Troubled Waters VI

Disclaimer: I do not own Hawaii 5-0. Playing with the characters has become a habit.

Thanks everyone for your support. Reviews do make the muse happy.

Chapter 6

"Trouble? Who the hell is McGarrett?" Terry stuttered in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"You idiot, McGarrett is the head of the task force. Don't you watch the news? The man is a Navy SEAL. You do have him tied up or something, don't you?" Tambor asked.

"Uh…..no, he's out cold."

'And you left him in the car with my drugs," Tambor growled, shaking his head. He headed for the door, picking up a handgun from the shelving unit.

"I've got the keys," Terry called out as he followed. "He's in no shape to drive away anyway."

He almost ran into his boss who had halted just outside the door, staring at the car sitting there with the passenger door wide open. With fear crawling up his spine, Terry ran to the car and checked the backseat on the driver's side. Relief rushed through him as he saw the two bags still in there.

"We're good Boss, the bags are still here."

"And where's McGarrett? We've got the drugs but the head of 5-0 is on the loose. If we don't find him, we'll have all the cops on the island coming down on our heads," Tambor said angrily as he walked over to the passenger door. He could see the blood stains on the seat and the smudges of blood on the door frame and the open door. Turning to scan the surrounding area, he checked the jungle's edge.

"He was bleeding pretty bad. I don't think he can get far," Terry whined.

Edward Tambor turned back to give Terry a withering glare.

"The problem with you Terry is that you don't think. And because of that we are now in a frustrating predicament. Does McGarrett have a phone? Even if he can't run far, he can call for help. We need to find him Terry and we need to find him now. He most likely headed into the jungle and then will make for the road."

Terry nodded nervously, coming around the rear of the Taurus to look inside the open door. His stomach clenched when he saw that his own phone was no longer on the auto's floor. Keeping silent, he didn't want Tambor to know that if McGarrett didn't have his own phone, he now had Terry's. Staring at the ground, he could see the splatters of blood on the gravel that disappeared into the grass.

"He's leaving a blood trail," the blonde reported quickly. "The way he's bleeding so he probably won't get far," he repeated.

"Then I suggest you get busy and find him," Tambor ordered curtly. "If he's hurt that badly it should be easy for you to retrieve him."

"Just me?"

"I've got to call in the others and will have them come help pack up and get ready to move out if McGarrett did call for help," Tambor explained. "I'm not waiting for 5-0 to come knocking on the door. Take care of this Terry…or else."

"Yes sir," Whitley said unhappily. He began to head for the jungle edge. The spots of blood were more difficult to see in the long grass but he figured the injured man would have made straight for the jungle to disappear from sight so he hurried that way. His speed was motivated by the thought that Tambor might decide to cut his losses and just shoot Terry in the back so he moved quickly to eliminate that option. Being a city person, Terry had no idea if he'd have any luck tracking a military trained guy in the jungle but he had no choice and took comfort in the knowledge that McGarrett wasn't armed.

*H 5-0*

Danny and Lou found Chin and Kono parked on the side of the road near an intersection, the pair were standing at the trunk of the Mustang as Kono worked on her tablet. She was frowning as she concentrated on what the computer was telling her.

"Any luck?" Danny asked quickly.

"The reception isn't the best but I'm trying," Kono answered, not looking up. "How did the Boss sound?"

"Like he was calling from the far side of the moon. We only got fragments of his sentences. He had to have gotten away from his captor to make the call in the first place but he didn't know where he was," Williams filled them in.

"He told us to hurry so I would guess he was being searched for," Lou added.

"There's a lot of jungle around here," Chin observed. "Even if we locate his position, it might not be easy to reach him."

"Too bad we don't know what was in those bags, we'd have a lead on what kind of punks we're looking for," Danny said in frustration.

"Maybe Duke has more information by now," Lou suggested. "Has he checked in with you?"

Both cousins shook their heads so Lou pulled out his pone and placed the call.

"Tell me you have at least a general idea of where Steve might be," Danny said to Kono. ''That guy couldn't have travelled too far away, could he?"

"No, Steve's signal is breaking up so it's difficult to pinpoint. He's inland from us, according to the map, he's off the main roads in an area with few houses. That's as close as I can get at the moment," Kono answered.

"Hey Duke, what have you got?" Grover could be heard saying. "Do they think the driver will pull through? What did the Coast Guard say about the other boat….the Golden Dolphin or whatever its Hawaiian name is? Is anyone alive on board?"

The big man waited impatiently as Duke tried to answer the barrage of questions. He nodded several times, rubbing his free hand over his forehead. His scowl deepened as he continued to listen.

"Okay, thanks Duke. No, we don't have a fixed position on McGarrett yet but we did hear from him. Kono is trying to zero in on his GPS," Grover finally responded before ending the conversation. As he pocketed his phone he looked up to find three pairs of eyes glued on him.

"Don't keep us in the dark Lou," Danny said impatiently.

