Warnings: Sexual Torture, Rape
Chapter Five:
Wo Fat leaves the lamp plugged in with the bulb shoved deep in McGarrett's rectum while he goes to the cramped kitchen to wait for McGarrett to stop screaming. It has become increasingly evident that McGarrett knows very little of his father's world. Wo Fat doesn't even know if McGarrett's admission that his mother is Shelburne is true or not.
While he waits, he cooks another meal. Store bought biscuits and homemade fruit salad. Neither one is appealing, and Wo Fat is happy to be interrupted by a banging on the door. He only answers when Jeanette Dawson, his outside man, identifies herself and says she has information regarding Joe White's whereabouts.
From the bedroom, McGarrett's screams continue. Jeanette looks puzzled at the sounds, but she ignores them when Wo Fat asks her to join him in the kitchen.
"You gave Joe White the compound?"
She nods, hand hovering over the plate of biscuits. He tilts his head forward briefly, and she snatches one. "I slipped it in our food. I didn't eat anything. I haven't eaten since then." She rips the insides out and rolls them into balls she puts in her mouth. "I had my boyfriend, Pete, take him out in a boat."
"What precautions did you take so he cannot escape?" Wo Fat knows something has gone wrong. He doesn't quite understand what it is yet, and cannot explain why he thinks such a thing, but there is no mistaking the icy feeling in the pit of his stomach. "Was there a way off the boat?"
"No," Jeanette scoffs, stuffing the exterior of the biscuit in her mouth and chewing loudly for a short while. "Not unless he broke out of the hold and jumped overboard. He's safe."
Wo Fat clenches his fists. The icy feeling solidifies into outright fear. She should have killed him. In fact, he'd told her to incapacitate the man once the boat was at sea. The compound, the same thing the dead waitress had given McGarrett, would wear off. If she didn't secure Joe White, then he can assume Joe White is already back on shore. Because of her stupidity, and he entertains no ideas that she really isn't that idiotic, Joe White might just be free enough to escape his clutches again.
McGarrett's noises from the bedroom stop suddenly. Wo Fat glares at Jeannette to get her to stay still while he goes to investigate. He is expecting to see an unconscious Steve McGarrett. Instead, he gets a Steve McGarrett who is fully conscious and free from his bonds. He goes for his gun, shoved into the back of his pants, and McGarrett rams into him, grappling for the weapon. They fight, slamming into walls and scratching each other.
They break apart and Wo Fat kicks McGarrett in the stomach, rolling him over to find McGarrett's got the gun trained on him.
"Bye," McGarrett whispers, voice hoarse from screaming, and pulls the trigger. Wo Fat stumbles back. He avoids serious injury, but his side burns, and he glances down to see blood soaking through his shirt.
When he looks up, McGarrett is gone. He steps into the hall and catches sight of McGarrett's bloodied back disappearing into the alcove of the kitchen and front door.
Jeanette screams, and Wo Fat runs to her, noting the still-closed front door. As he reaches her, the butter knife he'd used to scrape the biscuits off the pan stabs into his arm, heat and pain follow. He yells and throws himself backward, head smashing into McGarrett's face.
"I'll kill you," McGarrett hisses, and Wo Fat feels blood from either his mouth or nose spray onto his cheek. "You're dead." Hands wrap around Wo Fat's neck and squeeze.
He fights, bucks, tries to throw off McGarrett. He comes close to passing out, explosions of black dots blurring his vision before Jeanette comes to his rescue by hitting McGarrett over the head with a heavy skillet.
Wo Fat refuses her help as he stands up. She's a loose end, one that has already started to unravel. He picks up the gun, checking the magazine, noting the only bullet missing is the one McGarrett fired. Even before he clicks the safety off and points it at Jeannette, she senses something is wrong and turns to run. He fires twice, and her body lands against the table, knocking dishes and food to the floor.
She's dead before he checks on her, fingers pressed to the hollow of her throat.
He turns back to McGarrett, contemplating his crumpled body. Blood covers his face, still dribbling from his right nostril. Where the skillet impacted is a bloody lump. His wrists are chaffed to bleeding marks, and his ankles aren't much better. He's still naked, and the evidence of the torture is horrific.
Wo Fat leans down, presses two fingers to his pulse point, and breathes out sharply when he feels the sluggish beat of his heart. He picks him up, one arm under his knees, the other wrapped around his shoulders. McGarrett shifts then, mouth opening as he moans softly.
Wo Fat kicks open the door and marches down the steps. McGarrett isn't any lighter than he was at his house, but he seems easier to carry. He does not wake up when he's set in the back of the van. Wo Fat secures him with a series of handcuffs and rope. Even if Steve McGarrett were healthy, he would still have trouble escaping. Wo Fat isn't sure how he managed to free himself in the bedroom, but it's obvious he's underestimated his target severely.
