McDanno - A True Hawaiian Love Story

Chapter 4: Distractions and Dissipating Feelings

The rush of cold air shocked me as I walked through the glass doors at Five-O. The buffed floors were so bright, I could see my sullen reflection in it. As I turned the corner, I spotted Lou's frowning face. As I walked through the last set of doors, the complaints began to rain on me from everyone.

"Now, where the hell have you been?" Lou yelled at me with a mix of concern and frustration. Before, I even got to answer him, he waved his hands in the air. "Never mind, it don't matter and we ain't got time for this. We got a case to solve." Chin and Lou began to walk out of HQ. I saw Steve coming out of his office out of the corner of my eye. I wanted to say something, anything to break the unbearable tension, but I couldn't. I watched after them as Kono came to stand next to me. I snapped out of my trance as I felt Kono's hand on my shoulder.

"You okay, Danny?" She smiled a small, worried smile at me, "Everything okay with you and Grace?" She asked. I sighed, "Yeah, everything's alright, just had a rough night." I was relieved, she had no idea what was really going on. I drew my thought back to the case, realizing I couldn't obsess over it all the time. I couldn't let it get in the way with my job, and especially not with Grace and Charlie. 

I began to walk out to the car with Kono, finally realizing I didn't know anything about the case. As if reading my mind, Kono began to fill me in. "Max called us with another victim of the meth epidemic, making it our 11th victim." She was quiet for a minute. I looked at her slight sullen face. "What's different with this one?" I asked. "It was a 16 year old boy, named Akumu Mikaia, he was a friend of Mikhail's. Steve's at the morgue with him now." I frowned, saddened but confused. "So, where are we going?" I asked. She opened the door, letting the sunlight blind us, but she continued on. "We're meeting Lou and SWAT at the building we found Gabriel Waincroft.  The new supply of meth dropped last night at Kahaluu Bay and there has been calls of disturbance in the building." 

I nodded, trying to get focused. This meth epidemic was getting out of hand, and now it's killing kids. That's where I draw the line. Mikhail's friend was Grace's age, and I want to stop these guys before they kill anyone else. I want to be able to protect this city without letting anyone else fall as collateral damage. 

We arrived at the building 15 minutes later, suited up and armed, ready to find someone else to shed light on the situation that slowly deteriorated our city. Steve took the lead, shotgun in hand, and lead us up the stairwell. We moved slowly, as of not to scare away the perps. When we reached the landing, Chin went right, Kono followed the path forward and Steve and I kept going straight.

We stepped over broken meth pipes and cracked syringes. It was pitch black and the flashlights only made it possible to see small areas of the room. We stopped when we got to the end of the hallway, Steve peered around the corner to the right, cocked gun held close to his chest. He turned his head and nodded an all clear. He took a deep breath and flipped around quickly, pointing his gun down the hallway. When he saw it was safe, I followed him out, moving down the hallway carefully. A young woman with dark hair lay on the floor, clothes dirty and hands cut and bruised, unconscious. She was the least of our worries, we needed to find someone alive, someone who could get us closer to shutting down this business forever.

Suddenly, we heard a scream and loud bang. Steve and I ran towards the sound, finding Kono standing next to a man with long hair laying on the ground. "You okay, Kono?" Steve asked. She blew a piece of hair away from her face, "Yeah, I'm fine. It's him you should be worried about." She answered. Steve walked over and picked the guy up by his arms. I went over to help him, but Steve brushed me off. I stayed back as he carried him off, distraught, even though I tried to hide it. Chin put his hand on my shoulder, but I shrugged it off. "I'm fine Chin, it's just the way he is." I told him, walking after them.

Steve threw him in the van with Lou and the rest of the SWAT team to take him back to HQ. I slipped into the passenger side, bracing for the inevitable mound of tension that would enter this car as soon as he got in. He opened up the drivers side and slipped in, starting up the car. He took off at the speed of light, probably trying to end the tension as quickly as possible. About 4 miles and 6 seemingly unbearable minutes later, he unexpectedly spoke up. 

"Are you ever going to fucking speak again?" He yelled, "We're still partners, Danny, you can't ice me out forever!" That's when I finally had enough. "Ice you out? What about me?" I glared at him, "I'm the one you couldn't even let help you at the scene, let alone talk to you!" I took a breath, "You really need to learn how to be aware of the things you do. Oh right, but I forgot, I forgot how much of an arrogant ass you can be!" He just looked straight ahead, not responding, not even recognizing the things that I was saying.

"Yeah, maybe I was giving you the cold shoulder a little bit." He finally responded, "But maybe that was because my mind was a little too preoccupied with the fact that there is a child-killing meth epidemic on the island and the reminder that the I spent the previous night in bed with my partner!" He spat the words now, worrying me he was gonna crash the car, "So forgive me! Forgive me for not paying every single second I had in attention to you Danny!" He stopped the car in front of HQ. He got out of the car and slammed the door, walking towards the van. I just closed my eyes and took a deep breath, deciding to stay there for a while, trying not to scream.