FanFic: "Ground Fire" (Hawaii Five-0) - Chapter 7 of ??
H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O*
CHAPTER SEVEN
Hunkered down low and well above the two mercenaries, Steve studied the ruined clothing he had found quite by accident. The suit jacket had been hacked into fine strips of cloth which obviously had been used for doctoring. It was another sobering find after he had finally discovered the random streaks of blood on arbitrary leaves and undergrowth.
Melting away now, Steve took firm advantage of the lull which had been re-confirmed by Chin. Raised voices seemed to indicate frustration and discord; with that strife, the two would only fall off their guard more and more. The two were not moving at present and Steve no longer looked back. The purposeful track the three had taken would bring them to a rocky outcropping. Heavily shadowed and difficult to navigate, once achieved though, the elevated location would give them a birds-eye view of the lower jungle.
"Smart, smart move." He muttered under his breath while scrambling over larger and larger rocks. Not an easy task as the humidity caused by the coming rain made them more damp and slick, Steve vaguely wondered how the injured three had managed to traverse the rough section. Glancing up to gauge his course, he nodded again in approval. The upper ledge would afford them a decent view of anyone approaching combined with adequate protection. He was pleased by the wise decision but Steve intentionally slowed until he could clearly see first the convict and then Kono. They were both on guard and with two fisted hands tightly holding her weapon, Kono was more than ready to react. Frowning though, he diligently searched the space when he saw no apparent signs of his partner.
Edging closer, he ignored the cuffed figure of Totorro to hiss Kono's name under his breath. The two disheveled and exhausted figures jolted in shock and Steve half-ducked as Kono fisted her weapon quickly in his direction.
"Kono. Stand down." Steve aimed his voice low and decidedly in her direction. Through his night vision goggles he could see her blink once and then twice as he carefully revealed himself to avoid getting his own head blown off.
Her tone easily communicated her disbelief as her expression entirely changed. Still, it took her a longer moment to lower her hands entirely. "Steve?"
"Stand down. Kono, are you all okay? Where's Danny?"
"You know this guy?" Tortorro gaped at the intimidating black-clad figure which had appeared as if by magic out of the darkness just to his own left-hand side. His startled glance to Kono caught a pleased nod and the glimmer of a genuine smile. But the criminal was shocked by the man's unexpected arrival, assault rifle and impressive gear. In fact until she had smiled, he was positive that they'd all been found by his brother's murderous men.
"I never heard him! What is he a freaking Ninja?" Finally unsettled, Tortorro nearly yelped in alarm as he scuttled painfully backwards to give way.
"Something like that." Steve ground out. "Where's Danny?" Glaring at the downed convict, Steve stepped over his splayed legs after he'd wedged himself back against the rock wall. Approaching Kono, it was only then that he saw his partner laid out limply on the cold ground as far away from the front of the ledge as humanly possible. On his back with one flung over his chest, the rumpled figure was agonizingly serene - and it was all wrong.
"Kono. What?" His friend looked almost ..impossibly gone. Steve's brain stuttered around a very unreasonable word, causing his body to stumble to an inelegant halt. "Kono?" Through the night vision goggles, he froze with fingers clenched until he saw the stuttered and much too shallow rise of Danny's chest.
"Steve." Sensing that Tortorro wasn't going to move, a bubble of a stunned brief chuckle burst softly from Kono's chest. She hadn't heard a sound or seen any movement either, so she could hardly blame the criminal. She knew Steve's capabilities but still was more than surprised to find him suddenly standing in front of her as if on maneuvers. Another weary chuckle made it out through her mouth and she wiped her face to stop herself. They were his mission and it meant Chin wasn't very far behind.
"Hey boss." She repeated her welcome as he took a moment for a quick one-armed hug. Half-grinning, Kono's eyes were glistening in relief though as her friend whipped off his equipment. "How did you find us?"
"Chin's down below. He has eyes on the other two. They're a bit turned around and it's slowed them up." Avoiding the particulars, Steve glanced warily back at Tortorro who was rooted to the same spot. The convict was still staring at him in total awe.
"Talk to me." Gently keeping her low, Steve forced Kono to sit near Tortorro while he bent down next to Danny and unslung his backpack. Using rocks to conceal a small lantern, he targeted the beam of light at Danny's body. Then Steve's fingers skirted the blood stained patch on his partner's side as he took note of the belted material.
