A/N – Hey! Thank you for all the reviews!
CHAPTER – 3
Monday came with a promise of a tough week for Five-O. All five members were sitting in their offices catching up on some paperwork.
"I miss Danny right about now." Tani said with a scowl. "I hate paperwork. How that man did all the paperwork for the team for 10 straight years is beyond me."
Junior laughed at her from where he was lounging on the chair in front of her desk with his phone in front of him.
"It's good for you to learn all these things." He said distractedly, his eyes still glued to his screen.
Tani narrowed her eyes at him before reaching over and plucking the phone from where it was kept.
"You know what would help? If you got off your ass and helped me with this instead of using office's free Wi-Fi to watch your stupid game." She spoke curtly. Junior had the decency to look abashed. Before he could retort, Lou practically ran out from his cabin, motioning everyone to join him.
"Duke, I need HPD detail on McGarrett's house, right this instant." He screamed in the phone.
Tani and Junior looked at each other confusedly before rushing out to the bullpen.
"Send in SWAT too, I'm coming, I'm on my way." Lou said as he grabbed his keys and gun from his office and cut the call.
"Lou, what is happening?" Quinn asked as all the members gathered around Lou, faces contorted in confusion.
Lou continued to walk as he threw instructions over his shoulder. "Junior, Quinn, with me! Tani, Adam, I need you to coordinate with HPD and get the case file of a person named Jared Rivaldi."
"Lou! What the hell is going on?" Tani asked loudly. Lou stopped in his tracks as he opened the glass door to step out.
"Danny's in danger."
That's all it took for the team's feet to get in rhythm and do as their leader has instructed them to do without any question.
/
Danny was sitting on the lanai and was in the middle of a very interesting book when he heard it. A small clatter coming from the kitchen. He looked up and then at Eddie, lounging beside him in the sun, whose ears had perked up too.
"Well, one." He pointed a finger at his own chest. "And two." He pointed at Eddie. "That's a full house. You expecting someone?" He looked quizzically at the dog who, in response, leaped up and ran to the kitchen barking.
"Better not be that pretty Shih Tzu from the dog park." Danny muttered and threw the book down before slowly entering the house. He saw Eddie barking at the closed kitchen door, and Danny knew it was not a friendly bark. All thoughts of Steve surprising him vanished from his head as he stealthily crept up to Steve's table and opened the upper most drawer where he knew his paranoid SEAL partner always stashed a hidden weapon. His hands moved around the top of the drawer where sure enough a sig was taped.
Gun cocked and in ready stance, Danny stood beside Eddie, one hand on his belt. He mentally counted to 3 before kicking open the door.
"You have 3 seconds to tell me who the hell you are and what you want." Danny said menacingly as he looked at the man with a semi-automatic in front of him.
"Detective Williams…miss me?" A smooth voice said from behind him.
Before he could turn around or shoot at the man in front of him, he felt white hot pain exploded in his head and a shot rang out.
The last thing he heard was Eddie's howl and then the darkness enveloped him.
/
Steve would be proud.
Lou thought darkly as he drove through the busy streets of Honolulu, breaking almost 20 different traffic rules to get to Steve's house.
Beside him Quinn had a death grip on the window crank and Junior looked downright queasy at the back. HPD sirens met their eyes as the team ran out, or more like stumbled out of the car as soon as it stopped in front of the house.
Quinn's heart skipped a beat as she saw a gurney with blood on it.
"Danny!" Lou yelled and an EMT stopped him.
"Sir, we need to get to the hospital ASAP." The man said gently. Lou's heart broke as he saw that it wasn't any human on the gurney, it was Eddie. His back leg was bleeding and Lou could see the gunshot. His eyes looked hollow and he kept on panting and whining as Lou slowly patted his head.
"Hey boy, you gonna be alright, you hear me, Eddie?" Lou said as they loaded him in the ambulance. "Text me the address of the hospital."
The paramedic nodded before taking off.
A sense of foreboding filled Quinn, Junior and Lou as they entered the house.
"Duke, where's Danny?" Lou asked as the Sergeant walked out.
"Come see this." Duke said with a hint of concern in his voice.
The kitchen had a pool of blood, obviously Eddie's. There was also a vivid pattern of blood splatter on the cupboards.
"The units responded to your call and were here in less than 3 minutes, Lou. But all they saw was Eddie bleeding out and no Danny." Duke said. "The forensic team is on their way. Hopefully they will find out something."
"His phone and gun?" Junior asked.
"Phone is on the lanai out back with his book where he must have been sitting. We found a Sig on the floor; we think it's Danny's."
"Someone took Danny?" Quinn asked, shocked. "But who?"
"Damn it!" Lou cursed loudly as he spun on his heel and walked out of the house.