He returns to the house and locates the butane torch and the gas can he'd stashed in the back bedroom. It takes seconds to douse Jeanette in the kitchen and the bed McGarrett had been on. It takes even less time to throw the empty gas can into the middle of the kitchen and chuck the jimmied torch after it.
He jogs back to the van, the heat of the growing fire at his back. He smiles as he relaxes into the driver's seat. He has locations. He has time. Even if Joe White is free and escapes, McGarrett's subconscious may hold all the answers. His mother may bear looking into. All Wo Fat has to do is keep unlocking the doors little Steven has closed in his mind.
The van rattles as he pulls out of the trailer park. McGarrett's body doesn't move even with the bump onto pavement. Behind them, the rest of the house catches fire. No evidence to follow. No loose ends there. Wo Fat smiles again, accelerating.
He has the perfect place for the next stage.
ooOoo
Niko Pokani-Puka has worked at Halawa Correctional for ten years now. He's been on Wo Fat's payroll for seventeen.
It doesn't take Five-Oh long to corner him and determine he's the weak link. Detective Williams blusters his way through a threat, but Niko can tell he doesn't have the balls to do anything. Which is about the time Detective Williams smashes his nose with his gun.
"'Ilio wahine," Niko spits. Detective Kelly raises an eyebrow. "What? Bastard probably broke my nose."
"If you're lucky, that's all I'm going to do," Williams says. "You've been the only guard down here for the last six headcounts. We know you helped Wo Fat escape."
"If you're so sure, talk to my lawyer," Niko says. He's not worried about what Five-Oh can do to him legally. He's just afraid that his failure will get back to Wo Fat, and he'll be capped before anyone can do anything else to him.
"Why is Wo Fat targeting Steve McGarrett?"
"Lawyer," Niko says. "I want my lawyer."
"Fine," Kelly says, and they move away. They leave him in the blue room for ten minutes before Kelly comes back to tell him his lawyer's on her way.
It's another twenty-five minutes before a lawyer arrives, whirlwind of heady perfume and a gilded business card declaring her name as Shannon Triste. She's a small Asian woman with a severe bun and a thousand dollar dress-suit, and Niko feels less threatened than he probably should. There's a reason she was called instead of his cousin Marko. She's not in the room for five minutes, chattering about his liability before she grabs him in a chokehold and forces a capsule into his mouth.
He fights. Oh, how he fights, but the capsule was pre-weakened and it breaks apart the first time he accidently closes his teeth on it. A bitter taste floods his mouth and he chokes on it. He dies less than twenty seconds later.
ooOoo
"Great," Danny says to Max when Max confirms that their lead to Wo Fat died of cyanide poisoning.
"Are you certain the lawyer had nothing to do with it?" Max asks, curiosity spiked. He points to scratches around the man's mouth, and Danny nods.
"She said she tried to get it out, but I don't believe her. We can't hold her though," he continues.
"Does this impact Commander McGarrett's survival?" Max jumps when Danny slams his hand into the wall.
"I don't fucking know," he growls, and Max can sympathize. He doesn't know either.
"Hey, we've got the op ready," Chin says, pulling Danny away. "We can't prove the lawyer's involvement," he says to both of them, "but we're not letting Wo Fat get away with it."
"Good luck with your operation," Max says, and then the door is shut and he is alone with Niko Pokani-Puka. "Let me see what you have left to reveal," he says to the body.
ooOoo
Joe is in position, leaning against an adjacent building and observing the still-smoldering remains of 4678 Kahala Avenue. Above him, hidden in a small pocket of roof, Kono sights along her sniper rifle. Next to her is a receiver, and she scrolls through the channels, listening to the blips of people's cell phone conversations. They have been here for nearly two hours, and they have nothing to show for it.
"Should we pack it in?" Joe's voice is tinny in her ear, and she almost dismisses it as another useless convo.
"A few more minutes," she says, using her scope to scan the area again. She notices a man walk past Joe and make a hand signal. Almost immediately, a convo comes through the radio.
"I got him, boss," says a whispery male voice. "He's just waiting there. He's been here for a couple hours."
The response is low and unclear. Kono searches the bystanders until she finds a man hiding behind a palm tree a few buildings down. He's got a silver phone pressed to his ear and he's dressed like a tourist. He's haole, with light brown hair.
Using a camera mount, she takes several pictures of his face and body, relative to objects around him. She'll send them to Chin so he can compare this man with the pictures the fire department took of the crowd. Then, she finds the other man and takes pictures of him too.
"Kono?" Joe says, and she realizes she hasn't updated him yet.
