Cujo III – Reloaded – This Time It's Personal
Chapter 19
Here's the next. Fewer words but more action. Hope you like it. Thank you again for the wonderful reviews and suggestions. They are truly, truly, appreciated.
Imaginary Beta may be more prone than usual to letting things get past her. She had to get up at an ungodly hour to help make what seemed to be several hundred thousand enchiladas. I told her it was stupid to volunteer. She never listens.
Disclaimer: If I made any money from this, I'd have the number of a caterer on speed dial.
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Just a Little Thud
After another 30 hours, Steve still hadn't awakened but was now stable enough to be placed in a regular room. Danny had finally gone home to shower and change; leaving instruction for Chin to call him immediately if Steve finally came-to or anything changed.
The Hawaiian detective sat reading something he'd brought from home; one of Frank Miller's 'Sin City' graphic novels. He smiled to himself as he turned the page. He knew people expected him to just sit contemplating the cosmic principles of the I Ching or perhaps break into a mystical chant of some sort when sitting quietly somewhere. This was his guilty pleasure.
Kono was off looking for Cujo. She'd hoped to find him waiting at Steve's place but he hadn't come back. If Steve woke up and asked for the cat, no one wanted to tell him that he was missing. Even if Cujo may be in danger, for his human's sake, they had to find him. Chin set his book down as he heard a soft groan from the man in the bed. Steve appeared to be slowly working his way back. The Hawaiian detective stood and put his hand on his boss's shoulder asking, "Steve, you wanna wake up for us now?"
After one more faint moan Steve resumed his silence and again lay breathing softly with eyes closed.
They'd better find that cat soon.
….
This was unnerving. No matter how many sharp turns and abrupt starts and stops he made the animal wouldn't let go and continued to cling to the small bit of grill that allowed water to drain off the windshield.
It was as though he'd been super glued to the damned hood!
Someone in a car coming from the opposite direction actually rolled down their window and honked to get his attention; yelling out, "You have a cat on your car!"
Of course he knew he had a fucking cat on his car! It was staring him right in the face!
…
Danny put the finishing touch on his newly washed and styled hair. The spray that lacquered the golden strands into place created a dense cloud in the small bathroom. It was so nice to feel clean again . . . and styled. He looked down at the pile of blood encrusted clothing that sat on the floor in front of the hamper. He was just going to throw them out. There wasn't enough detergent in the world to rid his shirt and pants of the dark rusty stains. They were ruined.
When he was up and about SuperSEAL would have to see about replacing them. After all, it was his fault . . . and his blood. If he wasn't such a friggin' magnet for crap like this and hadn't been a target then he wouldn't have been laying three-quarters dead beneath a damned piece of furniture and BLEEDING OUT ON THE FUCKING FLOOR!
Breathing heavily, he closed his eyes as the scene once again played in his mind. With a shaking hand he recapped the spray can and picked his keys off the counter. Maybe he could find some bubble-wrap on the way back to the hospital.
…..
She knew the popoki was micro-chipped and wearing ID tags; one of which was an official looking miniature badge that Danny had presented to Steve as a sort of joke. Steve had actually been delighted with it and immediately attached it to the little cat's collar as Danny shook his head in consternation. The jingle bell they'd previously attached to it, (Danny always threatened to attach a similar one to Steve), was pretty much useless. The clever cat had quickly adopted a gait that pretty much kept it from making any noise unless he was in a flat out run. Danny had very little warning of the wolverine's random attempts to off him. Maybe there was some sort of tech they could employ like the thing in some of the more expensive cars that warned you if you got too close to an object when parking.
Danny told her he'd gotten the impression from what Steve had managed to say before checking out of consciousness; Cujo had gone after the guy who'd attacked him. Animal control had been alerted and should anyone find him or report an injured or, heaven forbid, dead grey cat; they were to contact her on her cell. Considering Steve was still not very far from death's door, she didn't want him to be the first to be notified if anything dire had happened to his furry ally. The bond between the little WMD and her boss was a strong one.
She had no doubt the little wolverine would be protective of his owner, (she just wasn't sure who owned who), and was very much aware Cujo and Steve were more alike than her boss would care to admit.
