A/N: Still updating at a slower pace, but I'm so relieved not to be writing "in real time". I hope what I'm giving up in tempo I'm picking up in quality.
Also, yeah, wow - quite a few of you want to see what the deal is with Jax's parents, so (because you guys are awesome and I can't believe you're hanging in here with this story and you deserve so many prizes) I will try my best to give you some answers there before winding down the series.
It's probably obvious that this is completed un-beta'd - never has been - and at this point I'm being kind of lazy with editing and polishing, too. Shoot me a note if I've overlooked something glaring (or even something not glaring), please? AND yay -this chapter has now been edited thanks to the sharp eyes and insight of a reader. You rock!
#*#*#*#*#
Kono put the car into park and was out of the door before the engine completely quit turning. She and Chin could barely hear the sirens in the distance. HPD was on the way.
That was a small consolation at the moment.
"Second story," Chin said. "Looks like -"
"I see them. God, Chin, he has Danny," Kono said. She slipped to the back of her car and pulled out the sniper rifle, her hands moving swift and steady.
Don't think, she told herself. Don't think, just breathe.
#*#*#*#*#
"Toss your gun on the bed," the gunman snarled. He pressed his Glock against Danny's temple, his arm around Danny's neck.
"Look," Steve said. He had his SIG trained on the gunman but held one hand up, trying desperately to convey calm and control. "The place is about to be crawling with cops. Let's work this out right now, while it's quiet. Just me and you. Come on, you have a shot at getting away clean, right now. Once you hear sirens, it's over."
How the hell? How did he get the drop on Danny?
The gunman hesitated.
"Shoot him, Steven," Danny said. His voice was strained.
"Shut up, Danny," Steve said. Their bickering was automatic, instinctive, and he felt something in him settle and calm. It didn't change the fact that he didn't have a shot. Of all the people to use Danny as a human shield, it had to be some asshole who was roughly Danny's size, just an inch or so taller.
Danny rolled his eyes and tried elbowing his captor, his vest riding up.
Oh. Oh, shit. That's how he got the drop, Steve realized, as he saw the darkening stain spreading just above the edge of Danny's pants. His eyes flicked back up to Danny's, panicked, and Danny gave a little what-are-you-gonna-do shrug.
"Put the gun down, Paxton, you have no way out," Dillinger said. "You'll go down for dealing. I'm going down with you. Come on, man, don't make this worse."
"I - I'm going to make demands," Paxton said. "I have a hostage. I'm going to make demands."
Steve gripped his SIG more firmly and rolled his neck. This Paxton, whoever he was, was going to make a mistake, soon. He might have a split second, and he had to be ready to use it.
"Your hostage is injured, though," Steve said, "and that doesn't work to your advantage, trust me. At this very moment, all I have on you is suspicion of drug-related activity and assaulting an officer. Arguments are going to be made that you didn't even know the identity of the man you're holding, there. At this moment, things are still okay for you. You can still work with this."
Paxton hesitated, and then the sound of sirens pierced the air, and he glanced, wildly, toward the parking lot.
There was a crack, and so much blood, that for a horrifying moment Steve thought that it had happened, that Paxton had pulled the trigger. Danny's body was tangled with Paxton's, a jumble of limbs, and there was a dull thud as both bodies fell to the floor. Steve's hands were shaking as he quickly holstered his SIG, rushing to kneel next to Danny.
Chin and Kono materialized, Kono slinging the rifle on her back. Steve glanced up at them for a split second before turning his attention back to Danny, his big hands wrapping carefully around Danny's shoulders, trying to ease him free of Paxton..
"Shit, oh, shit no," Kono said, her eyes wild as she fell to her knees next to Steve.
Danny was still and quiet and there was so much blood, but then Steve finally - finally - rolled Paxton's limp, mangled body to the side, and Danny twitched..
"Kono, you magnificent creature," Danny groaned. "Oh, holy shit, Rachel's going to be furious."
Steve rocked back on his heels, closing his eyes and swallowing convulsively.
"I'm 'kay, babe," Danny grunted out, reaching for Steve, and Steve snapped back into control, his hands steady now, as he peeled away Danny's vest..
"Thank God," Kono said. She dashed into the bathroom and came back with a clean towel, tossing it down to Steve, phone to her ear, calling for an ambulance.
"Chin, can you -" Steve said, tilting his head toward Dillinger. "Book 'im, for Danno."
"You've got it," Chin said. "Take care of Danny, we'll handle the rest."
"Hang on, Danny," Steve murmured. His fingers ghosted over Danny's side, as he muttered about entrance and exit.
