Take Two: Chapter Thirteen
A/n: Thank you for the reviews! What did you all think of the latest H 5-0 episode?
Hilariously, to Chin and Kono, Eric had been right about the assassins. They watched as the cops with them apprehended two gun-clad, masked men, who had attempted to sneak into the building.
"Think these are young recruits in the cartel trying to prove themselves?" Kono muttered to Chin as they watched the police handcuff the two masked men.
"Makes sense." Chin nodded, his arms crossed against his chest. "But they didn't really think their plan through."
"No." Kono had to laugh. "Chin, this is just ridiculous.
Chin nodded again, but did not laugh. He was troubled. This all seemed too easy to him.
"Look, they're being unmasked." Kono said, and Chin craned his neck to see who exactly was trying to break into police headquarters.
Steve and Lou found Joel at the hotel where his family was being protected. He had been sleeping, mostly, trying to forget the hellish he had had on Hawaii thus far. Joel's wife and child had been left completely in the dark the entire time. Needless to say, Joel's wife had no problem with waking him up when Steve and Lou arrived.
"Can't you all leave me alone?" Joel complained, throwing on a t-shirt and sitting up in the bed. "I've done my time. I'm done with you. Just let me be."
"Can't do that, big guy." Steve shrugged helplessly. "You apparently knew about the assassins being sent to kill Detective Williams, and the one person you decided to tell was his nephew?" Steve said. He and Lou stood at the foot of the bed. Joel sat up defiantly.
"Yeah, so what? I didn't send anyone to kill anybody. I just told the kid because he was desperate. I've done my job with 5-0."
"Oh, and what was that, exactly?" Lou asked.
Joel threw up his hands, searching for words. "I got you all out of headquarters, they took the information they needed, and then they left me alone. I'm the one who messed up. I'm the one who got arrested."
"So now what, you're just going home?" Steve said. "Do you even have a home?"
"In Colombia." Joel said after a moment. "Really. My wife is from there. We stay with her parents. They're good to our son."
"Oh, so you do think of your family." Lou grumbled. "If they live in Colombia, why are they here with you? They like to watch you do your dirty work?"
"No. It's not like that. I had to bring them. It was more believable that way. You know, my story."
"The one where you have a brother who was kidnapped."
"Just like Detective Williams had a family, here's my family."
"And then what? So the cartel called you up and said they would be sending some guys over to kill Danny, and then what?"
"Not the cartel as a whole, no." Joel shook his head. "I did my job with them. This was just one guy."
"Who?"
Joel scoffed. "What do you mean who? Who do you think?" He looked at their faces. They really didn't have a clue. Joel laughed. "Ricardo Reyes, that's who. Marco Reyes's older brother."
Abby stared out the window, from her position in 5-0 headquarters. Two men were on their knees. Their masks were taken off of their heads and thrown to the ground. Abby watched as Chin and Kono exchanged glances, although she couldn't decipher the look between the two cousins.
She turned around and glanced at Danny. He had nervously been walking around for the better part of the morning before he had taken to cleaning his sacked office. Abby noticed he was once again staring at the cracked frame of his children. His eyebrows were furrowed. Then, he pulled out his cellphone and dialed a number he knew by heart. Abby walked towards his office. Danny had his back to her now.
"Yeah, Rach?" Abby heard Danny say. "Huh? No. I'm okay. Listen, are Grace and Charlie with you? No, everything's fine. I'm just checking, you know. I'm just worried. Nothing. Forget it. Yeah. Really? Uh, I'm not sure." Danny was smiling. He noticed Abby looking at him, and he looked down, clearing his throat. "Listen, I'll call you back. I'm getting another call. Okay. All right. Yeah. Bye." Danny glanced briefly at Abby before he answered the call.
"Chin."
"Danny." Chin said. "I think we've been played."
Danny frowned and put the phone on speaker. He walked out of his office and over to Abby. "What are you talking about, Chin?"
"The assassins here, they're Hawaiian. Definitely not part of the Colombian cartel. They admitted to being paid to do this. Danny, we were set up, and I'm not sure what else is in store."
Abby glanced at Danny. Danny was frowning. He sighed before nodding. "Okay, thanks Chin."
"Danny-"
Danny hung up. He looked at Abby.
"What are you going to do?" Abby asked.
Danny shook his head. He was confused. He put his phone back in his pocket and went back to his office. "Get out of here, huh." He muttered. He looked at Abby. "I think we should go."
"Agreed." Abby nodded. Danny took the photo of his children out of the broken frame and tossed the frame into the nearest trash can.
"Let's go."
He walked only a few steps towards Abby before the explosion occurred.
Steve and Lou finally got Joel out of bed. He led them to the small kitchenette, where he served them tea. His wife wordlessly left with their son to go to the hotel pool. She was furious with him.
"Ricardo Reyes." Steve muttered wordlessly, not touching his tea. "Marco had an older brother."
