Author's Note: I know some of you don't like stories that involve Catherine. Please give this one a chance anyway. Thanks! And thank you to katbybee for beta-reading! I've written the whole story, so I'll try to post two chapters a week. In this story, I pretend that COVID never happened. It just got too awkward writing it in. Don't we all long for a COVIDless 2020?
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May 7, 2021
Steve listened to the message on his cell phone again. It came from Catherine's number, but it wasn't from her. "I have Catherine," a man's voice said. He had a thick Irish brogue. "If you want her freed, you will meet us behind the Wegmans in Princeton at ten o'clock tonight. No weapons. No police. Just you."
Catherine was expecting a baby in a few weeks. They had gotten married shortly after finding out that she was pregnant. It was a boy. They'd chosen a name for him: Samuel Jack McGarrett. Steve was excited to watch his son grow up.
Steve was at their apartment now, just off of Warinanco Park in Roselle, New Jersey. They were planning to go back to Hawaii after the baby was born. Danny would be so surprised. They'd talked a lot, but Steve hadn't told him anything about his son or his marriage.
He checked his watch. It was eight o'clock already. He wanted to get there early, and if he left now he could do that. Steve knocked on a neighbor's door. Ralph Arrington was one of the good guys. "Hey, I have to go help Catherine. If for some reason we don't come back, call my friend Danny Williams. Here's his number." He handed the information to Ralph.
Ralph nodded. He was a former Navy SEAL, like Steve. They'd had some great conversations about their various escapades, all without revealing anything classified. "Sure thing," Ralph said. "I hope everything's OK."
Steve's forehead wrinkled. "It isn't. I had a call. Someone grabbed Catherine. Irish accent. They said I have to come without weapons or police. I've got to leave for Princeton now. They said to meet them behind the Wegmans there."
"I'd come with you, you know," Ralph said. "I may be retired, but I'm in good shape."
Steve nodded. "I know. Thank you. But I don't want to endanger Catherine."
"All right. I'll be praying for you both," Ralph called as Steve hurried to his truck. Ralph was a devout Catholic.
Princeton was about an hour's drive. While he was driving, Steve called Danny. He wanted to give him a heads up. "Hey, Danny."
"Hi, SuperSEAL!"
"I'm not calling to chat, pal. Somebody grabbed Catherine. I'm going to meet them now. They said no weapons, no police."
"Steve," Danny said, "don't do this alone. Call the police, pal. You know what we would tell civilians in this situation."
"I know, Danny. I'm not going to endanger her. Remember when Grace was kidnapped? You didn't contact us. You did what Peterson said. I'm doing what this man said. I hope he'll let Catherine go. But I might need your help. If they ask me to exchange myself for her, I'll do it. I just want you to be aware. The guy who called had an Irish accent. I wonder if it has something to do with Robert Sullivan. If I don't make it home, my neighbor Ralph Arrington will call you."
"I'll be waiting to hear from you," Danny said. "Whatever I can do, I'll do it. Remember what I told you when you left — don't make me come lookin' for you."
"I'll do my best. Thanks, pal. Goodbye."
"Bye, Steve. Be careful."
"Yeah, of course." He hung up the call.
Steve reached the Wegmans shortly after nine o'clock and parked in the back at the curb. He checked his glove box. He kept a gun in there, all legally registered of course. But he left it in the glove box. He didn't want to do anything that would endanger Catherine. He slipped his medication into his pocket. He would need that if he was taken. Danny would kill him if he rejected the liver.
At ten o'clock, a black pickup with a covered bed pulled in. Steve got out of his truck. A man dressed all in black got out of the pickup. He grabbed Steve and pulled his arms behind him. Then he ziptied Steve's wrists together. He pulled the truck keys out of Steve's pocket and tossed them to the person who got out of the front passenger seat of the truck. Neither of the men said anything. The first man just dragged Steve to the back of the truck, opened the liftgate, and shoved him in. He closed it. Steve scooted over by the liftgate and tried opening it, but it wouldn't open from the inside.
Somebody moaned. "Steve, is that you?" Catherine's voice.
He scooted towards her. She was chained up near the back of the truck bed, out of his sight. "Hey, Cath. Are you hurt?"
"I don't know what happened," she said. "One minute I was walking through the park, the next I was waking up here. My head is killing me."
He lay down next to her. "It's going to be OK. We'll get out of this somehow. Ralph will call Danny, and he'll find us."