"Graze," Danny gritted out. "Just a graze - caught - caught me just under the vest."
Steve nodded and glanced around. He tilted his head at the metal doorframe, now sporting a sizeable dent.
"Ricochet," he said. "Danny, I'm sorry, we shoulda -"
"Nah, for once - for once I thought we had it under control," Danny said. He chuckled, his face contorting in pain. "The cavalry was already on the way."
Grover was thundering up the stairs, Duke on his heels. They stopped in their tracks at the blood-soaked scene in front of them.
"I'll call Max," Grover said. "This is . . . this is a hell of a mess, even for you, McGarrett."
"Kono took the shot," Steve said quietly, looking up at Grover. They both looked for her then, spotting her in the parking lot, waving the ambulance in.
"Lou, follow me and Danny to Tripler, give me a ride back to the palace?" Steve asked. "Chin, you and Kono book Dillinger and get him to Queens, let Malia check him out. Then you keep him under wraps until we get this sorted. There may be more people gunning for him now. You stall NCIS, you understand? We've got one agent dead and one nearly killed. If there's a breach -"
"Got it," Chin nodded. He helped Dillinger out of the chair. Handcuffs didn't seem necessary for a man who could barely shuffle.
"And Chin," Steve added quietly, "keep an eye on Kono."
#*#*#*#*#
Gus was waiting at the double doors of Tripler's emergency department, her hands on her hips.
"You yahoos again," she said, as Steve unnecessarily helped push Danny's gurney through. "We were having a good run, there, Commander. I haven't seen any of your people in a while. What, you get bored?"
"It was a ricochet," Steve protested. "And back-up was already on the way and everything."
"Okay, we do we got?" Gus sighed, pen poised over the chart. "Anything change enroute?"
"Yes, his BP -" Steve started.
"The patient's blood pressure has dropped since we called in," the EMT interrupted, while Gus glared at Steve. "He's mildly shocky, but overall still stable. Reports pain at an eight. Wound has not been cleaned or debrided, we focused on controlling bleeding. Scene was definitely a source of contaminant."
"Okay, Trauma 1, I'll get Dr. Marks," Gus said. "Family been called? We expect the usual Five-O entourage?"
"I called Rachel and Jax," Grover said, coming in behind them. He had Steve and Danny's go-bags held easily in his big hands.
"Thanks, Lou," Danny said.
Gus snapped her fingers and pointed at the bags. "Commander, go to the staff locker room and - for the love of God, please tell me all that is not Detective William's blood?"
"No, ma'am," Steve said, taking his bag from Grover.
"We got more incoming?" Gus demanded.
"No, ma'am," Steve said. She picked up on the grim satisfaction in his voice and nodded.
"Okay, then go, you are a walking biohazard and I won't have you dropping biological all over my department," she said. She pointed and then scurried after the gurney, which was being wheeled into the trauma room.
"Thanks for calling Rachel and Jax," Steve said.
"Called Renee, too," Grover said. "She's going to meet up with us here, offer to help out with Charlie. Gracie's in school, of course. Jax said Mary was still at the house, hadn't started work yet, so she's on her way. How's our boy? That paramedic said something about shock. Thought it was just a graze."
Steve started to rub his hand across his eyes, frowning when he realized it was still covered in blood . . . mostly Danny's. He wiped it absently on his shirt instead.
"It was a graze, but . . . a ricochet, it was more like shrapnel. I couldn't see the edges of the wound, I have no idea how deep it is, it just . . . they're going to have a time, getting it cleaned up and stitched," Steve said. "Damn it, you'd expect this to happen to you or me, the vest coverage isn't the best, but Danny . . . I can't believe this happened."
"Hey, McGarrett," Grover said, his voice firm. "It coulda happened to any one of us. Go on, get cleaned up, man, you're . . . Lord almighty, what a mess."
"You heard from Chin or Kono?" Steve asked. "She had to take a head shot, man, that's . . . "
"I'll check on 'em," Grover said. "Go, before Rachel and Jax get here. They don't need to see this."
"Holy shit," Jax's voice came from behind Grover.
"How'd you -" Grover gaped at her.
"Lights and sirens, I still have a badge," Jax said, shrugging. "What the hell, Steve? Grover said Danny got grazed, you're - oh my God, is that Danny's?"
"No, ku'uipo it - guy had Danny, gun to his head, I couldn't get a clean shot," Steve said. "Kono flanked him, had to take a head shot, it was the only way. If she'd winged him, he might've -"
"Okay, well, Grover's right, this would freak Rachel the hell out," Jax said, gesturing at him helplessly. "Go, get - I'll check on Danny."
