Mirror

"He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster."
Friedrich Neitzsche

It had been a very long day. The sun was sinking and the rain that had been threatening all day was starting in earnest now. During the day, the air had been heavy and oppressive with grey drizzling fog; it was almost a relief now that the clouds had become heavy with rain, letting loose their bounty on the sea and mountains below. The street was quiet and even the rain seemed hushed, though it was starting to fall harder. The wind picked up and the rain danced in eddies and swirls, soaking pavement and lawn alike. Streets had emptied quickly, almost as quickly as night had fallen. As gentle as the rain and wind seemed now, there was a heaviness in the storm that spoke to a lashing during the night, a maelstrom before the sun rose again the next day.

Headlights cut through the darkness, the light catching off newly-formed puddles and streamers of rain alike as the big, black car navigated the corner. With a low, wide stance and deep-set lights, the Camaro itself seemed aggressive, ready to take on the whatever the road threw at it, whether it be rain or shine or simply bad drivers. Certainly capable of high speeds and cornering on a dime, the pace the driver set was almost sedate and the engine wasn't heard over the increasing sounds of rain. It pulled into a short drive near a corner and came to a gentle stop underneath a carport next to a modest, white home.

For a long moment, after the engine and headlights were turned off, the only sound was the pinging of the rain against the roof of the carport. Danny Williams sat in the driver's seat, blearily eyeing his front door out of the water-streaked window. When he had told his partner that all he wanted to do was go home and shower, dodging raindrops from his car to his door was the very last thing he'd had in mind. ("It's just rain, Danny" he heard in that oh-so helpful sarcastic tone to go with that oh-so helpful I-cannot-believe-you're-actually-complaining-about-this expression.) With a soft groan, Danny ran his hands over his face and back through his (still-wet, thanks very much) hair.

Definitely a long day but, overall, productive. Two days before, a couple had been found dead in their home and, for once, the case had pretty much been open and shut. The suspect had been hauled in with a minimum of fuss, which had actually surprised all of them, his violent history considered. All five members of the task force had been geared up and ready to kick some ass and take some names simply because everyone knew that bullets were going to fly on this one. Even after the suspect was in custody, they had all been wary, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

It wasn't as if it was an easy case; of course not. Long hours of tracking down seemingly endless leads just to find their guy had left them all with too little sleep and far too much over-greasy food over the past couple days. Danny had subsisted on malasadas alone for some thirty-six hours now and even he was starting to feel the sugar crash. (Grover had made some snide remarks about Danny's ability to drive home before in inevitable crash and, honestly, Danny wasn't quite sure he wasn't wrong.) With a sigh born of simple exhaustion, Danny opened the car door and, sheltered by the carport from all but raindrops born upon the breeze, he looked out on the street. Dim red taillights turned a corner and disappeared from his view. (Mustang, maybe, Danny's tired mind supplied, absently noting the shape of the lights. Always attentive to detail, he never really minded noting such things. It was just a part of who he was.)

He turned up the walk, ducking against the rain. As he opened the door, he ran a hand through his hair, snorting at the water that dripped from his hand and down his neck. Grace was staying at a friend's home overnight; her friend's parents were more than willing to step in sometimes on short notice when Danny's cases kept him away for long hours. He would pick her up in the morning and then take her out to lunch as apology. Without even looking at anything, Danny scrubbed his hand over his eyes, sighed, and thought longingly of a shower, a beer, and a bed – and not necessarily in that order.

He flipped on the lights and the living room was suddenly awash in bright, artificial light – as was the old, rusted barrel tied to a handtruck sitting in the middle of his living room. The coffee table had been shoved to the side to make room. Even as his breath caught in his throat, Danny's hand drifted to the weapon on his hip. He drew it and quietly shut the door with nary a click. (The noise coming in and the light would have alerted anyone he was here, but old habits die hard.) Determinedly putting the barrel out of his mind, he started forward, weapon at the ready.

