I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.
Notes: Time for some rescuing! A special thanks to all of my wonderful helpful beta's (there are a few with this 'mammoth') who always find the time to help me!
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Chapter Eleven: No Kau a Kau ~ For Eternity
Night had fallen hours earlier and yet the lights burned brightly in the Five-0 offices. The key HPD back-up teams had received their instructions and had left to assemble at their designated positions. Steve and Chin were moments from also leaving, but they were spending a few more minutes reviewing the blueprints to Topher Reid's large house and ample grounds.
"I missed an entire room," Chin was putting the blueprints for Topher Reid's new home back up on the main screen after having just pulled them down. As part of any protocol, they would always obtain and review the architectural plans to define their tactical approach. However, Chin had been immediately perplexed by what he had identified on the plans but not seen in person. Now, he was rehashing that point over and over because Kono had been so very close. He shifted on his feet, his own gear cumbersome as he leaned angrily over the Smart table. He shouldn't be looking again but couldn't help himself. He shouldn't be dwelling on the obvious because he and Steve were completely geared up and had already finalized their plan of attack.
And an attack was precisely what they intended to conduct; yet, Chin remained hung up on one key point. He had missed an entire room in Reid's grand house. Chin scowled unhappily, tapping rapidly to zoom in on the far right side of the rambling house to better view the section in question.
"Here, right next to the great room," Chin circled the area in dark red using the Smart table's drawing tools. "How did I not see this before?" He knew what he was seeing and why, yet he was having significant trouble absorbing how close they had all been to his cousin. He glanced towards Steve, upset and ready to berate himself but what he recognized in Steve's eyes put a halt to the emotional distraction. Bringing himself back to center, Chin channeled his feelings firmly to their purpose to get back on track. "He sealed that space off purposefully. And on these plans, it has to still be behind that entertainment center."
"Agreed. That's our mark," Steve noted with a cool methodical detachment. He checked his watch, allowing his friend a few more minutes to regain control of his emotions. "The home lists a wine cellar as one of its original selling points; odd for any home here. But the house abuts volcanic rock and so, that is what the original door leads to; a recessed and sunken wine cellar. One way in and one way out; no windows and extremely private. It's a perfect prison and exactly where Kono currently is being kept."
His arms were neatly folded over the layers of gear he was wearing. He looked calm but was full of a purposeful tension. At his feet was a fully packed dark green duffle bag with additional and more sea-worthy equipment. Reid's home had an impressive security system but they intended to bypass the front door entirely by approaching via its private beach. As Chin aimed another studied look at Steve, he could almost swear that the ex-SEAL was partially looking forward to this particular mission for the thrill of the approach alone.
"Steve," Chin momentarily faltered, his emotions were much too close to the surface and he also couldn't as easily button up his concern for Danny. Then again, that wasn't fair because he'd caught Steve looking multiple times towards Danny's darkened office.
"We got this, Chin," Steve affirmed, his lip quirking in a sardonic sense of amusement at his own final words. "We have our target and we agree to how we're going to manage multiple scenarios. Regardless of which plays out, Kono will be home tonight. Whoever sees her first, removes her from the equation and the rest with Reid will ... well ... come naturally."
There was no doubt, only a factual statement of success. Along with one ambulance, a battalion of HPD cruisers would be two blocks away awaiting instruction, but two unmarked units would be idling where the large gates could be monitored for activity. Believing that less was more when it came to the element of surprise, except for an extra pair of hands piloting the small Zodiac boat, he and Chin would be managing the primary rescue mission from the water.
The scenarios which they considered had included simply knocking on their suspect's front door with search warrant in hand. But with their hand plainly showing, no one wanted to take the chance of creating a worse hostage situation. Their understanding of Topher Reid, the psychopath, deemed that method completely fraught with too much risk. It was considered, briefly discussed and then abandoned in lieu of any other which would maintain their control of the operation.
"Let's go," Steve said, his look softening ever so slightly. His duffle was now slung over his shoulder and their instructions to HPD wouldn't be changing unless a portion of their mission went south; something again which Steve had dutifully planned for, yet had no intention of allowing to happen. They'd drop in the water from a public access road with a competent boat pilot and the highly maneuverable military inflatable Zodiac equipped with a powerful outboard engine. Their pilot would cut the Zodiac's engines just beyond the gentle breakers where Steve and Chin would slip into the water and literally swim to shore to carry out their mission.
