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First Hawaiian Bank, Kapiolani, Honolulu
16 hours earlier
Aaron Bennet stood inside the rear door of the bank, breathing deeply through his mask. He swung his head side to side but couldn't crack his neck. He looked at the black Colt M4 in his hands, gripping a loaded rifle again was exciting, he missed it. But he wasn't there for thrills. He wasn't there even for money, though he wouldn't leave without it. This job had two objectives, money was a nice bonus though. He missed part of his old crew, but at least David and Kai were still there. Akamu and Keoki were new in the crew, he didn't really like it, but they proved to be useful. This was his first heist after five years in Halawa and these two guys helped his friends to make sure he won't spend another twenty years in there as he was supposed to.
His childhood friend David stood across from him like a mirror image: dusty black jumpsuit zipped over the armored vest, the gun in his hand, and the white goalie mask.
He seized the branch manager's arm and spun her around in front of him, sticking the rifle in her back. He walked her down the short hallway to the teller's row behind the front counter, where Kai, identically dressed, waited, while Akamu and Keoki kept an eye on the eleven hostages lying on the floor in front of the counter. "Lie still. Shut your eyes. Nobody gets hurt," he heard Keoki's voice.
The branch manager's big eyes were full of fear, holding back the tears. Aaron passed her off to Kai, who roughly gripped her arm, making her unlock it. When her shaky hands were done, David passed Aaron two large duffel bags as they moved through the open security door into the lobby. David stood beside the front door, hidden from the street by the drawn blinds. He checked the window before flashing a gloved thumb.
Kai pushed the manager into the room, her lips quivering. The digital clock built into the vault door in front of them said 1:27. They stood for one minute in silence, Aaron behind the manager, listening to her shallow breathing.
The clock changed to 1:28. Aaron inserted the manager's key over the thick black dial. "Open it," he ordered.
She hesitated for a second, then reached fast for the dial, her hands trembling. Aaron caught her wrist, held it firm. "Take your time, don't do anything stupid."
When he released her, her hand went to the dial again, shaking as she approached the final number. The soft click was audible.
Kai spun the locking wheel and the door released, opening. He grabbed the manager's arm again and walked her away.
David and Aaron quickly barged into the vault reminding the utility closet. The main cabinet door containing the cash reserves was made of thin metal, David opened it in one stroke. He pulled down stacked bundles of the bills. They snapped them off as he went, spot-checking for dye packs and tracers. They cleared out the top drawers except for the bait bills, the bundles of the twenties laying out at the bottom of each slot. They were in business for long enough to know the GPS trackers are hidden in those.
Once they filled two bags each, they moved back to the front of the bank, leaving the rest in the vault. Akamu and Keoki stood above the hostages lying face down in front of the counter. Aaron could hear soft sobs of some of them.
He scanned through the lobby area and landed his sight on the dead body of the security officer lying in the pool of blood. He should have just listened and laid down as instructed when they entered the bank. His fault. Aaron fixed his eyes on the clock above the counter. 1:35. Police should be here by now. His look jumped over to Kai. "Did you do it?" he asked.
Kai nodded. He knew what the plan was and he didn't want to disappoint Aaron. It's not a good idea to get on that guy's bad side. He knew him for long enough to know that. "Now what?" he questioned.
"Now we wait."
"Hey, Duke. What do we got here?" Steve asked as he and Danny arrived at the half-empty car park of the First Hawaiian Bank. They were the last ones to arrive.
"Hey. The silent alarm went off twenty minutes ago, SWAT team got here just shortly after us and the negotiator already called them. Suspects are armed, they have taken hostages and refuse to talk to anyone but the head of Five-0. They said if we call them again, one of the hostages will die," Duke summed up, cold sweat dripping from his forehead.
"Why would they ask for Five-0?" Danny asked.
Steve brushed his fingers over his mouth, thinking. "Okay, how many suspects? What about the hostages?"
"They disabled the security cameras but thermals show eighteen people inside. There appear to be five suspects and thirteen hostages," Duke answered. "We don't really know much, they were clear about talking only to you. The problem is, they want to talk to you personally. Not on the phone."
"What? Why?"
Duke shook his head. "They didn't say. But they threatened to kill a hostage if you don't walk through that door before 1:50 PM," he answered, frowning.
Danny quickly chimed in. "No, no, no. I don't like this. We've got five minutes, right? Let's figure out how to get the hostages out, not send another one in, all right?" A big lump formed in his throat with the thought of Steve going inside alone to negotiate with five armed criminals.
"Do we have the plan of the building?" Steve ignored his partner, considering the options.
"Yes, SWAT team is working on their plan over there but it's going to take longer than that." Duke pointed to the team and handed the detailed map to Steve.
Steve's eyes quickly inspected the building plan Duke gave him before he handed it back. He crossed his arms and frowned, thinking. He looked at his wristwatch. Two minutes. "All right, we don't have enough time to plan how to get in without compromising the safety of the hostages," he muttered.
" Wait a minute. Tell me you are not going in there. Please?" Danny didn't need to wait for an answer, the look in Steve's eyes was enough. He knew him for over nine years and every time he had this look on his face, it suggested he was about to do something stupid which might not end well. "What, are you out of your mind?"
Steve didn't answer his partner's question. He knew the blonde detective will have his usual 'I rant because I love you' speech. So he let him rant while he took off his tac vest and picked up the SIG from the holster, leaving it on the hood of Danny's black Camaro.
"Steve!" Danny shouted. "What the hell is the matter with you? We just got you back, you've been at home just for three weeks after your last suicide mission," he added, flapping his arms in the air.
