I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.
Note: DEA Agents Joe Cano and Girardi are OC's established in my previous stories. Especially in "A Birthday to Remember" and "Amnesia" where no love was lost between Five-0 and Joe Cano.
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Chapter Four – The Deep End
At barely eight o'clock Friday morning, Steve was already pinching the bridge of his nose in pained agony as he held his cell phone two inches away from his ear. He knew it was going to be an extremely bad day as he listened to Danny loudly rant about his completely devastated and obviously severely vandalized car.
"Every tire, Steven. Each one has been slashed to ribbons. And this damnable yellow rose … what the hell is that about?"
His steaming cup of coffee already forgotten, Steve listened to every single word his irate friend said as he simultaneously grabbed his keys and strode purposefully out to his truck.
"I'll be there in five. Danno, calm down …we'll check it out together." Groaning, as his unintentional words sparked a new tirade of fury, Steve left his driveway and was unable to get another decent point in edge-wise.
"You want me to what? Calm down? I can't believe you just said that …never tell an angry person to calm down, Steven. Never. And I don't need to calm down, Steven. I need a crime scene unit and then I need a tow!"
Wracking his brain, Steve was considering any enemies that might have wanted to make a point and was coming up empty. "Call Duke .. get HPD there. I'm on my way .. Danno, anyone come to mind? Or maybe it could just be totally random …"
The sarcastic puff of air on the other end effectively put a stop to the conversation. "I did already. I called HPD first and they're here now. Duke checked and there's been no reports of random vandalism even remotely like this in the area … and no, no I can't think of anyone."
A few minutes later Steve stood next to a red-faced Danny on a grassy section of lawn as HPD recorded the damages to the victimized Camaro. The car sat on its rims all the way around with bits of black rubber ripped and sticking oddly out from each maimed tire. The yellow rose was bagged at Danny's request and the car was being thoroughly processed. Steve hung his head and almost wanted to hide in embarrassment as Danny refused to calm down and spat outraged demands at the HPD crew. But to their credit, his HPD friends and acquaintances were all taking it in good stride as they dealt with the important task at hand. Circumspect smiles and grins were shared as they diligently went about their work and catalogued everything in, on or near the Camaro. Truth be told, the vandalism aimed at one of their own equally antagonized them and not a stone or possible speck of a clue would go unturned.
Steve heaved a sigh at the obviously very particular and focused damage. A kid might do one tire .. maybe two. But all four … and so viciously spiked and so meticulously damaged? Steve wasn't so sure now as he surveyed the damage first hand and felt the first stirrings of unease. The person or persons who had done this were simply extremely malicious and very angry.
He sighed again as Danny left his side and got in the face of one of the HPD investigators that was peering under the Camaro's front-end.
"I need my car back in one piece … one complete and whole piece … by the end of the day. Actually you know what? No, before the end of the day. So let's get this done right, but as quickly as possible."
Intentionally diffusing the one-sided conversation, Steve pulled at Danny's shirt to get his attention. The investigator grinned his thanks behind Danny's back as he quickly fell to his knees to escape by hiding his head and upper body under the chassis.
"You've got Gracie for the whole weekend?" Steve finally realized the additional reasons behind the anxiety laced tone as Danny stalked around his car and furiously muttered to himself.
"Yes, yes I do. How …?" And Danny's arms flailed uselessly in the air as his frustration hit new heights. "What am I going to do this weekend if it's not back?"
Bending down to check out the rims, Danny slapped the side of his car. "I bet the rims are damaged too. Fantastic."
But Steve dared to smile as he dangled his own truck keys in front of Danny's face. "One thing at a time, D. My truck is yours when you need to pick Grace up from school if the Camaro's not repaired by this afternoon. Other than that, I'm sure we can have this all wrapped up before the end of the day since it doesn't take long to swap out new tires. The rims will be fine. You'll have wheels one way or another for the weekend."
