Author's note: I know I told some of you that I would likely have this chapter up by the New Year. Obviously that didn't happen, and I'm sorry. I was hanging out with Aristotle and trying to finish a paper on the Nicomachean Ethics. Unfortunately for all of you, I figured I should focus on being able to finish graduate school rather than writing this.
Thank you so unbelievably much for all of the reviews, favorites and follows! They all made my day and made a depressing holiday season so much better! All mistakes are my own.
Disclaimer: Hawaii Five-0 is the property of CBS. No infringement is intended and no monetary gain will ever be had.
CHAPTER 2
Detective Danny Williams saw the look on the uni's face when he walked into the courtroom and wondered what tragedy had occurred to turn the man's face so sour. The HPD officer strode confidently to the bailiff despite his troubled look and whispered in the man's ear. Danny shifted uncomfortably in his seat and wondered what could possibly be important enough to interrupt court proceedings.
Not that he minded. He'd been sitting on this hard bench for over seven hours today, waiting for his turn at the stand. While Steve was recovering from his gunshot wound after the weaponized drone incident there had been a suspicious lack of cases for Five-0. So he, Lou, Chin and Kono had ended up helping out at an HPD takedown. Danny drew the short straw to represent the task force in court. It was a cut and dry case and the prosecution had the perp dead to rights, but the conviction was only airtight after 4 years of investigations and evidence. That meant there were plenty of hours of mundane court proceedings to sit through.
The bored detective looked down at his watch for what felt like the hundredth time that afternoon. Grace had been out of school for almost two hours now. He wondered what she and Amber were doing. He let his mind drift back to the recess for lunch and his phone call to his girlfriend when he realized he wouldn't be able to pick up his daughter from school.
"Hey, Jersey," answered the sultry voice at the other end of the line.
"Hey, babe. How are you?" Danny asked his girlfriend.
"I'm good. Slow day at work. Are you done in court? Do you want to grab a quick lunch?" Amber asked. Danny could hear the eagerness in her voice.
"Can't, sorry. We're on recess. I'll be going back in just a bit," Danny explained. He hated to disappoint her right before asking for a favor. "Would you mind picking up Grace when school gets out? I know you have work, and I would normally pester Steve, but-"
"Sure, it's no problem," she cut him off. "I'd love to hang with Grace for a few hours."
Danny sighed with relief that he wouldn't have to bother his recovering partner. The poor guy hadn't been sleeping very well since the incident with Wo Fat and they'd agreed to wait another week before Steve would try sleeping pills.
"Danny?" Amber's voice seemed far away.
"Huh?" Danny shook himself out of his thoughts. "What?" he asked stupidly.
"I asked if school gets out at the same time. Three o'clock, right?" Amber sounded concerned.
"Yeah. Yeah, still the same time. Hey, I've got to go, but I'll see you back at my place when they set me free?" asked Danny, wanting to end the call after it was obvious that he wasn't paying any attention to his girlfriend.
"Sure thing, Jersey. See you later," confirmed Amber before Danny ended the call. He wished he had time to go out to lunch with Amber, but the recess wasn't that long and she worked on what may as well be the other side of the island given the traffic at this time. He really hadn't seen her much since the incident with Wo Fat, but he had tried to explain things to her in a way that wouldn't violate Steve's privacy. Come to think of it, he really hadn't seen much of his girlfriend since before everything started, and ended, with Matty. And before that it was rescuing Steve from Afghanistan. Then there was the parking garage collapse and he had barely started seeing Amber at that point.
It seemed like extra drama might actually be the norm for their relationship, and the fact that Amber had stuck with him through all of that…well, that had to be a good sign. He turned off his cell phone and pocketed it as he heard the call to reenter the court room and walked through the doors with a little smile on his face.
A small smile appeared on his face again as he thought about how lucky he was that Amber had stuck with him through everything so far.
"Detective Williams?" the judge asked, sounding exasperating.
Danny sat up straight in his seat and felt like he was back in primary school. "Yes, your honor?" he questioned. He glanced around quickly to see that everyone was staring right at him.
"You are hereby excused from these proceedings and need to leave with Officer Hartnet immediately," she stated succinctly.
