Sentry (3/3)
The plan to investigate all goes to crap on Sunday afternoon when a black SUV side swipes the Camaro on the way back from the zoo. Steve and Danny had a whispered discussion while Grace was washing up the breakfast dishes about whether or not it was safe and they both agreed that with the two of them, anyone would be stupid to try something in such a public place with only one point of exit.
Grace convinces them to get shave ice from her favourite stall and watch the sun set by the beach on the way home and it's after that then that the trio are ambushed.
"Lay down, Grace," Danny tells her as he grabs his phone and dials HPD. "This is Detective Danny Williams, badge number 7576. We just passed the corner of South King and Punchbowl Streets, heading North East on Punchbowl. I'm on protective detail of a minor, my daughter, and a Black SUV just rammed us. Plates are…" he looks around for the car but doesn't see it.
"The plates are covered, Danno!" Grace shouts from the back seat, her head peeking out the back windscreen.
"I told you to get down!" Danny yells back. "Did you get that?" he asks the 911 operator. "Grace, lie down behind the seats and don't get up until I say you can, okay?"
"Okay," she whimpers. "I'm sorry."
"Hey, hey it's okay, Monkey," Danny turns and rubs her back. "It's going to be okay."
"Detective Williams, what is your destination?" the 911 operator asks calmly.
"2727 Piikoi Street," Steve interrupts, swerving around a slow moving van.
"Very well, we will dispatch a several units to that location to meet you."
Steve waits for Danny to hang up before explaining. "My place. I've got a panic room for you and Grace and plenty of supplies."
"By 'supplies' you mean…"
"Ammunition. And did you seriously just do bunny ears at me in the middle of a high speed chase?"
"Shut up and watch the road!" Danny shouts as Steve veers onto the wrong side of the road to overtake another car.
"When we get there, You get Grace inside, I will cover you."
"Got it."
They speed along for several miles, the SUV behind them but not making another attempt to ram the Camaro. Just as they exit the freeway, Grace asks if she can sit up again but the tail is far enough back that Steve asks her to do something. It is only a few more minutes to his house.
"Gracie, can you reach up and pull out the middle armrest?"
She does so, Steve glancing in the rear view mirror to check. "Good. Now, Can you climb up on the seat, stay lying down, but I need you to reach in and find your dad's bulletproof vest. You know what it looks like?"
"Uh huh," she nods. "It's black and has HPD on the front in big yellow letters."
"Good. Can you see it?"
"No. It's too dark in the trunk."
"How did you even know I have my vest in there, Steve?" Danny asks, turning the flashlight on on his phone and tapping Grace on the back. "Use this, Babe."
"I searched the car while you took Grace to the toilet at the shave ice stand Wednesday afternoon."
"Only searched?"
"Um, maybe added some stuff."
"Such as?"
Steve is saved from answering when Grace wriggles back down onto the floor with the vest.
"Good," he says intend. "Danno, put it on."
"What? No, you're covering us. You need it."
"Don't argue with me, Danny. Grace? When we get there, I want you to slide out behind your dad and he's going to pick you up and run to the house. Danny, the alarm code is 7965."
"Random."
"It's meant to be."
"Anything special? Too long ago to be your birthday."
"It's my birthdate in hexadecimal base."
"Of course it is."
Steve ignores him. "You don't need a key, I don't lock my door."
"You don't lock your door? What kind of crazy ass…"
"Not the time, Danno!"
Grumbling to himself, mostly to cover the adrenaline that is coursing through his body, he awkwardly shrugs in to his vest and unfastens his seatbelt.
"Ok, Grace, crawl through onto your dad's lap," Steve turns up a long drive and by the time they reach the end, Grace and Danny are in position and he pulls a handbrake turn so the passenger side is facing the house. One quick look shows the black SUV already halfway up the drive.
"Go!" Steve shouts.
Danny launches into action, Grace clinging to his front like her nicknamesake and the pair run to the door. Steve slides backwards and out the passenger door and ducks down to use the front of the car as cover. Shots come from the open side window of the SUV and Steve counts the shadow of at least three pairs of feet on the other side, cast by the light inside the van.
"Danny?" he shouts.
"We're in, Steve."
"Okay, cover me."
Danny hustles Grace down behind the door and unholsters his service weapon.
"Okay, go Steve!" he shouts back and the fires a few shots in the general direction of the SUV. Steve comes hurtling through the open doorway and Grace kicks it closed.
"Nicely done, everyone." Steve nods. "Now, Grace let's get you and your dad into the panic room."
"No. I don't want to." She shakes her head firmly, her eyes wide.
