Thank you to everyone who continues to read, review, and alert. I will be away on vacation all of next week so I may not post another chapter for 2 weeks. Or I may lay on the beach and write instead of read (the hotel has internet), who knows.
Chin slowly circled the burned out wreck of Sean Turner's police car. Max Bergman had long since departed with the pitiful remains of Turner and his partner, along with the officer driving the car Steve had been in. That rookie officer had been killed when a piece of the windshield glass had partially decapitated him. His partner was in critical condition but Chin had heard that he was expected to make it.
Chin sighed and moved to the wreckage of the other two cars, still twisted together like a horrific piece of modern art. It was somewhat miraculous that Steve had only the injuries he had, not something more serious. Chin suspected that the security screen that separated the front and back seats had done a lot to shield McGarrett from the deadlier debris.
It was time to wrap it up here. Chin had everything that he needed from the scene. A scattering of officers were hanging back, waiting for Chin to dismiss them. The shadows were growing long as the sun got ready to slip under the horizon.
"We're done here," Chin told his men.
Danny had been there earlier, but Chin had sent him to check on Fong's progress and see if there were any results from the gunpowder residue tests that had been ordered on Steve's gloves. They were supposed to meet up at the hospital shortly to compare notes.
Chin was curious to meet Lt. Rollins. He had always sort of thought Steve's girlfriend would be tall and athletic. The blond volleyball player type. From what Danny had said that was not the case.
Walking into his office (being a lieutenant entitled him to a cramped office about half the size of his Five-0 office), Chin was stunned to find the Chief of Police sitting behind his desk, waiting for him.
"Chief Mahaka, what can I do for you?" Chin straightened up, trying to keep the fatigue off his face.
The older man gave Chin a smile that didn't reach his eyes and gestured to the other chair in the office, "Please sit down, Lieutenant." He waited until Chin was seated, "I had a long talk with Governor Page this afternoon. He asked me a lot of questions about why McGarrett was in the squad car and how someone could try to kill him right under my nose. I didn't have any answers for him."
Chin remained silent when the Chief had finished talking. He had no idea where this conversation was going so he kept his expression impassive and waited.
Mahaka leaned forward, "I need to find those answers and I want you to do it for me."
"Why me? I've only been back with HPD for 2 days."
"Chin, I'm neither blind nor dumb. I know that there is corruption in this department. I also know that you've been on the outside for so long that you aren't part of that corruption. I also know that you are an excellent detective that can get this done."
Chin nodded, "I'll need Det. Williams back in the field, not sitting behind a desk." He considered the wisdom of his next request but decided to try anyway, "I would also be helpful to have Officer Kalakaua assisting me."
"Consider the restrictions on Det. Williams lifted effective immediately. I'm afraid that I can't help you with Officer Kalakaua. She's the subject of an IA investigation and will remain suspended until they clear her. Is there anything else you need?"
Chin knew that his next question could end his career with HPD forever, but he knew that he had to ask, "Sir, did you sign the orders to move McGarrett to Halawa?"
Mahaka frowned, "Of course not. McGarrett should have stayed here until after a bail hearing."
"Officer Turner had paperwork with your signature on it. Sgt. Lukela confirmed it." Chin watched Mahaka carefully, trying gage his reaction.
"I did not sign any such orders and I will go on record as part of your investigation stating that." Mahaka sighed, suddenly seeming much older than his years, "It seems that Turner was caught up in something too big for him. Another young officer lost to greed, and he took 2 other officers with him."
Mahaka rose to his feet, "The Governor has made it clear that he expects this to be cleared up ASAP. I trust that you can do that for me."
He started to leave but paused with his hand on the door knob. He seemed to be having an internal debate over whether or not to say more. Chin waited patiently, trying to project an air of calm.
Mahaka made his decision, "This is entirely off the record and I will not discuss it again. Do you understand?" He waited for Chin to nod, "Over the last several years, there have been a number of cases that Governor Jameson took a personal interest in. She had all the case files delivered to her office and had us inform Laura Hill immediately about all new developments. None of these cases were ever solved. The suspects always seemed to one step ahead of us," he allowed a moment to let the implications sink in," If you could connect information being leaked from Jameson's office, it would go a long way towards clearing McGarrett."
He left Chin sitting alone and suddenly very, very interested in the content of the shredded files they had recovered from the Palace.
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Darren Crosby, former HPD Captain and new head of the Five-0 taskforce, sat alone in the well-appointed office that, until just yesterday, had belonged to Steven McGarrett.
