Bait and Switch

By Rina

Disclaimers: No infringement is intended.

Danny woke to an aching head and the feel of a hard, gritty surface pressed against his cheek. The sound of muffled voices reached him, but he couldn’t understand what they were saying, just that one sounded pissed and the other agitated – and somehow familiar.

Opening his eyes slowly without moving in any other way, Danny looked around as much as possible given his position and the fact that he was having problems focusing on anything, not that there was much in his line of sight. The floor he was lying on was a slab of concrete, the area that he could see bare, and the whole lit by a fluorescent bulb that buzzed in a low counterpoint to the voices outside.

The creak of what had to be the door behind him had Danny closing his eyes again, feigning unconsciousness in the hope that he would learn something about where he was and why. There was a grunt and the sound of someone stumbling into the room before the door slammed shut with ominous finality. Danny lay where he was, waiting to see if the newcomer would say anything, but the only thing he heard was the crunch of grit and the soft slide of fabric against a hard surface as – apparently – the other person sat down.

Deciding that pretending he was unconscious wasn’t going to get him any information, Danny slowly rolled to his back, the move causing new aches to crash through his skull and nausea to roil in his gut. Fighting the urge to just lie there and wait until everything settled again, he opened his eyes, blinking a few times until he finally could focus on the man sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall nearest to him.

The guy looked familiar, disturbingly so, and Danny wondered if getting bashed on the head made you hallucinate because he could swear that he was looking at a carbon copy of himself, just with mustache and goatee.

The other guy stirred, resting his forearms on his knees as he cocked his head to the side, studying Danny just as closely as he was being watched. "Glad you’re finally awake," he said, "we’ve got a problem."

When his cell phone rang, Steve reached for it, expecting to see Danny’s name in the caller ID window. The identification that flashed up there, however, surprised him, and he frowned before hitting the connect button and bringing it up to his ear. "McGarrett."

"Steven? This is Rachel." Danny’s ex’s cultured voice was edged with what sounded like a combination of annoyance and anxiety. "Is Danny there?"

"Last I looked, I wasn’t his keeper, but no, he left an hour and a half ago to get Grace."

"He never picked her up, and he isn’t answering his phone." The annoyance in Rachel’s tone was now eclipsed by worry. "And you’re seeing him; that does make you his keeper."

In any other circumstance Steve might have argued the point that a grown man needed a keeper at all – especially knowing that Danny would have pointed out the fact that he needed one – but the fact that Danny hadn’t picked up Grace and the implications of why that might be drove any other thought from his mind.

"Do you have Gracie?" After Rachel’s affirmative answer, he continued, "Let me see what I can find out; I’ll call you once I know something."

"Thank you, Steve." She paused a moment before continuing, "I hope that this is a case of him forgetting and his phone being dead."

"Yeah, me too," Steve said before hanging up, but Danny never forgot anything related to Grace, something they both knew for a fact.

Half an hour later, he, Chin and Kono were standing in the parking lot of the Safeway on Pali Highway, looking down at Danny’s Camaro. The doors were closed, and there were bags of groceries in the back seat, but there was no evidence of Danny in the area.

"Boss," Kono called from the passenger side of the car, and Steve moved to join her. "There on the upper corner of the door." Dark red marred the silver finish, and Steve felt his whole body tense as he recognized it for what it was: blood.

"It looks like there’s a print dried in it."

"Get a shot of it, and send it in for analysis."

"I found a phone." Chin was on his hands and knees next to the driver’s side of the car, and Steve ducked down as well, careful not to touch the car in case there were other prints there. A phone was lying on the asphalt beneath the car. Pulling out his own phone, Steve hit the speed dial, listening as the slim black rectangle on the ground rang.

"Chin, I want you to wait for the crime scene unit to get here and process the car. Kono, check with the store manager, and get any surveillance footage they have for the last two hours from the parking lot."

The lack of a target was clawing at Steve, but he kept the urge to look for one boxed in, knowing that going off half-cocked wouldn’t help Danny right now and it wouldn’t get them any closer to finding out what happened. Turning away from the car, he scanned the parking lot, cataloging the fact that Chin and Kono were doing their jobs as he knew they would even as he looked for anything out of place.

His phone rang again, and he answered it without thinking, hoping that the unknown number was Danny calling from somewhere to say this was all a big misunderstanding, but the voice on the other end of the line was unfamiliar.

"Steve McGarrett?"

"Speaking."

"This is Linus Caldwell; I believe you know my partner Turk?"

In no mood for small talk, Steve ground his teeth together before making himself speak civilly. "Look, this is a really bad time; how about I call you back later?"

