Sang Min was a nervous wreck. What if Novak didn't buy their story? He might shoot him on sight. Also, McGarrett's little redhead didn't look so hot. Well, she looked hot, but also like she might pass out. Or hurl.
"Hey, you don't look so good," Sang Min said, as he grabbed Jax by the elbow to steady her. It was the second time she'd stumbled. "You should let me patch your arm, maybe."
Jax swatted his hand away and shook her head. "You wouldn't care. Besides, any misdirection we can throw at Novak is good. Let him think I'm more hurt than I really am. I'm fine."
"That's true," Sang Min leered, "you are definitely very fine." He couldn't help himself. Jax smacked him soundly with her good hand, then let out a quiet gasp as she went down to a knee.
"What?! What's going on?" Sang Min said, in panic. "Look, I don't deliver you to Declan alive, he'll shoot me."
"Well thank you so very much for your concern," Jax panted. "Glad to know you care. I'm fine, just . . . shit. Okay," she said, allowing Sang Min to help her up. "My heart keeps skipping beats."
"Oh, yeah," Sang Min nodded sagely. "That happened to me once when I got tazed. You let me know if you need mouth to mouth resuscitation, yeah?"
"I swear, if you don't shut up and just get to Novak already, I'm going to strangle you with your stupid hair."
#*#*#*#*#
Chin, Kono, and Grover ducked under the same open staircase where he'd been convinced to separate from Jax.
"What is it?" Chin asked, as he noticed Grover shaking his head in dismay.
"I made a rookie mistake," Grover said. "I can't believe I fell for that. I handed her right over to them."
"Brah, you can't beat yourself up over that," Kono said kindly. "We knew him, for God's sake. He's booked how many of our arrests?"
"From here, Kono and I will go up a level, come back down. With luck, we'll end up flanking Declan and his men. Without radios, it's going to be really hard to coordinate, so trust your instincts, and don't take chances. We still don't know exactly how many prisoners and guards are still in this wing, working with Declan," Chin said, checking the safety on his weapon.
"With McGarrett in the infirmary, I put good money on him having some sort of distraction or having armed himself with something crazy," Grover said. "We just have to keep from catching Steve, Danny, and Jax in the crossfire."
"And Sang Min," Kono added. Chin raised an eyebrow at her. "Look, he's sleazy, but you gotta admit, he's come through for us in a big way," she pointed out.
"Yeah, and I have a feeling this is a favor we'll have hanging over our heads for a long time. I don't look forward to explaining this to the governor," Chin sighed. "Okay, watch your back, Grover. Get as close as you can to the infirmary without giving away your position."
"Copy that. Then what?" Grover said, checking the safety on his weapon.
"Well, then we hope that we all know when to shoot," Chin said. "It's the best we can do."
#*#*#*#*#
Sang Min half drug, half shoved Jax past Hale and Stamos as they stood at the end of the infirmary hallway. Declan stopped mid-syllable in his ranting at them and lit up at the sight of Jax.
"Well, look who we have here," he crooned. "Sang Min, I must say; you have exceeded my expectations and succeeded where others have failed."
Declan grabbed Jax roughly by the arm, and Steve and Danny heard the resulting sharp cry of pain, even through the heavy door of the infirmary. Jax gritted her teeth and stared at Declan defiantly.
"Yes, I can see the attraction," Declan mused. "A bit on the scrawny side, perhaps, but feisty. Figures McGarrett would want someone with a little fight in them."
Jax could hear Steve pounding on the door. "Come on, Declan, quit jerking around and let's settle this between the two of us," he yelled. "Or are you too chicken-shit?"
Declan snarled and wrapped his arm around Jax's neck, dragging her to the door of the infirmary. "But this isn't about the two of us, Commander," Declan said. "This is about you losing your people, the way I lost mine. Because I sold weapons to people your government decided were the enemy; and we both know that next year, or the year after that, your government will decide they are friends."