From the moment they departed the office, there was no further discussion. Not even up until the time each man slipped silently over opposites sides of the Zodiac as it gently bobbed offshore. Their HPD pilot would stay exactly where he was, taking advantage of the pitch darkness and waiting patiently for any pending orders.
Without a word, the pilot handed each man their gear in waterproof bags. Then he watched them for as long as he could and even lost them once in the oily darkness of the water itself. Yards away, he finally spied each again as they gained the sand only feet from the romantically lit lanai.
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Kono was reclined in the lounge chair with a blanket draped over her legs. The night was pitch black with only a small sliver of moonlight gleaning off the ocean. Torches were lit around the perimeter of the lanai, yet they barely seemed to pierce the gloom. Waking outside was both disconcerting and a relief. Reveling in the freshness of the breeze coming off the water, she lay as quietly as possible, feigning a continued sleep while listening intently and testing her level of entrapment.
Topher was puttering around the lanai, humming happily to the soft music which was now piped outside through the expensive system. A loud series of clicks startled her until she realized he was igniting the gourmet grill to cook. Her stomach rumbled at the thought of eating real food, yet she felt like crying at the same time. Still, she faked sleep as he lingered near ... too close in fact, and she wondered if he might be watching her as the activity waned. She wondered and thought that he might be watching her to judge her level of awareness; a satisfaction he would need to work hard for.
She fought the itch to move when she sensed his presence, relieved when a phone rang from behind her and he cursed the untimely disruption. She assumed that it had to be his cell phone and she felt him leave because he had left the device inside the house. To her relief, his footsteps disappeared, yet she heard him answer the phone. Too far away to hear the words, she listened to his deep murmur and only then, did she dare to really open her eyes.
He had selected a plain red dress for the evening and Kono frowned at a glimmer of memory where she might have resentfully shrugged herself into it. But the memory was dim and musty. Almost shakily she lifted her left hand to her hair. Her fingers connected with a flower interwoven into a plaited braid and she clenched her fingers before she could tear it all out. He had brushed her hair again. This time even boldly taking the time to braid and add a flower which apparently he felt added a special touch.
Kono angrily bit her lip, wincing when she came in contact with the newest bruise added by his rough kiss. She wanted to yank the flower from her hair and argued with herself to be more reasonable. The ramifications would be enormous and she couldn't afford angering him; especially now. His attack on her mouth had been a clear threat of his coming intentions. His mood seemed more volatile and with that one nasty act, she no longer could accurately judge his frame of mind.
She heaved in a lungful of air in an attempt to purge more of the drugs from her mind. Instead, she felt a rush of vertigo and became disoriented so much so, that the water blurred to a dull blackish shimmer. In his earlier rage, Reid had injected her with a significant dose of whatever his preferred sedative was; her arm ached from not only the injection site, but also from the bruises his fingers had drilled into her skin. Things were escalating and she was in over her head. As her feelings of desperation also increased, Kono stared at the black depths of the ocean, barely able to see the ripples near the shoreline and wondering if she'd the energy to run. Or, even swim.
Cursing her muddy train of thought, Kono lifted her left hand again, realizing then that only her right wrist was chained to the heavy wooden lounger. Her eyes burned from a drug-induced fatigue causing the leather cuff and its glimmering gold chain to shimmer alarmingly.
"Focus, damn it," she whispered, fumbling now with clumsy fingers to tear at the one cuff. But the leather was thick and wide while her fingers refused to wholly cooperate. Topher had sealed the cuff shut with a tiny gold lock and no matter how she tried, she was stuck in place. She heard his voice from the house as he talked on the phone, laughing arrogantly to some unknown person. Spurned on, she tore at the one restraint anyway, scratching her own arm in the process and almost hyper extending her trapped wrist joint. Engrossed in getting free as her desperation grew, she forgot to listen and her vision tunneled. There was a sudden noise though which tore her attention back to the lanai. A sudden scraping noise to her right which made her freeze and her next breath strangled deeply in her throat.
He was back while she'd had a terrible lapse in her ability to listen.
Kono wasn't left handed, but she ceased all other thoughts to bunch fatigued and uselessly rubber-like muscles. Her body was undeniably weak and she had trouble seeing much beyond her own nose, but she'd send her own message. Her thoughts of Danny, her prison and endless doses of forced sedation charged her anger enough for her to willingly decide she'd endure his wrath regardless of the outcome. Trembling in place as her muscles argued her commands, a petal fell from her hair into her lap to spur her resolve. His shadow fell over her reclined body to smother the white petal from view and she looked up through her lashes noting his profile while doing her very best to judge distance with a limited reach.