"I didn’t call to chat, Steve. I called because we’re both missing something, and I think we need to work together to get them back."

"What the hell – what do you know about this, Caldwell?" Steve snarled, his free hand twitching as he imagined punching Turk’s partner in the face.

"How about we meet and talk about it?" the other man suggested in a reasonable tone, but Steve was past being reasonable.

"How about you tell me now."

"Not over the phone."

Steve looked toward the entrance where the mobile crime scene lab was pulling in, watching it park beside the silver Camaro before giving Caldwell terse directions to Kamekona’s shave ice stand.

An hour later Steve waited by his truck, the bite of the memory of the first time he had been here making it hard to concentrate on his surroundings. He forced the memory of Danny bitching about the t-shirts they had both had to wear away and studied the surrounding area, acutely aware of the fact that he had no idea of what Turk’s partner looked like.

"So is that stuff any good?"

The question caught him by surprise, and Steve stopped himself in the midst of reaching for his gun. "Yeah, it’s – you!" Focusing on the man who had come around the back end of the truck, he couldn’t help but stare, the dark blond hair, blue eyes and All-American features of the man who had asked Danny out almost six months ago having been burned into his brain as a target at the time.

"Linus Caldwell," the other man said easily, offering his hand but not looking offended when Steve didn’t shake it.

"You were the guy–"

"Yeah." Linus shrugged and gave a charming smile. "Turk wanted to help the two of you along, so I pitched in."

Deciding he wasn’t going to argue about old history, Steve cut to the current situation. "How the hell do you know Danny is missing?"

The other man’s expression turned somber at that. "Because Turk’s gone as well."

Danny struggled over to the wall and twisted around to sit with his back propped up against it. Moving hadn’t intensified his headache or made him feel like he was going to hurl, so he thought that he didn’t have a concussion. The other guy was still watching him as if waiting for a response to his earlier comment, and Danny reached up to rub at his aching head before giving him one.

"Just who the hell are you, and what the fuck is going on here?"

"Charlie Tweeder and I have no idea – and who are you?" What must have been shock made his voice calm.

"Danny Williams, Detective Danny Williams."

"They kidnapped a cop?" Charlie asked, his eyes widening. "Are these people nuts?"

Danny didn’t have time to answer because the lock rattled and the door creaked open, revealing two large men with slicked-back dark hair who looked like they were straight out of a central casting call for mob thugs. The shorter of the two men looked from Danny to Charlie and back before speaking. "Which one of you is Turk Malloy?"

"We got a hit on that print," Chin reported when Steve answered his call. "It matched a guy by the name of Kai Kealoha; he’s been arrested and done time, small time stuff mostly, but it’s added up."

"Okay, okay, that’s a start," Steve murmured. "See if you can track down where he’s staying.

"I’ve got an address for him; I’ll send it to you."

"Good, meet me there, and we’ll see just what he has to say." Steve hung up at that and looked over at Linus. "Any idea why a guy named Kai Kealoha’s prints would be on my partner’s car, especially when he might be involved in Turk’s disappearance as well?"

"No clue, we live in Vegas; the only people we know in Hawaii are you and Danny," Linus said blandly.

"Well, think about it on your way to my office."

"Directions might be helpful."

"Iolani Palace, just ask for the 5-0 headquarters."

Linus grimaced at that. "I hate police stations."

"Do it or I’ll arrest you for withholding evidence, and then you’ll be a lot less comfortable there."

"Which one of you is Malloy?" short thug (as Danny had dubbed him in his mind) asked again.

"I have no idea who you’re talking about," Danny said, pushing himself to his feet, the move causing tall thug to pull a pistol and aim it at him. "What I do know is that I’m a detective on the governor’s task force and you guys have made a serious mistake."

"I’m a car salesman from Austin," Charlie added. "I’m here on vacation!"

Short thug eyed them both before pointing at Danny. "You; come with us."

"He’s in there," Kono reported, having arrived at the small rented house before either Steve or Chin. "I haven’t seen anyone else in the vicinity, so we should be clear."

"Good." Steve surveyed the property, noting the lush bushes near the door that would give them visual cover. "Kono, you take the back. Chin, cover me.

Giving Kono two minutes to get to the back of the house and in position, Steve started for the door, focused on getting the door open and information out of the man behind it. The first went with textbook precision, Steve kicking the door in to find Kealoha sitting on a couch, porn on the television and his dick in his hand. Getting the information was a little messier, especially as Steve didn’t have Danny nagging him about regulations, but the application of his K-bar to Kealoha’s nuts had the man talking.

