Title-Plane Crash

Author-Winnie

Rating-T

Disclaimer-I own no rights to Hawaii Five-0 or the characters, but I do enjoy playing around in this sandbox

Comments-This story takes place in Season 1...so no Lori. Steve is asked to help out the Navy and winds up alone with a killer after their plane crashes in Waimea Canyon. This is also a Christmas fic so hope you enjoy.

Steve knew the man in the next seat was dangerous, but when Admiral Heraldo called and asked him to escort the sonofabitch back to Hawaii, there was no way he could turn him down. The plane was a small one, with only two double rows of seats that meant it could carry 16 passengers at the most.

Steve glanced at the man whose right hand was cuffed to the seat and knew he wasn't sleeping. The sonofabitch was cool, but that too was an act, because they had him dead to rights in the murder of a young Navy lieutenant who had testified against him for dealing in illegal weapons and drugs. The woman had been raped and murdered, her body discarded like some piece of garbage at a dump in Mexico. Danny, Chin, and Kono would meet them at the airport and escort the prisoner to the Naval base where Admiral Heraldo and his men would take charge of him. Renaldo Garcia was a lowlife, but he was also a dangerous man with connections in every port, so they'd asked Steve to bring the bastard in as low key as possible.

"Excuse me, Commander, would you like more coffee?"

"No, thanks, how long before we land?" McGarrett asked, relieved that there were no other passengers on board.

"We're 30 minutes behind schedule, and the captain is making a change of course because of some bad weather closer to Hawaii," Deanna Morris answered.

"Bad weather? I'm pretty sure there was nothing but sunny skies in the forecast," McGarrett told her. He'd checked the weather channel himself because of the plans he'd made with the rest of his team for Christmas Day. Danny would have Grace for two weeks while Rachel and Stan spent time with his family and he wanted to make this special for her by having a Christmas celebration at his house. The report had confirmed it would be hot and sunny, but Steve had made arrangements that he hoped would make Danny feel a little more at home. It involved fake snow and air conditioning, but if it worked then it would be well worth the time and energy involved.

"Yes, well, I'm sure you've heard that old saying about the weather."

"What old saying is that?"

"Whether it is or whether it's not...we will have weather whether or not. It's something my mother used to say all the time," the woman said and glanced at the man seated next to the commander. "Is he dangerous?"

"Yes, he is," McGarrett told her. "You know, if that coffee is fresh I'll take one after all."

"Sure, Commander..."

"Hey, Pretty Lady, I'd like one of those coffees too," Renaldo Garcia said and made a show of stretching his upper body.

"Commander?" the woman asked.

"Might as well bring him one," McGarrett said and turned to the man beside him once she left. "Try anything and you'll spend the rest of the flight with your head up your ass."

"For a naval officer you're rather crude."

"Why waste my good side on garbage," McGarrett snapped.

"Garbage?" Garcia said with a grin. "No, garbage was that nice little piece of ass..."

"Shut the fuck up!" McGarrett snarled and elbowed the man in the gut, pleased to hear the man groaning as the flight attendant returned.

"Is something wrong with him, Commander?"

"No, just a bad case of indigestion...struck him rather fast so he's decided coffee is off the menu," McGarrett said and took the cup from the woman.

"Are you sure he's okay?"

"He's fine...he doesn't deserve your concern, Deanna."

"Is it true what they said about him? That he raped and murdered that poor woman?"

"Yes, it is," McGarrett answered and frowned when he felt an abrupt change in the plane's engines.

"Deanna, get your seat belt on!" the captain's voice came from the cockpit as the plane seemed to veer to the right and began losing altitude.

"Oh, My God," the flight attendant said and made the sign of the cross as she fastened the seat belt and looked toward the man on her right. "Make sure you tuck your head between your legs."

"I will," McGarrett said and smiled at her. He knew this was real, but he wanted to convey an air of confidence that he didn't really feel. Steve heard the sounds around him as if through muddy water, yet there was no mistaking the sound of a plane in distress. Garcia was shouting obscenities, and Steve was pretty sure the man had wet his pants as the aircraft continued its downward journey. He glanced out the window and caught a glimpse of land in the distance as the pilot struggled to pull the nose up without stalling the plane.

Steve was amazed at the thoughts running through his head as the sky beyond the window seemed a blue more vivid than ever before. He thought of Danny and how he would never know the plans Steve had made for Christmas; of Kono and how he would never see her reach her full potential, and finally to Chin and hoped the man would stay with Five-O.

Steve heard the woman's soft prayers as the plane continued its downward spiral. His stomach churned, but he wouldn't give in to the nausea as he stared through the window. The land was closer now, closer than he thought possible as the pilot continued his fight to regain control.

"Come on, McGarrett, unlock the fucking cuffs!" Garcia snarled.

"No," the SEAL said.

"Come on...if we're going to die I should have a chance..."

"Did you give Donna Sterling a chance?"

"Fuck you!"

"Shut up!" McGarrett warned as the pilot got the nose up slightly and the plane seemed to level off, but it was short lived as he heard a grinding sound and the air craft skimmed over the tree tops, shearing off the higher ones as it fought to stay in the air. Steve felt his hands gripping the seat as a shudder ran through the frame and the sound seemed deafening as the pilot lost his fight to keep from crashing.

"We're going to die!" Garcia screamed.

Steve felt his body rocked by the sheer velocity as the top of hundred-year-old trees were sheared off. He'd seen planes after a crash and had time to think that they might have been better off with a water landing before the plane crashed through the barrier and hit the ground hard. The seat belt seemed stretched to the limit, but he bounced back in his seat, his head snapping forward again as the craft continued along a course that tore off it's wings and threw the passengers around like rag dolls in a hurricane, until it came to a stop near the edge of a deep gorge.

There was no sound from the occupants of the plane and nothing moved except for the wind through the trees. The animals and birds were silent, but as time passed, the sounds returned and a single bird landed on the broken wing as if watching over the unmoving bodies sprawled across what ws left of the interior.

TBC