I Believe in You
Chapter One
Zebraboymom
Disclaimer: They do not belong to me. Sigh…
Author Notes: I can't stand having Steve away from the series. Thank goodness he is back next week. Last night's episode just didn't feel right without him. This is my way of muscling Kono into his away time.
Kono sat on her favorite rock and stared out at the ocean. The waves were great today and usually she would be out reveling in the joy, but Steve had been gone for a month and her heart was just not in it today.
Surfing was the one thing they did together without the rest of the team. Danny was too new at it to actually surf and Chin was busy with his new bride, so the two of them made it their guilty little pleasure. They surfed at least once over the weekend and two or three times during the week.
It was after a couple of hours of surfing that they would sit and talk over a beer. They were getting to know more and more about each other and Steve was really starting to open up to Kono.
That's why she was really mad at him right now. She had to find out from Danny that he was gone. Not one word before he left. He didn't even say goodbye and she was mad…really mad at him for the first time since she met him. She had been angry about the whole Fryer thing earlier that year, but she had gotten past that when she saw how he backed her up en the end, but this was unforgiveable.
Who did he think he was that he got to decide for them and go off on his own to look for Joe White and figure out who this Shelbourne really was? Any one of them would have gone with him willingly.
The man was so infuriating at times, but she loved him. She'd never told him that, but she did. It didn't matter that she was solidly in the "friend zone" with him. Her feelings for him had been growing ever since that first meeting on the beach and now that he was gone the need to be with him was consuming her. Every day she went to headquarters straining to see into his office and hoping he would be there bent over his desk reading some paperwork.
She took one last look out at the ocean as her cell rang and she stood up to dust herself off.
"Kalakaua."
"Hey Babe, we need you in the office pronto."
"On my way. What's going on Danny?"
"It's about Steve."
Kono's breath caught in her throat. No. No. No. He had to be okay.
"Is he…?"
"No. At least not that we know, but we're on to something here, okay?"
"I'll be there in twenty minutes."
Kono almost killed herself getting dressed and driving well beyond the speed limits to headquarters. When she ran up the last few steps to their offices she was stopped dead in her tracks.
Joe White was standing next to the Surface Table as they called it. Her heart was in her throat as she strode towards the four men gathered.
"What's going on?"
Joe smiled at her.
"We found Steve."
"I thought he went to find you."
"He did, but he got sidetracked."
"By who?"
"Wo Fat of course."
"Where is he?"
"Japan. That's where you come in."
"Me? Why me?"
"We need to get someone on the inside to let him know he can quit searching. We know where Wo Fat is and I'm willing to come clean about Shelbourne. I don't want to lose him and his damn stubborn streak is going to get him killed."
Kono was instantly engaged.
"Just tell me what I have to do."
Nine hours later Kono sat next to Chin as their Navy transport jet landed in Japan. They found a vehicle waiting for them and left the base without being stopped once. As they drove away, it occurred to her that Joe's connections went far and deep.
An hour later Joe pulled the vehicle up to a small, but neat private residence and they carried their stuff inside. It would be their base and the place Kono was to come to if and when she and Steve got away.
"Okay, here's where we are. Steve followed Wo Fat's sex trade links to a brothel a few miles from here. He's working there and waiting for Wo Fat to surface. The problem is Wo Fat's in hiding too. The Japanese Yakuza, Japan's Mafia, is after both of them. Steve has no clue he's in danger and the only way we are going to get word to him and back up is to get you inside Kono…as one of the women. We can't just go in there guns blazing because we don't know his status. I don't have eyes inside."
"Okay, I can do this. I've done it before."
Danny spoke up.
"That was different. We were right there backing you up. "
"And Steve will have my back too. Relax Danny. We have to get word to him."
"I don't like it."
"Duly noted."
Kono took the clothes Joe offered her and went and changed. They drove to their rendezvous and Kono was handed off to a guy she wouldn't have wanted to meet in a dark alley. Chin took her into a hug.
"Be careful Cousin. If things don't look right get out of there fast. You hear me? If Steve's…"
Kono tried to hang onto her emotions.
"He's alive Chin. I know it."
"Okay."
Joe looked her over one last time.
"I hate to do this Kono, but we have to make it look realistic. Kono nodded her head. She knew what was coming, but Danny didn't. When Joe's fist connected with her jaw, Danny jumped the man and Chin had to pull him off."
"Hurt her again Joe and I'll kill you."
"It's okay Danny. I've had worse and it's for Steve."
The other man brought his fist down across her temple as his ring opened up a cut. Blood went everywhere and Danny went to clock him just as Kono recovered and stepped in front of him.
"Back off Danny."
"That's enough."
Joe nodded.
"I agree. I expected you to be on the ground by now Kono. I underestimated you."
"Good."
"Okay, better get going."
The man threw a hood over her head and opened the back door. He helped Kono get inside and lie down before he turned to Joe.
"I'll keep an eye on both of them Joe."
"Thanks Mac. I knew you would."
The three men stood and watched the car disappear.
"They better be okay Joe or so help me…"
"Down Williams. I'm trying to keep us all alive, okay?"
Steve wandered restlessly around the room as the men conducted the meeting. They were bringing in new girls tonight and he hated it. Some of them were really young and it made him sick to think about what they were getting into. One thing he knew for sure. When he found Wo Fat he was coming back here and he was getting these girls out. Just being there as they paraded women in made him sick.
The head guy Hiroki turned to watch Steve.
"Hey Gary, you need to pick yourself a lady tonight or I'm going to start thinking you swing the other way man."
Steve laughed uncomfortably.
"I will. I just haven't found the right one yet. If I do, I don't want to turn her out for a while. Okay?"
"Sure man. Sure, whatever you want."
Steve's plan was to take one of the really young girls and hopefully keep her from being raped repeatedly and drugged.
The first car drove up outside and three young women were brought in. It was obvious they had been in the trade for a while. They didn't even fight back.
The men looked them over and one of them went to another new guy, Aku. He slapped her and threw her over his shoulder.
"See you guys later."
The other two women were taken straight into the brothel and would be put to work.
Steve leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms. It was going to be a long night.
Each time a woman was brought in, Hiroki would look at him. Steve rejected all of them. They were all just transfers from other brothels and from other countries. He dropped his head and tried not to watch the inhumanity taking place. He ground his teeth and his jaw tightened as he tried to keep control.
Another car pulled up outside and the man brought in a woman with a hood over her head. She was fighting him tooth and nail and the men started laughing when she landed a kick to his shin. Her arms were bound tightly, but she was using everything she had.
Steve stood up straight and took notice. This woman was obviously there against her will and there was something about her height and small but muscular frame that made him nervous.
He was stunned as the hood was removed.
The woman looked around the room and when her eyes landed on Steve he froze in place.
Kono…
A/N: Hope I have whetted your appetite for more.