Fic: The Business of Second Chances (3/3)
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tli_productionsHeader information and notes contained in Part 1.
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
It's raining. Danny's lived in Hawaii long enough to know that this sort of weather is unusual for Honolulu in what is laughably referred to as 'summer' by the locals. It's been raining for a little over fifteen hours, a moderately heavy, balmy downpour that soaks you to the skin within seconds – roughly the length of time it takes to run from the car to a house, for example.
He slips inside Steve's front door and starts wringing his shirt and tie onto the welcome mat. The towel he left on the coat rack this morning is still there, and he rubs it over his face and head a few times, kicking off sodden shoes at the same time.
“Steve, buddy, you here?” Danny gets no answer – to be expected – and finds him out on the lanai – also to be expected – staring at the quicksand formerly known as his beach. Steve looks thin – thinner than he had done yesterday when he'd stepped past the jail perimeter and Danny had gotten his first sight of the man in more than two weeks. He supposes it's the light playing tricks on him. That, or reality has just taken a while to settle in.
Danny knows better than to ask if Steve has slept, or eaten in the couple of hours that he's been gone.
His cellphone starts to ring. The caller ID says Mary Ann and there's a joke about psychic ninja skills running in the family at the back of Danny's mind, but he knows better than to voice it.
Instead he waves the phone under Steve's nose. “I think this is for you. This, and the literally dozens of calls I've taken over the last two and a half weeks. You know, sooner or later she's going to stop listening to me and just show up on your doorstep and then you'll have no choice but to deal with her.”
Steve glances at him, but where there would have been myriad emotions flickering across his face in an instant, this time there's nothing. Just a cool, implacable mask. Then the moment is gone and he's staring out at the rain-soaked vista again.
Danny sighs and waits for the call to time out. He hasn't heard from Catherine since Steve's arrest, but he supposes that's her distancing herself for protection. He can't say that he blames her. “I'm going to make coffee. You want some?”
There's no answer, but Danny sets two mugs out anyway. He's midway through prep and droplets of rainwater have finally stopped running down his nose when there's a knock at the door. He pokes his head towards the back of the house – but sure enough, Steve hasn't so much as twitched.
Standing on the other side of the door and looking delightfully bedraggled are Chin and Jenna. Danny offers them his towel and contemplates looking for Mary's hair-dryer in her old room.
“How is he?” Chin asks quietly. Jenna raises her eyebrows in assent, peeking around Danny to look for Steve.
Danny shrugs. “Not very Steve-like.”
“Can't blame him,” Chin says.
“Yeah.” Danny goes back and finishes the coffees. He steps back out, sees Steve's back still turned to everyone, and offers the drinks to Chin and Jenna, who accept them gratefully.
“Still nothing from the Captain?” Danny asks after a few minutes' quiet.
Chin shakes his head. “There's nothing he can do. Last I heard, the DA was prepping to formally file charges.”
Danny swears mentally. For two weeks, he's been waiting for something – anything – to happen to save Kono. The recordings from Steve's phone implicated Jameson in covering the original theft, but that alone wasn't enough to get Kono out of jail as well as Steve. He'd been framed. She'd done the deed – they all had, but she was the one taking the fall.
“Tamsin's offered to represent her,” Jenna offers. “I mean, she knows it's pretty much a lost cause, but she's going to do it anyway.”
Danny wants to nod, say something, do anything. Aldershot's young and bright, but she has no chance against a judicial system determined to get its pound of Five-0 flesh any way it can. He thinks that must show on his face, because Jenna's expression contorts to one of sympathy, while Chin just looks resigned.
“Has he said anything yet?” Jenna asks, glancing briefly towards the lanai.
Danny shrugs. “Not out loud, and not to me.”
“Give it time,” Chin tells him.
Yeah. Danny knows a day isn't going to bring Steve out of his funk. On any other day Danny thinks he'd be able to simply talk McGarrett out of it, use all the right trigger words and argumentative phrases to force a reaction, whether it's a soliloquy on the wonders of Hawaii and pineapples and semi-automatic weaponry or an essay on why Danny's tie of the day sucks and he should try to be more karma-whatever.
This is far from any other day. Steve's spent two weeks in jail for a crime he didn't commit only to be released because the guy who really did pull the trigger probably killed someone else just to prove it hadn't been Steve in the first place. Danny's never kidded himself that he has any great understanding of the criminal mind, but Wo Fat takes the biscuit. Hell, he's got the whole bakery.
Someone knocks on Steve's front door. Danny jumps a little, then frowns. “I didn't think we were expecting anyone else,” he comments.
Jenna shakes her head. “Tamsin's on base today, and I don't think we were followed.”
“We weren't,” Chin says grimly. He and Danny move to either side of the door, hands reaching for weapons that aren't there while Jenna looks half-amused, half-apprehensive.
Danny opens the door. “Uh... Mr Governor. What a... uh, come in.”
As greetings go, he's been way smoother, but stepping aside to let the drenched Acting Governor and the woman who is presumably his aide in and offering them a towel each more than covers the sheer incoherence of his opening.
“Commander McGarrett.” The Acting Governor's opening line is much more to the point – and actually succeeds in getting Steve's attention; he turns around at the sound of his name and then comes through to the living room. He still looks expressionless, but at least that's all it is.
“Mr Governor,” he says quietly. “What brings you here?”
“Wo Fat.”
Steve lifts his chin. “What about him?”
To his credit, Jameson's former Lieutenant stands his ground. “Do you believe he's the man responsible for killing Patricia Jameson?”
“Yes.”
“I see.” The Acting Governor takes a breath and glances briefly at his aide before continuing. “Say I were to offer you the means to track down and apprehend Wo Fat.”
Danny frowns. Five-0? Is he talking about Five-0? Chin and Jenna are clearly thinking the same thing, but they keep quiet.
This isn't their show.
In the centre ring, Steve inclines his head a little. “You're referring to the task force set up by your predecessor – your late predecessor,” he adds.
“Yes. Can you find Wo Fat, and bring him to justice?”
“You've had two weeks,” Steve replies coolly. “Which means you're here because the people want answers, and you don't have any to give them. You're desperate.”
“Yes,” the Acting Governor admits. “Pat, for all her... indiscretions – was popular with the voters. Her murderer should be brought to justice. By any means necessary.”
Danny feels sick. Indiscretions? A woman who consorted with smugglers and blackmailers and murderers for campaign donations and God knew what else, who had ordered Laura Hills' death and they were calling them indiscretions now?
Steve's eyes narrow, just a fraction. “And those means would be...?” He's challenging the other man, Danny realises. Just like Chin had, when they'd handed over the recovered evidence.
“You,” the Acting Governor says simply. “I want you to find and apprehend Wo Fat. Just tell me what you need.”
“My team,” Steve says instantly. “I need all of my team.”
“Miss Kalakaua -” the Acting Governor begins, but Steve cuts him off.
“Officer Kalakaua was following my orders to resolve a hostage situation involving not only a colleague, but her cousin. And if you had any other independent witnesses who could place either myself or Detective Williams alongside her... but you don't. You just have her.”
The silence in the room is deafening.
“Governor Jameson replaced the ten million dollars we stole to ransom Chin Ho Kelly,” Steve continues. “She admitted knowing all along that it was us, and that her complicity ran as deep. I believe you possess that recording.”
“What's your point, Commander?”
Steve locks eyes with the Acting Governor. “Let Officer Kalakaua go. Give me my team, on my terms – and I'll find Wo Fat.”
o o o o o
The terms are quickly agreed. The charges of grand theft against Kono are quietly dropped, and the appropriate paperwork is filed to secure her release from jail.
In exchange, she loses her badge.
Chin's been there before, and he's there one more time as she steps past the jail perimeter and crashes into his arms. He holds his cousin tight while she shakes and tries not to cry and strokes her hair until she's calm.
“Time to go to work,” he whispers, and offers her her car keys.
She looks at him with tired eyes and the fleeting ghost of a smile. “Let's get the son of a bitch.”
o o o o o
They meet back at Chin's house. Steve can count the number of times he's been here on one hand, but the team have made it into a makeshift HQ over the last fortnight or more, and he sees no need to take that away from them.
Jenna's completely at ease moving around the place and the closer he looks, the more evidence Steve can see that she's been spending her nights on Chin's couch, laptop and files close at hand. She clears him a space at one end of the couch and doesn't look put out when he chooses to stand.
Chin and Kono arrive an hour after Steve does. She and Jenna immediately embrace, and Kono comes over and hugs Steve briefly before he can stop her. He can see gratitude in her face, but neither of them say anything, and Kono takes the empty spot on the couch, closing her eyes and leaning back against the battered cushions.
Danny is the last to arrive. He's on the phone with someone – Steve's guess would be Rachel, given he has no evidence to support her being back in Hawaii yet – and mid-argument, which he quickly wraps up when he becomes aware of his audience. “So,” he says, shoving the phone in his pocket and feigning nonchalance, “where do we start?”
