Thank you for your patience. I could not wait to post the next chapter. I hope you like it
A hand on her shoulder roused Alyssa and she looked up into Kono's worried face.
"Are you OK?"
"Fine," Alyssa lied. "I think just the after effects of the adrenaline rush." Kono nodded although Alyssa was not sure that she believed her.
Alyssa looked back at Trish. Gently, so as not to frighten the girl, she asked. "This is pretty unique. Where did you get it?"
Trish shrugged. "All the girls have one. He gave it to us." When Alyssa looked at her encouragingly, Trish continued. "Mr. Chin. He gave it to us. He told us we were as rare and beautiful as the Orchid." The tone of her voice made it clear what she thought of those words in retrospect.
Alyssa had so many other questions for the girl, but the paramedic approached indicating that they needed to take the girls to the hospital to have them checked out. Alyssa nodded. She turned back to Trish and said. "You'll be in good hands. Just remember, my name is Alyssa Grant if you need anything."
By the time the team returned to the office and completed the required paperwork, it was after six at night and time to go home. Steve asked if she wanted to grab some dinner and Chin also texted asking if she was going to come by. Alyssa responded to both the men that she was exhausted and just needed to get home and that she would see them the next morning at the office.
Alyssa opened the door to her apartment and dropped her work bag on the floor by the door. She took of her gun and badge and put them in their usual drawer in her bedroom. She turned on the shower and walked to her kitchen to grab a beer. The water was hot and Alyssa stripped off her clothing and stood under the hot water for a long time as the scenes from the day's events played out behind her eye lids.
She hated lying to Steve, but he would never understand. He claimed that nothing would change how he felt about her, but she knew that could not be true. And Chin…God...what was she going to tell him? Alyssa rested her head on the cool tile of her shower as the water continued to pour over her.
Dressed in shorts and a tank top and with her hair wrapped in a towel, Alyssa took her beer and went into her bedroom. She pulled out one of the small drawers from her bureau taking out all the items in it and dropping them on top of the bureau. She reached into the back and pulled out a small manila envelope. She took it over to the bed and sitting down, reached into the envelope to get at the contents.
The first item was a newspaper article. It had been hastily torn out of the paper and had the ragged edges. It had been folded and unfolded so many times that the paper was nearly transparent along the folds. Alyssa's hand shook as she reached for the other item; a small white flower pendant on a thin gold chain.
She looked at the two items with tears in her eyes. She opened the newspaper article and read it again for probably the millionth time. "After losing his life in the line of duty, Officer Marcus Kyle of the Honolulu Police Department was laid to rest today. He is survived by his wife Patricia and their children Miranda and William." The date on the article was from over ten years ago and the picture showed a pretty young woman dressed in black, her face strained from fighting back tears along with two young children. They were sitting in front of a coffin and a police office in full dress uniform was offering the young widow the folded American flag. As with every other time she read this article, Alyssa's began to cry and tears ran down her face on to the comforter on her bed. "I am sorry," she sobbed, "so sorry."
As exhausted as she was by the events of the day and thanks to the beer that she drank, Alyssa drifted off to sleep. But then the dreams came.
She was sitting on the sidewalk in Honolulu trying to find shade under an awning of a store. Somebody spoke to her and asked her if she was hungry. She was – she could not remember the last time she had eaten. She looked up and outlined against the sun was a man. He was young, but older than her – maybe in his mid-twenties. He was handsome too dressed in jeans and a Hawaiian shirt. He had high cheekbones and almond shaped eyes, but he was not a native. The eye of somebody who grew up on the island was good at seeing differences and she thought that he was Japanese or perhaps Korean. He introduced himself as Mr. Chow and he bought her a burger at the nearby café. After she finished, he asked if she had somewhere to live and when she shook her head, he asked if she wanted a place. Mr. Chow took the young Alyssa to a large house and showed her to a room. He came back with a stack of clean clothes and showed her where the shower was. When Alyssa went to change, she noticed the pendant on top of the new clothes. "Because you are rare and beautiful like the Orchid," he had said later when she questioned him. Then he showed her what he expected from her.
The dream changed as it always did. She was lying on her bed in the room. She was lying on her stomach, her back too raw from the beating that she had received for running away. She heard noises from outside her room and screams from some of the other girls. She managed to get off the bed and run to the door. She opened it to see girls running down the corridor. In the opposite direction she saw Mr. Chow's men racing toward the main part of the house with their guns drawn. Somehow, she managed to creep after them to see what was happening. That's when she saw him; a police officer coming around the corner, with his gun drawn. But he sees her and hesitates and in that moment a gun goes off and the police office drops to the ground bleeding from a head wound. As she did then, Alyssa screams and that scream wakes her up at the same exact time as her alarm began to blare.
Alyssa walked into Five-O headquarters the next morning with a large cup of coffee. She waved at Chin who was already at his desk and popped open the door to Steve's office to say "Hi."
Steve looked up at her and his brows drew together in concern. "Are you OK," he asked.
"I'm fine," Alyssa tried to answer dismissively. "Just tired." When Steve continued to look at her inquiringly, she tried to smile, "I did not sleep to well last night." Steve just nodded.
"Hey. Have you heard anything more about the girls? Have they found their parents yet?" Steve looked up and shook his head. He was obviously distracted.
"Aly. That's not our case. Let HPD handle it. They will take good care of the girls. Five-O has a case and I need you one hundred percent on this."
Steve walked out to the main area and Alyssa followed him.
"Ok. Listen up. We have an assignment. I just got off the phone with the governor. We are moving a prisoner to a higher security prison. The governor feels we are the only ones who can do this." a sour smile, more like a grimace of distaste crossed Steve's face. "For obvious reasons," as he flicked on the central monitor and put up the picture of the prisoner. The team nodded in understanding when they saw the man they were to transport, but Alyssa looked and just gasped.
Everybody looked at her in surprise and she tried to cover her own chagrin, with a weak joke. "He looks so normal. Why would he need to be in Maximum Security?"
"That's right, Aly. You don't know this story as it all happened before you joined us," Steve said. "This is Wo Fat and he and Five-O go way back. There is not an illegal operation on the islands that he does not have has fingers in. The governor feels, and I agree, that Wo Fat needs to be moved away from the general population. We are going to do that."
Alyssa nodded numbly not taking her eyes of the image on the screen. Steve may say to her that this man was Wo Fat, but all she saw was Mr. Chow.
What do you all think? I know she promised to tell Steve the entire truth, but how would he take this one? For those that asked, McKono is coming - just need to get there. As always love your comments, thoughts and most of all reviews. Thank you for taking the time to read this and thank you in advance for reviews.
