Chapter 9,

Hey guys, here's another one- enjoy.

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"Shallow men believe in luck or in circumstance. Strong men believe in cause and effect."

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Laura ran back into the cabin with a sleeping bag full of snow. Steve was still restless, burning up. She had racked the snow with her bare hands. It had taken a lot of time and strength to fill that bag, her hands didn't feel like they still had blood in them. She poured the bag of snow all over him.

Like a drug addict who was kicking off his habit cold turkey, this was the same thing.

In about 5mins Steve came out of his stupor with a start, like he had been drowning in water and had just come up for air. He as disoriented, shocked and probably scared, although she could rightly guess that very little scared this man.

"Hey hey…It's ok. It's ok." She reassured, trying to calm him down. It had worked! Thank God it had worked.

Steve could not figure out where he was, something had jolted him awake, cold cold cold, was all he could think, shivering now. Someone was holding him, cooing, "I'm here, it's ok." He relaxed into her arms as he tried to figure out where he was and who she was. An angel, but heaven was so damn cold. "Cold." He mumbled.

Laura left him, he felt even colder when she did, but she had rushed to make some fire. Once the logs were ablaze, she drew him closer to the fire and wrapped him in a sleeping bag. Steve was shivering now, and huddled closer to her, needing her to wrap her arms around him again. She did, and it wasn't as cold anymore.

He looked around him, it was a cabin, of some sort, he was on the floor. He could recall what had happened now, it came to him abruptly. He would have reacted violently, but he really didn't have the strength right now. And he kind of liked where he was, in the arms of their convict. Yes, he remembered now. She was no angel, but it sure felt like it. He had been bitten by a snake while hiding away in the alley protecting their prisoner. From then on, he had no recollection of anything until the moment he woke up. He couldn't find Danny though; he was sure he was supposed to be here.

"Where's Danny? Is he alright? He's in danger. I gotta go…"

"It's ok. He's uh…" She really didn't know where Danny was right now. Whether he was ok or not, but Steve didn't need to know that yet. "he's uh…out, but he said he'll find us. He's coming back. I'm sure he's ok." She said soothingly.

Steve relaxed into her arms. He was too tired to try and argue. He had been having a nightmare about Danny being in danger. He had dreamed about his mom and Joe and his dad too. Now he knew all that had been a dream. He was still uneasy about the dream he had had about Danny though; he had been in real danger, it had seemed so real.

"Danny's in danger…" He murmured.

"I hope not. He's coming back. You were having a bad dream." She soothed.

He lulled into it. He relaxed into her arms. He looked up into her eyes, the concern on her face, the kindness as she continued to sooth his hair back. She cuddled him like a baby, the convict. The convicted murderer. Right now, her arms felt like the arms of an angel as he was lulled back into sleep. A mass murderer, watching over him.

….

After he had left the doctor and Steve at the cabin, Hastings had tried to pick his trail after Danny, but his boy had covered his tracks well. Good then, at least he didn't need to worry all that much. Hawaii had not made Williams rusty.

Hastings hoped he was still alive, and if so, Danny knew how to contact him if he needed help. In the meantime, he had calls to make.

He got home, it was unusually quiet with his family now safely out of the house, out of town all together. It was past midnight anyway; it couldn't have been any other way. He opened his fridge and took out a beer, he had had one hell of a day.

Before he could even take a sip, he heard a click at the back of his head, he knew instantly he now had a gun pointed on him.

"Ok, you are going to tell me where detective Williams, Steven McGarrett and our beloved prisoner, Dr Laura Mallory are hiding. Shall we take a seat?" A very lethal sounding, horse voice said as he was led out of his kitchen to go and sit on the couch in his living room.

"Don't get me wrong. I can easily do the 'I'll kill your family' dance but I'm pressed for time. And I thought you would appreciate us doing this man to man without all the drama. Of course, if you prefer to protect your precious friends, we can easily do this the hard way. You know, get your kids and wife involved. I know you know I don't work alone, and I found you easy enough, didn't I?"

Hastings felt a fear creep up his spine at the threat on his family. The voice came to sit opposite him on the other couch, gun now pointed at his face. Hastings would try and memorize this face if he thought he was going to live long enough to recall it. He knew he wasn't going to have that chance. These types didn't show their faces to make you tell about it. No, his was a very short life from this moment.

"God move to have them tuck tail and run before the shit hit the fan, but hey, I'm sure they won't be hard to find. We'll just start with grandparents and aunts before we move to hotels, of course the ones we question won't be left in any position to answer any more questions, if you get my meaning. We don't leave loose ends. Now, I'm sure we've reached an understanding. I'll ask again. Where are they? Or better still, would you care to show me?"

….

Laura watched over Steve as he slept, it had been almost three hours now. She would bet it was now sometimes in the early morning, around 3am maybe. The paralysis must be ebbing from Steve's limbs now, maybe if he attempted, he could even walk. He better, because she had a feeling they might soon need to run.

She heard footsteps or sound from outside. She almost took a breath of relief; it must be Danny. He did say he knew where this cabin was, and he would come find them. It could be Hastings who had come back. But then again, their enemy had been quite adept at following their trail. How long could they have hoped to hide?

So, she took a burning log from the now dying fire and went to stand just behind the closed door. If an unwelcome visitor came through, they wouldn't see her before they had a burning scull. She planned to cause permanent damage before their would-be assailant even got a chance to get their hands on her.

She waited, poised, the cabin door opened ushering a rush of snowy cold wind.

