Where's Kono?
By Montez
Chapter 3
A/N: Again WOW! Huge thanks for all the wonderful reviews and alerts, you guys are amazing!-Montez
"STEVE!" Danny yelled as he grabbed for his best friends arm, now raised to take another swing at the IA officer.
"You didn't have the guts to come after me, you had to go after who you saw as the weakest link and that's were you screwed up!" Steve yelled as he fought against Danny's hold, who'd also been joined by a couple other HPD officers, which Williams was grateful for since he knew if Steve really got going there would be no way in hell he could stop his partner from killing Fryer. "Why didn't you come after me!" Steve yelled again, still struggling to get free.
Fryer moved in close, seeming to not have any self-preservation instincts as he trusted the men holding McGarrett could actually hold him. The older man's taking on a cold tone. "You're the golden boy around here, once Demming cleared you of Jameson's murder you were back to being untouchable and no one, NO ONE would believe you were dirty, especially since the money had technically been returned. Williams hadn't been here long enough and Kelly…" Fryer's disgusted laugh nearly had Danny letting Steve go, "The dirty cop card had already been played on him and no matter what anyone says that label will always be there, but Kono was easy, cousins with a disgraced cop accused of theft and corruption it was too easy and all it took was me threatening all of you and seriously, who didn't see the possibility coming, after all she is related to Kelly, it was only a matter of time."
The man apparently had a death wish and in that instant Danny felt something snap in Steve that even he and two officers could not restrain. Williams found himself shoved to the ground, the other two officers nearly landing on top of each other as Steve broke free and lunged for Fryer. The sound of the older man's body impacting the car he was standing near made Danny wince, knowing that force alone could have seriously injured the man.
"STEVE STOP!" Danny yelled, getting himself to his feet grabbing for his friend's hands as he saw them go toward Fryer's throat, this is what Steve was trained for, to kill quickly and efficiently and that is what scared Danny. This would be McGarrett's ultimate downfall, especially with a parking lot full of HPD for witnesses, despite what everyone thought of IA.
This time several officers, the number alluding Danny, grabbed for the SEAL and before he knew what was happening they had Steve pinned against the SWAT van as one of the officers actually cuffed McGarrett. The feel of the metal around his wrist must have broken through the blinding rage that had engulfed him as his breathing increased, panic seeming to take over. Still struggling against the restraints that took him back weeks to that night in the governor's mansion Steve's eyes finally met his partners, "Danny…"
Williams hated the sound of his name as if came out of his friend, he saw the rage quickly replaced by panic as the cuffs were fastened. Once the other officers moved away Danny come in close, looking Steve in the eyes. "You need to calm down…damn it Steve what were you thinking? What are you thinking? It's like…I don't know you anymore, I don't know what's going on in that thick skull of yours. Are you trying to get yourself arrested again, how'd that work for ya last time?" Danny turned his rant fading as he was at a loss.
"Danny, please get them off me…" McGarrett's voice almost sounded child-like in it's pleading, so sharply different from the tone he'd heard only moments ago. When Danny looked at him he saw a fear that he'd only seen once before, it was strange to see fear in Steve's eyes, the man wasn't afraid of anything but it appeared being in handcuffs terrified the man on an almost irrational level.
"I can't until you calm down…" Glancing over his shoulder Danny could see EMT's checking on Fryer who was rubbing his throat sending death glares towards them. "Just sit." Danny helped his friend into a sitting position next to the van, he then knelt next to him, "Look at me Steve," Williams waited until Steve looked up, "This isn't helping anyone, especially Kono now damn it I don't know what's going on in your head, but you better be getting it out of your ass or you are going to land yourself back in jail if Fryer wants to push this. Just take a couple minutes and breathe."
Danny watched Steve lean his head back against the truck, closing his eyes. The last few weeks hadn't been kind to any of them, but Steve especially and it was starting to show. A quick pat on his friend's shoulder and Danny stood, making his way toward Fryer. "He's right, you are a son of a bitch, you egged him on on purpose. Is this all just a game to you?"