Jax's vision was greying out around the edges as she desperately tried to suck in air, her heart skipping and stuttering even more with the lack of oxygen. She fought off panic as Declan squeezed even tighter.
"Now, this is more like it," Declan said, satisfaction oozing from him. "I was supposed to be the one inflicting pain, and I missed the opportunity with Williams. It's all the more gratifying now, I must say." He released his choke hold just enough for Jax to suck in a desperate breath, and then out of nowhere, there was the glint of a blade before it sank into her thigh. She was caught off guard and couldn't stop the hoarse scream that ripped from her throat.
"I'm gonna make you regret that, you bastard," Danny yelled, holding his side and struggling to sit up. Steve was busy yanking a cannister of ethylene oxide off the back of a piece of sterilizing equipment and shoving it into one of his many pockets. Danny recognized the look of fierce determination on his face: it usually meant something was about to explode.
"Ah, Detective Williams, back among the land of the living, I hear," Declan said.
"Yeah, come in here and find out for yourself, you coward," Danny spat. He pressed his arm against his injured side, bracing it, and eased himself off the gurney. The hell if he was going to sit on his ass while that maniac had Jax.
"How does it feel, Commander? Separated from your team, knowing they're injured, hurting. How many of them can you help? Which of them do you sacrifice to save the other?" Declan taunted. He dug his fingers cruelly into the graze on Jax's arm, but she stubbornly refused to make a sound. "Oh, this one would take a lot to break, yes?" He twisted the blade in her leg a bit, and achieved the desired result as another cry ripped past her clenched jaw. She refused to flinch as he pressed his gun to her temple, and nodded at Hale to release the lock on the infirmary door.
Steve heard the lock disengage and was fully prepared to launch himself through the door at Declan, consequences be damned, but as the door swung open, he caught sight of Sang Min over Declan's shoulder. Sang Min shook his head imperceptibly as he made eye contact with Steve, but it was enough. Declan shoved Jax violently toward Steve, and Hale slammed the door closed. Steve heard the lock seal back into place as he frantically checked Jax for injuries.
"There, Commander, now you have two of your team members, safe and . . . okay, well not safe or sound, I'm afraid," Declan taunted from the other side of the door. "Now, I'm sure you could figure out a way to escape. I'm sure that was your plan all along, moving to the infirmary, right? But can you get them out with you? Both of them? Or will you sacrifice one of them? I'm guessing you won't leave either of them behind, and that, Commander, is why you will all die."
Steve half ignored Declan . . . the rantings were becoming more and more deranged and nonsensical as the day progressed. No, Steve had much more pressing things to deal with, like the knife still sticking out of Jax's thigh. He picked her up as carefully as possible, and placed her gently on the gurney.
"Oh, shit," Danny breathed, and paled even further.
"Sit down, Danny, or get me some gauze," Steve ordered. "Do not pass out. Do you hear me? You do not get to pass out."
"I'm not gonna pass out, you numbskull," Danny sniped, but he limped over to the cabinet and pulled out another box of gauze and brought it back to Steve. "You have some more of that combat gauze, though, right, to stop the bleeding?" he asked worriedly.
Steve looked at the knife, shaking his head. "I don't know that it would be enough, Danny. Here, put pressure on her arm. Damn it. I wanted her on Five-O because I thought I could keep her safer . . . "
"Better not be the reason, McGarrett," Jax mumbled, "it better . . . shit . . ." she gasped in pain as Steve tore her pants away from the knife, ". . . better be because I am one hell of an officer. Left boot," she said, looking at Danny who was on her left side.
Danny carefully checked her boot. "Oh, babe, you are a goddess. Really. There will be songs written about you," he said, producing the Taurus. "How on earth . . . ?"
"Sang Min," Steve guessed. "He's helping us?"
"Yeah," Jax said, biting back a whimper as Danny tried to stop the bleeding on her arm. "Chin, Kono, and Grover are moving into position. They're going to flank Novak, take him out. You gotta get this knife out, Steve."
