Fic: Stealth and Sudden Violence (Chapter 8)
Danny shifted, trying to get comfortable, but the sand was surprisingly hard. He'd been sitting in the car for much of the day, except for a few planned stops to stretch their legs and unplanned stops when they'd gotten bogged down in the sand. He was thankful Steve, and he guessed Kamekona, knew what to pack for a drive in the desert. He would have packed the spades, but wouldn't have thought to put in the old rugs.
He shifted again, wishing they could have fitted a mattress or two in, and maybe a tent. But with the provisions, bedding rolls, extra fuel and spare tires there was barely room for them. At least Steve had a fire going and a pot of coffee brewing.
The man himself was seemingly as happy as a pig in mud. He was tending the fire, squatting down just like Danny had seen the Egyptians do, poking the embers with a stick. Even the idea of matching the position made Danny's knees scream in protest.
Danny looked out over the desert that stretched out in front of him. The sun was setting behind him, behind the hill that the wadi was carved into. As far as he could tell, the whole area was called the Black Mountain, but it seemed to his non-expert eyes to be more than one mountain. Actually, it was like a lot of mountains had kind of run together in the heat, set into one solid mass. It didn't really matter, because they'd managed to find the valley Kamekona's friend had directed them to at the first attempt, something that seemed to surprise even Steve.
They hadn't stayed long in that wadi, with its fifteen supposedly sheep shaped rocks, instead they laid the groundwork for their cover story of being archeologists out surveying the area. They'd photographed and sketched the valley, taking sightings to make a quasi-accurate map of the area. Danny had worked under Steve direction because he hadn't the first clue about how to play the role. They'd moved on to the next wadi, repeating the exercise and then to the one they were in. He just had to hope that if anyone was watching, which they probably were, they'd bought the lie that he and Steve were selling.
Steve had explained the extra research he'd done, and the fail safes he'd put in place if something went wrong, and Danny had to admit the man had really tried. He'd gone and found Russell in the Turf club and explained what they'd discovered, asking the man to tell him what the British already knew about the Senussi. He hadn't managed to find Ramses but had left a note for him when he called at his home, at what was no doubt an appallingly late hour, and had surprisingly gotten a reply in the early hours of the morning. Danny didn't know who delivered messages at that time of night, but he was thankful the Emersons clearly had people they could trust.
The information, along with some more cross referencing by Chin and Kono, yielded a pretty clear picture of discontent and rebellion in the Senussi tribe being stirred up and exploited by the Germans. Without arms though, this tribe out in the Libyan desert wasn't much of a threat. However, if they got their hands on some decent weaponry they could cause problems for the British and Egyptian armies facing an impending threat from the Turks in the Sinai.
Taking an educated guess from what little Russell had told Steve, and reading Ramses' succinct but detailed note had made Danny realize just how precarious their position was in Cairo. The British were at war in Europe and that war was spreading to the Middle East, threatening to spill across the Suez Canal and engulf Egypt. It was stupid, but he'd not really felt worried before, and now he regretted not trying to convince Rachel to leave with Grace.
“Steve?”
“Hmmm?”
“Do you think they'll get across the Canal?
“I don't know,” Steve replied, his expression making it plain he hated the answer he'd just given. “I think there's a few folks doing everything they can to stop that happening, but from what Ramses and his father say, there's a lot of the top bureaucracy who aren't that competent.”
“I should have tried harder to get Rachel to leave before,” Danny admitted, feeling terrible that he hadn't understood just how bad the situation was. “I don't want them going now. The shipping's too dangerous. They have submarines, Steven. Submarines.”
“We'll be okay,” Steve insisted, looking right at Danny as though he needed him to really believe what he was saying. “Look, if the worst happens and they cross the Suez, we'll run. All of us. You, me, Kono and Chin, Kamekona. We'll get Grace and Rachel, Stan too, if he'll come, and we'll stay ahead of them. Mamo will take us in, or we can go south, head away from the trouble. I'll help you keep them safe.”
Danny nodded, his voice choked behind the lump in his throat. He knew, even though America wasn't part of the war, that Steve would probably want to stay and help defend Cairo. And here he was offering to slink off with Danny and his family and disappear quietly into the desert. “Thanks.”
“I know how important Grace is to you.” Steve smiled at him, a small, almost shy smile before his expression clouded.
Steve hadn't said much about his childhood or about being sent away once his mother died, but Danny could make an educated guess that it wasn't as happy as it could have been. He knew virtually nothing about Steve's mom, but his dad had been a man dedicated to his job, seemingly at the expense of his family. Danny couldn't imagine not knowing his dad was proud of him, that he was happy if Danny was happy, or that he actually wanted him around.
