"I'll be right there," Steve said.
"Wait….." Mary hesitated. "There's one more thing."
"What is it?"
Steve heard Mary sigh on the other line. "Okay…..just don't get mad at ME for telling you this….but….Sophia left as soon as we saw the inside of the house."
Steve stood up from his desk as his eyebrows shot up in surprise. "I'm sorry….did you say she left? Where did she go?"
"I don't know, Steve. Please don't be mad at me. We walked in and saw the mess and she just got in the car and left."
Steve ran his free hand over his face in frustration just as Danny walked into his office with concern on his face.
"It's okay, Mar…." Steve said. "Tell me if you hear from her. In the meantime, I'm going to send someone over to pick up you and Joannie while Danny and I will see if we can find her."
He hung up and looked at Danny.
"What was that about?" Danny asked.
"The girls got back to my house and it had been ransacked."
"Seriously? Why? Someone looking for the memory card?"
"Probably, " Steve confirmed. "But they didn't find it obviously, since we have it. But when Sophia saw the mess and realized what had happened, she left. What I want to know is how in the hell did they link her to me so quickly? How would they even know to look in my house for it? "
"Definitely questions that need to be answered. So, where did she go?"
"I don't know…..but we're going to find her," Steve said. "And when we do find her, she and I are going to have a very long discussion."
Steve was pissed…There was no denying that, so rather than saying anything else, Danny followed Steve out of his office. Danny completely understood the frustration. Sophia was putting herself into more danger which wasn't acceptable.
Before they left the office, Steve briefly filled in the rest of the team on what was happening. He asked Kono to put a trace on her phone before motioning for Danny to follow him.
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Steve and Danny left HQ and started towards Sophia's apartment. It was the first place Steve thought she would go. While they were on their way, Steve's phone rang again. Caller ID showed it was Sophia.
Steve skipped the niceties and got right to the point, "Where the hell are you?"
"They were in your house, Steve!"
Steve forced himself to sound calm even though he felt anything but 'calm'. "Yeah, I know….Mary called me. What I don't know is what made you think it was a good idea to leave my house rather than staying with Mary and Joannie and calling me!"
He was not happy…..Like everyone else, Sophia could hear that very clearly.
When she didn't say anything in response, Steve's temper rose even more. "Dammit, Sophia! …..Where are you? And I swear, if you don't tell me in the next five seconds….."
"You'll what?! WHAT are you gonna do, Steve McGarrett?! "Basta!" she began. "I brought this on all of you…..This is my fault, and I will figure it out."
Yes, she was also angry and her Italian temper was evident. Although Steve usually found those outbursts funny…..or even cute…..he was not amused this time.
The word "Basta", if Steve remembered correctly, meant "Enough!" …..Probably Sophia's version of "Get over it" he thought grimly.
"Are you kidding me?" He said as his frustration grew in the tone of his voice. He saw Danny giving him a "take a breath" look and did so before continuing.
Steve took a breath and exhaled, "Tell me…where you are… Right now."
She waited a couple of beats before answering. He heard a resigned sigh. "I'm at my apartment, okay? I just got here and I'm getting ready to go in."
"Don't even think about it!" Steve demanded. "Danny and I are 15 minutes away, so get your ass back in the car until we get there. Do you understand me?"
She didn't answer right away and Steve heard a gasp.
"What is it?" he asked.
Sophia's voice was much quieter when she answered, "My front door has been opened…..Just barely, but the lock is clearly broken."
"Do what I said, Sophia. Get back to the car. RIGHT NOW. We'll be there in a few minutes."
Sophia mumbled what he hoped was her agreement to do so before hanging up. He punched his foot even harder on the accelerator.
*********************h50********************h50*********************h50
Steve screeched to a halt in the parking lot of Sophia's apartment complex. He looked at Sophie's car to find she wasn't there. He cursed under his breath realizing she hadn't listened to him after all. He hoped she had at least gone to a neighbor's house to wait on them.
Steve and Danny started walking towards Sophi's front door. Curiously, the door was closed even though she'd told them it was open.
Their concern grew stronger.
Steve looked to see that the lock had indeed been broken, but the door was shut. Something didn't feel right and he and Danny shared a 'look'.
While Danny took point beside the door, Steve knocked.
"Soph, it's Steve. Open up?"
There was no answer, so he tried again. "Open up, honey. It's me."
Still no response.
On Steve's mark, Danny kicked open the door and they both began to sweep through her apartment. It had been tossed, just like Steve's house, but she was nowhere to be found. The only thing Steve saw was a note on her bed which read, "We'll be in touch, Commnder McGarrett."
Steve let out another curse aa he crumpled up the note and threw it down. He and Danny tried to look more thoroughly, but nothing had been left to lead them to her. On the way out of her apartment, Steve punched a door in frustration before telling Danny they would need to go back to HQ.
