CHAPTER NINE
Due to Danny's complete disregard for the speed limit, he and the Camaro were caught up to the HPD patrol cars rushing through traffic in no time. Danny was pushing 80, but it still didn't seem fast enough. At this point, every second counted. Danny wanted to be rescuing Steve right now, not in the hour and a half from now that it was going to take to get there.
Danny drummed his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel when the indicator on his speedometer inched down as he hit traffic and cars frantically tried to get out of the way of the cars with flashing blue lights.
Just a little while longer, Steve.
Chin and Kono lost Danny about five minutes after they all left headquarters.
"Christ!" Kono swore as she slammed on the breaks as horns blared and cars skidded – a direct result of Danny blatantly ran a red light.
They could only watch, stuck behind the mass confustion, as the Camaro sped away. Chin glared as the drivers ahead of them took their time to get going again. With a sigh of frustration, he quickly turned on their police lights and sirens. The second that a narrow space opened up, Kono blasted down on the accelerator, flying forward, leaving the intersection in the dust.
The two cousins were completely silent as they raced through midday traffic. Neither one was really thinking. They both had identical mentalities of stubborn determination as they stared furiously at the road ahead of them, knowing that every mile brought them closer to Steve.
We're coming, Steve.
Catherine hadn't stayed with Danny and Kono's cars for very long, quickly taking an alternate route. She didn't know if it was faster or not, but she knew that she needed distance from her three other almost-colleagues. She knew that it was unfair for her to think that she cared more about Steve than they did, and she knew that they all felt the necessity to have him back.
However, she couldn't help longing for him in a way that she knew none of the others did. She and Steve had known each other for years and years. They had a long, complicated history that went way back. They had been to hell and back together. And she needed him.
She knew that Steve wasn't dead (and she refused to consider the alternative). Steve was strong – stronger than anybody else she knew, and she knew that Steve was out there, fighting. Fighting to live. Fighting to come back to her. And Danny. And Kono and Chin and the countless others who cared about him.
And she'd be damned if she had come all this way for nothing.
I'm almost there, Steve.
An hour into the hour and a half ride, Danny noticed Catherine's car rejoin the motorcade that consisted of a him, Chin and Kono, and a dozen HPD cars. He didn't wonder where she had been. That was her own business. All that Danny cared about was the fact that he was half an hour away from finding his partner.
Wo Fat had been reading a book in his quarters when he was alerted by a sharp knock on his door. "Enter," he said lazily.
It was his current second-in-command (he went through second-in-commands very quickly). "Sir, we've been alerted to HPD about half an hour out."
Wo Fat wasn't particularly surprised. It had taken them long enough. "How many?"
"About a dozen squad cars, sir."
"Do we have time to move the prisoner?" he asked slowly and thoughtfully.
"It is doubtful, sir. Sir, I suggest that you evacuate as quickly as possible."
Wo Fat sighed, mildly irritated by the officer's urgency. "Very well. See that the prisoner is sufficiently dealt with by the time they arrive."
The officer nodded stiffly. "Yes sir," he said stiffly before making a hasty exit.
With an air of disappointment, Wo Fat collected his things into a bag. It was a shame that McGarrett would have to die before he could tell him information on Shelbourne.
In his dank, dark cell, lying on the floor, some remote, distant part of Steve's brain registered the echoing footsteps that were getting closer and closer.
A slightly large part of Steve's brain became aware of hands roughly grabbing his limp body and lifting him.
Steve didn't even know if he was in pain anymore. He had no clue whether or not he had become numb or if he simply had become unable to distinguish between what was pain and what was not. His breaths were shallow, slow, and far in between.
However, Steve did become distinctly conscious of what happened next. He knew exactly what was happening. A part of him wanted to fight it, to hold on a bit longer. But Steve had already been down that road. He was done fighting…
As the rope was secured around his neck at one end and tied to the ceiling at the other, Steve prepared himself to welcome death.
The HPD cars pulled to a stop about half a mile away from the shore of Oahu, home to the pier that held the submarine.
"Do you think they know we're coming?" Chin asked Danny as he was exiting the Camaro.
"I wouldn't doubt it," Danny said grimly as he loaded his gun.
They were in a remote, isolated part of Oahu, almost completely uninhabited. From the satellite footage, Danny knew that the shoreline was all but deserted, with nothing but a shady, dingy dock to clue them in on Steve's whereabouts.
The sounds of cocking guns filled the air as Danny, Kono, Chin, and Catherine donned bulletproof vests.
"Ready?" Danny asked, and was answered by subsequently answered by nods of affirmation from the members of his team.
Danny signaled the HPD officers. "Let's do this."
Gunfire first erupted as foresty area they had been marching through finally cleared and the dock came into view.
