Mirror
Chapter Three
"I tried to walk together
But the night was growing dark.
Thought you were beside me
But I reached and you were gone."
-Red
The Maile Amber alert was out and active even before Steve had hung up on his phone call with Duke Lukela. The sergeant had corralled the bullpen at HPD more than effectively, barking out orders that could rival McGarrett's tone on a good day. Photographs of both Amber and Grace, as well as a description of the small SUV Amber had been driving and general descriptions of the men who had carjacked her. The call had gone out to Chin, Kono, and Lou to double-time it back to the office now and don't bother with dawdling. The fact of the matter was that they honestly couldn't do much from HQ but they needed to regroup, reevaluate, and find firm footing again.
In the time it took for the other three members of the team to arrive, Steve was witness to something he'd seen before and honestly never wished to see again. Danny had come close to falling apart completely, leaning over the table while both hands clenched the edges of it tightly. Two harsh breaths and Steve had seen Danny pull himself back together, piece by failing piece. First, the trembling had stopped, though his knuckles remained white on the table. The lines in his face had hardened into a determined anger: his jaw set, eyes narrowed, and every line of his body was taut with a barely contained rage. Steve had pulled away then, unwilling to push boundaries with a supportive hand on his partner's shoulder. Danny was every inch a man who was shove away any such reassurance; he would hold onto his anger with a single-minded grip and use it keep himself moving forward. By the time Grover strode through the door, Chin and Kono in his wake, Danny was a silent, terrible sentinel at the table.
It was Steve who did the talking, answering the questions before they could be asked. Each of them had faced difficult, personal situations before and Steve could almost see the wave of empathy completely undo the piecing together Danny had done. When Danny wavered – visibly so, a hand once again clutching the table for support and breath ragged – Steve had been the one to step in and keep things as business-like as possible. Chin had caught what he was doing first; he had gently laid a hand on Kono's arm and urged her to step back, to not lean in so close to the detective. Danny had taken a breath then – a real breath, deep and steadying – and the rest of the team had followed suit.
It was personal, absolutely, but it was also a case and they never solved a damned thing while railing against fate.
Steve watched as his team, to varying degrees, did the same thing Danny had manged: reel in fear and let anger guide them. Perhaps it was dangerous, in some way. Perhaps it was reckless, but it was also all they had. Kono stepped up to the table, furiously tapping away at the board as she dug up everything she could find on Reyes and every associate he'd ever had. Danny had watched for a moment before his phone rang; he'd nearly jumped out of his skin at the call. The trembling was back as he answered but when it was HPD, Steve watched the walls drop back into place.
While Danny gave HPD as much information as he possibly could muster about Amber and her habits and Kono tracked the footsteps of a dead man, Steve pulled Lou and Chin aside. "Tell me – please tell me – that you have something."
"I tracked down the Mustang," Lou said, one large hand rising in a placating gesture. "Don't ask. It was pure luck. Guy was just out for a drive. He had argued with his girlfriend, said he needed to clear his head."
Chin picked up the story. "He wasn't much help. He did see a van in the area. He couldn't tell us much about it, but he did have a time."
Steve nodded. "Okay. Okay, good. So we can start with that at least."
Chin looked troubled but it was Grover who spoke. "McGarrett, stop for a second. Without a direction, a time isn't gonna do us much good. We still don't know which cameras might have picked up something and there's not surveillance on every street. If they know what they're doing, they don't have to show up on camera."
Steve frowned, but nodded. "Yeah. I know." He glanced at where Danny stood off to the side of the bullpen, hands running through his hair as he spoke to HPD. Turning back to Chin and Lou, he asked, "What about Amber's car? We know she headed west out of Ala Moana Park."
"That might be doable," Chin said. "If we can just narrow something down here..." He trailed off, frustrated. That unflappable cool that defined Chin Ho Kelly was starting to evaporate.
"Find something," Steve stressed.
"Steve!"