Steve found a sharp edge where he could saw through the zip ties. Then he put his arms around Catherine. His hands stroked over the baby. Sammy was kicking. "I don't know why this is happening, Cath. I'm really sorry." He kissed her neck and held her close. He tried freeing her from the chains, but he couldn't. The longer they drove, the clearer it became to him — their captors did not intend to free Catherine. That was just a lie to get him to come.
As they drove, the bed of the truck filled with some foul-smelling gas. It knocked them out quickly. When Steve woke up, they were chained inside a shipping container. They had piles of straw for their bedding. Steve guessed they were on a train. He could hear the clackety clack of the wheels, and every so often he heard the train's whistle. He reached for his phone, but it was gone.
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May 8, 2021
Danny and Lincoln Cole were at the computer table, looking for information on a drug dealer who had been spotted coming into Honolulu a few days ago. Diego Montero was the head of a Venezuelan cartel. There were multiple warrants out for his arrest.
Danny had a sick feeling in his stomach. He had stayed up last night, waiting for Steve to call and say that everything was OK, but the call never came. Something must have gone wrong.
When his phone rang, Danny didn't recognize the number, but it came from New Jersey. He answered. "Hello?"
"Is this Danny Williams?"
"Yeah."
"Hi. I'm Ralph Arrington. I'm a neighbor of Steve McGarrett. He asked me to call you if he and Catherine didn't come home." He paused briefly.
"Yeah, he told me you might call."
"They usually have me over on Saturday mornings for breakfast, but they aren't there. Something must have gone wrong. You should know, Catherine's expecting a baby in a couple weeks."
"Damn!" Danny said. He was shocked and a little hurt that Steve hadn't told him about the baby. But he didn't have time to worry about that. He adjusted his sling. It was pulling at his neck. He'd broken his left arm about a week ago. It still hurt like crazy. He still had to find Steve. If someone grabbed Danny, Steve would be going after him, even if he was injured.
Danny sat down at his desk, trying to figure out what to do. He connected his brain to the Wi-Fi. A small remnant of the neuroseed remained after Dr. Abrams had done his brain surgery. Sometime after Steve left, it had grown back, though it couldn't put out circuits anymore. He could connect to the internet, which was helpful for work. He had stopped feeling sensitive about it. He no longer felt like a computer. He was fully human with some technological advantages.
His parents and Drew had moved to Honolulu. They owned a house not far from Steve's. It would always be Steve's house, even if he wasn't living there. Eddie would always be Steve's dog. They just had to find Steve and get him back. Catherine too, of course, even though Danny resented her for breaking Steve's heart so many times.
Danny tried pinging Steve's phone but had no luck. Perhaps it had been taken away, or maybe Steve had turned it off or maybe he was somewhere that didn't have service. Danny would try again later.
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In one corner of the container, Steve had discovered a stockpile of canned foods and bottles of water. Without knowing how long they would be in the container, he decided to ration the food carefully. It was pretty bland stuff, but it was food. Steve usually took only a bite or two and gave the rest to Catherine. She and the baby needed nourishment. He had lost all track of time. They could have been stuck in the container for five days or twenty, he wouldn't know. He tried taking his medication every day, but without a good sense of time, it was hard to tell if he had missed one.
Catherine spent most of her time sleeping. She was exhausted, and he thought maybe she had a concussion. He woke her up frequently. She didn't talk much. Steve hoped the baby wouldn't come while they were still in the container. This was no place to be born.
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May 20, 2021
The train stopped frequently, probably to remove and load new containers. Once they stopped for a long time. Steve no longer had any sense of time. Stuck here in the dark, it was hard to measure the hours. Which was strange, because when he was blind, he'd had a strong sense of time.
The train stopped with a screech and a clunk. Steve felt the container being lifted upwards. It swung in the air, throwing him off balance. Then it was lowered again, probably onto a semi-truck.
They drove for a long time. At last, the truck stopped, Steve heard the sound of the front end of the container being pried off. When it was removed, the light was so bright it blinded him at first.
Men dressed in old-fashioned cowboy clothes surrounded him and Catherine. They had guns in their hands, aimed at their captives. There was nothing to do but obey. The men unfastened the chains from the iron hooks on the side of the container and tugged them to their feet.
