Christmas Fic: Suspicion
Title: Suspicion
Rating: R
Pairings: Dani/Danny, hints of Anna/Steve
Author’s Notes: This Christmas fic is for the lovely Bri who I've been rp-ing with for years now. This is set in Dani's Mākaʻi Kuene Wahine verse aka her Hawaii Five-0 verse and blends a little action, a little adventure and some cute. It's been awhile since I've written Anna so here's hoping I did good. I'm hoping to post one or two of those a day.
Merry Christmas Bri!
---
Dani was still wrapped up in blankets, hiding in bed when someone started knocking on the door. She made an annoyed groan and curled tighter into the blankets. If she closed her eyes she might be able to ignore it and the person would go away. She really hoped they went away. Closing had kept her late at work, she hadn’t gotten home until three am and like usual she woke up when Danny did to get a little more time with him. She was tired and just wanted was a few more hours. Then she would go face the world.
“Danno, it’s Steve. Open up!”
That got her out of bed because Steve at her door looking for Dani didn’t make any sense. Danny had left for work hours ago. She had to stop for pants on the way but she was down the stairs in a flash and yanking open the front door with Steve in mid-knock. Steve, Danny’s partner, looked rather annoyed to see her but he tried to smile. There was a woman standing slightly behind him that she didn’t recognize but there was a badge on her hip, probably some other cop.
“Dani, where’s Danno? In the shower again?” Steve asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
“He left for work two hours ago.” She looked between the lady cop and Steve then stuck her head outside to see Danny’s Chevy still sitting in the driveway. “Something’s wrong.”
In an instant, Steve and the lady cop’s body language changed. They all looked at the car and then back to her. While her expression was worried, she didn’t give away just how worried. Division had given her their ultimatum about information. She hadn’t done anything to attract attention. They should’ve have grabbed up Danny, but if they had him she could only imagine what they’d do. Damn it, why didn’t she have Cassie when she needed her?
“Let’s go inside.” Steve gestured her back into the house. “Anna can you call Chin and get Five-0 out here?”
“You got it.” The lady cop stepped away, pulling her cell phone off the holster on her belt. She wasn’t native Hawaiian, but her skin was dark. Dani guessed maybe Italian in there somewhere and her accent from that brief comment seemed New York, not Jersey. Not like Danny’s. She swallowed a little burst of fear and stepped back inside with Steve.
“What happened this morning?” Steve asked, like a cop. She wouldn’t exactly call them friends but she didn’t like how easily he switched on her.
“Woke up at the usual time. Did the usual things. No calls, no knocks, just normal.” She was always clipped, but her worry made it worse. She wanted to go look for Danny. She wanted to call Cassie and beg for help. She trusted Steve but she couldn’t tell him about the real reason Danny was missing.
“What about the days before? Anything weird happen?”
“No. Everything’s been normal.”
“Would you notice if…”
“Yes.” Dani noticed everything. The blissful months she had spent in Hawaii with Danny hadn’t changed a life time of hyper awareness and paranoia. She still kept her bag close at hand, always. She never looked at street names and bought a new phone every month. She had been paying even closer attention since Division had reappeared in her life. There had been nothing weird and it scared her that she hadn’t noticed.
Steve let the cop go for a second and rubbed her shoulder with a hand. “It’s gonna be okay, Dani. We’ll find him.”
She nodded, though Steve’s reassurance didn’t settle any of her nerves. If Division had Danny… she should’ve run before now. She shouldn’t have let her feelings keep her here. She had walked away from guys before. She should’ve left.
“Chin said Kono and Lori are on their way. He’s going to try and track Danny’s cellphone,” the lady cop said when she came back inside. “Has anyone tried to contact you ma’am?”
“No.” She scowled at the cop. “Why would they?”
“If this is a ransom…”
“They’ll contact his ex-wife,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “I don’t have money. We don’t have money.”
“Can you stay home anyway Dani, just in case?” Steve asked. “They could try you too.”
“Fine.” She crossed her arms over her chest and looked away, out the windows to the beach that ran along the back of their house. “Just find him quickly.”
---
“Is she always like that?” Anna asked as they circled Danny’ car.
“Dani? Yeah, she’s shy.”
Anna snorted. “I didn’t get that read on her.”
Honestly, Anna got the feeling Danny’s girlfriend wasn’t telling them something but they didn’t even know what was going on right now. It was clear Danny hadn’t made it to work and probably never got a chance to leave.
“Alright, she’s private.” Steve shrugged and looked up and down the street. “I don’t see tire tracks. Dani didn’t hear anything weird this morning and I don’t see any signs of a struggle. Danny wouldn’t go without a fight and he’d notice if something was off in the neighborhood.”
“Maybe it was someone he trusted or knew,” Anna said, looking back to the house.
“Anna, Dani’s not involved alright? She loves Danny, she wouldn’t turn on him.” Steve frowned slightly.
