Disclaimer – I don't own Hawaii Five-O. If I did, Steve McGarrett would be shirtless all the time. And they wouldn't be covering up any of AOL's tattoos. I'm just toying with the characters for a while.
A/N – I am taking the rating up to T due to language and of course, the controversial kiss.
Danny leapt from the car before Steve came to a stop and rounded to the driver's side. The fear, despair and pleading behind Danny's eyes as he looked at Steve was heart wrenching. "Danny, Coop is your kid now. Claire needs you to protect him. I won't let anything happen to her, I swear it."
Danny could only nod his head in understanding before tearing up the stairs of Cooper's school. Steve waited till Danny threw the door open with 2 uniformed officers is pursuit before he peeled out of the parking lot. The school was a mere two miles from the 5-0 headquarters, but every passing second felt like an hour. The parking lot had been overrun by 2 SWAT transport vehicles, several HPD cruisers and unmarked NCIS sedans. Chin met Steve at the car with a bullet-proof vest. Steve yanked his 9 millimeter out the holster at his hip after donning the vest and checked his clip before shoving it back in the holster.
"I guess I don't need to ask if Trainor's in there," Steve said sarcastically.
"No," Chin answered sadly. "You don't. And Claire is in there with him."
"But she's alive?" Steve questioned; his tone even, with no trace of the crushing fear in his heart.
Chin offered a small smile. "Tough as nails, right?"
"Yeah," Steve replied, extending his hand to the lead officer with the HPD SWAT team. "What do we got?"
Lt. Keao directed the Commander's attention a screen in front of him. "Two heat signatures in the 5-0 office. Sharpshooter on the roof to the left has a partial view into ASA Ellis' office. She doesn't seem to be injured."
Chin touched Steve's shoulder to get his attention. "Kono just arrived at the hospital with Ray. He took two to the chest; EMT's lost him once in the bus but he's holding his own. Uni's confirmed that Danny has Cooper. They're gonna leave officers at the school just in case Trainor has anyone else involved in this."
"Good," Steve answered distractedly, watching the infrared images of Claire and Trainor in her office. Claire seemed to be on her side of the desk, Trainor opposite her with his arm extended, a weapon presumably in his hand. "Contact?"
Keao shook his head. "Any idea what he wants?"
"If I had to guess, I'd say his son. Claire adopted the boy after Trainor was convicted of killing his wife. She and Claire were best friends growing up," Steve answered. "I need to get in there."
The Lieutenant extended his arm to stop the Steve. "We haven't even spoken to Trainor yet."
The Commander continued as though he hadn't heard Keao. "Chin, I'm gonna need the blueprints from the building. I think I can go in through the air ducts and drop into the interrogation room without Trainor knowing. It's fairly soundproof…"
"On it," Chin answered with a nod.
Keao shook his head. "Whatever I say isn't gonna make a damn bit of difference is it, McGarrett?"
Steve glared at the officer. "No," he responded irritably. "This one's personal."
Steve and Chin poured over the blueprints Chin received on his computer, discussing and eliminating various initial entry points into the building. They ultimately agreed on Steve entering the building from the roof and accessing the air ducts from the main tower, two floors above and to the right of 5-0 offices to provide the maximum quiet zone possible. His phone rang as he was suiting up. "Yeah," he answered.
"You goin' in?" Danny asked. Steve looked around the perimeter and found his best friend a block away, standing on top of an HPD cruiser. Danny offered a slight wave.
He returned the hand signal. "Yeah."
"Steve…" Danny began slowly.
"I know, Danno."
"There's no one else I trust to go in there and get her. I just…I just need you to know that."
"How's Coop?" Steve asked.
He could see Danny's shoulders sag despite the distance between them. "He's scared."
Steve closed his eyes for a moment, allowing himself the same emotion before shutting it off and steeling his reserve. "Tell Coop I'm not coming out without his mother."
He ended the call and motioned to Chin that he was ready.
Twenty two minutes and six seconds after he arrived on scene, Steve McGarrett scaled the back side of evacuated building that held the 5-0 headquarters. He swung a leg over the ledge and landed on the roof with a small thud. Armed with a set of keys that would open the doors and offices he would need to access; he gently opened the main door on the roof that led into the building. "You're clear," he heard Chin say through a small earpiece. "No other heat signatures in the building except Claire and Trainor."
"Copy," Steve said quietly. He descended the tower stairs to the fourth floor and silently made his way into the first office that would lead him to 5-0 and Claire. Using a small motorized screwdriver, he removed the return covering the main air supply. He moved a chair under the duct and jumped, grabbing the ceiling and swinging in. "I'm in," he said to Chin, waiting on instructions.
"10 feet to your right is the down duct. It's gonna be a big drop, Steve."
"Copy," he answered, crawling on his belly toward the duct. Even if he hung by his fingers before dropping, he'd still have to fall about 4 and a half feet. He measured the width of the duct and decided he could work his way down by alternately wedging himself left and right until he reached the bottom, creating far less noise than having to make a dead drop.
