Chapter Six:
The ice pack is mostly melted, but Samuel keeps it pressed to his shoulder. He's probably freezing the tissue, which is bad, but it's finally numb.
He looks up when a pretty woman with short blonde hair drops into the seat across from him. She offers a trembling smile as a giant man lumbers into the room and leans against the doorway. Samuel scopes the man, noting the way he keeps his thick arms crossed over his chest. He's there as an enforcer, Samuel decides.
He looks back at the woman and then glances at the photographs crowding the desktop. He recognizes all the people of Five-Oh, even Commander McGarrett. The woman's face matches the commander's even if her nose is a little shorter, her eyes brown instead of green, and her mouth wider.
Mary McGarrett clears her throat, and Samuel notices the drawn look of her face and the way she twists her hands together. Samuel trades the ice pack for a box of tissues.
"I heard them talking," she says, tilting her head at the window where they can see the remaining members of Five-Oh huddled around the data-table. In case he missed her clue, the giant points helpfully without uncrossing his arms. "You saw my brother."
Samuel thinks about the bare legs he saw, remembering the blood painted onto the skin. He glances at another picture on the desk, one of the whole team at a beach somewhere. The legs in the van definitely match Commander McGarrett's.
"I'm sorry. I don't think I'm supposed to talk to you without a senior member nearby."
The giant steps forward and settles a hand on Samuel's injured shoulder. "The lady asked you a question, brah," he says, squeezing gently. "I suggest you answer it."
A quick look shows Five-Oh still going over the tracking data for Joe White. "Okay," Samuel says, relieved when the pressure on his shoulder disappears. "I saw your brother," he says to Mary. "He was injured. I can't tell you how bad because I didn't see all of him. I only saw his legs."
"Then how do you know it was Steve?"
"I have a photographic memory. I matched the legs I saw with one of the pictures here."
"How injured were his legs?"
"I don't know exactly. I couldn't see any wounds, but they were covered in blood, sort of like runoff from another injury. I'm sorry." Mary swallows a sob, but her eyes well up. Samuel pulls out a tissue to hand her. Then he looks at the giant, who is busy pretending not to notice that he's crying too. Samuel gives him a tissue too.
Abruptly, Kono runs into the room. "Kale, I need you to help Kamekona protect Mary. We've got a lead on where Wo Fat took them—it's a shed near the place where Steve rescued Mary from the Yakuza."
"And I need protection because?" Mary stands up. Her feet are apart and she's crushing the tissue in a fist.
"One of the cops we sent up there to keep surveillance reported Wo Fat ordered two more guns to pick up Mary."
"Why?" This time it's the giant—Kamekona—who sets his feet. "What are they planning to do to her?"
"Apparently Steve said something when they were torturing him." Kono shoots a worried look at Mary. "Wo Fat thinks your mother is Shelburne."
"She's been dead for twenty years. He's not getting his revenge there."
"Actually," Kono says, "we think she faked her death. When Danny was taken by the CIA, one of the agents slipped him a jump drive with the file of your mother's accident. They used a body double to disguise the fact that she went to ground right before the explosion."
"My mother was a spy?" Somehow, Samuel thinks, that news isn't as surprising to Mary as it should be.
"Yes."
Mary sits down. "There's nowhere safe, is there?"
Samuel takes her hands in his. "Do you believe Officers Kalakaua, Kelly, and Williams are capable of retrieving your brother?" Mary nods. "Do you trust Kamekona to guard you?" Again, she nods. "Do you trust me to do everything I can to make sure you'll be okay?" He sees her eyes flick to Kono before locking onto his again as she nods for a third time. "Good. I can't promise it will be completely safe, but it will be a whole lot safer than if we aren't with you."
"Okay," she says softly, pulling her hands free to wipe at her eyes. "Okay," she repeats, her voice stronger. "I'm ready."
ooOoo
At first, when he wakes up, there is no feeling, no sight. He thinks maybe he's at his aunt's house, or maybe even back home. So he tries to sit up, pain slamming him back down before he can do more than twitch. Tears leak from his eyes as he tries again. This time he manages to roll onto his side. The pain moves with him, spiking across his exposed back, throbbing in his temples, beating a steady thrum through all his extremities. He whimpers, the sound escaping in a thin stream of air pushed through his dry lips.
Steve's never felt so miserable.
A hand, warm and heavy drops onto his shoulder, and Steve's breath rushes out as the pain flares unbearably for a moment.
"Just breathe," a raspy voice hisses into his ear. It sounds like his commander on base, Joe White.
"Sir?" he whispers, unsure of whether Joe is real or imagined. Right now, he thinks he's a figment of his imagination.
"Easy, Steve." Joe keeps his hand clamped to his shoulder as he moves around the platform Steve's on so Steve can see him, and when did his sight return? "How are you feeling?"
"Not so good, sir." Steve notes the worry in Joe's eyes, thinks it's just a reflection of his subconscious.
The room is dimly lit and filled with unrelenting shadows. Nothing is visible too far from them, so Steve is surprised when a man of Korean descent steps up to his side. He didn't even hear the man's footsteps.
"Joe White." The man smiles at both of them. So Joe is real. "Will you tell me who Shelburne is?"
"Shelbourne's a town in Australia. Pretty this time of year. You should really think about visiting it."
The man's smile vanishes, and he clamps a hand on Steve's arm. "If you do not give me what I want," he flexes his fingers, scraping his nails over Steve's skin, "I will be forced to hurt your friend further."
"I can't give you anything I don't have," Joe shouts, lunging forward so the man lets go. "I can promise you this: touch him again, and I'll kill you."
The man pulls out a small handgun, cocking it as he maneuvers around Joe to press it to Steve's chest. "Who is Shelburne?"
"I don't know!"
The gun jerks but doesn't fire. "He said Shelburne was his mother. Is that true?"
"I don't know. I know nothing about Shelburne. This exercise you have going on isn't getting you anywhere."
"Wrong." The gun moves quickly, skimming over flesh until it's pressed to Steve's right knee. "Steve McGarrett is impeding my business." He fires the gun, stepping back at Joe runs at him. Steve screams when the pain registers, a few seconds after Joe tackles the man. He curls in on himself, hands grabbing at the wound. Dimly, he hears Joe and the man fighting near him.
The second gunshot is just as loud, and the pain is instantaneous. Steve can't scream anymore. His lungs are locked, and with every breath he tries to take, they spasm.
Iron fills his mouth when he finally coughs wetly. The gun goes off again, but it's the only thing Steve hears before he closes his eyes and lets his body sink into the darkness of unconsciousness. It's not complete, though, because Steve never stops feeling the pain.