The judge continued speaking but Danny wasn't listening as he stood up as if on autopilot and walked toward the uniform waiting by the doors. His first thoughts were of Steve. What kind of trouble had he gotten into this time? Had he barricaded himself in his house in the midst of a fevered hallucination that only "Danno" could penetrate? Had he injured himself in the middle of a violent nightmare and Danny was about to be escorted to the hospital to calm him down so restraints wouldn't be necessary?
The detective's mind continued to mull over all the possibilities, all concerning his recovering partner, as he approached the young officer at the end of the courtroom. Danny didn't recognize the face that was practically dripping with nervousness and fear. The doors thumping closed behind them snapped Danny out of his daze and he immediately rounded on the young man.
"You need to tell me what the hell is going on. Right now!" commanded Danny, his arms waving to halt his escort as he turned to face the uniform.
"Sir, we need to keep moving. I'll explain on the way to the scene," the officer stated nervously, obviously flustered by the antics of the high-strung detective.
"Scene? What scene? What did my Neanderthal partner get himself into this time?" Danny ranted.
"Commander McGarrett's truck was involved in an accident this afternoon," was the officer's response as he continued to try to walk forward, hoping to entice the excitable detective into following him.
"Truck! His truck? He wasn't supposed to be driving anywhere. Oh for the love of – Hang on. I've got to call my girlfriend and let her know I'll be at the hospital. How bad is it?" Danny asked with a mixture of concern and anger that seemed very odd to the unfamiliar officer. The detective had stopped walking to fish his cell phone out of his pocket.
"Ms. Vitale is on her way to the scene. We need to get moving," the younger man implored, turning to walk forward again.
"What? No. She's supposed to be at home with my daughter. What-"
"Detective Williams," the officer interrupted. He finally stopped his attempt at forward motion and turned to face Danny directly. "We believe that your daughter was in the vehicle with Commander McGarrett."
…..
1 Hour Earlier
Steve didn't know how long he had been running. Jogging, really. Well, stumbling if he were completely honest. He was trying to make his trail as obvious as possible and was not concerned about making too much noise. He had to keep reminding himself that he actually wanted his pursuers to know where he was, in order to keep Grace safe. But it was hard to ignore years of training.
He was jarred out of his thoughts when he stumbled again, his foot caught in a protruding root. Pain exploded from his shoulder and chest when he hit the ground hard, hands reaching out to catch himself. He cried out and curled into himself, holding his left arm close to his body and waiting for the sharp, stabbing pains to subside before he could even think about getting up.
As he lay there on the ground, he could hear his pursuers coming closer. They had obviously heard his cry of pain and now knew right where he was. Steve knew he had to evade as long as possible, because as long as they were chasing him, they weren't going to find Gracie.
Growling as he pushed himself up from the ground with his right arm, he swayed for a moment and began to lurch forward again. As he looked around, he didn't see any obvious direction to head in and continued his stumbling gait in the only direction he considered important. Away from Grace.
…..
Amber Vitale was frustrated and angry after the visit to her lawyer's office. Her ex-husband was causing trouble again and her attorney was recommending some changes to the restraining order. She had divorced the man, she didn't want to deal with him anymore!
She gripped the steering wheel tighter and forced herself to breathe deeply and calm down. She wouldn't let Grace see her this upset, because Grace would tell her father and she hadn't found the right time to talk to Danny about her ex-husband yet. She knew it wasn't really fair to withhold that information, but Danny's job hadn't been very fair recently either. There just never seemed like a good time in between disasters.
Amber felt significantly calmer as she turned onto Piikoi Street. She wondered what Grace and Steve had been up to for the last two hours. As she approached the house she was surprised that she couldn't see the big blue Silverado out front. Thinking that they had probably headed to a beach or out to an early dinner, she parked her car where the Silverado should have been and pulled out her phone to call Steve.
Twenty seconds later and there was no answer.
"Hey, Steve. It's Amber. I just pulled up to your house and your truck isn't here. Call me back when you get this message and let me know where you guys are. Thanks," she said, hoping that her phone would start ringing in her hand to put her mind at ease. She stared at it for another moment and then got out of her car to see if maybe the troublesome pair had left her a note.