Steve looked around as they were pulled out of the container. He didn't recognize the terrain. A man was there to meet them, dressed in cowboy boots, jeans, a button-down shirt and a vest. He wore a tan cowboy hat, and he had a gold star pinned to his vest. He was sitting on the back of a horse. "The message said if I came, Catherine would go free," Steve protested.
"Newly lied." The man narrowed his eyes and glared at Steve. "I'm Marshal Matt Dillon. Welcome to Dodge City, Kansas. You killed my brother, Bobby. Now you're my prisoner." He turned to one of his men. "Put them in the cage."
Steve was confused. He had watched Gunsmoke in reruns as a kid. The story was fictional. Matt Dillon was fictional. Steve wanted to know who their captor really was. He had an Irish accent, but he was trying to talk like an American. It didn't come across very well.
The two captives were pushed into a cage in the barn. It had solid walls and a barred gate. An unarmed man stepped inside with a bucket of water and a ladle. Steve's hands were cuffed in front of him. Before the man could leave, Steve grabbed him around the neck and gave a quick twist, killing him. Then Steve looked through his pockets for a key. He found one. He unlocked the cuffs on his wrists and freed Catherine. "Hey, Cath. We have to get out of here. Come with me." He pulled her to her feet. She had trouble balancing and clung to him. "You can do it."
She pressed her face against his neck. "Baby's coming, Steve. My water broke in the container."
Steve kissed her. "Come on. You can do this."
He picked her up and carried her out of the barn. He looked around, but no one was there to stop them. He carried her to the driveway. Catherine moaned. She was having a contraction.
They almost made it to the gate when Steve was hit with a taser. Electricity coursed through his body, locking up his muscles. He dropped Catherine as he fell. Before he could get up, Dillon's men surrounded them. They were dragged to the barn and put back in the cage. The dead body had been removed.
Steve delivered his son in the cage. He was a beautiful baby, strong and healthy. "Hey, Sammy," he said softly. He kissed his son's forehead. "Daddy loves you." Steve laid the baby next to his mother so she could see him.
About an hour later, Dillon came to the barn. He opened the cage and picked up the baby. Steve had been chained up again and couldn't stop him. "I think I'll keep him. His name is Robert, in honor of my brother." He handed the baby off to one of his men. "Seth, take Bobby into the house. Get him cleaned up. Newly, bring Steve and Catherine to the courtyard."
Two men dragged them out of the cage and out of the barn. Dillon sneered at Steve. "Tell your wife goodbye, McGarrett. And never forget, you're the reason she's about to die."
Steve stepped close to Catherine. With his wrists cuffed together, he couldn't wrap his arms around her, but he kissed her and ran his fingers down the side of her face. "I love you, Cath. I'm so sorry."
Catherine looked him in the eyes. "He's a liar, Steve. It isn't your fault. It's his. I love you." She brushed her lips across his.
When Steve saw that Dillon had raised a gun, he tried to stand in front of Catherine to protect her. But the man Dillon called Newly grabbed his chain and dragged him away. He was forced to watch as Dillon executed Catherine with a single shot to the forehead.
Steve pulled away from Newly and charged at Dillon. "I'm going to destroy you!" he shouted. Before he could touch the man, he was tased again. Dillon's men pulled him back to the stables and chained him in the cage.
He couldn't stop crying, not just for Catherine, but for the baby Dillon had stolen from him. Before long, the foul-smelling gas was piped into the cage. Steve fell into a deep sleep.
When he awoke, he was in the cage, lying on the hard ground. His wrists were shackled together. He thought he would try again to escape, but when he sat up, he discovered that his right leg had been amputated below the knee. His stomach sank. Everything about his life had demanded that he keep his body in prime physical condition. Now a part of him was missing and he could never get it back.
Steve's stomach growled. A bowl of watery gruel was sitting just inside the cage door. As much as the thought of eating gruel disgusted him, he was hungry enough to do it. He licked the bowl clean once he had finished the meal. It tasted awful. He rinsed his mouth with a drink from the water bucket. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out his anti-rejection meds. He took one and washed it down with some water.
As evening drew on, Tommy Sullivan came back to the stable. He looked in at Steve. "Well, you won't be runnin' away again, will you now?"
Steve waited until the middle of the night, hoping that everyone would be asleep. Then he crawled to the cage door. He was able to reach through the bars and manipulate the latch. He was determined to get away, even if he had to crawl to safety. As soon as he got out of the cage, though, a guard stopped him with a kick to his side. He dragged him back into the cage. Then he crouched down and glared at Steve. "If you keep tryin' to escape, you'll lose the other leg."