"Sit tight. One guy at your four o'clock called someone about you. There's another guy walking around keeping an eye on you."
"Any idea what they're planning?"
"Shh," she replies.
"Do I give him the message, boss? Or do you want him brought to you? Right, as I thought. See you soon."
"Joe, get out of there." Kono tracks the man with the silver phone as he moves away. She locates the other man again, cursing inwardly as he approaches Joe from his blind side. "They're going to take you."
"Maybe that's not such a bad thing," Joe says. "At least we'd know where Steve is."
"We don't know if they're going to take you to Steve. All I heard was they're taking you to their boss."
"So be it." The man without a phone jumps on Joe's back, pushing him against the wall and pinning him while his cohort runs up to stab Joe with a hypodermic needle. All Kono can do is watch through her scope and take pictures as Joe is knocked out by the drug in the syringe and dragged to a red Ford Taurus.
She calls Chin as she activates the tracker they'd fitted Joe with. "They got Joe. I'm sending you the tracking data. I need you to be my navigator."
"You got it, cuz."
By the time she makes it to her car, the Taurus is out of sight. Chin directs her, and she catches up to them at their hideout—a deserted parking lot. As she drives by, shades covering half her face, she notices a white van pull into the lot.
The driver steps out, and she fights to not turn around for a better look.
"Chin, it's Wo Fat. He's at Joe's location. I can't go by again."
"Idaho's gonna do a sweep by," Danny says through the radio at her side. "Hopefully, they won't notice."
Kono eases into a parking spot in front of a gas station a block down from the lot. Samuel Kale passes her and slides past the meeting area.
"They're transferring Joe White to the back of the van. There is a bloody body already in there."
Kono climbs out of her car and hurries into the building, ducking beneath a rack of day-old donuts to spy on the van. Kale pulls a u-turn and heads to the same station as her. He parks at a pump and starts a gas flow. The leader, Wo Fat, definitely Wo Fat, points at Kale before getting back into the van and merging seamlessly into the light traffic. The other men run to their vehicle and gun the engine.
"You've been marked, Kale. Get the hell out of there!"
Kale manages to get back in his car before the Taurus rams into his car.
"We need backup!" Kono screams into her radio, gun out, already racing to where the men are. Kale has his gun ready too, even though he's trapped inside his vehicle.
Danny's Camaro roars into the gas station, stopping short of the Taurus. Danny and Chin pop out, Danny's H&K P30 trained on the driver and Chin's Benelli M1 pointed at the passenger.
"Five-Oh!" Danny yells. "Weapons down!"
The men obey, and Kono, still shaking, cuffs them. Kale crawls out of his car, shaking first Chin's then Danny's hands. He hugs Kono tight before walking into the gas station.
"Hey, Idaho! Where you headed?"
"Got to pay for my gas. Can't give the citizens a bad example."
"I like him," Danny says, and his smile is there even if it doesn't reach his eyes. "Now, let's take care of this trash so we can get Steve and Joe back."
"Amen," Chin says.
"Amen," Kale echoes, back from his detour already. "By the way, who's giving me a ride?"
ooOoo
Joe wakes up to a dry mouth and a pounding headache. He also wakes up to three metal cuffs on each arm and leg and a whole hell of mess of ropes across his torso. He can barely move. It's also mostly dark.
Plus, there is something heavy pressing on his side. He cranes his neck, cursing the stiffness he encounters, and catches sight of Steve's head. There's not enough light to see anything other than Steve's face partially turned into Joe's side.
The floor beneath them rocks gently, and Joe determines they're in a moving vehicle. Joe rocks with it, feeling himself drift off despite his uncomfortable position. Steve mumbles incoherently, whispering soft, breathy notes that sound like pleas. A sudden jolt has Steve crying out in pain, and Joe jerks fully awake. He manages to rotate his wrist until he can pat Steve's shoulder. Hot, sweaty skin meets his fingers, and he has to force himself not to recoil. He knows torture was talked about, but to have the evidence under his hand is sickening.
The brakes of the vehicle squeal as it stops. The door slamming is muffled, and Joe realizes there is a partition between the front seats and the back. They're in a van. He tenses as footsteps marching across what sounds like gravel file past them and turn to stop at the rear doors.
Joe feigns sleep as the doors are ripped open, the late afternoon sun too bright through his lids. Before he is uncuffed, the driver stabs him in the thigh with something sharp. He opens his eyes in time to see Wo Fat push down on the plunger of hypodermic needle. Then, Wo Fat reaches over his body to free Steve, who fights weakly.
Consciousness fades out as Steve begins screaming, something primal and hurt in his voice but no discernible words. Joe doesn't want to know why because the last image he sees before his eyes slide closed is Steve's naked back and buttocks covered in drying blood.