As she hurried up the front walk she idly wondered how the commander had time to take care of all these plants in the garden. No note or sign of any kind greeted her at the front door, and it was securely locked. Amber walked around back, not knowing what she was hoping to find and becoming more concerned by the minute.
The back yard was devoid of any life as well, the chairs remaining empty down by the beach and the lanai doors were locked as well.
She hated to worry him, but she pulled out her phone to call Danny as she headed back to her car, intending to drive to his place. When he didn't answer she didn't bother to leave a message, assuming that he was still sitting in a court room.
It took ten minutes for her to arrive at Danny's house. Ten minutes to think of myriad scenarios that could explain the absence and lack of communication of one of the most trustworthy men on the island. She thought back to their brief conversation a few hours ago and was sure that Steve said to meet at his house.
As she pulled onto Danny's drive and still saw no sign of the Silverado she began scrolling through the contacts on her phone, hoping that she wasn't overreacting. She pressed Chin Ho Kelly's name with a shaking finger and hoped that he would pick up.
"Hello?" said the now familiar voice in her ear.
"Hi, Chin. It's Amber. Hey, you haven't seen Steve today have you?" she asked trying to keep the fear out of her voice.
"No, I haven't. He's supposed to be at home anyway. Why? What's wrong?" Chin asked, picking up on the uncertainty in Amber's voice. She had never called him before, so he immediately assumed that something was up.
"I don't want to worry you, but Steve was supposed to pick up Grace from school and I was supposed to meet them at Steve's house by now, but no one is there," Amber related, starting to sound a little frantic. "I'm at Danny's place now and they aren't here either."
"Okay, calm down, Amber. I'm sure they're fine. Steve's probably just letting off a little steam after being cooped up all week. Did you try Kamekona's?" he questioned. Despite his reassuring words, Chin was starting to worry about the odd situation as well. It was unlike Steve not to keep in touch, unheard of when Grace was involved.
"No, no I didn't think of that," Amber said, feeling disappointed that she hadn't considered it.
"No worries. I'll give the big guy a call and have Kono trace McGarrett's truck in the meantime. Why don't you head over here to HQ so we can all be together when we give Steve a talking to, huh?" directed Chin.
"Yeah, I'll do that. Thank you, Chin. I just didn't know what else to do," Amber sounded relieved that the situation was being dealt with.
"Okay, we'll see you soon," Chin said before he hung up. Amber really hoped that they figured this out before Danny got out of court, if he wasn't already. The last thing she wanted to tell him was that she had lost his daughter. She backed her car out of Danny's drive and headed toward Iolani Palace, all thoughts of her ex-husband forgotten.
…..
Spanish. They were speaking Spanish, Steve noted as his pursuers closed in.
He had hardly made it ten more minutes after his stumble and he began to prepare himself, knowing that his capture was inevitable. There were only two men, but he had no idea who they were or how well-trained they would be, although he was quickly getting an idea.
Spanish. Why had he never bothered to learn Spanish?
In his exhausted state and with one working arm he doubted he could defeat his pursuers. But that would never stop him from trying. He picked a tree just off his path and let out a grateful sigh as he leaned against it, allowing himself a final break before the struggle he knew was coming.
Chinese. Korean. Pidgin. Not Spanish.
Unfocused, his pursuers were almost on top of him before he could formulate a solid plan of attack. They were moving with some skill and very little noise as they approached Steve's hiding spot. Well-trained then. He probably wasn't getting out of this. He bent down to pick up a fallen branch that looked sturdy enough to serve his purpose, grimacing as he did so with his ribs protesting the hunched movement.
Ten seconds was all the time he had left. He could count to ten in Spanish. Everybody could count to ten in Spanish. Uno, dos, tres…
The footsteps stuttered and halted in their pursuit as the trail they had been following suddenly stopped.
…cuatro, cinco, seis…
Muttering that Steve couldn't understand, and then he thought that they split up to look for him but he couldn't be sure.
…siete, ocho, um…nine…whatever. No more time.
Steve tightened his grip on the branch as a twig cracked on the other side of his hiding place. He held his breath and waited until he could pinpoint the location of his attacker. Just as he thought the man was coming around his side of the tree he swung back and let loose with his branch.