The guard chained him to an iron ring on the cage wall, then left him alone. Steve lay down, closed his eyes, and talked to Catherine. "I'm gonna get Sammy back, Cath, I promise. I'm so sorry I failed you. I miss you."
He was exhausted and grieving and he couldn't stay awake any longer. "Please, Danny," he said as he drifted off to sleep. "Come find me."
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Seamus Kincaid listened to his boss singing lullabies to the baby. They were gory songs, the kind they used to sing during the Troubles, unsuitable for a child. After Tommy Sullivan learned that his brother Robert had been killed, he had gone crazy. He genuinely believed that he was Marshal Matt Dillon, and that Steve McGarrett was a murderer.
Seamus didn't blame Steve for killing Bobby Sullivan. Bobby was a monster. But Tommy paid Seamus, and Seamus wanted to keep the money coming. He would do whatever Tommy told him to do. In Tommy's mind, Seamus was Newly O'Brien, gunsmith and part-time deputy. He had been put in charge of everything regarding the capture of Steve and Catherine. He would even pay off the owner of a funeral home to cremate Catherine without asking questions.
A coughing jag hit him. He couldn't stop for several minutes. When he finished, he wrote down the details of the baby's birth, including his real parent's names. The child had weighed eight and a half pounds, and he was twenty-one inches long. Seamus also wrote down the details of Catherine's death. Later he would add the information about the funeral home that would cremate her.
Seamus worried about Tommy. He'd started going wrong long before his brother was killed. He and Seamus were both wanted in Ireland for bank robbery and the death of two guards. Friends had managed to sneak them out of the country on a cargo ship. They'd hidden out in Eastern Europe until news came of Bobby's death. That news broke Tommy's mind. He needed help. Seamus had tried to get help for his friend, but Tommy didn't want help. He was happy living in his fantasy world.
Tommy and Seamus had been best friends since they were boys in school together, back in Ireland. Seamus thought of Tommy as a brother. That's why he had stayed with him, even after he went mad. Seamus felt an urge to do the right thing and help McGarrett, but he ignored it. He couldn't betray Tommy.
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May 23, 2021
Danny hadn't heard anything about Steve. No ransom call. Nothing. He tried and tried to ping Steve's phone, but he couldn't get any results. Cole tried pinging Catherine's number, but he didn't have any success either. Danny wasn't sleeping at night. He was anxious for his brother. Something told him that Steve was still alive. At least, he hoped Steve was still alive. Wouldn't he feel it deep inside if his brother died?
Danny had been doing some research. Steve had suggested that this might have something to do with Robert Sullivan. Sullivan had a younger brother named Thomas. He had warrants out for his arrest in Northern Ireland. He was the prime suspect in a bank robbery where two guards had died. The police had been searching for him and his buddy, Seamus Kincaid, but they'd kept themselves well-hidden. Danny wondered if Sullivan was looking for revenge. It was the only reason he could come up with that an Irishman would go after Steve.
The anxiety kept him from focusing at work. He wasn't doing anyone any good there. He just stayed in his office and tried to figure out where Steve might be.
Danny met Lou at Kamekona's for lunch. "I think Robert Sullivan's brother Thomas has Steve," Danny said with a yawn. "I sure hope he hasn't put a neuroseed in his brain."
Lou frowned. "Junior tells me you're not sleeping. He hears you at all hours, walking around the house." He looked up and waved someone over. Soon, Cole sat down next to Danny.
"You need to take some time off, Danny," Cole said. "Do something relaxing. You're not doing any good at 5-0 right now. Maybe you need to talk to a counselor."
Danny waved the suggestion aside. Time off was a good idea. He could go looking for Steve. Not that he'd tell Cole or Lou that. Right now, Steve needed him more than 5-0 did. He sighed. "Fine," he said as he rubbed a hand through his hair. "I'll take time off. I'll spend a few weeks in Maui and be home in time for Adam and Quinn's wedding."
He went home and packed. He spent a few hours with Charlie. Then he invited Alani and Makai over for dinner. Before they went home, he pulled Alani close. "I'm taking a few weeks off. I'm going to look for Steve, but I'll be home in time for the wedding. If you see anyone from 5-0, I'm in Maui relaxing." He kissed her, savoring the feel of her lips on his. He would miss her. "I love you, Alani." Then he bent down and pulled Makai into a hug. "I love you too, buddy. Be good to Charlie while I'm gone, OK?"