"Trauma 1," Steve said. He wanted to reach for Jax, hold her, smooth his thumb over the worried lines between her eyes, but that would have to wait. She rushed past him and pushed through the door of the trauma room.
"McGarrett," Gus said. "You are not signing in, I do not have you back on payroll."
"I'm just here for Danny," Jax said. She deftly stepped around Gus and positioned herself at Danny's shoulder. "Hey, Danno, you zig when you shoulda zagged?"
"Something like that, babe," Danny said. He tried to manage a smile.
Dr. Marks was probing the edges of the jagged wound. "Detective Williams, the good news is that nothing vital was damaged. The bad news . . . this is a disaster of a wound. No clean edges, you've got fiber and God only knows what else contaminating . . . we'll debride and I'll get someone from plastics to do the sutures. You'll need to have an IV antibiotic and then a ten day course to follow up."
"Shouldn't he stay overnight?" Jax asked.
"Hell no, he should not," Danny said.
Another nurse knocked on the door and poked her head into the room. "Detective Williams' wife is here."
"Come on in, Ms. Williams, just for a minute," Gus said, "and then we'll get you settled in family waiting while we do the debridement and sutures."
Rachel came into the room, holding Charlie in her arms. She bit her lip and surveyed the room. Danny's bloodied clothes had been cut away and were still in a heap in the corner. His hair was matted with blood spatter. Discarded gauze trailed from the edge of the narrow gurney down to the floor. She paled as her eyes fell on his side, bleeding through the most recent dressing.
"I can't do this," she said softly. "I simply can't be here, with Charlie, I -"
"Let me take him," Jax offered again. "We can switch keys, I can take him back to my house, take your van and drive Charlie there. Meet up and switch back later."
"No. I don't - I can't do this, I simply can't," Rachel said, her voice breaking. "I'm sorry, Danny, I thought it would be different. I thought I could be different. I'm sorry."
She fled the room, leaving Danny shocked and staring after her. He fisted the sheet in his hand in frustration.
"Can we please get me patched up, quickly, so that I can go home?"
Steve barged into the room.
"What's going on? How bad - Rachel just blew by us in the hall without a word - what the hell -"
"She got spooked," Danny said. "Steve, I'm fine. You - go interview Dillinger. Go. Go do the thing, please, just - can I just get sewn up here? Jax, you too, I know you left the twins."
Steve crowded in behind Jax as Dr. Marks and Gus set up on the other side of Danny.
"Danny, I'm sorry," he said, reaching around Jax to squeeze Danny's shoulder. "Soon as they're done, we'll get you home. Take as much time as you need for Rachel . . . "
He wrapped his arms around Jax and pulled her close to him for a moment, leaning down to kiss her cheek.
"I gotta go," he murmured. "Billy and Annie okay? Mary's got them?"
"We're all good," Jax said. "Go, do what you need to do. I'll let Danny fill me in on all of your exploits."
Dr. Marks murmured instructions to Gus, and she busied herself setting up Danny's IV.
"You'll feel much more comfortable in just a few minutes," Gus said, her voice uncharacteristically soft. "We're giving you the good stuff. I'll be back in to debride. Dr. Marks is going to go find a suture whiz." She gave his shoulder a gentle pat.
Jax situated a rolling table and stool next to Danny's shoulder, then filled a basin with warm water and grabbed some washcloths. She sat down and dipped a cloth into the basin and wrung it out.
"Whose blood is this?" she asked, as she started dabbing away the blood spattered on his face.
"So, our NCIS agent, the partner," Danny said. "Turns out there's a shit ton of opioid - prescription opioid - missing. Dillinger . . . somehow, he was mixed up in it. We got to his apartment, couple thugs were trying to beat information out of him. They fired on Steve, he returned fire, put them down, but not before one of their rounds bounced off the door frame into yours truly here. There was a third guy, though, we didn't - I felt this god awful pain in my side, then next thing I know, I'm in a choke hold with a gun muzzle at my temple. Steve couldn't get a shot . . . next thing I know, I'm in a pile of dead guy. Kono managed to flank him, take the shot."
"Head shot," Jax murmured.
"I shoulda got cleaned up a little more before Rachel showed up," Danny said. "No wonder she freaked out."
"You've got . . . ugh. You've got perp in your hair, Danno," Jax said. "You're right, we should have thought that through a little better. Sorry."
"Not everyone can just rush in to a trauma scene and handle it," Danny said. "You know, I could have chosen a different career path."