"Okay, here's where things stand. The guy Steve shot is definitely dead. The guy who drove the speedboat is still breathing but in bad shape, he won't be talking for some time if ever. The other fishing boat had two bodies on it when the Coast Guard got there. The Golden Dolphin was owned by an older gentleman named Kala Hailama and he is one of the bodies on board. The other body was identified as Nohea Hailama, Kala's son. Duke says Kala has owned the boat for at least twenty-five years and has no police record. He appears to be an honest, hardworking fisherman. His son is another story. Nohea was twenty-five, no permanent job, helped his father on the boat in between minor scrapes with the law. He has been taking frequent trips to Maui to visit a girlfriend in the last four months and occasionally tended bar here on Oahu. Duke has someone going to break the news to Mrs. Hailama. Rumors are that Nohea has recently been flashing more cash than his bartending gig would bring in."

"Sounds like those trips to Maui have been for more than some romance with the girlfriend," Danny observed. "He was probably transporting something for some not-too-nice people."

"Most likely drugs and it sounds like Nohea tried to double cross his boss. Maybe he was looking to go into business for himself," Chin commented.

"Greed can be a very deadly sin," Danny stated. "So Nohea's plan blew up on him and he and his daddy ended up dead. And now Steve is bleeding because of this folly and running from his shooter. If the kid weren't already dead, I would shoot him myself."

"I feel sorry for Mrs. Hailama, she has lost a husband and a son because of Nohea's greed," Kono said as she went back to the tablet.

"We need to know who this drug boss is and if he's new to Oahu since Nohea seems to have been recruited in the last four months," Danny suggested. "You think the cops on Maui might have a clue?"

"Now that's the sixty-four million dollar question. We sure could use a name to work with," Lou grumbled. "I wish I would have only winged the guy in the powerboat."

"Not your fault Lou," Chin assured him. "You were trying to make sure he didn't shoot you a second time," he added, noting the dried blood on Grover's arm.

"I know, but I let Steve go up the cliff with no backup. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth," Grover groused.

"Okay….guys, I think I've got a location on Steve," Kono interrupted. "It's the best I can get with the lousy reception up here. We had better move, it's pretty weak but it's all we've got."

"We'll follow your lead," Danny said running back to the Camaro. Lou hustled to keep up as the cousins got into the Mustang. The two vehicles roared onto the road, heading inland.

*H 5-0*

Terry Whitley stumbled into the jungle hoping he'd find McGarrett dead in the brush and make his life simple. He had no clue how he'd find a trail in this overgrowth and if he went too deep, he wasn't sure how he'd get out once he found the 5-0 leader. He knew if he didn't locate McGarrett and bring him back or at least bring proof of the man's death, Terry figured he might as well just keep going because otherwise Tambor would kill him. Swearing at the brush that slapped back at him as he made his way forward, Terry headed deeper into the jungle following a straight line away from the clearing figuring that would be the direction that 5-0 leader would head. He found some blood on leaves about waist high, indicating that the wounded man had gone that way.

The sound of breaking branches and swearing brought McGarrett back to consciousness. He had slumped down against the tree trunk and as he swam back to the surface of awareness, Steve could feel his head begin pounding once more. Blinking several times, he sat up straighter and tried to focus on the direction the sound came from.

There was a loud crash, followed by some colorful words that gave Steve a better fix on where his searcher was located. Remaining still, Steve took stock of how he was feeling and judging if he was capable of defending himself. A glance at his watch informed him he had only been out for a short time, not long enough to really do much healing. His side ached deeply and his vision was still blurred from the blow to his head. He didn't have time to feel better, he had to be prepared to fight if necessary. His next step was to find some type of weapon to use should his hiding place be discovered.

Running his hands around on the ground around him, hoping to find a heavy enough branch, he felt a rock half buried in the ground. Digging it out with his fingers he learned it was fist sized, sitting near his right hip. Since he had no idea if his team was anywhere nearby, he picked it up once he freed it from the ground and dropped it into his lap. It wasn't particularly heavy but it would be better than nothing and it could do some damage. He would count on surprise to help in subduing his stalker.

Using the tree trunk to support him as he raised up to a crouch, Steve winced painfully as the wound in his side painfully reminded him that he still had a bullet in his body. Blinking away the pain and sweat that the effort to rise to a crouch created, he wrapped his left arm around the trunk to support himself and held the rock in his right hand. The sound of his searcher getting closer made him focus and he took several deep breathes to clear his head and calm his heartbeat.

Peering around the trunk of the tree, he could finally see a figure through the leaves moving in his direction. The man came forward, his gun in one hand and fighting off the brush with his other, an unhappy look on his face. Steve recognized him as the man who had shot him and was surprised that there was no one else with him.

With a grim smile, Steve raised up a bit higher and lifted the rock, waiting for the blonde man to get even closer.

End chapter.

Thank you for reading. I will be away from the computer for a while but will reply to any comments when I return. I hope you enjoyed it.