****** OK, the SPOILERS for episode 22 have me really thinking…this is a disclaimer, I KNOW NOTHING about where they are going with the storyline but I can't wait to see the episode and to see Alex back on-set as the Big Kahuna ! - hope you enjoy the story ******
Danny returned back to his office after having closed the case of "THE MISSING SHRIMP TRUCK". Chin and Kono had headed home for the night and after grabbing a beer from the fridge in Steve's office he sat down and pulled the letter from his desk drawer.
'Danno' - he read it over and over again. Steve had gone to find answers from Joe White about Shelburne. Initially he had read the letter and he had felt for Steve, the man desperately wanted answers about his parents' deaths and while he fully understood his partners desire he was now thoroughly pissed off. Steve was ignoring his calls and once again the SEAL was taking a stupid risk. The last time he went off on his own he ended up being tortured by Wo-Fat in North Korea. He had recovered physically but mentally he had endured nightmares for over a year. In fact now that he thought about it he bet his partner was still having the nightmares. He would ask Steve periodically about them and over the last few months he could sense Steve getting more defensive with him every time the topic was addressed. Yeah, knowing the stubborn SEAL the way he did he was probably just appeasing him by saying the nightmares had stopped to get him to shut up and stop asking. "Damn it Steven"
Danny sat with his face in his hands as he tried to figure out what he should do. As far as he knew Steve didn't even know where Joe was. He tried his partner's cell phone and upon receiving no answer he downed his beer and then decided to go to Steve's house to look for any clues, cursing his partner as he stormed out of the building.
Once at Steve's he briefly checked the other rooms before heading into the office, sitting at the desk. His eyes scoured the top of the desk and he noticed nothing unusual, bills, magazines...he then opened the drawers one by one finally spotting the thick manila folder stuffed back behind several hanging files.
Wo-Fat. There had been several times when they were so close to catching this son-of-a-bitch and he had eluded them. He had seen these photos hundreds of times over the last three years yet every time he looked at the burned out shell of the vehicle that held Steve's Mother's remains and the photos of John McGarrett slumped over dead, tied to that chair, he became nauseated.
Wo-Fat had physically tortured Steve in North Korea but this constant mental torture was far worse.
There were the many postcards from Joe from over the years and then Danny saw the two loose postcards paper clipped to the back of the stack. They were postmarked from Tokyo and had been sent two months ago.
About ten weeks ago Joe had told Steve that Shelburne was a 'code name'to be used by Joe and John McGarrett to notify each other if Steve or MaryAnn were ever in danger. At the time Danny didn't think that was the whole story but it seemed to appease Steve and so he didn't voice his thoughts at the time. Now obviously Steve was having doubts and instead of talking to him and asking for help he had once again gone rogue.
He tried Steve's cell ...no answer again.
Danny stood leaving the file on the desk and grabbing a beer he went down to the Ocean's edge and sitting in one of the wooden chairs he watched the calmness of the Ocean and the beautiful sunset. Yes after three years he could finally admit, but only to himself...that this was a beautiful place to live. He sipped his beer and contemplated his next move.
He sat for about half an hour before he contacted Chin.
"Hey brother. I hate to bother you but would you mind coming over to McGarrett's house I need to talk to you"
"Sure bro, I'll be there in a few minutes"
"Grab yourself a beer and meet me down at the water"
"Okay"
Chin arrived about twenty minutes later and took a seat, "Where's Steve?"
"That's what I need to talk to you about brother"
"Danny...he didn't...not again"
"Of yes he did my dear friend. Our SuperSEAL has once again decided that going off on his own is the best thing to do"
"Shit, why does he do this to us?"
"You know why. He thinks he's protecting us. He's Superman you know, he can handle anything!"
"One of these days he won't be able to"
"I know buddy...I know"
"So what do you know, where did he go?"
"He left me a letter telling me that he has questions about Shelburne and that he doesn't think Joe told him everything"
"So he's going after Joe? Not Wo-Fat?"