He looked up to find Danny crossing the room toward them, Kono following closely behind. Danny's expression was closed, but a horrible fear danced in his eyes. Kono's eyes were narrowed, her brow furrowed. Without another word, Danny strode forward and showed Steve the text on the screen.
The money for the girls.
"Kono," Steve barked.
She spun on her heel and practically dived for the table.
"It's going to be a burner," Danny said – and his voice was too level. "They're not dumb."
Steve shook his head. He knew that, but it had to be done. Behind Danny, Kono heaved a frustrated sigh. There was that, then. Burner and untraceable. Goddamnit. Her phone rang and she sent it skittering across the table in her haste to grab it. Cursing, she recovered and answered curtly. When she barked two questions – "When?" and "Where?" – all attention was on her.
"No, we'll run it down," she said. "I don't want eyes off the streets until we confirm this one way or another."
Steve noticed Danny trembling again as he turned to watch Kono closely.
Chin's phone rang. Steve glanced at him, lips pressed into a thin line. His conversation mirrored Kono's; the rest of them waited impatiently for some information. After Kono demanded an address, she tapped the screen to end the call. Glancing at Chin, who was still speaking, she looked straight at Danny.
"Someone called in about Grace. The caller told Duke that he was certain it was her."
Danny wavered again. Steve reached out and settled his fingertips on Danny's shoulder. He felt the shaking, felt Danny force himself to take a breath. "Then we're going." There was a resolution in his voice, fueled too much by fear.
"Wait," Chin said. "Wait a sec." He gestured with his phone in hand, expression earnest in the face of Danny's impatient silent anger at the interruption. "Amber's car has been found. It's parked at a motel about eight miles from Ala Moana."
For a moment, they all fell silent. Danny took a shuddering breath and turned to Steve. He laid a hand on his shoulder, palm over his collarbone. "Go. Get Amber."
"Danny..."
"Just..." He shook his head and shoved lightly. "Take Chin and Lou and go. It's the first solid thing we've had. Duke's lead isn't vetted, you know that. I'll take Kono."
"I don't think-" Steve frowned, unwilling to split his team up now. He knew full well that they were all capable. More than, in fact, but now? Now when he needed to keep them all safe, keep them all from heartbreak. He couldn't do it now.
Another light shove against his collar. "Steve. Just go." Danny paused. His hand had stilled, the trembling once again shoved back underneath a veneer of rage. "Please."
Steve watched him closely for a moment and what he saw in Danny's face changed his mind. There was trust there; trust that Steve could handle this for him when he was being pulled in too many different directions. Danny needed to follow through with the call about Grace, but it was tearing him apart to walk away from Amber.
And so Steve nodded. Danny's hand tightened on his shoulder before he abruptly turned and motioned for Kono to follow. Steve caught her eye as she left. She nodded resolutely at the silent plea.
She'd watch his back.
It was a nice motel. Nothing huge or fancy or anything, but it was clean. Every room had an inside entrance and no balcony, which had Steve frowning. Lou pointed it out, though: if you wanted to control someone, you wanted to limit interaction with the outside. A motel room with an inside entrance and no balcony would certainly go a long way toward doing that. In full gear, the three of them had bullied the manager into compliance. In truth, Steve didn't give him much time to even try a token argument against a search. He'd simply steamrolled through the conversation until he had a guest list. Two seconds from asking for a master key and just searching every room, Chin had asked about cameras.
Steve had to abort a move to pinch the bridge of his nose. Right. They had descriptions of the guys. While Lou grilled the manager over customers, Steve once again glanced at the white SUV parked near a side entrance. His blue Silverado was parked haphazardly behind it and he fairly fidgeted in place as they narrowed down the list of rooms. If they were hear, Amber might well be dead by now, what with all the delaying trying to figure out where to go.
"Third floor," Lou announced, turning from the manager. "Two men, room 314. Checked in yesterday, haven't seen 'em since." He held up a keycard. "Figure it's time to check on 'em. See how they're doing."