There had been times over the past few days when Steve had seemed to still be trying to make his dad notice him. Danny kind of wanted to get a time machine and go back and punch the late Jack McGarrett in the mouth. How could he have had a boy as smart and as brave as Steve and not been desperate to prolong every second he could have with him? Danny wanted to slow time to appreciate every precious moment he had with Grace.
“I was thinking I could bring her to your house,” Danny said, surprising himself, because he'd meant to say something else entirely. “Maybe you and Kono could teach her to swim.”
“I'd like to meet her,” Steve said cautiously, pleased excitement warring with doubt on his face. “But I haven't got much experience with children.”
“I'll be there, too,” Danny said, managing to hide his amusement that an eight year old was the thing that made Steve pause for thought. “And I bet Kono and Chin are pretty good with kids. Sounds like they come from a big family.”
“Yeah,” Steve said, slipping off into another memory. “We moved here when I was eight, but I still remember Hawaii. Chin's dad worked for my dad for years, and Chin was always around. I think I missed him most when we left. I think dad getting Chin transferred to my unit was his way of trying to make it up to me.”
“Probably,” Danny agreed. He chewed on his bottom lip for a few seconds, trying to work out if he should say what he wanted to. Damn it, Steve needed to hear it, even if Danny wasn't sure if it was true. “I think your dad really wanted to mend bridges with you, but he just didn't know how. I know he was proud of you, you can ask anyone who spoke to him for more than ten minutes, because he always managed to tell people how you were doing. You and Mary.”
Steve didn't speak for a while, just stared out into the desert. Danny sat quietly beside him, watching the shadows grow and fuse until night had fallen completely. The moon would be up soon, nearly full, and give them more than enough light to see by.
“Thanks, Danny,” Steve said quietly, his eyes still on the desert.
Danny didn't reply. He was kind of glad Steve was thinking about his dad, taking the time to process what he'd learned in the past few days and fitting it together with what he thought he knew about the man. It was probably the first time he'd paused since he got back to Egypt. Everything Steve seemed to do was at a frenetic pace, focused and efficient, and Danny begrudgingly admired it. Sometimes. The rest of the time he kind of wanted to smack the man.
He was sitting still now though, sharing Danny's bed roll and pressed against his side. That was a good thing on many levels. Steve needed it, he needed the comfort of another human being, and he needed to actually work through some of the things he kept bottled up. Almost as important as all that, Danny thought, was that the temperature had plummeted once the sun set and it was freezing.
Yep, he still hated the desert.
Steve crashed into wakefulness, a hand over his mouth and another shaking his shoulder. In the millisecond it took for all his muscles to contract to fight off his attacker, he remembered where he was and heard Danny's frantic whisper in his ear.
“There's someone out there. Be quiet.”
He forced himself to relax, counted his heartbeats for a minute before he carefully sat up, trying to make as little noise as possible. He threw back his blanket, cursing silently at the cold, and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He felt sluggish and disconcerted, still barely awake. He mentally kicked himself again, this time at his own stupidity of letting Danny have the first watch. He should have been the one awake and prepared for this.
“Stop grinding your teeth,” Danny whispered, his breath warm on the side of Steve's face. “You needed to sleep and I'm trained for this sort of thing, too.”
Steve didn't argue with him, even though he knew no police training could match what he'd had. Danny was right in one respect though, he had to trust his partner to handle the situation they found themselves in.
“Where are they?” Steve asked instead, quietly chambering a round in his pistol.
“Not sure,” Danny whispered, his own gun already drawn. “Heard a vehicle, but it stopped a ways off just before I woke you.”
Steve was impressed Danny had waited to wake him, instead using the quiet to listen to what the vehicle was doing. “Sound carries in the desert, but the wadis play tricks on you. They might not be that far away.”
He'd been convinced since they'd arrived at the Black Mountain that they were being watched, hence the ruse of being archeologists, and he couldn't be sure they weren't still under observation. He had no idea if their act had fooled the silent observer and the approach of a vehicle didn't really offer any clues. The Senussi agent was unlikely to have been able to get a message to his contact fast enough to stop the rendezvous, even if he'd seen through their scheme.
Knowing they might still be being watched, he finalized the plan that had been brewing in the car on the way here. Danny wasn't going to like it; in fact he was more than likely going to shout at Steve. Or at least whisper and glare.
“I'm going to walk out to the mouth of the wadi,” he explained quietly, forestalling Danny's argument with a raised finger. “We need to still play the part of archeologists, in case they're watching. Once I've done that, I'm going to tell you it must be the wind or animals, then go back to sleep.”
Danny eyed him like he was mad. “And?”
“And then I'm going to scoot my bedding into the shadow of that boulder. You should curse at me or something. Tell me I'm stupid, I'm sure you'll like that. Then I'm going to sneak out in the shadows and investigate the fifteen sheep.”