Makai nodded. He was a great kid. Danny rubbed his hand over the boy's dark hair. "Take care of your mom, too."
"I will." Makai grinned at him. "Bye, Danno!"
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May 24, 2021
Harry Langford met Danny at Heathrow after Danny came through Customs. He clapped him on the shoulder, then winced a little when he saw Danny's prosthetic. "How'd you come by that, ol' chap?"
Danny shrugged. "I'd rather not talk about it."
"Right-o." He patted Danny on the shoulder. "I'm sorry, Daniel. And I'm sorry to see you without Steven."
"We have to find him, Harry. I can't focus on work. I can't sleep. All I can think about is what Steve and Catherine are going through." Danny rubbed the back of his neck and yawned.
"Catherine?"
"His wife." Ralph Arrington had told him about the marriage on one of their frequent phone calls. Danny still felt hurt that Steve hadn't told him.
"Steven married?" Langford's eyebrows shot up. "I wish I'd known."
"Yeah, so did I. I only found out a week ago." Danny grabbed his suitcase at Baggage Claim, and they headed outside.
Harry guided him to the valet stand. "I used the Meet and Greet parking. It's the easiest way." He gave the valet his ticket and payment. The car arrived a few minutes later.
Danny started to get in on the right, but Harry pulled him away and pointed to the other side of the car. "Oh, sorry." Danny yawned again. He really needed to sleep. He'd only gotten an hour or so on the flight.
"I'm taking you straight to the hotel," Harry said. "You need some sleep before we start our search."
"I'd rather start now," Danny said.
"Well, I can tell you definitively that Thomas Sullivan is not in the UK or Ireland." Harry tapped the steering wheel. "Our police have been searching for him for years. We're fairly certain he's taking refuge in Eastern Europe. There is an Interpol Red Notice out for him."
Danny nodded. "Yeah, I saw that." He leaned his head back. Maybe he needed to tell Harry everything. "Back in 2018, Sullivan's brother Robert had me kidnapped from the airport."
Harry nodded. "He implanted a neuroseed in you, didn't he?"
"Yeah." Danny closed his eyes. "He wanted me to kill the rest of 5-0, but something in me wouldn't do it. The real me was still there, resisting. So, he decided he needed to kill me. Steve killed him before he could. I think that Thomas Sullivan is taking revenge. I hope he hasn't implanted a neuroseed in Steve."
Harry shook his head. "Oh no. He's nothing like his brother. Last I heard, he was convinced it was 1870 and he was an old-west sheriff."
"Which means he's more likely to hang or shoot Steve." Danny frowned. "Where do you think we should look?"
Danny's phone rang suddenly. The caller ID said it was from Steve's phone. He answered. "Hello?"
No one said anything. Danny pinged the phone. The signal was coming from north of the town Afif in Saudi Arabia. "Steve, are you there?" No answer. Then the line went dead. He tried calling back, but it just went straight to voicemail.
"I pinged the call," Danny said. "The neuroseed is still there — it can't grow circuits anymore, but I can still connect to the internet."
"Well, where did the call come from?"
"Saudi Arabia. Let's go back to the airport.
Two hours later, Danny and Harry were on a flight to Saudi Arabia. About the time the flight landed, Danny got another call from Steve's cell phone. This time, it pinged in Switzerland, near the town of Thun. Again, when Danny answered, there was only silence. He hung up. "There's something crazy about this."
They caught another flight, but that evening in Switzerland, Danny got another call. This one came from New Jersey.
"He must be bouncing the calls around to send us on a wild goose chase," Harry said.
Danny sighed. "Yeah. Let's go back to London. This is useless." The next time he got a call from Steve's phone, he pinged it without answering. This time, the call was coming from Australia. There was no way Sullivan could be moving Steve and Catherine that much, that quickly. If Danny had Jerry's way with computers, he could figure out where it was actually coming from, but even with his technological advantage, he didn't know how to do that. He wished he knew where Jerry was these days.
