A stolen car. Stolen diamonds. Are McGarrett and Williams partners in crime? Someone thinks so and he's taken Steve to force Danny to return his stolen merchandise.

Partners in Crime

Chapter 1

"He took my car!" Danny Williams said in exasperation. "He didn't even tell me!"

From Five-0 headquarters, the detective looked down on the parking lot of the Ali'iolani Hale at the empty parking space where his silver Camaro had been.

"What's wrong, Danny?" Kono Kalakaua asked.

"McGarrett, the world-renowned car thief, left me stranded," the detective grumbled.

Kono successfully suppressed a giggle, but Danny didn't miss the way her eyes twinkled.

"You think it's funny? How am I going to get home?" Danny complained.

"It's only lunchtime," Kono answered, not trying to repress her giggle this time.

"Relax, brah," Chin Ho Kelly came up and put a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder. "Steve said he needed to make a quick run to the store. He'll be right back."

Danny raised his eyebrows. "He couldn't ask first?"

"You were on the phone with Grace. He'd never interrupt that," Chin said.

Danny grumbled, "He'd better not throw out the 'I Heart New Jersey' pin Grace gave me last week."

"If you're going to keep putting them on the driver's side visor, Steve's going to keep tossing them," Kono pointed out.

"This should not be a problem," Danny insisted. "First, my freakishly tall partner always has to put the sun visor up so he can see out, so he can't even see the pin. Second, it's MY car! I should be able to decorate it as I choose."

"Just tell him it was a gift from Grace," Chin advised, ever the peacemaker. "He won't want to hurt Grace's feelings."

"Give the boss a call and bawl him out," Kono suggested. That was always entertaining.

Danny pressed a contact number on his phone. "Hey, McGarrett, bring back my car. What was the big rush, anyway? Big sale on C4 at the ammo store?"

Benjamin "Bingo" Benga looked at the man lying unconscious at his feet — the wrong man! It was the right car, the one that belonged to the thieving haole detective, but this was the Navy guy, the Five-0 bossman.

Bingo tossed away the broken tree branch in disgust. He couldn't believe his luck when he saw the Camaro leave Five-0. He followed it, lost it momentarily, but then spotted it again parked in the shade at the edge of the parking lot. He'd been too late to see the driver, but he figured the detective had gone into the small bakery.

Bingo figured his luck was truly in when some tourist parked a huge motorhome between the Camaro and the store. It was like a sign from above.

Bingo found a sturdy tree branch and waited until he heard footsteps crunching on the gravel. As his quarry came around the end of the motorhome, Bingo struck, and then realized the luck gods were laughing at him, because it was McGarrett, not Williams.

On the off chance that the partners shared their ill-gotten gains, Bingo searched the commander, but all he found was a box of squashed sandwiches and pastries, a badge, a gun and handcuffs — which he quickly appropriated — and a cellphone.

The attacker cursed and shoved McGarrett into the back seat of the Camaro. His victim stirred. Bingo grabbed him by the hair and banged his head into the car's center console. The attacker didn't have a good angle, so it wasn't a heavy blow, but it served to quiet his captive momentarily — long enough for Bingo to pull the seat forward, pull down the sun visor, grimace at the stupid Jersey button and drive away sedately.

It wasn't far to Bingo's secondary hideout, a Hummer dealership abandoned when the division was discontinued and the auto industry as a whole fell on hard times. The owner had been forced to go to work for a Toyota dealership and the enormous, practically new building lay empty. The glass-walled showroom was too exposed, but the service bays around back were cool, quiet and deserted.

It only took a few minutes to pull the Camaro into one of the service bays. By then, Steve was conscious, but disoriented from his head injuries. Bingo was able to guide him into the front seat and fasten Steve to the steering wheel with the cop's own handcuffs. Then Bingo tried to think what to do next.

He was a middleman, a courier not a killer, but his life wasn't worth a macadamia nut if he didn't deliver the diamonds this afternoon. He was desperate and desperation made him dangerous. Maybe there was a way he could use McGarrett as leverage to get the diamonds back.

Then McGarrett's phone rang and Bingo picked it up. The caller's name was ID'd as "Williams."

Bingo made a mental apology to the luck gods and answered the call.

"You want your car. I'll trade you the car and McGarrett for my diamonds, you thief!"

To be continued