Too low. The man was taller than he'd expected. The branch hit him across the chest instead of in the head and he quickly recovered. A shout. Calling for backup. Defense now. The branch was ripped from his hands but Steve followed up with a jab at the man's face before he could recover. A cry of pain. A fist aimed at his ribs. Deflect. A hit to his face that he couldn't block because he only had one arm.
Steve stumbled back and tried to focus as he saw stars. Before he could regain his footing all the air was forced from his lungs as his attacker punched him in his weakened ribs. He fell to the ground struggling for air, holding himself up on his right arm, his left now pressed against his ribs.
A kick to the face and now he was lying on the ground. Two sets of feet. More Spanish. Two sets of hands on his arms, hauling him up. Bones moving, sharp edges grating against each other. A cry of pain for his broken collarbone. Nausea. Another shout as he lost his breakfast on the feet of one of his attackers.
The man let go of his right arm, trying to avoid the stream of vomit. The man holding Steve's left arm didn't let go and as his body sagged and his injured side took all of his weight he finally succumbed to the pain of his injuries.
…..
"Anything, Cuz?" Chin asked as he walked out of his office after getting off the phone with Kamekona.
"His truck is offline. I can't trace it." Kono looked up from the computer console mirroring her cousin's concerned look. "Kamekona?" she asked.
"Hasn't seen him," Chin answered curtly. "Why would his truck be offline?" he wondered aloud.
"No clue, but it can't be good," Kono answered the rehetorical question. "I'm going to start a trace on their phones. It should be up in a minute." Chin's worried thoughts were interrupted by the entrance of Lou Grover finishing his conversation with Grace's school.
"Yeah, thank you. I appreciate it. Bye now," Lou said as he stepped up to the console. "They're going to compile their security footage and send it over as soon as possible. Anything on your end?" he asked Chin, who responded with a frustrated shake of his head. "Well, they didn't just up and disappear. What did Amber say to you again?" Lou was the most flustered of the three of them, having just recently dealt with his own daughters kidnapping. He was on high alert.
"She said that Steve was supposed to pick up Grace from school today and then she was going to meet them at Steve's house, but the truck wasn't in the drive and no one was there. Then she checked Danny's house and no one was there either, so she called me," Chin retold the story they had all gone over a few times already.
"I know Danny's been in court all day dealing with the Barrett case, but why was Steve the one picking up Grace?" Kono asked what was on all their minds.
"I have no idea, we'll just have to wait until Amber gets here to tell us the full story. Anything on either one of their phones?"
"It's a computer program, Cuz, not a magical fairy," Kono snarked without any real heart behind it. They were all worried and wondering what the hell was going on. Just then the computer beeped its success at tracking both cell phones.
Kono scrambled to pull up the information and zoomed in on the map. "They're close to each other, but not together. Weird. Off of Waahila Ridge Road. That's not near Grace's school or the boss's house."
"Cuz, can you-" Chin started.
Go," she commanded. "I'll forward the tracking information to your phone and wait here for Amber."
"Thanks, Cuz," Chin practically shouted as he and Lou were almost out the door already.
…..
Bouncing. Spanish. Pain.
Steve opened his eyes and realized he was being carried, draped over someone's back. More Spanish. Slowing down. Shouting. He closed his eyes and grimaced. That kick to the face certainly hadn't helped his growing headache. And this ride on someone's shoulders wasn't helping the pain his ribs either.
It was almost dark out now. Dusk was settling in and Steve couldn't tell where they were or where they were going. He could only hope that these men weren't searching for Grace now. He was too weak and exhausted to try anything to stop them.
The man carrying him slowed and turned around, and Steve caught sight of a rope. His heart simultaneously soared and plummeted. They were back at the start. But not looking for Grace. She was safe. But he certainly wasn't. Then movement. Falling.
Steve cried out through gritted teeth as he was dropped to the ground. He tried rolling to his right side so as not to lie on his injured collarbone, but he received a swift kick to the ribs for his trouble. He ended up curling up on his right side anyway, trying to get his breath back. Mission accomplished. Sort of.