They were both deceptively striking but lethal animals, (well, Cujo would be totally lethal if he was a little larger), and it wasn't wise to piss off either of them. The main difference between the two was that Cujo was very specific about who he would chose to protect whereas Steve thought it was his duty to protect pretty much everyone.
Leaving the McGarrett house, she'd just gotten off the phone with a company that specializes in cleaning up crime scenes involving blood and gore. The dining room carpet would have to be removed and disposed of. She didn't think it was salvageable. As for the broken stuff, Steve had once called his mother's china 'earthquake fodder' so she knew he probably wouldn't miss it. It had been really pretty though.
She thought it was them calling her back with an estimate when her cell rang and she put it on speaker as she steered along the highway leading to HQ.
"Kalakaua" she answered, having adopted Steve's abrupt way of answering his phone
"Detective Kono Kalakaua?" she heard a woman's voice ask
"Yes, that's me."
"This is Francine from Honolulu Animal Control. You asked us to give you a call when we got any reports of grey cats being found?"
"Yes, that's right. Did you find Cujo?" she asked not knowing whether to be happy or not. She hoped the little popoki was okay.
"Sort of."
"Sort of?" asked Kono silently praying not to hear they'd only found only a mangled little body on the side of the road.
"Well, there's a report of a grey cat holding someone hostage in a car."
"That's gotta be Cujo!" she said excitedly
"The caller, someone who lives in the neighborhood, said he witnessed a guy in a blue Prius screaming his head off with a little grey cat screeching at him and trying to maul him every time he tried to get out of the car."
"Where is this hostage being held?"
"The address is 3662 Malanai Street. The car's in the driveway of the residence there. We've already got an animal control officer on the way."
"Thanks so much. I'll be there in ten! Please let your officer know that he or she should just wait for me and HPD and not to approach either the cat or especially whoever is in the car. They may be armed and extremely dangerous."
"Will do. I'll radio Nancy right now. Good luck dear."
Quickly punching the speed dial for Chin, she let him know what was going on. As soon as they'd hung up with each other, her cousin contacted HPD to request back-up at that address. Who knows who Cujo has managed to catch?
…..
When HPD arrived only moments behind the Hawaiian woman's red Cruze, the passenger's door of the Prius was ajar and neither its driver nor the cat were to be found.
Both sides of the quiet residential street were lined with small apartment complexes broken by a few small wood frame cottages like the one in whose driveway sat the eco-friendly vehicle. There'd been a break in the rain and the street was just beginning to acquire a bit of foot traffic, most of them curious as to why several police cars had invaded their relatively quiet neighborhood.
Kono immediately called Chin to tell him what they'd found, (or not found as the case may be). He responded he was already on his way to her location. He'd also contacted Danny who'd been on his way back to the hospital but now changed direction and would be meeting them there as well.
"Should we even be leaving Steve alone right now?" she asked worriedly; knowing if her boss regained consciousness and didn't recognize where he is he wouldn't necessarily be inclined to just lie there. From past experience it wasn't a good idea to leave Steve to his own devices when waking from anesthesia.
"Actually, Kamekona arrived just after you'd called. He'd come to visit and bring us something to eat. I asked if he could keep Steve company for a couple hours until we could get back. He was fine with it."
"Brah, I don't know if waking up to the big man is a good idea or not. If the first thing you see when you open your eyes is Kamekona . . . "
Chin just chuckled as it sounded as though he'd broken in to a jog saying, "Almost out the door. Be there in ten."
…..
There was movement all around him. People were shoving and poking and talking to him. Most of the words made no sense. Every once in a while there'd be a familiar sounding voice. It called his name and told him to wake-up. If he'd heard it right, it also called him an idiot.
Waking was far too difficult a task right now. Besides, he was finally warm and it was better to just lie still and enjoy the drugs. Consciousness was overrated.
…..
He'd travelled almost all the way to Queen's when his phone rang. Punching the button to put it on speaker as he made his way through afternoon traffic, he answered, "Hey Chin, how's our boy? He awake yet?"
"No, still being stubborn but hey, Kono just called. She said Animal Control contacted her because someone reported they'd seen a guy sitting trapped in his car by a cat."
