CHAPTER 8

"Not bad gentlemen, not bad at all. Anyone following?" Rent asked as he took off his stocking and cap and smoothed wisps of thinning brown hair across his balding pate.

Brett checked the rear view mirror before shaking his head, "No, clean get away. I think they gave up boss!"

"Good. We don't want to share our cargo with anyone!" He pushed McGarrett's unconscious head away from his shoulder where it had inadvertently come to rest as they rounded a corner.

Steve's eyes were closed and his face pale from the drug but he was breathing evenly. Barlow grimaced at him and fastidiously picked one of Steve's dark hairs from his cream jacket before checking the handcuffs they had hastily thrown on their captive.

With Williams gone there was a bed going spare and McGarrett was going to take up residency. For a while at least – until he could arrange a very unusual auction.

He smiled to himself, happy with the way his plan worked out. Soon he would be a very rich man. Reaching into his jacket he took out a fresh cigar, ends already clipped. He rolled the fat, dull green leaves under his nose, savoring the exotic aroma and snapped his fingers at Noah who automatically flicked open a lighter and reached into the back. The big man coughed as a ring of exhaled smoked puffed into his face and his boss frowned at him.

"Take that silly contraption off Noah, in case anyone sees you!"

"Oh yuh!" Noah pulled the sweaty stocking over his head, mussing his hair as he did so. The car smelled of wood smoke and cigar smoke and he gagged.

"Where to boss?" Brett asked, concentrating on the road ahead.

"Stop the car somewhere. Even if those other incompetent officers from the Marketplace aren't on our tail you can bet McGarrett's got some kind of device on him. I would say we're being tracked."

"Okay."

Before long Brett pulled into a siding, just off the main road and Barlow got out whilst his two cronies laid Steve down on the back seat and checked him over for anything unusual. Unbuttoning his shirt they found the device in no time, stuck to Steve's hairs under the bandage supporting his cracked ribs. Noah pulled it off him indelicately and showed Rent.

"Well well, a tracking device – I was right!" Barlow muttered staring at the tiny piece of equipment. How he knew it was a tracking device, neither man inquired.

Just as Brett was about to drop it to the ground and crush it underfoot, Noah caught sight of someone across the other side of the road, "I uh, I've had an idea boss!"

Barlow followed his line of sight and saw a young teenage girl, walking her lap dog on the sidewalk. He smiled, "Very good Noah, I like your thinking. Let's give Five-0 a run for its money."

Noah was pleased with the compliment and after easing the sticking plaster off his friend's fingers ran across the road to the child.

"Hello miss, wait up!" he said as the young girl walked perkily, along with a short-legged white fluff ball on a lead beside her.

Curious, she stopped and turned, pink skirt swinging around her hips. She saw a tall, quirky looking young man in a suit, blond hair sticking out sideways. The girl laughed and it took a few seconds for Noah to realize that he looked like a Circus clown. He laughed in tandem and ran a hand through his hair, making it even worse. She was giggling now.

"Sorry miss," he said, feeling strangely self-conscious under her critical gaze, "That's a fine dog you have there. It's a Poodle isn't it?" he asked and bent down to the animal who was now yapping and jumping up at him, eager for attention.

"A Bichon Frise if you must know." She said haughtily, shocked that anyone wouldn't be able to tell what one was.

"A bitch on what?"

"Frise!"

"Well he's a lovely dog…"

"She's a bitch!"

"I'll just bet she is! Can I stroke her?" He bent down without waiting for a reply and the dog went mad, tiny tongue licking his face - much to his disgust. As the dog's antics distracted its owner, he swiftly plastered the locator to the animal's stomach, pressing it hard to secure it and got up.

"What's her name?" he inquired as he kicked the over-eager creature unobtrusively with his leg.

"I call her my little Foopsie."

Noah was completely unable to respond to that. Instead he blinked at her, smiled, blinked again, then somewhat falsely waved at her before racing back across the road, wiping his face with the back of his hand and shuddering.

The girl shrugged her shoulders and carried on walking, completely oblivious to the fact that she and Foopsie were now hunted young women.