Danny was worried. The only other time he'd ever seen Steve so out of sorts was the time Mary had been kidnapped. He hoped they could find Sophia soon; Otherwise, he feared things could get out of control.
********************h50**************h50*****************h50
Back at HQ….
The team continued to look for ANY clues of where she might be…OR who had taken her.
Steve's phone rang with a number he didn't recognize. He motioned for the team to join him and listen in to the conversation.
"Commander, McGarrett. I have heard so much about you."
Steve didn't like the tone of the man's voice…..He sounded much to calm and menacing. "Who is this?"
"You'll find out soon enough. Your concern at the moment is giving something back that belongs to me."
"Where is Sophia?" Steve demanded trying to keep his voice calm.
"She is fine…..at least for now. Are you prepared to make a swap?"
"Let me talk to her and we'll discuss it."
There was a long pause on the other line before Steve heard the man sigh. "Tell you what. I'll do even better than that. I'll let you see her."
The caller changed to a video call, so Steve plugged his phone into the smart table so they could see everything on screen. The first thing they noticed was that the room was completely dark and void of any windows or natural light. Sophia was sitting in a chair with her hands and feet bound. Her mouth had also been gagged and her face was streaked with tears. Steve felt his heart sink even as anger started to rise from his gut. Whoever was responsible for doing this to her was going to pay, he vowed.
They couldn't see anything else in the frame that would give them even a slight chance of figuring out where they were holding her.
The man's hand came within frame to pull the gag out of Sophia's mouth. "Tell them you're fine, my dear."
When Sophia didn't respond right way, they watched in horror as he slapped her face so hard that blood started running from her lip and nearly knocked her out of the chair. "Tell them you are fine if you ever want out of this alive!" He screamed.
Sophia looked into the phone. "I'm fine, Steve. I'm sorry I didn't stay out….I'm sorry."
"It's okay, Soph. We're going to get you out. I promise." Steve said as he tried to sound more calm than he felt.
The caller kept the camera focused on Sophia as he spoke again, "Now, do we negotiate, Commander?"
"First of all," Steve began, "If you touch her again, I will rip your heart out when I find you. Do you understand?"
The man ignored him and said, "And second?"
"Second….Yes, we can negotiate. Tell me what you want."
"Do not pretend to be stupid, Commander. We both know you know exactly what I'm talking about. I want the memory card from Ms. Manetti's camera. And you are going to get it back to me if you ever want to see her again?"
Kono was trying to get a trace on the call, so Steve tried to keep conversation going.
"Wanna tell me what's so important on that memory card that would make you do something this stupid?"
"I would watch my tone if I were you. After all, I still have Miss Manetti…..so you don't want to piss me off. I may just have to retaliate." he said.
Steve was tired of the games, and as his Ohana knew very well, he didn't "do" mind games with criminals very well; Especially when someone he cared about was involved.
"Like I said, it would be in your best interest to leave her alone. I've already decided to kick your ass, so anything else you do will only make it worse."
Danny knew it was time to step in. As much as he respected his partner, he also knew this could spin out of control very quickly. He put a hand on Steve's shoulder and spoke to the kidnapper.
"Tell us what you want." Danny said. "We don't want to see this end badly for anyone. What do you want?"
"Well, hello, Detective Williams….I will call you back in thirty minutes to arrange a swap."
The call ended and Steve immediately looked towards Kono. "Sorry, boss…..I couldn't get an exact lock on his location because he's bouncing the signal off of too many locations."
At Steve's grimace, she continued, "However…..I did pinpoint the general area which is mostly industrial. If we focus on abandoned businesses and warehouses, we might find them."
Chin was the next one to speak up out of concern for Steve. "Steve, I know you care about her…..and I completely understand, but we're going to have to handle this guy with 'kid gloves' until we find her.."
Steve took a calming breath and let out a big sigh. "I know…." He looked over his entire team. "You're right. I'm sorry….I'm just worried."
Lou came across and gave Steve a supportive pat on the back, "We understand that, buddy and we will get her back. Okay?"
At this point, what else could he do? He had to trust his team…..his Ohana….to help him get Sophia back safely.
Mary came walking in carrying Joannie who looked scared. She may be too young to understand everything that was going on, but she could sense the tension in the room as they entered.
"Have you heard from her?" Mary asked.
"Yeah," Steve said as he cast a glance in Joannie's direction. "But things have gotten…. complicated."
Joannie reached out one of her little hands to touch her uncle's cheek. "You okay, Unca Teve?"
Steve gave her what he hoped was a confident smile as he reached to hold her, "Everything's fine sweetie." He held Joannie in his arms and looked at Mary. "I'm going to take Joannie into the break room to get some juice while Danny fills you in."
"Yay!" Joannie said as she hugged her uncles neck as he walked away.
Mary looked around and noticed how concerned everyone looked. This couldn't be good, "Okay, so tell me what happened."