Chapter 3
He has parked the car some distance away and is watching the house. Two women, a teenager and a little boy are busily unpacking moving boxes. Loud music is coming from the windows. The fine gentleman must be getting some work done. Let's see when Mr. Detective comes home.
Steve is now nauseous and notices how his circulation is slowly dropping. Where was Danny? Had his warning come too late? Had Danny been hit after all?
His whole body is one big pain. But the ones in the left upper abdomen and the left shoulder are particularly bad. Briefly, the wound had stopped bleeding, but then the car had slid a bit further and the part had drilled deeper into him. He is freezing and his eyes keep falling shut. Cold sweat stands on his forehead. Then he thinks he hears something. But then it is gone again. His eyes close again.
Danny and Chin anxiously follow every step of the recovery team. Things are not moving fast enough for them. The colleagues from the recovery team sift through everything thoroughly. Finally, the helicopter takes to the air again. Then Danny and Chin see a man from the recovery team being lowered on a rope to the Camaro. Straining, they look down from the road and watch him. He peers into the Camaro and reaches through the driver's window for a moment. Then he speaks into the radio.
More ropes with hooks are lowered from the helicopter. The man on the Camaro carefully passes them under the Camaro and then hooks them together. Then he gives a signal to the pilot and he carefully starts to tighten the ropes. The rescuer on the Camaro checks everything again, then holds onto one of the ropes and the helicopter slowly lifts the Camaro off the cliff. Shortly after, it is above the road and slowly lowers the Camaro.
Danny and Chin run to the wreck. Steve is sitting in the driver's seat. He is terribly pale, cold sweat is standing on his forehead, blood is dripping from a wound on his temple. On his left side, his shirt is dark with blood.
"Steve?" No response.
The rescuer releases the ropes and calls in more people to use a spreader to open the driver's door and lift the dashboard off Steve's legs.
When the door is finally open, one of the paramedics immediately treats the wound on Steve's left side. A long piece of metal, probably from the guardrail, is stuck there and has penetrated deeply. Finally they get Steve out of the car and put him on a stretcher. Danny reaches for his hand. "Steve?"
Briefly, Steve opens his eyes.
"Danno," and then he whispers, breathing heavily and so quietly Danny barely understands him, "...are... in ... danger."
Then his eyes fall shut again. Meanwhile, the helicopter has landed and briskly the stretcher with Steve is brought on board. The helicopter takes off and shortly afterwards he has disappeared from Chin's and Danny's field of vision.
Danny and Chin thank the recovery team, get into the Silverado and drive to the hospital as quickly as possible. Once there, they find that Steve is already in surgery. Danny tries to get a doctor, but no one can give him any information. Chin brings Kono up to date and asks her to stay with Rachel and the kids. He doesn't trust the calm. After all, someone tried to kill Steve and then Stan today.
It's maddening. The detective still hasn't shown up. It is slowly getting dark. He lets it go for today. Tomorrow is another day, maybe he will have more luck then. As he walks back to his car, he has a new idea. If the prophet does not come to the mountain, one must call him... A slight grin plays around his mouth.
Danny walks restlessly up and down the corridor. In the meantime, it is dark outside. None of the doctors has been to see them yet, and no one can tell him how his friend is doing. Suddenly Catherine is standing in front of him. Danny stops, flabbergasted.
"Catherine?"
"How is Steve?"
"I don't know yet, no one can tell me anything. ... Wait, how do you know about this?"
She blushes a little.
"Seriously now? You're having him watched?"
"Not the way you think, Danny. You know I care about him. I..."
At that moment, a doctor they know well steps up to them.
"Detective?"
"Dr. Carter, finally, how is Steve?"
"The Commander had a lot of guardian angels with him once again, but it was close. He got here just in time for us to make up for the massive blood loss with hematopoietic medications and canned food.
He sustained injuries to his spleen and kidney from the metal piece, we were able to surgically remove the foreign body and restore both organs, stopping the internal bleeding. Otherwise, he has whiplash and concussion. He was already once briefly awake and asked for you. You can, if you would like gladly to him. But please let him rest a little longer, so please don't stay too long."
"Thank you, Dr. Carter."
Catherine is about to turn away when Danny holds her tight.
"Catherine, please stay and check on him. He-," Danny breaks off. Is it his place to tell Catherine how Steve feels about her? Since they had freed Yao Fat with him and his mother, Steve's mind has often been absent and Danny has also caught him looking at old pictures on his cell phone of her, lost in thought. How he would love to see his friend finally happy too. Catherine looks at him attentively. She suspects what Danny wants to say, it would not be the first time that he asks her to stay.
Catherine nods, "I'll check on him. That's actually why I came."
Together with Chin, they enter Steve's room. He looks a lot better, even though he's still unusually still and pale in the bed, and there are also some monitoring devices recording his vital signs. "Steve?" Danny takes his hand. Steve's eyelids flutter, then he looks at Danny, relief written in his eyes.
"Danno."
"Hey Pal. How are you?"
"Like I fell off a couple of cliffs." Seeing Danny roll his eyes, he adds, "No, it's okay, I don't feel much right now. I'm just awfully tired."
"Then get some more sleep Pal, we'll come back tomorrow and talk."
"Wait, Danny," Steve holds him by the arm, "what about you? Did you guys find out anything yet?"
"Not so far, we briefly suspected Stan, but he himself was the target of an attack and is still in the hospital. We haven't been able to question him yet."
Danny sees that Steve is already struggling to stay awake. Nevertheless, from him still comes a quiet, "Danny, it was a black RAM, that license plate starts with MRI, unfortunately, that's all I saw." Danny squeezes his hand once more, as a sign that he has understood him, and slowly withdraws.
Only now does Steve discover Catherine. She had stopped at the door.
"Catherine!"
"Hey, Sailor. What are you doing?" She steps closer and takes his hand.
Attentively Danny watches his best friend. That look when he discovered Catherine. The gleam in his eyes. That just confirms to Danny that Steve will never get away from Catherine and love another woman like that. He does feel a little sorry for Lynn, but he's still mad at her too. Just a little later and Dr. Carter couldn't have done anything more for Steve. Chin gives him a sign and they both leave the room.
Catherine is torn. Actually, she just wanted to know what was going on with Steve. She was worried when the message came in. But when she hears her name come out of his mouth and his gaze meets her, she becomes unsure. His eyes get all bright and so much love shines out at her. It's not like she doesn't love him. While she gives him a friendly kiss on the forehead, a decision matures in her.