Thirsty. So thirsty. Want water.
Everything is dry. Pain is everything. Pain is dry.
Dry. Thirsty.
Hate. Can't think. Need water.
Hate. Get water. Hate.
Hate.
Wo Fat.
Punch to the gut. Pain. Pain. Need water.
Five-0. Hate.
Yakuza. Delano. Sang Min.
Cool. Wet. Cool and wet. Water. All mine.
Punch to the gut. Retch. Retch.
Pain is everything.
Kono's tires screeched to a halt as they arrived at the school. Anxious parents, antsy reporters, and annoyed cops were spread throughout the area. A group of kids was sobbing to one side, presumably made up of kids whose parents hadn't yet arrived.
Danny craned his neck as they got out of the car, but Kono knew it was a lost cause. Grace was not in that group of children. Grace was still inside.
Together, they pushed their way through the mob toward the yellow tape. Kono ducked under it without needing to flash her badge, but Danny was stopped by a nearby uniform. "You can't go in there."
"I'm a cop, and my kid is in there," Danny hissed.
"You were on Five-0, right?" The uniform laughed. "Then you went back to Jersey. You're waiting here."
"Danny," Kono said as her friend began to puff up in anger, "you aren't armed. You don't have a badge here. Let us take care of it. We'll get Grace back, I promise."
He started to argue, but she smiled reassuringly at him and left to move closer to the school. Chin and a SWAT member were standing just behind the barricades, both wearing serious expressions. When she announced herself, they turned to her with even graver looks. "Meet Brad Washington, Kono. We were just talking about you," Chin said.
"Oh yeah? You gonna let me take a shot at this guy?" Kono grinned. "I'm up for it."
"Not exactly," said Washington. He raked his eyes up and down her body, examining her. "How would you feel about going in alone and unarmed?"
"It's not open for discussion!" growled Chin. "She's not doing it."
"He won't work with anyone else. Says they get each other. With that many hostages…" Washington looked down. "And you know better than I do what he was talking about with the wire."
Chin slammed his hand on the barricade. "No! There has to be some other way."
"Care to include me in this discussion of what I can and can't do, cuz?" she asked. She already knew his answer but continued speaking over his reply. "Chin, Grace is in there. I promised Danny we'd get her out, and if that means going in there then I'm all for it." She pulled off her gun and shoved it into her cousin's hands. "Hang on to this for me, yeah?"
Washington shoved a first aid kit and a walkie-talkie into her hands over Chin's protests. "They're in the third room on the right when you walk in. Be careful. I'd give you more of a briefing, but he said he'd start shooting kids if you weren't in there in fifteen minutes. We're at fourteen now."
"Please, Kono, don't do this! Not for him!" Chin grabbed her arm, and she turned to glare at him. Instead of the usual concern and unease, his face showed nothing but sheer panic. "We have an ID on the gunman."
"Great. You gonna tell me—"
"Sang Min."
Kono stared at him in uncomprehending horror. "Wait. Sang Min? That Sang Min?"
"Exactly." Chin looked down. "He called to specifically request you. Kono, if you go in there you're as good as dead. I can't let that happen again."
She swallowed deeply, but attempted to cover her suddenly squeamish stomach with a smile. "I was fine last time we were one-on-one, wasn't I?"
Before Chin could stop her again, she had hopped the barrier and started toward the school. Her feet grew heavier with each step, her throat grew tighter with each breath. Her shoulder and breast ached.
She had not come unscathed from her last confrontation with Sang Min. Nor had Adam. Adam. Poor Adam.
Her heart slowed as she recalled what she could. A kiss, a laugh, pain blooming in her torso. Chin's voice. Beeping. Lots of pain.
Before she knew it, she was inside and alone. Her footsteps echoed in the hallway, and she counted doors. One. Two. There they were.
There he was. Sang Min.
Most of the children were crying when she looked inside. Not Grace. Grace was glaring at the corner Kono couldn't see, and her expression was so Danny that Kono nearly laughed. A woman was sprawled on the floor, blood pouring from a wound to her shoulder.
Kono took another deep breath and knocked.
"Is it her?" asked a familiar voice. Grace glanced briefly at the door, nodded, and turned her glare back to Sang Min. "Come in!"
Kono was barely inside the room before Sang Min had his gun cocked. "It's so nice to see you again, Officer Kalakaua," he said smarmily. "I only wish we had more time."
"Shut up. I'm here, now let the kids go." She knelt next to the bleeding woman, who stirred slightly at her touch. "She needs help, Sang Min. Let her go. Let all of them go."
"Oh, you think—you think I want you?" Sang Min laughed. She finally turned to look at him, and she saw that his face had not changed in the slightest in over a year. "That is funny. No, I want that," he pointed at the walkie-talkie she still clutched in her hand, "and that." He moved his gun from Kono to Grace, whose expression had not wavered save for the tears in her eyes.
"Absolutely not!" Kono growled. "I am a lot more valuable than a kid, Sang Min. Let her go."
"But you aren't Danny Williams's daughter, are you? I'm under strict orders. She's the only hostage I need. I just wanted to see your smiling face again, now I'm calling the shots. We have some unfinished business, true, but I think that can wait."
One of the kids moved closer to Kono, but she hardly spared a glance in his direction. "That's not going to happen UGH!" The boy had sobbed and stuck a stun gun up her shirt to shock her. She fell to the ground next to the shot woman, her vision gray and blurry.
As she lost consciousness, she heard the other kids screaming. Grace's voice was intermingled this time, louder than any of the others.
She took one more deep breath and her vision darkened completely.
A/N: And we're back, a total of forty minutes before my deadline for posting this chapter! Work and life got a little bit hairy during the last few days, so I fell behind on a lot of stuff and had to catch up on it. But we're back and ready for action.
I know a lot of you are impatient to find out where the heck Steve is, but all I can/will tell you at this point is that we'll know more about a lot of things within a couple weeks. Secrets will come unveiled, new ones will replace them, all the earmarks of a season run. Sorry, but you won't be getting any spoilers outta me. :)
By the way, I don't know if my last update actually made it into the alert system. The system went a bit hinky on Saturday, and I know I missed some updates on stories I'm following. You may find that reading "Danny 2" will explain some of what's going on here. Just in case you didn't already do it.
Mahalo, my friends, for your continued support.