With one light on, the corners of the room were dim, and rooms beyond dark. He could hear rain lashing the windows as the storm picked up. There was a rattling from the kitchen: soft and arrhythmic, it took him a moment to peg it as the blinds clattering lightly in the wind at an open window. He turned the corner, staying close to the wall, and hit the kitchen light. The muzzle of his gun traveling back and forth, looking for and failing to find a target. On the tiled floor, scuffs of mud stood out starkly.

He'd left a clean floor.

Taking one hand off the gun, Danny pulled out his phone. He glanced down at it once every few seconds as he pulled up his contacts. Phone to his ear, he held his breath as it rang. It was picked up as he elbowed the light in the hallway to life.

"Did you forget something?"

Trust Steve McGarrett to immediately think Danny wasn't quite firing on all cylinders. "Shut up," he whispered harshly. "Just get here."

"Here where?" Danny could hear faint rustling in the background; probably Steve clipping his holster and badge to his belt. "What's wrong?"

He kept his voice low when he answered. "Someone's been in my place. Might still be here." But that was looking more and more unlikely. Danny passed the threshold into Grace's bedroom, frowning at even needing to clear her room.

He heard Steve's indrawn breath. "You want HPD?"

Danny shook his head, mouth pressed into a thin line but glad that Steve was letting him have the lead on this one. He spun slowly in a circle, then carefully pushed Grace's closet door open. "Don't raise a fuss but I want CSU here."

"Was anything taken?"

Danny left Grace's room, making his way to the master bedroom, turning on lights along the way. Before he was done, every light in the house would be on and burning brightly. He shook his head at Steve's question, suddenly understanding exactly why McGarrett was still on the phone with him. He'd be doing the same thing, wanting to listen in while his partner cleared an unexpected crime scene and ready to raise an alarm at the first sign of trouble. "No," he said. "Not that I've seen." He used the barrel of the gun to push the shower curtain aside. "They left something, though." At that, his harsh whisper became a little rougher, breaking.

"Danny?" In the background, Danny heard the truck door closing and the engine turning over.

"Just get here. I've almost cleared the house." Danny crept out of the master bedroom and bath and slowly pushed the hall bath door open. When he flipped on the light, every light was now on and the house was still silent. Aside from mud in the kitchen and that damnable barrel, there was nothing different. Danny sighed and moved to the kitchen, still holding his gun but it was down at his side. "Open window in the kitchen but that's all I see so far."

Holding his gun at the ready again, Danny noted Steve's hum of acknowledgment as he opened the back door and flicked on the porch light. He was met by nothing but rain and wind.

"Anything else?"

Danny grunted as he closed the door and turned back into the house. He stopped short at the entrance to the living room, unwilling to face a memory given form sitting not two feet in front of the couch. "There's no one here."

"Good to know." Steve's voice echoed with relief. "What was left? Did you see anything else?"

Danny palmed his forehead, sighing and rubbing away the beginning of a headache. "I saw a Mustang on the road just before I came in but that could be anyone. I don't know how long this has been here."

"How long what has been there?"

The detective sighed; Steve's tone had taken on an edge of impatience at Danny's continued avoidance of the question. "There's a... uhm." His expression tightened. "There's a barrel in my living room."

Steve's answer came after a long moment of weighted silence. "A barrel."

"Yeah. A barrel." Danny's hand came up in an abortive gesture toward the barrel, though Steve obviously couldn't see it. "It's old and it's rusty and maybe let's just not go there right now, okay? Okay."

"Danny."

"Don't 'Danny' me. Where are you?"

"Ten minutes out."

Danny pulled the phone from his ear and gave it an incredulous look before answering. "How fast are you driving?" A pause, and then, as he put the phone back to his ear: "Never mind. Don't answer. I can picture it."

"And you're sure the house is clear?"

Also just like Steve to ignore Danny's question. "Yes, Commander." Yes, Mother. "I know how to do my job."

Another moment of silence. "Danny."

"I know. I know." Danny put his back to a wall; from here he could see both the kitchen's open window and the closed, unlocked front door. "I get it."