Immediately everyone leapt for cover behind the trees. Quickly dodging out from the tree, Danny took out one of the guards. It only took about a minute for the other four guards to be eliminated.
As they got closer, Danny was able to see the upper portion of the submarine, and, most prominently, the hatch.
Danny made to dash across the dock, but found himself held back by the head HPD officer. Danny turned to glare at the older man, but he was met with firm eyes. "You've got to let my boys get in there first. Protocol."
Danny wanted to argue with him, but he caught Chin's eye, who shook his head.
Danny sighed, exasperated. "Fine."
The HPD officers descended into the hatch. He could only listen to the distant gunfire from above, doing nothing but pacing.
A few minutes later he was alerted by the head HPD officer. "The sub's not completely clear yet, but you have the OK to start conducting your search on the areas that have been covered. Be on alert, though, because the areas have not been searched thoroughly."
Danny, Chin, Kono, and Catherine were climbing down the hatch before he even finished his statement.
For a moment the four of them just stood there at the base of the ladder, taking in the rusty walls, the dark atmosphere, and the stale, musty air.
"Split up?" Danny suggested.
Without a word, the four of them began to make their ways through the various different corridors of the sub.
Danny busted open every door, scaled every room, and checked every closet for his partner. He didn't know how long he had been searching – 10 minutes? 15? before he heard Kono's voice in the comm in his ear: "Oh my God."
Danny froze. There was no question that Kono had uncovered something huge – something that hopefully looked a lot like Steve McGarrett.
"Kono?" Danny asked tightly.
"I need somebody to get down to the second floor down, first hall on the right, third door on the left, NOW!" Kono's voiced screamed in his ear.
Danny's heart skipped a beat from the panic that was evident in his younger colleague's voice. Danny looked around. There, right ahead of him, was the staircase that led down to Kono's location.
Everything, all those weeks of endless searching, had finally come down to this. Danny was almost afraid of what he would find down those staircases.
However, it only took half a moment of brief hesitation before Danny was running down the dark staircase at full speed. First hall on the right. Third door on the left. Kono's words echoed in his mind.
Danny skidded to a stop at the aforementioned location. What he saw inside that doorway would haunt him for the next months and years.
A man with the same shape and build as Steve McGarrett, but really didn't look like Steve McGarrett was hanging from the ceiling by a rope tied around his neck. Then he saw Kono, her arms wrapped around the man, trying to support his weight. The man was still, so very still…
Somewhere in the back of his mind he could hear Kono shouting at him, but everything was a fog… then abruptly Danny zoned back in.
"DANNY YOU HAVE TO HELP ME RIGHT NOW OR STEVE IS GOING TO DIE." Kono was screaming desperately, struggling under the weight of the other man.
Danny lurched forwards, fumbling for a knife to cut the rope with. "How-how long was he… has he been…" Danny mumbled.
"Hanging from the ceiling?" Kono asked hoarsely. Looking him dead in the eyes "I have no idea."
A/N: cliffhanger dun dun duuuuuun! but they found Steve YAY! (and, not to spoil the cliffhanger, but do you really think i'm going to kill of Steve? lol) so yeah. I know this chapter is a bit late, but I was busy. Among other things.
so yeah! gosh i say that a lot. So I'm thinking... (*tries to calculate a balance of hurt and comfort in her head*) two more chapters? three more chapters? I don't know. Definitely no more than four.
I'm going to try to update as quickly as possible, but I've sort of lost interest in Hawaii 5-0 (which is evident due to the fact that my updating has been nothing more than sketchy in the past two months or so). yeahyeah i know. but the loss of interest kind of happened abruptly, and when it did, I lost interest completely. I haven't even watched the season finale, lol (i do know what happened, though). DON'T WORRY i'm definitely going to finish this story by the end of the summer, if not sooner, but you'll just have to bare with me :)
PLEASE REVIEW! and out of general curiousity, what shows do you people watch? I like to have people to fangirl with :)
I watch:
Doctor Who (!)
Supernatural
Sherlock
Psych
White Collar
Once Upon a Time
NCIS & NCIS LA (but i've kind of lost interest in those too)
Lost (tears why did it end?)
New Girl
The Office (more tears)
Parks and Recreation
Burn Notice (not anymore though... I used to be obsessed but then realized how bad the acting and writing was)
Criminal Minds (not anymore, it got really bad)
hummm i hope i didn't forget anything...
BUT YEAH LET ME KNOW! SUGGESTIONS? FANGIRL SQUEEING? put it in the box below!
ERMAGERD HOW COULD I HAVE FORGETTEN HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER? KDJFKLASDJWEMETTHEMOTHERDJLKSJF