"Job done, that should keep them out of our way for a while." Noah said and brushed himself down.

"Good, let's get back to Phantom, I have work to do."

&

"Che, this is Chin Ho." Kelly held the radio mike tight, tension after the events of the day making his hand cramp. Kono leaned heavily on the car bonnet and watched his colleague's face, anxious for news of Steve.

"Read you Chin. I have a firm signal, we're tracking it now."

"Good, tell us where you are, we're on our way!" He said, relieved to hear that at least something was working.

"Heading North on Kapahulu. We've just passed Olu Street. They seem to have slowed down. Could be caught up in traffic."

"Let's hope we catch them! Don't do anything until we're there, just maintain a discreet distance, we'll bring back up."

"Understood."

"Okay Kono, let's go get the boss."

&

"Darling where have you been? Come on Caroline, we'll be late for tea and you know how irritable Grandmother gets!"

Caroline's mother greeted her in the open as she and Foopsie ambled back to their house, without a care in the world. Both girl and dog were hastily bundled into the car and the whole family pulled out of their driveway to visit their dreaded Granny who lived but a short distance away.

On the floor of the car, Foopsie was lying on her owner's feet, panting from their walk, on her tummy the beeper faithfully sent out a signal to Che Fong. Caroline never thought to mention her strange encounter with the nice dog lover with the odd hair. She had already forgotten about him.

No sooner had the unsuspecting family arrived at their relative's sleepy suburban street than they heard the sound of sirens bearing down on them. Thinking it to be someone else's problem or a neighborhood house on fire they greeted Granny Davis warmly and went inside, Foopsie happily following, ears flapping in the breeze as she tumbled through giant human legs and into the living room.

Within minutes Police cars, armed officers, Che's van, Chin Ho Kelly, Kono Kalakua and an assortment of curious onlookers had set up camp. Kono directed HPD men around the back of a group of houses Che pointed out and he handed Chin a bull horn before unholstering his gun and taking a stance behind their vehicle. He just wished that Danny had been there to see it. He knew his friend would be relieved to know that they had his kidnappers trapped and that Steve would soon be back with them.

Chin wondered whether there would be gunfire so ordered people carefully evacuated to safety from the nearby houses. Finally, the nod went out that everyone was ready. It wasn't exactly a smooth operation and he was prepared for a fight.

Che couldn't be precise about which building McGarrett was in but was fairly sure it was the middle one of three – a modest, detached weatherboard house with a neat and well tended front yard and a myriad of colorful flowers dotted around with care. It even had an English-looking porch with an abundance of roses growing over it and a bird bath smack in the center of the lawn with what looked like a pink plastic Flamingo leaning drunkenly on it.

"Unusual place for a hide out bruddah?" Kono said.

"I was thinking the same thing Kono. You think we've been had?"

"Could be. Still, we've gotta know. If Steve's in there we can't take that chance."

Chin nodded and raised the bull horn to his mouth. "YOU IN THE HOUSE, THIS IS THE POLICE. LEAVE YOUR WEAPONS AND COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS RAISED!" He said, the sound of his voice spinning across the road to the occupants of number 420.

The only sign of activity was a net curtain which suddenly came to life as a succession of confused looking faces appeared at the window.

"WE HAVE YOU SURROUNDED. COME OUT NOW."

Very slowly the front door opened and the tension in the air mounted. Chin could hear guns being readied and he screwed his eyes up and squinted at the entrance, wondering just who - or what - was in there.

A man's face appeared, surveying the area and swiftly it went back in again like a tortoise in a shell as Caroline's shocked father explained to his mother-in-law, wife and children - all of whom had backed up behind him in fright - that he thought the Police meant them.

The door opened again and the guns were raised higher.

The dumbstruck man stepped out, hands in the air, just as he had been told, followed by an elderly woman, clasping a handbag to her ample bosom, two amused looking children (hands not raised) and a scared looking woman, clearly the man's extremely urban and very harmless-looking wife. Suddenly from beneath their feet something shot out like a bolt and everyone twitched at the sudden action.

"Foopsie come back!!" Caroline shouted as her dog disappeared.