“You wait here for your team. I just want to ask her one more question.”
Technically, Anna probably should’ve signed off this case the moment they discovered something happened to Danny. The murder case she was working with Five-0 was clearly going to be put on the back burner or Five-0 would pull out of the investigation. She had lots of cases to get back to but she was a little curious about this. Actually, she was curious about the girlfriend who wouldn’t talk.
Steve grabbed her arm and tugged until she turned to look at him. He had that honest, good guy expression on. The one that was pretty adorable and it took a little control for her not to smile fondly at it.
“This isn’t your case but I could use the outside perspective. You got to trust me though. Dani’s not part of this.”
“It’s one question, Steve.” She carefully lifted his hand off, ignoring the flutter in her stomach as her fingers brushed his. “If you really want my outside perspective, you’ve got to let me work the case how I see it.”
Steve let her go and Anna walked back into the house. “Ma’am?” she called when she didn’t see Dani on the couch where she had settled when they walked outside.
“Ma’am?” she called again, walking through the living room to the kitchen. An unease settled in her gut, making Anna rest her hand on her gun out of habit. “Dani?”
She made her way upstairs in silence, checking each room but Danny’ girlfriend was gone. She swore and jogged back outside. Steve stood with Kono and Lori by Danny’ car, talking in hushed voices.
“Steve, we have problem. Dani, the girlfriend, she’s gone.”
---
There weren’t that many true psychics in Honolulu. During her first week in the city while just wandering around Dani had managed to spot three who were like her, real psychics. The fakes were easy to spot, too much neon and tarot cards in the window along with an overwhelming smell of cheap incense. Real Sniffs hated the stuff. It overwhelmed their senses.
When they left her alone in the house Dani knew she had to do something. Steve and Five-0 would do their best to find Danny, but they were working like cops. They’d have to go through evidence, question people if they even found out who had taken Danny in the first place. If it was Division, they’d never find anything but Dani knew she could.
The Sniff she picked was wedged between a bait and tackle shop and a coin laundry. Dani stepped inside, glancing around at traditional Hawaiian decorations. There were a few chairs grouped around a coffee table but there was no one waiting. There was one other person in the room, a middle aged Hawaiian woman sitting behind a desk, flipping through a magazine.
She didn’t touch the magazine because of a pair of lace gloves. When she noticed Dani, she stopped flipping and straightened up.
“I need this Sniffed.” She pulled one of Danny’s shirts from her bag. She had grabbed the one he wore yesterday out of the laundry. His scent would be fresh. “I can’t find him.”
The woman sat up even straighter, eyeing her with suspicion. It was a customary greeting between true psychics. There was always paranoia, fear someone was a Division agent and this could lead to capture or death. Dani just wanted to find her boyfriend.
“Do you want to find him or see him?”
“I want information. All you can see and where he might be.”
“One hundred dollars.”
She set the shirt on the counter and handed over the money in cash. The woman pulled off one glove and picked up the sleeve of the shirt, rubbing it between her fingers. Her eye lids shuddered then dropped closed. She took a deep breath which she let out slowly.
Dani didn’t really understand how Sniffs worked. She knew the basics her dad taught her, that they could follow scents and find someone anywhere but she knew there were others who could see where people were from their scent. They only saw the present though, not the future like a good Watcher could. Dani didn’t know a Watcher to talk to.
“I see a truck, on a highway, heading towards the water,” the Sniff said after a quiet minute. “He is beaten but alive.”
“Details.”
“White truck, Hawaiian plates. Two men driving, both natives. One has tattoos on his arm. There is a sticker for the Bird of Paradise marina.”
“Division?” she asked, biting her lip. The Division agents who had cornered her hadn’t been natives and she couldn’t imagine any agent having tattoos.
The Sniff shook her head. “No. Someone else.”
Relief washed over her. It wasn’t her fault. Whatever was going on, Danny wasn’t in danger because of her. “Give me the plate number.”
Dani wrote it down then snatched the shirt back from the Sniff. She stuffed it back into her bag and walked out. She turned towards the water with strong determined strides. Division didn’t have Danny which meant she was getting him back.
---
Leaning forward to see past the steering wheel, Anna watched Dani jog through traffic to cross the street against the light. Steve drummed his fingers anxiously. When he was nervous, Steve didn’t like to stay still. Anna could see the worry underneath his grim expression. She could also see the confusion and doubt. He really didn’t believe Danny’s girlfriend could be involved in his kidnapping. Anna was a little more skeptical.
Chin had found searches on Danny’s computer, looking into his girlfriend’s parents, their murder and Dani herself. There wasn’t a lot of information on the girl after the age of eighteen. She was farther than off the grid. That made them both suspicious. Anna thought Danny had stumbled onto something about his girlfriend, something big and bad. Whatever that was made Dani act and made Danny disappear. Steve wasn’t fully convinced.