Steve settled a hard glare at the manager. "You got a key for the side door there?" He chucked a thumb in the general direction of Amber's SUV.
The manager nodded and, after a moment of fumbling, produced another keycard. Chin took it. "On it," was all he said before he was jogging out the door.
Steve pointed at the manager. "Sit. Don't move." He turned on his heel, Lou close behind, and practically leaped for the stairs. The semi-automatic weapon was comfortable in his hands as he took the stairs, the barrel of the gun easing around corners before he followed. Lou climbed behind him, his own weapon moving, covering them but finding no targets yet. Their footsteps were near silent on the carpet. They passed the second floor landing and turned to continue to the third floor.
Steve glanced at Lou, holding up three fingers and then counting silently down. Lou moved to cover the door. At one, he put his hand on the knob – and it turned under his fingers. Steve took a step back and brought his weapon to bear.
It nearly gave the poor cleaning woman a heart attack.
Eyes wide, her jaw dropped and the scream was a strangled sound, full of sharp fear. Lou lowered his weapon as Steve backed away, one hand up in a placating gesture. "Hey, hey, hey, it's good," Lou said quickly. "You're fine. Police, see?" He thumbed his badge at his belt. "Police. We're good."
She fell back against the door jamb, hand over her mouth and scream dying away. She swallowed hard, hand dropping as she tried to speak.
A bullet stole her words.
Red blossomed in her chest as Steve and Lou scrambled for meager cover. The maid slid bonelessly to the floor, her eyes wide and unseeing. Steve, in the more untenable position at the top of the stairs, scrambled to join Lou around the corner of the landing. He shoved himself up against the wall, crouching low as bullets strafed the wall behind where he had been standing moments ago.
"Think we got the right place?" Lou asked dryly.
Steve snorted. Quickly, he double-checked the weapon, and raised a brow at Lou.
"Yeah, yeah," Lou said. "Cover you, you're gonna do something reckless."
"You sound like Danny." Steve ducked back as bullets pinged against the wall.
Grover gave him a look, both brows raised and dark eyes widely innocent. "Just being helpful." He shifted, ready to round the corner and start shooting. "We gonna do this or what?"
Steve winked at him – and dove around the corner. Lou stood, ready to provide cover.
The stairs were empty.
From his position on the floor, Steve cursed. One hand on his earpiece, he directed Chin to the lot. Glancing at Grover, he spoke. "HPD's on the way, right?"
Lou nodded. "Yeah. They were about fifteen minutes from getting here ten minutes ago."
"You could just say five minutes." Steve pushed himself to his feet and pulled the card from a pocket on his tac-vest. "Come on."
The room wasn't far from the door. While Steve unlocked it and pushed the door open, Lou covered the hallway. It was a small room; like the rest of the motel, it was respectable but nothing to write home about. Two beds occupied the main room. A table and two chairs were pushed up against the wall near the window. A single lamp was on between the beds. To Steve's right was a closed bathroom door. He touched Lou's arm lightly, then turned to open the door.
He took a breath – then snorted in frustration when he realized the door was locked. Lou took a step back so that Steve had room for one good kick. (And Lord knows he needed it; the knot of dread that had settled in his stomach would not quit.) The door banged open; Steve caught it on the rebound and trained his weapon on the first thing he saw in the room.
His heart leaped into his throat.
On the floor, half under the counter and her hands zip-tied around the pipes under the sink, Amber was clearly unconscious. The door had just missed banging into her knees. Blood streaked the side of her face, dribbled down her chin from a bloody nose and split lip. Her wrists were raw and still bleeding sluggishly, but her obviously broken right arm caught Steve's attention.
Shoving his weapon aside, Steve crouched to join her under the counter. He heard Lou behind him, kneeling in the doorway. "She alive?"
