Chapter 12
A little sour, Steve sat on the plane to Maui. It didn't suit him at all that they now had to go to Maui because of the investigation into a new drug lord, especially since that meant he couldn't visit Mel in the hospital. In the last few days he had already been busy, so his visits to the bedside had become less. Fortunately, she was also getting better and better and Dr. Carter had held out the prospect that she would soon be allowed to leave the hospital. If it had been up to Mel, she would certainly have been out of the hospital within a week, but Dr. Carter had asked Steve to talk her into it to avoid complications. Presumably Mel would now be discharged at the very time he was away on Maui and that foxed him even more. After they landed on Maui and set up their base, Steve pulled away from the others a bit to at least talk to Mel briefly on the phone. Delighted, she reported to him that she would be released the next day. Steve's mood sank even lower.
"Hey don't be mad. I've got a lot of catching up to do, too. I'll see you guys when you get back." Grumbling, Steve agreed, then heard Tani call out.
"I have to go."
"Take care of yourselves."
The team had gotten a tip on an area where the drug lord was believed to have his camp. The problem was, it was a huge forest area and the helicopter reconnaissance they had tried had yielded nothing. So the team searched the area sector by sector, narrowing down the possibilities more and more. It was grueling work and before they left to check the next sector the next afternoon, Steve tried again to reach Mel. Disappointed, he tried again a few minutes later, but she didn't answer the phone. With a steep crease of worry on his forehead, he rejoined the others.
"What's up, boss?"
"I can't reach Mel. She should be out of the hospital, but she's not answering her phone." Danny looked at him.
"Hey Buddy, I'm sure everything is okay. Just try again later, ok?"
Steve nodded. "Okay."
"All right then, let's go."
Again they split up and entered the next sector. They had not gone far when suddenly people with submachine guns appeared in front and behind them and opened fire. They quickly took cover as far as possible and returned fire. But there were more and more of them. The first to go down was Adam. Steve rushed to him to pull him out of the line of fire, which he suddenly felt a searing pain in his arm. Then Steve saw Tani holding her arm, also hit.
By now they had them surrounded and behind each of Five-0 stood at least two gangsters. Steve looked at Danny and they both raised their rifles crosswise at the same time as a sign that they surrendered. Steve was pissed, how did these guys know they were coming? He would have liked to check on Adam, but they were tied up one by one and then taken a little further into the woods. They had found the camp. One of the men opened a kind of prison container and pushed them in one by one. Adam was carried inside and thrown into the corner. Tani immediately knelt down next to him.
"Hey! Hey! What are you doing? He needs a doctor."
Steve angrily went after the two men. But they seemed unimpressed and before Steve knew it, one of them had knocked him down with his fist and closed the gate behind them. Steve scrambled to his feet and joined Adam and Tani. Adam had already regained consciousness and was able to give the all-clear. The hit had gone into his vest and knocked him out briefly. Steve breathed a sigh of relief.
"What about the rest of you? Tani?"
"It's just a scratch. What about you? That's bleeding pretty good." Steve looked at his arm.
"Straight through." He looked at the others.
"Damn, what was that? They knew we were coming." Danny nodded.
"It sure looks like it. But from where?"
"I think we still have to figure that out. But first, we need to get out of here."
"I think that's easier said than done."
Steve looked at the container construction.
"I'm afraid you're right about that."
Breathing a sigh of relief, the half-Irish woman stood in front of the hospital. Finally she was allowed to leave. Everything had healed well, but she was not supposed to do any sports in the near future, which of course conflicted with her surfing lessons. Tani had been kind enough to pick up the sports prosthesis, but Mel feared that she would probably not use it for a while. She didn't want to risk re-injuring the main vein.
By now she had been on the island for a little over three weeks, and of that time she had spent more time in the hospital than she had doing stand-ins for Noelani. The members of Five-0 and especially Steve had been visiting her almost daily. Yesterday Steve had called her that the team had to go to Maui for a case and unfortunately he could not visit Mel.
Searching, she looked around the parking lot. Steve had already brought the Mustang to the hospital a few days ago, without her asking him to. She knew she would have to face the fear of being a passenger at some point, but she wasn't ready yet. Finally, she had spotted her rental car, unlocked it, sat in the driver's seat and had to smile. There was a note stuck on the steering wheel.
'Drive carefully! See you soon, I hope'.
Then her smile died. She was going back to Germany in a week, what would become of Steve and her then? She had asked him to be patient, and he had agreed to wait. But was that even possible? Her heart had been in a quandary ever since she had woken up in the hospital and he had been sitting at her bedside.
She would so gladly allow a new love, but it had been less than a year since her husband had perished. Was she allowed to fall in love again, wasn't she committing a betrayal of her husband? Tears came to her eyes. Angrily, she wiped them away.
Then she started the engine and drove out of the parking lot.
Her path led her directly to the forensic medicine department, where a lot of things had been left lying around. Fortunately, there were no hasty autopsies, but she still had enough to catch up on.
She was so engrossed that she didn't hear her phone, nor did she realize that it was sometime after 10:00 p.m. already. When the night shift security knocked on the door of the autopsy room, Mel winced violently.
"Sorry Doc, I didn't mean to scare you. I just saw the light and I thought you were still in the hospital?"
"Mike, good to see you. No, I'm out again. Been long enough."
He nodded.
"I'm glad you're doing well. Do you want me to check back later, or are you going to call it a day?" Mel glanced at the wall clock.
"Oh, I completely lost track of time, I'll call it a day then."
"Have a good night, then." She nodded.
"And give yourself a quiet shift."
He said goodbye and left the office.
Mel cleaned up the room, labeled the last samples and took them to the lab. Then she made her way to Noelani's apartment. There were two missed calls from Steve on her cell phone, but when she called him back, only the box answered. In her room, she just managed to remove the prosthesis, then fell asleep on her bed, dressed.