He bent down then, a hand on her trapped right arm, gentle and yet annoyingly firm. Something cold and pointed touched her skin near the leather cuff and Kono shifted her hidden gaze. She couldn't help becoming entranced when she blearily recognized the blade of a knife. The tip wriggled under the edge of the leather nearest her thumb and she felt the leather begin to tear as if it were butter.
That feeling was all she needed to ball her left fist and lash out with as much fury as she could muster. She connected with bone and skin, too pleased and yet too afraid to celebrate when she registered the shocked grunt of pain. His shadow staggered overhead before he dropped to one knee, the knife glinting in one hand while his other went to his face.
But her eyes were trained solely on the knife ... she needed the knife in her desperate race to gain freedom and the upper hand. Its blade gleamed low and bright near the lanai's expensive inlaid tiles. She'd been lucky and her blow had indeed brought him to his knees. Her next movements were weak, sloppy and her legs were tangled in the blanket yet she managed to lurch off the chair to fall to the ground, scrabbling for her one and only chance.
"Kono!" He hissed at her breathlessly, but she didn't pay him any attention. "Keep it down!" She missed the meaning behind the command, including what should have been a clearly recognizable voice, knowing she needed to just break free. The only sounds she could really hear were her own frenetic pants for air and the scuffle of boots as he regained his balance.
"No!" Kono almost cried in frustration as a black gloved hand enveloped her left wrist and a sturdy arm went around her waist to pull her back into his chest. Her right arm was still partially attached to the chair and she was sickly off balance. Still she fought, stretching her body to its maximum limits. Her fingers connected with the hilt of the blade, slipped off and she gasped at its loss. Fright channeled into a will to fight harder and she reared her head backwards when his hand covered her mouth to keep her quiet, connecting once more with his face. Her skull ricocheted off bone and her vision exploded into a million sparkling lights. There was another pained sound and a muffled curse, but he only tightened his grip to pluck her back.
"Let ... me go!" Kono ground out, her voice muffled behind his fingers, using her nails now to dig into his gloved hands without realizing that was going to be of no avail. She was already weakening, but the knife had been so close ... it was so very close and she couldn't bear losing what she'd almost won.
"You sure as hell aren't acting like you want to be rescued," he muttered softly in her ear. Breathless from both a need to be urgent and their unexpected struggle, he used his body to completely protect her smaller frame. A brief spat of whispered chatter from Chin went ignored; it needed to be until Steve knew that Kono understood. Under his arm, her heart was beating wildly and he was sure that she still wasn't quite able to actually hear him, let alone know that help at arrived. "Kono, calm down and be quiet. It's me; it's only me ... It's Steve."
His youngest teammate had been playing a rather convincing game of possum and he'd fallen for the act himself. His split lip was bleeding freely down his chin and he turned his head to spit a bloody wad of moisture towards the pretty landscaping. There was also a new bruise beginning to swell along his cheekbone from her wily backwards head butt and, if he hadn't been so busy corralling her, Steve knew he'd be proud of her fight.
"Kono, hey. Ease up," the soft whispers intoned. Steve felt the change the instant she finally understood and he managed a brief grin.
Finally, she gasped in shock at the sound of a familiar voice, unable to turn around to be sure or even talk with a hand firmly but gently covering her mouth. Eyes wide, she struggled to listen and understand the deep voice resonating in her ear.
"The plan was," Steve whispered, pausing a moment to wipe his bloody lip on the sleeve of his wetsuit. "That Chin would get him ... while I got you. We came in from the beach to avoid the security system. But if you're happy here ..." He sniffed in amusement as her struggle fled and she wilted trustingly into his chest.
From the water, Steve had reached the private beach first. He had been stunned to eventually see Kono positioned to his left and in his direct path. Luck was on their side and he had signaled frantically to Chin who came out of the water further down the beach to position his earbud quickly. There was a moment when Steve saw Chin's silhouette backlit by a flicker of dull moonlit water when he spied Kono. Unmoving and potentially wanting to be two places at once before committing to their original plan of action since the first important task was to remove Kono safely from the equation.
