CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
A DECENT THIRTY MINUTES AND TWENTY-NINE MILES LATER
Seven days later marked Danny's tenth day of recovering at home. Technically not at his home, but at Steve's, however, his recovery was going in the right direction. He stayed home. Took his medication on time. He worked two hours a day from the comfort of the couch, to keep his mental health in order. He went to all of his PT sessions. Allowed himself to rest when needed and because of that Danny felt more like himself each day. He felt less tired and more energetic. Danny wasn't his old self yet and although that might never be the case, Danny noticed the progress and that was all he needed at the moment.
The PT sessions were giving him hope too. His knee had healed the quickest. The swelling was completely gone and the bruising had vanished to the minimum. With the knee brace on, standing, leaning, and putting weight on it no longer hurt that intense. Danny felt little to no pain when walking around without the aid of the cane. He nearly got rid of the limp but even now and then he caught himself limping out of comfort. According to the physical therapist, it was just a matter of getting used to it again, and because of that; she made him wean off the support of the brace, as well as the cane.
Danny's nerve pain in his shoulder had improved, but it went significantly slower than his knee And although the healing process went laborious and not nearly quick enough for Danny's liking, the physical therapy was paying off. At least if Danny had to believe the therapist. He didn't feel much progress when measuring the pain. He surely moved less gingerly and more smoothly. Yet it still hurt a great deal. The same went for his chest and ribs as they weren't fully recovered yet either. It went better every day. Breathing didn't hurt much anymore, only some unexpected movement could make him cringe again.
MCGARRETT'S HOUSE - 5329 KALANIANAOLE HWY - O'AHU
Getting out of the shower. Danny toweled off and dressed for the day. For the first time in weeks, Danny managed to put a pair of jeans on again. He hadn't worn a pair of jeans since the abduction. The main reason: the jeans didn't fit over the knee brace he had to wear and putting the knee brace on top of the jeans was just disastrous. Now that he didn't require the knee brace for the majority of the day Danny decided to put a pair on, just because he could and didn't have to go to the office anyway. Therefore no formal dress code for today and a pair of jeans with a T-shirt on top. Danny actually wondered what happened to the pair of jeans he wore when he was brought into the hospital. The staff probably trashed it as the jeans must've been ruined and covered with crusted blood.
Danny wiped the steamed bathroom mirror to clear it of the fog. He did his hair first before it could dry up all wrong. Then he gave himself a good look in the mirror. His face was still a mess. Clearly not as bad as seventeen days ago. All swelling around his eye and nose had come down, yet there were still some visible marks left to heal. There was still bruising around his left eye, fading, thus far blue and green. His split lip had closed and was almost healed except for the lingering scab. The stitches from the cut above his eyebrow and the gash on his cheekbone had been removed on his latest visit to his GP. Leaving the skin raised and reddish. For now an obvious scar and hopefully with time barely noticeable.
His facial injuries were barely giving him trouble anymore. His smashed nose might be the one thing left that daily impaired him. Danny couldn't smell a thing. Breathing through his nose had become more doable, yet the dried blood congealed on the inside of his nose made it difficult to even move air through. Danny took a few slow breaths through his mouth to prepare himself, and mostly his injured chest, for the upcoming task he had to do almost every morning. He pressed his fingers on one nostril and closed it off, then he blew as much air as he could through the open nostril. His eyes started to water and clots of blood came out, as big as garden peas. He repeated the procedure on the other nostril as well and more blood clots splashed into the sink.
Danny wiped the remaining blood from his nose, and blinked to clear his view. He opened the faucet and cleaned up the sink. He took his medications out of the bathroom mirror, swallowed the pills, and drank water from the tap. He turned it off and focused on the last matter of his morning routine. Observing the eight-inch-long surgical incision, slanting from below the tip of his shoulder blade all the way to the side of his chest. The edges of the wound were still stitched together with black thread, but were to be removed tomorrow at his doctor's appointment with Dr. Keller. Danny took a clean towel and patted the sutured cut extra dry. Then he checked for signs and symptoms of infection, like, increased redness, drainage, or swelling at around the incision. Everything looked calm and fine as it should. The stitches pulled on his skin and the cut itched, but nothing out of the ordinary. Satisfied, Danny grabbed a T-shirt and put it on.
