236A/N: Hey Everyone! Thanks so much for all the comments and love for this story. You've almost pushed it over the 100 comments mark! That's awesome! So because of the popularity and because I don't know when in the next 6 weeks I am going to have time to work on these stories again, I am posting another update. Yes Six Weeks because of a musical, a major term concert, mid terms and a trip to New York, I'll be really busy.
I know you will hate me when you read where I leave this chapter…but that's what makes it so fun for me. I know how bad that sounds, but it's the truth! I hope you like it.
Enjoy!
Chapter 16: Rescue
"Danny!" Came a cry from HQ over all of the head sets that struck fear and despair into the hearts of all who could hear it.
"What's going on?" was the frantic response to the cries heard over the radio frequency as the Five-Os in the field came to a sudden and shocked stop and then through themselves to work with even more urgency.
"We can't go any further!" one of the excavator operators yelled as they hit something hard.
Steve jumped, followed by Chin into the hole, down six feet, and began digging frantically with his bare hands.
"What the hell, this isn't a coffin!" Steve yelled.
"He buried the shipping container!" Chin stated when he realized what had happened.
"Get out of the hole!" Steve ordered, "You have to keep on digging!" He yelled and the excavators moved back into place and an ambulance and HPD, with Warp 9, arrived on the scene. "You gotta keep it moving back, it's a full size shipping container!" he yelled at the machine operators and the digging began again.
5-0
"Tic Toc, Tic Toc," McMahon laughed as he watched and listened as the interior of the coffin became saturated with water and Danny continued to panic as the encroaching water flooded in around him at an alarming rate.
"You know I like you Daniel, but this is just how things have to work." McMahon cooed, "Wo Fat wants you dead, he wants Steve to watch you die and he wants to finish off a distraught navy SEAL, and really who am I to argue with the man who gave me my freedom and can get me safely away from everything. All I had to do was this one little thing and well, Steve played right into my hand. Keep on panicking it will make things happen much quicker and you'll be out of your misery. I wish you luck, my friend, in whatever lies beyond this life and I want you to die knowing that I did respect you, you have a beautiful mind. You are just the middle man, the means to an end, and you know I value my life, my mind, more then I value anything else. I'm sorry. Muah, love ya."
"You are a monster and you don't know Steve. He will find you, he will kill you and Wo Fat cannot protect you." Danny yelled.
"A part of me wants to believe you Daniel," McMahon stated calmly, "but I think your emotional state is clouding your judgement. Steve isn't as smart as you, but if you must believe that to slip peacefully into oblivion then perhaps I've underestimated your foolishness."
Danny could hear the scratching of metal on metal. He could feel the shifting and the rocking of the container he was in but the water was rising around him quicker now that the fabric lining was completely saturated. His clothing was now soaked through and everything around he started to feel so heavy in water. He'd soon be out of room, out of air and even if the coffin wasn't sealed tightly, he'd still drown in the fabric that pressed at his body and held tight to the liquid that was invading his space.
"It won't be long now Daniel," McMahon stated and cut the air, the electronics and the possibility of Toast finding a way back to the coffin and reversing the effects of McMahon's master program. "Good-Bye once more Detective Williams, I doubt very much that we will ever see each other alive again." McMahon added and ended the connection with Daniel completely.
"Steve!" Danny yelled with all his might as the water rose all around him and he pushed himself toward the top of the coffin struggling for whatever air might be left.
5-0
"The signal is gone!" Catherine gasped when her searching came to an abrupt end and everyone in HQ and over the radio frequency heard it.
"He cut the power!" Toast yelled.
"Is there anything you can do?" Steve yelled over the radio connection.
"Nothing!"
"Get it out of there!" Steve yelled as the edges of the shipping container were made visible.
Frantically the workers dropped chains into the hole and attached them to the rings that were welded to the top of the container. Another long moment and Steve felt himself holding his breath as the chains lifted the container out of the hole and it sway dangerously in the air, before it was placed down on the solid ground once more.
Rushing for the door, Steve shot the dirt covered and already rushing pad lock off the container with his sig and threw open the container doors to a wave of beach sand that fell out at him. His heart sank. "The container is full of sand!" he yelled as Chin, Kono and Lori stared on in disbelief.
"How the hell did that get all the way out here?" Max asked in shocked.
"We're dealing with a criminal mastermind, we'll figure that out later," Steve yelled and dove for into the sand.
5-0
The swing and sway told Danny that his friends were near and hope came back to him but at the same time the water in the coffin was sloshing around with erratic movements and making every well calculated breath to be strained, and Danny felt himself inhaling water and choking as the water moved with the motion of the swinging.
5-0
"Shovels, we need shovels," Steve yelled as he dove forward into the contained and just started throwing the sand out with his bare hands.
The back of the container was pulled open by an excavator as the Five-Os started digging from the already open side. Again sand poured out as the doors swung open and Steve's SEALs started on the other end in as much of a hurry as their commanding officer.
5-0
Forcing himself up as high into the lid of the coffin as he could Danny gasped for what little air there was left. He knew it was the last he had. The water was everywhere, soaking through everything, weighing down all of the fabric that absorbed and held onto the water, and it all seemed to close in on him. One last breath, one last cry for help, it was all Danny had left.
5-0
"Danny!" Steve yelled. "I heard him! He's here!"
Sand flew in all directions as electronic equipment, water and oxygen tanks and all manner of wiring were ripped and dragged out of the container, but with every shovel full of sand they still had not found the coffin and the exhaustion and panic was playing on everyone. They knew that time was not with them. They knew Danny was within reach, they just had to push with all that they had left.
Then suddenly with the clang of a shovel on metal, the gold of the handles was spotted in the dimming light.
"Get him outta there!"