"If this is a-"

"Steve." Danny's tone brooked no argument (though Steve probably would anyone.) "I get it."

"I don't think-"

"Oh for the love of God, Steven, I get it." Despite himself, Danny's voice was rising. "I get it, okay. I. Get. It. There's a reason I cleared the house. There's a reason I called you. There's a reason I want a crime scene unit here. Get it through your damned thick skull already."

Another pause. "All right. You get it." Steve was quiet for another moment. "But I'm staying on the phone with you until I get there."

"You are like a mother SEAL hen."

"That doesn't make sense."

"Only to you." Danny ran a hand through his hair again. "Look, get off the phone so I can call HPD. You call the rest of the team because God knows I don't want anyone else on this."

"I'm not-"

"Yes, you are," Danny interrupted. "Nothing's going to happen in the, what, six minutes until you come busting down my front door. I'm fine and we're just wasting time."

"You're calling HPD right away."

"You really are a mother hen. Yes, I won't be out of contact for thirty seconds." Before Steve could respond, Danny disconnected the call – and just as quickly dialed dispatch at HPD.

Steve had taken over the scene and it was with some relief that Danny let him. It wasn't as if a home break-in was far above his expertise; rather it was the opposite. Danny knew full well how to handle a scene but when it was discovered that there actually was a body stuffed into that damnable barrel, he'd taken himself to the kitchen and not come out unless directly asked to move. Crime scene techs had worked around him - for the most part, an immovable object with arms crossed tightly over his chest, Danny stayed out of their way and they stayed out of his. One call from Steve had Chin and Lou canvassing and patrolling the area while Kono traversed Danny's small backyard, looking for anything that could point in the direction of the trespassers.

Dim light filtered through the blinds in the kitchen and Danny nearly started on the realization that hours had passed and all of Five-0 had another sleepless night under their belts. Perfect. Just what they needed. He pushed the heels of his hands into his eyes and muttered a curse under his breath. Someone moved across the light and then settled against the counter next to him with a sigh.

"You good?" Steve asked, sharp-eyed gaze catching Kono on the other side of the window, standing stock-still with one hand shielding her eyes from the rain and the other fisted on her hip. Frustration was etched into every line of her pose.

Danny dropped his hands. "I promised Grace breakfast before school."

Steve frowned at the obvious avoidance of the question. "Then go pick her up, get that breakfast you promised her, and meet us all back at the office. This place is as clear as it's getting and there's not much left that you or I can do."

"You heard from Lou and Chin?"

"They didn't see anything and no one they've talked to remembers anything either. Chin wants to get his hands on traffic cams but..."

Danny picked up on the thought. "The nearest one is three blocks away. It may not do much good."

Steve shrugged. "They may have driven past one."

"Without a time frame on it, it'll be impossible."

Rubbing his face with his hands, Steve grunted in agreement. "Yeah, it's a long shot but until CSU comes up with something, it's about all we've got and I don't want to wait around."

"I hear you." Danny rolled his neck, carefully working out kinks and aches that had settled in over the last several hours. "I'm gonna set up a couple things. Grace can't stay here."

"I've room."

"That, I know, but you're not following me." Danny nudged Steve's shoulder, then nodded toward Kono coming in from the backyard when he had the commander's attention.

"Sorry," was all she said as she approached. She propped her hop up against the kitchen island across from Danny. "I've been back and forth over your yard and your neighbors' yards and still nothing."

Danny waggled his fingers. "Rain."

She snorted. "Yeah, it's not helping, as hard as it's been coming down." She crossed her arms, unwilling to leave just yet, and let silence settle over the three of them for a long moment.

"You were saying?" Steve broke the silence.

Danny nodded. "I'm gonna get a couple hotel rooms."

"You don't need-"

"Not following," Danny interrupted - and then waited for the inevitable flash of understanding.

After a moment, Steve grinned wolfishly. "You want one in my name?"

"Pick a place and don't try to hide it too well." Danny said. "I'll use Stan's name for one at the Hilton. I might drive by there, too. Make sure I'm seen."