Foopsie ran out of the gate and straight across to where Kono was, happily wagging her tail, pleased to see so many new friends to play with. Curious, Kono bent down to the animal as Che Fong walked across, in the open, seemingly unaware he might be setting himself up as a target and picked the yapping dog up. Everyone was bemused as the diminutive oriental turned her over in his arms, he smiled as he spotted what he was looking for and pulled off the tracer before plopping her back on the ground and holding it up to a stunned Kono.

Chin and Kono looked at the scientist and as one said, "We've been had."

&

"God that hurts!" Danny cried out, unknowingly echoing Steve's words not that long before and jumped as hands prodded his leg again. He didn't recall anything of the journey to the hospital and as he lay on the gurney in his rags, his vision swam worryingly. He was unable to shake the feeling that Steve was in mortal danger and he was beginning to wish he wasn't being forced to endure the attendance of medical personnel as they huddled around him. He tried to catalog his injuries but found it hard to focus; he just wanted them to leave him alone to sleep but not before they gave him some much-needed pain relief.

A voice said irritably, "Stop moving will you please Detective, if you will try to relax we can examine your injuries." This was uttered by a brightly attired and hip looking doctor who had hair a tad too long for Danny's liking with bristling sideburns that clutched his jawline like two hairy slugs and a tie that appeared to have a psychedelic life of its own. He didn't look old enough to be an intern, let alone a fully qualified Doctor. His breath smelled of garlic.

"This doesn't look good." The hippie MD said and winced as though he was nauseated by the sight of blood. "I want X-rays, head, leg, chest. We'll need to see to these burns too – nasty!"

Even though he still had the feeling that he was being attended to by a wannabe surgeon love-child in a groovy fancy dress outfit, Danny sighed and let the words wash over him. He had enough of feeling weak, he wanted all his strength back so he could find Steve. After some sleep. That's all he seemed to crave nowadays and wondered just how hard his head had hit the road after the explosion. He hurt so much.

Explosion – dead body – bomb – warning Steve – flash of light – agony – darkness – people - more agony – fire – darkness. Over and over again, like a broken record. If he could only flush his head, he'd feel a lot better.

At some point he became unconscious but how or why he wasn't really sure. He thought he felt hands lifting him and voices softly singing but realized that part was patently ridiculous.

The next time Danny became aware of anything in the real world he was mostly unclothed and bandaged and felt himself flush with embarrassment. He was lying in bed, curly head propped up with hard pillows and a light shone on a table next to him, drawing his attention to it like a spotlit Diva at an Opera. There was nothing much of note on the table, it just drew his attention and for a second he zoned out, recalling once more the flash of light before the force of the bomb threw him backwards.

His mouth was dry from a combination of anaesthesia and smoke which made his stomach churn. As he tried to make himself more comfortable the world shifted off kilter and he clutched his midriff; ribs and back protesting. Something inside his brain compensated for the dizziness and brought his eyeballs back to center but the fog he was experiencing told him that he had got his wish and the pain, whilst still there, was an irritation not a drumbeat. He noticed his leg was heavily wrapped and half-wondered if they had operated on him. Danny sighed.

"You look delightful Danno," A familiar voice said from across the room.

He cleared his throat and said croakily, "Hey Chin - nice - to see you – or it would be if you could stop the room gyrating for just a moment."

"Good to see you awake bruddah." Kono's voice this time and, easing his head up just enough to look at his visitors Danny had the terrible urge to laugh as an image flashed into his mind of the detectives dressed like Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, the two brothers from Alice In Wonderland. He really, really needed a holiday.

"Chin was having you on - you look terrible!"

"Thanks, you've looked better." Danny quipped.

"Looks like you've been to a wahine parlor Danny – you got face cream on!"

Danny tested the truth of the statement by dipping his fingertips into the drying lotion on his cheek. His naked chest and shoulder were also daubed with the stuff.

"Burns." He said and sounded almost surprised.

"Doc says you will still be pretty." The Hawaiian laughed.

The mood in the room suddenly changed and a cloud bore down over Danny's head, "What - about Steve?" He asked but even as he spoke the words knew the answer.