"Better now?" Steve was nearly mouthing the words, with an eye towards not only Kono, but also to the house where he could see Reid still talking on the phone. "Keep it down, Kono. It's over." He slowly removed his hand from her lips, reaching over to regain a good hold on his knife to finish the job he'd started on the leather cuff. Seconds later, he had her neatly swept into his arms and hidden in a much more secluded part of the private beach, well away from the lanai and Topher Reid.
"Steve?" Kono was looking up at his face with a bewildered expression, trembling uncontrollably but finally realizing that she was safe. "You're ... here?" She watched him nod, his face stony as he studied the bruises on her face and lip. Nonetheless, his eyes were kind and gentle. He also still had her completely folded in his arms as if a child. She should have been embarrassed cocooned as she was, yet she couldn't find a valid reason to object.
"Chin. Package secure," Steve whispered into his comm link. He peered up again, eyeing their final target who was inside the house. "We're good here and Reid's still in the kitchen." His dark smile turned murderous when an overly pleased reply, one that also oozed relief, was instantly returned. In the shadows nearest the entrance to the lanai from the master bedroom, he pegged Chin's location. He hit his radio again to advise their HPD cohorts of their status and to move in closer for the pending cleanup, Kono still firmly grasped across his lap as he hunkered back down low in the sand.
"Almost done here," Chin's whisper was equally sinister after a short pause, something which Steve wholeheartedly understood and even approved. His friend was deep inside the house now and tracking Reid's movements from bedroom to kitchen. The final steps to their plan were soon to reach fruition. He smiled reassuringly at Kono before easing her off his lap to lean against a small rocky outcropping.
"You good?" He whispered, asking permission to gain some ground back to the lanai in case Chin needed support. Steve's finger came up despite her poor condition and he aimed a final command in her direction. He intended to stay firmly between her and the house, but required a better vantage point. "Do. Not. Move."
Kono shivered from a deepening chill, only able to feebly nod as her voice got stuck in her throat as her emotions took over. She stared in awe at the imposing shape of her boss and friend. Chin was there too and a tear broke free to roll down her cheek.
"Danny?" Her whispered question came out on a raspy exhale and Steve glanced back at her just once. Her expression was indescribable and completely unexpected causing Steve his one and only mental falter. His mouth opened and then closed silently, not understanding her fear in its entirety. But for his part, he just didn't know yet and so, didn't know what to say. He watched as another tear fell from her lashes and he returned to her side, his hand cupping the side of her face as way of comfort.
"It'll be okay," Steve whispered quickly. Misunderstanding again when her lip trembled in response, he tried to calm her more, but seemed to fail as more tears tracked down her cheeks. "I promise it will be okay, Kono; I'll be right back. I'm not going far."
Gun at the ready, he had to turn away at Chin's next whispered warning when the entire interior of the house was plunged into darkness - Reid had noticed that Kono was no longer on the lanai.
"He's smart," Chin's whisper softly emanated through to Steve about the man's overtly cautious nature. He was close on Reid's tail and near to ending the raid.
"Careful," Steve murmured, his eyes narrowed in concentration and upper body canted just enough to look across the expanse of the lanai. He crept forward a few feet watching a shadow lurking just inside the doorway. Seconds later, he spied the glint of a weapon; and still he waited with baited breath. "Gun," Steve added on a soft exhale to advise his friend.
A long moment passed and then he heard the verbal warnings as if in stereo. Chin's bellow of identification and demand to surrender were both in his earbud and then brought to him from the depths of the house. There was the sound of a small firearm which ruptured the silence. But on its heels, the report of a single shotgun echoed, too.
"It's over. The suspect is in custody." Steve chuffed a weird sound under his breath as Chin radioed his status and demanded HPD's support. Lights came back on an instant later and he could hear sirens from the street. With a bland thought, Steve vaguely wondered how over 'over' might be for Topher Reid. However, he had more important things to take care of.
With that final report and chatter increasing in volume as their backup arrived enforce, Steve turned back to Kono dropping to an easy crouch to once more lift her into his arms. She was openly crying now, her knees drawn up to her chest and her face hidden in her hands.
"Time to go," he whispered as her arms wove tightly around his neck and she burrowed into him, quiet sobs tearing at her tired frame. "You're okay; it's alright, Kono." Steve stood easily, worried about his glimpse of unfocused eyes which were uncommonly wide in a face that was bruised and much too pale.
~ to be continued ~