On my knees, I'll ask, last chance
For one last dance
'Cause with you, I'd withstand
All of hell to hold your hand.
I'd give it all, I'd give for us
Give anything but I won't give up
Cause you know, you know, you know…
"We got him back!" Hank exclaimed after he shocked Danny for what seemed like the thousandth time.
"I don't know how long, though," one of the paramedics pointed out.
"Let's get him to the hospital, I can't stop this bleeding here," Hank said.
The paramedic nodded a quick reply and the helped Hank get Danny on he stretcher. They wheeled Danny toward the door and Hank followed with Rori, John, and Steve right behind him.
"Hank, take care of our boy," Steve said. "Please."
Danny and Steve had been together the longest. They started as partners when Steve led the Five-O task force in Hawaii. Somewhere between spending every day together, saving the island from threat after threat, and sharing a liver they had fallen in love, though neither of them had admitted it before Rori had come along.
"Steven, I am going to do everything I can," Hank assured. "I got him."
Steve nodded as Hank jumped in the back of the ambulance behind the paramedics and pulled the door shut. They watched as the ambulance disappeared around the corner.
"Steve, John, check the house. Find out why Danny was here," she said. "I'm going to talk to our little friend."
"I want to interview him," Steve said.
"Go check the house," she repeated her command. She wasn't going to argue with him. She knew better than anyone that it would be almost impossible for him to hold back and the last thing she needed was to have to explain to the Governor why she had allowed one of her agents to injure or kill a man in custody.
It wasn't like Danny not to let someone know where he was going if he was working a case. It didn't make any sense. The case they were currently working on didn't have any leads, that she was aware of, that would have taken Danny to a trailer park in the south valley. No matter what brought him here, Danny was smart, he wouldn't go looking for trouble without backup unless he had a damn good reason.
Her fear had warped into anger now and it was directed at one man. She had to keep herself in check, though, or her anger would take control.
John had left the man they'd arrested in one of the police cars under the watchful eye of Chavez, who still looked terrified.
"Chavez, you doing okay?" Rori asked as she approached him.
He just nodded.
She pulled the door to the cruiser open and leaned down to calmly make eye contact with the man.
"Officer Chavez, do we have an ID on our friend?" she asked without breaking her stare.
"Yes ma'am," the young officer replied. "Roberto Sanchez, he has a driving record a mile long for street racing."
"Is that so? You like fast cars, Roberto?" Rori asked. She tried not to let her mind wander to her past. There were a lot of people in Albuquerque that were into racing. That didn't mean this was related to her accident.
"I'm not saying nothing!" he spat.
"Not saying anything," she corrected.
"You didn't read me my rights," Sanchez replied.
"You shot a police officer in the head, you shot another in the chest, neither of which had even touched their weapons. You think you have rights?" she asked. He didn't reply, probably because he knew better. "Why was Detective Williams here?"
"I am not saying anything," he said.
"Chavez, book him on two counts of deadly assault on a peace officer pending Detective Williams condition," Rori said, fixing Sanchez with a cold stare.
"They deserved what they got!" Sanchez said.
Rori slammed the car door shut before she did something she would regret and turned her back.
"Get him out of here," Rori ordered Chavez.
"Yes ma'am," Chavez replied. "The Chief is on his way and CSU is on scene."
She nodded as she started to walk off. John and Steve were waiting on the porch of the trailer house.
"Get anything from him?" Steve asked when she joined them.
"He's into street racing," she said. Again, the little voice in her head questioned that. She'd been looking for a Hispanic street racer since before she got involved in Five-O. Before she'd met Steve and Danny. Considering the fact that catching him was the only thing that was holding her back from being a hundred percent emotionally and physically involved with any of them, let alone all of them, it couldn't be a coincidence. From the glance that Steve and John shared, she had a feeling it wasn't a coincidence at all.
"We thought so," Steve said.
"You need to see this," John added, leading her into the house.
There was a framed photo on the wall of Sanchez next to a black Honda Civic. The car had a skull sticker on the back bumper, peeking out from where Sanchez leaned against the car.
She let her mind go back to the night that had changed her life. The image of the black Honda screeching away. The skull on the bumper laughing at her as she lay on the pavement. Her own car had flipped over the retainer wall of the overpass.
Her memory of that car had been the only lead they'd ever had.
"The car isn't here," Steve said. "But Danny was definitely on to something."
She just stared at the picture. She didn't know how to feel. What was she supposed to feel? She'd lost everything that night, yet, it had led her to where she was now. She'd lost her family, but she'd gained her Ohana. She had given up on finding the car and the racer that had wrecked them that night. She'd given up on closure and accepted the fact that she would always be twisted and broken.
She spun around and stormed out the door, headed straight for the car where Sanchez still sat, awaiting transport.
"Rori!" John called. She could hear him and Steve pursuing her. John was always the one to stop her from doing stupid shit. "We don't even know if he owned the car at the time!"
"And if he didn't, he knows he did," she said without turning to face him.
Steve grabbed her arm to stop her when they caught up.
"Rorianna, calm down, you're not thinking clearly," he said. She knew he worried about her impulsive reactions. He didn't want her to do something she would regret. She appreciated that and had just pulled the same protective bullshit on him less than ten minutes before. But, she'd had enough.
"That man may have killed my family! He killed a cop tonight! He shot Danny, for godsake, Danny might die!" she said.
She glanced from one of them to the other, silently begging them to understand, to help her. Steve wasn't hard to sway. He let go of her arm and headed for the car. She and John followed him. He yanked the car door open with a controlled anger she'd never seen before and grabbed Sanchez by the shirt.
"Is that your Honda in the picture?" he asked.
"I need to speak to my lawyer," Sanchez said.
"Answer his question!" John commanded.
"I'm not talking to no police until I see my lawyer," Sanchez repeated.
"Did you own the black Honda Civic in May of 2016?" Steve clarified his question.
"I'm not talking to the police," Sanchez said again. He was like a damn broken record.
"Do we look like the police?" Rori asked. "Chavez is the police," she pointed to the rookie. "Denning, whom you shot, was the police. We're Five-O, not the police."
"Is that supposed to scare me?" Sanchez asked.
"Who was driving the Honda the night of May 21, 2016?" John asked.
"That other cop was asking about that, too, before I put three in his chest," Sanchez said. His tone was both threatening and taunting. "Is he dead?"
"You better hope not," Rori said.
"I'm not afraid of a little jail time," Sanchez said. "But it would be nice to know I took the pig with me!"
Steve pulled his gun and pressed the barrel against Sanchez's temple.
"It's not jail time you have to worry about," John pointed out.
"Tell us who was driving the car that night," Steve growled. He looked like he was in complete control yet at the same time, there was a very personal, angry rage boiling beneath the surface. Rori had never seen him like this. Danny had told stories, though, of Steve breaking arms and shooting people in the leg to get what he needed in an interrogation. She'd never seen it, though, and wasn't sure she ever wanted to again.
"I was!" Sanchez shouted. "That damn Chevy wouldn't move out of the fucking way, I was losing the race!"
"You killed my husband and kids to win a race?!" Rori questioned. Sanchez didn't respond, he just stared at her with those cold, demented eyes. "Steve, holster your weapon." Rori added after a moment of silence.
"Rori, he--" Steve started to protest, but Rori raised her hand to stop him.
"He killed a cop, maybe two, and two babies. That's not gonna go over well in prison," Rori said. She fixed Sanchez with a cold stare. "Let nature take it's course." He looked genuinely scared, which satisfied her more than she expected. "Good luck," she added before she turned away and headed for Danny's car.