"I was just hired to snatch the guy, man! I don’t know what they wanted him for," the stocky Islander wailed, staring down at the knife Steve held to his crotch and trying not to move.

"Hired by whom?" Steve knew he was on the edge, but he rode it, the glint in his eyes appearing to frighten Kealoha as much as his knife.

"The guy’s name was Nik Soventhol. He gave me the dude’s picture and said he wanted him."

"Where did you take him?"

"To the old CPC cannery. Look, that’s all I did! He was alive when I dropped him off."

"Good thing for you," Steve rasped, pulling back and sheathing his knife before looking at Chin and Kono. "Get him out of here."

Back at headquarters, Steve slammed into his office, noting the fact that Linus looked very at ease sitting there for a man who hated police stations. "Does the name Nik Soventhol mean anything to you?"

Linus shook his head, so Steve continued. "He works for a man named Semion Baruskov; what about him?"

Linus leaned forward in his chair at that and rested his elbows on his knees. "Did Turk tell you anything about what we do?"

"Consultants," Steve said, impatience making him curt. "That’s a pretty broad term."

"Does security consultants and retrieval experts narrow it down some?"

Eyeing the other man closely, Steve leaned against his desk, his arms crossed over his chest. "Go on."

"A year ago a Rembrandt was stolen from its owner. Now, the owner was a very private person and didn’t want the police involved, so he hired Turk and me to get it back – which we did."

"And let me guess, the person you stole it from was Semion Baruskov, and he found out that you were involved."

"He did. It was just your Danny’s luck that we were out here again because Turk wanted to check up on you."

Steve’s confusion must have shown in his expression because Linus continued speaking. "Turk considers you his pet project; he wanted to see how you and Danny were doing."

"In other words, it’s your fault that Danny is missing." Steve pushed off the desk as he spoke, his expression darkening as he moved toward Linus, who, to give him credit, didn’t flinch.

The creaking door banged shut again, and Danny raised his head to look through bruised and swollen eyes at Charlie, who had been shoved into the room cradling his left hand against his chest. "You okay?"

"I think they broke my hand. You?"

"Nose. How many of them did you see?"

"Six, I think." Charlie slid down the wall to sit across from Danny, causing him to muse that the other man was taking this very calmly for a car salesman from Austin.

"Same here," Danny nodded. "We need to figure out a way out of here."

Charlie smiled at that and reached into his pocket with his good hand, pulling out a set of keys. "Think these would help?"

Danny’s expression turned incredulous as he stared at the man who could have been his twin. "A car salesman?"

Chin pulled up overhead shots of the abandoned cannery on the monitor and magnified the driveway leading up to the building.

"Fresh tire tracks in the dirt," Steve commented. "Zoom in over to the right there."

"Looks like an SUV," Kono said.

"Not quite as abandoned as they want us to believe," Chin nodded before all three turned at the sound of Linus’ voice.

"Baruskov wants the painting, and I want Turk; I’d say that was a very easy exchange."

Steve bristled. "And what about Danny?"

"Two for one."

Using the keys that Charlie had stolen, Danny eased open the door, and the two of them snuck out into the corridor, managing to sidestep rubble and old packing crates that littered the floor. Conversation up ahead had them sinking back into the shadows, giving each other silent nods as their guards passed them by, then lunging at the two men.

Danny took short thug out by tackling him face first into the wall, but he had to drag Charlie off the taller guy when it seemed that he was intent on beating him into a pulp.

"Are you crazy?" Danny hissed as he pulled short thug’s gun from its holster and shoved it into his belt.

"He’s the one who broke my hand," Charlie shrugged, giving his victim a kick to the head.

Danny reached up to rub at his forehead, wondering how the hell he always managed to end up with the crazy ones – at least until the pain from his nose distracted him.

"Okay, that leaves four more, third of the way there."

"You meeting with Baruskov gives us a distraction, but you do realize that this guy is probably going to try for you as well," Steve commented as he paused at the driver’s door to the SUV, Chin and Kono already having gotten in with the gear. The sunrise illuminated the parking lot, casting long shadows over the asphalt and throwing both men’s haggard expressions into stark relief.

"Guess that means that you had better be good at what you do." Linus smiled thinly.

"And you’d better be good at selling him on the fact that you have that painting."

"I’ve got my end covered; you just find Turk and Danny."

Steve scowled at the other man before getting into the SUV, wanting to get into position before Linus drove up to the warehouse.