Having succeeded, he whispered to Chin "On the third floor now."
Chin told him to proceed 20 feet to the left before arriving at the next drop. "I'll be able to hear you, but I'm turning everything else off," Steve said. "Copy," came the quick answer before Steve reached up and severed his communication to the outside world.
He made the final descent onto the second floor and maneuvered further to left, finding the return he needed and breaking out the small screwdriver again. His heart leapt into his throat as the metal groaned in protest when he raised the grate separating him from the interrogation room. He waited several seconds before deciding that Trainor hadn't heard the disturbance.
Steve used his hands to extend his body to its full length before falling soundlessly to the floor. He eased the door to the interrogation room open before ducking under the handle. Just as silently, he closed the door back into its frame.
"I want to see my son!" he heard Trainor shout from the opposite side of the offices.
"YOU don't have a son!" Claire countered defiantly. "You gave up the right to call him your son the minute you laid a hand on Bethany."
Steve struggled to control his breathing as he maneuvered closer to Claire's office. He needed a visual on her, not just to see that she was unharmed, but to verify her position for the sharpshooters, if needed. Blood stained the left arm of the light pink cardigan Claire wore. It wasn't enough to be anything more than a graze, but just the idea that she was hurt was enough to make him see red.
"Everything was FINE until you came back, Claire. Bethany and I were fine…"
"Beating your wife into submission is not fine, Todd!"
"God, you bitch. You came back from your fancy college, putting all these ideas into her head. How she deserved better. That she was being abused…"
"Forgive me for thinking two black eyes and a broken arm on a woman who is eight months pregnant might possibly be abuse!"
Trainor shook his head belligerently. "No, she fell, Claire. She told you she fell."
"Do you actually believe the words coming out of your mouth?"
Steve leapt behind the smart table as Trainor picked the vase on Claire's desk and threw it at her. "Get my son here NOW," he shrieked.
"No," she countered, her emerald eyes lit by the primal fire of a mother protecting her child. "I will never let you see Cooper."
Trainor trailed a finger over the photo frames on Claire's desk, turning each one to face him while keeping his weapon trained on Claire. He finally selected one and lifted it. His expression was wild as he examined a photo of Danny, Claire and the kids that Steve had taken one afternoon at the beach.
"Don't worry, Claire, after I kill you, I'll go and find this beautiful little girl," he said, turning the frame toward her, "and I guarantee you her Daddy will tell me where my son is."
Steve finally caught Claire's eye and motioned for her to be ready. He held up a hand to her as he rose slowly and started counting down from 5.
"So get on with it," she threatened, her voice breaking with terror. "Kill both of Cooper's mothers, you coward!"
Trainor raised his gun to Claire's face. "Fucking bitch!" he exclaimed as the glass wall of Claire's office shattered. She screamed and crumpled behind her desk when Trainor collapsed in front of her from Steve's shot to the temple.
He knew Trainor was killed instantly, but he instinctually kicked the gun far away before rounding the side of the desk, finding Claire cowering against a bookcase. She was shaking uncontrollably as he examined the graze on her arm quickly, before lifting her into his arms.
"I've got you, you're okay," he kept repeating, hoping as the fear and adrenaline left her body she'd hear him and understand.
He swept past the throngs of SWAT and uniformed officers rushing up the stairs and outside the building, finding Danny waiting on the sidewalk. Relief flooded his face as he ran to them. "Claire!"
Steve carried her toward a waiting ambulance while attempting to answer Danny's questions. "Graze to the left arm and some cuts from the glass when it shattered. Trainor's dead."
Claire had regained some level consciousness as Steve lowered her onto the gurney. "Cooper? Where's Cooper?" she demanded as Danny pushed the EMTs out of his way to get to her side.
"He's fine, baby, he's fine. I swear," Danny answered, cradling her face in his hands, and running his thumbs over her bloodied forehead. She clung desperately to his shoulders as he continued to reassure her that Cooper was unharmed.
"Any update on Ray?" Steve asked when Chin ran over to the ambulance.
Chin shook his head as the EMT's secured an oxygen mask to Claire's nose and mouth. "Just that he's in surgery."
Claire launched into an upright position and yanked the mask off despite the medic's protests. "Surgery? Why…why is he in surgery? Danny? What happened?" she demanded, the wild fear that had dissipated from her eyes quickly flaring again.
Steve turned away from them and cursed himself for mentioning Ray when he was unsure whether Claire was aware of her father's shooting.
Danny placed his hands on Claire's shoulders and lowered his forehead to hers. "Todd shot him, Claire," he replied, his voice barely above a whisper. "He managed to call 911 before blacking out, but his heart stopped in the ambulance. He's in surgery now."
Steve's shoulders sagged as Claire's agonized wail reached his ears and sliced into his heart.
TBC…