Chapter 16

Catherine swims for her life, when she thinks she is now far enough away from the plane she turns around. Behind her, Fred and Marie come swimming up. Steve. Where is Steve? "Steve? ... STEVE? ... STEVE!"

She looks around in panic. All she can see is the nose of the Boeing sinking into the sea. Nowhere is another yellow life jacket to be seen.

"STEVE!"

As Catherine tries to swim back to the plane, Fred holds her back. "Catherine, don't. That's suicide. You see the suction that plane is creating, you're not going to get out of it." Desperately, she looks at Fred. Just now she and Steve were getting close again, and now? "But Steve, what about Steve?" The young man looks at her sadly. Catherine's eyes filled with tears, she couldn't let this be true.

Danny, Chin, Kono and Lou listen spellbound to the radio messages of the scouts.

So far, everything has been negative. Restless, Danny paces back and forth, constantly running his hands through his hair; the uncertainty almost drives him crazy. Then one of the spotters reports:

"Crash site sighted. Coordinates 36.356946, -71.469105, about 250 miles east off the Virginia coast. Three people wearing life jackets spotted near crash site." "All right, we'll take over." Comes back from one of the helicopters. The friends look at each other. Three people? Why only three people, there should be four with Steve, Catherine and the two pilots.

It seems to Catherine like an eternity that they are already swimming in the cold water. It is certainly several hours by now. They hold on to each other to warm each other at least a little. At the place where the Boeing sank, the sea has calmed down and now more and more parts of the airplane or cargo appear, but no Steve. Probably Fred is right and he didn't make it. Again her throat gets tight and she has to hold on to herself not to get a crying fit.

Then suddenly she hears engine noises and sees a helicopter flying towards her position. Shortly after, a colleague from the rescue team is lowered down, bringing one by one up into the safe helicopter. In the helicopter, Catherine can no longer, she lets her tears run free. As the helicopter turns to fly back to shore, she shouts, "Don't, we still have to find Steve!" Fred puts a hand on her arm. "Catherine, he was still on the plane..." "Please, they have to look again, maybe he did get out. Please!"

"Three people successfully recovered, two women and one man. Hypothermic, but otherwise apparently uninjured. One man is still missing. We will fly over the area again and then return to base."

Danny can't stop himself, "This is Detective Danny Williams with the Five-0 Taskforce in Hawaii. Colleagues of ours were aboard the aircraft, can they please give us an update on their status?" "Detective, one moment. ... Lieutenant, it's for you." "Danny?" "Catherine, thank goodness. Are you all right?" Then he hears her cry. "Catherine?" "Danny, Steve is still missing. He didn't get off the plane with us."

Danny feels an ice-cold hand reach for his heart.

Fred, Catherine and Marie sit silently in the helicopter. It has circled over the crash site several times. Steve is nowhere to be discovered.

As they arrive at the base and disembark, Catherine turns once again to the pilot of the helicopter. "Please keep looking. He must be out there somewhere." Sadly, the pilot looks at her. "I'm sorry Lieutenant Rollins, I'm afraid we're going to have to live with the reality that the Commander didn't make it out of the plane. We would have found him for sure otherwise."

"Come on, Lieutenant Rollins." A young doctor takes her by the arm and leads her into the building behind Fred and Marie. For the next few minutes, Catherine is only aware of what is happening, as if through absorbent cotton. Someone helps her change, then she's loaded into a bed with heating pads and given an IV line. Then she falls asleep.

She has no idea how long she slept, it must have been several hours, because when she wakes up Danny is sitting at her bedside. She has probably been given something to calm her down. Then she remembers everything and immediately the tears run down her face again. Danny's eyes are also watering. Comforting her, he takes Catherine in his arms. "Danny, he's got to be out there somewhere."

"They flew everything off again at my request Catherine. Steve is not there.

There's a recovery team going out today to lift the Boeing." He has to swallow.

More quietly, he continues, "Then we get certainty..."

Catherine shakes her head, actually she doesn't want to know.

Then Marie and Fred come back to her mind. "How are the other two?"

"They're okay. Those two already told me about Marie's escape." "Oh, damn, I was still going to get the Agency on the subject." "It's all good, Catherine. I've already taken care of that. Marie even had evidence with her in a flash drive, I've already provided that to the Agency as well. And the manhunt for the copilot is also underway." Questioningly, Catherine looks at him. "I have my contacts, too, you know. Marie is also allowed to fly on to Oahu with us, that's already been cleared with the governor, too. Fred will stay here in Norfolk and be checked out first. He's also been very upset by all this." And more quietly, he adds, "Especially about Steve."