Steve didn't really need a reminder of it. He couldn't think of anything else since he came back from Mexico after he spent eight weeks there. He wouldn't even be alive if Junior stuck to his orders and didn't come and help him. The vivid images of his mother bleeding out on the floor, saying she loved him, lingered in his mind. Doris was not a mother of the year but he still cared about her. He just wanted to bring her home, but he failed and now she's gone too. And that haunted him since. He tried to shake the vision, but it felt seared permanently into his mind. But now he needed to focus. He could see Danny's lips moving but he filtered the words out. "Are you done?" he interrupted his rant. "We don't have time for this, I need to go." Sixty seconds.
Danny looked at the rest of the team standing aside, looking for help. Lou has been around for long enough to know there is no point trying to convince their boss not to do something once he decided to do it, he gently shook his head when his eyes locked with Danny's. Adam, Tani, and Junior didn't dare to speak, they all witnessed the two of them fighting about Steve's risky ideas before and Steve always won the fight anyway.
Quinn was new to the team, she didn't know Steve so well as others and she noticed the desperate look in Danny's eyes. "I agree with Danny, it's too risky," she announced.
Danny threw her a grateful look, glad at least someone stood up to his stubborn partner. Not that it had any effect, Steve gave them one more quick look and stepped away, walking to the bank's entrance.
Danny released a loud sigh. He realized there was not really another option without the possibility of an innocent person dying, but it didn't make it any easier. "Okay, you stubborn idiot. Just try not to get yourself killed, all right?" he yelled at him.
"Yeah. Roger that."
Steve took a deep breath and pulled the handle of the door, opening it and quickly scanning the surroundings before the door closed and someone locked it behind him.
Twelve hostages, all of them laying on the floor face down. They appeared to be all right, he could only hear quiet sobs of scared civilians. But Duke said there should be thirteen of them. His eyes landed on the middle-aged man lying still on the floor away from the group, blood staining his shirt. There is no way he could be alive judging by the amount of the blood on the floor. Damn.
Aaron caught his reaction. "He tried to be a hero, I didn't intend to hurt anyone. So I suggest you don't try anything unless you want to join him." He sat comfortably in the leather chair, crossed feet up on the desk, arms crossed in front of him.
He watched David searching Steve and taking out the handcuffs and the phone from his pocket, throwing it on the desk. David nodded, confirming that's all he found, and stepped back, leaving the talk up to his boss.
It took Steve a while to match the face with a familiar voice. "Aaron Bennett," he said. Five-0 arrested him and part of his crew, including his sister Esther five years ago for two armed bank robberies. They left the body of the bank manager behind them, which was an unplanned mistake that led the team to this group of criminals. Aaron was supposed to be in Halawa, Steve's eyes widened in surprise.
Aaron pulled the mask down with a single move, a slight grin stretched over his face. "You remember me, that's good."
Steve felt the presence of two men standing behind his back, rifles loaded. "I'm here to talk, all right? So what do you want?" he asked, briefly checking the hostages again. Another two men guarded them, that makes five of them.
"It's pretty simple. Within one hour, you need to deliver ten million dollars, in unmarked small domination bills to this bank and a helicopter loaded with fuel," he explained. His look moved over to the hostages and back to Steve. "We'll kill one hostage every hour until our demands are met. And if a negotiator even tries to contact us again, we will automatically kill another hostage. Is that clear?"
It was pretty much what Steve expected, but he hoped to find a way to get the hostages out of here. He had no doubt Aaron would keep his promise, his crew already killed one staff member before and they killed the security officer this time. "Clear, but it's gonna take a little bit of time, give us at least ninety mi…"
"Fifty-nine minutes from now, not a second longer," Aaron interrupted him.
Steve's look shifted to twelve scared people on the floor again. "Let one of them go," he suggested. "They can pass your demands to my team." He didn't expect Aaron to do that, but he had to try. He was right.
"I'm the one who makes the rules here, McGarrett. Now, pick up the phone," he pointed his open palm to the phone line on the desk between them. "And call your team, tell them what we want. They've got fifty-eight minutes. Put that on speaker. Say something you shouldn't say and one of our guests will die, I hope it's clear."
Steve reluctantly picked up the phone and dialed Danny's number. "Hey, it's me," he said. "
He heard Danny's voice on the other side of the line. "Steve? Are you all right? What's going on in there?"
"Listen. They asked for ten million dollars in unmarked, small domination bills delivered right here. And the helicopter loaded with fuel. In fifty-eight minutes, otherwise, they start killing hostages. And make sure no one contacts them again." Steve trusted his partner and the team to figure out a plan on how to fool the group of criminals to believe that they will get what they asked for. He just needed to stall them a little and be ready to attack when the right time comes.
Before he could get an answer from Danny, Aaron took the phone from him and ended the call. "Good. Now, why don't you join our little party while we wait?" he grinned, waving at Kai to come over while maintaining eye contact with Steve.
Steve felt a strong grip of the man who approached him, roughly pulling his hands behind his back, hard metal of the handcuffs clicking around his wrists. He frowned, this significantly lowered his chances to fight five armed men if something goes down the hill.
"I'm sorry about that, Commander. It's nothing personal," Aaron announced with a big smile across his face. "Just a precaution. I've heard about your skills so I'd rather not give you any chances to try to be a hero."
Kai grabbed Steve's shoulders and manhandled him in front of the counter, pushing him on the floor next to the other hostages. "Lay down!" he ordered. "Keep your head down and your mouth shut."