Chapter 13
Two months later…
Kalani, Steve and Catherine sitting in the lobby of the Honolulu Veteran's Affairs Hospital, waiting rather impatiently for Kalani's surgeon's appointment.
Groaning Kalani stood up from her sit and started pacing. All signs were pointing to today being her last day of inactive medical duty. Well, at least, she hoped that would be the case. She hadn't stopped hammering on about finally being able to contribute to active daily life.
Ultimately she missed the feeling of a firearm being in her grasp. She couldn't believe that it's been almost six months since the fateful day of her abduction. All she really wanted to do is go to a firing range and destroy a target. She also needed to get back into a martial arts gym and start retraining herself in GHOSTFIRE.
"Would you please stop pacing," Steve ordered in Mandarin. He knew that with her train of thought English would be lost on her. He saw Catherine giving him a questioning eye.
"Not a word of English is going to reach her ears right now," he murmured to his fiance.
Catherine gave a nod in understanding and let Steve do what he had to, to get their daughter out of her distress.
"I can't help it Papa," Kalani answered back in Mandarin. "What if I can never do my job again? Grandma will never be apprehended and her crimes will go unpunished. These simpletons of doctors are no help. I have millions of dollars in the bank. I could have had the best ones in the world. But Saunders had to put me into the system."
Papa? Kalani hadn't called him Papa since she was around three years old. She definitely wasn't in a great frame of mind and to blame her anxiety on the President of the United States was greatly out of her character.
"Breathe Kalani," he ordered once more in Mandarin, "Speak English because the doctor is here to see you now."
Kalani stopped her pacing, looked to her parents and then to the Chief Medical Officer of Honolulu VA Hospital. The CMO was a middle-aged woman with a kind smile. Nothing she has said previously was anything, Kalani hadn't read in her own medical file.
"Commanders McGarrett and Lt. Rollins, please follow me into my office," she commanded.
Kalani, Steve and Catherine did as commanded and followed the doctor to her office.
CMO Nadine Price was all too aware of Kalani's adverse feelings of her. She knew the young woman's desire to return to daily life. She was the only staffer at the VA Hospital that knew of Kalani's real reason for being treated at the hospital. All active military families have to see military or VA doctors but very rarely were the minors the active militant.
Yes CMO Price knew Kalani was a commissioned Sailor, and a covert Sailor at that. She also knew that Kalani was chomping at the bit and probably wouldn't like what she was going to say today. She couldn't let on that she had a mission to keep her from going back to active duty.
"Please everyone have a seat," Price offered gesturing to the guest chairs in front of her desk. "Before I begin, may I offer something to drink, water…juice."
Catherine looked toward Kalani and saw her daughter's body stiffen. "With all due respect Chief. I think it may be in your best interest if we just get right to the reason why we're all here."
"Kalani won't be talking much because she's so riled up she's stuck in Mandarin at the moment. Steve is going to translate for you," Catherine supplied after a long pause.
CMO Price nodded her understanding. "I wasn't aware that Kalani knew Mandarin." Looking at the medical file before her, nothing was noted about Kalani linguistic skills.
Steve murmured Price's statement and Price noted that Kalani just nodded while staring her in the eyes.
"Mandarin is actually her primary language," Catherine supplied. "English is secondary along with ten other languages. Her linguistic skills however is not what's on topic here today."
"Just tell me if I'm cleared for active duty or not you insipid moron," Kalani sputtered in Mandarin.
Steve's eyes widened into saucers.
"I don't know much Mandarin but I feel as though I was just brutally insulted," Price addressed.
"Indeed you were. I'm sorry Chief. Kalani is not going to leave here until you give her the all clear. That's the cleanest version I can give you," Steve answered. Then turned to Kalani, "Even if you get cleared today. I'm grounding you from active duty personally," he supplied in Mandarin. "You forget I know everything you are saying. So you snap out of this and apologize."
"Well, I am giving her a medical clear. However it is for civilian life."