“First question,” Jenna replies. “Is Wo Fat still on the island?”
“Yes,” Steve says quickly. Everyone turns to look at him.
“He's right,” Chin adds. “Still assuming this is a power play, he'll want to stick around to see how we react.”
“Like ants under a magnifying glass,” Danny mutters. “I've always hated the kids who did that.”
Jenna raises her eyebrows but looks amused. “No comment.”
“So how do we find him?” Danny wonders. “Do we get to him or make him come to us?”
“Both,” Chin tells him. “Cover all angles – right, boss?”
Steve's intrigued by the exchanges taking place around him. Jenna's more assertive than he remembers; Chin's still the voice of quiet authority and Danny says whatever's on his mind but still keeps everyone on task. He catches Kono watching him and wonders if she's thinking the same things.
“Yeah,” Steve says, realising that Chin's waiting on him to answer. “We have to cover all the angles. Start with Sang Min,” he adds, a flash of memory coming to the fore. “He got close to Wo Fat once before – he might be able to do it again.”
Danny shudders, the reference triggering his own memories of their last encounter. “He's in protective custody – at least, he's supposed to be. How do we get to him?”
“Go knock on the door?” Chin suggests, and Danny smirks.
“Because that worked so well last time,” he replies.
Steve frowns. “HPD should be able to tell us where he's being kept, or at least get us a secure line to him.”
“On it,” Jenna says instantly, and attacks her laptop.
Steve's confusion has to be obvious, because Danny's the one who explains: “She's got sort of a direct line to the precinct's Captain now.”
“Not sort of,” Jenna mutters.
“Yeah, yeah.” Danny placates her with a smile.
“He's on our side?” Steve asks.
“Close enough,” Chin says.
“He wants to do the right thing by the right people,” Kono says. Her statement surprises everyone. “So long as we qualify as the right people, he's on our side.”
Chin smiles. “Nicely said.”
Kono waves a hand around.
“I've got the address,” Jenna announces a few minutes later. “And a contact number for the agent on protective detail.”
“We'll go both ways,” Steve decides. “Chin, start dialling. Danny, you're with me.”
“What about us?” Kono asks, waving a hand between her and Jenna.
“Other means of locating Wo Fat,” Steve tells her. “Electronic footprints, known associates, anything you can dig up.”
“On it, boss.”
Steve looks at Danny. “Let's go.”
o o o o o
It's still raining when Danny takes the wheel of the Camaro. He stays at least ten under the speed limit. He takes corners carefully and refuses to accelerate when the road opens up.
Steve doesn't say a word. He just leans back in the passenger seat and stares out of the window, taking in mile after mile of blurry island paradise. Danny's not sure what he's supposed to do. His conversational openers are severely limited - “Hey, man, that jail thing kinda sucked, huh?” - “So I'm kind of dating my ex-wife and I'm gonna be a dad again.” - “Hey, didn't your dad send his kids away for their own safety? How'd that turn out?”
He wants to know what Steve's going to do if they actually manage to find Wo Fat. At the same time he doesn't want to know, can't even think about the possibilities of a driven McGarrett with even more to avenge and maybe less to lose than before.
It scares him.
He doesn't have time to be scared. “I think we're here,” he announces. It's hard to tell through the rain, but this looks like the address Jenna had given them. “So how do you want to play it?”
Steve's already out of the car and marching up to the front door, completely oblivious to the soaking he's getting. Danny grabs the mac off the back seat and holds it over his head so he can catch up.
The door to the safe house is opened by an FBI agent, a mousy haired woman in her fifties who looks none too impressed at the intrusion. “Detective Williams, HPD,” Danny gets in quickly. “This is Steve McGarrett. We've got a few questions for your charge regarding a person of interest in -”
“I know who you are,” the agent replies coolly. She eyeballs them in turn then steps aside. “Second door on your left.”
“Why'd you do that?” Steve demands.
Danny blinks. “Why'd I do what?”
“Call yourself HPD.” Steve's expression doesn't so much as flicker.
“Because that's what I am until the transfer goes through.”
Steve's left eyebrow twitches. “The Acting Governor -”
“The Acting Governor wants headlines that will make him look good.” Danny sighs. “Of course we have to have this conversation now. Go. In.” He points at the door the FBI agent had directed them to.
Steve stares at him a couple seconds more before opening the door.
“Hey, hey – come on, lady, I -”
The sight of Sang Min, wearing a faded tracksuit ensemble and smelling like something out of an old folks' home, is not something Danny's going to forget in a hurry. He's also staring at Steve like he's one of the horsemen of the Apocalypse.
“You supposed to be in jail, man!”
“They let me out,” Steve replies, surprisingly calmly. “You know why?”
Sang Min attempts a smile. “You're too good for the likes of prison?”
“Wo Fat set me up,” Steve says. “You found him once when you planted that bomb at his safe house. You're going to do the same again.”
“What? No! I don't do bombs any more. In case you hadn't noticed, I got the Feds breathing down my neck and -”
“Not the bomb,” Steve interrupts. “Wo Fat. I want to know where he is, and you're my best shot at finding out.”
“Man, you're desperate.”
“Maybe.” Steve shrugs. “But at least I'm not angry.”
“That supposed to scare me?” Sang Min challenges. “I get the news here. No more Five-0, no more magical immunity to do whatever the hell you want.”
Steve affects the shadow of a smile. “Game's changed.”
Sang Min stares at Steve, who stares back. Danny dimly remembers a time when something like this might have amused him. That seems like a lifetime ago.
o o o o o
“I just got a call from the Captain,” Chin announces.
“Anything interesting?” Jenna asks.
“Only if you count the head of the FBI field office calling him asking why the hell there's a cop and an ex-convict terrorising one of their protected witnesses.”
“Steve's not an ex-con,” Jenna frowns.
Chin raises an eyebrow. “I don't think semantics was high on their list of things to be concerned about.”
“Unlike murderers,” Jenna mutters, mostly to her laptop.
“Nothing yet,” Kono informs Chin. She hasn't moved from her spot beside Jenna on the couch.
Yeah. Somebody as smart as Wo Fat isn't going to let himself get found by a traffic camera or leaving visible money trails. Chin wants to sigh, to bury his head in his hands and wait for this all to blow over. He has no idea how they're going to break it to the family that Kono's second career is effectively over, even though he's got his badge back. He can't see Danny choosing to stay in Hawaii when his family is in New Jersey, and if the task force is officially rescinded, Jenna and Steve have nothing tying them to the islands either. The Navy might take Steve back, and he's the kind of guy who'll let himself be forced to work back up to former glories again.
It all hangs on Wo Fat. Chin hates that kind of uncertainty.
His cell phone rings again, but there's no caller ID – just a number, and he shakes his head at Kono's enquiring look.
“This is Lieutenant Kelly.”
“Good to hear your voice, brah.”
“Kamekona?”
o o o o o
Steve pulls a cell phone – a cheap, nondescript model – out of his pocket and tosses it to Sang Min. He catches it automatically, then stares at it with obvious confusion, which is followed quickly by suspicion.
“You want to get out of here?” Steve asks. “Away from the constant surveillance and cops hanging off your every twitch?” He points at the phone. “Get me Wo Fat.”
“I don't exactly have him on speed dial,” Sang Min retorts. “Told you before, I want him dead. Pretty sure the feeling's mutual.”
Steve shrugs. “That could probably be arranged. Make the calls.”
Both Sang Min and Danny stare at Steve for that. Sang Min looks apprehensive, almost scared. Danny, on the other hand... he's not sure exactly what he's feeling right now, but it's nothing good. He thinks two weeks in jail shouldn't have been anywhere near enough to damage Steve – any further than normal, at least – but maybe it's the Wo Fat angle that's making him act like this. Danny hopes that's all it is.
Sang Min mutters something under his breath that could be a curse, then starts dialling. Danny whips out his own phone and texts Jenna. Outgoing call from safehouse. Track. He spares half a second to admire his improved texting skills, then focuses back on the matter at hand – Steve, to be precise.
He stares at Danny. “Sidebar,” he mutters, and steps to the far side of the room from Sang Min. Danny hesitates, then follows him.
“Who was that?” Steve asks, indicating the pocket where Danny's cell is.
“Jenna. To trace whatever calls he's about to make.” Danny stares up at him. “Why the micro-management?”
It's a low blow, and they both know it. “I saw you all at Chin's house earlier,” Steve eventually says. Behind them, Sang Min is spitting and arguing – in Chinese, Danny thinks, picking up a couple of words and phrases that he recognises.
He pulls his attention back to Steve. “So?”
“So -” Steve hesitates. His mask slips, and for the first time since he got out of jail Danny knows what his partner is thinking.