"Yeah, that's my understanding"
"Then why are you worried brother? Joe's not going to hurt him"
Danny didn't respond and Chin looked at him intently, "What are you saying Danny?"
"It's just a gut feeling I've had since Joe told him this tale of Shelburne and I can't shake it"
"Did you ever say anything to him?"
"No. Joe left Hawaii a couple of days later and Steve seemed fine with his answers so I just let it go. I thought I had to be wrong. I should have known though that my hard-headed partner would start questioning things. He always does..."
"So tell me, what are your thoughts?"
"Steve has told me that Joe was in his life only periodically as a young boy before his Dad had to send them away after his Mother's death when he was sixteen. Joe states that he followed him carefully for John from then on, all through Steve's military career. We know that he had it arranged so that he was even Steve's training officer. So jump ahead here and John is killed by Hess who was employed by Wo-Fat. The question is WHY was John killed?"
"Well Steve was holding Hess's brother and Hess wanted him released"
"Yeah, but we know that Wo-Fat ordered John's death. He could have found out that Steve was going to be transporting Anton Hess and he used Victor as a way to get to John...I'm thinking that even if Steve would have delivered Anton to Victor, John was a dead man"
"But why Danny? And how could Wo-Fat have known that Steve would be transporting Hess?"
"From Joe..."
"What?"
"Think about Chin...Joe was pretty much out of Steve's life, or so Steve thought. He hadn't seen Joe for a couple of years before John's death. But Joe knew that John was searching for who killed his wife and maybe he was getting too close to the truth. With his military connections he could have found out about the prisoner transfer and they took that opportunity to use Victor Hess to eliminate John"
"So you think Joe is working for Wo-Fat and HE was behind John's death?"
"I sure in the hell hope I'm wrong, but yeah...that's what I think. Joe shows up back into Steve's life a year after John's death. Why wasn't he at John's funeral? Why didn't he come here until he found out that Steve was looking into his Mother's death and he was getting close to finding answers?"
"Damn Danny. What are we going to do?"
"I need you to hold down things here and I'm going after him"
"Where is he?"
"Surprise, surprise he's not answering his cell. But I found two postcards in the Wo-Fat file in his desk. They were sent by Joe from Tokyo two months ago"
"How in the hell are you going to find him in Tokyo with no other leads?"
"I'm a detective...I'll figure it out"
Chin grinned at him. "McGarrett's not an easy man to find, if he doesn't want to be found"
"I've been his partner for three years Chin, I'll find him...watch me!"
"I don't like the idea of you going there alone any more than him being there alone"
"We won't be alone... once I find him" Danny grinned, adding "Don't worry buddy, we'll be okay"
"What do you want me to tell the Governor?"
"Just tell him we both took a couple vacation days. If it's going to be longer, I'll let you know"
"When are you leaving?"
"I'll call the airport now and check flights and then I need to go home and pack and let Rachel know what's up. Would you mind going through the house here and make sure I didn't miss any clues as to where he might have gone"
"Sure bro"
The men walked back to the house and as Danny called the airport Chin began to scour the trash can in Steve's office. Not finding anything he grabbed a notepad that was on the desk and running a pencil over the impressions in the paper he found the time of four o'clock and the name Auberge Meson.
He handed the info to Danny who was booking a seat on the eleven o'clock flight to Tokyo. He asked the operator, "Can you tell me if you had a flight leave for Tokyo at four today?...Okay, thank you"
"Thanks Chin…. they had a flight at four so we can assume he was on it"
"You know he will be traveling under an alias Danny"
"Yeah but that's where Superman's good looks will help me. People will remember him"
"Let's run this name"
Chin ran a search on the name, "It's a hotel, actually a cabin in Otsu"
"How far is Otsu from Tokyo?"
"About three hundred miles"
"Okay, so he would have to catch an adjoining flight or rent a car. But that simplifies things, I know where he's going to be"
"And he's only got a seven hour lead on you"
"Okay buddy, I need to get going here. Hold down the fort"
"Just be careful and get both of you back here safely"
The men walked out to their vehicles and after exchanging embraces they went their separate ways.