This time, it was Steve who was trembling. (He saw it clear as day, how he'd have to tell Danny that he was too late. The trust had been misplaced.) It was more trepidation than it was concern that kept his touch gentle as he placed his fingers against her neck. Before he felt a pulse, though, Amber moved. Her mouth tightened and her feet scrabbled against the linoleum floor in an effort to get away from the hand at her throat. At the movement, Lou stood and pulled out his phone. Steve didn't turn away from Amber.
"Hey, hey." His voice was soft and, hopefully, a counterpoint to what she may have heard thus far. "Amber. It's good. It's okay." Steve looked at the zip-tie, wincing on her behalf at the way her position pulled on the fracture. "You with me?"
Her breathing was ragged. Frightened, Steve realized. Absolutely frightened. He cupped her cheek with a gloved hand. "Come on." Gently, he patted her check. "Eyes open, Amber. I gotta see you, okay? We're here to help."
She was coming around. Steve glanced at Lou once again kneeling in the doorway. "Ambulance is on its way. Just a few minutes behind HPD," he said. There was a look in his eye, mirrored in Steve's own. Rage, grief, concern. He barely knew this woman and all he could think about was what this would do to Danny. "She all right?"
Steve frowned. No, not really. "She's on her way back." He moved his hand, carefully brushing strands of hair out of her face. "Aren't you, Amber?"
The sound she made was more a whimper than anything; both Steve and Lou winced at it, but her eyes opened. Unfocused and frightened, but open, and Steve mustered up a smile for her. "Hey you."
Her brow furrowed. Her mouth worked for a moment before she managed sound. "Commander?" It was a breath, nothing more than a word borne on an exhale.
"One and only," Steve returned. His smile fell as he looked back to her hands. "I'm going to cut the tie. It's going to hurt. Do you understand?"
Amber licked her lips and swallowed. In her face, beyond the pain and fear, Steve saw much the same thing he'd watched Danny do earlier that day. He saw her push it aside, saw her use the fear to fuel determination. He smiled at her again, more real this time but no less worried.
"Grace," she said. "Grace." Her eyes focused a little more and she looked past Steve, past Grover, and to the open door. Dimly, Steve heard sirens in the distance.
"We'll find her." Steve's voice was resolute.
"I sent her away." Amber's gaze found Steve. "I made her run." Tears welled, ran down her cheeks, leaving tracks in blood. "Danny's gonna hate me."
Lou made a noise at that: genuine concern and soft disbelief. Steve worried his lip and his hand found the nape of her neck. Amber flinched at the contact. "Look at me, Amber."
She did. That fear was foremost in her gaze again.
There were a million things Steve could say but it wasn't his place. This was a conversation for Danny and Amber and no one else. "You sent Grace away? What does that mean, Amber?"
She licked her lips again. "Distraction." Steve furrowed his brow. Amber's expression changed again, a resolute anger taking over, pushing the fear aside just for that moment. "Fought. Distracted them so Grace could run."
Steve stared at her, mind whirling. Abruptly, he pulled the knife from its sheath. "Call Kono," he barked at Lou. "Call her." He said a little more quietly, but with no less edge. The lead had placed Grace nearly on the other side of the island. If Amber had managed to get her free, then... then what? Danny and Kono were following up on a witness wannabe?
That knot of dread seized Steve's breath. He hoped that's all it was. He hoped it was nothing more than someone seeing something wrong – which left him floundering, trying to figure out where Grace could be. He took a breath, ran his hand over Amber's hair, and, supporting her elbow with one hand, he cut the zip-tie. Her left hand fell away; Steve cradled her right arm as gently as he could manage.
The sirens were louder now – in the parking lot, by the sound of them – but all Steve could hear was the soft sounds of Amber's ragged breathing.
Then Chin's voice sounded in his earpiece, breathless and relieved.
Steve, you're not gonna believe what I just found.
TBC...
Okay, now I'm not gonna be around for a few days. I felt bad about the cliffhanger, so, before I leave off for a little while, I'll give you something slightly less cliffhanger-y. See? I'm a nice whump-obsessed author!