"He had twin sons, is what Marco Reyes had." Joel retorted. "I knew them. They were devastated when Marco was murdered. Ricardo has been caring for them ever since, but it's difficult to make ends meet." Joel shrugged. "Ricardo was never involved in the cartel. He wasn't as wealthy as Marco. All of Marco's money is inaccessible until the boys turn eighteen."
"So Ricardo isn't in the cartel, but he hired some guys to take out Danny anyway?"
"It's not so difficult, you know. People do it all the time in America. Haven't you ever seen Leon: The Professional?"
"Anyway." Lou grumbled. "What you're saying is that Ricardo found out, and he wants revenge."
"Everyone in the cartel knows about the Williams brothers. Matthew was the laughingstock of Marco's crew for a while, mostly because of all his stupid mistakes. Your detective was a surprise. They didn't expect Mattie's brother to be so…I don't know, competent?"
"So Ricardo first sent you," Steve cut in, "and when you screwed up he sent some real assassins?"
"I was never meant to kill Detective Williams." Joel interrupted. "Don't put that on me."
"Okay, fine. But answer my question."
"No."
"No, he didn't send assassins?" Lou repeated. "Then who the hell are we expecting? Girl Scouts?"
"No, the assassins already stopped by headquarters."
"What, for an afternoon chat?" Lou threw his hands up. "What are you trying to say?"
"I don't…Listen, I don't think you should be looking for a hitman with a gun, okay? Ricardo doesn't work that way."
"Meaning?"
"Well, I don't know. He's a chemist. If I had to guess, he'd send one of his homemade bombs or something."
"Boy, I'm going to really punch your face in in about two minutes. What do you mean homemade bomb? Why didn't you tell us that before?"
Steve whipped out his phone to call Danny, but before he could, Danny called him. Steve answered immediately, standing up quickly. "Danny. Listen, you should leave-"
"Steven, shut up." Danny's voice was raspy. "Abby's hurt."
Chin and Kono ran into the building. The explosion was small enough that only their floor seemed damaged, but smoke trailed through the entire building. Chin covered his nose and mouth with his arm as he ran up the stairs. Kono yelled Danny and Abby's names. When they finally reached the door to HQ, they couldn't get in. The door was locked.
Eric Russo had beat them to the door. Kono and Chin hadn't realized anyone else was ahead of them, but there he was, pounding his fists on the locked door. "Uncle Danny. Uncle Danny. Uncle Danny!" He screamed. "Hey! Open up!"
"Hey!" Chin pulled Eric away from the door.
"Let go of me!" Eric yelled. "Fuck!"
"Eric!" Chin snapped. "Step back!"
"No, don't you see? Danny's in there!"
"Eric, okay. Okay." Chin took in a deep breath as Kono tried the door. It was locked. "Call Steve, Eric. Now."
Eric nodded dumbly. His breathing was heavy. He pulled his phone out of his pocket with shaking fingers and dialed Steve's number. After a moment, however, Eric shook his head. "Dammit. Busy signal. Lieutenant Kelly, what-"
"First, we're going to see if we can break down this door." Chin said.
"With what?" Eric retorted.
"Chin, this is headquarters. You can't just break the door open." Kono said, but Chin was already gearing up. He attempted to break the door down with his shoulder. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, Chin knew this was impossible, but he pressed forward anyway.
No luck. Chin reeled with a curse, rubbing his shoulder. "Abby!" he yelled. "Danny!"
Danny was barely conscious. The explosion had knocked him against the glass wall of his office. He had hit the glass with his head, hard, before falling to the ground. Somehow, he remained awake. The smoke blinded him for a moment, but when he could see again, the first thing he saw was Abby, sprawled by Steve's office. She had a cut on her forehead, and was unconscious. Danny attempted to go to her, but his vision was hazy and his head swam. There was horrible pain in his chest. It hurt to breathe.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and called Steve. It was involuntary. He didn't even think about it.
"Danny." Steve seemed to be expecting the call. He answered immediately. "Listen, you should leave-"
"Steven." It hurt to breathe, Danny didn't want to waste his breath. "Shut up. Abby's hurt."
"What do you mean?"
Danny closed his eyes and took in a raspy breath. "There was an explosion. Steve, there was an explo-"
That was when Danny was pushed back down. Someone was suddenly on top of him. Danny's phone slipped out of his hand as Danny struggled against the weight of this stranger. The man punched Danny in the chest, right where the pain was. All the breath left Danny's body, and he couldn't even cry out as he doubled over in pain. Before he could react, the man was dragging Danny across the room. As he was pulled across the floor of broken glass, the shards tearing through his shirt and cutting him, Danny glanced fleetingly at Abby. She was still unconscious.
The man picked Danny up and threw him on the computer table. He was wearing a mask to protect himself from the smoke. He stared at Danny, while Danny clutched his ribcage and groaned. He definitely had a few broken ribs.
"My name is Ricardo Reyes, Detective Williams. You killed my brother."