More Spanish. He didn't envy these grunts trying to get him up this steep slope, but he quickly realized their plan as he was held down by one man while the other was trying to wrap the rope around his feet.
Oh hell no.
He kicked out blindly and was rewarded with a cry of pain. His swung his right arm wildly and connected with something solid. The struggle was uncoordinated and ultimately futile as he briefly saw the foot aiming for his head before he lost consciousness.
Luckily he wasn't awake for the less-than-pleasant trip back up to the road. Feet first, arms dangling, he was dragged upward inch by inch while his attackers climbed up quickly beside him, obviously having decided they didn't have time to wait for use of the rope. Once at the top, the attackers and one other man wrestled him into the SUV while the fourth kept a lookout for any vehicles. The vehicle pulled away from the scene seconds before another SUV came around the corner behind them, oblivious to their activities.
…..
"Okay, slow down. Tracking shows that they're around here somewhere," Chin dictated from the passenger seat, staring intently at his phone.
Lou obeyed and reduced his speed, not caring about pissing off any other drivers on the road. It was getting late and no one was around anyway besides another SUV that was speeding along happily ahead of them. "Wasn't this where that bad accident was a few weeks back?" he asked as he scanned the area.
"Yeah. That's just up ahead. I don't think they've fixed up the guardrail yet," Chin distractedly replied. "Pull over somewhere along here, brah. I don't see the truck and their phones indicate they're not on the road."
The SUV came to a stop just before the break in the guardrail. Chin finally looked up from his phone and glanced around. It was nearing dusk and they had no idea what had happened to Steve and Grace. He had no idea what kind of clue he was looking for, but he stared confusedly at a rope tied around the guardrail as he climbed out of the SUV. "Lou, over here," he called and waited for his friend to come around the vehicle.
"What the hell is that doing here? Did the recovery crews leave it?" Lou asked, looking for any other remnants of the recovery operation. There was no other obvious evidence that this had recently been the scene of an accident besides the broken guardrail a few yards away.
"Wait a second, there's blue paint here, Lou!" Chin exclaimed. He trailed his fingers along a blue streak that Lou hadn't noticed at first. "It's got to be from Steve's truck."
Both men shared a worried glance and began to search the trees below them, hoping that they wouldn't find what they were looking for. With the light rapidly fading, the truck was hard to see at first. It was mangled practically beyond recognition and hardly blue anymore with all of the scrapes, mud and damage it had sustained.
"Steve!"
"McGarrett!"
"Grace! Gracie are you there?"
"STEVE!"
There was no answer to their calls and no movement down below.
"I'm going down there," Chin stated with no room for argument. "You call HPD and let Kono know what we've found." He hopped over the guardrail and grabbed the rope, thankful that it had been left there.
"Sure thing. Be careful," Lou said as he pulled out his phone with nervous fingers and watched his teammate begin the slow decent down to the destroyed truck.
…..
The first thing Chin thought when he was finally standing next to the truck was how anyone could possibly walk away from this. The hood was crumpled up a bit but steam was no longer rising from beneath it. The Silverado was scraped and scratched and dented beyond belief. The cabin had sustained the most obvious damage, with the windshield broken out, all the windows cracked or damaged some way, and half curled around the tree that had finally stopped the truck's decent. The truck bed hadn't survived the obvious rolling as well as the cabin. It was flattened and crunched and barely there. The back door was swinging open on its hinges and Chin steeled himself as he approached to look inside.
Blood. There was a lot of blood on the opposite window with a spider web of cracks in the middle. No bodies, he noted with a relieved sigh but increasing confusion. The driver's seat was reclined until it hit the bench seat in the back, and there was more blood on the seat, a trail leading to the back. He wondered where Steve and Grace could be, but was glad that he didn't find them here. He didn't dwell on the possibilities any longer as he crouched down to look under the seat at the truck's tracking device. It wasn't broken.
It had been disconnected.
Chin started to worry more about the state of his friends and the implications of his discovery. He put a hand on his sidearm and took a closer look around him as he pulled out his phone to call Lou.
"They're not here," was the first thing he said. "And the tracking device has been manually disconnected."
