Kari sat in Kono's office drinking a bottled water and eating a sandwich from the vending machine from downstairs.
Steve, Danny and Chin stood outside the office as Kono explained what she had got out of her so far.
"She's from Mytishchi a place outside of Moscow. She's been here since early this morning. She hadn't left that room since arriving."
"How did she get here?" Danny asked.
"By private plane is what she said. She traveled with another woman, but she doesn't know where she is now."
"That's how they were bringing everything in, by private jet, " Steve guessed. "Dillingham air field maybe?"
"What else did she say?" Chin asked.
"Not much, she was hungry and thirsty. She's pretty tight lipped."
"Chin," Steve ordered, "go down and see if one of the girls we arrested tonight knows anything about her, bring her up and we'll question her."
"I'm on it," he replied.
"We didn't find much from her personal stuff that was in the room," Danny said. "A couple pieces of clothing and her Passport and Visa, which were stamped this morning."
Steve groaned and rubbed his hand over his mouth looking at her through the glass doors, "What are we going to do with her?"
Danny held his hands up, "I don't know about you, but I can't find any reason to charge her with the others."
"No way!" Steve shook his head adamantly, "She wasn't involved, I'm pretty positive about that."
He smiled at her as she looked up at the three of them, but noticed her eyes dart away from him the second they made eye contact. It was obvious that she was frightened by him. 'Why wouldn't she be,' he thought angrily, ever since she's been here practically every man she's come in contact with had probably scared her to death. "I'll call the State Department and see if we can maybe get her deported back home."
"I'm going to take her down to the locker room and let her shower and change clothes," Kono said.
"Good idea. Thanks, Kono."
Steve and Chin sat in the interrogation room across from one of the women that had been arrested.
"What can you tell us about the girl that arrived this morning?"
She looked at them surprised, assuming they were going to question her about the drugs and her involvement. She shrugged, "She got here early this morning. They took her straight up to the room."
"Who is she?" Steve asked.
The woman looked at him, "What do I get if I tell you?"
Chin and Steve looked at each other, "A gold star?" Chin announced.
She huffed, "You'll have to do better than that."
Steve glared at her, "How about just helping out an innocent victim. She didn't belong there, you know that. So how did she end up there?"
"None of us belong there," she fired back at him, "I was an innocent victim once too!"
Chin rolled his eyes, "Save the story. I've seen your record. You're not that innocent."
Her eyes bore into him, "What do I get for talking?"
Steve was tired and already fed up with her, he wanted to know about Kari and didn't want to play anymore games, "We'll drop the solicitation charges, but the drug charges will depend on what they found in your room during the bust. That's the best we can do. If you don't like it, I'll go down and talk to someone else and give them the deal."
She snarled at him, "Fine. Derek told me that she was owned by a guy in Russia, like his property or something, and she kept running away so he sent her here as punishment. It was temporary, just to scare her. Molly brought her and then flew back after."
Steve was stunned by the details and even more stunned that she said it so matter-of-factly, like it was the right punishment for her. "Who is Molly?" he asked.
"She's the one that brings the Russian girls over," she shrugged, "that's all I know about her."
Chin leaned forward in his chair, "How often do these Russian girls come here?"
"Every month maybe, but most of them don't work. They are sold off," she rolled her eyes, putting her fingers up like she was quoting, "I mean 'married off', to guys that fly here from the mainland."
"Who's the guy in Russia?" Steve asked.
She shrugged, "I don't know, just some rich guy because he lives there but controls everything here."
Steve stood up and motioned for Chin to follow him. They went outside the room.
"We need to get Connor updated on this. In the morning let's get a flight manifest from Dillingham and Honolulu airport and see if we can figure out who owns that plane."
"If it is someone from Russia," Chin reminded him, "the trail runs cold, because we aren't going to be able to do anything about it."
"I know," Steve agreed, "but at least we'll be able to shut down that plane from coming into the US, and his little business he's got going on here is officially snuffed out."
Kari stood outside the shower wrapped in a white towel as Kono reached in and turned it on. She handed her some shampoo and conditioner, "Here you go."
She smiled and took the items, dropping the towel and stepping inside, closing the curtains.
