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Pride, Admiration and Pride
Chapter Ten
"Huh... that's odd," Steve said as he tried for the third time to reach Danny.
"What's odd?" Annie asked as she followed him out to his truck.
"First Danny doesn't show up for coffee this morning and now he's not picking up his phone. But it's not rolling right to voicemail either. It's ringing its full number of rings before rolling over, which means he's either ignoring it or…."
"Or…. he's not answering because he can't hear it." Steve didn't miss the worry in Annie's voice and he was sure he didn't sound much better.
Reaching out and dialing again, Steve called Chin.
"Hey brah! You on your way in? How about grabbing some Starbucks! I could go for some of the good stuff this morning," Chin cheerfully answered without even a "hello."
"Chin… I need you to track Danny's phone and the Camaro."
Chin flew to the magic table, fingers dancing immediately on the smooth surface.
"What's going on, Boss?" Kono asked as she came out of her office and heard the conversation on the phone's speaker.
"I don't know. Danny didn't stop by the house this morning. I didn't think too much of it at first but now we can't reach him."
"Rolling to voicemail?"
"Not immediately."
Chin and Kono exchanged worried looks as Kono also jumped on the computer to help Chin track Danny.
"Steve? Where are you now?" Chin asked
"On my way to Danny's. You find something?"
"Yeah. Tracking shows both the Camaro and Danny's phone are at his house."
Annie automatically tightened her grip on the car door handle as Steve's foot floored the gas. Something was definitely wrong.
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His head hurt. His back hurt. His arms hurt. The back of his neck and shoulder were screaming in pain. It was the pain that forced his eyes open and for a moment he was grateful for the gloom of his surroundings. He didn't think his eyes would survive any bright light at the moment.
So, of course, this being Danny's life and the Hawaiian gods surely hated him, bright light is exactly what hits him in the face not a second later. Pure agony pulses through his head and he immediately squeezes his eyes shut as hard as he can. But it's no use. The light is so bright it infiltrates right through his eyelids and proceeds to pound nails into his brain.
A voice from beyond the light spoke.
"How nice of you to finally join us Mr. … oh pardon me…. Detective Williams."
"Yeah, well…. your goons didn't give me much of a choice in the matter, did they?"
"I see my men were speaking the truth. You are not one to go down easily, are you?"
"What do you say, we don't play this game? Why don't you just tell me what you want and let's get this over with."
"Very well, if you insist."
"Do I at least get to see who I'm dealing with here? I mean, it would be nice to see the face of the man TSA has only been able to capture on film once. Emilio Cordoba, I presume?"
Thankfully, the bright overhead light in Danny's face was extinguished leaving only ambient light emanating from the other side of the room. The pain in his head notched down ever so slightly from intolerable to simply excruciating.
"Ahhhhhh…. very good."
"What? You expected it to be hard to figure out?"
Danny knew he was antagonizing Cordoba by implying the man wasn't bright enough to realize Danny himself wasn't stupid.
"Now…. why am I here?"
"Have you ever gone fishing Detective? Coming from the big city I would presume not. Of course, I hear the deep sea fishing here in Hawaii is quite challenging, perhaps you have given that a try since you moved here? Experienced fisherman or not, I'm sure you are well aware there are different kinds of bait which attract different kinds of fish. You are here because you are the best bait available to me to attract a rather bothersome fish."
Danny felt the combination of anger and fear curl in his stomach. They were after Annie and there was nothing Danny could do… no way for him to warn her and Steve. Because he knew, better than he knew his own name, that Steve was already on the hunt to find him. He didn't know how long he'd been unconscious but it didn't matter. The moment Danny was five minutes late for morning coffee, Steve would be on the phone to call and rib him for being late. Wouldn't do much good, of course, since Danny presumed his phone was still laying on his bedside table. Danny was sure Steve already had Chin tracking his phone and car and they knew both were sitting at his house. He was torn between fear for himself… the team didn't know where he was, and fear for Steve and Annie… they were being set up to walk right into a trap.
Cordoba watched the play of emotions across Danny's face. He smiled wickedly as he motioned for his goons to come closer. Danny watched them advance on him knowing nothing good could come from this. The biggest of the goons stepped in front of him and with a grin that made Danny's stomach churn, reached back and punched him right across the face. The chair Danny was tied to rocked backwards from the severity of the blow. Not only did his head violently whip around, his vision went totally white and the pain in his head ratcheted up to "just kill me now" levels. He had no time to recover before a second and third blow followed the first. Danny could feel blood running down his face and his head was buzzing with painful static.
Fighting to catch his breath and attempting to get his vision to focus, Danny looked up at Cordoba.
"What do you want?" he stammered. He hated that his voice sounded so weak and pained, hated giving Cordoba that victory.
"I want nothing from you, Detective," came the chilling reply. "I only wish for you to play your part convincingly. You are my bait, remember? Blood is an excellent choice to chum the waters, no?"
Danny had no time to even attempt to process what he heard. In one fell swoop, the zip ties on his wrists were cut as both goons descended on him. They hauled him to his feet and dragged him backwards toward the wall where his arms were lifted above his head and his wrists locked in a set of handcuffs threaded through an iron loop set into the concrete wall.
Danny watched as Cordoba reached into the inner pocket of his impeccably tailored jacket and pulled out a cell phone. He made an elaborate show of fiddling with the phone, trying to decide if portrait or landscape would be the better choice as he flicked on the camera app. Having made his decision, he nodded to his goons to continue.