"You have a go bag at the office?" Steve asked.

Danny's expression turned wry. "I work for you."

"I'll pick it up," Kono offered. "I can drop it by Steve's later. What about Grace?"

Danny shrugged one shoulder. "We're here, aren't we? Make like it's evidence and throw a bag of clothes in someone's trunk."

"They'll be expecting you to bug out," Steve pointed out. For her part, Kono just looked more and more troubled as the conversation delved deeper into Danny's plans.

Danny nodded. "Yeah, I know. So I'm not going to make to too difficult for them."

"Danny-"

He cut Kono off with a wave of his hand - not unkind, but it was impatient. "I'm making sure Grace is safe and then this ends." His voice was hard, gaze predatory.

"We."

Danny blinked at Kono, then looked up at Steve, who nodded along with her assertion.

"We," she repeated. "We make sure Grace is safe and then we end it." She held out her right hand, as if to seal the deal with a handshake. For a long moment, Danny only looked at her before he shook his head and took her hand.

"Deal," he said. Kono squeezed his fingers before pulling hand away. Danny wondered if she knew she rested her fingers lightly on the grip of her weapon. For all intents and purposes, Kono looked like someone ready for action - and she might not be far off the mark.

"Go get Grace," Steve said. "Do your normal thing, Danny. Try not to alarm her."

Danny gave him a pretty good approximation of Steve's own aneurysm face. "Yes, Commander." There was that tone again; the one that told Steve all he needed to know about what Danny thought of that particular order. He pushed off the counter and lightly clapped both Steve's and Kono's shoulders on his way out. "I'll bring breakfast after I've dropped Grace at school. One of you have HPD step up patrols around Sacred Heart."

"Will do," Steve affirmed as Kono started digging for a trash bag under the sink to stash a few changes of Grace's clothes into.

Breakfast with Grace had been a solemn affair. Danny's general dark mood had spilled over onto Grace and she'd become a little withdrawn as the meal progressed. Danny tried – oh he had tried so very hard – to raise her spirits but that damnable barrel and everything it brought with it weighed heavily upon his shoulders. He'd tried very hard not to alarm his daughter but it had been inevitable in the moment that he asked her to be careful today. Both Danny and Rachel were perceptive to a fault and Grace followed in her parents' footsteps in that. With a shake of his head and a bone-crushing hug when he dropped her at school, Danny simply told her that he was missing uncle Matt extra that day. Grace's tight hug nearly chased away all the demons of the day and then she was bounding up the school's stone steps.

By the time he'd returned to the office, tension aches had settled in his neck and shoulders. Steve's office was dark and a word from Kono let him know that Steve and Lou were personally seeing to stepped up patrols in certain areas. Danny nodded and dropped the food he'd grabbed – pastries, breakfast burritos, and a carafe of coffee – onto a side table in the bullpen. Kono caught up with him there, pouring herself a half-cup of coffee as she nodded toward his office.

"Chin and I wanted to ask you a few questions."

Danny looked up and saw Chin already waiting, sitting tensely straight in one of the chairs in Danny's office and reading something on a tablet. "That's nice and formal."

Kono downed her coffee with a grimace. "I know it's tough, Danny. I do. But-"

"-but you both need to know what you're going after here. I know." Danny led the way to his office. "Come on. We'll talk." Kono preceded him inside the room and went to stand next to Chin's chair while Danny stayed near the door.

Chin looked up and set the tablet on the edge of desk. "Hey Danny." There was an edge in his voice, nearly hidden by the genuine sympathy there.

Danny closed the door behind him and tried very hard to approach this as just another case, just another session of gathering and sharing information. This team was damn good at that. Just another case. That's it. "Hey." He caught sight of Kono, arms crossed tightly over her chest and expression troubled. That didn't help when he was trying to keep this all in perspective. She glanced at Chin and Danny followed her gaze to see Chin looking even more deeply troubled. Ah, that was a great sign, too.

