CHAPTER 7
"Chin! Steve, find Steve!" Kono shouted, waving his arm in the direction he last saw their boss as he raced towards the fire and his fellow detective. Chin, together with two other officers hastened to where Kono pointed and guns drawn they fanned out around the burning building.
Through the smoke Kelly heard someone gunning an engine and digging in his pocket for a handkerchief placed it over his nose and mouth before entering the cloud of smoke, the others emulating him. In the fog he just made out the dark shape of a car backing away from the market but couldn't see any more details. As the three men ran to the back entrance and the relatively smoke-free street beyond, they just had time to register which car the perpetrators were in before it turned a corner, tires squealing and out of sight.
"Damn!" Chin swore as he re-holstered his gun. He shook his head at the two plain clothes HPD men, indicating for them to back down; it was pointless trying to follow. Whoever had taken McGarrett was making a clean getaway, thanks to their diversion.
Back inside the Marketplace Kono tried to take the stairs two at a time, held back by the occasional orange and yellow flame as it leaped across the air in front of him and rolled back on itself. He was totally focused on reaching Danny Williams and nothing, not even fire, was going to stop him.
At the top of the stairs Danny was coming round, the smoke entering his lungs making him choke from lack of air as he struggled in his bonds, luckily the gag protected him a little and he tried breathing through is mouth rather than his nose. He could hear fire licking the wooden boards beneath his feet, making them crackle and spit and felt the searing heat as the fire ate its way hungrily through the fuel the dying restaurant provided.
The upper floor was now being ravaged and noxious fumes spewed out of every crevice and broken window. With each passing second the killer flamers were coming closer to where Williams was trapped and he thought that perhaps his time had come.
Suddenly he heard someone else coughing but couldn't see his bulky rescuer as he loomed out of the smoke in the shape of Kono Kalakua. "It's okay Danno, I've got you!" A more welcome sound Dan never heard and he almost laughed in relief.
But Kono wasn't laughing; the big Hawaiian was hot and scared, as well he should have been, for the staircase was now a timber pyre and there was a good chance both he and Danny would fall to their deaths as the fire burned away the stability of their precarious perch.
Kono didn't waste time with niceties, he just pulled the gag down and lifted off Dan's blind before he attempted to untie the ropes that bound his friend. Danny was choking and in too much pain to even focus properly as the wood smoke stung his eyes and he dry heaved. There was nothing he could do to help himself and winced as the handcuffs linked to the ropes chafed his already damaged wrists.
Time was running out. As tourists and stall owners ran back and forth in panic down below, Chin and a small audience watched in morbid fascination at the scene above as Kono struggled with the ropes. He had no knife and the bonds were too tight for his large fingers to loosen.
Kalakua panicked, knowing the stairs could collapse at any second and as he did so his fears were realised as something gave beneath them followed by a crash. Part of the staircase had disintegrated. "Danno, we have to get off here!" Kono said, heart racing and Danny could only nod in total, exhausted agreement.
Fearing for his friend's lives Chin ran off to direct the firemen towards the scene in all haste. They needed to put the fire out on that side of the building first and they needed hoses fast. Enterprising people were bringing water and sluicing the sides of the building but each time the water hissed and sizzled, the fire just re-claimed the space, continuing to burn as the water became steam.
With McGarrett in the hands of kidnappers and Danny and Kono's lives in peril Chin felt helpless, he just hoped Che was tracking Steve in the van. He rushed back to the scene followed by firemen who began to set up their rescue. The fire engine had taken the back route the kidnappers had escaped through and pulled up by the side of the restaurant. Kelly hoped they would be in time but as he returned there was an almighty noise like a ship's hull grating against an iceberg and the rest of the stairs collapsed into a fast-blackening pile of kindling.
As he heard the rumble begin Kono immediately grabbed Danny's hands and latched them onto the iron railing, wrapping the rope around him and praying that part of the staircase was more stable. He had but a second to say, "Hang on it's going!" when the stairs collapsed and he and Danny were left dangling over a fiery pit, clinging to the railings.