He exhales loudly. “This – all of this, has been about getting you out of jail,” he says quietly but clearly. “The last two and a half weeks have been hell, okay, but we didn't quit on you, so don't you dare quit on us, do you hear me?”
There's a long pause. Then: “Loud and clear, Danno.”
“Good,” Danny says. For good measure, he jabs a finger in Steve's face. “Say anything else even tangentially related to the matter, and I will punch you in the face.”
“Got it,” Steve replies.
“If you two love birds are finished,” Sang Min interrupts them. He holds the phone up. “I got an address.”
“Whose?” Danny asks.
“Not my problem. But if you're crazy enough to go after Wo Fat again – you want to be going there.”
Danny resists the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose and pull a face. “Just give us the damn address.”
o o o o o
Chin and Kono pull up outside the address Kamekona gave them. Chin still doesn't know where the big guy is, and just about managed to stop Jenna trying to trace the call, but he trusts the intel. With Wo Fat out of the picture, there's a chance things could be smoothed over with Kamekona's parole officer – not much of one, but a chance nevertheless – should she ever find out he's the one who supplied the weapon that killed Jameson.
It's a former nightclub in one of the seedier parts of the city. The windows are boarded up and there are foreclosure notices pasted to bolted doors. It's also a huge step down from the properties and buildings Five-0 have managed to associate with Wo Fat in the past.
Perhaps that's the point.
Kono takes one of the umbrellas and slips down the alley directly beside the club while Chin inspects the bolts. They're thick metal and securely fastened – and there's a thin layer of dust suggesting that nobody's been through the doors in several months.
“Nothing,” Kono reports a minute later. “Doors are padlocked and the fire escapes from the upper floors are unreachable. Are you sure this is the place?”
“Kamekona wouldn't lie.”
Kono doesn't look convinced. “He's got every reason to.”
“True,” Chin replies, “but it's not his style. He didn't have to call at all, could just have stayed underground for as long as it took -”
“Until what?”
Chin doesn't have an answer to that. Until Wo Fat is apprehended and dealt justice? Until Steve earns the man's forgiveness? Until what? Kamekona's capable of being invisible when he wants to – Chin hadn't had a clue about the weapons lock up until Danny had admitted knowing of its existence.
Kono jiggles her umbrella around a bit. “So what do we do?”
“Is there no other way inside?”
“There's a window a little way back from the side entrance.” Kono pauses for a moment. “Might be able to smash it open and get inside -”
“But the weather's an issue, not to mention the law.”
Kono shrugs. “So look the other way.”
“I'm not sure that's how this is supposed to work.” Chin tries to look reassuring. “Auntie would kill me if you ended up back in jail.”
“Yeah...” Kono turns around to consider the club's run-down exterior. “So the question really is, how much do you trust the big guy?”
o o o o o
Danny and Steve leave Sang Min, the safe house and the still-irritated FBI agent behind to chase down their new lead. Emphasis very much not on 'chase'. The rain is still pelting down and the traffic is still going slow and Danny is still not taking any chances.
Steve still hasn't challenged him for the Camaro's keys, but Danny figures baby steps.
“You can take a left here, it'll be quicker,” Steve announces, peering out of his window.
Maybe not.
Danny puts both hands on the wheel – ostensibly to stop himself from strangling Steve – and turns to look at him. “It's not quicker. There is no quicker way because everyone is moving at a snail's pace, because finally – finally, the people on this island have figured out that there are some obstacles to having a wonderful time and -”
“Danny.”
“What?”
“You're ranting.”
“Why, so I am.”
Steve frowns at him. “No, you're ranting. Earlier you implied you were still trying to transfer out of here. Why bother complaining if you're not going to stick around?”
Huh. He had said that. Danny takes a couple of deep breaths and tries to organise his thoughts.
“You also said that you weren't going to quit on me,” Steve continues. “So why are you transferring?”
“Do we have to talk about this now?” Danny asks. Then he notices the set in Steve's jaw. “Apparently we are. Right. Rachel and Grace are in Newark.”
“And you stayed behind.” Steve's speaking carefully now, like he's nervous about getting something wrong. “Until you leave.”
“What do you want me to say, Steve?” Danny demands. “That I'd keep my family away from their home - our home because I can't stand not having you in my life? That I'd up and leave you to be with them?”
Steve's jaw sets again and finally – again – Danny gets it. “Ohana,” he mutters. “Look, this may come as a surprise to you, but I really don't know what I'm doing, okay? Rachel and Grace back in my life was supposed to be everything I ever wanted. And – we can't stay here.”
“Why not?” Steve asks quietly, but the question's loaded and Danny knows it.
“Stan,” he says eventually. The bruise on his jaw faded after a couple of days, but it's not something he's going to forget any time soon. “And New Jersey is my home. Newark is where my family is, Steve. God, I'd go anywhere to be where Grace is, you know that, but this...”
“Is everything you ever wanted,” Steve parrots. “Yeah, I get it.”
No, Danny doesn't think he does. “I'm sorry,” he says, as honestly as he knows how. “I really am.”
Steve doesn't say anything, and Danny's back to only guessing what's going through that thick SEAL head of his. He resumes staring out of the window for a couple more rain-soaked blocks while Danny tries not to incite a traffic accident.
Then Steve leans forward, frowning and tense. “Stop the car.”
“I – what?”
“Stop the car, Danny.”
Danny pulls over. “What is it?”
“We're being followed.” Steve reaches around the passenger side of the Camaro and frowns. “Where's the back up?”
“The back up what? Oh, the weapons? I cleared them out,” Danny retorts. “Because they had no place in my car!”
“C'mon, you've gotta have something.” Steve bends almost double and scrabbles underneath his seat. A few seconds later he pulls out a small black box.
Danny's on the verge of an aneurysm – he can feel it. How could he have forgotten to check under there as well? “Are those grenades? They better not be -”
“It's a sidearm, Danny.” And sure enough, Steve opens the box to pull out a Glock and spare bullets. Then he puts a hand on the door handle. “Are you coming?”
“Am I – what kind of stupid question is that?” Because Danny's already unbuckled and halfway out of his own seat and diving head first into hot tropical rain.
Steve weaves through the traffic, clearly looking for something, and Danny struggles to keep up with him. The rain's heavier than before, slowing him down, and he's not as confident running out in front of cars as Steve, even if they are moving slowly.
Steve's target turns out to be a black sedan several vehicles behind them. Danny hadn't seen it either on the way to or from the safe house, and he's happy enough to chalk Steve's noticing it to his military training.
Steve bangs on the right-side rear window twice just as Danny catches up to him. A few seconds later it rolls down to reveal a middle-aged man in an expensive-looking suit, and he doesn't look happy about having Steve in his face.
“Where is he?” Steve demands.
“I – I don't know what you're talking about!” the man protests.
There's a flash of – something – right on the periphery of Danny's vision and he grabs Steve by the shoulder. “Hey!”
Steve looks. There's another man is another expensive-looking business suit running through the rain in a completely new direction. Danny thinks heliport but he's not sure why.
Steve's eyes narrow. Then he takes off at a run.
Danny chases him through the rain. His shirt is plastered to his back, he's pretty sure his tie's a lost cause and in another five minutes or so he'll be swimming in his shoes. He still keeps pace with Steve – doesn't know how – and curses the fact that his phone is in the car. As if he'd be able to use it outdoors anyway.
Steve is completely unfazed by the elements and lengthens his strides to pull ahead. “Wo Fat!” he yells.
The man they're chasing stops in the middle of a street – that has a private airstrip signposted as being nearby, Danny notes distantly – and turns to face them.
It's him. Danny's only ever seen composite photos and an artist's sketch based on Steve's description from the restaurant, but it's Wo Fat.
Wo Fat raises a gun – just a sidearm, like Steve and Danny are carrying – smiles, and takes aim.
He shoots at Steve, but Steve is quicker. He ducks and rolls on the tarmac, leaps to his feet and raises his own gun.
“It's over!” Steve yells.
“No!” Wo Fat calls back mockingly. “We have only just begun.”
He fires again – and Steve stumbles.
Danny runs to his partner and tries to support him. Steve's holding his left arm in a tight grip and his t-shirt is soaking a sick shade of red. “It's just a graze,” he grits out. “Barely nicked the skin. Come on, we have to go!”
“Yeah, yeah, are you sure -” Danny looks back up the street – it's empty. “Yeah, come on.”
“He's going for the airstrip,” Steve mutters. “Can't let him get away.”
“I know, Steve, I know!” Danny holds onto Steve's elbow. “So let's get him.”
They share a look, and in that split second it's like it used to be – crazy odds and (their) lives on the line and all manner of Crazy McGarrett Shit About To Go Down. Steve grins and Danny grins back.
Then they run, together, towards the airstrip.
o o o o o
“This is the most ridiculous safe house I've ever seen.” Kono pokes a packing crate with the tip of her umbrella.
Chin covers a smile. “I think that's the point, cuz.”