Chin sighed. "What's this actually about?"

Danny tensed immediately. All Chin and Kono knew about what had happened in Colombia was whatever Steve had told them and Danny was fairly sure that wasn't much more than that they hadn't come home with Matty because Matty was dead.

Chin continued talking. It wasn't quite the tone he used with suspects but it was pretty damned close and Danny couldn't exactly fault him for it. "Is this about Reyes or is it about the money?"

Danny worried his lower lip. "It might be money." In fact, he was pretty sure that eighteen and a half million dollars was going to come back and bite him in the ass. This likely came down to greed, rather than revenge for Reyes.

"Where's the money, Danny?"

Danny grimaced and rubbed his shoulder, idly wondering if the ache there was ever going to let up in lieu of thinking about how his answer might irreparably damage a good friendship. Chin had gone above and beyond, risking career and even freedom, to help Danny scrape together the money he needed to set off on his (doomed from the start) mission to save Matty. All Danny could do in return was give him absolutely nothing. "I don't know." He said it quietly but he held Chin's gaze.

A storm passed through Chin's expression before understanding blossomed in his eyes. "What happened in Colombia?"

Danny's lips pressed together into a thin line. He had never said a word about it, not to any of the team; upon arriving in Hawaii, he had made arrangements to leave for New Jersey almost immediately. Chin and Kono both had dropped everything to at least see him off at the airport - he could never forget the way Kono had hugged him tightly and without reservation or the way Chin had cupped the back of his neck and sent him on his way with a few whispered words of encouragement - but he hadn't ever just told them what had happened. As far as he knew, Steve had kept his mouth shut about the whole affair, which was only confirmed on Chin's question. To Chin's right, Kono stood quietly with her arms crossed and expression bitterly mournful.

"Matty was dead before we ever got there," Danny said, voice a little too level.

Kono nodded. "Steve said that much. That even before Reyes was in Hawaii..." She trailed off.

"Yeah." Danny sighed, rubbed his shoulder again. "Yeah." Uncertain where to even begin, he sighed again.

"Danny..."

He waved Chin's attempt at conversation off. "I killed Reyes." He took a breath and, upon looking into both Chin's and Kono's faces, saw no condemnation. It bolstered him, gave him enough strength to finish telling the tale. "We'd given him the money and I'm pretty sure he wasn't going to let us leave Colombia alive. Steve and I..." He trailed off, hands gesturing vaguely and both Kono and Chin picked up on the attempted explanation.

"So you fought them off and, in the process, Reyes was killed."

Danny looked at Kono and gave her a half-shrug. "Something like that." He caught Chin giving him a narrow-eyed look; he ignored it. Whatever he had intended to say next was cut off as the door behind him opened. Danny glanced over his shoulder, then moved aside so that Steve and Grover could join them in the office.

"This has a somber air," Lou said and carefully closed the door behind him.

Steve crossed to Danny's desk and propped his hip against it, narrow-eyed gaze taking in the demeanor of the room. "You telling 'em?"

"Yeah." Danny's voice held a forced lightness. "Got up to the part I don't remember all that well."

"Right." Steve scratched the side of his nose with one finger.

Danny gave him all of about three seconds to pick up the story and, when he didn't, decided another prod was necessary. "Since the money seems to, once again, be the root of all this, we were trying to figure out where it went off to."

Steve ran his hand over his mouth and blew a hefty sigh. "Yeah. That's... that's actually a good question." He dropped his hand. "I got you outta there."

At that, Danny nodded. "I do remember that part, thanks. I wasn't swooning."

Steve gave him a Face before turning his attention back to the others. "We had to get off the streets. I got us secure, made a few phone calls, and when I went back to clean up a bit, the money was gone."

"So it's anywhere with anyone."

Steve glanced at Lou and nodded. "With how things went down, we needed out and out fast."

Danny winced, which drew all attention onto him. Steve stood up straight as Danny rounded the corner of his desk and dropped into the chair. "You didn't tell them," Steve said.

"They didn't need to know."