Fryer stood up, wavering slightly, which Danny inwardly had to chuckle at, "This has never been a game, but McGarrett needs to learn he's not the only game in town, the rest of us can't always run to the governor when something goes wrong. He's not a cop Williams, you are, how the hell do you deal with his arrogance at thinking he does no wrong? Yes, I know he was involved in the missing money, but with it all technically still accounted for, same serial numbers or not, I knew I couldn't go after him, hell when that arrest warrant was issued I saw my chance to move in and drag your team down and Kalakaua was nearly handed to me on a silver platter when the old woman came in and ID'd her. Delano has evaded everything we've tried to get him on, with Kono only being a cop a year, then being in Five-0, it was too much to resist even for Delano and yes I could have drug you all in, gone through the motions but I knew in the end it wouldn't stick, but with her, it was easy and Delano bought it, that's what I wanted and that's what I got." Fryer stood straighter as he expected another assault to come at him, despite Williams' seemingly calmer demeanor, Fryer knew he was stoking a fire and had just thrown gasoline on it.
It was a cold smile that met Fryer's hate-filled look. "You really have no idea what you did do you? You are very lucky that man…" Danny pointed toward Steve, still, surprisingly, seated on the ground, an HPD officer hovering nearby, "Didn't kill you, hell you are lucky I didn't let him. You have no idea what this has been like for any of us, because of you Kono pushed us all away, had us thinking she was slipping away from us. Do you know what it did to us to have to arrest her earlier, what it did to Steve? No you don't, because you are a heartless bastard who's only focus is your own revenge in what was done to you by your former partner and you didn't care what you had to do or who you had to drag down to get that job done."
"Just like McGarrett." Fryer threw in as Danny paused to take a breath, which now caught in his throat. Fryer shook his head, nodding toward Steve, "Let him go, I'm not pressing any charges and Williams, the next time you think you can lecture me on the tactics I use to bring down the bad guys, you better look over your shoulder and think about what Five-0 does, what McGarrett does, we are not that different." Without another word Fryer turned and walked away.
Danny stood, stunned for a second as Fryer's words settled in his mind and he didn't like what it was putting together from it all. Deciding he needed to focus on finding out how Kono was and getting Steve as far away from this scene as possible, Williams decided he'd pick apart Fryer's words later, right now he had better things to do than let that asshole continue to screw around with his friends.
McGarrett's eyes popped open when he felt hands lean him forward, he saw Danny leaning behind him, the sound of the lock being released and the cuffs slipping off allowed Steve to take a breath, trying to chase away the panic that had taken hold of the dark-haired man. Quickly Steve stood, almost stumbling back into the van as he rubbed his wrist, glancing down he could now see Kono's dried blood still on his hands. For a minute he couldn't breathe again, the images of Kono laying on the floor of the bank, her blood coating his hands as he tried to stop the bleeding, he barely heard Danny's voice, "Come on, let's go check on Kono."
Williams reached for Steve only for the SEAL to step back. "I…ca…I'll catch up." Steve said quietly.
"Oh no no no my friend, the last time I left you alone after something even close to this you ended up in jail. You just barely missed returning to that fine establishment just moments ago, so sorry if 'I'll catch up' isn't setting well with me." Danny crossed his arms, daring Steve to argue.
Danny truly became worried as he saw his friend's emotions quickly change again, anger flashing in the dark-blue eyes of his partner, "Damn it Danny I don't need a babysitter, I said I'll catch up, now leave it alone." The second the harsh word escaped it added to the guilt Steve was already carrying and it wasn't fair to take it out on Danny, but he needed to get away from everything. He needed to think and right now that was impossible, he needed to regroup and pushing Danny away was the only way he could do that.
If Danny had been anyone else, the tone, stance and forward motion of his partner would have scared the shit out of him, but he knew anger was Steve's retreat position when scared and upset. So with all the calm of a parent talking to a child about to throw the worlds worst temper tantrum Danny spoke sternly, but calmly. "I will give you one hour. If I do not see you at the hospital or hear from you in that hour I will put an APB out on you and even call your Navy buddy to start an all out search." Danny paused, then looked pleadingly at his friend, his emotions not being missed by Steve, "Just promise me you won't do anything stupid."
A hint of the old Steve, the one not seen since Jameson's death, finally showed through for a moment, "I can't promise that." a shadow of the normal smart-ass smirk flashed a second then it was gone as Danny watched McGarrett turn and make his way through the crowd of officers, disappearing around the corner of the bank.
"That's what I'm afraid of." Danny whispered, turning to head toward the Camaro and the hospital.