Kono snorts. “My jail cell was cosier than this place.” She stops at the look on Chin's face. “Sorry, I -”
“No,” Chin says, “you should talk about it. If you want to, I mean.”
“Yeah.” She smiles slightly. “Maybe not now, but yeah.”
Something bangs, and Chin whips around, gun raised automatically. “Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
Chin frowns and steps forward onto the balcony overlooking the abandoned dance floor. There are some signs that people have been here recently – dust trails, mostly, and a couple of pieces of furniture that don't look quite as decrepit as their surroundings – but aside from him and Kono, there's nobody here now. “I thought I heard something. It sounded like...”
There's another bang. Muffled – like it's coming from a distance.
“Gunfire.” Chin turns back around. “We're in the wrong place.”
o o o o o
There's a black helicopter at the far end of the airport's single runway, though how it's going to take off in the rain Danny's not sure. From this distance and with the heavy rain, he can't tell if there's anyone in the cockpit. He also can't tell if there's anyone else here at all – he doesn't think he can see or hear employees or ground crew, but they could be muffled by the rain.
Steve's several metres ahead of him. His left shirt sleeve is completely soaked with blood.
Wo Fat stops again, halfway between Steve and the helicopter, and turns back. Danny catches up with Steve, and automatically puts a hand on his arm to support – or restrain – him.
“Give it up!” Steve calls out.
Wo Fat takes a step towards them. From here Danny can make out his grin. “This is quite the game we've been playing, Mr McGarrett. I hope you like the gift I sent you.”
Danny flashes back to the John Doe in the harbour – and wonders again if the man's identity has some relevance after all.
“Wo Fat!” Steve walks towards him, gun raised. “You are under arrest for the murder of Governor Patricia Jameson, and for accessory to the murder of Laura Hills.”
Wo Fat's grin widens. “Not today.”
“Five-0!” someone yells from behind him. It's Chin, gun raised.
From the other side of the runway, directly across from her cousin, Kono appears, holding up a gun as well. “Five-0,” she echoes with a half-smile. “Put the weapon down on the ground.”
Wo Fat moves like he's going to hold the gun up by its butt – and Danny raises his own weapon in response. Just ahead of him Steve's aim is steady.
Then the helicopter rumbles loudly into life, the rotors dispelling the heavy rain like a whirlpool. It distracts everyone, Chin and Kono turning around to find the source of the noise – it's enough time for Wo Fat to toss his gun on the ground and run for the helicopter.
Steve fires after him. His second bullet catches Wo Fat in the left leg, but it doesn't slow him down. Chin, Kono and Danny all fire and miss.
Wo Fat leaps up into the helicopter just as it starts to lift off from the wet tarmac. It lurches a couple of times and then veers down the runway. Danny grabs Steve and dives for one of the maintenance sheds and lands on his bad knee. Steve rolls over onto his back and empties his clip into the helicopter's rotors, but the bullets have no effect.
The helicopter gains elevation and disappears west.
“No, no, no, no!” Steve throws his gun onto the ground.
Chin and Kono approach them. Chin helps Danny to his feet, while Kono retrieves Wo Fat's guns.
“Call aviation, coastguard, whatever it takes,” Steve demands. “We can't let him just get away!”
“We'll find him,” Chin replies.
Danny leans on Chin's shoulder and tries to catch his breath. “How did you know where we were?”
“Jenna,” Kono calls over, and Danny stares at her. He's going to buy that woman flowers. No – a computer. The best damn supercomputer he can afford. He's going to call Father Julio back in Newark and see about getting her canonised.
Kono just grins back. “What were you two doing here?”
“Sang Min sent us to a safe house,” Danny explains. “This disused club -”
“- down by the wine bar?” Chin interrupts. “That's where we were.”
“Hey.” Danny looks at Steve. “Hey – the little weasel's intel was on the money – Steve? Steve?”
Steve turns to face the rest of them. His expression is dark, but there's something else as well – guilt, Danny realises. A dash of anger. But mostly resignation. “He got away.”
“So we'll get him next time,” Danny shrugs. “You, me, these two, mission control back on Chin's couch.”
Steve's eyebrow twitches. “Five-0?”
Danny knows it's not as easy as that. He can only hope Rachel will understand – this is his home now, and these crazy, crazy people? They're his family as well. “If the new boss will have us.”
Steve grins. “I think he can be persuaded.”
o o o o o
They move back into their old headquarters. Danny takes no small delight in directing unformed HPD officers carrying boxes of former evidence to various offices and assigned corners until the contents can be sorted out.
Chin and Jenna have commandeered the touch-screen table and are bickering playfully as they re-establish Five-0's servers and links to every database imaginable.
Kono's perched on the desk in her office, talking the phone to someone – judging by the smile on her face, Danny thinks it's either her mom or that geek of hers down in Forensics.
Steve appears a little while later, along with the Acting Governor. They're deep in conversation, and Steve's body language isn't setting off warning bells, so Danny leaves them to it.
His cell phone rings, and he smiles as he answers the call. “Hey, Monkey.”
“Daddy! Mommy and I are at the airport. She said I could call before we get on the plane.”
“She did? That's brilliant. Have you got your MP3 player and book for the flight?”
“Uh huh, and Grandma made me take lots of pictures of everyone so you can see them!”
“That's wonderful,” Danny says thickly. “Hey, can you put your mom on quickly?”
“Okay!”
“Danny,” Rachel says.
“Hey. Listen, I -” Danny looks around at his team. “I just wanted to say, before you, you know -”
“I get it,” Rachel tells him gently. “Whatever happens, we'll work it out.”
Danny really, really wants that. He thinks it's all he's ever wanted. “Yeah,” he says. “But thank you.”
“Our gate's just been called – we'll see you when we land.”
“I'll be there,” Danny promises, and Rachel hangs up.
“Hey,” Steve says, and Danny jumps.
“A little warning, McGarrett? Seriously, don't make me put a bell on you.”
A shadow of a smirk appears on Steve's face. “Have fun trying. Look – everything's going pretty smoothly here -” And Danny can only agree. Steve and Kono have been re-sworn in as officers of the law, Steve's Navy commission remains intact, the Acting Governor's been pulling in mixed reviews with a tinge of positive since the reformation of Five-0 was announced, and Jenna sent off her resignation to the CIA this morning. She's sticking around – they're all sticking around. Wo Fat's at the top of their brand new Most Wanted list.
It's even stopped raining.
“But what?” Danny asks.
Steve hesitates. “There's something I think I need to do – will you come with me?”
“Of course. Oh, one more thing.” Danny fishes a cell phone out of his pocket and hands it to Steve. “Since your old one is probably never going to see the light of day.”
“Thanks, man.” Steve starts flipping through the menus.
“You might want to start by calling your sister,” Danny says pointedly.
“I spoke to Mary this morning,” Steve replies.
“Are you good?”
“I think we are.”
“Good. Now, what's this thing you want help with?”
o o o o o
Steve and Danny stand at the gate to a small semi-detached bungalow. The outside of it doesn't look particularly remarkable, but Steve learned a long time ago not to judge anything by its cover. He glances at Danny, then pushes the gate open and walks up to the front door.
He knocks twice. A few minutes later the screen door opens, and a woman comes into view to open the front door. She looks young enough to be in high school, and there's a baby balanced on her hip, a little boy who grins up at Steve.
“Can I help you?” the girl asks.
Steve hesitates. “I'm Commander McGarrett, this is Detective Williams; we're with Five-0. Are you Christina Tsang?”
“Yes...” She looks between Steve and Danny a few times, then sighs. “This is about Casey, isn't it?”
“Yes, ma'am,” Steve replies.
She shakes her head. “Is he dead?”
“No.” Not yet, but the way the kid's going... Steve glances at Danny briefly. “Can we come in?”
“No,” Christina replies. “I'm sorry, Commander, but Casey's all out of second chances. The only person who can save him is himself.”
Steve glances at the baby. “Is this his son?”
She tightens her hold on the boy. “Yes – and no, he doesn't know. He's been in and out of the system for months, and I'm tired of trying to clean up his mess. I've got my family to look after.” She smiles down at her son, who beams back.
“I've spent time with Casey,” Steve says quietly. “He's not a bad kid at heart – just out of options. Visiting hours are this afternoon – promise me you'll think about it?”
Christina closes her eyes briefly. “I'll try,” she says eventually.
Steve thinks that's all he's going to get out of her – part of him knows he's lucky to have got this much.
“Thank you,” he says. “Come on,” he adds to Danny.
“Do you think it'll work?” Danny asks, once they're back in the car and Steve's driving back to headquarters.
“I don't know,” he admits. “I hope so.”
the end
It's raining. Danny's lived in Hawaii long enough to know that this sort of weather is unusual for Honolulu in what is laughably referred to as 'summer' by the locals. It's been raining for a little over fifteen hours, a moderately heavy, balmy downpour that soaks you to the skin within seconds – roughly the length of time it takes to run from the car to a house, for example.