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Tommy had told Seamus to contact Danny Williams by telegram. Seamus used Steve's phone instead. He had taken it from Steve's pocket before sealing him in the shipping container. When Steve was unconscious, he unlocked it with his face. Then he set it not to lock anymore. He had Catherine's phone too, but he had never unlocked it. Seamus knew how to bounce the phone signal around so that Williams couldn't find Steve easily. It was actually kind of fun seeing how he could make the detective travel all over the world. Seamus pinged the man's phone and whenever Danny got to one location, he would make it seem Steve was calling from somewhere else.
At last, though, Danny stopped answering. His phone pinged in London. He must have figured out that Sullivan had McGarrett and was searching for him in the UK. Eventually it would be time to ask for a ransom. Tommy, with his mind set in the 1870s, would suggest something like five thousand dollars. But Seamus would increase the amount. He would demand five million dollars. Then he would give Tommy five thousand and keep the rest for himself. If he had to take part in a crime like this, he intended to benefit from it.
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June 1, 2021
Dillon came striding into the stable carrying Sammy. Steve refused to think of his son by any other name. The baby was crying. Dillon didn't try to comfort him. He just held him at the cage door so that Steve could see him. "Look here, Bobby, this is the man who killed your uncle. Don't worry, he won't do anything else to hurt us. He's quite an evil man. I might hang him tomorrow." Then he pushed a blue metal urn between the bars. "Catherine's ashes," he said. "I'll leave them with you. That way you'll always remember that you caused her death."
Steve had one hand free now. The other was chained to an iron ring. He picked up the urn and held it close to his heart. Tears burned in his eyes. So many times in the past Catherine had walked out of his life, leaving him broken-hearted, but she had always come back. Now she was gone forever. He had never loved anyone the way he loved her.
Later in the day, Dillon came without the baby. He made someone open the cage. Then Steve was dragged outside and chained up so that Dillon could use him as a punching bag.
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Siobhan Kincaid hovered near the cage in the barn. She felt sorry for Steve McGarrett. He didn't deserve this. She crept closer and sat by the locked door. "Hello," she said softly. "My name is Siobhan. I'm so sorry for what they're doing to you."
The man looked up at her. "Can you help me? Can you call my friend and tell him where I am?"
Siobhan wished she could. Da wouldn't let her have a phone. He said they dulled the brain. "I don't have a phone. I don't even know how to use one. Tommy won't let us have a phone here anyway. He thinks it's 1870. Da says phones weren't invented until 1876. I'm not sure we'll ever get one — it's been 1870 for years now."
"Tommy?"
"Tommy Sullivan. He says you killed his brother Bobby." She shuddered. "Robert Sullivan was a monster. I didn't like him. And Tommy calls me Miss Kitty. I don't like him neither. But he's Da's best friend." She looked at the bowl of gruel inside the cage. "Is that all they feed you?"
Steve nodded.
"I'll try to bring you something better. I'm not allowed in the barn, but I'm sneaky." Siobhan smiled at him. "I'll do what I can for you." She passed Catherine's wedding ring through the bars. "I stole this from Tommy. You should have it back."
"Thanks," he said. He pushed the ring into his pocket. "My name is Steve."
She nodded. "I know. I'm real sorry about Catherine. You must've loved her a lot. I'll come back after lunch with a bite to eat." She got up and slipped out of the barn.
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Steve accepted the sandwich Siobhan brought him. It had slices of ham and cheese, and butter was slathered on the bread. "Thank you. Do they let you see my son?"
She nodded. "I help take care of him. What's his name? I'll call him that when I can so he don't get used to bein' Bobby."
"Sammy. Actually, it's Samuel." Steve finished the sandwich. It wasn't a lot, but it helped quell the hunger pangs.
"I'll try to get my Da to help you go free," she said. "He don't like doin' this. But he never could tell Tommy no. They been friends since they was boys and Tommy always was gettin' Da in trouble."
She slipped out of sight, and he heard the barn door open and close. At least there was one kind person in his life right now.
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June 15, 2021
Two men unchained Steve from the ring. His body started to tremble. Nothing good happened when he was taken outside. He was still living in the cage. He was filthy and desperate for a shower. If he could get one, he would soak for a long time instead of taking a Navy shower. Sullivan only fed him every other day, and it was always watery gruel. But Siobhan managed to bring him real food every time she visited. She came daily, and she told Steve all about Sammy. More than anything, Steve wanted to have his son back in his arms.