Finally snapping out of her Mandarin fog, Kalani was fuming. "What? You can't do that! I have to get back to active duty right now. No two bit doctor is going to sideline me from taking out my objective."
"Miss McGarrett…"
"It's Commander to you Chief. I earned that rank through blood, sweat, tears, and broken bones. While you were sitting in a classroom getting your doctorate I was out in the field having explosives launched at me. I watched brothers and sisters get killed to protect your right for freedom and education. Take that away from me is sentencing me to death."
Kalani did her homework. She knew CMO Price was relatively new to the medical field. She didn't care that she was out of line. No five year medical veteran was going to sideline her.
Price was shocked at the passion she was witnessing before her eyes. She had spoken to Captain O'Malley prior to taking on Kalani's case. O'Malley had not said a word about the Commander's volatile temper"I'm sorry Commander. I don't mean any disrespect. However I'm not finished with my explanation. For all intensive purposes you are physical healed. However, You have to have physiotherapy from your lack of physical activity for the past four and a half months. Until you complete a nine week physiotherapy session, I have to deny your active duty. Use this time Commander to be a normal teenager"
Kalani, not one to publicly show emotional weakness, let tears streak down her cheeks. Now she was beyond frustrated. Sure she had just embarrassed her parents but this doctor just gave her a death sentence.
"A normal teenager? What's a normal teenager Chief? Because in case it has escaped your notice. There is nothing normal about my situation. I have been trained to be a soldier since I was two years old. I was commissioned to the USN SEALs when I was nine years old. This is my world," she spat as she angrily wiped tears off her cheeks. "You're taking me out of my world for three more months."
"I understand your frustration Commander, I really do. I just can not consciously send you back into the field lock, stock and loaded barrel without knowing you have a clear mind and strong body. I've put in your file that you are not required to use VA services. I have recommended the best counselors and physiotherapists in Hawaii for your final recovery phase. I suggest you take advantage of this opportunity Commander not many of your brothers and sisters get this blank check."
"No they just get honorable discharges." Kalani groaned as she stood up and walked out of Price's office.
Walking several yards down the hallway away from Price's office, she stopped, balled up her fists and started punching the nearby wall, growling out her frustration. She punched the wall until her knuckles bled. Then turned to rest her back onto the wall, and slid down to the floor crying. Not caring that she was causing a commotion she started screaming out her anguish.
"I'm going after her," Steve roared. The behavior he saw in his daughter was alien to him. He had raised her to respect her elders and people in power. For the first time in his life he was ashamed to call Kalani his daughter.
"Commander, please don't. I know you feel as if you don't know what has gotten into your daughter. She feels she is mentally prepared to go back into active military duty although she feels this way. Her behavior here today shows she is not ready. I looked into your daughter's medical history. The red tape I went through was astounding but I finally was given clearance by both the President and The Secretary of the Navy to have total access to her file."
Steve nodded. This wasn't new to him. Both the President and SecNav had sought permission to release Kalani's medical file. He and Catherine had spent days debating over the issue to grant approval or not.
"This was Kalani's third abduction correct?"
Steve nodded.
"Commander, you know as well as I do that honor and integrity can get you into trouble at times. But let's not confuse the two with pride. Your daughter is a very proud young lady. However it is in my professional opinion that she is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and she needs this time to sort out her trauma.
"All you and your fiance can do for your daughter right now is ignore these mood swings and support her. She has a long road ahead and being subject to your line of work during this recovery period isn't going to speed the recovery along."
Catherine cleared her throat and smiled at CMO Price. "Chief, I understand what you are saying. Steve and I only want what is best for Kalani. But shouldn't we be reintroducing Kalani into the environment she is accustomed to? Keeping her from the range, Coronado and the Teams and making her integrate with kids her age are two actions that will not be greeted with acceptance."