He slips inside Steve's front door and starts wringing his shirt and tie onto the welcome mat. The towel he left on the coat rack this morning is still there, and he rubs it over his face and head a few times, kicking off sodden shoes at the same time.
“Steve, buddy, you here?” Danny gets no answer – to be expected – and finds him out on the lanai – also to be expected – staring at the quicksand formerly known as his beach. Steve looks thin – thinner than he had done yesterday when he'd stepped past the jail perimeter and Danny had gotten his first sight of the man in more than two weeks. He supposes it's the light playing tricks on him. That, or reality has just taken a while to settle in.
Danny knows better than to ask if Steve has slept, or eaten in the couple of hours that he's been gone.
His cellphone starts to ring. The caller ID says Mary Ann and there's a joke about psychic ninja skills running in the family at the back of Danny's mind, but he knows better than to voice it.
Instead he waves the phone under Steve's nose. “I think this is for you. This, and the literally dozens of calls I've taken over the last two and a half weeks. You know, sooner or later she's going to stop listening to me and just show up on your doorstep and then you'll have no choice but to deal with her.”
Steve glances at him, but where there would have been myriad emotions flickering across his face in an instant, this time there's nothing. Just a cool, implacable mask. Then the moment is gone and he's staring out at the rain-soaked vista again.
Danny sighs and waits for the call to time out. He hasn't heard from Catherine since Steve's arrest, but he supposes that's her distancing herself for protection. He can't say that he blames her. “I'm going to make coffee. You want some?”
There's no answer, but Danny sets two mugs out anyway. He's midway through prep and droplets of rainwater have finally stopped running down his nose when there's a knock at the door. He pokes his head towards the back of the house – but sure enough, Steve hasn't so much as twitched.
Standing on the other side of the door and looking delightfully bedraggled are Chin and Jenna. Danny offers them his towel and contemplates looking for Mary's hair-dryer in her old room.
“How is he?” Chin asks quietly. Jenna raises her eyebrows in assent, peeking around Danny to look for Steve.
Danny shrugs. “Not very Steve-like.”
“Can't blame him,” Chin says.
“Yeah.” Danny goes back and finishes the coffees. He steps back out, sees Steve's back still turned to everyone, and offers the drinks to Chin and Jenna, who accept them gratefully.
“Still nothing from the Captain?” Danny asks after a few minutes' quiet.
Chin shakes his head. “There's nothing he can do. Last I heard, the DA was prepping to formally file charges.”
Danny swears mentally. For two weeks, he's been waiting for something – anything – to happen to save Kono. The recordings from Steve's phone implicated Jameson in covering the original theft, but that alone wasn't enough to get Kono out of jail as well as Steve. He'd been framed. She'd done the deed – they all had, but she was the one taking the fall.
“Tamsin's offered to represent her,” Jenna offers. “I mean, she knows it's pretty much a lost cause, but she's going to do it anyway.”
Danny wants to nod, say something, do anything. Aldershot's young and bright, but she has no chance against a judicial system determined to get its pound of Five-0 flesh any way it can. He thinks that must show on his face, because Jenna's expression contorts to one of sympathy, while Chin just looks resigned.
“Has he said anything yet?” Jenna asks, glancing briefly towards the lanai.
Danny shrugs. “Not out loud, and not to me.”
“Give it time,” Chin tells him.
Yeah. Danny knows a day isn't going to bring Steve out of his funk. On any other day Danny thinks he'd be able to simply talk McGarrett out of it, use all the right trigger words and argumentative phrases to force a reaction, whether it's a soliloquy on the wonders of Hawaii and pineapples and semi-automatic weaponry or an essay on why Danny's tie of the day sucks and he should try to be more karma-whatever.
This is far from any other day. Steve's spent two weeks in jail for a crime he didn't commit only to be released because the guy who really did pull the trigger probably killed someone else just to prove it hadn't been Steve in the first place. Danny's never kidded himself that he has any great understanding of the criminal mind, but Wo Fat takes the biscuit. Hell, he's got the whole bakery.
Someone knocks on Steve's front door. Danny jumps a little, then frowns. “I didn't think we were expecting anyone else,” he comments.
Jenna shakes her head. “Tamsin's on base today, and I don't think we were followed.”
“We weren't,” Chin says grimly. He and Danny move to either side of the door, hands reaching for weapons that aren't there while Jenna looks half-amused, half-apprehensive.
Danny opens the door. “Uh... Mr Governor. What a... uh, come in.”
As greetings go, he's been way smoother, but stepping aside to let the drenched Acting Governor and the woman who is presumably his aide in and offering them a towel each more than covers the sheer incoherence of his opening.
“Commander McGarrett.” The Acting Governor's opening line is much more to the point – and actually succeeds in getting Steve's attention; he turns around at the sound of his name and then comes through to the living room. He still looks expressionless, but at least that's all it is.
“Mr Governor,” he says quietly. “What brings you here?”
“Wo Fat.”
Steve lifts his chin. “What about him?”
To his credit, Jameson's former Lieutenant stands his ground. “Do you believe he's the man responsible for killing Patricia Jameson?”
“Yes.”
“I see.” The Acting Governor takes a breath and glances briefly at his aide before continuing. “Say I were to offer you the means to track down and apprehend Wo Fat.”
Danny frowns. Five-0? Is he talking about Five-0? Chin and Jenna are clearly thinking the same thing, but they keep quiet.
This isn't their show.
In the centre ring, Steve inclines his head a little. “You're referring to the task force set up by your predecessor – your late predecessor,” he adds.
“Yes. Can you find Wo Fat, and bring him to justice?”
“You've had two weeks,” Steve replies coolly. “Which means you're here because the people want answers, and you don't have any to give them. You're desperate.”
“Yes,” the Acting Governor admits. “Pat, for all her... indiscretions – was popular with the voters. Her murderer should be brought to justice. By any means necessary.”
Danny feels sick. Indiscretions? A woman who consorted with smugglers and blackmailers and murderers for campaign donations and God knew what else, who had ordered Laura Hills' death and they were calling them indiscretions now?
Steve's eyes narrow, just a fraction. “And those means would be...?” He's challenging the other man, Danny realises. Just like Chin had, when they'd handed over the recovered evidence.
“You,” the Acting Governor says simply. “I want you to find and apprehend Wo Fat. Just tell me what you need.”
“My team,” Steve says instantly. “I need all of my team.”
“Miss Kalakaua -” the Acting Governor begins, but Steve cuts him off.
“Officer Kalakaua was following my orders to resolve a hostage situation involving not only a colleague, but her cousin. And if you had any other independent witnesses who could place either myself or Detective Williams alongside her... but you don't. You just have her.”
The silence in the room is deafening.
“Governor Jameson replaced the ten million dollars we stole to ransom Chin Ho Kelly,” Steve continues. “She admitted knowing all along that it was us, and that her complicity ran as deep. I believe you possess that recording.”
“What's your point, Commander?”
Steve locks eyes with the Acting Governor. “Let Officer Kalakaua go. Give me my team, on my terms – and I'll find Wo Fat.”
The terms are quickly agreed. The charges of grand theft against Kono are quietly dropped, and the appropriate paperwork is filed to secure her release from jail.
In exchange, she loses her badge.
Chin's been there before, and he's there one more time as she steps past the jail perimeter and crashes into his arms. He holds his cousin tight while she shakes and tries not to cry and strokes her hair until she's calm.
“Time to go to work,” he whispers, and offers her her car keys.
She looks at him with tired eyes and the fleeting ghost of a smile. “Let's get the son of a bitch.”
They meet back at Chin's house. Steve can count the number of times he's been here on one hand, but the team have made it into a makeshift HQ over the last fortnight or more, and he sees no need to take that away from them.
Jenna's completely at ease moving around the place and the closer he looks, the more evidence Steve can see that she's been spending her nights on Chin's couch, laptop and files close at hand. She clears him a space at one end of the couch and doesn't look put out when he chooses to stand.
Chin and Kono arrive an hour after Steve does. She and Jenna immediately embrace, and Kono comes over and hugs Steve briefly before he can stop her. He can see gratitude in her face, but neither of them say anything, and Kono takes the empty spot on the couch, closing her eyes and leaning back against the battered cushions.
Danny is the last to arrive. He's on the phone with someone – Steve's guess would be Rachel, given he has no evidence to support her being back in Hawaii yet – and mid-argument, which he quickly wraps up when he becomes aware of his audience. “So,” he says, shoving the phone in his pocket and feigning nonchalance, “where do we start?”
“First question,” Jenna replies. “Is Wo Fat still on the island?”
“Yes,” Steve says quickly. Everyone turns to look at him.
“He's right,” Chin adds. “Still assuming this is a power play, he'll want to stick around to see how we react.”