Ready to seize the day, Danny made his way to the kitchen. Steve, all dressed and ready to go to work, poured himself a cup of coffee as Danny walked in.
"Hey," Steve greeted. "Is that allowed?" He questioned as he eyed Danny's jeans and probably spotted the missing knee brace as no jeans Danny owned fitted over the brace.
"Yeah— it is," Danny sighed as nothing went past Steve related to Danny's wellbeing and explained. "I could either take the brace off for a few hours or ditch the cane,"
Steve jokingly looked around. "So? Where's the cane?"
"Do I smell coffee?" Danny averted.
For a split second, Steve looked doubtfully at Danny, then he narrowed his eyes. "I know you can't actually smell it," he said pointing at Danny's nose. "You saw me pour it and are diverting my concerns."
"I did and I am," Danny admitted as he still couldn't smell a thing due to his blood-clogged nose. Steve rolled his eyes as he handed Danny the freshly filled coffee pot. Danny took hold and grabbed a black mug out of the open kitchen cabinet shelf. "Do you have any paperwork left for me to file from yesterday's case?" He asked while he poured himself a cup.
Steve was about to take a sip, but he lowered the mug of coffee. "Paperwork? Are you that bored?"
"I am beyond bored," Danny said, without any intention of exaggerating as he was terrible at doing nothing all day.
Steve took a sip and then said. "I hate to disappoint you, but I already did the paperwork on that case."
Danny flicked his gaze at Steve. "No, you did not. You let Tani do it. She texted."
Grinning, Steve proposed. "Okay, here's what you're gonna do. You're gonna call the contractor and have him meet me at your house," Steve checked his watch. "Around noon, today. And that will be it."
"That— that's not the excitement I was looking for," Danny said with disappointment as he went over to the fridge to grab the almost empty milk carton and add it to his coffee.
"It's all the excitement you're going to get," Steve stated and made his way to leave for work. Before he was about to walk out of the front door and just as Danny took a sip of coffee, Steve turned said. "Do me a favor, take it easy on the caffeine, all right? You know we have that appointment at four today and you get all jittery and stupid when you drink too much coffee."
"Yeah— about that appointment," Danny argued as he put the milk back into the fridge. "Do we really—"
Steve cut Danny off. "Yes, we do." He said and closed the front door behind him.
MCGARRETT'S HOUSE - 5329 KALANIANAOLE HWY - O'AHU
Once Steve had left for work, Danny put himself to use anyway and managed to file some overdue paperwork. After a couple hours of working from home, doing some exercise, and eating lunch, Danny went to Junior's bedroom. The one Danny had claimed for the past days and went to lay down on top of the covers to rest. One might say he twisted and turned before he drifted off, but Danny still couldn't do such a thing. His right side wasn't optional because of the obvious surgical cut and the nagging shoulder issues. His left side wasn't his preference either, but doable. His back was his go-to sleeping position and therefore he counted wooden panels on the ceiling until he drifted off.
A decent forty-five minutes later, a loud, knocking hauled Danny from his sleep. Confused by the sound, Danny shifted, gritting his teeth against the pins-and-needles sensation in his shoulder. He grunted as he realized he had slept funny up to the point where the pain was nauseating him. He then rolled to the left, tapped his cellphone to activate, and glanced at the time showing on the screen. The bright white numbers showed one-fourteen PM.
Wondering where the sound had come from, Danny swung his legs over the edge of his bed. He tensed and grunted again but this time from the strain the quick movement put on his ribs and chest wound. After another few deep breaths Danny slowly stood up, then he grabbed his cellphone and shoved the device in his jeans pocket. As he padded barefoot to the bedroom door he combed with his fingertips through his hair.
When he made it to the living room Danny noticed Eddie was impatiently sniffing the front door while wagging his tail. At the sight of Danny, he even started barking and sat down. Curious to know who was on the other side of the door, Danny turned the door lock and opened it. Eddie spurted outside but didn't have to go far to find his interest— which turned out to be a padded brown envelope lying on the doorstep. To Danny's surprise, the porch was vacant except for the package lying on the doormat. Danny stared down the front yard, looked around to see if the person who had knocked and left the package was still to be seen, but there was no one.
