Joe looked around the dim interior of his bolt hole. He'd already gone to ground, and even now, even with all their considerable training and resources, Nick and Steve wouldn't be able to find him. His career was over, there was no denying it. But when it came down to keeping his promise to the Navy and the CIA, or keeping his promise to John McGarrett . . . well, he hadn't broken that promise yet, and he didn't intend to now. He just hoped that John would forgive him for what he was about to do.
'Protecting' Steve and Mary had turned out to be a lot more difficult than trying to make sure they survived to adulthood. Some days he questioned what, exactly, he was supposed to protect them from. He'd settled, years ago, on protecting them from the truth.
WoFat had called his bluff, and now Joe had to decide whether to protect Steve from the truth, or protect Steve's wife and unborn children from WoFat. Joe shook his head. It shouldn't be a difficult decision, and it wouldn't have been, if Doris had been anyone other than John McGarrett's wife and Steve and Mary's mother.
Shelburne. It all came back to Shelburne, just like he'd known it would. Joe sighed and picked up the satellite phone, blew the dust off the keypad, and pressed in a long series of numbers.
There was a crackle of static, and then a once familiar voice.
"He's found one of them?" Doris said, without introduction or preamble. There was no need. It was the only reason Joe would have to contact her.
"He's found all of them," Joe said. "I'm all out of smoke screens and cards to play, Doris. It comes down to you in exchange for Steve's . . ."
"For Steve's life?" Doris asked. "You know that's not even a question Joe."
"Not for Steve's life," Joe said. "It's more complicated than that. It's you, in exchange for Steve's wife."
"Stevie is married?" Doris asked softly. "The answer is still the same. I'll be there in under twelve hours. It's only an eight hour flight from Tokyo."
Joe was silent for a beat. "You've stayed there, then?"
"I'm here now," Doris said, laughing. "I've been around the globe a few times in the last two decades, Joe. Where do I find you?"
Joe glanced around. "You don't. Report to Pearl Hickam. Convince the Navy and the SAD that you'll work their angle. Convince them that if they turn you over to WoFat, you'll help them take down his network."
"And if I'm not willing to do that?" she asked.
"Pretend you are," Joe said. "And then do whatever the hell you want, once everyone on this end is in the clear."
"So your career will be over, you know that, Joe," Doris said.
Joe sighed. "Yeah. Yeah, but what can I say? I've seen the two of them together. My promise was to protect Steve, and if he loses her . . . he loses everything. My career . . . pales in comparison."
"There's something you're not telling me," Doris said. He could hear rustling in the background, could easily imagine her rifling through a stack of identities and passports.
"There's a great deal I'm not telling you," Joe said. "There isn't time and it's . . . it's more than is my place to say. You don't have to do this, you know. There will be a military solution, of sorts. They're scrambling, but you know Steve. He'll come up with something. WoFat will slip up on something, some shred, and that's all Steve will need. You don't have to do this."
"Yes, I do," Doris said. "For all of them."
"For Steve and his wife?" Joe asked. "Mary?"
"For Steve, for Mary," Doris said, "and for WoFat."
#*#*#*#*#
Jax rubbed her wrist absently and the nurse looked at her, frowning.
"It shouldn't have left a mark," she said. "WoFat will be angry."
"Hmm? Oh," Jax said, looking down. "No, there's no mark."
"Good. If you're finished, then . . ." the nurse gestured impatiently back to the reclining chair.
"Please, there's no need for the restraints," Jax said. She had drawn out her bathroom visit as long as she dared. Wherever she was being kept, it seemed primitive, shabby. Possibly hastily constructed solely for this function. It made her hopeful that she could find a way out, find a way to communicate with Steve and the team. But with no windows in sight, and no sound that she could detect, it was impossible to guess. And if she was restrained . . . practically impossible to do anything but sit and wait.