“Are you crazy?” Danny blazed, his voice a frantic whisper. “You'll get yourself killed and then I'll be stuck out here.”
“See,” Steve said, with his most annoying grin. “You're really getting into the part.”
Before Danny could object any further, Steve stood and strolled along the wadi as though he was completely at ease. He was nearly at the end of the valley, almost at the open desert when he heard a click. He wasn't sure he even consciously processed it was the sound of a gun cocking before he was diving for cover behind a large boulder.
The shot crashed into the rock just above his head, showering him with splinters of black, glass-like rock. His ears were ringing and he had only the barest idea of where the shot had come from. Another shot rang out, coming, he thought, from Danny's direction, which probably meant his partner had had time to find some cover.
He peeked over the boulder and caught a glimpse of movement in the rocks on the other side of the entrance to the wadi. Damn it. Their attacker had either walked past across the entrance of the wadi, something he thought was impossible given the amount of moonlight, or he'd not come from the wadi of the sheep. Did that mean someone had purposely come to kill them?
He needed to get back to Danny, not just to try to formulate a plan together, but because the cover was about a million times better up at the far end of the valley. The moonlight, which he'd thought of as an advantage so they didn't need flashlights, was now his worst enemy. He might have been able to fool a distant observer and sneak along in the shadows, but an enemy no more than two hundred feet away would be sure to see him.
Another shot slammed into the cliff behind the boulder and he knew he had to move. If he was fast, kept low, used the shadows as much as he could, and didn't run in a completely straight line, he could probably make it. He just hoped Danny would be quick enough laying down covering fire once he saw him running.
He took two deep breaths, in and out, in and out, and ran.
Danny popped up from behind the boulder to take another shot just as their assailant fired at Steve's position. The sound cracked around the wadi, almost deafening in the otherwise silent desert. Danny fired off his own shot, knowing his chances of hitting the man were slim. The bullet struck the rocks and Danny was about to drop back down when he saw movement.
Jesus Christ, Steve was running from behind his boulder. What was he thinking? He really did think he was indestructible, some kind of super man who could deflect bullets. Danny fired off a shot, and another, hoping to keep their enemy behind his shelter long enough for his crazy partner to get back to wherever he thought he was going.
He kept firing and Steve kept running. He was crouched low, dodging in and out of the shadows, disappearing for breathless seconds only to appear again, getting closer and closer to Danny. The covering fire seemed to be working. Their assailant hadn't fired a single shot and Danny was just beginning to think that Steve might get all the way back without the man actually seeing Steve move when Danny's gun clicked empty.
He cursed, dropped behind the rock and ejected the magazine and quickly loaded the spare. He popped up again, without any thought other than to protect Steve, and fired off a shot. He saw a flash from the muzzle of the other man's gun and felt something tear across his upper arm before he even heard the sound of the shot. He yelped, but returned fire, even though he couldn't see Steve.
The man himself clattered into Danny, landing heavily behind the boulder. Danny dropped back down, his left hand finally coming up to cover the wound on his right bicep. Jesus, that stung. He should yell at Steve, but this wasn’t the time or the place. If they ever got out of there, he was really going to let the other man have a piece of his mind.
“You okay?” Steve asked, his breathing harsh. He was checking his gun, his back pressed against the boulder.
“Just a graze,” Danny said dismissively, even though he knew he should be tying something around it. “You?”
“I'm fine,” Steve assured him, eyes flicking over Danny and his face hardening just a little when he spotted his wound. Danny couldn't see any injuries on his partner and had to believe him even though he was pretty sure the man would try run off the loss of a limb.
A shot pinged off the rock and made them both flinch. Danny hated this. There was no chance of backup ever arriving, something he'd known in his head before he'd gotten in the car with Steve, but actually being pinned down behind a rock made it really real. He could have been home in his bed, his nice warm, mostly comfortable bed.
“Danno,” he said, suddenly remembering the question Steve had asked him hours ago. “When Grace was first learning to speak, it was all she could say when she tried to say my name.”
Steve stared at him like he was crazy for a few moments before he blinked and then grinned. “That's sweet.”
“Tell her, if you get out of this, that her Danno loves her,” Danny asked, knowing Steve would fight tooth and claw to get back to Cairo.
“No, Danny,” Steve said, looking like Danny had asked the other man to shoot him. “No, you're going to get out of this. We both are.”
“Right,” Danny agreed, not believing it at all. “But you'll tell her?”
“We're both getting out of here,” Steve repeated with such fierce determination that Danny almost believed him.
Steve pushed himself up to peer over the top of the boulder without taking a shot. Danny wondered how much ammunition the man at the other end of the wadi had. He also wondered if he was on his own, or the vanguard of a larger group. He turned to ask Steve what he thought when another shot rang out and he felt a sharp blow to the back of his head just before the world went black.
Chapter 9