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"Alright, let me see your hands."
Danny Williams raised an eyebrow at his partner's strange request, "excuse me?"
Steve rolled his eyes, "your hands; let me see them." His tone was the one that even Danny didn't argue with- usually.
Finally catching on Williams held up both hands, showing off his abrasion-free knuckles with an annoyed sigh. "I didn't hit him."
"Good," Steve replied, truly relaxing for the first time since his partner's phone call earlier that afternoon. He certainly wasn't used to being the voice of reason in this relationship and to be honest, he knew that he wasn't all that good at it. Although repeating 'don't hit him' wasn't bad advice, he should have been able to do better. Danny had worried him on the phone; he'd been too calm. A calm Danny was never a good thing, especially when it came to Grace. He'd been terrified that Danny would do something stupid, giving Rachael a reason to pull his visitation rights that even the Governor couldn't argue with. It would absolutely destroy the blond detective.
Williams grinned slightly, acknowledging his partner's concern. "At least I took the time to clean up properly before meeting up for a beer." He waved a hand at Steve and Chin's sweat soaked and dirt streaked clothes; "I mean seriously, someone would think you've spent the day crawling around in the jungle or something."
Chin shrugged somewhat sheepishly, "what can we say, a beer sounded really good after we did crawl around in the jungle all day."
"But you didn't get to beat anyone up," Kono grinned happily from the other side of the table, "I got to kick an assassin's ass."
The four friends continued to drink and shoot the breeze into the early evening, content in the knowledge that they'd saved an innocent life and helped put another murderer behind bars. McGarrett watched his partner put away another beer with a small frown. It was rare for Danny to drink more than one beer if it was a week night and that was his fifth being emptied now. The day had obviously worn on him more than he was letting on to his team.
"Alright gang, time to head home; we have to get an early start on that report writing tomorrow."
Kono and Chin shared an amused look before groaning theatrically in unison, "do we have to?" Chin winced internally; Kono was such a bad influence on him, but he had to admit he'd never had more fun at work than he did with these guys.
Steve tried to affix a stern expression on his face, but ended up chuckling along with the rest of his motley crew. It had been a rough day for all of them and he'd love to tell them to take the day off tomorrow, but there would always be more bad guys to put away. Steve grabbed Danny and Chin by the shirt collars, gently shoving them towards the door. He kept a hand on Danny's collar as the smaller man swayed slightly, "Danno, did you eat today?"
William's screwed his face up in a comically thoughtful expression, "um… no?"
Despite the tension of the day, the entire team broke out laughing. "Aww, our Haole's drunk," Chin chimed in happily.
Danny growled good naturedly but didn't refute the statement.
"Yup he is, and that's why I'm driving him home."
Steve quickly snagged the Camaro's keys from Danny's hand as they pushed through the front door into the fading sunlight. Williams opened his mouth to argue but quickly thought better of it; Steve was right, he was in no condition to drive. He really should know better than to drink on an empty stomach. He hadn't felt like eating at all that day, his gut had been tight with fear from the second he'd heard Rachel's voicemail. That fear had quickly turned to anger at Step-Stan once he connected the dots. The man had it all- including Danny's wife and daughter, how could he risk all that by getting involved in something so stupid. The rational part of his brain knew exactly why Stan hadn't come to him with the information, but the father in him really didn't care about the man's precious ego; Grace was his daughter damn it! And those men had pointed a gun at her! Danny knew he was brooding but couldn't seem to break himself out of it, especially once his thoughts turned to that damn Housing Commissioner. Just the thought of his shiny forehead and fake smile made Danny's blood boil all over again. Not only was the man a criminal but he was out there parading around as a humble civil servant. No wonder the everyday citizen had zero respect or faith in their government these days. Williams couldn't wait to get those tapes and the rest of the evidence he was going to gather to the DA; he couldn't wait to see Hoffman's face at the trial.
Now if he could just find those two yahoos that were actually stupid enough to hold guns on Rachael and Grace. The Mercedes had been wiped clean, as had the entire house. They may be incredibly dumb, but he couldn't say that they weren't meticulous. But he would get them; one way or another they would slip up and he would take great pleasure in introducing them to a McGarrett-styled interrogation.
That thought managed to put a small smile on his face as he snuggled deeper into the comfort of the Camaro's passenger seat; visions of various tortures dancing in his head.
*****HAWAII FIVE-O*****
Hoffman scowled at the grubby, dark interior of the bar. He hated doing business here but it was the best type of place to do this type of business. The Jackson brothers fit the setting perfectly. Other than both being big and grubby, the brothers couldn't have been more different. Seth was the smart one- which wasn't saying much; with red hair and tattoos covering a majority of his body, he was the spokesperson. Hoffman wasn't even sure Sam Jackson was capable of intelligent speech and he'd never seen the man without the Bass Pro baseball cap. Seriously, who wore Bass Pro in Hawaii? But somehow they'd been naturally gifted in the criminal arts.
The Housing Commissioner squared his shoulders, this wasn't going to be quite as easy as asking them to hijack a car or ransack a house like he always had before. This was killing a cop. Watching the two brothers swill their beer, he somehow doubted they would have any issues with it.
"I've got another job for you," he stated, sliding into a rickety chair across the table form the brothers.
Seth rolled his eyes, "so you said. What is it?"
Hoffman took a breath, letting it out very slowly. "I need you to kill a cop; a Five-O detective actually."
Sam raised an eyebrow.
"He has the tapes that Edwards made," Hoffman continued, knowing that was the extent of the reaction he was going to get from the younger brother, "and he's the father of the little girl that was in the Mercedes."
"And this is our problem how?" Seth leaned back, balancing his chair on two legs. He didn't have any real qualms about killing a cop; it was the getting caught part that he wasn't so keen on. He'd heard all about Five-O and had no doubt they'd go to the ends of the Earth to find whoever killed one of theirs.
"Because I'm paying you to make it your problem." Hoffman smiled smugly, pulling out his metaphorical ace in the hole, "and because you held a gun on his daughter. Who do you think he's going to come after once he's got me behind bars?" Hoffman watched Sam crack his neck in true "thug" fashion and give his brother a quick nod.
"Fine, you care how it's done?"
"Not as long as you do it quickly and you get me those tapes. All the information you need is in there," Hoffman passed a large envelope across the table, "along with half of your payment. You get the other half when you bring me the tapes. His home address is in there too; I highly suggest you do it tonight. According to my sources, he never goes home before nine; that leaves you two hours to get in there."