"No, no, it's safer to leave it, let a surgeon take it out," Steve argued.
"No, we might need to make a run for it," Jax protested. "Sang Min says Declan plans to blow the place. We need to get out. And create some sort of signal so the others know when to close in, take out Novak and his guys."
"Jax, I don't have much combat gauze left," Steve said. "And there's no morphine, nothing left in the infirmary. It got hit early, got cleaned out."
"Well, sailor, I keep my stash in the same pocket you do," Jax said. "Damn it, this is going to be weeks of not swimming. I can not catch a break."
Steve carefully checked her pocket for more QuickClot, and was relieved to find that, along with one of the trusty Israeli pressure bandages she always carried on her person. "Okay," he said, "we have combat gauze and an Israeli, but someone got your morphine. You didn't mention you were unconscious," he added, his jaw tightening.
"Oh, yeah, I got tazed," she said absently. "And my heart's still skippy so morphine probably isn't such a hot idea anyway. Stop procrastinating, Steve, you know what you need to do. Just do it already so we can be ready for the others to make their move. Sang Min is going to flip out and blow his cover if we don't hurry."
Steve looked down at her, completely stricken.
"Oh, babe," she said, reaching up to cup his face in her hand. "Come on, it's okay. You want me to do it? It didn't hit anything vital." She tried to sit up, reaching for the handle of the knife.
"No, no, I've got it, Jax," he muttered. He gingerly slid the compression bandage under her leg and tore open four packets of gauze, placing them within easy reach. "Danny, on the count of three, I need you to pull the knife straight out - don't let it twist or angle, right? - straight." Jax scrunched her eyes closed, and Steve held up two fingers to Danny. It would hurt less if she didn't tense in anticipation, and Danny read his signal.
"Okay, ku'uipo, hold on. One, two . . ."
Jax made a strangled sound as Danny pulled the knife, and then a low moan escaped her as Steve pressed down on the gauze to try to stop the bleeding. Danny heard Steve growl low in his throat as Declan laughed maniacally on the other side of the door. Thankfully, Jax was right, and it hadn't hit anything major, but still, the blood quickly saturated the gauze pads. Danny looked at Steve in alarm.
"Get me two more packets out of her pocket, Danny," Steve said quietly. Danny fished in the pocket and ripped open the last two packets. Steve added the gauze and pressed down with the heel of his hand. Jax's eyes widened in pain, and she clenched her jaw so hard Danny was afraid she would chip a tooth, but she didn't make a sound.
"It's okay, babe," Danny whispered, taking her hand in his.
"Not giving that asshole the satisfaction," Jax gritted out.
"Hold on," Steve murmured again. "I've got to put a pressure bandage on, Jax, I'm so sorry, but it's the only way to stop the bleeding and keep the wound from tearing."
Jax nodded, and Danny found his hand in a bruising grip, as Steve tightened the bandage, and her back arched up off the gurney.
"Shit shit shit shit," she whispered, closing her eyes as a wave of pain and nausea washed over her.
"You are fucking amazing," Danny whispered to her, brushing a tear away from the corner of her eye. She noticed the way he kept his arm tight against his side, saw the bloody bandages. "Danny," she demanded. "How bad?" Danny just waved her off.
"How bad is Danny?" she asked, turning her head to Steve.
"It's not great, but it's holding," Steve answered honestly.
"Okay, what do we do to signal to the others to move in? Before that maniac comes in here and drags one of us back out," Danny said.
"Will they be ready?" Steve asked Jax, who nodded. "Then I have just the thing," Steve said, grinning at them both. "You, ah, might want to cover your ears." He pulled out the cannister of ethylene oxide and put it in the deep stainless steel sink. Danny shoved a limping and protesting Jax into the corner, standing in front of her, and nodded to Steve.
Steve wrenched the thin mattress from the gurney and stood behind it, only peeking out to aim and fire at the cannister, and then ducking back quickly to avoid the shower of glass and debris from the bank of cabinets at the far end of the room. Within seconds, they heard the shouts of Chin, Kono, and Grover.