"Lou!" Junior called out behind him. "What is happening? Who took Danny? And who is Jared Rivaldi?" Quinn followed them to the car.
Lou sighed and leaned against the car. Damn, he was too old for this kind of shit to still keep on happening.
"Let's get back to the headquarters, I'll explain everything." He spoke.
The drive to headquarters was not a pleasant one. Lou kept on calling Steve but there was no answer on the other end, it was switched off. Lou slammed the steering wheel in anger and was ready to throw his phone out in frustration.
The only person on the island who knew about the case was Danny and he was kidnapped. Steve was MIA, Kono was…Lou didn't even know where she was. He could contact Chin, get him on board, but that was his last resort. Chin had made himself a great life over in San Francisco with Abby and Sara. He didn't want to drag the man and his family into this mess unless it was absolutely necessary.
Tani and Adam already had the case files drawn up and on the big screen when the rest of the team entered the office.
"Danny?" Adam asked expectantly as soon as they entered. Lou sighed and shook his head.
"They got him." Junior said. "What do you have?"
"This is fucked up, guys." Adam said with a shaky voice as he directed their attention to the TV Screen.
"Fucked up? No, this is fucked up twice and thrown in a massive pile of shit ten times, dude." Tani responded with a grave voice.
A photo of a man came up on the TV. He looked in his later 30s, sandy brown hair, pale skin and grey eyes. He looked like an average American man, but there was something in his eyes which made Quinn shudder inside.
"Jared Rivaldi. A resident of Los Angeles, California." Lou started. "This case was far before any of you, or me, for that matter. This was handled by Steve, Danny, Chin and Kono."
Tani watched as Adam stiffened at his ex-wife's name.
"He was arrested for trafficking. As you already know, Hawaii has a lot of illegal trafficking from China and other South Asian countries, he used to smuggle girls from here to the mainland."
"But Five-O and HPD broke almost all of the trafficking rings in Hawaii in the last 10 decades. We've never even heard of his name." Quinn said, her brow furrowed.
"That's because his poison was girls aged between 5 to 18 years of age. HPD found his dumping ground and his operation in the jungle. There were officially 27 bodies of girls buried there and the unofficial number…" Lou shrugged as a few of disturbing pictures came up. All of little girls half naked, beaten and bloody. "He used them, smuggled them killed them, raped them, and every other possible thing you can think of."
Tani and Quinn closed their eyes as Junior sucked in a sharp breath at the pictures.
"Back then Five-O got on their trail when they were put on the case of one missing kid. Hila Keoki, age 8." Lou showed them her photo. "She was taken by his men. "
"In the process, Steve and Danny got the name of one Vivian Rivaldi, Jared's sister. When they went to her address for questioning, she and her goons drew their gun on them. Vivian was killed in the crossfire." Adam said. "From then on, Jared Rivaldi surfaced. He knew he had cops behind him, for revenge and to erase any trail, he killed Hila and dumped her body right here in front of the Palace." Adam said as he swiped at the photos. "It was a message saying that his sister's death was not something he was going to take lightly."
"Soon after, he disappeared, his operations stopped in Hawaii and on the mainland, or maybe just were so underground that nothing came up for all these years. There was no trace at all. That bastard was too good at his sick job. We believed he had left the country with no intention to return. Steve and Danny still worked the case sometimes when they had time on their hands. Jared was one of those criminals who got away but not forgotten." Lou said heavily.
"That's not all is it?" Quinn asked as she looked at Lou who rubbed his face before nodding.
"Danny, being a father to a 10-year-old girl, obviously got emotionally involved in the case. Rivaldi had taken a particular interest in him. He had threatened Grace and Danny had lost it, going to such lengths as to pull Grace out of school for weeks and sent her and Rachel to New Jersey with protection detail."
Everyone looked at Lou in shock. No one messed with Danny and his kids. No one. Danny could go to any length and take any step if one of his kids was at in danger.
"He kept sending Danny birthday cards on Grace's birthday till a year ago."
"Danny never mentioned…" Tani said. She knew Danny was a talkative person, get 2 beers in him and he could talk endlessly on anything and everything. But she knew he had secrets too, dark and hidden whose access was given to only a few.
Lou gave her a sad smile. "No. Only Steve." Those two words explained everything there was to know.
"Lou, how did you know Danny was in danger this morning?" Junior asked.
Lou's face hardened as he brought up a Security camera footage. "Rivaldi's face was sent everywhere, to every agency existing on this Earth, but nothing turned up. After the cards stopped, Steve and Danny thought the man had died for all they cared. Until 2 days ago when we caught this person coming into Los Angeles airport."
A burly man with shaggy beard and hair was seen on the screen. "His name is Terry Gerard. He is Rivaldi's right hand man. He was seen on Kalakaua Avenue this morning. If he is in Honolulu, I can bet you my whole life's savings Rivaldi's around." Lou said.