Danny snatched the envelope off the ground and took it inside. As Danny walked to the kitchen, Eddie curiously followed. He kept on barking and he even jumped up at the package. Danny took a good look at the envelope. It didn't feel necessarily light or heavy, but there was something in there for sure. Weirdly enough there was only an address written down. No name or identification as to who this package was meant for or belonged to. Getting a bit unsettled about Eddie's exciting behavior Danny wanted to open the envelope but it was sealed. He tossed the package on the kitchen island and went to find a sharp object to open the envelope.
As Danny searched he dragged the phone from his jeans pocket and called Steve on speaker mode. The phone rang, once, twice, three times. On the fourth, Steve picked up and said.
"Hey, buddy. I just finished up with the contractor. What's up?"
"Yeah, I got a question," Danny said absently as he rummaged through the kitchen drawer. "What did you order online?"
"I didn't order anything online," Steve said and asked. "Why?"
"Well, there's this package on your doorstep and as you can probably hear, Eddie's going nuts about it," Danny explained as the barking continued. Then it made sense to Danny. "Did you order any special kibble for him or something?"
"No. I didn't order anything," Steve said, sounding puzzled. Then there was a pause, and the phone went quiet except for traffic noise and engine sounds.
"You there?" Danny questioned and as he couldn't find a pair of scissors Danny settled on a knife. He turned back to the kitchen island and placed his phone next to the envelope. This way he had both hands to cut open the package.
And just as he made a small tear Steve urgently said. "Don't touch it, Danny,"
Danny stopped dead in his tracks. "I already did," he confessed and dropped the knife. "Why shouldn't I've touched it?"
"Are you inside the house?" Steve questioned.
Danny took hold of his phone again. "Yeah, I'm in the kitchen."
"All right, just leave the package there. Take Eddie and get out of the house as far as possible," Steve instructed adamantly.
Danny slowly backed up and his eyes locked on the envelope. There was no kibble inside that package and the only other substance that would set Eddie off the way it did would be narcotics or explosives. "Steve?"
"Just leave it, Danny," Steve pressed. "Get out of the house, call it in and request the bomb-squad," he confirmed Danny's theory and Danny could hear screeching tires as Steve added. "I'm on my way."
MCGARRETT'S HOUSE - 5329 KALANIANAOLE HWY - O'AHU
Arriving in a great hurry at his house, Steve pulled over his Silverado crew cab on the side of the street. He couldn't park onto his driveway as two HPD cruisers blocked the street to create a safe perimeter around the possible explosion site. The Bomb-Squad van was parked within the perimeter and guys in EOD suits were just past the front yard gate. Everything seemed already set in motion and Steve had arrived last. He climbed out of his car and as he did he noticed Danny sitting outside, beyond the front yard gate, down on the curb. Eddie was lying right next to him. With his head onto Danny's lap; receiving pets and strokes to keep him calm. Steve let out a relieved breath as both seemed unharmed and were within safe distance from the house.
Steve jogged over to the two sitting on the curb. "Yo, you all right?"
"I mean there's still a roof on your house, no explosions yet, so—yeah I'm good."
Eddie freed himself from Danny and spurted in Steve's direction. Steve took hold of the strap that leashed his four-legged friend and placed a kiss on his head. "Good job, buddy." He said and took place next to Danny on the street curb. Steve sat with his elbows on his knees and his hands hanging loose in front of him. For neighbors it must look like two regular folks, chatting. Except, the street buzzed with HPD officers and bomb squad guys.
Await for an update Steve glanced over to the house and then back at Danny. "What did the package look like? How big?"
"Average size padded brown envelope," Danny shared. "No name or sender, just your address."
Puzzled, Steve asked. "How did it get here?"
"I don't know," Danny breathed out. "There was a knock on the front door and when I opened, the envelope was lying on the doorstep."
"You didn't see anyone walk away?" Steve questioned. "Or a delivery van drive away? Or a car maybe?"
"No, I didn't see anything," Danny stated, sounding certain. "There was nobody there."
Steve's eyebrows snapped together. "How?" he pointed at the long path leading from the yard gate to the front door. "It's nearly impossible for someone to actually knock on the door and be gone by the time you open the door."