"WoFat's instructions are clear," the nurse said anxiously. "You may have nothing to lose by resisting - you are valuable. I am not. Please, I'll let you get comfortable, and then I'll put the restraints on very loosely, but please do not let WoFat find fault with me. He has promised to release my sisters if I cooperate."
Jax sighed and returned to the recliner. "He couldn't spring for a bed? A mattress? Memory foam?" she grumbled. Her casual words belied the rising anxiety she felt as the nurse reached for the restraints.
"Please, try to sleep," the nurse said. "You've been awake for nearly twenty-four hours. You must rest. If not for your sake, or mine, then for the baby."
"I'll try," Jax said. She sighed and closed her eyes. "What happens if WoFat doesn't get what he wants?"
"WoFat always gets what he wants," the nurse said, dimming the lights in the room. "He wants Shelburne most. But he'll be satisfied with you."
#*#*#*#*#
"I want people on Danny's and Grover's families," Steve said, nodding at Nick. "Our people. Not HPD. Chin is already secure, I'll send Kono to join him. WoFat may decide he needs more leverage, I don't want to risk it."
"Detective Williams, can you give me addresses and help make calls?" Nick asked, standing.
Danny nodded and followed Nick from room, leaving Steve and Catherine in awkward silence.
"How has Jax been enjoying Tripler?" Catherine asked quietly.
Steve managed a smile. "She really likes it, Cath. It's not exactly a desk job, you know? So she's . . . adjusting. Better than anything else would have been, I think." He paused for a moment, considering. "WoFat didn't make his play for her at Tripler, or at the house. He knew he had to isolate her from me, from the team . . ."
"From a hospital full of military and ex-military," Catherine added.
"But he knew her schedule," Steve said. "Knew when she'd be heading home. It was timed close, Cath."
Catherine nodded and grabbed for her phone. "What do you want me to add to the forensic guys' search?"
"CCTV around Tripler," Steve said. "It's how I would have done it. You don't need to risk having a person on the inside, if you can simply track movement. Low priority, though. We can worry about how he pulled this off later, after we have Jax back.
Danny and Nick walked back in. "Everyone's secured, Steve," Danny said. "So, what next? We go track Joe down, make him tell us what he knows, right?"
Catherine, Steve, and Nick exchanged a glance.
"Yeah, that's not gonna happen, Danny," Steve said quietly. "It would be a complete waste of time and energy. If Joe wants to tell us something, he'll find a way."
"Okay, then, what are our other options?" Danny demanded.
"We get a fix on WoFat's location and go after Jax," Steve said.
"Or we find Shelburne and work out an exchange," Catherine said.
Steve shook his head. "No. I'm done playing. I want to take WoFat out, once and for all."
"And risk Jax as collateral damage?" Nick asked quietly. "Don't you think we've already spitballed that scenario? Steve, he's not remotely objective. We go in there with -"
"No, I agree, we can't take a team in there," Steve said. "Just me. I go in alone. He wouldn't be expecting that."
"The hell he wouldn't," Danny exclaimed. "That's the first thing he's expecting. It's a suicide mission that gets Jax killed in the process. There has to be another way."
Steve exploded out of his chair. "Another way would have been for the Navy and the fucking CIA not to have tied my hands behind my back the last time we had a shot at WoFat." The chair left a dent in the wall as Steve stormed toward the door, wrenching it open violently.
Nick, Catherine, and Danny sat for a moment in stunned silence.
"One of us should keep an eye on him," Catherine said quietly.
"In a minute," Danny said. "Let's give him a minute, yeah? And what are our options? What is the Navy thinking, seriously?"
"Well, the United States does not negotiate with terrorists," Catherine said.
"Bullshit," Danny said. "The Navy has to know that Steve will not only resign, he'll go rogue. You two understand that, right? Come on. Someone has to have a plan."
Nick sat back in his chair. "Right now, Danny, we're hoping that Joe has a plan. Because the God's honest truth is - we don't have one. And Steve knows it."
#*#*#*#*#
Doris settled into her seat on the airplane and pulled out a tablet and pencil. She had a lifetime of explaining to do.