“Like ants under a magnifying glass,” Danny mutters. “I've always hated the kids who did that.”
Jenna raises her eyebrows but looks amused. “No comment.”
“So how do we find him?” Danny wonders. “Do we get to him or make him come to us?”
“Both,” Chin tells him. “Cover all angles – right, boss?”
Steve's intrigued by the exchanges taking place around him. Jenna's more assertive than he remembers; Chin's still the voice of quiet authority and Danny says whatever's on his mind but still keeps everyone on task. He catches Kono watching him and wonders if she's thinking the same things.
“Yeah,” Steve says, realising that Chin's waiting on him to answer. “We have to cover all the angles. Start with Sang Min,” he adds, a flash of memory coming to the fore. “He got close to Wo Fat once before – he might be able to do it again.”
Danny shudders, the reference triggering his own memories of their last encounter. “He's in protective custody – at least, he's supposed to be. How do we get to him?”
“Go knock on the door?” Chin suggests, and Danny smirks.
“Because that worked so well last time,” he replies.
Steve frowns. “HPD should be able to tell us where he's being kept, or at least get us a secure line to him.”
“On it,” Jenna says instantly, and attacks her laptop.
Steve's confusion has to be obvious, because Danny's the one who explains: “She's got sort of a direct line to the precinct's Captain now.”
“Not sort of,” Jenna mutters.
“Yeah, yeah.” Danny placates her with a smile.
“He's on our side?” Steve asks.
“Close enough,” Chin says.
“He wants to do the right thing by the right people,” Kono says. Her statement surprises everyone. “So long as we qualify as the right people, he's on our side.”
Chin smiles. “Nicely said.”
Kono waves a hand around.
“I've got the address,” Jenna announces a few minutes later. “And a contact number for the agent on protective detail.”
“We'll go both ways,” Steve decides. “Chin, start dialling. Danny, you're with me.”
“What about us?” Kono asks, waving a hand between her and Jenna.
“Other means of locating Wo Fat,” Steve tells her. “Electronic footprints, known associates, anything you can dig up.”
“On it, boss.”
Steve looks at Danny. “Let's go.”
It's still raining when Danny takes the wheel of the Camaro. He stays at least ten under the speed limit. He takes corners carefully and refuses to accelerate when the road opens up.
Steve doesn't say a word. He just leans back in the passenger seat and stares out of the window, taking in mile after mile of blurry island paradise. Danny's not sure what he's supposed to do. His conversational openers are severely limited - “Hey, man, that jail thing kinda sucked, huh?” - “So I'm kind of dating my ex-wife and I'm gonna be a dad again.” - “Hey, didn't your dad send his kids away for their own safety? How'd that turn out?”
He wants to know what Steve's going to do if they actually manage to find Wo Fat. At the same time he doesn't want to know, can't even think about the possibilities of a driven McGarrett with even more to avenge and maybe less to lose than before.
It scares him.
He doesn't have time to be scared. “I think we're here,” he announces. It's hard to tell through the rain, but this looks like the address Jenna had given them. “So how do you want to play it?”
Steve's already out of the car and marching up to the front door, completely oblivious to the soaking he's getting. Danny grabs the mac off the back seat and holds it over his head so he can catch up.
The door to the safe house is opened by an FBI agent, a mousy haired woman in her fifties who looks none too impressed at the intrusion. “Detective Williams, HPD,” Danny gets in quickly. “This is Steve McGarrett. We've got a few questions for your charge regarding a person of interest in -”
“I know who you are,” the agent replies coolly. She eyeballs them in turn then steps aside. “Second door on your left.”
“Why'd you do that?” Steve demands.
Danny blinks. “Why'd I do what?”
“Call yourself HPD.” Steve's expression doesn't so much as flicker.
“Because that's what I am until the transfer goes through.”
Steve's left eyebrow twitches. “The Acting Governor -”
“The Acting Governor wants headlines that will make him look good.” Danny sighs. “Of course we have to have this conversation now. Go. In.” He points at the door the FBI agent had directed them to.
Steve stares at him a couple seconds more before opening the door.
“Hey, hey – come on, lady, I -”
The sight of Sang Min, wearing a faded tracksuit ensemble and smelling like something out of an old folks' home, is not something Danny's going to forget in a hurry. He's also staring at Steve like he's one of the horsemen of the Apocalypse.
“You supposed to be in jail, man!”
“They let me out,” Steve replies, surprisingly calmly. “You know why?”
Sang Min attempts a smile. “You're too good for the likes of prison?”
“Wo Fat set me up,” Steve says. “You found him once when you planted that bomb at his safe house. You're going to do the same again.”
“What? No! I don't do bombs any more. In case you hadn't noticed, I got the Feds breathing down my neck and -”
“Not the bomb,” Steve interrupts. “Wo Fat. I want to know where he is, and you're my best shot at finding out.”
“Man, you're desperate.”
“Maybe.” Steve shrugs. “But at least I'm not angry.”
“That supposed to scare me?” Sang Min challenges. “I get the news here. No more Five-0, no more magical immunity to do whatever the hell you want.”
Steve affects the shadow of a smile. “Game's changed.”
Sang Min stares at Steve, who stares back. Danny dimly remembers a time when something like this might have amused him. That seems like a lifetime ago.
“I just got a call from the Captain,” Chin announces.
“Anything interesting?” Jenna asks.
“Only if you count the head of the FBI field office calling him asking why the hell there's a cop and an ex-convict terrorising one of their protected witnesses.”
“Steve's not an ex-con,” Jenna frowns.
Chin raises an eyebrow. “I don't think semantics was high on their list of things to be concerned about.”
“Unlike murderers,” Jenna mutters, mostly to her laptop.
“Nothing yet,” Kono informs Chin. She hasn't moved from her spot beside Jenna on the couch.
Yeah. Somebody as smart as Wo Fat isn't going to let himself get found by a traffic camera or leaving visible money trails. Chin wants to sigh, to bury his head in his hands and wait for this all to blow over. He has no idea how they're going to break it to the family that Kono's second career is effectively over, even though he's got his badge back. He can't see Danny choosing to stay in Hawaii when his family is in New Jersey, and if the task force is officially rescinded, Jenna and Steve have nothing tying them to the islands either. The Navy might take Steve back, and he's the kind of guy who'll let himself be forced to work back up to former glories again.
It all hangs on Wo Fat. Chin hates that kind of uncertainty.
His cell phone rings again, but there's no caller ID – just a number, and he shakes his head at Kono's enquiring look.
“This is Lieutenant Kelly.”
“Good to hear your voice, brah.”
“Kamekona?”
Steve pulls a cell phone – a cheap, nondescript model – out of his pocket and tosses it to Sang Min. He catches it automatically, then stares at it with obvious confusion, which is followed quickly by suspicion.
“You want to get out of here?” Steve asks. “Away from the constant surveillance and cops hanging off your every twitch?” He points at the phone. “Get me Wo Fat.”
“I don't exactly have him on speed dial,” Sang Min retorts. “Told you before, I want him dead. Pretty sure the feeling's mutual.”
Steve shrugs. “That could probably be arranged. Make the calls.”
Both Sang Min and Danny stare at Steve for that. Sang Min looks apprehensive, almost scared. Danny, on the other hand... he's not sure exactly what he's feeling right now, but it's nothing good. He thinks two weeks in jail shouldn't have been anywhere near enough to damage Steve – any further than normal, at least – but maybe it's the Wo Fat angle that's making him act like this. Danny hopes that's all it is.
Sang Min mutters something under his breath that could be a curse, then starts dialling. Danny whips out his own phone and texts Jenna. Outgoing call from safehouse. Track. He spares half a second to admire his improved texting skills, then focuses back on the matter at hand – Steve, to be precise.
He stares at Danny. “Sidebar,” he mutters, and steps to the far side of the room from Sang Min. Danny hesitates, then follows him.
“Who was that?” Steve asks, indicating the pocket where Danny's cell is.
“Jenna. To trace whatever calls he's about to make.” Danny stares up at him. “Why the micro-management?”
It's a low blow, and they both know it. “I saw you all at Chin's house earlier,” Steve eventually says. Behind them, Sang Min is spitting and arguing – in Chinese, Danny thinks, picking up a couple of words and phrases that he recognises.
He pulls his attention back to Steve. “So?”
“So -” Steve hesitates. His mask slips, and for the first time since he got out of jail Danny knows what his partner is thinking.
He exhales loudly. “This – all of this, has been about getting you out of jail,” he says quietly but clearly. “The last two and a half weeks have been hell, okay, but we didn't quit on you, so don't you dare quit on us, do you hear me?”
There's a long pause. Then: “Loud and clear, Danno.”
“Good,” Danny says. For good measure, he jabs a finger in Steve's face. “Say anything else even tangentially related to the matter, and I will punch you in the face.”
“Got it,” Steve replies.