“Where do you think she’s going?” She asked as they tailed the girl through downtown Honolulu.
“Looks like she’s heading towards the shore. The tourist beaches are that way.” Steve pointed over her shoulder, behind them. “The way she’s heading are private houses, the beach mansions and some marinas.”
“Why would she be heading that way?” She sat back and glanced at Steve who’s eyes were fixed forward on Dani. It gave her a good chance to study his profile.
“I don’t know, Anna. I don’t know why any of this is happening.”
At least it was until he caught her looking. She tried to act like that was no big deal but they had this whole tentative she was interested and he was hard to read thing going on. And hell, he had a really nice profile.
“I’ve known Dani for about as long as she’s been dating Danny. She’s quiet and a little shy, but she loves Danny. You can see it when they’re together. They’re in love, really in love. I can’t believe she had anything to do with Danny going missing.”
Anna was the only one who kept suspecting the girl. All of Five-0 was convinced she was innocent, even though there was a lot of evidence pointing towards her involvement.
“Maybe you’re right,” she said, glancing away. “But there’s got to be a very good reason she’s out here, visiting psychics and wandering around instead of calling us every ten seconds asking if we have any information. Especially if she’s really in love.”
“New York made you jaded. Don’t you believe in love?”
She snorted. “Love made me jaded.”
Steve smiled sadly. “That’s a shame. A beautiful woman like you should have a little faith in love.”
Anna rolled her eyes to cover the fact she wanted to blush. “We need to keep moving, she’s getting out of sight.”
They rolled forward in silence maintaining a delicate balance of following Dani and staying out of sight. Anna thought she should say something. She didn’t mean to insult Danny’s taste in women but there was something wrong here. Steve couldn’t deny it for the simple fact his partner was missing. They couldn’t reach him by cell and his ex-wife hadn’t seen him either. The best lead they had was the girlfriend.
Steve’s phone rang, interrupting the tense silence. He checked the screen before he answered. “Go ahead, Chin.”
Anna leaned over to listen, Chin’s voice just loud enough for her to make out. “We got the records on Dani’s phone. A few minutes ago she searched for the address of the Bird of Paradise marina.”
“A marina? Anything else?”
“No. No calls, no other searches, no text messages. The last call on her phone is from Danny from yesterday, when he left work.”
“Yeah, I remember overhearing that. Okay, thanks Chin. Look into that marina…”
“We already are, Steve. Don’t worry, we’ll find something.”
Steve hung up the phone and glanced at Anna, which made her realize just how close their faces were. “I think she already did.”
---
The marina was a locked gate sort of deal with security. Dani couldn’t see any trucks from where she was, but they didn’t stop her. She went up to the security guard, looked like an ex-cop but she put on her sweet, innocent smile and worried the strap of her bag between her hands looking every part the shy, lost tourist.
“Hi, excuse me, how do I get to Pearl Harbor from here?”
The moment the guard looked at her, Dani Pushed. It hurt for a second, when her pupils contracted before they expanded and it was like a long breath. She just felt the Push sink in and take a hold of the guard’s mind.
“Open the gate for me. I have a pass. I showed it to you,” she said, voice low so only the guard could hear. “You saw my pass and let me in. Open the gate for me.”
She blinked and the Push was set. The guard opened the gate with a smile. “Have a nice sail, miss.”
“Thank you, I will.” She strolled through the gates with a smile of her own.
---
“How the hell did she do that?” Anna muttered, watching Dani casually stroll through the gates of the marina that was so high class she didn’t think the Governor could get in that easily.
“Okay, we’re going in.” Steve parked his truck and hopped out making Anna scramble to follow him.
“Here, it’s usually Danny’s but you can make it fit.” He tossed her a second vest.
“You think we’ll need these?” she asked, but she put the vest on.
“We need answers.”
---
Dani tightened the strap of her bag so she could run a little quicker through the marina’s parking lot, scanning for a truck with the right license plate. She skidded to a stop when she found it parked around the corner from the main lot. She ran to the cab but it was empty. Still, she yanked on the door which was unlocked.
Before she could climb into the grab someone grabbed her from behind. She kicked out but they held firm, yanking her out of the cab and then slamming her against the side. She was all ready to Push but stopped when she came face to face with Steve holding a gun pointed right at her.
“Let me go!” she yelled, shoving at his chest without fear. Steve wouldn’t shoot her, not without a good reason.
“When you tell me what the hell you’re doing.” Steve pushed back, the gun still pointed at her. “And why Danny ran multiple searches on you and your family.”
“He was helping me!” She glanced to the lady cop from this morning who was still with Steve. God, it was like this was some sort of twisted date for them. “He helped me find my uncle!”
“Your uncle?” The gun lowered a fraction and Dani shoved again, harder. This time Steve took a step back.
“They drove Danny here in the truck. Two natives, one has tattoos on his arm. They have Danny.”