"There was a boat. Danny and Tortorro were shot when the plane was taken down. Both are through and throughs and Tortorro has a couple of cracked ribs, but I can't get Danny's wound to stop bleeding." Wracked with fatigue, Kono dug in despite the pending adrenalin dump which she could ill-afford even though Steve had arrived. They still had a lot to do, including getting back down to the beach. Neither Steve nor Chin needed to worry about her.
"I got banged up pretty good." She admitted when Steve purposefully hesitated with a blatant stare for her blood-clumped hair, demanding more. "Concussion and I hurt my arm. Each of us got slammed around on impact."
Water was soon thrust into her hands with two pain tablets. She gagged on the first sip and nearly choked on the second. Feeling stupid with herself as her stomach roiled uncomfortably, Kono got her heaves under control so she could finish taking the medication. Slowing herself down, she managed to take her fill and keep the water down while wiping nausea-related tears from her eyes. After which, the water and two more pills were presented to Al Tortorro. Relieved to be able to moisten his mouth, the man swallowed the medication before giving the canteen back to Kono with another murmur of thanks.
Sucking in a steady breath, Steve let it out as a slow settling puff of air. "How long has he been out?"
"At least thirty minutes." Kono's reply was worrisome as Steve used his fingers to check Danny's pulse. Under his hand, Danny was much too still and his skin too unnaturally cold and damp. It was bad news and Kono softly voiced what she had already concluded earlier. "He's in shock. We had to keep moving and I couldn't get the bleeding to stop."
Nodding in agreement, Steve quietly cursed as he pulled out particular supplies from the pack. He didn't want to take too long for Chin's sake, but before making any decisions he needed to disinfect and re-bandage Danny's wounds properly. Diligently selecting medical supplies in order of need, Steve focused solely on getting that urgent task accomplished. Pushing Danny's shirt aside, he removed the tight belt and then carefully peeled off the wadded makeshift bandages.
"I thought you weren't supposed to do that." Tortorro quietly chuffed. Without looking up, Steve softly provided an answer that was valid based on the continued bleeding. Within seconds, he had doused both entry and exit wounds with a betadine antiseptic solution and then an odd white powder.
"QuickClot." Steve stated what was obvious to him. He knew the powder would act immediately to help Danny's blood finally begin to clot. On the heels of that, he packed the wounds liberally with clean gauze before using occlusive pressure bandages.
"You did good with what you had." Still evaluating his partner's distressing lack of response, Steve offered Kono the compliment. Her breathing had altered to a near shuddered type of plaintive sob. "No. It was perfect for what you had … it slowed his blood loss and bought time. This will work better, though. He'll be okay once we get him out of here."
Without understanding why, Kono was battling tears at the base of Danny's feet. To calm herself, she grabbed his shoe for lack of anything else. She could easily see that Steve was more than worried as a portable oxygen tank and mask magically appeared. He was more than concerned by Danny's sheer lack of movement during ministrations that should have been extremely painful as he thumbed the oxygen on full.
Voice gone, she could only watch mesmerized as Steve efficiently lay an intravenous line for fluids into Danny's left arm. Handing the bag to her to hold, he then pulled a thermal rescue blanket from the bottom of his pack. He draped Danny from foot to just under his chin before gently raising both feet to shove the large pack under his partner's ankles.
"Kono. Are you two okay? Can you both hold out until I get back with Chin?" Steve had his hand cupped to the side of her head. In reality he was checking her eyes, the severity of the head wound and her ability to remain on her own two feet. He wanted to move but needed to ensure the triage on the other two could wait just a bit longer. He felt her exhausted tremor and waited patiently for her to rally her focus. He grinned as her shoulders straightened in determination.
"We're good." Eventually, Kono's quiet murmur and Tortorro's skittish nod confirmed they were relatively fine.
"Good. Stay here and don't move." Steve pushed the canteen back into her lap and then tapped her weapon sternly with one finger. Flipping the switch off for the small focused light, they were all momentarily taken aback by the sudden severe darkness.
"Do not say a word. Do not move. Do nothing except drink as much water as you all can manage .. and then wait." She and Totorro watched as the dark silhouette repositioned night goggles while spouting final orders. He had been there for no more than ten minutes and yet, they were already feeling more confident and at ease.
"Chin and I have a little something to take care of. We'll be right back .. but if you have any doubts at all about who might be coming up this slope, do not hesitate to shoot."
~ to be continued ~
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