Danny marginally relaxed as he ran both hands up into his hair and could only find one miserably spouted word as he woefully tallied up the possible damages done to his car. Wounded by what also seemed very much like a personal attack, he had a busy morning ahead of him searching through his own files of possible suspects before the Bobby Girardi meeting.
"Thanks." Catching Steve's eye and seeing the understanding expression that combined both worry and some amusement, Danny shook his head ruefully at his misplaced gruffness. He finally decided to let some of it go as he managed a short grin.
"Really, I mean it. Thank you."
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Steve and Danny met with Bobby Girardi at the Five-0 offices later that same morning to review and discuss the joint plans for the following week's planned mission. But Chin and Kono would carry on researching their current and past case files for possible suspects with particular vendettas against Five-0 or Danny.
Girardi had come alone and was wrapping up key next steps before leaving. "We'll need to get our primaries together on Monday and Tuesday in order to run through extensive mock-up maneuvers and placement of key personnel in the warehouse." Steve appreciated Girardi's particular need for detailed perfectionism.
"No mistakes. No one separated from the main body." Girardi tapped the schematics that had been pulled up on Steve's laptop as he made his points.
"Absolutely no risk of friendly fire. Seamless, well oiled. But as I've stressed before, Benji Sato belongs to the DEA. When he's brought in, he's ours."
Steve smiled as he shook Girardi's hand and agreed to each stipulation. "Agreed. When we meet on Monday, the head of HPD SWAT's force will also attend. And I'm relieved that we're on the same page. But as long as we seem to be, I need to ask about Joe Cano."
Danny chuffed out a sound in disgust which caused Girardi to look directly at him in surprise and Steve inwardly moaned as he recognized that his partner's self-edit button was completely turned off.
"There's something wrong with that guy." Steve glared at Danny in a silent warning, but he ignored it as he stared back at his friend to make his point.
"First, we lost you .. nearly permanently and you lost your memory. Again … nearly permanently."
Turning back to Girardi, Danny folded his arms and Steve knew that the added attack from this morning on the Camaro had only stoked his fire. "Are you aware he used DEA resources to trace my cell phone to Steve's house to confront me before the last mission? The man's relentless."
Throwing his own style of daggers at Steve's growing death stare, Danny challenged the men when he saw that Girardi hadn't been aware of that impromptu and unwelcome visit. "He'll tell you. Steve had to kick him out of his own house that day. Not to mention how he endangered not only Kono, but one of your own on said last joint mission."
The sarcastic but very true words made Girardi frown, but he allowed Danny to continue and then instantly regretted it as the Detective's voice began to rise in the small office.
"He's a rude, insensitive bastard."
"Danny, that's enough." Steve's words were quiet but firm. Taking a step closer, he insisted that Danny shut his mouth and then addressed Girardi. But what came out sounded nearly as inappropriate as Danny's words and Steve mentally kicked himself as Girardi's expression darkened.
"What he's trying to say is that Cano is not welcome near any of us on this mission. He's a menace and a dangerous distraction."
Though annoyed by the change in topic, the DEA supervisor acknowledged Steve's demands but addressed his last comments to Danny.
"I'm very well aware of the situation. But frankly, you and Joe should have been brought up on charges of at least insubordination for that very public fight. You left my man severely injured .. he lost months of work and had to be placed on an extended leave of absence."
Girardi's words only served to enrage Danny as he sputtered about again Steve's abduction and Cano's unprofessionalism that put too many in danger. Chin and Kono stopped their work outside Steve's office as voices raised and tones escalated heatedly.
"And about that …" Danny slapped his hand on the desk to make a point and Steve growled out yet another warning which was again blatantly ignored.
"I'll have you know that I visited Joe in the hospital to try and apologize … maybe it was too soon .. maybe I was wrong to try."
"You visited him?" Girardi and Steve spoke in unison and then glanced to each other at the odd coincidence.
"Why would you do that?" Steve added in surprise. Danny's answering tone clearly said that Steve was an absolute Neanderthal for needing to ask the question and Steve smirked automatically with a memory from their very first meeting on the Island.