“How do you know that?” the lady cop asked, her gun lowering a little as well.
“I got call…”
“We checked your records. You haven’t gotten any calls.”
“Steve! Company.”
Dani followed the female cop’s eyes to see two men walking down the dock together, both native and one with tattoos covering his whole left arm. They saw them, Steve and the cop and her, and then bolted.
“Stay here,” Steve ordered and then took off after the two men.
“Like hell.” Dani sprinted after them, her bag bouncing against her back as she caught up to the lady cop. Steve was way out in front until one of the men stopped and pointed a gun.
“No!” Dani yelled as Steve opened fire and then man dropped. The other kept running and so did Steve, but she dropped down next to the dying man and Pushed, only vaguely aware the lady cop was standing over them.
“Tell me where he is,” she snarled. “You’re not dying, you haven’t been shot, tell me where he is! What did you do with Danny?!”
“The boss said put him on the boat. Take him to the boat and wait for him.”
“Tell me the name of the boat!”
“The Solar Wind.”
She leapt to her feet and ran down the docks, looking at the names on the boats. The Solar Wind. The Solar Wind. Each name flashed by. She didn’t see Steve anymore or the other man, but she heard the lady cop running behind her. She didn’t know if she was being chased or followed. It didn’t matter to Dani. She knew how fast she could run and what she could do if the cop tried to stop her.
“There,” the lady cop yelled.
Dani leapt onto the deck and saw something that stopped her heart. Danny was on his knees with an Asian man standing over him, a gun pointed at his forehead. Panic almost froze her on the spot but then the anger overwhelmed her.
She was Pushing before she even consciously thought about the Push, striding forward across the deck her whole focus on the man with the gun to Danny’s head. The bullet slammed into her side, shocking her out of the Push and dropped her to her knees.
“Dani!”
There was chaos, lots of gunshots while Dani dragged herself out of the line of fire, holding a hand to her side where she could feel blood slipping through her fingers. She had been shot before, by a Division agent. That had been in the shoulder though. This hurt more. It felt deeper and hotter and she was scared. She made the mistake of looking at her side, whimpered at all the blood she saw then quickly closed her eyes tight.
“Babe, oh, babe, it’s okay.”
She sobbed when she opened her eyes and found Danny kneeling over her, pressing his hands over hers to apply more pressure to her side. His face was a mess of bruises, his lip was split but he was alive. He was okay.
“The ambulance is coming. You hold on, Dani, please. Don’t you dare leave me now.”
She smiled weakly because honestly, she didn’t think anything could make her leave him.
---
Anna hovered outside Dani’s hospital room. They had the full story now. The man who had kidnapped Danny was somehow related to the people who murdered Steve’s father. Dani didn't have anything to do with it. Steve had given her a look that said ‘I told you so’ but he had the good grace not to say it. She could hear them, Danny and Steve, talking inside their voices a soft murmur and she was waiting.
They had left the marina hours ago and Anna was still trying to understand what she had seen. Dani’s eyes had gone black and she had gotten that dying man to talk. The dying man who was a floor above them under arrest and actually alive. The doctor said he didn’t know how, it was a miracle. The man said he wasn’t dying and couldn’t believe he had been shot. He kept saying he had never been shot. Just what Dani had said to him almost word for word.
She had done something to those men and had been ready to do something else before she had gotten shot. Anna had no idea what. She had never seen anything like that before. Her fingers drummed against her cellphone, thinking of Murphy in Chicago. She had an expert in weird… maybe she should call…
“You’re still here?” Steve said, stepping out of the hospital room and snapping Anna away from her thoughts.
She straightened up from where she was leaning against the wall and flashed a quick smile. “Is she okay?”
“Yeah. The bullet didn’t hit anything vital. She’s going to be in here for a couple of days but then Danny will take her home.” Steve smiled, clearly glad for his friend.
Anna kind of got it too. The way Danny had looked when the doctor said Dani was okay was pure relief and love. She understood now why Steve was so skeptical of Dani’s involvement in the kidnapping.
“Hey, look, thanks for all your help today. I’ll talk to your Captain so you don’t get in trouble being absent all day.”
“It’s alright, I’m glad I could fill in for your partner for a day.” Anna shrugged. Even if her captain and her partner were going to be really pissed about her being gone she couldn’t be mad. She got to spend the day with Steve, it was pretty fun and they made a good team.
“You can fill in for Danno anytime.” His smile because a grin and they shared a moment right there in the hall just smiling at each other like it was no big deal. Anna’s heart just about flew out of her chest and smacked her in the face.
“Uh, hey, look, for all the help let me take you out for lunch.” Steven said, clearing his throat. “It’s the least I could do.”
“It’s about six, McGarrett.”
“Okay, then dinner.”
Anna thought about it for a second. There was still that thing about the eyes but… Murphy would still be there tomorrow and so would Dani.
