Chapter 11
The opening of their cell door interrupted their conversation and Wo Fat entered armed with an electric baton, which he used on Steve, causing him to scream in pain. The soldier struggled to catch his breath when he was finally freed from the electric current.
"Tell me about Shelburne," ordered Wo Fat.
"I have no idea what Shelburne is," he replied, realizing that he was really in a bad situation.
He knew nothing at all about Shelburne and had even been scrambling for months to learn anything about it, and still had nothing, but Wo Fat didn't believe him. The electric shock sent Steve reeling backwards, screaming in pain. He gasped painfully once the baton was away from him.
"Your father spent a lot of time researching the meaning of Shelburne," Wo Fat continued, circling his victim. "I'd be surprised if he didn't share his findings with you."
"You're wasting your time," said Steve with difficulty.
"What about Joe White?" asked the Asian, sending a long electric shock back into his prisoner's belly. "What did he say to you?"
"Joe White," said Steve, trying to sound more convinced than he felt. "Joe White knows absolutely nothing about Shelburne. OKAY?"
"You're lying."
Wo Fat put down the electric baton and unleashed several punches at Steve that sent him spinning around while groaning in pain.
"Why is Shelburne so important?" he asked, taking advantage of a pause between shots. "Why are you so interested?"
Wo Fat only responded by using Steve as a punching bag, the soldier's face bloody, barely able to stand on his legs, but when the onslaught stopped, he straightened up, offered his torturer a bloody smile and spat a little blood on the ground before resuming.
"You don't know what Shelburne is, do you?"
A guard interrupted the interrogation by announcing that he had found a satellite phone. His boss immediately went to him and asked where he'd found it. A conversation in Korean ensued between the two men, while Steve was suddenly worried about Jenna. He'd gathered from their exchange that it was her phone.
"It wasn't for nothing," she whispered before tossing a metal rod to Steve, who hid it under his toes.
Wo Fat ordered his man to leave, walked over to Jenna and shot her twice in the stomach. Rage rose in Steve at seeing someone he liked, despite what she'd done to him, die before his very eyes.
"I'm going to kill you. You're a dead man," he snapped.
"We're getting on a plane in an hour, and you're driving me to Shelburne."
Steve watched Wo Fat exit with apprehension, knowing that getting on that plane would be his death warrant. Once the man was out the door, Steve wedged the metal rod Jenna had thrown him between his toes and forced his abused muscles to raise his feet to hand level. Despite the pain, he retrieved the rod, rested his feet on the floor and played the object into the lock of the padlock that imprisoned him. In a few seconds, he had freed himself and was catching his breath with both feet flat on the floor, hands on his knees. His gaze fell on Jenna, and he felt sorry for her, closing his eyes before fleeing down the corridors. He avoided the guards he could, but had no choice but to fight two of them, plunging them into unconsciousness with ease. He retrieved the weapon from one of them before climbing a ladder that led him to the exit. On his guard, Steve pushed open the door to the outside, took a few steps outside and two men appeared in front of him, weapons loaded and before Steve had time to react, a jolt on his shoulders sent him to the ground with a cry of pain.
"Get him up. We're leaving." ordered Wo Fat.
The latter retrieved Steve's weapon, then the guards brought him to his feet. They bound his hands again, this time in front of him, and pushed him towards trucks whose rear was covered with white tarpaulins. A guard climbed in and pulled Steve into the back of the vehicle. As soon as he was inside, he hit him on the head and Steve collapsed, unconscious.
He was tossing and turning, struggling to regain consciousness, aching all over. The soldier realized that the vehicle he was in was making a U-turn and several minutes later, slowed down and stopped, but he was too out of it to react. Shots rang out and he sat up, trying to gather his strength, but to no avail. Suddenly, the tarpaulin opened and light dazzled the prisoner.
"It's Steve!" shouted a voice he recognized as Danny's. "He's alive! He's alive!"
He watched with relief as his friend climbed into the car to untie him, but fears still remained within him.
"Danny," he began in a weak voice. "Where's Wo Fat?"
"Will you be quiet, yes?"
The tarpaulin opened wider and Steve, still anxious that the man would come back to kill him looked towards the light source. There, he discovered the silhouettes of Chin and Joe. He realized that if his friends hadn't shot his torturer, it was because he was on the run, and at last he realized that his ordeal was over for the time being, but he remained on the defensive - he'd understood that Wo Fat wouldn't let him go.
Chin and Danny took him out of the truck, put one of his arms on each of their shoulders and allowed him to lean on them as they climbed into a helicopter guarded by the military. Joe helped him aboard and sat him on the ground between his legs. Steve picked up a gun and loaded it, his fingers trembling with nervousness and fatigue. He watched as the men he loved and esteemed boarded the helicopter, ready to defend their lives... lives that wouldn't have been in danger at that very moment if it hadn't been for him.
As the helicopter rose, the tension in Steve eased, replaced by gratitude and relief. He looked at Danny, ready to thank him for flying to his rescue, but his friend beat him to it.
"Not now, you can thank me when we get back to Oahu."
He then turned his gaze to Chin, who didn't let him speak either.
"You can thank me by being my best man at my wedding."
Steve looked at him surprised, not sure he understood.
"I'm getting married."
Reactions of joy echoed through the machine and a genuine smile appeared on Steve's lips, thrilled for his friend and the honor he was doing him.
"Don't do it!" grumbled Danny. This is a horrible idea.
"Thanks for the support!"
"Seriously, don't get married. Find a woman you hateā¦"
"and buy her a house." completed the Navy Seals.
Everyone burst out laughing, and Danny assured Chin he was joking. The tension in the plane eased and remained so until they landed in South Korea, where Steve was able to hug Kono, before the whole group joined the humanitarian plane back to Hawaii. The 5-0 leader hugged all the people who had helped him get out of that hellhole, and got into the car with Danny to go to the hospital. The drive was silent, giving Steve time to decompress and remember Jenna's words. The anguish that gripped him was so violent that he couldn't wait to see a doctor to reassure himself.
"Pull over," he asked halfway down the road.
"What's wrong?" asked his friend, immediately alarmed.
"Lend me your mobile, please."
Danny complied immediately and watched him, worried, dial a number with trembling fingers. Steve bit his lip as he listened to the tones chaining themselves together in the handset, until he came across voicemail.
"It's Steve, I don't have my cell phone anymore. Call me back on this cell, it's Danny's, as soon as you get this message."
Steve's hands were shaking beyond his control as he handed the phone back to its owner, no matter how much he told himself that it was night time in Romania, that Charlie must be asleep and that's why he wasn't answering, he couldn't help but fear the worst and the anxiety rising inside him.
"What's going on, Steve?"
"Before Jenna died she told me Wo Fat was looking for Charlie to use against me."
Silence fell as Danny took her trembling hands between his, held them until the shaking subsided and Steve could think straight again.
"Listen to me, I'm taking you to the hospital, while you're being treated I'm going to buy you a new cell phone and I'm sure you'll manage to talk to him before you get home."
"What if I can't, Danny?"
"Then I'll come with you and we'll find him, okay?"
Steve took a deep breath before nodding, he knew he'd have to wait until the morning in Romania to make a decision anyway, in the meantime he had to take it easy, calm his anxiety. Danny took him for a check-up and left the hospital with two weeks off work, looking forward to seeing his partner and, he hoped, hearing from his man.
"No news," Danny declared, handing him a cell phone as he climbed into his car.
Steve shrugged, activated the phone, dialed his lover's number and prayed.