Dear Steve . . .
#*#*#*#*#
Danny found Steve outside, sitting on the metal stairs of the building. The pale moonlight reflected off something in his hands.
"We haven't picked out names yet," Steve said quietly, sensing Danny behind him.
Danny eased down onto the step next to Steve. It was an ultrasound picture, he realized, one of the more recent ones.
"The doctor calls them Baby One and Baby Two," Steve said. "Baby Two is smaller, see?"
"Yeah, I see that," Danny said. "Is Baby Two the girl?"
Steve nodded. "She's tiny, like Jax. But I'd put money on her being the one I can feel kicking. I don't know why, but that's what I think."
"Probably has Jax's temper," Danny said. "Though your own display just now was impressive."
"I don't see any way out of this Danny," Steve said, "and it scares the shit out of me. The only thing I can think to do is go look for Joe."
"Thought you all agreed that was pointless," Danny said.
Steve shrugged. "Maybe pointless for two SEALs and an intel officer to look for him. Maybe not pointless for his friends' son to look for him."
"Ah. Something you've not shared with the class?" Danny asked.
"Could be," Steve said. "If Joe does have a line to Shelburne . . . if he's been withholding that information all of this time, his career is over. It would also mean that he's been lying to us - to me . . . "
The door behind them opened.
"Guys?" Catherine called out, breathless. "We've got a video call coming in. It's WoFat."
#*#*#*#*#
The lights turned brighter, suddenly, and Jax squinted up as WoFat came into the room. He looked fresh and rested, in a change of clothes. His hair still looked slightly damp. Jax had noticed that her own small bathroom was equipped with a tiny shower stall, and she regretted not yet having demanded a shower.
WoFat frowned at the barely touched food still sitting on the tray next to Jax.
"You didn't eat," he said. "You must."
"She - she tried," the nurse stammered. "Perhaps some fruit."
"Perhaps some coffee," Jax said, "and perhaps without these damn restraints. What do you think I'm going to do, slip out the back and call a cab?"
"Clever, you're hoping to gain information on your location," WoFat said. "Why didn't you simply ask? You're in a remote location. There is no 'back', there is no taxi. There is no one here to help you."
"We could be in the basement of a high rise in Honolulu," Jax said. "Sound proofed. I'm not going to believe a single thing you say."
"So you'd continue to look for an escape, then," WoFat said. "And now you understand why the restraints stay. You try to get away, I have to stop you . . . and someone could get hurt. It all comes back to your safety and well-being."
"Well, then, for my well-being, I would like a shower and some clean clothes," Jax asked. "And some coffee."
"Very well," WoFat said agreeably. "I need to demonstrate to Commander McGarrett that his family is being well cared for. If a shower and some coffee are what you want, then that is what you shall have. See? It's not that difficult."
#*#*#*#*#
Steve and Danny scrambled to their feet and took off after Catherine, into a secure communications room.
The screen flickered and fractured for a moment, then settled. The camera was focused, very little visible besides WoFat's face. Steve's trained eyes scanned what little he could see of the background and was disappointed - it looked as if the entire space had been draped with some sort of gray tarp.
"You won't see anything behind me," WoFat said calmly. "And you won't gain anything from this frequency, although it will be so fun for your people to try. I have the best of the best. Eventually, you'll be able to track this location, but not in time."
"You're putting your guy up against Naval Intelligence?" Steve said. "Bold move."
"Worth it, to have a little chat with you," WoFat said. "Thanks for taking my call."
"I want to see Jax," Steve demanded.
"In good time. You know . . . most men from Asian cultures wouldn't find her attractive," WoFat mused.
"I really don't give a shit," Steve said flatly. He let his training kick in, willed his heart to stay steady and his face to betray nothing.
"But I was raised by an American mother," WoFat continued. "I was taught to respect and appreciate a certain . . . spiritedness in a woman."
"Jax will spirit her foot right up your ass," Danny blurted out. Steve shook his head imperceptibly.