Crosby had sent his newly selected team of five home to rest. They were all men. Crosby knew that there were some excellent, well-qualified women working for HPD, but years spent as a marine had conditioned him to feel better when a man had his back. He knew it wasn't necessarily right, and it made him thankful that he had no daughters, but he was putting this taskforce together to succeed the best way he knew how.
He had chosen four taskforce members because he intended to run his unit more like a proper law enforcement division. He'd have 2 sets of men and he would be their CO, not their partner.
Making one more mental review of his plans for the next day, Crosby was satisfied that everything was ready. He and his team would take down a major drug cartel. It was the perfect start for the new Five-0.
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Steve woke up slowly. He remained perfectly still, as he had been trained, trying to get a sense of where he was – and why every single inch of his body hurt – before giving away his return to consciousness.
"It's okay for you to wake up, Sailor," a soft female voice told him, "In fact, I think we'll all feel a lot better when you do."
Steve's eyes snapped open. He thought that his hearing was playing tricks on him until he saw that Catherine really was curled up in the chair next to his bed.
"Cat, how did you get here?" his voice sounded awful, all soft and whispery.
She unfolded herself gracefully from her chair and offered him ice chips from a cup. Steve smiled at her gratefully, or at least he tried until he felt the pull of stitches in his cheek.
Seeing him wince, Catherine suddenly became very serious, "Steve, I'll get the nurse in just a minute but I have to talk to you first. I got here as soon as I heard that you had been arrested."
Steve reached for her hand, again feeling the pull of stitches, this time across his shoulder. He didn't let him stop him, taking her hand anyway, "How did you know about Jameson? Weren't you in the Middle East?"
"It's too complicated to go into right now. I need to know how much you trust Danny, Chin, and Kono. I know you call them your ohana, but this . . ."
A nurse entered the room, cutting her off, "Is he waking up? You should have hit the call button," she admonished, gently moving Catherine aside and taking her place beside the bed, "Commander, how are you feeling?"
"Dizzy," Steve groaned softly.
"How's your vision?"
"Blurry," Steve was becoming agitated, "Is Governor Jameson alright? Was she hurt when the car exploded?"
Catherine was confused and scared. Hadn't Steve known Jameson was dead just a few seconds ago? He seemed to be confusing the explosion that killed Hill with the explosion that injured him. How bad was his head injury?
The nurse glanced at Catherine before turning her attention back to the patient, "Commander, your girlfriend, Catherine, is here. Why don't you wait with her for a minute and I'll go page Dr. Neville. The doctor will be able to answer all of your questions."
Some of the panic Catherine was feeling must have shown on her face because the nurse took a minute to reassure her, "None of this is unusual with a severe concussion. I just need to get the doctor."
Alone with Steve again, Catherine hurried back to his side, "Steve, do you know how you were hurt?"
Before he could answer, several loud gunshots shattered the normally quiet hospital evening.
Years of training took over as Steve tried to leap out of bed and pull Catherine down to the floor for safety. All he succeeded in doing was pulling out his IV and stumbling against the side of the bed.
"Steve, be careful!" Catherine was torn between the desire to stay with Steve and the need to check the hallway for danger.
Steve gritted his teeth against a wave of nausea. It was humiliating to have to lean on Cat's petite frame to stay upright. "I was dizzy for a second. I'm fine now," he growled, trying to pull away from her.
The sounds of people running, mingled with the occasional scream, from the hallway made Catherine aware that Steve was a giant target standing in the middle of his hospital room.
"Come on, Sailor, let's get you into the bathroom." She slung one of Steve's arms across her shoulders and partially dragged him across the room. "Stay in here while I see what's happening."
"No, you're not going out there alone," he grabbed her arm, refusing to let go.
"This bathroom is the first place someone will look for you. I have to find us a safe way out." Seeing from the stubborn set of his face that Steve was not swayed by that argument, Cat tried a different track, "Kono should have been in here by now to check on you. I need to see if she needs help."
Steve responded to the suggestion that Kono might be in danger immediately. "Go find her. I'll be fine here."
Cat shook her head sadly. Steve was always too willing to sacrifice himself.
Before leaving, she grabbed the IV stand and pulled it into the bathroom, "This is the closest thing to a weapon in the room," she smiled at him, "Try not to need it."
Steve gave her a battered smile in return, "Be careful."
Catherine nodded and ducked out into the hallway.
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Kono sighed silently and pointedly ignored Ariyoshi's fourth attempt to flirt with her. She moved a little further along the coffee island in the center of the floor's main waiting room under the pretext of inspecting every one of the flavored creamers. Ariyoshi followed, babbling away about his favorite surfing spots, trying to find something they had in common.