"I'm not that quick, that's how," Danny said. "It took me a couple minutes, okay?"
Instantly feeling bad, Steve apologized. " 'Course— yeah— no, I'm sorry."
"Doesn't really matter how it got here, right? We know Kim's behind it."
A guy wearing a bomb squad uniform walked up to Danny and Steve. "It's all clear, Commander," he informed. "There were no explosive devices found, but you might wanna give forensics a call."
Steve stood up and frowned. "Forensics? What'd you find?"
The guy pointed at the house. "You can take a look yourself. It's safe to go inside."
Steve thanked the man and turned around facing Danny, who remained sitting on the curb.
"Come on," he hurried and watched Danny slowly come into action. After a failed attempt at getting up, Steve realized Danny couldn't get up as he didn't have the cane by his side to push himself up. Instead of commenting why Danny would even leave the house without the aid, Steve understood these were different circumstances and jumped in to help instead. "All right, I got you." He said and grabbed Danny by his left arm and hauled him up from the curb.
The three of them went back to Steve's house. He ordered Eddie to lie down on his dog bed and together with Danny, Steve went to the kitchen. The brown envelope had carefully been opened. Two items were lying next to the padded brown mailer on the countertop. The first item was a small piece of paper with one sentence written on it: TO SHUT HIM UP. The second item was a box. A tiny neat cardboard thing such as a jeweler might put a pair of earrings in. There was a pad of cotton wool in it. The cotton wool was browned with dried blood. Lying on top of it was a tongue. It had been clipped off by something hard and sharp.
Even though it wasn't a pleasant sight, both Steve and Danny had seen worse and didn't bat an eye. Steve noticed that for a long moment, Danny looked at the note instead of the tongue and asked. "Does it mean anything to you?"
Danny flicked his gaze at Steve. "It does."
"Kim?" Steve asked rhetorically.
"Yeah," Danny nodded confirming. Then to Steve's surprise, Danny went ahead and explained."Back at the uhm— you know— Kim had me fight his guys. It had been hours, so I took one of the guys out," he shared. "Didn't kill him," he immediately assured. "Just made sure he couldn't take a swing at me anymore. Kim pointed a gun at me for it, saying he would shoot me if I did that again. Lousy threat, so I said he could go ahead a shoot me," it squeezed Steve's heart hearing Danny say that. Danny went on. "He didn't like that. And said he would cut my tongue right out of my mouth. To shut me up."
Steve swallowed hard at the thought of that happening. He looked down at the box. "So?" he shrugged his shoulders. "Whose is it?"
There was a knock on the front door. Steve glanced back over his shoulder and watched Lou set foot inside the house.
"McGarrett?"
"In here," Steve answered.
Lou entered the kitchen. He instantly eyed the cardboard box with the cut-off tongue. He grimaced and said, "What on earth is that doing here?"
"Good question," Steve acknowledged, as he was curious himself. But more curious to know why his co-worker had showed up. "What's going on?"
"I've got some bad news," Lou stated most seriously. "Tao Fong was found dead. Half an hour ago. Tani is on her way to the morgue."
"I knew we shouldn't have let him go." Steve fumed. He fished his phone out of his pocket, dialed Tani's number, and put it on speakerphone.
Tani picked up on the second ring. "Hey, Boss,"
"Hey Tani, you got me, Lou, and Danny," Steve said and asked. "Are you at the ME's office?"
"Yep, almost there. Just around the corner."
Danny leaned in and asked. "Did Tao Fong still have a tongue?"
"A what?" Tani said with doubt.
"A tongue," Danny repeated. "Did Tao Fong have a tongue?"
"Doesn't everybody?"
"They should," Steve clarified. "But we're staring at one that was cut out and delivered in a box to my house."
"Gross," Tani expressed and said. "As of now, he's got everything except a heartbeat."
"Can you ask Noelani if Fong still has a tongue," Danny said. "Medical examiners tend to notice things like that, you know."
"Just a sec," Tani answered, and from there on Steve could only hear muted voices. After a beat, Tani was back on. "We were both right. He's got everything except a heartbeat and a tongue. Noelani wants to run a DNA test first, but it's too much of a coincidence, right?"