The men pulled him up so he was standing on his remaining leg. They wrapped arms around him and helped him out of the stable. He was afraid that Sullivan was about to carry out his threat and hang him. But instead of taking him to a gallows, they strapped him in a chair with his left arm free. They pulled a hood over his head and tied it around his neck. Then someone handed him a gun. He recognized the feel of it — it was his Sig Sauer, the gun he kept in his truck's glove compartment. The clip was in, and he could tell by the weight that it was loaded.
He heard someone's feet scratching in the dirt. Then a hand slapped him hard. "I challenge you to a duel," Sullivan said. "I'm goin' to walk forty paces while you count out loud. When you get to forty, you can fire."
"But I can't see," Steve said. He wasn't about to let on that he knew how to shoot blind and was able to shoot accurately left-handed. He'd learned that skill in BUD/S.
"Well, fancy that. Newly's lookin' out for me." Sullivan chuckled. "I guess you're in trouble, then. Now, start counting or I shoot early."
Steve counted. He hoped the man's aim was as bad as his American accent.
When he got to forty, Sullivan fired. Steve was already aiming his gun. He adjusted slightly after he heard the crack of Sullivan's gun, then he fired. Sullivan's bullet missed Steve. A split second later, he heard a thud as Sullivan hit the ground.
"You killed him!" Seamus shouted. He was enraged. Steve heard his feet stomping. Soon, Seamus grabbed Steve's gun, kicked his chair over, and kept yelling at him. Then he started kicking him in the gut. When he stopped kicking, he fired a shot at Steve. It wasn't a kill-shot. It hit Steve in the right arm, about an inch below the elbow. Steve heard the bones crack. There was an instant of pain and then his arm went numb.
A few minutes later, Steve heard a shaky voice next to him. The person pulled off Steve's hood. An elderly man dressed like Doc Adams stood beside him. He picked up the chair, then gave Steve two shots of whiskey. "It'll dull the pain." He used tweezers to pluck the bullet out of Steve's arm, then he stitched up the wound.
Two men unchained Steve from the chair and dragged him back to the cage. He hurt too much to resist. They chained him to the ring again. The chain was long enough that he could reach the food and water with his left hand. He couldn't move his hand. His fingers had curled up and looked like claws. He suspected the bullet had done serious damage. Robert Sullivan had caused him a similar injury a couple years ago, and he had recovered fully, but that was after surgery to repair it. Well, the condition of his arm didn't really matter if he couldn't get out of here.
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Siobhan came to Steve crying. "I watched from my window. I'm so sorry!" She wiped the tears from her eyes. "Da says he won't let you go. I'm not talkin' to him no more. I hate him! And I'm glad you killed Tommy! Now Da's callin' me Miss Kitty. I wish I could get away from here!"
"I'll be OK, Siobhan." Steve wanted to comfort her, even though he wasn't sure he believed it himself.
She handed him a candy bar. "It's my favorite kind. I hope it helps. I also thought maybe some Tylenol would help with the pain." She handed him two pills.
He wasn't hurting much now, but he might be later. Steve put the pills in his mouth and washed them down with a drink of water. "Thank you. I'm glad you're here, Siobhan. You make things a little bit easier for me."
She smiled. "Good. I wish I could get you out, but my father keeps the key and won't give it to me." She checked her watch. "I have to go. He'll be lookin' for me."
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June 19, 2021
Danny put his arm around Alani's shoulders. He'd been home for a week and spending as much time with her and Makai as he could. Makai and Charlie walked just ahead of them, laughing about something. They had attended Adam and Quinn's wedding together. Charlie served as the ring bearer. Danny enjoyed watching the couple exchange vows. Steve should have been there. He would have been happy for them.
It was surprising how quickly Adam and Quinn had fallen in love. They were a good match. Danny hoped it would be a lasting match. Adam didn't need any more heartbreak. Neither did Quinn. Her ex had gotten himself in trouble gambling, so she had taken custody of his daughter Olivia. Danny couldn't understand why any father would risk a relationship with his child that way.
"Any word on Steve?" Alani asked as they walked to the car. "He was so kind to me after Paul died. I hate to think of what he might be going through."
Danny shook his head. "Nothing." He sighed. "I have to find him. Everything's wrong without him." He bent to kiss her. "Except us."
Alani put her arms around him. "You'll find him. You'll bring him home." She rested her head on his chest. "I love you, Danny."
He ran his fingers through her thick black hair. "I love you too. Now, let's get to that reception."