"Sounds familiar." was Danny's quick reply, thinking it could be no other than their fierce little fanged fence rabbit. He himself had actually had a similar experience with the evil animal.
"Thought it would." smiled Chin as he patted Kamekona on one oversized shoulder and gave him a thumb's up sign. The large man took his place beside Steve's bed in a chair that may or may not be up to the challenge of supporting his bulk. Tough call.
As Chin strode toward the elevator bank, his phone still held against his ear, he said, "Sure sounds like Detective C.D. McGarrett has caught his man. We'd better get there before we have to bring in Max."
….
Danny pulled up to the front of the small house, parking on the opposite side of the street from where it sat. He could see that Kono was busy arguing with a uniformed officer as a woman in the slacks and knitted shirt sported by the Animal Control people stood and watched the animated contest. Chin had roared up on his bike only moments before and he'd quickly climbed off it, propping it on the stand, and strode to her side.
Now coming to stand beside her with arms crossed over his chest, Chin observed his cousin and a cop he recognized from his time at HPD in heated debate.
"We can't just start calling personnel in willy-nilly to search the city for a damned cat!"
"Look, for the third time, we're not looking for the cat! We're looking for whoever the cat is chasing!" Chin could tell from Kono's tone of voice and bristly stance she was at the end of her rope and would soon be engaged in a battle the guy was sure to lose.
"Cats don't track people!" yelled the harried officer Chin knew as Patrolman Saul Herrera."
"Dude" began the Animal Control officer, a rather substantial looking woman in her fifties, addressing the uniformed man, "Cats have noses as good as or better than dogs. Of course they can track stuff." she said in support of her sister-in-arms. "They just don't usually want to."
Herrera stopped talking to glare at the woman.
"Hey Saul." greeted Chin, "What's going on. You and officer Kalakaua seem to be in a disagreement over something?"
"Lieutenant Kelly, please tell your girl here that we can't have HPD running around chasing after friggin' pussy cats!"
Okay, thought Chin, This guy's first mistake is referring to Kono as 'your girl'. The second is assuming that Cujo is just another 'friggin' pussy cat'. Both were serious errors of supposition.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Danny pull up and park on the other side of the street. Things will definitely get louder now.
"Saul, trust me." said Chin, hoping to head off an escalation, "This is no ordinary cat. Last night someone attacked Steve McGarrett and the cat fought off the attacker and apparently chased him all the way here."
Officer Herrera's eyebrows rose at least another inch toward his hairline as Kono stood glaring at him; practicing her very own version of the boss's glare-of-death.
Wow, she's getting really good at it, thought her cousin.
Danny came up to stand beside them, taking up the same confrontational stance as their female detective which had already been mirrored by the Animal Control officer who stood there as well. The uniformed cop was starting to look a bit unsure of himself.
Taking up the cause, the blonde detective said, "Look Saul, I know you think it's weird but trust me, I myself have had that animal on my case and he's no ordinary cat. If he's tracking someone and actually catches up to him, it's not gonna be pretty."
Now staring back at four supporters of the missing feline, Herrera snorted out a puff of air and gave in. "Okay, okay. I've heard of McGarrett's reputation and I thought the cat was, you know, part of that stupid myth."
When the Five-0's looked back at him, amazement on all three faces, he elaborated. "You know, the one about McGarrett being so tough he'll hang perps off the edges of roofs and throw them into shark cages . . . stuff like that. I was just thinking 'Of course, why would his cat be just an ordinary cat?'"
"Myth?" repeated Kono, shaking her head in disbelief that anyone would dare to call something that was so solidly rooted in fact a myth.
"Indeed." said Chin rather cryptically. An ordinary cat huh.
…
Just keep running! he told himself. It has to give up sometime!
They'd come to Kapiolani Boulevard, one of the busier thoroughfares in Honolulu. Hearing a menacing yowl behind him and the oddly incongruous sound of a jingle bell, he didn't even hesitate as he leaped off the curb to dash into traffic to reach the other side.
He almost made it.
With a screech of tires and a horrific thud, his body came to rest against the curb of the wide center median.
The much smaller thud and the tumbling little body that followed the first barely registered on anyone's radar.
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Sorry about the cliffie but we all know the fanged fence rabbit will prevail.
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