Chapter 8
"STEVE!"
Finally, movement comes to Danny. In a few steps, he is with his friend, pressing on the wound. Out of the front door, however, Greg and Dr. Carter are already rushing with a transport stretcher. Greg ran after Steve and watched everything. In no time at all they have Steve on the stretcher and disappear with him through the door. Danny runs after them in horror, but only sees the door to the operating room close. He stands in the entrance area, wringing his hands. This can't be true. He looks at his bloodied hands and his eyes moisten. He hasn't even checked for a pulse to see if Steve is still alive.
Catherine, Kono and Chin also come running.
"Danny, are you okay?"
Frantically, he looks at them.
"Steve, ... he hit Steve."
Shocked, the others look at him.
"How is he?"
"I don't know. It all happened so fast. Dr. Carter pushed him right through to surgery."
"But how?"
Danny wrings his hands.
"It's my fault. I ducked when he yelled 'get down' and then White hit him in my place."
Catherine is still staring out into the parking lot in shock. Her emotions are on a roller coaster, she finally admitted to herself that she belongs by his side and now he's being taken away from her? This couldn't be happening, not now. Her absent gaze still fixed on the parking lot, she pauses. She can't see the spot where White was standing at all from here. She runs out the door.
"Catherine?"
"Catherine?"
The friends run after her.
She turns around in front of the door.
"No Danny, I don't think you're to blame. Where was Steve?" Danny points to the spot.
"White was standing back there." She points in that direction.
"He could never have hit Steve from there, there's the column in the way. Where were you standing?"
Danny points to another spot further ahead. She goes there and nods.
"Yeah, that fits. If you hadn't gone down, he would have hit you."
"You mean?"
"There was a second shooter, and he didn't want you, he wanted Steve."
Forensics confirms Catherine's execution. In the wall of the hospital they find the bullet that was actually meant for Danny. The other bullets had ended up in the cab behind which Danny was hiding. On a slightly higher area of the parking lot they find a bullet casing. From here the bullet was fired for McGarrett.
That was much easier than he thought. He had been watching the windows of the hospital for some time, but so far he could not spot him. And then he just comes running out of the entrance. All he had to do was pull the trigger. He picks up his phone and texts, 'Job done.' Shortly after, a message comes in from his bank app. 'Money has come into your account.' Satisfied, he looks at his new account balance, then starts the car and drives away.
Danny washes Steve's blood off his hands. As if in a trance, he watches the red streaks disappear down the drain. Then he tears himself away from the sight and looks in the mirror. Again he hears Steve calling and the bang. And relentlessly, the image of Steve slides into his mind, lying on the floor, the red stain on his T-shirt getting bigger and bigger. Danny swallows and runs a hand through his hair, then props himself up on his elbows on the sink, puts his face in his hands and lets his tears run free.
When Danny comes back to the others, there is still nothing new from the operating room. They have asked several times now, but no one can or will say anything.
They sit restlessly in the waiting room. This fills visibly with Steve's Ohana, that Steve was shot spreads like wildfire.
Chin, meanwhile, has requested the videos of the parking lot and traffic cameras, something tells him they need to hurry. He has the laptop on his lap and looks at them. When he gets to the part where Steve collapses after being hit, he has to swallow. He quickly fast forwards. Only the video of the next camera shows the back part of the parking lot. Since shortly after sunrise, a black Silverado has been parked there. When Chin sees something flashing on the car, he zooms in closer. He sees directly into the barrel of a sniper rifle with a silencer. Quickly Chin rewinds back and forth to maybe get a look at the driver of the car in some frame.
"Stop." Kono has been looking over his shoulder for a while.
"There." Chin takes a screenshot, runs facial recognition, and puts out the APB at the same time.
Suddenly Danny remembers Lynn. She had come to visit Steve. He quickly goes upstairs to the ward, but he can't find her anywhere. Strange, she should have noticed what happened, why isn't she there?
Slowly Danny goes back downstairs. He still blames himself, if only he had answered the phone, Steve wouldn't have followed him at all.
Rachel. He stops and dials her number. He can already hear in her voice that she is angry. His feelings overwhelm him and with tears he tells her about Steve. Her voice softens, she knows exactly what Steve means to him.
"Oh, Danny, he can do it, you know him."
"And what if it doesn't?"