"Yeah? Like what," Jax asked. She emptied the water and refilled the basin.
"I could have . . . been a teacher," Danny said. "I have a degree. Coulda gotten my teaching certification, taught high school econ or poly sci."
"Mr. Williams, high school teacher?" Jax asked dubiously. "What, a two story in the suburbs? Family vacation at the shore?"
"Hey, there's worse things than a couple weeks in a rental cottage in Bradley Beach," Danny said. "Tomato pies at Vic's . . ."
"Vic's? Danny, no. Pete & Elda's in Neptune, what - come on, I thought you knew from thin crust," Jax argued.
"Nothing compares to Vic's, anybody knows that," Danny said. He closed his eyes. "I could have made a different choice."
#*#*#*#*#
Steve paced in front of Dillinger, the halogen lights of rendition casting their odd glow over his scowling features. Grover stood against the wall.
"So, let me get this straight," Steve said. He jabbed a finger toward Dillinger. "Agent Graff had identified the dealers, and she was going to send someone in undercover to buy the drugs, try to find out who was involved in getting those drugs off the Halsey."
"Yeah," Dillinger said. "Look, I'm not proud of this, okay? I got injured - line of duty, I might point out - got hooked on Vicodin. Graff stumbled on my source, she didn't know. Didn't have any idea. I - I tipped them off."
"You tipped them off," Steve repeated.
"I didn't want to lose my supply," Dillinger said. "I thought . . . I thought they'd . . ."
"You thought they'd give you their undying gratitude and a customer loyalty discount?" Grover asked dryly.
"They pegged me for law enforcement," Dillinger said. "Paxton sent a couple of his guys to get started on me, try to get me to tell them if someone was already undercover. Couldn't tell them anything, of course, because no one was undercover, not yet."
"Paxton arrives, panics, grabs Danny," Steve said. "Wasn't enough to kill your own partner, you had to almost get mine killed, too?"
"I didn't kill Liz," Dillinger shouted. "God, I could never have -"
"She's dead, just the same," Steve shouted back, leaning over and getting in Dillinger's face.
"I went to her place . . . I was going to come clean," Dillinger said. "I was going to tell her everything. She was in her car . . . I tried CPR, I tried everything but . . . "
"Yeah, no, I don't buy it. I think maybe she found out you were buying drugs from the very people that she was trying to take down, confronted you, you killed her, and thought you could stage it to look like a suicide," Steve said.
"Come on, man, I'm NCIS," Dillinger said. "I know you can't fake that, you can't stage that. You think I've never heard of forensics? The last time I saw Liz alive, she was fine."
"Liz," Steve said. He stopped pacing and crouched in front of Dillinger. "You mean Special Agent Graff? Former Lieutenant Commander Elizabeth Graff?"
Dillinger met his gaze without wavering.
"She was more than that to me," he said quietly. "I don't expect you to understand."
Steve scratched at his eyebrow with his thumbnail and looked up at Grover, who shrugged at him.
"Okay. Walk us through your last time seeing Agent Graff alive," Steve said. He leaned against the wall, arms crossed. All the time in the world.
"She convinced me to come surf with her," Dillinger said. "We met at a quiet spot, near the North Shore. Away from the office."
"So there's no one who can vouch for this meeting," Grover said.
"We weren't ready to go public with our . . . relationship, or whatever it was," Dillinger said. "So no. No one would have recognized us; that was pretty much the point."
"So you surfed. Then what, you drove back to her place?" Steve pressed.
Dillinger shook his head. "Surf got rougher than I was willing to try. I wanted to call it. Liz is - was a damn adrenaline junky, she wanted to keep going. I was irritated, to be honest, that she was choosing surfing over me. I got pissed, left. Couldn't sleep . . . got to thinking, what reason had I given her to chose me, you know? I hadn't told her how important she was to me, how much she meant to me. Hadn't come clean to her about my addiction; hell, I'd blown her case. Next morning, I decided to go to her house, come clean about all of it - the drugs, the case . . ."
"Say we buy that," Grover said. "So you go over there, come clean, she's gonna arrest you for obstruction of justice. You argue, things get out of control, you push her. Maybe you didn't mean to, but she hits her head on the counter. You see an opportunity, stage her in the car, turn on the ignition. Even if you cared about her . . . you're not having to look at her, you know she dies easy, no pain. You get off."
"Her complex has security cameras. Check the footage," Dillinger said. "You're going to see my car pull into her driveway, you're going to see me banging on her door, then looking in her garage, then -" He swallowed hard and looked away.