"Because Steven, it was the right thing to do. I thought I needed to apologize since I hadn't meant to do what I evidently did to the man."
Girardi raised his hand to stop the conversation as it continued to escalate. "Enough. We need to move on. I will tell you that Joe has had issues over the past twelve to eighteen months. These issues pre-date our work with Five-0 and started after our agent Ken Ito went undercover and then was subsequently murdered by Hito Matsui. Since that time .." He paused as he looked for the right words to share and sadly shook his head.
"Regardless, Joe's primarily on desk duty now .. indefinitely. He will not have an active role in this mission." Allowing himself a wry smile, Girardi added.
"He's actually been a nicer, gentler soul after returning from his leave."
Danny snorted in disbelief and Girardi had to smile. "No, it's true. Oddly enough, he's a nicer guy. I can't quite explain it …"
Unable to help himself, Danny snarked softly under his breath. "Yeah, that would be odd. Very inexplicable." And he earned himself another pointed glare from Steve to knock if off, but their next shared look spoke volumes regarding their joint skepticism.
As the three quieted, Steve eventually voiced sincere agreement with Bobby Girardi that they all needed to accept what was being said in order to move on.
"We'll bring our teams together on Monday." Steve confirmed as they escorted Girardi out of the building. "Eight in the morning .. promptly .. at your offices."
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Danny's car had been processed by HPD, but was still in the shop getting a complete set of four new tires as the time neared to pick up Grace from Sacred Heart. At Steve's private request, the HPD mechanic was also doing a complete once over to ensure that brake lines or other critical vehicle components hadn't been compromised. He was also asked to examine each tire in an attempt to define what had been used to so diligently carve up the tires.
But no prints or evidence of any kind were picked up on the Camaro or from the yellow rose. And based on its commonality, it was useless to even try and trace the flower back to a point of origin or a particular florist.
Chin and Kono had exhausted their other tasks of looking for possible suspects and Steve had waved them off for the weekend.
Sighing disgustedly, Danny agreed. "We've got nothing. Let's call it a day."
Hanging up the phone in his office to check once more on the Camaro, Danny motioned to Steve indicating that he needed the keys to the truck. "It will be ready around four-thirty or five o'clock but I need to leave now to get Gracie on time."
Steve grinned and grabbed up his keys. "The day's nearly over so how about I come along. We can take Grace out for a treat rather than having her stuck here in the office. I can drop you two off to pick up your car?"
Decision made, the two made the short trip over to the school and Danny was out of the truck as soon as he saw Grace on the school stairs.
"Hey Monkey!" He said with a huge smile as he met her half way.
"Where's your car, Danno?" Grace asked after giving Danny a hug and a kiss.
"Uncle Steve and I are taking you out for ice cream and then we're going to get it from the mechanic. The car has a flat tire."
"Or two or three…or four," Danny unhappily thought to himself as he took Grace's backpack from her hands and walked her over to the truck. Flinging the backpack onto the front seat, Danny opened the half-door to help her up into the back seat. But Steve's shocked and nearly stuttered words stopped him cold as he went to buckle her in.
"Hey, Gracie. Where'd you get that yellow rose?"
Danny felt his heart nearly stop and the pit of his stomach clench in fear as he slowly looked at Steve's barely concealed worried expression and then towards the backpack. If Cano had been there, he could have seen for himself that the combined steps of his plan had worked exactly as he had hoped. Coming together seamlessly to create one dangerous whole, the shared looks and the palpable levels of concern would have pleased him greatly.
"What did you just say?" Immediately clenching his teeth, Danny frantically whispered to Steve as he too saw the yellow flower. It was bedraggled and missing petals, but it was unmistakably the same type of yellow rose left on Danny's own car earlier that morning.
"Grace, where did you get that?" Danny chimed in quietly as he willed his hands to not shake in front of his daughter. "Did someone give you that? When did you get that?"