Hastings walked in, and Laura relaxed, dropping her hand holding the log down. She didn't let go of the log just yet, but she did take an audible relieved breath. Before she started talking about how relieved she was, she noticed something in Hastings eyes and knew she had relaxed prematurely.

Hastings had someone behind him, he was propelled forward and she could now see the man with a gun behind Hastings back. She froze, fear gripping her insides she forgot to breathe. She was still holding that log, but all strength and left her. She knew that face. She would never forget that face as long as she lived.

"Dr Mallory." The man said, with a sneer. "What is that? A weapon?" he scoffed. "You better drop that log. What good is it gonna do?" He taunted. "Bullet-log, see? Bullet-log." He said patronizingly. "Get the math?"

Steve was still sleeping on the ground; the disturbance didn't rouse him. Danny was obviously nowhere to be found. Maybe he was already dead, who knew? And now Hastings was no doubt going to pay for helping them. Steve too was going to get a bullet even as he slept. At least he wouldn't know what hit him, he would get a better deal. This was pointless. It had always been pointless, and she had realized it earlier on. She had known only to surrender, struggling would only make it hurt harder. She had learned that the hard way. What freedom had she hoped to find in this madness? Where had she hoped to run to?

The guy wasn't alone, of course, there were two more standing just outside the door. Hastings was propelled further inside, gun still on his back.

"It's alright Doc." The guy said. "This will all be over soon. I'm gonna kill you quick. You see, we're a bit pressed for time, no thanks to you." He signaled for one of his guys to go over to Steve.

The second guy drew his gun, walked over to Steve and bent to check his pulse to see if he was still breathing.

It all happened so quickly. Steve pulled the guy down by the hand holding the gun.

Hasting saw an opening with the whole interruption and elbowed the guy who was holding him at guy point.

Steve didn't struggle with his assailant for long, he got hold of the gun and fired. The guy went down.

Hastings didn't quite manage the same, the guy had quickly gained back control and fired at him without hesitation. Hastings went down.

Steve took advantage of that moment and fired at the guy straight to the heart. Twice. The assassin went down.

But Laura quickly noticed that the third guy was now aiming at Steve and he had no time enough to point his gun at the third assailant. The whole thing was happening simultaneously and so quickly the whole thing had not yet taken a minute.

Laura was closer and to the guy's blind spot. She raised her log and rammed it at the guys arm, which was aiming at Steve with a gun, giving Steve the opening he needed to turn his gun and aim at the goon.

It was over, all their assailants were dead, and the whole thing had lasted less than a minute. Laura was still reeling in shock, standing in the corner against the walls of the cabin.

Steve got up, came to her first. He was limping, his legs were probably not used to walking yet. The paralysis effect was still there. He knelt beside her, checking her for gunshot wounds.

"Are you ok? Huh? Are you hurt? Did you get shot?" He asked earnestly.

She shook her head 'no'. She was alright, But Hastings. God, Hastings had been shot and was probably dead by now. She scrambled to her feet to rush to Hastings to check. She turned him over, he was bleeding yes, but the bullet had got his shoulder. If she managed to stop the bleeding, he would live. She checked his carotid, the pulse wasn't strong, but it wasn't that bad either. She could work with this. She started to wrench at a sleeping bad, needing the stuff inside for good padding.

"What you know this guy now? Why are you trying to save someone who just tried to kill you?" Steve asked crossly.

"He is not an assassin Steve, he's Danny's friend. The one who's been helping us all along. He found us this place." She said looking up at him but kept her hand pressed on Hastings' shoulder. "He's the one who found us this place, if not for him we wouldn't have made it out that alley."

"Danny's friend?"

"Yeah, his name is Hastings…"

"Jim Hastings, Danny's last partner before he relocated to Hawaii. I've heard of him." Steve now put his gun away and bent over to help. "Where's Danny anyway?"

"I don't know but Hastings might." Laura said.

"The bullet was a trough and through, you can work with this?"

"I'm no medical Doctor but I'm sure I can fix it. But we need to get him help quickly."

Hastings moaned.

"What?" Steve bent over to hear.

"It's not safe. They are coming…"

"Hey hey…its ok buddy. We got them all." Steve said.

"No, you haven't. There are more coming. We gotta go. Now!" Hastings said, holding the pad pressed to his own shoulder and getting up, with difficulty. Steve and Laura got to either side of him, helping him stand.

"What do you mean there are more coming? How do you know that?" Steve asked.

"Well, I was a captive of theirs for a time, wasn't I? I heard the guy say on the phone…I think they said something about the Judge. I'm thinking your presiding Judge was the target. Maybe. And uh…ahhhh…" He groaned in pain as he stood upright. "He said to forget about the Judge, he had details on the real target…which I'm assuming is the good doc here. Anyways, he gave them direction to follow here, where I was leading them. Again, about that, I'm really sorry but, I kinda didn't have a choice. They threatened my family…"

"Hey, we understand. It's ok." Laura volunteered. Steve didn't contribute. He had led assassins to them after all, choice or no choice.

"Where's Danny?" Steve asked.

"I…I've no idea." Hastings said helplessly, his despair showing.

"We need to get outa here then. Can you walk?" Steve asked, deciding to focus on the matter at hand and compartmentalizing the fear that Danny wasn't probably already dead, he wasn't ready to deal with that right now.

"I think we're gonna need to do more than walk, but I can handle it." Hastings said.

"Then let's go." Steve said, helping Hastings walk out the door, Laura on the other side of him.

…..

In a far distance in the woods the shots had been heard by two separate groups of people now following the sound, at a run.

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