"Oh, I have no doubt," WoFat said. "Under other circumstances, I would have enjoyed turning her loose and having a bit of fun."
"If I can't see her, we're done here," Steve said. He turned as if to abort the video session.
"Very well," WoFat sighed. "I forget, you Americans don't understand honor. I gave my word that she wouldn't be harmed. But here, see for yourself."
The camera panned over to reveal Jax being led into the room. Her hair was in damp ringlets around her face, and she was dressed in soft, loosely flowing pants and tunic. Her skin was pale against the rich purple silk. As her eyes scanned the room, she caught sight of Steve on the small monitor behind the camera.
"Jax," Steve said quietly.
She nodded and then looked away, unwilling to give WoFat the satisfaction of seeing her lose her composure.
"As you can see, she is in good health," WoFat said. "She requested a shower, which was provided for her, and she was supplied with something other than those ridiculous military issue surgical scrubs to wear. Something as delicate and exquisite as Jacqueline should be dressed accordingly. I believe her other request was for coffee."
"Of course it was," Danny muttered.
"Have a seat," WoFat ordered Jax.
She stood, silently but stubbornly refusing, and WoFat laughed.
"This is amusing," he said. "Not as amusing as it would have been to physically force you to do what I want, but almost." His hand moved swiftly and smoothly and then there was a blade, glittering in the harsh light of the overhead bulb. He held it a hair's breadth away from the curve of Jax's stomach.
Catherine gasped, covering her mouth quickly with her hand.
WoFat looked into the camera, and just beyond it, to the monitor, to see Steve's reaction.
"Sit. Down," WoFat said evenly.
Jax closed her eyes, briefly, and dropped her head. She allowed herself to be nudged into a chair by the nurse. Steve watched, horrified, as Jax sank into the chair, and allowed the nurse to fasten soft restraints around her wrists.
WoFat chuckled. "They won't leave a mark, don't worry," he said. "I wouldn't dream of marring that perfect fair skin. But she won't give up the idea of leaving, and we can't have that. Now, how about that coffee?" WoFat glanced off camera as someone entered the room, and handed him a delicate, steaming cup. "Oh, this smells wonderful," he said absently.
Jax kept her head down, refusing to allow the camera to capture her expression. She was on the verge of panic, on the edge of crying tears of rage and frustration. But the coffee . . . did smell wonderful. She could almost inhale the caffeine as she realized that it had been well over twenty-four hours since she'd slept.
"Here, allow me," WoFat was saying, holding the cup to her lips.
She pressed her lips together and shook her head slightly, her first instinct to refuse anything he offered her.
"Oh, now, don't be rude," WoFat said. "You asked for coffee, I brought you coffee. If you decline, I can arrange for a feeding tube. But then you won't get to taste it, and that would be a shame."
Jax's lips trembled as he pressed the cup to her mouth and tipped it. His hand slipped around the back of her head, steadying it as she drank. After a few sips, he handed the cup off to the nurse.
"Now, you see for yourself what excellent care we are taking of Jacqueline and the child," WoFat said, smirking into the camera. "I'm providing for her basic needs: food, shelter . . . and even her little luxuries, like a nice hot shower and a fresh cup of coffee. If she's pleasant, I might even, at some point, allow her to know what time it is. Day . . . night . . . it all looks the same inside a windowless building. But then, a little disorientation never actually hurt anyone, and I did promise only not to hurt her."
"I will find you and rip out your spine, you worthless bastard," Steve gritted out. "You want a trade? Let's start with me. Let her go, take me. Come on, you coward."
"Oh, you would be a different kind of enjoyment, to be sure," WoFat said. "But no, I like the prisoner I have. So easily convinced to be compliant. And if I don't get Shelburne, a lovely little consolation prize. I'd never thought about having a family, but I think I could warm to the idea. A soft body to curl up to at night, the pitter patter of little feet down the hall in the morning."
"It's never going to happen," Steve said. "She'll never give up and neither will I."
