled out his IVs and hurt two orderlies. Until the drugs are out of his system, he will continue like this. I really don't want to have to restrain him, given everything he's been through in the last week. Do I have your permission, Danny?"

Danny looked over at Steve, at the pain he was clearly in. "Yeah…do whatever you need to do."

"Okay. I'm going to need your help calming him down enough so I can administer the sedative," Doctor Palamo explained.

Danny nodded. "Yeah, I'll try."

They moved back towards the bed. Steve was still fighting, whether it was the real people in the room or imaginary ones, no one knew. Now that Danny looked closely, he could see fresh streaks of blood on his partner's forearm from where he had ripped out the IVs. He could see his friend was in pain; whether physically or mentally, he didn't know. Danny could see blood oozing out from under the bandages on Steve's shoulder.

"Steve, you need to calm down and take it easy. We are trying to help you," Danny began.

"Johnston! Run…Get out!…No!…Johnston!" Steve continued to scream.

Danny was at a loss of what to do to her his friend. Then he thought about what helped in the shack when they needed to rescue Chin.

"Commander McGarrett!" Danny yelled.

Steve froze, opening his eyes to look at Danny. His eyes were still glazed over, but at least he wasn't fighting anymore.

"Stand down Commander!" Danny ordered.

"Sir…Johnston, he…Johnston…I…" Steve stuttered, his eyes filled with despair.

Danny could only imagine what Steve was seeing and hearing, but this sounded like a real memory, something he had already lived through.

"I know, Commander. We've got Johnston. It's time to stand down now. You need to let these people help you. You've accomplished the mission," Danny said sympathetically.

"Yes sir…I'm sorry…sir," Steve mumbled as he closed his eyes and relaxed.

Danny looked up to see Doctor Palamo removing the syringe from Steve's arm. The people in the room took a deep breath and went to work, tending to Steve and the mess in the room. Danny stood in shock, wanting to run from the room but also not wanting to leave.

Doctor Palamo placed his hand on Danny's shoulder. "I know that's hard to watch. It's just the hallucinogen working its way out of his system."

Danny sighed and ran a hand down his face. "Somehow, I don't think that's it."

The doctor nodded, understanding what Danny was implying. After all, he was a military doctor. He had seen almost everything.

"Why don't you go get some coffee and I'll come and get you when he is ready for visitors?" the doctor suggested.

Danny nodded, walking out of the room on numb legs. He wasn't sure what he expected when they rescued Steve, but that wasn't it. Danny walked down the empty hallway and back to the room where Chin and Kono were waiting. He honestly didn't know what to tell them.

Fuentes had broken Steve.