She ended up on the far side of the island, watching two orderlies pushing a large laundry bin down the hall. They were waiting for a patient to be moved into her room before they could continue on. Kono idly decided that the service elevators must be down that way.
The beefier of the two orderlies shifted impatiently, for just an instant revealing the outline of a gun beneath his scrubs.
"Gun!" Kono yelled. She tried to tackle the faux orderlies before he could draw his weapon, but Ariyoshi dragged her to the ground with him behind the coffee island.
"What are you doing?" Kono demanded, shaking off her would be rescuer, "They're obviously going after Steve!"
The two assassins had taken cover behind the nurses' station. Kono heard several gunshots and assumed they were trading fire with Samson, who had been further down the hall, outside Steve's door. She prayed that all of the bystanders had gotten out of the hall.
"Look," Ariyoshi pointed to the fire door in the back wall where the other people trapped in the waiting room were busy escaping, "We can get out that way while they're distracted."
Kono was appalled, "What about Steve? What about Samson? He's your partner."
"Samson can get out the other way. The hall's not a dead end. We were assigned to prevent McGarrett from escaping, not die shielding him." Ariyoshi grabbed her arm again and tried to pull Kono with him towards the door.
Kono smoothly slid behind him, snatching his gun from his holster with one hand and shoving him forward with the other. He sprawled on the floor for a moment before scrambling through the door to safety. As it shut behind him, he shot Kono a disgusted look.
"Guess I won't be surfing with him after all," Kono mumbled to herself before turning her attention back to the gunmen.
The hallway had become ominously silent. Kono wondered if Samson had been hit or, if like his partner, he had fled.
Assuming that they now had a clear path to McGarrett, the two armed men rushed out from behind the nurses' station. Kono fired and hit the smaller man, the shot knocking him to the ground behind the counter. Kono was unable to tell if he was incapacitated or mere lying in wait for her. The angle of the doorway cut off her view of the other man before she could get off a second shot.
Further down the hall, Catherine ducked out of Steve's room just in time to see one man take a bullet and go down while a second, bulkier man with a gun ran straight at her. He was clearly surprised by her sudden appearance and that surprise gave Cat the second that she needed. She went in fast and low, connecting a kick to his groin. When he instinctively dropped his gun to grab himself, she kicked the gun away. He recovered much faster than Catherine had anticipated, bellowing in rage and shoving her viciously into the wall.
Catherine knew she was in trouble. Her opponent was much larger and stronger than she was. Surprise had given her an advantage, but now he was too close and off balance. He had her pinned to the wall and was drawing back his other arm for a punch. She tried to brace herself as best she could and prayed she didn't black out.
"HEY – HPD – You are under arrest!" The shout was accompanied by the sight of Danny Williams, gun drawn, racing around the corner at the far end of the hall.
Danny cursed to himself, unable to fire because Kono had stepped out of a doorway at the other end of the hall. Super Navy Ninja SEAL would probably have made that shot but Danny refused to risk hitting his teammate.
Realizing that he was now trapped between Kono and Danny, the hit man dropped Catherine and took off running down the third branch of the t-section.
Danny looked at Kono, who nodded to indicate that she had things under control. Then he turned to Catherine, "You okay?"
"I'm fine," she told him, pushing off from the wall and racing past him down the hallway after her fleeing attacker. Danny was only a step behind her.
Kono approached the nurses' station cautiously. Peering around the corner of the counter, she found the man she had shot lying motionless in a large pool of his own blood. She dropped down behind the counter to toss the man's gun away (just as a precaution) and check his pulse to confirm that he was dead.
From her position behind the counter, Kono could not see that there was another figure moving silently through the hallway.
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A very frustrated pair returned to find Kono lingering in the doorway to Steve's room.
"He got away," Danny reported, "What about your guy?"
"Dead," Kono told him.
"Damn! We needed to find out who sent them," the Jersey detective looked like he wanted to put a fist through the wall.
Catherine noticed that something seemed off about Kono, "Is Steve alright? I think he may have torn some of his stitches."
Kono looked around to make sure that no one was within earshot. A handful of brave hospital personnel were checking on patients who had been trapped in their rooms during the gunfight. One HPD officer had responded so far but he was busy securing the body of the dead shooter.
Kono gestured for them to lean in, "Steve's gone. He's not in his room."
"I left him in the bathroom," Catherine told her, hoping against hope that Kono only meant that Steve wasn't in bed.
"I looked there," Kono's tone made it clear she didn't appreciate the implication that she might be that stupid, "Steve is gone."
"Wait, you left him in the bathroom? Then he was awake?" Danny's mind was racing, trying to wrap itself around the implications of Steve's absence.