Danny kneels beside her. "Grace, Babe, I know you really don't like little locked spaces but just this once, it's the safer place for you. I promise you, nothing will hurt you in there."
"I can't, Danno," she cries, tears beginning to well. "I think you will forget about me and I will be stuck in there forever. You can't make me go in there. I won't go in there."
Steve can see that she's becoming hysterical and remembers how measured Danny had been when he left her bedroom door open that first night at his house. "Hey, Gracie it's okay. I think we will need your help anyway. You are pretty brave and you are smart and I can use you on my team. You up for it?"
She nods, sniffing, and wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "Uh huh."
"That's 'Sir, yes Sir," to you."
"Sir, yes Sir," Grace says back with more surety and confidence than before. "What can I do?"
"Go to the kitchen," he points to a doorway to the right of the house. Keep low and on the other side of the island there is a cupboard. Get anything in there that you think will set fire. Then get the jars out of the fridge door and empty them into the bin and bring it back here."
She scurries in the direction Steve pointed, keeping below the line of the windows.
"Okay, what are we dealing with here, Steve?" Danny asks as soon as Grace is out of earshot.
"At least three hostiles," he replies. "Probably more. They're heavily armed with semi-automatics but they aren't too bright. There is no way they could have got us on a busy road like that. This smacks of scare tactics. Their van is slick and new but I think we're dealing with amateur hour here. They didn't disengage the interior lights of the van before they opened the door. Not brilliance at all."
"You don't think they will follow through?" Danny asks.
"Either that or they have worse aim than a drunk guy at the head."
"Lovely."
"I tell it like it is," he quips, ferreting around in a chest beside the front door.
"So, what's the plan then? Flammable stuff? Really?"
Steve nods. "Create some diversions to keep them busy while HPD and SWAT get here." He holds up a small first aid kit triumphantly.
"Why do I think you're going to enjoy setting several small fires in your own yard?"
Steve's only answer is to grin.
Grace returns then, crawling on the floor and dragging a reusable shopping tote by the handle, looped around her ankle. "I got a few things, Steve," she says as she reaches them. "I found some kerosine. That should make lots of flames, right?"
Danny glares at Steve.
"Yeah, Gracie," Steve crouches beside her. "That's good." He pours some of the kerosine into an empty mustard jar and pokes in a short length of bandage. He lifts a lighter from the first aid kid and flicks it with his thumb to test it.
"Who has a lighter in their first aid kit?" Danny asks in disbelief.
"For sterilising needles and tweezers," Steve replies.
"You're a cave man."
"I prefer to think of myself as resourceful," Steve counters as he slides a lounge room window open a few inches and lobs the molotov cocktail out.
"Can I light the next one?" Grace asks, slightly in awe, and Steve at least has the good sense, or maybe sense of self preservation, to say no.
"Grace, playing with fire is dangerous and only crazy people do it. Can you say pyromaniac? Steve here is a pyromaniac. Maybe just plain maniac too, I'm yet to decide."
"Don't be mean, Danno," Grace scolds him. "Uncle Steve is just trying to help.'
"Uncle?!" Danny blusters. "Oh, no no."
"It's a sign of respect in Hawaiian culture, Danno," Steve explains as he lobs another jar out the window, this time aiming for a large bush. It's too green to catch fire but the effect is spectacular.
"Besides, he's not as crazy as Uncle Pete," Grace defends. "Remember the time he tried to deep fry a turkey for thanksgiving and set fire to the garage roof? Grandma was so mad."
Steve frowns at them "You can deep fry a turkey?"
"No. No you can not. It is an abomination and also hardly ever works," Danny insists. "Which reminds me, I need more bullets. I emptied my rounds while I was covering you."
"No problem. There's a box there in the ficus."
"In the what now?"
"The plant. By the door there," Steve waves in the general direction.
"Oh great, even your pot plants are packing."
Steve doesn't answer, instead he keeps his eyes trained on the outside, making sure none of the men attempt to sneak up the side of the house. If they advance in that manner, it's on and he stops distracting and starts incapacitating.
None of them do which only confirms his theory that it is not a professional job. When the HPD arrive and storm the front yard, the assailants surrender immediately. Or so they think. Steve catches the flitting shadow of one make their way up the side of the house.
"Wait here!" he instructs Danny and Grace as he darts to the kitchen and out the side door. A HPD officer knocks on the door and asks for Danny. He opens it and lets Duke, another officer from his precinct, inside.
"Grace, stay here with Duke. I work with him, we can trust him okay? I'm going to help Steve."
She nods and steps closer to the older man who rests his arm across her shoulders protectively. "I got this, Danny."
"Thanks."