Someone close to them yelled and Kono realized, to his acute embarrassment, that it was him, shock forcing the exclamation from his lungs. Danny's eyes were screwed up and he clenched his teeth as he struggled to hold onto the bars in his weakened state, his thigh and ribs hurt him terribly and his wrists chafed. Kono too was having difficulty, legs kicking as he tried to maintain his grip on the hot rail. He risked glancing at the ground below and saw flames perilously close to his and Danny's feet as they erupted into the air in search of something new to caress.
"Hurry up and get the ladders up there!" A fire officer shouted and turned to Chin, "Anyone else in the building?"
"No, not that I know of. Just Kono and Danny up there!"
"Okay. Stay back." He warned then turned away and rushed to help connect the hoses to the engine's hydrant. As they turned it on water rushed through the pipe like live food down a rippling snake and began to gush forth, dam bursting onto the ground and the flames, instantly dowsing as it went but not fast enough.
"Can't…hold…on!" Danny said, fear crowding around him as he felt his sweating palms slip from the railing.
"Danno!" Kono shouted in anguish, unable to grab Williams and a bystander screamed as Danny's body dropped heavily through the smoke but thanks to the rope he was left hanging painfully by his wrists, feet swaying back and forth - human steak over a camp fire.
Neither man was so high up that a fall would kill or even hurt them but the danger was in the fire raging below and they couldn't hold on for much longer with the railings heating up and beginning to buckle.
Mercifully it wasn't long before gallons of water soaked the flames into submission and arms were reaching for the men. Someone sliced through Danny's bonds and he felt himself being gently lifted down between two strong pairs of hands. Next to him the same was being done for Kono and as the Hawaiian reached the safety of ground level his eyes were watering, not only from the smoke, but also with gratitude.
"Get that ambulance here, this one's injured!" The Fire Chief shouted as they carried Danny away from the building and laid him down on the sun-soaked earth before slipping an oxygen mask over his head and face. Kono was dirty and dishevelled but fine enough to walk, he ambled over to where Danny lay and sat heavily next to his friend and after taking off the bloodied handcuffs put a supporting hand on Dan's shoulder. They gave him oxygen too as his lungs were also clogged with smoke but after a few drags on it he took the mask off, waving it away from him. He was more concerned about Danny's well being and very concerned about Steve McGarrett.
"Steve?" Danny coughed and croaked his question but one look up at Kono's solemn face told him they had been too late. Dan closed his eyes and a sob threatened to choke him. He felt it was all his fault. If he hadn't screamed when they hurt him then Steve would have never believed the kidnappers had him and come running. If only he had been stronger and kept his mouth shut. He tried to warn McGarrett but his stubborn Irish friend hadn't listened and now they had him and Danny had to find him before they killed him. But he just needed to close his eyes for a moment…..just for a moment…
"Hey, hey Danny!" Kono said as he saw the whites of Danny's eyes as they rolled up into his head and he went limp. "Someone over here!" Kono yelled, shaking his friend lightly. Chin rushed over and knelt down beside Dan and pressed two fingers against his neck searching for a pulse.
Finding one he said, "'t's okay Kono he's passed out. No wonder the state he's in; looks like he's lost a lot of blood too."
An ambulance man arrived and Chin got up as they lifted Danny onto a stretcher and took him away from the Marketplace.
Behind him, Chin held Kono back from going with Danny and watched as the crowds of onlookers stared at their prone friend being carried off, some even had their cameras ready and were happily taking snaps of him, the burning building and the uniformed men, no doubt to show their loved ones what an exciting holiday they had. Chin felt disgusted by it but had better things to think about than confiscating tourists cameras or giving them a lesson in ambulance-chasing. He turned to Kono, staring at the black-streaked and sweating visage before him. "You okay? That was a brave thing you did bruddah."
Kalakua dug out a white handkerchief and wiped his face and neck with it, smears of smoke ruining the crisp cotton as he got rid of as much of the grime as he could. He nodded and coughed, "I'm okay, just hope Danno will be."
"We can see to him later, he's in good hands so now we have to get hold of Che Fong and find out whether he's found Steve."
"No luck with the car?"
"Negative. We were too late, all I can say is that it was black and man it was smooth; rounded that corner so fast you'd swear it was a jet!"
"Description? Anything?"
"Like I said, we were too late. They've got Steve and we don't know who, where or why! With Danny out of commission too it ain't going to be easy bruddah, that's for sure."
"You can say that again!"