“If you two love birds are finished,” Sang Min interrupts them. He holds the phone up. “I got an address.”
“Whose?” Danny asks.
“Not my problem. But if you're crazy enough to go after Wo Fat again – you want to be going there.”
Danny resists the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose and pull a face. “Just give us the damn address.”
Chin and Kono pull up outside the address Kamekona gave them. Chin still doesn't know where the big guy is, and just about managed to stop Jenna trying to trace the call, but he trusts the intel. With Wo Fat out of the picture, there's a chance things could be smoothed over with Kamekona's parole officer – not much of one, but a chance nevertheless – should she ever find out he's the one who supplied the weapon that killed Jameson.
It's a former nightclub in one of the seedier parts of the city. The windows are boarded up and there are foreclosure notices pasted to bolted doors. It's also a huge step down from the properties and buildings Five-0 have managed to associate with Wo Fat in the past.
Perhaps that's the point.
Kono takes one of the umbrellas and slips down the alley directly beside the club while Chin inspects the bolts. They're thick metal and securely fastened – and there's a thin layer of dust suggesting that nobody's been through the doors in several months.
“Nothing,” Kono reports a minute later. “Doors are padlocked and the fire escapes from the upper floors are unreachable. Are you sure this is the place?”
“Kamekona wouldn't lie.”
Kono doesn't look convinced. “He's got every reason to.”
“True,” Chin replies, “but it's not his style. He didn't have to call at all, could just have stayed underground for as long as it took -”
“Until what?”
Chin doesn't have an answer to that. Until Wo Fat is apprehended and dealt justice? Until Steve earns the man's forgiveness? Until what? Kamekona's capable of being invisible when he wants to – Chin hadn't had a clue about the weapons lock up until Danny had admitted knowing of its existence.
Kono jiggles her umbrella around a bit. “So what do we do?”
“Is there no other way inside?”
“There's a window a little way back from the side entrance.” Kono pauses for a moment. “Might be able to smash it open and get inside -”
“But the weather's an issue, not to mention the law.”
Kono shrugs. “So look the other way.”
“I'm not sure that's how this is supposed to work.” Chin tries to look reassuring. “Auntie would kill me if you ended up back in jail.”
“Yeah...” Kono turns around to consider the club's run-down exterior. “So the question really is, how much do you trust the big guy?”
Danny and Steve leave Sang Min, the safe house and the still-irritated FBI agent behind to chase down their new lead. Emphasis very much not on 'chase'. The rain is still pelting down and the traffic is still going slow and Danny is still not taking any chances.
Steve still hasn't challenged him for the Camaro's keys, but Danny figures baby steps.
“You can take a left here, it'll be quicker,” Steve announces, peering out of his window.
Maybe not.
Danny puts both hands on the wheel – ostensibly to stop himself from strangling Steve – and turns to look at him. “It's not quicker. There is no quicker way because everyone is moving at a snail's pace, because finally – finally, the people on this island have figured out that there are some obstacles to having a wonderful time and -”
“Danny.”
“What?”
“You're ranting.”
“Why, so I am.”
Steve frowns at him. “No, you're ranting. Earlier you implied you were still trying to transfer out of here. Why bother complaining if you're not going to stick around?”
Huh. He had said that. Danny takes a couple of deep breaths and tries to organise his thoughts.
“You also said that you weren't going to quit on me,” Steve continues. “So why are you transferring?”
“Do we have to talk about this now?” Danny asks. Then he notices the set in Steve's jaw. “Apparently we are. Right. Rachel and Grace are in Newark.”
“And you stayed behind.” Steve's speaking carefully now, like he's nervous about getting something wrong. “Until you leave.”
“What do you want me to say, Steve?” Danny demands. “That I'd keep my family away from their home - our home because I can't stand not having you in my life? That I'd up and leave you to be with them?”
Steve's jaw sets again and finally – again – Danny gets it. “Ohana,” he mutters. “Look, this may come as a surprise to you, but I really don't know what I'm doing, okay? Rachel and Grace back in my life was supposed to be everything I ever wanted. And – we can't stay here.”
“Why not?” Steve asks quietly, but the question's loaded and Danny knows it.
“Stan,” he says eventually. The bruise on his jaw faded after a couple of days, but it's not something he's going to forget any time soon. “And New Jersey is my home. Newark is where my family is, Steve. God, I'd go anywhere to be where Grace is, you know that, but this...”
“Is everything you ever wanted,” Steve parrots. “Yeah, I get it.”
No, Danny doesn't think he does. “I'm sorry,” he says, as honestly as he knows how. “I really am.”
Steve doesn't say anything, and Danny's back to only guessing what's going through that thick SEAL head of his. He resumes staring out of the window for a couple more rain-soaked blocks while Danny tries not to incite a traffic accident.
Then Steve leans forward, frowning and tense. “Stop the car.”
“I – what?”
“Stop the car, Danny.”
Danny pulls over. “What is it?”
“We're being followed.” Steve reaches around the passenger side of the Camaro and frowns. “Where's the back up?”
“The back up what? Oh, the weapons? I cleared them out,” Danny retorts. “Because they had no place in my car!”
“C'mon, you've gotta have something.” Steve bends almost double and scrabbles underneath his seat. A few seconds later he pulls out a small black box.
Danny's on the verge of an aneurysm – he can feel it. How could he have forgotten to check under there as well? “Are those grenades? They better not be -”
“It's a sidearm, Danny.” And sure enough, Steve opens the box to pull out a Glock and spare bullets. Then he puts a hand on the door handle. “Are you coming?”
“Am I – what kind of stupid question is that?” Because Danny's already unbuckled and halfway out of his own seat and diving head first into hot tropical rain.
Steve weaves through the traffic, clearly looking for something, and Danny struggles to keep up with him. The rain's heavier than before, slowing him down, and he's not as confident running out in front of cars as Steve, even if they are moving slowly.
Steve's target turns out to be a black sedan several vehicles behind them. Danny hadn't seen it either on the way to or from the safe house, and he's happy enough to chalk Steve's noticing it to his military training.
Steve bangs on the right-side rear window twice just as Danny catches up to him. A few seconds later it rolls down to reveal a middle-aged man in an expensive-looking suit, and he doesn't look happy about having Steve in his face.
“Where is he?” Steve demands.
“I – I don't know what you're talking about!” the man protests.
There's a flash of – something – right on the periphery of Danny's vision and he grabs Steve by the shoulder. “Hey!”
Steve looks. There's another man is another expensive-looking business suit running through the rain in a completely new direction. Danny thinks heliport but he's not sure why.
Steve's eyes narrow. Then he takes off at a run.
Danny chases him through the rain. His shirt is plastered to his back, he's pretty sure his tie's a lost cause and in another five minutes or so he'll be swimming in his shoes. He still keeps pace with Steve – doesn't know how – and curses the fact that his phone is in the car. As if he'd be able to use it outdoors anyway.
Steve is completely unfazed by the elements and lengthens his strides to pull ahead. “Wo Fat!” he yells.
The man they're chasing stops in the middle of a street – that has a private airstrip signposted as being nearby, Danny notes distantly – and turns to face them.
It's him. Danny's only ever seen composite photos and an artist's sketch based on Steve's description from the restaurant, but it's Wo Fat.
Wo Fat raises a gun – just a sidearm, like Steve and Danny are carrying – smiles, and takes aim.
He shoots at Steve, but Steve is quicker. He ducks and rolls on the tarmac, leaps to his feet and raises his own gun.
“It's over!” Steve yells.
“No!” Wo Fat calls back mockingly. “We have only just begun.”
He fires again – and Steve stumbles.
Danny runs to his partner and tries to support him. Steve's holding his left arm in a tight grip and his t-shirt is soaking a sick shade of red. “It's just a graze,” he grits out. “Barely nicked the skin. Come on, we have to go!”
“Yeah, yeah, are you sure -” Danny looks back up the street – it's empty. “Yeah, come on.”
“He's going for the airstrip,” Steve mutters. “Can't let him get away.”
“I know, Steve, I know!” Danny holds onto Steve's elbow. “So let's get him.”
They share a look, and in that split second it's like it used to be – crazy odds and (their) lives on the line and all manner of Crazy McGarrett Shit About To Go Down. Steve grins and Danny grins back.
Then they run, together, towards the airstrip.
“This is the most ridiculous safe house I've ever seen.” Kono pokes a packing crate with the tip of her umbrella.
Chin covers a smile. “I think that's the point, cuz.”
Kono snorts. “My jail cell was cosier than this place.” She stops at the look on Chin's face. “Sorry, I -”
“No,” Chin says, “you should talk about it. If you want to, I mean.”
“Yeah.” She smiles slightly. “Maybe not now, but yeah.”
