FanFic: "Ground Fire" (Hawaii Five-0) - Chapter 5 of ??
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CHAPTER FIVE
"It's a very good thing you skipped that flight. The Coast Guard is already on site and reporting recovery of three bodies." Andrea Winston was back to her newly acquired purr of pleasure. The skill was new to Doug Pratt at least and he winced as if in physical pain as he was personally advised of the Piper's crash. After informing Winston of his client's final transport plans, he'd suddenly taken ill scant hours before the flight's scheduled departure. A planned portion of the ruse which he both resented and appreciated as he was told more about its wrecked status by his vigilant Legal Assistant.
They were at his office despite his earlier excuse of being unable to make the short flight to the Big Island. Eyes closed, Pratt was back to holding his aching head. He'd been instructed to use illness as an excuse, but as the day wore on, it was most heartily not a lie.
"Are you over that touch of food poisoning now? Well enough to make tomorrow's early morning flight to the Big Island? You'll make that meeting with the Feds and your client just in time." Enjoying the distressed look firmly etched across his face, Andrea insisted upon drilling her point home as he shook his head in abject defeat.
"Well, perhaps I speak too soon because the odds of you actually meeting your client in one whole piece is not something we quite want now, is it?" Her voice remained sly as she spelled out word for word what they intended to have happen.
"While we have three bodies according to the Coast Guard. Not one of them is yet confirmed as being Al Totorro. Therefore, two men were dispatched from our boat to finish him off; word has it he is on foot and trying to flee inland. Until we hear otherwise from our men, we wait."
Sick to his stomach, Pratt gazed at Winston's unsympathetic face and toyed with seriously declining to do more until he knew that his wife was safe. That she had been released …. alive as promised.
He chose his next words very carefully with a lawyer's skill because he didn't recognize Andrea Winston for the person he'd hired personally so many months ago. As he did the math in his head, he realized that the timing of her joining his firm coincided cleanly with his acceptance of Al Totorro's defense case. He'd been watched and played from the very beginning by the man's powerful older brother.
He was angry and frustrated but he knew before he tried, that he really had no options or choices which meant his wife also had none.
"I did what he asked; you can vouch for it, yourself." Gesturing to her cell phone which had chimed at preset intervals, Pratt began his plea in a determined tone. However, it disintegrated to a half-hearted whine upon Andrea's sly giggle of refusal.
Pratt swallowed hard as Andrea shook her head. "He said that he'd let her go once I gave him the flight plans. I did that .. he got what he wanted. The information was sound and correct." Pratt pushed once more, letting the obvious lay unspoken.
"For a smart man, you aren't very bright sometimes. What did I just say?" Andrea laughed softly as his office phone began to ring. "Proof of death for proof of life. Those are his requirements. We are not negotiating. So, until we receive that confirmation, our little agreement and those final terms are still on the table."
Pratt's desk phone continued to ring incessantly and all he could do was stare dumbfounded at his Legal Assistant's vicious grin. "That would be HPD probably wondering why you weren't on today's flight. Don't you think you should answer that, boss? I'm sure it's also going to be the sad sad news about your missing client."
"Answer your phone, boss." She hissed the words in a demanding rush, causing him to jump as if stung by a hornet. Disembodied and attempting to breathe more normally, Douglas Pratt watched his hand snare the phone. He had to force his mouth to work as he answered Sergeant Duke Lukela's urgent call. He listened to the man's detailed instructions as if in a fog.
Officers were being dispatched to retrieve him and his immediate staff for questioning and for possible protection. Others waiting for the small transport on the Big Island would be similarly detained ... and protected.
Pratt almost laughed at that as the comment slowly sunk into his addled brain. Protection? Perfect. Much too late and for no good reason. Mouth dry and barely able to reply to the most basic of prompts before ending the call, he realized something even more startling. He wondered why he had never noticed it before.
Douglas Pratt sank back into his chair as he studied Andrea's facial features and dense black hair. "Your real name is not Andrea Winston."
"In a way, it most certainly is." Her lop-sided smug expression required no answer and so now, at this stage, she felt confident in confirming the much too late truth. A terrible truth that was at least much too late for Douglas Pratt.
"Andrea Louisa Alcott Winston Tortorro at your service. What can I say?" Far from apologetic and talking more than necessary, Andrea re-introduced herself to the devastated lawyer. Even delving into the somewhat embarrassing excuse for the sizable nature of her real full name.
"Little Women. The book? My dear mother favored the author, Louisa May Alcott and Winston is her rather charming maiden name. She comes from old money. My father .. well, you can just guess who that is, can't you?"
Mocking him openly, Andrea leaned back and laughed in glee.
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Chin was gaining ground rapidly on the two mercenaries. The fact that he was used to such terrain and had night vision goggles were skills and tools well put to use. "In position." His whisper was barely audible. In return, there was a soft affirmative murmur. Steve would likely press on and upwards to cleanly insert himself between their friends and this dangerous foe. Until the signal came, Chin would bide his time and wait.
Purposefully slowing, Chin tracked behind the men at a respectable distance. He could hear the soft murmur of near-constant discussion. A brief pause in their movements allowed him to make out the large packs they carried as if they expected to stay the night on the island prior to retrieval. Narrowing his eyes, he waited, watched and learned. He grinned when he determined that they were indeed a bit lost. Just a bit out of sorts and hesitant about the track they needed to take to find their quarry.
"No movement." Chin whispered the fast update. It gave him and Steve more time and Chin instantly appreciated that knowledge as he watched one stumble, fall heavily to one knee, and then heard the overly loud curse. As packs were dropped to the jungle floor, they were calling a temporary halt to their chase. He was baffled and then inordinately pleased to see the aggravation rising as tempers escalated. "Taking ten, Steve."
Running as easily as Chin, Steve had taken a much larger swath to circle in from above with every confidence that he had the time to lay his trap. He wondered about the excruciatingly slow progress of the three shapes he saw clearly at one point. They were oddly bunched together and the tight formation was a major concern. The Coastie's medic had inquired about tagging along, but Steve had refused in lieu of time. He and Chin were of the same mind and didn't need to verbally communicate. They knew the terrain and each other's habits and so, Steve had refused.
Instead, his own pack held numerous additional medical supplies, including a foldable stretcher all of which the medic had forcibly added to the bindings. "One thing at a time." Steve muttered under his breath. It served no purpose to worry about the potential hindsight of needing an extra pair of hands or more expert care. Things were bound happen quickly now and both men had to deal with neutralizing an extremely volatile situation.
Steve briefly paused in heavy growth to reconfirm his path of travel. He had lost sight of the two mercenaries but only realized why based upon Chin's most current update. They had considerably slowed and then come to a complete stop. Because of that abrupt change in cadence and his own hurried rush, he was now much closer to his teammates' location.
"Going up." After a moment's hesitation, Steve softly relayed his new decision to continue on. The easy affirmative made him smirk and it compounded the approval for the slight alteration. Anxious now, Steve double-timed his pace towards the upper reaches of the rocky hillside.
~ to be continued ~
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