"Clear!"
"Clear!"
"Clear. What the hell?"
"Stand back," came Chin's voice. "I'm going to have to shoot out the lock."
Steve grinned in relief at the unmistakable sound of Chin's shotgun racking, and in seconds, there was a huge hole in the door and it swung open to reveal the three team members.
"You guys okay?" Kono asked, rushing into the room.
"We're okay," Danny replied, "What happened? Where's Novak? The other guys? Sang Min?"
Chin shook his head. "We heard the explosion, counted on that being a signal to move in. When we did, the hallway was completely empty. Everyone's disappeared."
"Guys, we might have a problem," Grover said, pointing to an iPad on the floor. It showed a diagram of the special population wing, with red flashing lights at every exit . . . and a timer which was rapidly counting backward from four minutes.
"He didn't plan to go down with the ship," Steve said incredulously. "He knew I wouldn't leave an injured team member behind . . . He can't have gone far." Steve grabbed his gun and flipped off the safety.
"Steve," Danny said, putting his hand on Steve's arm. "No."
"But Danny," Steve protested.
"Not today," Danny said. "Today you get out with your team, together. Alive."
Steve stared down the empty hallway for a brief second, and slammed his hand against the wall. "Okay," he said, shaking his head, and looking intently at the iPad. "Looks like he has some sort of explosive wired at all of the exits."
Chin and Kono grinned. "All but one, boss," Kono said.
"Chin, take point, lead the way out," Steve said, scooping Jax into his arms. He kissed her temple, then handed her over to Grover, who hefted her easily and fell in behind Chin. "Danny, with me, you're about to keel over. Kono, cover our six. Let's move out, people, we need to beat that timer. Go."
The team made their way swiftly down the corridor, to the door where Kono and Chin had entered. There was controlled chaos all over the facility, but Duke spotted them immediately and came running over, flagging down an EMT to follow him.
"Get clear of this wing," Grover shouted. "It may be set to blow."
Duke signaled and there was a rush as HPD and other personnel moved away from the building. Just when they thought that perhaps the timer and explosives weren't going to be an issue after all, an explosion rocked the building and shook the earth beneath their feet. The building shuddered and shifted, as walls caved in and the sound of shattering glass filled the air. An eerie quiet followed, and everyone immediately looked at the yard, horrified at the possibility that the explosion would trigger yet another mass chaos, but the guards, HPD, and the national guardsmen maintained control of the situation.
Grover had put his giant hand over Jax's ear at the first sound of explosion, and pressed her head gently into his shoulder until it was over. "It's over, Nolan, and none of our people were inside, okay?" Grover said, so softly that only Danny, who was standing right next to him, could hear. Danny nodded in appreciation. Grover hadn't been at Ground Zero, like Jax had, but he'd worked with officers who'd transferred from NYPD to Chicago since, and he never failed to remember what emotions and memories those sounds could trigger.
Danny swayed dangerously on his feet, and Steve wrapped an arm around his shoulders, bracing him against himself. "Can we get a bus over here, Duke?" Steve asked, and Duke nodded as he waved over a medic crew.
"Hey, your buddies from SWAT are gonna give you a ride, get you fixed up, okay, Nolan?" Grover said. "Jax," he hesitated, placing her on the gurney, "I'm sorry, I recognized Mahelona . . . "
"Don't," Jax said, grabbing Grover's hand. "Don't second guess. It worked out, yeah? Plus, you saved me dragging my ass out of there on one leg. We're good, Captain." She smiled tiredly at him as she was loaded into the back of the ambulance.
Steve was helping another medic situate Danny onto a second gurney. "We brought the big rig over, figured these two would want to ride together," the medic said, as he expertly wheeled the gurney into place next to Jax. Steve looked in the back of the truck, and then back at the scene before him.