Danny draws his weapon and follows the same path out of the house as Steve had. He rounds the back corner of the house and sees the shadow of two men fighting down by the shore line. He can easily tell which is Steve from his precise and accurate punches. That and the fact that he's spent the better part of the last few days trying not to remember the line of his arms and back. Even in silhouette, Steve's moves are a thing of beauty to watch. The other guy is sloppy in comparison.
Things escalate, the assailant landing a particularly hard kick to Steve's centre of gravity. He drops to the ground and his attacker draws a gun. He's too slow to aim however and before he can get off his shot, Steve rolls out of the way, draws his own weapon and shoots the man in the chest.
Danny announces himself, runs in and clears the guy's gun before turning to Steve. "You okay?" he asks, holding out a hand to help him.
Steve nods but winces as he lets Danny pull him up.
"Hey, you've been shot!," Danny exclaims, reaching out to check Steve's left shoulder. "We better get you looked at where it's light." He looks up at Steve, his face clouded with worry and something else that Steve can't quite identify.
"I'm fine," Steve protests without moving away, hoping. "It's just a scratch, Danno."
"What'd I tell you about calling me that?" Danny protests halfheartedly.
"Can't remember," Steve grins. "You'll have to remind me later."
* * *
The remaining suspects are taken back to HPD and spill everything for a deal with the DA. They reveal that they were hired by a man to intimidate Stan Edwards because he had secured a large contract from a developer that had previously promised the deal to him. Stan hadn't done anything untoward in the process, simply offered a better proposal which the developer decided to go with. Steve had been right, they were small time, well funded thugs.
Duke calls and tells Danny this while he and Steve are sitting in the ER, waiting for stitches to Steve's arm. An x-ray had shown the bullet missed the bone and the bleeding had slowed, almost stopped. They're swapping stories, sharing some of the close calls they've had over the years. Danny's afraid to believe even half of what Steve says is the truth.
"You never did say why you got kicked out of the Navy," Danny prompts.
"You didn't ask."
"Didn't know if it was a touchy subject or not," Danny shrugs and brings his chair around to face Steve where he's perched on the side of the gurney.
"It kind of is. I don't know. I'm okay with that I am doing now I guess. It's still helping people."
"So what'd you do?"
"Ran back into a hot zone instead of waiting for an extraction team. My buddy was pinned down behind some rocks. He'd been stuck there for almost half a day with an enemy sniper on the other side of a ridge taking pot shots at him. I could hear it in his voice over the comm that he was starting to lose it so snuck around the back and took the sniper out."
"That sounds like something that deserves a medal, not a discharge."
"Yeah, well. Not when you were explicitly ordered not to when you floated the idea by a Captain."
"Oh."
"Yeah. Wasn't the first time I'd been written up. It was the last though."
"I'm sorry man."
"Thanks. I don't regret it though. Tim, my buddy, admitted to me after my court-martial that he was about ten minutes away from just standing up and being done with it."
Danny lets out along breath. "Well, you did a great job with my family. I know Rachel will be paying you handsomely and there's no way I can match that. But I'd like to at least buy you a few beers to say thanks."
Steve nods slowly. "Just thanks?"
"Maybe? Maybe to say a few more things if that sounds like something you'd be up for, uh, hearing."
"You asking me out, Detective? Coz it's kind of hard to tell."
"Don't be difficult. Yes I am asking you out, you dense, stubborn pain in the ass. How anyone even finds you attractive I don't know…"
"Danno?"
"Yeah?"
"Shut up," Steve says, leaning forward with his good hand on the arm of Danny's chair and dropping a quick kiss on the surprised detective's mouth. "That's a yes by the way," he whispers.
"Ah, good." Danny clears his throat, wondering which of them should make the next move.
"And now I have a question for you." Steve leans back again but keeps his eyes locked with Danny's. "The governor called me while you were saying good bye to Grace and Rachel. She heard about the work Chin and I have been doing and she wants to make us an official taskforce to deal with this kind of case."
"That's great, Steve. You gonna do it?"
"That depends on a few things. I need to put together a team. I've already got Chin and he wants to bring on his cousin who is graduating from the academy and be her training officer. That leaves me without a partner."
"I'm sure there's an old Navy buddy you can get on board," Danny suggests.
If Steve hadn't seen Danny's work first hand he would wonder how he ever became a detective. "Danno, I want you."
"Oh. You're sure?"
Steve nods. "Positive. We have immunity and means and whatever we need to get the job done."
"Sounds like a pretty good deal. And if this Chin Ho can survive working with you he must be a good guy. So, do you have a name?"
"Not yet," Steve grins. "But I'm sure we'll think of something."