A/N: Happy Groundhogs Day! I hope you're all in for a shortened winter season!
Good news, I've been diligently working on the end of this story. Bad news, plot bunnies and Five-O characters who like to deviate from my plans are making things difficult to wrap up and I've nearly filled a new notebook already. Bright side: the story will be a long one with some twists and turns. Not so bright: I still have to type it all up.
For those Five-O fans who were worried about my muse disappearing after the end of Danny's 642 things to rant about, you must of worked your mojo on me because I have a Sherlock/Five-O crossover, a brand new Five-O and a story that I shelved almost a year ago that I am looking at working on in the near - as soon as this story is finished - future. Thanks for the love!
And yes, I know I left Catherine out of the gathering in the last chapter. I did it on purpose because I'm totally over the character.
But aside for all that, I wish you a happy February and I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 20: Breakfast of Champions
Danny was roused from his sleep by the sound of rustling plastic bags.
"What are you doing here Kamekona? Haven't you heard what is going on?" Danny whispered to the man in the room as to not wake Steve.
"Have I heard, do you wanna know the trouble I went through to get in here?" Kamekona retorted. "But that was nothing when I heard what happened and that you two were in the hospital again. So I braved the dangers to make sure my Ohana were taken care of. So here I am with a breakfast of champions."
"Did someone say breakfast?" Steve asked as his eyes flew open.
"At least his appetite is back." Kamekona said jovially.
"Never lost it, we were just deprived of food." Danny retorted but gratefully accepted the food that Kamekona had offered him.
"I honestly expected to see more people here. Last time you were in the hospital everyone was here gathered around as to not let you out of their sight. Imagine my amazement to see you alone."
"They were all here but time isn't really on their side so they've headed back to the office." Steve said informatively. "Plus we're a little worried about the civilians here. If our baddie is willing to kill civilians in an airport, imagine the loss of life in a hospital."
"That's why it was so hard to get into this place." Kamekona stated.
"We gotta get outta here," Danny added as the Doctor walked into their room to see them stuffing their faces with what she was sure wasn't the most healthy food, but it was a good sign for the two men.
"If you don't slow down, you may choke and that would keep you here even longer." Doctor Robinson stated as the three men stopped and stared at the woman in the doorway. "I didn't say stop, you're going to need your energy, I just said slow down."
"You're not going to take it away from us?" Steve asked.
The doctor shook her head.
The men kept eating.
"I'm going to take a wild guess here, but is that man your ride home? Is he here to pressure me into letting you leave?" she asked.
"No ma'am, I'm just the food delivery." Kamekona stated nervously and motioned from the logo on the bags of food to his face and smiled.
Doctor Robinson laughed.
"But he'll drive us home if she does let us go." Steve piped in.
"They wont be going home." Kamekona said with a shake of his head.
"Don't tell her that!" Steve scolded.
"I'm well aware that you don't listen to me once you've left this building, but given the circumstances, and having over heard your worries about what may happen the longer you stay here, I see the urgency in having you leave this hospital, but I do want you to follow up with me in the next few days or as soon as you've wrapped this case. Which ever comes first."
"Absolutely." Danny stated.
"Does this mean we can go?" Steve asked as he threw off his blankets and moved to get out of bed, just as his monitor screamed once more.
"Slow down!" The doctor stated and threw out her hands. "I want blood work, I want read outs from your monitors, and I want you to be nice to your nurses while this is happening to you. Then you may leave, but first there is paper work to be filled out and food to be finished - and not choked on."
Steve stopped and sighed as the nurses rushed in and he threw his legs back into bed and pulled the blanket once more up to his chin.
"These two need to be on their way as soon as possible, for the good of themselves, the good of this hospital, and the good of the islands, but mostly for my sanity." Doctor Robinson said to the two nurses who arrived on the scene.
The nurses nodded their agreement.
"Boys, I don't want to see you in here again any time soon, however, I expect your follow up appointments at my office in the next few days. Call my secretary, or she'll be calling you and you don't want that." The Doctor ordered.
"Yes ma'am." Steve and Danny said together.
"Good, get outta here!" She added, "and please get that woman under control. I have seen too much of her damage for one day and my shift has only just begun."
"We'll do everything we can to stop this." Steve said as he let the nurse remove the lines from his arm.
"Will you be leaving some of the protection behind. There are some survivors and I'm worried about what she might do if she finds out that people have lived." The doctor said and for the first time Steve and Danny could see her true compassion and care for the people she tried desperately to save. They were her life's work and she loved them like her own.
"The hospital will be safe, and so will you." Danny answered. "We promise."
"But will you, Daniel? Steven?" she asked.
"We'll do our best," Steve said with a smile, "and if not, we have the best doctor on the island."
Doctor Robinson blushed slightly and shook her head. "You call me if you need me."
"Oh, we will." Steve smirked.
"Yes, I know you will."
5-0
Dressed, showered and at last with boots, badges and guns, and with a skillfully acquired Camaro back in the parking lot, Danny and Steve walked into the bullpen to see that Kamekona had beaten them in and was dishing out food that would surely be billed to Five-O, but best to keep the troops well fed.
The Ali'iolani Hale was locked down like a crime scene. No visitors without identification or permission provided by Five-O were allowed to cross the threshold of the entrance. Armed guards surrounded the building and the block, and at every exit stood members of HPD who were wired into the Five-O bullpen. Cameras were commandeered by Toast, and they were live feeding right to the bullpen smart system. Big brother was on their side on this one.
"All right, we're here. What can we do? Give me the rundown." Steve stated as all eyes - and full mouths - turned their attention to the returning Five-O pair. "Swallow you food first!" Steve added before Toast could start talking with his mouth full.
