Chapter 8

Restlessly, Danny paced back and forth along the river. Her ride was no more waterworthy than the kidnappers' SUV, so they couldn't follow Mel either, and she didn't answer her phone. Finally, she answered the call.

"Mel! Are you okay?"

"Yes." Her voice sounded distorted with pain.

"Damn Mel, you don't sound like it."

"I got some damage to my arm, but otherwise I'm fine."

"Where are you? We're getting there."

"Danny it's okay."

"Where are you?" Danny repeated his question more forcefully.

"About five miles up the river."

"Stay where you are, we'll be right there."

"Okay."

They had turned the kidnapper, Tim Hesse as it turned out, over to Hawaii PD and were now on the road that wound through the countryside almost parallel to the river.

Then finally they spotted the blue Rubicon, still relatively close to the river. The rear of the car was totally punctured and Mel sat pale under the punctured tailgate, her hand pressed on the makeshift bandage that encircled her upper right arm and through which the blood was already seeping.

Danny stopped their car and jumped out.

"Hey," he took her in his arms, "am I glad to see you. Let me see."

Carefully, he removed the bandage on her arm and drew in a sharp breath. The bullet had left an unusually large entry wound. Mel had already tamponaded it with a Bandage pack, but it had bled through.

Junior stepped closer with the first aid kit and re-bandaged Mel's arm. To distract Mel a bit from the pain, Danny asked how she had found Steve in the first place.

A bit sluggishly Mel told about the little rescue operation and what they had done to Steve. Tears came to her eyes as she did so.

Danny shook his head and his gaze lingered on the holes in the Rubicon's interior. Fortunately, the conversions had taken most of the bullets.

"You're just incorrigible. Mel, you could have been dead."

"Danny, you wouldn't have done anything different if you were me. How many times did you just ride behind when someone was in danger? Besides, I couldn't call anyone, the service was down, or I would have."

"You're right. And if it wasn't for you, Steve wouldn't be alive right now."

Danny took her in his arms again and pressed a kiss to her forehead, he was just glad she was still alive.

"Come on, let's go see Steve."

Arriving at the hospital, they ran straight to the emergency room, where a female doctor wanted to take Mel right away, but she refused. First she wanted to know what was wrong with Steve.

"The commander is still in surgery at the moment. So we can take care of her injury in peace."

Reluctantly, Mel went along. Concerned, Danny looked after her. The arm didn't look good. He assumed that he would not see Mel for a while either.

After a few hours, a doctor joined them.

"Are you with Commander McGarrett?"

Everyone nodded.

"The commander is currently stable and is being moved to intensive right now. Due to the severity of his injuries, we had to put him in an induced coma."

Horrified, Danny and the others looked at the doctor.

"What does that mean?"

"Besides the fractured zygomatic bone, broken ribs and the resulting pneumothorax, he has a ruptured spleen and bruises on almost every organ. It's honestly a miracle he's still alive. In any case, the whole thing is very painful and he would suffer greatly."

Danny swallowed.

"I understand. How long is this going to take?"

"I'm guessing two to three days. Then we'll see how far along the healing is and if we can bring him back slowly."

During the conversation, Mel had stepped in and listened intently. She had her arm in a sling and the doctor looked at her with some irritation.

"Dr. Kinsella. I understand you should be in your bed recovering from your surgery?"

"Can I see Steve, please?"

Thoughtfully, he looked at her.

"Yes, all right, but after that, you'll lie back down, won't you?"

Mel nodded.

"All right, come on."

"Mel?"

"Yeah?"

"Maybe you should put this back on before you go in to see Steve," Danny held out her engagement ring. She looked at him gratefully and put the ring back on her finger.

Slowly Mel entered the slightly darkened room. Steve didn't look quite as awful as he had in the container, yet his face was still swollen and the bruises were already discoloring. Mel could only guess at the condition of the rest of his body, but she knew exactly what was under the blanket and again tears came to her eyes. Could she have prevented all this if she had informed Danny right away instead of running away?

Gently, a hand rested on her shoulder and Mel pulled up. She must have dozed off for a moment.

"Dr. Kinsella, you should go back to your bed now."

Friendly, the nurse smiled at her. Mel nodded, gave Steve another gentle kiss on the forehead and left the room with the nurse. Actually, she should go back to her room now, but under a pretext Mel disappeared through the door of the hospital to the outside.

Thoughtfully, she sat on the stairs and watched the sun set.

"May I?"

A slender woman with brown long hair and brown eyes looked at her questioningly. She wore a plaster splint on her left arm. After Mel nodded, she sat down next to her and held out a coffee mug.

"Hey Mel, I'm Catherine."

Astonished, Mel looked up and gratefully accepted the mug. She liked the uncomplicated woman immediately.

Then she looked Catherine in the eye.

"Thanks."

"For what?"

"For flying all the way to Afghanistan to look for Steve."

"You don't have to thank me for that. You're my friends, and friends stand up for each other."

"Anyway. Thanks!"

Then her eyes wandered off into the distance again.

"Who does something like this Catherine? Who goes to so much trouble to break Steve and me up, almost kill him, and discredit you?"

"I can only think of one who has that much hate in her. However, I thought she was dead."

"Who do you mean?"

"Greer. She was with Steve briefly before me. And everything points to her at the moment."

"Do you think she'll try again?"

"Possibly, but I'll find her, Mel, I promise you. She's not going to get away with this action."

Three days later, Steve slowly opened his eyes. He felt terrible, but at least he wasn't in pain right now and he was getting his breath back. He saw a white ceiling with fluorescent tubes. Tormented, his eyes closed again. Not another hospital, how he hated that. On the other hand, not dead, now that wasn't bad.

Mel. What was wrong with Mel? His pulse began to race and one of the machines next to him beeped wildly. That's when he felt a warm hand rest on his arm.

"Easy Steve, it's all right."

"Danno?"

He turned his head to the side. Next to him sat Danny, Lou, Junior and Adam.

"Where's Mel?"

"I'm here."

At that moment, she entered the room together with Catherine.

"Catherine?"

"Hey Sailor!"

Briefly his gaze lingered on his ex-girlfriend, then moved on to his fiancée. She was very pale, but she didn't seem hurt.

Concerned, Steve looked at her.

"Are you okay? What happened? Did Hesse hurt you?"

Slight panic resonated in his question.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her even closer to him. Then he lovingly stroked the curl behind her ear and his hand lingered on her cheek. Mel bit her lips and shook her head.

"It's all right, I was just terribly worried about you."

Relieved, Steve pulled her close.

"Thank God."