"What the hell? HPD is on their way with a bus and recovery equipment. What else do you see?" Lou asked, just barely able to make out the form of Chin down below. Darkness had almost completely set in now.
"The truck is completely wrecked. And there's blood," Chin related, and paused. "It looks like they were both in here, and both injured." He began walking around the other side of the truck, following drops of blood. "I think they left on their own. I've found a trail."
"Okay, Chin. I know you want to go after them, but it's getting dark and you don't even have a flashlight. We don't know who or what could be out there. You have to wait for HPD to get here. Please," implored Lou, concerned that his friend would take after their leader and throw caution to the wind.
"Yeah, Lou, I know," Chin sighed. "Dammit. We're going to have to let Danny know. And Rachel. I'm going to keep looking around. Don't worry, I won't go far."
"I'll give Kono an update and start trying to get ahold of Danny." Lou hung up and immediately dialed Kono, not liking the news he had for her, but glad that it wasn't of a different and more depressing nature.
…..
"Thanks, Lou. Yeah. Amber just got here, I gotta go," Kono said as stepped forward to give the distraught woman a hug.
"Have you found them? Where is everybody?" Amber asked as she pulled away, looking around.
"Amber, we found Steve's truck."
"Were they there? Are they alright?" she asked, becoming flustered and worried all over again.
"We don't know. They weren't inside," Kono said carefully, hoping that she wouldn't have a hysterical woman on her hands soon.
"What?! What's going on? Where are they?" Amber was quickly becoming more agitated and working her way up to hysteria that Kono desperately wanted to avoid. "This is all my fault. I was supposed to pick up Grace today. What are we going to tell Danny? Does Danny know yet?"
"Amber, calm down. This is not your fault, okay? We're going to find out what happened. Danny is being notified and pulled from court as we speak."
"What are we going to do? I can't just sit here!" Amber started to look lost as Kono quickly pulled up a chair and gently pushed her into it.
Kono thought about her statement and didn't see any harm. "Well, there's nothing we can do here but wait. Danny is going to be escorted to the scene as soon as they get ahold of him. We can go out there as well, but you'll have to stay out of the way. Danny might need you there," Kono finally decided.
"Okay. Okay, yeah." Amber still looked lost and a little dazed. Kono grabbed a water bottle on the way out the door and put it in Amber's hands. The school wouldn't get them the security footage for at least another few hours, so there really wasn't any reason for her to stick around here. She guided Amber out to her car and sped away to the accident scene, trying to stay calm for the sake of the woman beside her.
…..
Chin was having a hard time standing around and waiting for all the men and equipment to descend the steep slope. He paced around the truck and kept focusing on the blood on the rear window of the truck. He could handle Steve being injured. It had happened often enough, but this was so soon after his final run in with Wo Fat that Chin immediately regretted the thought. But little Grace was another matter. Chin knew that any one of the team would do anything to protect Danny's little girl, and the fact that she was injured and now lost was making him very agitated.
Once he'd found the disconnected tracking device for the truck, Chin knew that this was a crime scene and they needed to gather any and all information that might help them find out what happened. According to the tracking information, Grace's phone was still in the truck, but he'd had to wait for the crime scene unit to get confirmation. Steve's phone was not that far away and hadn't moved since Kono had first traced the phones. It had taken all of his self-control not to go charging into the jungle alone.
"Lt. Kelly," an officer called him over to their group, "we're ready to head out."
"Okay, the trail leads over this way and so does the phone signal," he called without waiting another second to start the search. They had wasted enough time and there was no sign of any danger in the immediate area. The group of HPD officers led by Chin headed in the direction of the blood they could see on the ground, illuminated by their flashlights. A small group of EMTs stayed behind with the crime scene unit who were busy cataloguing the evidence in the truck.
Chin kept following the trail while holding out his cell phone to make sure that they were still heading in the direction of Steve's phone. It took barely five minutes until they were almost on top of it. "Steve! Grace!" Chin shouted, hoping desperately for an answer.
"Lt. Kelly, the trail leads over here, sir," a nervous HPD officer called out as Chin started drifting to the left, following his phone.