Steve leaned over the desk, hands planted on the surface. "It's pertinent now."

It took everything Danny had to simply look mildly back at Steve. "Quit looking at me like I'm a suspect."

McGarrett snorted, but straightened. It was Grover who broke the dark silence that settled upon all of them. "You gonna tell us or make us start guessing? Because I got a few suppositions up my sleeve and I'm thinking some of them aren't too far off base."

"I killed Reyes." Danny had said it once before but there was a weight in these words that spoke of a different meaning. "After everything was done. He was unarmed." He leaned forward, elbows resting on the desk and refused to look away when all gazes fell on him. Kono and Grover both just looked sad and troubled. Chin's gaze held a sort of bitter understanding.

"I covered for him," Steve said. "That's when the money was taken. I was making sure no one could connect us to it."

Silence fell. This time, it was Kono who broke it. "So, as far as whoever Reyes was working for is concerned, you guys marched in, killed Reyes, and took millions."

Steve rubbed his face again while Danny tapped his fingers against the desk. "Yeah," Steve said. "Looks like."

Lou blew air through this teeth. "Reyes wasn't top dog."

Steve shook his head. "He was an accountant."

"With a gun," Lou pointed out, "and a lot of hired help."

"And backing from someone higher up," Chin said softly. "This isn't about Reyes so much as it's about the money. The powers that be don't care where Reyes ends up but they do care what happens to eighteen and a half million dollars."

"Which we managed to lose in a basement in Colombia." Danny ran his hands over his hair. "I'm sorry."

Chin waved the apology away while Steve muttered something about it being his fault too, but Kono perched herself on the edge of Danny's desk, hip next to his phone. He looked up at her, blinking in consternation when her hand dropped on his shoulder. "We can figure out who to blame later," she said, her tone all no-nonsense.

"She's right," Lou said. "We put this thing to bed first. Have we heard from CSU yet?"

Kono shook her head. "Not yet. I'll drop by and see what Charlie has to say."

"I'll check with Max." Chin was already pulling out his phone. "See if there's anything we can use from that body."

Lou opened the door. "I'll take HPD. See if Lukela can dig up anything on traffic cams or something in the neighborhood. Somebody saw something somewhere. We just have to dig it up. You said you saw a dark-colored Mustang that night, right?"

Danny nodded. "The barrel and handtruck couldn't have fit in a Mustang, though."

"It's a lead." Lou shrugged. "Could have been surveillance. Could have been someone out who saw something."

Kono patted Danny's shoulder again, then stood to follow Chin and Lou as they left the office. "Constant contact," Steve called after them. "Whether you find something or not, you call me."

Kono's "sure thing, Boss" rang out clear.

Steve leaned over and pushed Danny's phone into his partner's hand. "You are going to call Sacred Heart and check on Grace."

Danny blinked up at him. "I... " He trailed off, then blew air through his teeth. "Yeah, okay." Truthfully, sending Grace off to school that morning hadn't been easy and as long as Steve was going to give him checking-on-his-daughter busy work, he'd take it.

"Take a breath, Danny." Steve pulled out his own cell and started thumbing through contacts. "We'll get this."

"I know." There was a depth of conviction in Danny's tone that had Steve pausing for just a moment. He nodded once, then tapped the screen of his phone. "Who are you calling?" Danny asked.

"Amber." Steve didn't even look up - or look bothered that he had Danny's girlfriend's number programmed into his phone.

Danny stared at him. "Amber. How?"

He still didn't look up. "She gave me her number after that bomb went off and you guys went to Maui."

On Danny's line, the phone at Sacred Heart began to ring. He didn't look away from Steve - who still wasn't looking at him. "You were checking up on me."

"Yep." Steve put the phone to his ear and walked out of the office without another word.

"Unbelievable," Danny muttered as he waited for the phone to pick up.

TBC

Author's note: I know it's not Crippled, but it's a sudden fit of inspiration. :) Please let me know what you think. This one, aside from some minor editing in later chapters, is a done deal.