"Oh, that's touching, that really is," WoFat said. "Those words were meant for her, weren't they? Stubborn thing, isn't she? So determined not to display emotion. Not unlike you. All of that fire, all of that passion . . . that's saved up and unleashed behind closed doors, isn't it. Fascinating."
WoFat moved behind Jax, sliding a hand gently over her cheek and laughing as she flinched away. "There, now, I'm not going to hurt you . . . " he murmured. She shivered under his touch. "Ah, but others have, apparently. Don't worry, you're under my protection now." She tried to turn her head away from his hand, but his fingers tightened around her chin, tilting her face up toward the camera.
She looked beyond it, to the monitor. Steve was looking directly into the camera, forcing himself calm and steady. "It's been fun chatting, WoFat, but we need to grab some breakfast and get back to work," he said. "So, if you're done with your posturing and your attempts at intimidation that you've picked up watching corny movies . . . maybe we could get back to getting you what you want."
Jax looked into the camera for a split second, and Steve could read the relief in her eyes. She'd picked up on it, then, his reference to breakfast to orient her to time, if not to place. It was morning. It had only been about twelve hours, then, since she'd been grabbed. It helped, just as he'd known it would.
WoFat released her, and she tossed her hair back defiantly. He looked down at her, then back at the monitor, suspicious. He'd thought that seeing each other would weaken them, but somehow in those seconds, their resolve was strengthened. His expression turned to barely controlled rage.
"Very well then," he said. "Take a good long look, Commander McGarrett. If you ever want to lay eyes on her again, you'll deliver Shelburne to me."
The connection was severed instantly, plunging the room into sudden darkness and silence.
Nick reached to the wall switch and brought up the level of light in the room.
"Did you get anything?" Steve asked the technician.
"Sorry, Commander," he said, shaking his head. "He bounced it off a satellite, through a remote relay . . . I mean, we have locations but they're bogus."
"What are the locations?" Steve asked. His voice was flat, emotionless.
"Email this morning was made to look like it was coming from a server in Coronado. This video call originated from an IP address supposedly from North Korea. Which is impossible, since -"
"I know," Steve said. "He's playing with me. Choosing places I've been. Keep at it. His guy is good, but you're better."
Danny watched as Steve slipped effortlessly into the role of SEAL team leader, and then realized that the Steve that he knew was relatively new to the world, still learning how to live on the bridge between military and civilian life. And yet this Steve was completely familiar, standing calmly and projecting confidence, treating the tech team with respect and consideration . . . this was simply the essence of Steve. The leadership was innate, the only difference was the team.
No wonder I didn't argue with him when he barged into my apartment, Danny thought. There's no arguing with a force of nature.
"We'll get you location, sir," the tech said. "You can count on it."
Danny watched Steve pull self-control over him like a shield.
"What else you got, Bullfrog?" he asked.
Nick tilted his head toward the door, and they followed him to a small room between the communications room and the conference room where they'd first started. Danny started to feel like he was in an alternate universe, or on the set of a movie. For a moment, it didn't feel real - and then he stepped into the room.
A whiteboard was filling with a timeline, most of it in what Danny assumed was Catherine's neat block print. It started with the first deliberate incoming message from WoFat. Steve stepped up to the board and added two more times, noting Jax's departure both from their home and from Tripler. He tapped the board with the marker.
"Couple hours, between her leaving Tripler and WoFat's first message," Steve said. "That gives us a maximum radius." He turned to a map and grabbed a pin, jabbing it in the location where they'd found Jax's car.
"We don't know what he was flying," Nick said, musing over the map.
"You think he was in the helicopter?" Danny asked, surprised.
"He was," Steve said with flat certainty. "He's doing this firsthand, now. He's traveling light, just a couple of trusted associates."
"Or threatened associates," Catherine said. "That woman with Jax looked terrified."
"Or acted terrified," Steve countered. "He would do that, Catherine," he added gently. "He knew how to get to Jax to begin with - he knows how to play on her sympathies."