Leaving several SWAT team members in the brush to watch over the front of the building, he directed the rest to follow himself, Chin and Kono around to the side of the building that offered the most cover.

"Looks like the meet is on," the officer watching the front of the building reported. "The civilian just drove up, and we’ve got two men coming out to meet him; both look armed. They’re patting him down; now a there’s a third hostile here."

Gunfire sounded from inside the warehouse, and Steve dove through an empty loading space, his gun out as his team followed him into the plant’s shadowed interior. More shots came from outside, and the SWAT member spoke over the radio again. "The three outside are down; civilian is safe."

"We’ve got another here," Steve reported even as his shot took the man in the chest and Chin’s hit his knee.

"Movement to the left." A flashlight’s beam illuminated the shadows in the corner, revealing two men standing there.

"Hold your fire!" Steve ordered. "Fan out, see if there’s anyone else here."

"If you took down four, there shouldn’t be," Danny said, sounding relieved at their appearance and looking as if someone had used his face for a punching bag. "We’d only seen six of them here."

"Hey, Steve," Turk offered, earning himself a glower from Steve and a confused look from Danny.

Kono looked over at Chin, who appeared as confused as she felt. "Did you know Danny had a twin?"

"Call Rachel," Steve ordered as he handed his phone over to Danny, feeling the knot of anxiety that had lived in his gut since the other man had vanished ease, "she’s been worried about you."

After a short conversation that sounded as if it involved a lot of concerned shouting on Rachel’s end, Steve took the phone back, and they walked to the front of the warehouse, allowing the SWAT members to drag the wounded kidnappers out to the ambulances that had pulled up outside.

"You need to have an EMT look at you as well," Steve said as he shook his head at the bruises that mottled Danny’s face and turned his eyes into narrow slits.

"Charlie too, they took it out on his hand."

"Charlie?"

"I swear, Turk, I can’t let you out of my sight," Linus sighed as he joined them, catching Turk in a hug that banged his hand and had the blond wincing.

"Wait a minute – Turk?" Danny demanded before looking at the man who was hugging his look-alike, his eyes widening as much as the swelling would allow. "Linus? What the hell?"

"Long story," Steve sighed. "How about we talk about it later?"

"Damn right we will! You’re telling me they were looking for him all the time?"

"Danny, let the EMT look at you, will you?"

Danny scowled as much as possible. "I really hate all of you right now."

"Hey, don’t include us in that," Chin called.

"Yeah, we just helped rescue you; we don’t have a clue who these guys are," Kono added.

"You’re telling me that you slept with him because he looked like me?" Danny demanded hours later, once Steve had gotten him back to his place. They were sitting out on the lanai, Steve with a beer beside him despite the hour and Danny a soda, alcohol having been forbidden until he recovered from his mild concussion.

"I didn’t sleep with him..."

"Don’t Clintonize it," Danny snapped. "You ended up in bed with the guy."

"It was before we were together! It was in Vegas!"

"And what happened in Vegas obviously didn’t stay there. So why did they end up here three months ago?"

Steve’s answer came out as a mumble, and Danny frowned as much as he was able to. "Enunciate, Steven."

"Because Turk apparently made me his project – more to the point, Turk made me showing you how I felt his project."

"So the whole thing with Linus was a set-up?"

"Well, he obviously thinks you’re good looking..." Steve offered before hiding behind his beer bottle when Danny managed to glare at him. "Are you arguing about the outcome?"

"Well, no, except for this whole damn getting kidnapped issue!"

"Yeah, I didn’t like that so much either." Steve reached across the distance between their chairs and caught Danny’s hand in his. "It scared the shit out of me, thinking that you were gone."

Danny tightened his hand around Steve’s, and they sat in silence for a short time. "So, who did you threaten for information as to where we were?"

"You don’t want to know."

"I probably don’t, just like I probably don’t want to know what those two do for a living."

"Well, you could ask them, but I doubt they’d give you a straight answer."

"True, true – and what do you mean I could ask them?" Danny demanded, sitting straighter in the lounge chair.

"Did I forget to mention that they’re coming over for dinner tonight?"

Danny just stared at him, so Steve continued, a bit of desperation coloring his tone. "When we were waiting for you both at the hospital Linus mentioned it, and it would be a good idea to keep tabs on them..."

"I hate you," Danny groaned.

"Bet I could change your mind."

Danny grunted out something uncomplimentary, and Steve grinned. "C’mon, we’ve got until five. Let’s go to bed, and I’ll make it up to you."

"If you touch my nose, I’m going to kill you," Danny growled though most of the heat was gone from his words.

"Think a little more south, and you’ll have it right."