“Yeah, sure. Dinner sounds great.”
Rating: R
Pairings: Dani/Danny, hints of Anna/Steve
Author’s Notes: This Christmas fic is for the lovely Bri who I've been rp-ing with for years now. This is set in Dani's Mākaʻi Kuene Wahine verse aka her Hawaii Five-0 verse and blends a little action, a little adventure and some cute. It's been awhile since I've written Anna so here's hoping I did good. I'm hoping to post one or two of those a day.
Merry Christmas Bri!
---
Dani was still wrapped up in blankets, hiding in bed when someone started knocking on the door. She made an annoyed groan and curled tighter into the blankets. If she closed her eyes she might be able to ignore it and the person would go away. She really hoped they went away. Closing had kept her late at work, she hadn’t gotten home until three am and like usual she woke up when Danny did to get a little more time with him. She was tired and just wanted was a few more hours. Then she would go face the world.
“Danno, it’s Steve. Open up!”
That got her out of bed because Steve at her door looking for Dani didn’t make any sense. Danny had left for work hours ago. She had to stop for pants on the way but she was down the stairs in a flash and yanking open the front door with Steve in mid-knock. Steve, Danny’s partner, looked rather annoyed to see her but he tried to smile. There was a woman standing slightly behind him that she didn’t recognize but there was a badge on her hip, probably some other cop.
“Dani, where’s Danno? In the shower again?” Steve asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
“He left for work two hours ago.” She looked between the lady cop and Steve then stuck her head outside to see Danny’s Chevy still sitting in the driveway. “Something’s wrong.”
In an instant, Steve and the lady cop’s body language changed. They all looked at the car and then back to her. While her expression was worried, she didn’t give away just how worried. Division had given her their ultimatum about information. She hadn’t done anything to attract attention. They should’ve have grabbed up Danny, but if they had him she could only imagine what they’d do. Damn it, why didn’t she have Cassie when she needed her?
“Let’s go inside.” Steve gestured her back into the house. “Anna can you call Chin and get Five-0 out here?”
“You got it.” The lady cop stepped away, pulling her cell phone off the holster on her belt. She wasn’t native Hawaiian, but her skin was dark. Dani guessed maybe Italian in there somewhere and her accent from that brief comment seemed New York, not Jersey. Not like Danny’s. She swallowed a little burst of fear and stepped back inside with Steve.
“What happened this morning?” Steve asked, like a cop. She wouldn’t exactly call them friends but she didn’t like how easily he switched on her.
“Woke up at the usual time. Did the usual things. No calls, no knocks, just normal.” She was always clipped, but her worry made it worse. She wanted to go look for Danny. She wanted to call Cassie and beg for help. She trusted Steve but she couldn’t tell him about the real reason Danny was missing.
“What about the days before? Anything weird happen?”
“No. Everything’s been normal.”
“Would you notice if…”
“Yes.” Dani noticed everything. The blissful months she had spent in Hawaii with Danny hadn’t changed a life time of hyper awareness and paranoia. She still kept her bag close at hand, always. She never looked at street names and bought a new phone every month. She had been paying even closer attention since Division had reappeared in her life. There had been nothing weird and it scared her that she hadn’t noticed.
Steve let the cop go for a second and rubbed her shoulder with a hand. “It’s gonna be okay, Dani. We’ll find him.”
She nodded, though Steve’s reassurance didn’t settle any of her nerves. If Division had Danny… she should’ve run before now. She shouldn’t have let her feelings keep her here. She had walked away from guys before. She should’ve left.
“Chin said Kono and Lori are on their way. He’s going to try and track Danny’s cellphone,” the lady cop said when she came back inside. “Has anyone tried to contact you ma’am?”
“No.” She scowled at the cop. “Why would they?”
“If this is a ransom…”
“They’ll contact his ex-wife,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “I don’t have money. We don’t have money.”
“Can you stay home anyway Dani, just in case?” Steve asked. “They could try you too.”
“Fine.” She crossed her arms over her chest and looked away, out the windows to the beach that ran along the back of their house. “Just find him quickly.”
---
“Is she always like that?” Anna asked as they circled Danny’ car.
“Dani? Yeah, she’s shy.”
Anna snorted. “I didn’t get that read on her.”
Honestly, Anna got the feeling Danny’s girlfriend wasn’t telling them something but they didn’t even know what was going on right now. It was clear Danny hadn’t made it to work and probably never got a chance to leave.
“Alright, she’s private.” Steve shrugged and looked up and down the street. “I don’t see tire tracks. Dani didn’t hear anything weird this morning and I don’t see any signs of a struggle. Danny wouldn’t go without a fight and he’d notice if something was off in the neighborhood.”
“Maybe it was someone he trusted or knew,” Anna said, looking back to the house.
“Anna, Dani’s not involved alright? She loves Danny, she wouldn’t turn on him.” Steve frowned slightly.