"Either way, we have to assume there's no one to help from the inside," Nick said. "Not like last time. But he clearly knows that keeping Jax healthy is his only leverage. She's okay, Smooth Dog."
"Yeah, until WoFat has Shelburne . . . or knows that he won't have Shelburne," Steve said. "Then all bets are off."
Danny shook his head. "No. She's safe at least . . . at least until the babies are born. He's pathological. He wants . . . he wants Steve's family. Revenge . . . retribution . . . a replacement, for something. Not that profiling matters, we know who we're after, we just don't know how to take him down, without risking Jax. But . . . she's safe, for now. Which is a relief. Jax and the twins are much more valuable to him alive."
"Babies . . . he doesn't know," Steve said. "He's said child, infant . . . never twins, never babies. He has recent intel, but not the most recent, and not the closest. Jax has been obviously pregnant for a little while . . . since she took the job at Tripler. But surveillance would show that much. If he doesn't know it's twins . . ."
"Then there isn't anyone on the inside, feeding him detailed intel," Nick said, picking up his train of thought. "Joe knew about the twins."
"So, we gotta assume that Joe knows something - knows enough to disappear, throw away his career - that WoFat doesn't know," Danny said.
Steve turned back to the map and grabbed a red marker, drawing a circle around the red pin. "So, we have a window of time in which Jax and the twins are physically protected, we have a loose radius of how far he could have gone in two hours, and we know that he doesn't have all the intel. We still have cards to play."
"Okay, what's next?" Danny asked.
Steve took a deep breath. "Danny, you and Catherine are no good to us pushing it past exhaustion. Grab something to eat, try to get a little rest."
They both started to protest, but Steve interrupted them. "Steve's right. Danny, you're a brilliant detective but you weren't trained to endure sleep deprivation. And Cath . . . okay, just . . . under the circumstances, can you just not with the 'equally trained and capable' . . . we know you are. Probably more capable. But I need you and Bullfrog here, on base. There's something I need to go do."
Catherine and Nick exchanged a glance.
"Plausible deniability?" Nick murmured.
Steve looked at him for a moment, silently. Danny watched curiously as something of significance passed between them, without a word.
"I'll grab a snack, check in with the tech guys," Nick said deliberately. "Make sure Lieutenant Rollins is set with some chow and a private place to catch a quick nap."
"Danny," Steve said, turning to him. "You'd probably appreciate grabbing a shower and a change of clothes. Since you don't have a locker here, and since you might encounter difficulty getting on and off base without escort, I'll be glad to see to it."
Danny looked at Steve, confused, and then just shook his head. Plausible deniability meant that the less he asked, the better.
"Yes," he said simply. "Yes, that sounds good."
#*#*#*#*#
Jax held her head high as the nurse prodded her out of the room. Her eyes scanned the short hallway for any identifying features, but once again all she could determine was a sense of the structure being poorly constructed. The video equipment had looked fairly sophisticated, to her uneducated eyes. She jerked her arm away from the nurse in frustration.
"Don't," she said, simply and sharply. She was in no mood to be touched, not by anyone.
"You're shaking," the nurse said, almost apologetically. "I didn't want you to fall."
"I'm fine," Jax snapped. "I need to go to the bathroom." She didn't wait for the nurse to respond, walking into the tiny space and slamming the door shut. Once behind the door, she pressed her hands against her eyes and bit back a sob of exhaustion and frustration. She splashed water on her face, realizing that she didn't, in fact, need to use the restroom.
I'm already dehydrated, she thought to herself, and forced herself to swallow a few handfuls of tepid water from the sink. She took a deep breath, and then another, and willed her hands to stop shaking before she left the room.
There was a fresh tray on the table next to the recliner, with a plate of fruit and a bottle of water.
"WoFat says you must eat and drink," the nurse said. "And if you want more coffee, you need only ask him, and he will bring it."
"I will never ask him for another thing," Jax gritted out, although she wanted more coffee so badly she could almost smell it.