Oblivious to their combined anxiety, Grace nodded off-handedly and then shrugged. She'd forgotten about it and it still hung sloppily out of the front pocket of her backpack.
"Yeah, some guy yesterday. He gave it to me here on the steps after school let out. Before mommy got here."
Steve could practically see the tension rolling off Danny and the fight for control as he tried twice to buckle Grace into the truck. Already beginning to sweat, Danny's numb fingers slipped off the silver buckle before they both heard the final click.
"Easy, Danny." Steve whispered softly as he watched his friend silently begin to implode from a new found fear. He then spoke a bit louder to gain some control of the situation and for Grace's benefit.
"Danny. Let's get the ice cream and maybe Grace can remember what this guy looked like. Can you do that for us, Gracie? Try to remember everything you can about him and tell us when we get there."
Danny was frighteningly quiet as he scanned Grace's innocent face. But she was smiling about Uncle Steve's challenge and happy to be going out for a treat before dinner.
"Yeah, let's." Danny muttered as he finally closed the rear door and got into the front passenger seat.
Both men were silent and stewing by the time they'd gotten Grace her ice cream. For certain, the Camaro's vandalism hadn't been random and the yellow roses held an ominous threat. With gentle coaching, they eventually got a general description of an older man that looked sort of like a grandpa. He had a dark cap and a bad limp. He seemed super nice and just gave her the flower and walked away.
"Nothing else, sweetie?" Danny tried again as he tiredly rubbed a hand over his face. Steve was sitting across from them at the picnic table and had already found a plastic bag for the now dilapidated flower. "That was it?"
"Uh-huh. Just the flower and he left." And then just remembering something important, Grace added as he took a spoon of ice cream.
"Oh. No. And he knew my name. He said my name."
Feeling physically ill at that point, Danny abruptly got up from the picnic table and looked down anxiously at Steve who had become just as pale at the final remark. Danny was visibly shaking and sweating as he took deep breaths to try and settle himself. Without a doubt now, he needed to walk away to compose himself before he entirely lost it in front of his daughter.
"Stay with her a second, okay? Just .. I need .. I need to .. I need a minute …"
But Grace didn't miss a beat as she watched her father walk a few feet away and then begin pacing in the shade. "Uncle Steve, why is the yellow flower so bad? Was the man bad?"
Surprised at the astute questions, Steve huffed out a noise and then sighed. "It's not the flower so much. Your father doesn't like that someone you don't know gave it to you. I know it's a pretty flower. But he just doesn't like it Gracie. He also doesn't like that this man knows your name."
Taking up her hand, Steve smiled at her now worried face as she realized taking the flower hadn't been such a good idea. And she'd been told countless times about strangers. "He's not mad at you at all either. So no sad faces, okay?"
The small nod didn't say that Grace was convinced though. Unhappily, she took another bite of her ice cream but wasn't all that hungry for it anymore.
Danny's head was about to explode and he didn't know how he'd be able to make it through the next few minutes let alone an entire weekend. The Camaro had felt like a personal attack … but this now with Grace. It was bigger .. so much bigger than he could have imagined and he'd gone from zero to sixty in five seconds flat. He then made a painful decision as he pulled out his cell phone and dialed Rachel.
Somewhat curt in order to avoid a shaky voice, Danny spoke quickly. "Rachel... something's come up and I can't shake it. I'm not happy about this ... but I need to drop Grace back off with you for the weekend. And then you and I have to talk …it's important."
Turning back towards the picnic table, Danny stopped to watch Grace's profile and then automatically scanned the neighboring area. The noise from passing cars and people in conversation suddenly overwhelmed him and Danny wanted to go someplace more private. Someplace that would be safer.
Steve was watching him closely, but he had moved around from his side of the table to sit next to Grace. One hand had a firm grip on Grace's small wrist and the protective gestures did much to ease some of Danny's mind. But still sickened by his thoughts and what he felt he had to do, Danny slowly retraced his steps and asked Steve for another favor as his daughter's face crumpled and she dropped her spoon.
~ to be continued ~