"Lieutenant I understand my world and your daughters world are two different things. However she can not be reintroduced into a world of brutal violence this soon after her wounds have healed. That's my professional opinion. Now if you would excuse me. I have to bandage up your daughter's knuckles," CMO Price finished.
As soon as the Chief left the office, Steve barely suppressed a rage filled growl. Catherine looked to her fiance and knew he was mentally formulating a plan.
"Steve, I know that look," she stated placing her hands gently on his chest. "You think this Doctor is hiding something."
"We're both former Naval Intelligence Officers. She honestly thinks we're ignoring the mental health status of Kalani? Seriously? We have some of the best psychological profilers at our disposal. Of course I think she's hiding something. But we have to tread delicately because you and I are no longer enlisted."
They both nodded, the only person with the amount of clearance and hacking skills, they would need to look into CMO Price was in the process of breaking all the bones they had in their hands.
They have to use other illicit measures to get their evidence.
"Let's go get our girl. Calm her down and get her home," Catherine reasoned with Steve.
Steve was still on edge from the explosive doctor's analysis but he nodded.
The car ride back to the McGarrett home was a very uncomfortably silent one. Kalani was glowering in the backseat with both her hands wrapped in ace-bandages.
Steve and Catherine kept taking turns looking at each other and in the rear view mirror to see the situation before them.
Kalani's eyes widened… "That bitch…" she seethed. "She's up to something. I want a second opinion!"
Steve didn't bother scolding Kalani as she was on the same wavelength as he and Catherine.
Kalani leaned up into the cab of the car between her parents, "I want to see Dr. Sheila Bergman. She's the best neurosurgeon in the country. Then I want to see Dr. Syed Militsky, he's the best orthopedic surgeon in the country and Dr. Freya Navarro, the best OB/GYN in the world. They'll find out if I'm certifiably inept to do my service."
Then looking down at her hands, she sighed, "I broke my knuckles that's going to require surgery. I just set myself back a month with my stupidity back there. I'm sorry Dad. I couldn't control my emotions. It felt like she was sending me to death row for being a victim."
Steve smiled. "I get it I do. I'll make arrangements with those doctors."
Kalani nodded, "It's not going to be cheap. Dr. Navarro is in Nicaragua on a Doctors without borders mission. Dr. Militsky is in Boston and Dr. Bergman is in Los Angeles."
Catherine smirked and shook her head. Leave it to Kalani to do research regarding her health. "It sounds like you've been planning this for a while sweetie."
Kalani gave a small nod. "I had a feeling today's prognosis wasn't going to be in my favor so I started digging into some alternative solutions. I've also been transferring funds into Dad's Five-O Operation Funds Account because they won't deal with minors directly and our government health plan doesn't exactly cover their services."
"Well that's settled. How are you writing off the money transfer." Steve asked sensing the transfer could be illegal. He knew Kalani may have figured out a loophole. She usually always did.
Kalani shrugged, "I gave Five-O a medical finance grant for Five-O Personnel and their families."
Catherine gave Steve a confused look, "She can't legally give you guys a grant Steve. That's government funds for her military ops."
"Actually Mom," Kalani politely interjected. "I can give grants. One of the companies owned by "Echo Team" is a Non-Profit Medical Research Facility with too much finances in its budget. So I make grants to several organizations yearly to keep the books in the black and to keep its tax exemption."
"I still don't like this idea. It almost sounds fishy to me," Catherine supplied. "We can't keep going around doing secret investigations because we have a conspiracy theory about them."
"Have I shown signs of PTSD? We've been around several people with PTSD, right? So why am I not having any symptoms?"
Steve shook his head and almost had whiplash from the quick turn around Kalani made with her temper.
"Alright, so give me until the end of the week to get these doctors schedules cleared," Steve requested.
Kalani nodded, "Okay, I'll call Saunders and Falcone to help with the task at hand."
Catherine sighed, "Why do I have a morbid feeling bubbling up in the pit of my stomach?"
"Because Team McGarrett is in the process of ruining someone's career," Kalani sneered.