"You must eat and drink," the nurse repeated. "And rest. You have not slept and that can be dangerous."
"I don't need you to tell me that," Jax said irritably. She picked up a piece of pineapple and forced herself to chew and swallow, while she tried desperately not to think of Danny and how he hated pineapple, or anything or anyone else.
#*#*#*#*#
Danny waited until they were well outside the gates of Pearl Hickam before shifting in his seat and looking at Steve.
"So, are we going somewhere inside that big red circle you drew on the map?" he asked cautiously.
"What if I said yes?" Steve asked, half smiling.
"I'd get my vest out of the trunk," Danny grumbled.
"We're going to my house, where you really are going to take a few minutes to rest, eat, shower, whatever you need," Steve said.
"And what are you going to do?" Danny asked.
Steve's knuckles turned white on the steering wheel.
#*#*#*#*#
Jax truly didn't need to be reminded the sleep deprivation could be dangerous. She just wasn't sure what to do about it.
The nurse had dimmed the lights again. Jax was already losing track of the approximate time. Had it been an hour since Steve had declared it breakfast time? Two hours? More? Less?
"I have a sedative," the nurse said. "It's safe past the first trimester."
"No," Jax said quickly. She didn't trust anything that WoFat had to offer. "I'll sleep. I'm tired, and the shower was very nice. I'm sure I'll be able to sleep. But please, without restraints. Where would I go? I'm not going to risk it."
The nurse pursed her lips and shook her head. "Restraints are ordered by WoFat."
Jax fought down the panic and allowed the nurse to fasten the restraints. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the subtle weight around her wrists.
#*#*#*#*#
Steve waited until he heard the water running in the guest bathroom before he slipped under the stairs and opened the hatch to beneath the house. He slipped down the fold down stairs, pulling the string for the light as he went. He rummaged under a shelf and pulled out a radio.
He thumbed a switch once, twice, three times, and waited.
A crackle of static, and Joe's voice came over the radio.
"Hello, son," Joe said, with a dry chuckle. "You remembered. Your old man must have showed you this when you were, what, fourteen?"
"Thirteen, sir," Steve said. "Joe. What the hell is going on? Did you take the evidence from the Champs box out of the Marquis? Why'd you disappear?"
"The only thing you need to know, right now, is that Shelburne is on the way to Pearl Hickam," Joe said. "Someday . . . I hope you find it in your heart to forgive me. I tried to keep my promise to your father the best way I knew how . . . maybe I did it wrong. I don't know."
"You've known, all along," Steve said. "Joe, people have died."
"It's bigger than you or me, Steve," Joe said. "Go back to the base, wait for Shelburne. I'm sorry I lied to you, son."
#*#*#*#*#
Jax crept into the babies' room to check on the twins, just one more time, before she went to sleep. She felt a hand on her shoulder, rubbing gently, and she turned.
WoFat smiled down at her. "We make a beautiful family, don't you agree?"
She jerked awake, violently, her heart racing. The nurse was scowling at her.
"You said you would sleep, you said you were tired," she said sharply.
"I did sleep," Jax protested. "I was - I was dreaming, I had to be sleeping . . ."
"You barely closed your eyes. You are going to get me in trouble," the nurse said.
Jax stared at her in disbelief. "I'll try again," she whispered, and closed her eyes. She would pretend to sleep, at least, and worry about the consequences later.
#*#*#*#*#
Steve found Danny in the babies' room, staring at the mobiles.
"Sorry, I didn't mean -" Danny started.
"It's okay, Danny," Steve said softly. He stared into the room, silently.
"Hey," Danny said, reaching to pull Steve into a hug.
"Danny, don't, I -"
But Danny wouldn't be deterred. He grabbed Steve anyway, wrapping his arms around him, and Steve relented. His hands fisted in Danny's shirt as he let himself lean into the shorter man's solid strength.