“You wait here for your team. I just want to ask her one more question.”
Technically, Anna probably should’ve signed off this case the moment they discovered something happened to Danny. The murder case she was working with Five-0 was clearly going to be put on the back burner or Five-0 would pull out of the investigation. She had lots of cases to get back to but she was a little curious about this. Actually, she was curious about the girlfriend who wouldn’t talk.
Steve grabbed her arm and tugged until she turned to look at him. He had that honest, good guy expression on. The one that was pretty adorable and it took a little control for her not to smile fondly at it.
“This isn’t your case but I could use the outside perspective. You got to trust me though. Dani’s not part of this.”
“It’s one question, Steve.” She carefully lifted his hand off, ignoring the flutter in her stomach as her fingers brushed his. “If you really want my outside perspective, you’ve got to let me work the case how I see it.”
Steve let her go and Anna walked back into the house. “Ma’am?” she called when she didn’t see Dani on the couch where she had settled when they walked outside.
“Ma’am?” she called again, walking through the living room to the kitchen. An unease settled in her gut, making Anna rest her hand on her gun out of habit. “Dani?”
She made her way upstairs in silence, checking each room but Danny’ girlfriend was gone. She swore and jogged back outside. Steve stood with Kono and Lori by Danny’ car, talking in hushed voices.
“Steve, we have problem. Dani, the girlfriend, she’s gone.”
---
There weren’t that many true psychics in Honolulu. During her first week in the city while just wandering around Dani had managed to spot three who were like her, real psychics. The fakes were easy to spot, too much neon and tarot cards in the window along with an overwhelming smell of cheap incense. Real Sniffs hated the stuff. It overwhelmed their senses.
When they left her alone in the house Dani knew she had to do something. Steve and Five-0 would do their best to find Danny, but they were working like cops. They’d have to go through evidence, question people if they even found out who had taken Danny in the first place. If it was Division, they’d never find anything but Dani knew she could.
The Sniff she picked was wedged between a bait and tackle shop and a coin laundry. Dani stepped inside, glancing around at traditional Hawaiian decorations. There were a few chairs grouped around a coffee table but there was no one waiting. There was one other person in the room, a middle aged Hawaiian woman sitting behind a desk, flipping through a magazine.
She didn’t touch the magazine because of a pair of lace gloves. When she noticed Dani, she stopped flipping and straightened up.
“I need this Sniffed.” She pulled one of Danny’s shirts from her bag. She had grabbed the one he wore yesterday out of the laundry. His scent would be fresh. “I can’t find him.”
The woman sat up even straighter, eyeing her with suspicion. It was a customary greeting between true psychics. There was always paranoia, fear someone was a Division agent and this could lead to capture or death. Dani just wanted to find her boyfriend.
“Do you want to find him or see him?”
“I want information. All you can see and where he might be.”
“One hundred dollars.”
She set the shirt on the counter and handed over the money in cash. The woman pulled off one glove and picked up the sleeve of the shirt, rubbing it between her fingers. Her eye lids shuddered then dropped closed. She took a deep breath which she let out slowly.
Dani didn’t really understand how Sniffs worked. She knew the basics her dad taught her, that they could follow scents and find someone anywhere but she knew there were others who could see where people were from their scent. They only saw the present though, not the future like a good Watcher could. Dani didn’t know a Watcher to talk to.
“I see a truck, on a highway, heading towards the water,” the Sniff said after a quiet minute. “He is beaten but alive.”
“Details.”
“White truck, Hawaiian plates. Two men driving, both natives. One has tattoos on his arm. There is a sticker for the Bird of Paradise marina.”
“Division?” she asked, biting her lip. The Division agents who had cornered her hadn’t been natives and she couldn’t imagine any agent having tattoos.
The Sniff shook her head. “No. Someone else.”
Relief washed over her. It wasn’t her fault. Whatever was going on, Danny wasn’t in danger because of her. “Give me the plate number.”
Dani wrote it down then snatched the shirt back from the Sniff. She stuffed it back into her bag and walked out. She turned towards the water with strong determined strides. Division didn’t have Danny which meant she was getting him back.
---
Leaning forward to see past the steering wheel, Anna watched Dani jog through traffic to cross the street against the light. Steve drummed his fingers anxiously. When he was nervous, Steve didn’t like to stay still. Anna could see the worry underneath his grim expression. She could also see the confusion and doubt. He really didn’t believe Danny’s girlfriend could be involved in his kidnapping. Anna was a little more skeptical.
Chin had found searches on Danny’s computer, looking into his girlfriend’s parents, their murder and Dani herself. There wasn’t a lot of information on the girl after the age of eighteen. She was farther than off the grid. That made them both suspicious. Anna thought Danny had stumbled onto something about his girlfriend, something big and bad. Whatever that was made Dani act and made Danny disappear. Steve wasn’t fully convinced.