As her back turned, Kono saw the fresh bruises on her upper thighs and some old scars that ran over her back. She almost gasped at the sight of them but held back, not wanting to alarm her. She knew the bruises on her thighs were more than likely meant she had been raped. She reached in and turned the shower off, knowing the evidence was going down the drain. She handed her the towel and opened the curtains.
"Kari," she started and then moved the towel to expose the bruises on her legs. She looked up at her and didn't have to say anything else. Kono knew she understood what she was asking.
She looked down at the marks on her leg and instantly flashed back to the two men holding her down taking their turns with her. Her hand pulled the towel closed, hiding them. She glanced back up at Kono as tears filled her eyes.
"Who was it that did that?"
Kari had never seen them before, she didn't know who they were. She shrugged her shoulders as a tear dripped on her cheek, "I want to clean myself," she pleaded to Kono with her eyes.
"We can find who did this. They will go to prison," Kono argued.
Kari almost laughed in her face. Kono didn't understand that it wasn't the first time it had happened and it probably wouldn't be the last time. It was why she had run away in the first place. She would heal from this one the same way she had healed from the others. When the bruises went away so would the pain. She reached in and turned the shower back on.
Kono went to turn it back off and Kari grabbed her hand.
"No. Please let me clean myself." She dropped the towel and closed the curtain again.
Kono stood outside the shower and knew she couldn't force her. She just had to accept that she didn't want help from her. It was difficult for her as a police officer and a woman to understand why, but she had to respect her decision. Her attitude toward it is what disturbed her the most, she was pretty sure it wasn't the first time it had happened.
Steve looked at his watch, it was already past one in the morning. He sat back in his chair and yawned, stretching. He looked up in his doorway and saw Kono and Kari standing there. The young woman looked a little better, cleaner. He noticed her hair was actually blonder than he had remembered and once pulled away from her face, she was actually kind of pretty he thought. Her blue eyes still looked nervous and she refused to look directly at him. The tank top and shorts she had on showed the white skin that was not the norm in Hawaii. It made her look even more sickly. She was very thin and it not only showed on her body, but her face as well.
Kono motioned for Kari to go to her office. They both watched as she went in and took a chair across from her desk. She closed the door to Steve's office.
"Did Danny and Chin go home?" she asked.
"Yes, about half an hour ago. Thanks for helping her out."
"What are we going to do with her tonight? I'm assuming we have to wait until tomorrow morning to speak to anyone at the State Department."
He nodded, glancing past Kono into her office. "We could set her up in a vacant cell downstairs maybe, just for tonight."
Kono made an uneasy face, "I think that might freak her out."
"Does she seem unstable to you?" Steve asked, wondering if maybe she needed to be admitted for physic treatment.
"No, no, nothing like that," Kono defended her, "I just think she's been through a lot today and she was already locked up once..."
"Damn," Steve interrupted, scolding himself for suggesting that, "You're right, bad idea." He sighed heavily and motioned for the couch in his office, "She can sleep there. I'll stay in Danny's office."
"Are you sure?" Kono asked, surprised by his offer, "I could probably take her home with me?"
"No," Steve shook his head adamantly, "I don't like that. We'll be fine. Why don't you head out for the night."
"Ok, I'll bring coffee and breakfast for you two in the morning?"
"That would be good. Big coffee," he smiled, demonstrating a large cup between his hands.
They both went back to her office. Steve stood behind Kono as she explained their plan to Kari.
"You can sleep in that office over there tonight," Kono instructed pointing to Steve's office, "Commander McGarrett will sleep in that office over there so you're not alone here."
Kari looked from Kono to Steve and then the floor, not wanting to make eye contact with him. She was wondering why they were being so nice to her. Kono had explained earlier that they weren't going to arrest her, which was a relief. She wondered why then she couldn't just leave. She didn't want to stay there, especially with just him. She didn't trust men, no matter how genuine they seemed, in the end they were all the same.
"Can I leave?" she asked Kono.
They both seemed surprised by her request.
"Do you have a place to go?" Kono asked.
She hadn't thought that far ahead, all she could think of was to get out of there. She had spent nights outdoors before after running away and could do it again. She nodded her head, "Yes."