"He was awake. Only . . ." Catherine paused to consider how to express her concerns, "Something wasn't right. When he woke up, and we were alone, he seemed pretty alert and aware of what was going on. When the nurse came in, he seemed really out of it and sick. Then after she left and the gunshots started, he seemed really alert again."
Danny had spent a lot of time with Steve in the past 6 months. He liked to fancy himself an expert on the convoluted and crazy pathways of McGarrett logic. Drawing on that knowledge, Danny had a terrible premonition of what had happened.
"Catherine, this is very important," he turned her so that she was looking him squarely in the eye, "Do you think Steve was taken out of this room, or do you think he left on his own?"
Catherine sighed. She had come to a similar conclusion but had been shying away from it, "I think he escaped."
Kono gasped, "Why would he do that? It only make him look guilty and it will be even harder to clear him."
Catherine pulled herself together first, "Danny you go find Steve and bring him back here. I'll take care of the police in the meantime."
"You'll 'take care' of the police?" Danny asked, "How are you going to do that?"
"We don't have time for this. He had to go down the hallway the same way you came up, or he would have gone right past one of us. He's hurt. I know he's at least somewhat dizzy and nauseous. He can't be moving that fast," Cat was practically pushing Danny down the hall, "You have to find him before he gets out of the hospital."
"Danny, you have to get out of here now," Kono hissed, adding her own shove, "Here comes HPD."
Giving into the fact that he was surrounded by lunatics (it must be Steve that attracted the rest of them) who dove headfirst into crazy plans, Danny made it around the corner just as several HPD officers approached Kono and Catherine.
"Thank God you're here! Two of them dragged Steve away . . ." Danny heard Catherine begin. She even sounded a little tearful. He was impressed.
It wasn't a bad plan: Claim Steve had been kidnapped and the Danny could bring him back, claiming to have saved him from the kidnappers. It was a fine plan, except for the part where they ALL LIED TO THE POLICE.
He wanted to pretend that life had been perfectly black and white before he had moved to Hawaii, but Danny couldn't deceive himself that way. He'd have done all this, and more, for any of his family back in New Jersey. Only his family in Jersey was saner so he would never have to.
Danny stopped to consider the best way to find the wayward patient. Steve wouldn't have taken the elevator because he had no control over where it stopped or who got on. That meant the stairs and there was only one stairway at this end of the hall.
Pushing open the stairwell door, Danny had another thought: Steve, who was wearing a hospital gown, could not blend in well enough to get through the small army of HPD officers now in the lobby. Almost every member of HPD knew him on site. Plus, the multitude of bruises and cuts on his face would draw a lot of attention.
With all this in mind, Danny started up the stairs instead of down. It made sense. Find a change of clothes and then lay low, avoiding any searches, until it was quieter and Steve could sneak out of the building.
Danny had gone up 3 flights of stairs, and was beginning to doubt himself, when he finally spied what appeared to be a few spots of blood on the wall. He speculated that Steve had reached this landing when his injuries took their toll and he fell against the wall. Unable to face any more stairs, Steve had exited the stairwell here.
Danny opened the door to find himself on a floor of offices. At this time of night, it was completely deserted.
Perfect, Danny thought. He didn't see any more blood but that didn't surprise him. Even injured, Steve would not make more than one careless mistake.
Looking at a floor directory, Danny groaned as he counted 14 offices. Assuming each suite had multiple rooms, it would take far too long to search them all.
But why did he have to search? He was the back-up. He was Steve's partner. He was Steve's family. Steve didn't have any reason to hide from him.
"Steve, it's Danny," he called out softly as he walked slowly through the floor, "I'm alone. I'm here to help you."
He had repeated himself several times before he heard a door open behind him. Spinning around, Danny saw that the closed door he had just passed was no longer closed. Inside, he found Steve slumped over on the couch in a plush waiting room. His chin was down against his chest. For a heartbeat, Danny thought he was unconscious.
"I'm not going to jail for something I didn't do," Steve's voice was so hoarse he was almost whispering, "I take responsibility for my actions. When I do wrong, I accept the consequences, but I won't go to jail for something I didn't do."
Danny knelt down in front of Steve so that he could look the former SEAL in the eye. It hurt him just as much to see Steve so battered and broken as it had hurt him to watch Rachel and Grace board the plane that had first taken them to Hawaii.
"You are not going to jail for this," Danny promised, "You just need to give us time a little time to work things out. You have to trust your ohana to take care of you."
Steve finally lifted his head. Danny could see the protest in his eyes so he hurried on before Steve could speak.