Something bangs, and Chin whips around, gun raised automatically. “Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
Chin frowns and steps forward onto the balcony overlooking the abandoned dance floor. There are some signs that people have been here recently – dust trails, mostly, and a couple of pieces of furniture that don't look quite as decrepit as their surroundings – but aside from him and Kono, there's nobody here now. “I thought I heard something. It sounded like...”
There's another bang. Muffled – like it's coming from a distance.
“Gunfire.” Chin turns back around. “We're in the wrong place.”
There's a black helicopter at the far end of the airport's single runway, though how it's going to take off in the rain Danny's not sure. From this distance and with the heavy rain, he can't tell if there's anyone in the cockpit. He also can't tell if there's anyone else here at all – he doesn't think he can see or hear employees or ground crew, but they could be muffled by the rain.
Steve's several metres ahead of him. His left shirt sleeve is completely soaked with blood.
Wo Fat stops again, halfway between Steve and the helicopter, and turns back. Danny catches up with Steve, and automatically puts a hand on his arm to support – or restrain – him.
“Give it up!” Steve calls out.
Wo Fat takes a step towards them. From here Danny can make out his grin. “This is quite the game we've been playing, Mr McGarrett. I hope you like the gift I sent you.”
Danny flashes back to the John Doe in the harbour – and wonders again if the man's identity has some relevance after all.
“Wo Fat!” Steve walks towards him, gun raised. “You are under arrest for the murder of Governor Patricia Jameson, and for accessory to the murder of Laura Hills.”
Wo Fat's grin widens. “Not today.”
“Five-0!” someone yells from behind him. It's Chin, gun raised.
From the other side of the runway, directly across from her cousin, Kono appears, holding up a gun as well. “Five-0,” she echoes with a half-smile. “Put the weapon down on the ground.”
Wo Fat moves like he's going to hold the gun up by its butt – and Danny raises his own weapon in response. Just ahead of him Steve's aim is steady.
Then the helicopter rumbles loudly into life, the rotors dispelling the heavy rain like a whirlpool. It distracts everyone, Chin and Kono turning around to find the source of the noise – it's enough time for Wo Fat to toss his gun on the ground and run for the helicopter.
Steve fires after him. His second bullet catches Wo Fat in the left leg, but it doesn't slow him down. Chin, Kono and Danny all fire and miss.
Wo Fat leaps up into the helicopter just as it starts to lift off from the wet tarmac. It lurches a couple of times and then veers down the runway. Danny grabs Steve and dives for one of the maintenance sheds and lands on his bad knee. Steve rolls over onto his back and empties his clip into the helicopter's rotors, but the bullets have no effect.
The helicopter gains elevation and disappears west.
“No, no, no, no!” Steve throws his gun onto the ground.
Chin and Kono approach them. Chin helps Danny to his feet, while Kono retrieves Wo Fat's guns.
“Call aviation, coastguard, whatever it takes,” Steve demands. “We can't let him just get away!”
“We'll find him,” Chin replies.
Danny leans on Chin's shoulder and tries to catch his breath. “How did you know where we were?”
“Jenna,” Kono calls over, and Danny stares at her. He's going to buy that woman flowers. No – a computer. The best damn supercomputer he can afford. He's going to call Father Julio back in Newark and see about getting her canonised.
Kono just grins back. “What were you two doing here?”
“Sang Min sent us to a safe house,” Danny explains. “This disused club -”
“- down by the wine bar?” Chin interrupts. “That's where we were.”
“Hey.” Danny looks at Steve. “Hey – the little weasel's intel was on the money – Steve? Steve?”
Steve turns to face the rest of them. His expression is dark, but there's something else as well – guilt, Danny realises. A dash of anger. But mostly resignation. “He got away.”
“So we'll get him next time,” Danny shrugs. “You, me, these two, mission control back on Chin's couch.”
Steve's eyebrow twitches. “Five-0?”
Danny knows it's not as easy as that. He can only hope Rachel will understand – this is his home now, and these crazy, crazy people? They're his family as well. “If the new boss will have us.”
Steve grins. “I think he can be persuaded.”
They move back into their old headquarters. Danny takes no small delight in directing unformed HPD officers carrying boxes of former evidence to various offices and assigned corners until the contents can be sorted out.
Chin and Jenna have commandeered the touch-screen table and are bickering playfully as they re-establish Five-0's servers and links to every database imaginable.
Kono's perched on the desk in her office, talking the phone to someone – judging by the smile on her face, Danny thinks it's either her mom or that geek of hers down in Forensics.
Steve appears a little while later, along with the Acting Governor. They're deep in conversation, and Steve's body language isn't setting off warning bells, so Danny leaves them to it.
His cell phone rings, and he smiles as he answers the call. “Hey, Monkey.”
“Daddy! Mommy and I are at the airport. She said I could call before we get on the plane.”
“She did? That's brilliant. Have you got your MP3 player and book for the flight?”
“Uh huh, and Grandma made me take lots of pictures of everyone so you can see them!”
“That's wonderful,” Danny says thickly. “Hey, can you put your mom on quickly?”
“Okay!”
“Danny,” Rachel says.
“Hey. Listen, I -” Danny looks around at his team. “I just wanted to say, before you, you know -”
“I get it,” Rachel tells him gently. “Whatever happens, we'll work it out.”
Danny really, really wants that. He thinks it's all he's ever wanted. “Yeah,” he says. “But thank you.”
“Our gate's just been called – we'll see you when we land.”
“I'll be there,” Danny promises, and Rachel hangs up.
“Hey,” Steve says, and Danny jumps.
“A little warning, McGarrett? Seriously, don't make me put a bell on you.”
A shadow of a smirk appears on Steve's face. “Have fun trying. Look – everything's going pretty smoothly here -” And Danny can only agree. Steve and Kono have been re-sworn in as officers of the law, Steve's Navy commission remains intact, the Acting Governor's been pulling in mixed reviews with a tinge of positive since the reformation of Five-0 was announced, and Jenna sent off her resignation to the CIA this morning. She's sticking around – they're all sticking around. Wo Fat's at the top of their brand new Most Wanted list.
It's even stopped raining.
“But what?” Danny asks.
Steve hesitates. “There's something I think I need to do – will you come with me?”
“Of course. Oh, one more thing.” Danny fishes a cell phone out of his pocket and hands it to Steve. “Since your old one is probably never going to see the light of day.”
“Thanks, man.” Steve starts flipping through the menus.
“You might want to start by calling your sister,” Danny says pointedly.
“I spoke to Mary this morning,” Steve replies.
“Are you good?”
“I think we are.”
“Good. Now, what's this thing you want help with?”
Steve and Danny stand at the gate to a small semi-detached bungalow. The outside of it doesn't look particularly remarkable, but Steve learned a long time ago not to judge anything by its cover. He glances at Danny, then pushes the gate open and walks up to the front door.
He knocks twice. A few minutes later the screen door opens, and a woman comes into view to open the front door. She looks young enough to be in high school, and there's a baby balanced on her hip, a little boy who grins up at Steve.
“Can I help you?” the girl asks.
Steve hesitates. “I'm Commander McGarrett, this is Detective Williams; we're with Five-0. Are you Christina Tsang?”
“Yes...” She looks between Steve and Danny a few times, then sighs. “This is about Casey, isn't it?”
“Yes, ma'am,” Steve replies.
She shakes her head. “Is he dead?”
“No.” Not yet, but the way the kid's going... Steve glances at Danny briefly. “Can we come in?”
“No,” Christina replies. “I'm sorry, Commander, but Casey's all out of second chances. The only person who can save him is himself.”
Steve glances at the baby. “Is this his son?”
She tightens her hold on the boy. “Yes – and no, he doesn't know. He's been in and out of the system for months, and I'm tired of trying to clean up his mess. I've got my family to look after.” She smiles down at her son, who beams back.
“I've spent time with Casey,” Steve says quietly. “He's not a bad kid at heart – just out of options. Visiting hours are this afternoon – promise me you'll think about it?”
Christina closes her eyes briefly. “I'll try,” she says eventually.
Steve thinks that's all he's going to get out of her – part of him knows he's lucky to have got this much.
“Thank you,” he says. “Come on,” he adds to Danny.
“Do you think it'll work?” Danny asks, once they're back in the car and Steve's driving back to headquarters.
“I don't know,” he admits. “I hope so.”
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-08-21 10:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-22 04:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-22 12:51 pm (UTC)Also I have no 5-0 icon so Becker will have to stand in :D
no subject
Date: 2011-08-22 04:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-23 04:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-23 04:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-23 04:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-27 11:42 pm (UTC)Epic adventure!
no subject
Date: 2011-08-27 11:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-05 03:42 am (UTC)I only hope CBS gives this story line as much plausibility as you have!
I think you covered all the bases and I really don't think that Wo Fat will be easy to apprehend!
Thanks for sharing
no subject
Date: 2011-09-05 04:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-10 07:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-10 08:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-11-12 02:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-11-12 10:33 pm (UTC)