Chin and Kono looked at each other and Chin came closer to Danny's bedside. "No luck – we lost him Danno."

Danny closed his eyes and pressed his head deep into the pillow. His adam's apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed hard and opened them again. "Any ideas at all who has him?"

"No, we were hoping you might have."

Williams began to panic, heart racing, "How – how long have I been out?"

Chin smiled kindly at him and brought him up to date, "They brought you in about four hours ago. The Doc said he took a piece of shrapnel out of your leg and that you've got a concussion, cuts, burns, contusions, mangled wrists, one cracked and one broken rib and a bruised ass. You're a mess bruddah!"

"Bruised ass?"

Chin shrugged, "Guess you had to land on something bruddah!"

"Mahalo." Danny didn't feel like smiling at the joke though, he was too busy worrying about how they were going to find McGarrett. "I know there's - something I should remember. I just need – to clear my head!"

"Hey don't twist yourself out of shape Danno, it'll come. You've been through enough."

Danny's blue eyes brimmed with sudden tears as he remembered one thing about the events that day, "Oh God, I let him walk into a trap. It's my fault!"

Aware his friend was hurting, Kono stepped forward and squeezed Danny's forearm lightly, "Not your fault bruddah, Steve knew what he was doing. He said to tell you to do a better job than he has and not to feel guilty. He also said he would do it again in a heartbeat and…."

Danny looked questioningly at Kono as his friend paused, "Steve said to say thanks."

That did it, tears rolled down the sides of Danny's face and blended with the cream, carving a ribbon of greasy water across his features. He clenched his fist and tried to control his feelings, unable to say what he would like to have said to Steve's face, aware McGarrett's words were meant as a final goodbye and an acceptance of their friendship over the years.

"If only - I hadn't made a sound…it's all my fault…" he wept.

&

He tasted steak, rich and bloody, and juices ran down the side of his mouth. He was dining with Cathy and Danny was the waiter, dressed handsomely in a penguin suit with a bow tie that was too large for his yong friend's slender neck. As they moved on with their conversation Steve was aware that time had moved forward too and that his main course had miraculously disappeared to make way for dessert. As Steve caressed Cathy's hands Danny smiled - his eyes twinkled in the candlelight and he winked at McGarrett knowingly as he held a golden tray of giant peaches aloft and began to pour alcohol over them with lavish abandon.

Danny's eyes remained focused on Steve's as a gloved hand brought a box of matches out from underneath the trolley, already fizzling, the cardboard and all the matches on fire but Danno appeared not to notice the pain as the flames caught his glove before tossing the matchbox onto the tray; the peaches roared with blue light as the alcohol burned off and sent flames back onto his friend's body. Smoke surrounded Danny and McGarrett pulled his hands away from Cathy's clutches as he scrabbled desperately to get to his Second-In-Command but he couldn't reach that far and he dragged the tablecloth with him as he fell and everything plummeted down on top him, cutting him off from Danno.

The scene shifted and he saw Danny, tied to the staircase – bloodied and hurt and a shrinking halo of flames moved perilously close to his friend. Steve's legs hardly moved, they were leaden and heavy and he pulled each one until they inched toward the wooden steps. He yelled out 'I'm coming Danno!" but Williams was insensible and so Steve battled on, moving the demon arms of smoke aside like prison bars as he tried to get up the stairs – to get to his friend before he burned to death. The staircase lengthened and lengthened like a telescopic lens and with each successive step McGarrett was pushed further away from his friend until finally the fire overtook him and Danny awoke, screaming in agony.

"DANNO!!" Steve awoke with a jolt, crying out as the nightmare seemed all too real. He blinked, trying to clear his head of the smoke, the fog and the echo of Danny's final moments. McGarrett was glad it hadn't been real but then, with a breathtaking jolt he recalled that it had been real – he HAD seen Danny on that staircase and he couldn't save him.

"Dear God! Danno!" he exclaimed as he became fully conscious.

The sound of hands clapping focused his attention. Standing in front of him a man was applauding. McGarrett's eyes took a moment to register the face and then he exclaimed with a hiss, "Barlow! You bastard!"

&