Thanks again for reading. The last chapter was kind of slow and uneventful – a quiet before the storm. Let's pick up the pace, shall we?

Time passes in an excruciating fashion when there's no external stimuli.

Steve sat in the dark container, keeping the tendrils of insanity at bay. His vision was non-existent. His heart thudded twice as loud when it was the only thing he could concentrate on. There were muffled sounds from out on the ship, but they were at the edge of his hearing.

He'd spent forever trying to free his bound wrists again, but Makoni was no fool. He'd used heavy-duty zip ties and doubled them up to keep his prisoner incapacitated. The plastic dug deep into Steve's skin, and the more he tried, the more warm blood dribbled down his fingers. By now, the pain in his arms and shoulders was damn near unbearable. Even for someone like him, with a pretty high pain tolerance.

A whole lot of him wanted to scream to get someone's attention and ask them to at least cut those damn ties. To give him a few droplets of water, just enough to wet his parched lips and throat. During his training, Joe had imparted enough of his stoic mindset for him to know the way forward. But there's a giant rift between knowing what to do and actually doing it. The logical part of his brain said, screaming and pleading achieves nothing but the captor's delight. There's no benefit to it whatsoever. Focus on what you can control. Stay calm, stay alert, stay ready.

But he didn't know when was the last time he'd seen daylight for longer than a few seconds, he was hurting all over, his breathing was shallow and labored, and his body began shutting down from the exhaustion, heat, and lack of water. The fact that Makoni had something sinister planned for when he came back for him hung over his head in an invisible cloud. No part of him believed he could stay composed when that door opened and that monster stepped into the container.

Nevertheless, he was going to do it. Because what other option did he have?

Seconds or minutes or hours passed. He wasn't sure which it was anymore. His mind went everywhere and nowhere. He got stuck in endless thought loops, and fought his way out of them, and succumbed to them again. The battle in his head was incessant.

But when the door opened and daylight flooded the container, he sat up and adjusted the cuffed wrists so he could look Makoni in the eyes. The criminal loomed over him but he didn't cower.

Steve said, "Came to say hi?"

Makoni glared at him. "You're either completely insane or stupidly brave, Commander."

Steve didn't react. He eyed two armed men clad in black combat gear guarding the doorway. He assumed they were mercenaries. After all, he'd seen a fair share of them during his career.

Makoni said, "I think it's the latter. And I admire that. But it's not going to change my mind about what I'm going to do to you. And to your home."

Twelve casualties.

Steve's mind raced.

So far.

How many more there would be before this was over?

"This is between you and me," he said, his voice nothing more than a hoarse whisper. "There is no need to hurt anyone else."

Makoni shook his head. "You and your team messed with me," he said, flaring his nostrils. "Nobody does that and gets away with it. Nobody."

"Then settle it with me," Steve tried.

Hate glistened in Makoni's eyes. "Settle it with you?" he said. "Sure, I could beat you up. I could torture you. I could put a bullet in your head right now. The thing is, you aren't like most people I've dealt with so far. In fact, you're a lot like me."

"I'm nothing like you," Steve growled.

Makoni didn't react. Instead, he continued. "Men like us don't break easily. My usual methods wouldn't work with you. You would suck it up, and eventually die with your chin up."

Steve clenched his teeth, sensing where this was going.

"But if I tear your beloved island apart bit by bit, all because you made a mistake of getting into my way..." Makoni trailed away, and a cringe grin stretched across his face. "Now that will hurt, won't it?"

"Listen, you–"

"Can you imagine the guilt?" Makoni cut him off. "But don't worry, you won't live with it for too long. You'll die. Slowly. Painfully. Knowing that you brought down the whole island with you."

Steve didn't react, even though his mind was on fire.

"It'll be over soon," Makoni said. "We're almost ready for the final show. By then, you and I will be far from this island."

Hence the ship, Steve thought.

"But first things first." Makoni signaled at someone out of Steve's sight.

A man appeared at Makoni's side with a small laptop in his hands.

Steve's pulse skyrocketed. "What is this?" he asked, dreading the answer.

"Something to show you and your Five-0 buddies that I am serious," Makoni said.

Adrenaline flooded Steve's veins, expecting the worst. It filled him with energy he didn't know he had. He adjusted his position, placing his feet so that he could stand up as fast as possible.

Makoni noticed. "Don't try anything," he said, standing his ground. "Trust me, you'll regret it."

Steve didn't move. Not yet.

Makoni waved at the man with the laptop. "Show him," he said.

The man turned the screen toward Steve. It was split into two halves. On both, there was a video of some sort. On the left, people in light blue scrubs and white coats walked on a busy reception area among the men, women, and children in civilian clothes. On the right, the room bustled with activity too. It was a spacious office-style room with plenty of separate desks scattered around. Some of them occupied by men and women in police uniforms. More police officers just passing by.

Makoni didn't give Steve time to think about it. He said, "It's a live feed, in case you wonder."

Steve's blood ran cold.

"The Queen's Medical Center and the main Honolulu Police Department."

Steve's eyes bored into Makoni's.

"You wouldn't–"

"Oh, I would," Makoni said with twisted pleasure in his voice. "If you look carefully, there's an unopened parcel in both locations. The courier just delivered those a few minutes ago."

Terrified, Steve fixed his gaze on the screen once again. Sure enough, he spotted a cardboard box on a shelf behind the hospital receptionist and another one on one of the unoccupied desks at HPD. When he looked back at Makoni, the man was holding two black fobs in his hands. His thumbs were on the buttons, ready to detonate the bombs. Steve would never be fast enough to stop him before it was too late.

"Don't," Steve said. "They have nothing to do with this."

Makoni shrugged. "I know."

Steve's eyes were wide with apprehension. He was dealing with a grade-A sociopath. Incapable of human emotions. Set on punishing him and his team. There wouldn't be any reasoning with him. Yet, he had to try.

"Look, I–"

"Enough!"

Makoni's loud voice boomed and bounced off the walls of the small space. Steve watched him, ready to spring into action even though he knew it would be futile.

"I'm in a good mood today," he said. "So, I'll let you choose."

"What?"

"You heard me. Choose one." He tilted the detonators in his fingers. "If you don't, I'll set both off."

"No."

"You have ten seconds."

Makoni wasn't bluffing. That much Steve could discern, even through the veil of terror. It made everything surreal, like he was detached from it all.

"Five."

Steve assessed the situation. Two guards with loaded assault rifles watching him. The guy with the laptop, not armed, as far as Steve could tell. Makoni, with combat experience and a handgun in the appendix holder, milliseconds away from killing dozens of innocent people. And him, bound, his body wasting away.

"Three."

He recalculated his options. There weren't many.

"Two. Are you really not gonna choose?"

He decided.

"Time's up. Hospital first, then."

"No!" Steve heaved himself up, ignoring the sudden explosion of pain and weakness in his limbs. He lunged at Makoni.

With surprising ease, Makoni sidestepped him, leaving Steve to meet the thin air.

He stumbled onto the metal wall, and spun around to see the two armed men train their weapons at him, and Makoni, standing there with a smug expression on his face.

"All right, then," Makoni said. "HPD it is."

He pushed the trigger.

*to be continued*

Let me know if you liked this one at least half as much as I enjoyed writing it. This chapter basically almost wrote itself.