Toast swallowed had, took an over exaggerated sip of the fountain drink that sat next to him and then cleared his throat. "We've got no sign of Gladys. She seems to have disappeared off the face of the planet, but your friends in the navy are monitoring parts of the jungle for heat signatures and what not. We found the cabin, and the eye in the sky is telling us that no on is there at present, but I believe that it will prove to be beneficial if we leave it for now. People will return to that place and then we'll have them. I can feel it." Toast explained.
"You have a feeling?" Danny asked skeptically.
"You've always said to trust your instincts." Toast retorted.
"I do, indeed." Danny smiled. "So, if the cabin is un-occupied at present, we are better off staying in the city. She's underground somewhere here." he added and Steve nodded to Toast to continue.
"I was able to track the van that took you. It belongs to a construction company up in the valley - not the same one that we investigated last time, but one of similar ability and in generally the same location - give or take a few miles and acres of jungle.
"We didn't see any tracks or signs of heavy equipment in the area where we found Steve and Danny." Kono piped in.
"No, but the rain was pretty intense yesterday." Chin countered.
"There was a concrete slab rolled in front of the drain section of the pipe we were in - like another section of pipe would have branched off of the location but wasn't needed in that situation. I thought that we'd been moved up the drain from the man hole that we escaped through, but if they had access to heavy equipment then getting in and out of that flood line would have been much simpler for the people who set all those traps for us and then ditching us in there all tied up." Steve reasoned out loud.
"It would have taken more than a day to set up some of those traps and mazes for us to get through, which would have been made easier by an extra entrance to the pipe." Danny added. "Which leads me to believe that they'd been working and planning this for a long time."
"The suspects we have in custody have told us about their recruitment and training, leading up to this series of events. It would make sense that part of that jungle would have been used." Chin stated.
"We're monitoring a rather large area of jungle for heat signatures to substantiate your claims. We can push the parameter further to see what kinds of activity we can pick up from the construction site and beyond." Catherine piped in from her place at another computer station.
"So this is a much larger operation then what Daniel had going." Danny said and sighed.
"Danny, we think that this was part of Gladys's plan all along. We believe she's been the one looking for revenge and plotting this. If Wo Fat was involved at all it was to benefit Gladys and her master plan. There are workers, soldiers, recruitment agents - everything that Gladys might have needed were part and parcel of the whole plan and before Daniel was even out of prison on the mainland, we believe she had started to build up this organization. She's the master mind and now we have to take down years of preparations." Kono explained.
"So how far back are you looking?" Danny asked.
"Far, and it's slow going. Joel and Noella Kuluski gave us a lot of insight into Gloria Kalani after her husband died. There was a whole year where she disappeared and we're trying to piece that together while also trying to find her now." Toast answered.
"Maybe the eldest son might have some insight into that time frame." Chin said.
"We didn't ask him much about that part of his mother's life. We could pay him another visit." Kono said as she turned to her cousin.
"And there has to be more to this than the suspects down stairs have told us. There are way more soldiers as seen in the attack at the airport than they let on, but one thing is for certain, Gladys needs to be in the thick of things." Chin said with a nod.
"It really does sound like she has her own cell and agenda, and has been building it for quite some time, but why? Just to get back at Danny for catching her brother in the first place?" Steve asked.
"I think the only way to answer that question if to ask her." Toast said with a shrug. "For now, we need to be dealing with the situation at hands and how she is pulling this all off."
"So where do we start, and where is my mother?" Steve asked.
"Well, I think we need more intel and I need more time with the electronics. Talk to the men in the basement, talk to the men taken alive from the airport, and talk to the son again." Toast said and listed the people off on his fingers. "I have Lori looking into the construction company and their business files and Charlie is scanning surveillance for Vladimir Prokovia - the other man our basement suspects told us about. As for your mother, she is parked down the street in the courthouse parking lot, with a view of the Hale. She followed you here from the hospital."
"What?" The Five-O's gasped.
"And how long have you been tracking Doris?" Chin asked.
"You told me to find her, and so, because she killed the GPS signal in Steve's truck and killed her phone, I knew that finding her would be a game. She didn't want to be found but she took Steve's truck so, instead of seeing it as a hunt for Doris, I went looking for the truck. I flagged the license plate and she was picked up on the traffic cams. From that point on she was easy to follow as long as she stayed in the sights of big brother, and big brother is always watching." Toast explained and pointed at a monitor and right before their eyes they saw what Toast was talking about.
"Nice work, Toast," Steve stated with a smirk. "Keep it up. Lori, you and Chin head down stairs and talk to our suspects again. Kono, you take Captain Grover and head out to Halawa once more. Danny and I will head over to the base and talk to the men responsible for the attack on the airport." Steve barked out orders and was handed electronic devices from Catherine and Toast so that they could digitally keep an eye on him and the rest of the team.
"Is it really wise to split up like this?" Kono asked fearfully.
"I think Toast has got us covered, and don't worry, we will have back-up at all times. We can't stop working this case just because we're a little scared."
"A little?" Danny asked sarcastically.
"You can be as scared as you want to be, but we have a job to do." Steve corrected.
"Right," Kono said and nodded.
"We'll have you on camera, at all times, and the sensors in your shoes will literally map your every step. We've got you covered." Catherine added optimistically.
"Okay, but what about your mother?" Danny asked as the ear piece was clipped to the side of his face and a large weapon was strapped across his chest.
"Don't worry, we'll deal with her before we leave." Steve said, and before leaving, he adjusted the straps on his bulletproof vest one last time.