"Catherine said you lying to the nurse about how badly you're hurt. For the first time ever, you were making yourself seem sicker instead of pretending you were fine. Was she right?"
A ghost of his usual smirk settled over Steve's face, "I figured it would be easier to escape from the hospital than the prison, so I was buying a little time."
"As one does in these sorts of situations," Danny snarked. Then he became serious again, "You've got 72 hours in the hospital. That gives us 3 days to clear you. If we can't, I will help you escape before they come to take you."
Steve was awed by Danny's loyalty, "You'd really do that, help me escape?"
"God help me, I would."
"Deal, but you won't have to help me. Just look the other way and I'll be gone. I don't want you involved."
"You don't want me involved?" Danny made a production of looking around the darkened waiting room, "Babe, I'm already involved up to my eyeballs. Now, let's get you back to your room."
Steve went very still, "They have to know I'm gone by now. I can't go back."
Having climbed back to his feet, Danny looked down at his usually taller partner, "Catherine may have led everyone to believe that you were kidnapped by additional bad guys. I," he pounded his fist against his chest, "have just rescued a navy SEAL."
"Please, I could easily overpower any kidnappers that you could take down single handedly take down," Steve scoffed.
"Then why don't you get up and walk back downstairs?" Danny taunted.
Steve tried, but in the end, he was too nauseous and weak to make it farther than the hall. He had torn open several of his stitches and the bleeding was becoming more severe.
Danny was secretly amazed that Steve had made it this far at all. That didn't stop him from using his phone to call in the kidnapping and rescue.
Medical personnel quickly arrived with a stretcher to take Steve back to his room.
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While the doctors examined Steve and re-stitched his various cuts, the rest of the team gathered in a small waiting room. At this time of night, they had it to themselves. Chin had arrived earlier and now joined Danny, Kono, and Catherine for an update on the day.
"I have to back and talk to IA again tomorrow about my part in tonight's shooting," Kono told them glumly.
"Don't worry too much about it," Chin reassured her, "The shooting was completely justified and Samson and Ariyoshi look so bad that no one will make a big deal out of it."
"I made a little headway on the financials but not much. I'll work on it again tomorrow," Danny reported, "I also took the fingerprint evidence to Toast. If those prints are digitalized, altered, or reproduced Toast should be able to show us how."
"Did the lab have anything?" Chin asked him.
"Shit, I almost forgot," Danny admitted, "They finished testing Steve's glove and shirt. There's no gunpowder residue on any of it. The DA had already left but I'll be bringing that to her attention tomorrow."
"That's huge for us," Kono exclaimed. "If Toast comes through on those fingers prints, we may be able to get the charges against Steve dropped."
"We're still a long way from proving Jameson was connected to Wo Fat," Chin cautioned, "Just getting the charges dropped isn't going to clear Steve's name and restore his reputation."
"Did you get anything from the car bomb?" Danny asked Chin.
"More fragments of the same kind of claymore that killed Laura Hills and Steve's mother. It looks like someone has a signature," Chin sighed, "Now we just need to connect that signature to someone." He also gave them a quick rundown of his conversation with the Chief of Police.
"That's wonderfully cryptic but not especially helpful," Danny observed.
Catherine had been silently observing. She cleared her throat to get everyone's attention, "I have something that might help." She reached under her shirt and pulled a very small flash drive out of her bra. "This was given to me by someone highly connected in the Intelligence Community. I don't know his name but he wanted me to use it to help Steve."
"That's how you got here so quickly and knew so much about what was going on," Kono realized.
"Why didn't you tell about this before?" Danny demanded, "What's on the drive?"
"I tried to read it on my laptop during my flight, but it's heavily encrypted. I'm not sure I can break it," Catherine admitted.
"Danny, tomorrow when you go see Toast, take Catherine and the flash drive with you," Chin instructed, "Breaking encryptions is more he specialty than finger prints."
"Fine," it was obvious that Danny was still not happy with Catherine, "Are there any other secrets you're keeping from us? I'm just asking because we have enough enemies right now."
Catherine turned on him, ready for a fight, "My concern is Steve. I don't know any of you. You're right, Steve has a lot of enemies trying to hurt him right now and I didn't know if I could trust you." Her tone softened, "But obviously, I can. So no, I don't have any more secrets."
"That's enough," Chin decided, "They're not going to let us see Steve again tonight so let's all go home and get some sleep. Tomorrow is soon enough for us to start finding out who our real enemies are."
Teaser for the next chapter: A warehouse explodes (I assume there are not this many explosions in the real Hawaii) and Kono is confronted by a tearful, terrified young woman.