Chapter 2

"Danny, Danny!" screamed Kono across the 5-0 office.

Danny had taken the lead of the 5-0 since Steve' requisition for a mission with the Navy Seals four months before. Though the first months went well, the blond was now very worried about his partner and had a feeling in his gut that something had gone wrong in the two last months. He hurried toward the Hawaiian and noticed that Chin and Lou had done the same. Three pictures were displayed on the interactive screen. They showed Steve, Catherine and other soldiers. The three of them were labeled with a date and a combination of letters which didn't mean anything to Danny.

Kono played the first video, dated from two months earlier, and the team discovered with horror Steve giving the identities of all the prisoners. Steve, Catherine and another man seemed hurt, but not in immediate danger; however, the two other men looked like they were about to die, and the team wondered whether they would survive in detention. Their blood froze when they heard Steve explain that the Taliban would kill them if the American government didn't meet their requests. A deep silence filled the office and all of them were scared to watch the next video. They knew that one of the principles of their government was not to negotiate with terrorists.

Kono played the second video, dated from three weeks later. The five prisoners were pale and had lost weight. Their hair was dirty and the men now had beards. The two wounded men looked more dead than alive, but were still alive. Steve's voice, when he spoke, was hoarse, as if he hadn't spoken for a while.

"I'm Commander Steve McGarrett, my team and I are being held captive by the Taliban. They gave their conditions for our freedom to the American government…" his voice shook slightly. "Our government didn't fulfill their requests."

A gunshot followed by a stream of blood stopped the prisoners' spokesperson. The Talibans had just executed the wounded soldier, whose torso had been pierced with pieces of metal, with a bullet to the head. The other soldiers' faces remained impassive; sadness and shock were barely visible in their eyes, the opposite of the members of the 5-0 team, who all had their eyes wild open, jaw on the floor or clenched. A knot had formed in Danny's stomach; he wanted to scream, to cry, but he kept everything inside him, stunned to hear Steve talking again with a shocked voice.

"They will kill us one by one until you fulfill their requests."

The video stopped, giving way to a dead silence. Kono was shaking slightly; Chin, with a stony/blank face, laid a hand on her shoulder. Lou's fears were visible on his face as he caught himself by the edge of the numeric table. Danny was tense from head to tow, but he really wanted to watch the third video, as much as he feared it.

"If you don't want to watch the next part, you can go get some air," he suggested to his colleagues in a sad tone.

No one moved and Danny started the last recording they had. The four Navy Seals had lost weight again, they had shadows under their eyes, but their desire to live was still visible in their eyes. Only the amputee soldier seemed ready to die.

Danny expected Steve to speak again, but the video started with the execution of the wounded soldier. Seeing the survivors' faces, the blond guessed that they were as shocked as him. In fact, Steve had a hard time taking his eyes off the corpse and turning them to the camera.

"We want to remind our government that before being soldiers, we are men and women with friends and families. Jack Martinez and Harley Brown were both married and dads. The Talibans are telling us that you reject the discussion. If that's the case, tell our loved ones that we love them, if you are discussing it with them, understand that they will not let go of any point of their request."

The recording stopped and no one talked. Danny was scared, scared to never see Steve again, scared to watch Steve's death live, scared to not be able to help him.

"Kono, can you copy the videos on a USB drive, please?" he asked before taking his phone out and asking for a meeting with the governor.

Less than twenty minutes later, the governor finished watching the three videos, face blank. He gave Danny the drive back without a word.

"You already knew?"

The governor sighed, which confirmed to Danny that he was right.

"Is the government in contact with the abductors?"

"Sergeant Williams, you have to understand that Commander McGarrett knew our country's position about it before signing up."

The blond understood with these words that he would not like the next ones. He immediately thought of the sayings about abductions in foreign countries and something came back to the front of his mind.

"You mean that our government doesn't negotiate with terrorists?"

"Exactly."

"Are you telling me that no one tries to get them out of there?" asked a panicking Danny.

"The government will not give them what they are asking for."

"But, if they want money, I'll find it! Doesn't matter how much, I…"

"Lieutenant Williams!" interrupted the governer. "They want war weapons. They want weapons that they would use against us."

It seemed to Danny that the sky had fallen on him, he understood why they couldn't send their weapons to their enemy, but he couldn't accept that nothing would be done.

"Why not offer them something else?"

"You know why, we don't negotiate with terrorists."

"Will the army try something to get them?"

"Not officially."

"And unofficially?"

"If that's the case, I don't know about it."

Danny stood up, crushed by the news.

"Do you agree to let him die without trying to save him?"

"I can not do anything."

Danny exited the office disgusted by what he had just heard. He wondered what he could do to help Steve, even if he didn't know where he was, or how to find him. He went back to the 5-0, where the team was still around the numeric table.

"The government will not move," declared Lou when Danny walked in.

"No."

"And the army?" asked Chin.

"Not officially."

"Joe?"

Danny cursed himself for not having thought about him before.

"Good idea Chin, try to find his contact, look for it in Steve's things, I can give you the house keys if you need them. Kono, I want monitoring on this website, I want to know the second a new video is uploaded. Also try to find out where they were uploaded from. Lou, you and me will contact everyone who could give us information. And… all of this has to be discreet, I don't think the governor would appreciate knowing we are going into this."