"Where?" Steve asked, knowing she was lying.
She finally looked up at him with his stern expression, he knew she was lying, but she didn't care, she didn't want to stay there. "Can I leave?"
"It would be safer here," Kono pleaded with her, "tomorrow we might be able to get you home."
That set off an alarm inside of her. She stood up and moved toward the door. "I can leave?" she asked again, not waiting for an answer.
"Hold on," Steve stood in front of her, "just hold on and think about this."
She immediately backed away from him, hitting the edge of Kono's desk, putting her hands back steadying herself.
There it was again, that unmistakable fear that he instilled in her for reasons that were beyond his control. He stepped back showing her that she didn't have to fear him, but he knew it was a lost cause. He tried not to take it personally, knowing it was men in general that she seemed extremely afraid of. It bothered him though that it was all men regardless of who they were. It made him wonder what kind of hellish place she had come from and the quality of life she had lived to make her so afraid of the entire gender.
Kono stepped in front of him, "Kari, it's ok. No one here will hurt you. We just want to help."
She shook her head, "I want to leave. Can I leave?" They didn't understand that helping her go home was not helping but sending her back to prison. Even though she didn't have the slightest clue where she was going, it was better than home.
"Yes, I guess if that's what you want. Do you even know where you are?" Kono replied helplessly.
"Hawaii." Kari answered, seeing the markings on Kono's badge. She moved past her carefully out the office door, holding on to the bag that held some clothes, making sure she kept her back to Steve, and walked to the exit.
Kono looked at Steve. He held his hands out in defeat, "We can't make her stay."
"Where is she going to go?"
"I don't know Kono, but we can't force her!" Steve said angrily and then caught himself, "I'm sorry, I'm tired. I'm trying to help but she looks at me like I'm some kind of monster ready to pounce on her."
They watched her walk out the door.
"I'm pretty sure she was sexually assaulted," Kono said regretfully. "She had some really bad bruises on the back of her thighs and arms. I don't think it was the first time either. She had some really nasty looking scars on her back too. I tried to get her to talk, but she wanted nothing to do with it."
"No wonder she's afraid of me." He looked toward the doors she had just exited through and felt guilty for her position; even though it wasn't him that put her there, he still felt somewhat responsible since it was a man that had. He pulled out his wallet, taking the cash he had in it, thumbing through it. "I've got about eighty bucks," he handed it to Kono, "here, go take this to her."
Kono looked at the money and then smiled up at him, really not that surprised by his actions, he was just that type of guy. She took it from him and pulled another twenty out of her pants pocket, running down the hall, "You're a decent guy boss," she yelled out to him.
"Yea, yea, whatever. Hurry up and catch her."
Kono reached Kari just before she left the building, "Here take this," she handed her the wad of money, "it's from Steve."
Kari looked at her confused.
"Commander McGarrett."
She stepped back and refused to touch it, "What does he want?"
Kono sighed, "Nothing. He wants you to take it because he knows you're leaving here with nothing, and he's concerned." She held her hands out not knowing how to explain that he really didn't want anything for it, "He's a Police Officer, and I don't know where you come from, but here, we actually really do care about people, that's why we're Police Officers."
Kari looked at the money and wanted to take it but was still apprehensive. She couldn't help but look past Kono to see if he was there, watching her. It was incomprehensible in her mind that he would give her money and want nothing for it in return.
Kono reached out and took her hand, putting the cash in it. "It's OK. He's not going to jump out at you. He's a nice, decent guy." She squeezed her hand, "Really, we just want to help."
Kari smiled at her and took the money, "Thank you."
"Can I give you a ride somewhere? I know where there are some nice hostels."
"No," she shook her head, "thank you."
"Ok," she said, giving up, "good luck."
Kari didn't believe in luck, there was no such thing. She had never been lucky at anything in her life and at the age of twenty-four, she was pretty sure by now that luck had lost her number. She went outside into the dark, warm Hawaiian air and took a deep breath, smelling the variety of flowers that were only a few feet away. She may not have had luck but she was free. She stood looking around her, not knowing which direction to go, but it didn't matter, she could go anywhere she wanted.