“Where do you think she’s going?” She asked as they tailed the girl through downtown Honolulu.
“Looks like she’s heading towards the shore. The tourist beaches are that way.” Steve pointed over her shoulder, behind them. “The way she’s heading are private houses, the beach mansions and some marinas.”
“Why would she be heading that way?” She sat back and glanced at Steve who’s eyes were fixed forward on Dani. It gave her a good chance to study his profile.
“I don’t know, Anna. I don’t know why any of this is happening.”
At least it was until he caught her looking. She tried to act like that was no big deal but they had this whole tentative she was interested and he was hard to read thing going on. And hell, he had a really nice profile.
“I’ve known Dani for about as long as she’s been dating Danny. She’s quiet and a little shy, but she loves Danny. You can see it when they’re together. They’re in love, really in love. I can’t believe she had anything to do with Danny going missing.”
Anna was the only one who kept suspecting the girl. All of Five-0 was convinced she was innocent, even though there was a lot of evidence pointing towards her involvement.
“Maybe you’re right,” she said, glancing away. “But there’s got to be a very good reason she’s out here, visiting psychics and wandering around instead of calling us every ten seconds asking if we have any information. Especially if she’s really in love.”
“New York made you jaded. Don’t you believe in love?”
She snorted. “Love made me jaded.”
Steve smiled sadly. “That’s a shame. A beautiful woman like you should have a little faith in love.”
Anna rolled her eyes to cover the fact she wanted to blush. “We need to keep moving, she’s getting out of sight.”
They rolled forward in silence maintaining a delicate balance of following Dani and staying out of sight. Anna thought she should say something. She didn’t mean to insult Danny’s taste in women but there was something wrong here. Steve couldn’t deny it for the simple fact his partner was missing. They couldn’t reach him by cell and his ex-wife hadn’t seen him either. The best lead they had was the girlfriend.
Steve’s phone rang, interrupting the tense silence. He checked the screen before he answered. “Go ahead, Chin.”
Anna leaned over to listen, Chin’s voice just loud enough for her to make out. “We got the records on Dani’s phone. A few minutes ago she searched for the address of the Bird of Paradise marina.”
“A marina? Anything else?”
“No. No calls, no other searches, no text messages. The last call on her phone is from Danny from yesterday, when he left work.”
“Yeah, I remember overhearing that. Okay, thanks Chin. Look into that marina…”
“We already are, Steve. Don’t worry, we’ll find something.”
Steve hung up the phone and glanced at Anna, which made her realize just how close their faces were. “I think she already did.”
---
The marina was a locked gate sort of deal with security. Dani couldn’t see any trucks from where she was, but they didn’t stop her. She went up to the security guard, looked like an ex-cop but she put on her sweet, innocent smile and worried the strap of her bag between her hands looking every part the shy, lost tourist.
“Hi, excuse me, how do I get to Pearl Harbor from here?”
The moment the guard looked at her, Dani Pushed. It hurt for a second, when her pupils contracted before they expanded and it was like a long breath. She just felt the Push sink in and take a hold of the guard’s mind.
“Open the gate for me. I have a pass. I showed it to you,” she said, voice low so only the guard could hear. “You saw my pass and let me in. Open the gate for me.”
She blinked and the Push was set. The guard opened the gate with a smile. “Have a nice sail, miss.”
“Thank you, I will.” She strolled through the gates with a smile of her own.
---
“How the hell did she do that?” Anna muttered, watching Dani casually stroll through the gates of the marina that was so high class she didn’t think the Governor could get in that easily.
“Okay, we’re going in.” Steve parked his truck and hopped out making Anna scramble to follow him.
“Here, it’s usually Danny’s but you can make it fit.” He tossed her a second vest.
“You think we’ll need these?” she asked, but she put the vest on.
“We need answers.”
---
Dani tightened the strap of her bag so she could run a little quicker through the marina’s parking lot, scanning for a truck with the right license plate. She skidded to a stop when she found it parked around the corner from the main lot. She ran to the cab but it was empty. Still, she yanked on the door which was unlocked.
Before she could climb into the grab someone grabbed her from behind. She kicked out but they held firm, yanking her out of the cab and then slamming her against the side. She was all ready to Push but stopped when she came face to face with Steve holding a gun pointed right at her.
“Let me go!” she yelled, shoving at his chest without fear. Steve wouldn’t shoot her, not without a good reason.
“When you tell me what the hell you’re doing.” Steve pushed back, the gun still pointed at her. “And why Danny ran multiple searches on you and your family.”
“He was helping me!” She glanced to the lady cop from this morning who was still with Steve. God, it was like this was some sort of twisted date for them. “He helped me find my uncle!”
“Your uncle?” The gun lowered a fraction and Dani shoved again, harder. This time Steve took a step back.
“They drove Danny here in the truck. Two natives, one has tattoos on his arm. They have Danny.”