"Rivaldi had threatened Danny's life many times before, and since now we believe him to be on the island, Danny's the only person he will go after."
"What about Grace?" Adam asked concernedly. "She's in college, does she know?"
"I have already assigned a detail to her in California, Charlie and Rachel will be on the next flight to be with her. I spoke to the Governor they shall be sent to a safe house till Danny is found and Rivaldi is captured or dead."
If safe houses were involved, the team knew that the matter was very serious.
"Any news on Steve's front? He would want to know." Tani said. Lou shook his head.
"His phone's switched off."
"Catherine?" Quinn asked.
"She's…not with him." Everyone looked at Lou, their looks promising him that this conversation would definitely be brought up again. "Adam, can you track his number?"
Adam quickly got to work. "Meanwhile, Quinn, see what the crime lab got from Danny's house. Any fingerprints or anything. I want them to go through everything with a fine tooth and comb." Quinn nodded and rushed off.
"Tani, Junior, try to track down Gerard. He is our best lead right now. Also, call Jerry, let him know the situation and ask him to be with Eddie and keep me updated about his condition." Tani and Junior followed Quinn and Lou finally took a shaky breath as he steadied himself on the table.
Adam looked at him with concern. "Lou, are you okay?"
Lou looked at Adam, ever the calmest one. "I'm getting too old for this, man."
Adam huffed out a small laugh. "That's what Danny said to me once."
"Yeah well, you see, Danny and Steve are such people who will have a gun even on their deathbed. They are junkies of this life. I can bet you all my money Williams wasn't sitting empty handed this past month."
"Well, even you know you can't live without this life."
"Aw hell no. I would prefer my couch, TV and longboards above this any day." Lou said. "We need to find Danny, Adam. Jared's a dangerous guy. I don't know in what condition Danny would be…"
"Don't worry Lou, we'll find him." Adam said determinedly. Just then, a beep sounded. Both men looked as the screen showed 'Trace Failed' in big letters.
Lou put his head down in disappointment. Damn McGarrett and his need for being anonymous everywhere.
God help him.
/
Danny could feel the nausea kicking in. His head painfully jolted as he opened his eyes. Bright light met his sensitive irises and he hissed before closing them again. He had a bad concussion, he could tell. The slow blurring of his surroundings was evidence enough.
'What in the hell had happened?' He thought to himself before gulping and sitting up.
He groaned as he tried to open his eyes again and succeeded but at the cost of extreme pain. His stomach lurched, threatening to regurgitate this morning's eggs and bread.
Danny finally saw where he was. It was a bathroom. He was in a tub; a shower curtain separated him from the outside world. He tried to stand but his feet slipped on the slippery material of the tub and he was dead to the world again as his head hit the corner of the tub.
/
Steve watched with zero interest as vehicles passed by him. The lunch hour rush had died down in the small street café he had taken to coming every day. He liked it here in London. The weather was exact opposite of Hawaii, but with God's grace, sun had decided to show up today. He took a sip of his coffee and leaned back in his chair.
He smirked as a few ladies walked by him, giving him flirty smiles and giggling. It probably had something to do with his buffed-up body and his white polo and khaki chinos he was wearing along with his favorite pair of sunglasses.
He smiled inwardly as he remembered getting them. Danny had given them to him on his last birthday. He had bought a similar pair for himself and they both usually wore them together, giving the team a brilliant opportunity to crack twin jokes.
Steve's face fell a little as he thought of Danny. Ever since his conversation with Lou, Steve had wanted nothing more than to go to Hawaii and be with his brother. Danny was hurting, from what Steve could tell. And it angered him that Danny hadn't shared anything with him when he had spoken to the man. True, Steve was at fault here too. He usually called or texted once a month or so, but that was not because he didn't miss his family back in Oahu. It was so that he could do what he had come out there to do.
Find himself.
He knew if he kept in regular touch with everyone back in Oahu, he would never have been able to stay away from them for so long. It had been 10 months. 10 months since he had left the islands. 10 months since he had left his Ohana, his brother, his Danno.
He longed to go back on the warm sandy beaches with the blue ocean which soothed all his aches. He missed home now.
Sure, he had Catherine with him for a while. But it was the same as always. She was with him for a few days before she started talking about the agency and her missions again. She started getting mysterious phone calls and Steve hated when someone kept him in the dark.
Drama had ensued and Catherine and told him that she can never settle down. Steve had figured that out far back. He had just kissed her on her forehead before leaving, knowing that it was a huge possibility that he might never see her again.
He wanted to tell all this to Danny. He wanted to share a beer with his best friend on the beach out back in his home and talk to him about everything he had seen, places he had been to and people he had met.
While sitting there in that small café, Steve contemplated.
Had he found what he was looking for?
Maybe it was time to go home now?
/