"This shouldn't be happening, Danny," he said desperately. "She shouldn't be mixed up in this, she should be . . . I don't know. Driving SWAT medic trucks too fast, drinking a beer with her team, going home to . . . to Patrick at the end of the day, or something."
"Okay, now, you wanna talk about an alternate universe," Danny said, half laughing. "We're gonna get her back. Wait - you're not all painted up and dripping explosives. What's the deal?"
"Shelburne is on the way to Pearl Hickam," Steve said.
Danny grabbed Steve by the shoulders and held him at arms' length, staring at him.
"What have I told you about burying the lead, Steven?" he demanded.
#*#*#*#*#
"Here," Nick said, staring at Steve in disbelief. "Shelburne is just going to . . . show up?"
"That's what my informal intel had led me to believe," Steve said. "So, can you do it? Can you get the gate security feed in here?"
"Yeah, of course, but - here?" Nick asked again.
Steve shrugged. "In the meantime, let's talk about most likely scenario of WoFat's current location."
Danny watched with absent curiousity as Steve and Nick plotted and speculated. Catherine soon joined them, her face scrubbed clean and looking more rested, and bearing a tray of four steaming cups of coffee.
Steve was three sips into his when he stopped, suddenly, choking.
"Excuse me," he said, as he bolted from the room.
"Ah, shit," Nick muttered.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking," Catherine said, her eyes filling with tears.
"Honey, it's okay," Danny said. "We needed coffee, it was a perfectly reasonable . . . you couldn't have known. He's walking a pretty fine edge."
"It's not just that, Danny," Nick explained. "It's . . . I know what he's doing. He calculating the windows, marking the timelines . . . certain windows are closing."
Danny's blood ran cold. "What do you mean? WoFat has no reason to hurt her, I thought we all agreed with that. What are you saying, certain windows are closing?"
"The psychological effects . . . look, she'd worked a full shift, right, before WoFat grabbed her," Nick said. "How likely is she to sleep, being held against her will, worried about - we're pushing into thirty-six hours, now, and Steve's keenly aware of that. If we get to forty-eight, there's a significant physical impact and . . . and that's under normal circumstances. We hit the thirty-six hour mark. He's keeping track."
Danny stared at Nick, trying to process what he was hearing.
"So you're saying, even if he doesn't lay a finger on her . . ."
"We've studied this, Danny," Catherine said gently. "It's part of our training, especially Steve and Nick's. What WoFat was doing with . . . what you saw on the video, with the coffee and -"
"Lines have already been crossed," Nick said. "WoFat is flirting with psychological torture. Forced dependence, removal of her autonomy, her ability to say no . . . it seems innocuous, but -"
"What Nick is saying, Danny," Steve said, standing silently in the doorway, "is that there's now way of knowing . . . we're not sure what shape she'll be in when we get her back."
"But she'll be okay," Danny said. "Right? I mean, she'll be shaken up, but she'll be okay?"
Steve hesitated, and before he could answer, Nick's phone began buzzing insistently.
"I've got one of the security gates," Nick said. He answered the call, putting it on speaker. "Go ahead, Leevy."
"Sir, I have a . . . this is highly unusual sir, but I have someone here asking to see Lieutenant Commander McGarrett," the officer said. "She says he's expecting her. Gives the name Shelburne."
"Have her escorted to our building, officer," Nick said. "She doesn't go anywhere on this base unattended, are we clear?"
"A woman?" Danny murmured. "Gotta say, didn't see that one coming."
"Chauvinist," Catherine muttered.
Nick was staring at Steve. "Interesting. The timing, and all, with you taking Detective Williams off base for some personal needs, and now a person claiming to be Shelburne showing up."
"It's something of a coincidence, now that you mention it," Steve said carefully.
They waited, each of them fidgeting nervously, until there was a knock on the door. Nick opened it, and two sailors stepped in, followed by a tall woman.
"Hello, Steve," she said.
Another set of sailors closed the door behind her and stood in the hall. Steve gaped at her in disbelief.
"Mom?"