Before Danny had time to brace himself both proceeded to viciously attack not only his head and face but his midsection as well. Danny tried to curl in on himself in an attempt to protect his solar plexus but with his arms locked above his head it was no use. They had planned this very well. He tried to tense his abdominal muscles in an attempt to cushion the blows but after several long minutes his strength was gone and he could taste the telltale sign of blood in his mouth. Several more blows to the head and Danny welcomed the sweet nothingness of unconsciousness.
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Steve and Annie arrived at Danny's house and found just what Steve feared they would find. Nothing. Danny's bed was slept in, his toothbrush was dry and there was no dirty coffee cup in the sink. Worst of all, his phone, keys, badge and gun were all still on his nightstand. All the unmistakable signs that Danny had not left his home voluntarily. Having called in CSI to go over the place with a fine toothed comb, they left and headed back to HQ. When they walked in twenty minutes later, Chin and Kono were already sorting through information CSI had been feeding back from the scene.
"Chin! Did we get something?" Steve asked
"CSI just sent over their preliminary report. Looks like they cut the main power to the house from the outside and gained entry through the back door. There are no signs of struggle, no disruption in the house except for the cut pane of glass on the door and no blood."
Steve looked at Annie as they both sighed with a small amount of relief at that news. No blood was always good. It was short lived, of course, as Kono continued the brief.
"There is evidence of a truck or van being at the scene. CSI sent over photos of tire tracks found in the grass along the side of Danny's driveway."
"Those tracks could be from Steve's truck and been there from before." Annie observed.
"That's true but I highly doubt it." Chin answered. "I'm doing a preliminary search based on the pictures CSI sent in and they are getting plaster casts made so we can try to determine how long those tracks have been there and what type of vehicle they came from. We've had a lot of rain recently so it's probable they are new. Older ones would have been washed down by now by the rain."
"Ok… so we know someone broke into Danny' house…." Steve began but Annie interrupted.
"Not someone, Steve. Cordoba! I'm sure of it. It has his fingerprints all over it. He likes to think of himself as sophisticated. Doesn't like to be associated with a reputation as a thug. Send in a few well trained and trusted men, a quiet break in with minimum fuss, no disorder, no bloodshed. Simply make your victim an offer they can't refuse and they will willingly go with you without putting up a fuss."
"Danny, not put up a fuss? You of all people know how unlikely that is," Steve replied.
"Normally I would totally agree with you but this is Cordoba we're talking about. He does his homework. I wouldn't put it past him for one minute to have a full jacket of personal information at his fingertips. Like I said, it's his way. He will use threats against those in a person's life in order to guarantee cooperation."
At those words Steve threw Chin a look which clutched at the older man's heart. Grace! Cordoba had threatened Grace. Protecting Grace would be the only thing that would have gotten Danny voluntarily out of that house. Chin immediately jumped on his phone to order a protective detail be placed around the Edwards home.
Just then a uniformed police officer came through the bullpen doors. "Commander McGarrett? This package just arrived for you, sir."
"Thank you" Steve said as he ripped open the large heavy envelope. Inside he found a cell phone. "Who delivered this Okuda, do you know?"
"No sir, it was left in the mail room. It didn't come in with the normal mail and it wasn't brought by any of the usual delivery services. The bomb squad has cleared it as safe."
"Mahalo for bringing it up here" Steve said, excusing Okuda to return to his duties. Steve handed the phone to Chin who turned it over in his hands examining it.
"Looks like a burner." he said as he placed it on the smart table. "Yes… it's a burner. Kono, pull the call history and let's see what we can find."
Kono's fingers flew across the surface of the table. It didn't take long for her to find what she was looking for.
"No call history, nothing on it but a video file."
Fear clutching her heart, it was Annie who gave the order "Play it".
Kono looked to Steve who gave a small nod as she began the playback.
"Oh dear God…. Danny!" Annie gasped. She looked over to Steve who stood, eyes riveted to the screen, his jaw clenched so tightly Annie was sure he was going to do his teeth permanent damage.
The video showed Danny, against the wall, his hands locked in the handcuffs, as two large masked goons proceeded to pummel the hell out of him as they all watched. The sound of each punch seemed to reverberate around the room. Chin visibly winced as each blow landed. Several to Danny's midsection were so loud Chin was certain ribs were being broken. Kono and Annie gasped and tried to control any tears threatening to fall.
Danny did his best not to make a sound, not to give them any victory over him but he couldn't help the moans and groans as the pain escalated. He tried to protect himself but it was no use, the attack was relentless. Steve stood rigid, a small twitch at the corner of his eye the only indication the video was affecting him until Annie glanced down at his hands, clutched into fists so tight and powerful all his knuckles had turned pure white.
Finally, the beating stopped and the goons moved to position themselves on either side of Danny's limp body. They supported his weight by placing their hands under each of his arms. Danny's head limply hung down onto his chest causing one of the men to reach up and lift his face to the camera. He was almost unrecognizable. Both eyes were swollen almost completely shut and blood was pouring from both his severely split lower lip as well as several cuts along his hairline. His normally bright blond hair a dirty, matted mess.
There must have been some sort of signal, unheard on the recording, which instructed the men to move away. Suddenly, they unceremoniously let go of Danny whose uncooperative knees gave out causing him to hang painfully from his bound wrists. A final involuntary moan escaped his lips, the only sound remaining. They all stared at the screen, each lost in their own emotionally turbulent thoughts when, just as it had started, the video suddenly, abruptly, ended.