Chapter 1
When Danny comes to HQ, he takes a look at Steve's empty office, as he always does in recent months. Lincoln has refrained from using Steve's office and has taken her office after Quinn left the team again to take care of her stepdaughter.
Danny looks sadly at the empty office chair. He misses Steve tremendously, not only as a boss, but especially as a friend. Yes, they talk on the phone or text every few days, but somehow it's not the same. Additionally, the task force is very lean right now, as Junior has been reactivated for some operation and Lou is visiting his family in Chicago. Lincoln called them into HQ today because a new case came in.
One by one, Tani and Lincoln arrive and gather around the table. Lincoln has just begun to explain what happened when there is a deafening bang, the Palace shakes around them and then collapses like a house of cards.
Steve and Catherine have been traveling together for a few months now. After she surprisingly showed up on the plane with him, she has not left his side.
They have been to Australia, to Canada and yesterday they landed in San Francisco to visit Chin, Abby, Sarah and Kono. Steve and Catherine have become close again and enjoy each other's presence. Steve has no idea what will happen when he returns to O'ahu, but he doesn't want to think about that now.
Sarah whisked them off to the best pancake restaurant in town this morning, and Steve has to admit they're almost as good as the ones at his favorite cafe on O'ahu.
They are about to leave again to go to the beach together when Steve's cell phone rings. At first he thinks about not answering it, but then he can't after all.
"McGarrett?"
"Uncle Steve?"
A tearful voice reaches his ear. She speaks so softly that he can barely hear her.
"Grace? Is that you?" "Yes. It..." she sobs, "the Iolani Palace collapsed. Danno is missing, so are Lincoln and Tani. Please Uncle Steve, can you come? Mom, don't tell me, she's been on the scene the whole time." "Grace, I'm in San Francisco, I'll be there as soon as I can."
Shocked, he looks at the others. "That was Grace. The Palace has collapsed, Danny, Tani and Lincoln are missing." The others' eyes widen in horror.
"I'm sorry, I...I have to get back." The others nod.
"We'll go with you." Comes unanimously from Catherine, Kono and Chin. Abby nods, she will stay with Sarah. Catherine already has her cell phone to her ear and is organizing a flight for them.
"We can leave right away, a friend will take care of the RV. We'll meet at the airfield in half an hour." The others nod and get in the car to pack a few things as well. "Thank you, Catherine." She gives him a hug, also worried about her friends. Then they also quickly pack their bags and head to the airfield where a Cessna Citation X+ is already waiting for them. Shortly after, Kono and Chin also arrive.
Almost five hours later, the friends are standing in front of the collapsed building. Steve has quickly picked up Eddy from Junior's father.
Duke spots them and comes up to greet them. "Duke, what's the score." Sadly, Duke looks at her. "The recovery work is proving difficult, as parts of the building keep falling down. There have also been isolated small fires. Hank only cleared the disaster site for salvage an hour ago. So far, unfortunately, we have only recovered dead bodies. Among them, unfortunately, Lincoln. Steve, I'm sorry."
Dismayed, Steve looks at the ruin. Lincoln is dead. What about the others? His friends have been lying there in the rubble for over six hours.
"And where's Rachel?" "We took her to the hospital half an hour ago with a nervous breakdown. When she saw Lincoln, it was over."
Steve nods in understanding and steps up to Hank, who is leading the recovery effort. "Hank, what can we do?" Hank points to the center of the building. "You can continue there, we were able to salvage most of them back there," he points to the left. Be careful, don't go so far over to the right, there are still pieces of the building coming down." That's when Eddy starts pulling Steve towards the Palace, right into the corner Hank warned Steve about. Hank is just able to hand Steve a helmet, then he's already standing in the middle of the rubble. Catherine, Kono and Chin follow the two. Then Eddy reports to a spot and the four begin clearing debris with their hands. After thirty minutes, they have cleared away some of the debris. However, they also had to take cover twice. "Quiet. Everybody be quiet." Silence falls.
"Help! Can anyone hear me? I need help!" "Tani?" "Steve?" "Stay where you are, we'll be right with you!" They continue to clear away debris after debris. Finally they have uncovered a cavity in which Tani is located. "Steve!" Tani has tears running down her cheek, her leg sticking out at an unnatural angle. Steve picks her up in his arms and takes her out to the nearest paramedic to put her on the gurney. He speaks soothingly to her, and shortly thereafter the ambulance leaves with Tani.
As Steve takes over Eddy again pulls back in the direction of the cavity where Tani was lying. Eddy almost dislocates Steve's shoulder as he tries to get further into the cavity.
"Wait Eddy, wait, there's not enough room for both of us."
Steve passes the dog to Catherine and lowers himself into the cavity. "Steve, be careful!" Her voice sounds concerned. Thoughtfully, Steve crawls further into the hollow space between the rubble. Then he hears it rumble again and someone shouts 'Be careful!" as pieces of the building come loose again and come crashing down on the other debris.
There is a brief crunching sound among the debris around Steve and a cloud of dust rises. When the dust has cleared, Steve crawls on. It gets tighter and tighter until he can't get any further. Some large debris has wedged itself in front of him and he can't get it to move. Slowly, he crawls back again. "I can't get any further ahead there. I need a lever to get the debris away." Hank shakes his head.
"Steve, if you move anything down there now, you're the next one to get buried. It's all totally unstable."
"I have to go on, Eddy reported that there is someone else there." "Whatever you say."
Steve takes the crowbar and crawls back into the cavity. Catherine's face changes, I hope this goes well. Then they hear him handling and again a rumbling as apparently something collapses in the cavity. A cloud of dust comes towards them.
"Steve! STEVE!" "It's okay!" Relieved, Catherine brushes her hair out of her face.
"Can you take some of the debris off me, I have no place to put it here?" Chin and Kono also half crawl back into the cavity and pick up debris to take outside. Still tugging on Eddy's leash, Catherine can barely get him held. Steve has managed to get a hole in the debris. Slowly he pushes through to get into a second cavity. "Danny." He hears a soft 'Steve' in response. Danny is buried under a large block. Steve picks up the crowbar again and heaves the block off Danny. He then kneels down next to him and takes his hand. "Danny." Wide-eyed, Danny looks at him and whispers. "Hey Pal, where did you come from?" "Come on, let's get you out of here first."
"Chin, I need your help. Can one of you please take Danny by the hole and pull him through." "I'm already there, Steve." "Thanks." Carefully, Steve lifts Danny and pushes him toward the hole through which Chin's hands can already be seen, carefully accepting Danny and pulling him through. Just as Steve is about to crawl after him, there is another rumble and debris comes crashing down on him from the ceiling of the cavity. Steve is hit in the head and goes down.