“How do you know that?” the lady cop asked, her gun lowering a little as well.
“I got call…”
“We checked your records. You haven’t gotten any calls.”
“Steve! Company.”
Dani followed the female cop’s eyes to see two men walking down the dock together, both native and one with tattoos covering his whole left arm. They saw them, Steve and the cop and her, and then bolted.
“Stay here,” Steve ordered and then took off after the two men.
“Like hell.” Dani sprinted after them, her bag bouncing against her back as she caught up to the lady cop. Steve was way out in front until one of the men stopped and pointed a gun.
“No!” Dani yelled as Steve opened fire and then man dropped. The other kept running and so did Steve, but she dropped down next to the dying man and Pushed, only vaguely aware the lady cop was standing over them.
“Tell me where he is,” she snarled. “You’re not dying, you haven’t been shot, tell me where he is! What did you do with Danny?!”
“The boss said put him on the boat. Take him to the boat and wait for him.”
“Tell me the name of the boat!”
“The Solar Wind.”
She leapt to her feet and ran down the docks, looking at the names on the boats. The Solar Wind. The Solar Wind. Each name flashed by. She didn’t see Steve anymore or the other man, but she heard the lady cop running behind her. She didn’t know if she was being chased or followed. It didn’t matter to Dani. She knew how fast she could run and what she could do if the cop tried to stop her.
“There,” the lady cop yelled.
Dani leapt onto the deck and saw something that stopped her heart. Danny was on his knees with an Asian man standing over him, a gun pointed at his forehead. Panic almost froze her on the spot but then the anger overwhelmed her.
She was Pushing before she even consciously thought about the Push, striding forward across the deck her whole focus on the man with the gun to Danny’s head. The bullet slammed into her side, shocking her out of the Push and dropped her to her knees.
“Dani!”
There was chaos, lots of gunshots while Dani dragged herself out of the line of fire, holding a hand to her side where she could feel blood slipping through her fingers. She had been shot before, by a Division agent. That had been in the shoulder though. This hurt more. It felt deeper and hotter and she was scared. She made the mistake of looking at her side, whimpered at all the blood she saw then quickly closed her eyes tight.
“Babe, oh, babe, it’s okay.”
She sobbed when she opened her eyes and found Danny kneeling over her, pressing his hands over hers to apply more pressure to her side. His face was a mess of bruises, his lip was split but he was alive. He was okay.
“The ambulance is coming. You hold on, Dani, please. Don’t you dare leave me now.”
She smiled weakly because honestly, she didn’t think anything could make her leave him.
---
Anna hovered outside Dani’s hospital room. They had the full story now. The man who had kidnapped Danny was somehow related to the people who murdered Steve’s father. Dani didn't have anything to do with it. Steve had given her a look that said ‘I told you so’ but he had the good grace not to say it. She could hear them, Danny and Steve, talking inside their voices a soft murmur and she was waiting.
They had left the marina hours ago and Anna was still trying to understand what she had seen. Dani’s eyes had gone black and she had gotten that dying man to talk. The dying man who was a floor above them under arrest and actually alive. The doctor said he didn’t know how, it was a miracle. The man said he wasn’t dying and couldn’t believe he had been shot. He kept saying he had never been shot. Just what Dani had said to him almost word for word.
She had done something to those men and had been ready to do something else before she had gotten shot. Anna had no idea what. She had never seen anything like that before. Her fingers drummed against her cellphone, thinking of Murphy in Chicago. She had an expert in weird… maybe she should call…
“You’re still here?” Steve said, stepping out of the hospital room and snapping Anna away from her thoughts.
She straightened up from where she was leaning against the wall and flashed a quick smile. “Is she okay?”
“Yeah. The bullet didn’t hit anything vital. She’s going to be in here for a couple of days but then Danny will take her home.” Steve smiled, clearly glad for his friend.
Anna kind of got it too. The way Danny had looked when the doctor said Dani was okay was pure relief and love. She understood now why Steve was so skeptical of Dani’s involvement in the kidnapping.
“Hey, look, thanks for all your help today. I’ll talk to your Captain so you don’t get in trouble being absent all day.”
“It’s alright, I’m glad I could fill in for your partner for a day.” Anna shrugged. Even if her captain and her partner were going to be really pissed about her being gone she couldn’t be mad. She got to spend the day with Steve, it was pretty fun and they made a good team.
“You can fill in for Danno anytime.” His smile because a grin and they shared a moment right there in the hall just smiling at each other like it was no big deal. Anna’s heart just about flew out of her chest and smacked her in the face.
“Uh, hey, look, for all the help let me take you out for lunch.” Steven said, clearing his throat. “It’s the least I could do.”
“It’s about six, McGarrett.”
“Okay, then dinner.”
Anna thought about it for a second. There was still that thing about the eyes but… Murphy would still be there tomorrow and so would Dani.
“Yeah, sure. Dinner sounds great.”