"The phone signal is coming for somewhere over here," he replied distractedly. "Steve! Grace!" he called out again. He looked up and saw no sign of them. But the trace indicated that Steve's phone was close by. "Gracie! Can you hear me? Steve!"
Chin was walking by a large banyan tree when something in the beam of his flashlight caught his eye. "Over here!" he called frantically as he ran forward, kneeling next to Grace who had been hidden between some large roots. "Go back and get the EMTs," he ordered the closest HPD officer. They knew that the area was secure up until this point. Once he knew his order was being followed, Chin only had eyes for Grace.
"Grace? Gracie, can you hear me?" Chin reached forward, dreading this moment, but settled his fingers on her neck to check for a pulse. She was so still and pale. He almost cried in relief at the beat underneath his fingers. "Grace, c'mon honey, it's Uncle Chin. Wake up." Looking at the cut on her head and the dried blood on her face he figured his efforts to wake her were futile, but wanted to comfort her anyway. As he settled down next to her to wait for the EMTs, something else caught his eye and he reached over and picked up Steve's broken cell phone.
…..
"Where is she?! Where is my daughter?!" Lou heard him long before he saw him. Unlike everyone else who stood still and seemed to shrink in hopes that they weren't noticed or called on, Lou turned and headed toward the hurricane of worry caused by the distraught father.
"Danny! Danny, over here," he called and saw the detective turn in acknowledgement.
"Lou, what the hell is going on? What have you found? Where is Grace!?" Danny asked in a hurry. As Lou started to answer he saw Amber coming over to them as well.
"They just found her Danny. She's alive, but she's hurt pretty bad. They're getting ready to bring her up now," he explained, hoping to ease some of the detective's worry. Just then Amber arrived and Danny did not have quite the reaction that Lou had expected.
"What the hell did you do!? I told you not to bother him! What were you doing that was so important that you wouldn't tell me that you couldn't pick up my daughter!? You lied to me!"
"Danny, just let me explain-"
"Danny, calm down," Lou commanded in a booming voice. "This isn't helping anyone. Something came up and Amber called Steve to get Grace. She couldn't let you know because you were in court. We don't know what's going on yet, but we've found your daughter and she's going to be fine. Okay?"
With a frustrated huff and a deep breath, Danny calmed down as he listened to Lou's explanation. "What about Steve, where is he?" he asked accusingly.
"We don't know. Chin and HPD are still down there looking. They're following a trail, but it's hard in the dark," Lou related calmly, as if talking to a spooked animal.
Amber tried to grab his hand, but Danny pulled away and stalked over to the men by the rail and asked for an update on their progress. Lou looked at her sympathetically and followed Danny over to the rail. "It's not her fault, Danny. I know you're worried. Believe me, I know what it's like, but you can't blame her." Lou looked down at the smaller man and saw him about to open his mouth. "And you can't blame Steve either. We will find out what happened, but right now, Grace is going to need her father. That's what you need to focus on while we find Steve."
"I know, Lou. I know. I'm sorry. I just…" Danny didn't finish his sentence, and he didn't have to. The two men waited in silence while the rescue crew prepared to retrieve Grace. After some coaxing from Kono, Amber joined them and Danny didn't pull away this time when she slipped her hand into his. He was uncharacteristically silent and still, understandably so. The four of them waited in a tense silence, unable to do anything to help without being in the way.
…..
Chin and the team of HPD officers were still searching for the missing leader of Five-0. They had come across the scene of a scuffle a little while ago and found a bloody branch that was likely used as a weapon, as well as a pile of vomit that was probably Steve's. They were no longer following a trail of blood but a trail of deep footprints which indicated that someone, again, probably Steve, had been carried away.
They were circling back to the road and Chin was beginning to get a bad feeling. They could hear the shouts of the rescue crew up ahead and see all the lights and commotion. He heard the ambulance turn on its sirens and saw its lights flashing as it drove away and knew that Grace was now on her way to the hospital, hopefully with her father beside her. Chin's fears were soon realized when the tracks they were following aimed directly towards the road and the rope that Chin had used to get down. The small group couldn't track them any further as the area had been sufficiently trampled by all the men and crews at work, but the direct path left only one obvious conclusion; Steve had been taken.
…..
TBC
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