Steve nodded slowly and exchanged a glance with Grover, who shrugged and nodded back.
"Okay. We're gonna do that, we're gonna look at the footage," Steve said. "And if you're telling the truth, then we start looking in another direction for her killer. And we turn you back over to NCIS, and they prosecute you for the other charges."
Dillinger nodded and sighed, resigned.
Steve and Grover walked out of the room, Steve pulling his phone out of his pocket as he went.
"Chin, can you get us security camera recording from Graff's apartment building, starting five pm day before she was found?" he asked. "Yeah, thanks. Looking for her car in and out, and Dillinger's car in and out. You got the plate numbers for him? Perfect, thanks. Hey, Chin - how's Kono? Where is she, she okay?"
Grover waited as Steve listened intently.
"Normally I'd agree, that going over to see Danny would be good, but -" Steve stopped and pinched the bridge of his nose. "He's in pretty rough shape, actually, and Rachel - she's not taking it well. I'm not sure that seeing him would help Kono. Just tell her that he's not even getting admitted, that he's getting fixed up and sent home. Maybe - yeah, get her to help with the footage, thanks. Keep her close, okay?"
"Reviewing the footage will take at least an hour, probably two," Steve said. "Look, any way we look at it, Dillinger is screwed sideways, his career is over. I'm still not sure about his story but - if he is telling the truth, leaving him sitting there with half-busted ribs is just . . . get him secured in a holding cell, will you? Make sure he has something to eat, drink . . . last thing we need is for him to keel over on us. I'm gonna go check on Danny until Chin and Kono have something definitive from that footage."
"Okay, can do. Steve. Steve, no, son, look at me," Grover said. His heavy hand came to rest on Steve's shoulder just as he was about to dash to the stairs. "Kono is going to be fine. Danny is going to be fine."
Steve took a deep breath, then another, and then leaned against the wall, bent over, his hands on his knees. Grover's hand stayed steady on his shoulder.
"Danny shoved my vest at me. I got out of the car, headed toward Dillinger's apartment - Danny snagged our vests out of the trunk, tossed mine at me. HPD was on the way, Lou. You guys were on the way, I knew you were coming, and we - we could hear them, working Dillinger over, we just -"
"You just did what any one of us, what any one of HPD would have done," Grover said.
"I took them down, figured, hey, Danny was behind me. Out of the line of fire. They didn't get but maybe three shots off. I dropped them, didn't hear Danny yell, nothing. Thought he was in the clear, and then I turn around and - I didn't have a shot. We have an id on that guy yet? The one who had Danny? The one Dillinger called Paxton?" Steve asked, standing upright.
Grover shook his head. "Not yet. Max has all three bodies."
"He knew, he knew exactly what he was doing," Steve said. "I didn't have a shot. That whole time, even when Danny tried to give me a shot, I couldn't get a shot. When Kono - I thought, shit, I thought that was Paxton, I thought he'd taken Danny out."
"Headshots are messy," Grover said quietly.
"I wish I had - I wish it wasn't Kono," Steve said. "God, she'd bust my balls but . . . I don't wish that on anyone."
"I know." Grover did know. He'd served long enough as a SWAT captain to know.
"But I especially don't wish it on Kono," Steve sighed. "Not so soon. Not so damn close."
"I know, Steve, but you tell me - you think me or Chin coulda made that shot?" Grover asked.
"Not from where she did," Steve said. "Not from the staircase. Closer, but you would have spooked Paxton."
"So it had to be Kono," Grover reminded him. "And she'll be okay. We'll all make sure she's okay."
"She thought she'd hit Danny," Steve said. "I could see it in her eyes, when I was pulling the body off Danny. She thought she'd hit him. Lou . . . for a few seconds today, Kono thought she'd killed Danny."
Grover patted Steve sympathetically on the shoulder.
"It's been a rough day," he said. "But none of it is your fault. We're all doing our jobs, here."
Steve nodded, but he didn't look convinced.
"Go check on Danny," Grover said. "You'll get a call if anything breaks loose on this end. And we've all got Kono's back, you know that."
"I know," Steve said. He relaxed a little, thinking about how Grover had managed to subtly mother-hen Jax . . . how he'd managed to convince him to start dealing with some of his own issues. "Yeah, okay. Sounds good - you keep me posted."
Grover nodded in satisfaction as Steve straightened his shoulders and headed for the basement exit. He wasn't back to his usual swagger, not quite, but neither did he look like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. Grover hummed to himself as he shot off a quick text to his wife, then headed back to get Dillinger settled.