"Commander," Duke said, "The Correctional Emergency Reponse team at Halawa is one of the best; and they have the full support of HPD and the national guard unit. I don't know if any of the blood you're wearing is yours, or if it's all your teams - regardless, you need to be with your people. If we need anything from Five-O, I'll put people in touch with Kelley, Kalakaua, or Grover. Otherwise, I'll see you in your office tomorrow morning. I have a feeling we are going to need Five-O's help with a manhunt by the time we get a head count. But for now, go - take care of your team."
They could hear Chin on the phone with Malia. "Yes, we're all out safely, sweetheart. EMS is bringing in Danny and Jax. Yes, six weeks since you've had Five-O in your ER, that has been a pretty decent record. See you soon."
"We'll meet you at the hospital, boss," Kono said. "I'll grab your bag . . . Malia will read you the riot act if you walk around looking like that." Steve glanced down . . . he was, indeed, generously spattered with both Danny and Jax's blood.
"Room for a passenger?" Steve asked the medic.
"If the passenger is a Navy SEAL who knows how to clamp an artery and start an IV, sure," the medic replied, grinning.
Steve climbed in and made his way toward the jump seat between Jax and Danny, staying out of the way of the work the medic was doing. He quickly and efficiently had both of his patients supplied with oxygen, and pulse ox monitors on their fingers, before the second medic had even closed the doors.
"Detective Williams," his medic said, "between the blood loss and your pain, you're a little shocky, and we have a good fifteen minutes out to the hospital. Since we've started an IV, I'm going to administer some Fentanyl for the pain. Are you allergic to any drugs? No? Okay, good. This will take the edge off; we want to keep you stable and out of shock." Danny nodded groggily. The medic looked at Steve. "Let me guess - those are QuickClot gauze pads?"
Steve nodded. "I figured," the medic said, "they're not protocol, but Jax always had a wad of them stuffed in her gear. We're working on making them standard issue for HPD SWAT. Okay, these don't get touched until the ER, then. I don't want to aggravate the bleeding."
Jax's medic had set her up on a heart monitor, and he was frowning at the readout. He double checked all of the leads, then turning her wrist over gently, he pressed his fingers into her pulse.
"She was tazed in there," Steve said quietly. "Mentioned to me that she shouldn't have morphine, because her heart was skipping beats. Still a problem, I take it?"
The medic nodded. "She was right; definitely no morphine, unfortunately. Jax," he said, patting her cheek. "Stay with me, okay? I know this hurts like a bitch but you're flipping between tachy and brady. We need to get your electrolytes stable and that probably won't happen until the hospital."
""S'okay," Jax mumbled.
The medic continued to carefully check Jax's injuries. "The pressure bandage is holding; I'm sure it's safe to assume that's combat gauze under there, between the two of you. This arm is a mess."
"Hey," Danny protested weakly. "I did the best I could with what I had to work with. Just because I'm not some SuperSEAL or jacked-up SWAT medic like these two yahoos . . . "
Jax managed a chuckle, but it turned into a low moan.
"Okay, no more wisecracks from the peanut gallery," her medic said mildly, but he motioned for Danny's medic to double check Jax's pulse.
Steve automatically reached out to touch Jax, concerned at the medic's interest in her pulse, but pulled his hand back. He know how important it was not to get in their way. "No, it's okay, you can touch her," one of the medics said kindly.
Steve leaned forward and brushed Jax's hair away from her face, kissing her forehead. "Hang on, ku'uipo," he whispered.
The medic quietly flipped the switch to charge the cardiac paddles, and Steve looked at him in alarm. "Her pulse is extremely erratic, and we just want to be prepared. I'll go ahead and tell you; if her heart should stop, and we don't necessarily think that it will, we'll be trying compressions first. We only want to add more electrical current to the mix if it's absolutely necessary."
Steve kept his eyes glued on the heart monitor. The fact that they'd explained it so carefully didn't make it any easier when the erratic line of her heartbeat stuttered and stopped.