"It is," Steve agreed. "I'll have HPD bring over the tongue to the ME's office, thanks Tani." He said and disconnected the call.
"Let's bag this and have HPD bring it to Noelani, ASAP," Steve commanded as he put his cell phone away. Then he pulled his car keys out of his pocket and marched to the front door.
"Steve?" Danny said confused. "Where are you going?"
"To arrest Kim Leung."
GYM SHARK VENUE - NORTH SHORE - O'AHU
Making a quick call with Sgt. Duke Lukela, Steve knew all about Kim Laugh's whereabouts and drove to a Gym Shark venue vested on the North Shore as that turned out to be Kim's latest location. Lou had joined Steve, possibly to talk Steve out of his avenge on their drive to the North Shore, but Steve didn't want to hear any of it. A decent thirty minutes and twenty-nine miles later Steve and Lou arrived at their destination. Finding an empty slot on the busy strip, Steve parked his crew cab on the side of the street. Together with Lou, he got out, crossed the street, and set off south. The gym was located on the short but busy strip. They went past a diner, a clothing store, a convenience store, and past a tanning salon before arriving at the gym that was owned by nobody other than Kim Leung.
Steve stopped.
For a long time, Steve hadn't liked to call himself a cop. First and foremost, he was proud to be a Navy SEAL. Second, he hadn't gone to the police academy. He hadn't done any of the courses or any training that required him to become a police officer, let alone a detective. But over time and years of being active in the field with the task force, Steve had come to terms with being a cop. And one of the things a cop depends on was the sense of inappropriateness. What doesn't fit? What's out of the ordinary? What's the wrong type of face or the wrong type of car for the neighborhood? Impossible to answer those questions without long habituation to the place. However, Steve could tell there was something that didn't fit, something out of the ordinary, something wrong.
Lou looked studied at Steve and asked. "Steve, what are you thinking?"
Steve couldn't put his finger on it. Yet. It had to do with something he'd heard Danny say. It was there but not in focus yet. Like a photograph from an old Polaroid camera. Vague and indistinct at first but the image would sharpen up. His brain just needed time to join all the dots.
"It's something Danny said." Steve pondered and took a step back to look up at the modern building they were standing in front of. There was a big neon franchise sign above the centered double glass door and tall glass windows on both sides of the door. The facade of the gym looked identical to the street-view image Jerry had shown the other day, but that building was located Downtown and not here at the North Shore.
"About?" Lou shrugged.
"I don't know, yet," Steve said as he scanned the stores they just went past.
Then the puzzle pieces came together and Steve suddenly knew. There wasn't anything wrong, or out of the ordinary, or something that didn't fit. There was something awfully familiar that had spiked Steve's senses. The tanning salon next door.
Without any explanation, Steve hustled around to its front door and went inside. He was welcomed by an aroma of flowers and sunscreen mixed with an antiseptic cleaning product. The light was white but warm with a yellow hue. Like the sun was shining even on cloudy days. There was a small lobby, with a front desk, and the wall behind the desk was packed with essentials one might need, during or after the tanning session, Steve guessed. Like tanning lotions, accelerators, and moisturizers. More skincare and cosmetics, UV goggles, towels, and bottled water. Behind the front desk was a bored clerk who didn't even raise her head. The girl herself, tanned by something other artificial instead of the actual sun, seemed too occupied with her nails to even notice Steve and Lou. And she should, as both men without a doubt weren't her regular customers.
Steve headed straight for the front desk, his badge at the ready. "Five-0."
The girl looked up from coating her nails. "Help you?" she said while chewing gum.
"Are you the owner?" Steve asked as he scanned the ceiling. There were no cameras.
"No," the girl answered and focused back on her nails.
"Who is then?" Steve pressed.
She gave a nod to the left. "The guy from next door,"
Steve's eyebrows hit his hairline. "Kim Leung?"
"That's the name," the girl confirmed and then looked back up at Steve. "What about him?"
— TBC / HAWAIIFIVE0 —
A/N: For the ones who have left a review behind, thank you for your kind words!
As always, thank you for reading and I really love to hear what you think of it...
Also, thank you for your continuing support, your patience and the kind and heartwarming reviews!
Definitely not abandoning this story, I'll be back with a new chapter!