oOo

"How are you coming along on Peter Cole's background?" Steve asked as he walked up to Kono and Chin. They had fallen silent as soon as Steve had come out of his office and were now looking at him with barely masked disapproval.

"Missing persons didn't exactly go out of their way on this one," Chin said, indicating the file Steve had given to Kono earlier. "Aside from Cole's girlfriend, they didn't actually interview anyone and her statement is pretty useless."

"I know what's in the file," Steve interrupted. "I want to know what didn't make it into the file."

Fixing Steve with an angry glare, Kono picked up the thread. "There is nothing unusual in Cole's financials. No deposits aside from his regular paycheck and no larger cash withdrawals. He pays his bills on time and hasn't got any debt. Pays off his credit cards every month, too. He is fairly well off, but doesn't have the kind of money that would justify a kidnap for ransom. There has been no activity on any of his credit cards since the night before he was reported missing by his girlfriend Louisa Rayne."

"Okay. What about family and friends?"

"Parents have been dead for over ten years, his closest living relative is a cousin. I spoke to him on the phone and apparently, they haven't spoken since Cole's birthday eight months ago. The cousin didn't even know that Cole had gone missing," Chin reported, his voice carefully neutral. "In her statement to the police, the girlfriend said that Cole had no close friends that she knows of and that the only people he socialized with are his colleagues at Heide Computer Security, but even those he never saw outside of work."

"We need more information," Steve decided. "You two go to Heide Computer Security and find out if anyone there knows anything that could shed some light on Cole's disappearance. I'm going to re-interview the girlfriend and have a look around Cole's apartment."

Kono and Chin nodded, sharing a dark look before turning to leave the office together. Steve returned to his office to check his email but none of the people he'd contacted had gotten back to him yet, so he grabbed the keys to his truck and headed for the parking lot.

oOo

"We can't just go on like nothing happened! Danny's dead and for us it's just business as usual? What kind of friends does that make us?" Kono challenged angrily as soon as she and Chin stepped out of the building.

"I hear you, cuz, but what do you want me to do about it?" Chin replied.

"I want you to act like you care!"

"You know that I care," Chin answered softly. "Danny was a good friend. That's why before coming here, I paid a CSU buddy of mine a visit."

Kono eyed him doubtfully.

"I saved his life at a crime scene once way back when I was still with HPD. He emailed me a copy of the preliminary crime scene report and it turns out that the explosive used in the bomb was military grade Semtex. Few people even have access to that. It's not something you can just cook up in your basement."

"Then all we need to do is find out who had access to it and would want to prevent us from solving the murder of those four girls," Kono concluded, her anger having made way to subdued determination.

"Already way ahead of you, there. My buddy checked crime reports for the last month, and it turns out that a small quantity of Semtex disappeared from a yard the day before yesterday."

Kono nodded. "The day before the explosion."

Chin suddenly took her by the arm. "Come on, I'll fill you in on the rest on the way."

Kono glanced around and spotted Steve coming out the front door of the building. He shot the duo a glance, but said nothing and headed for his truck parked at the other side of the lot.

"Shouldn't we tell him what we know?" Kono whispered.

Chin shrugged. "He might get pretty pissed. After all, he made it pretty clear that we are off the case."

"I don't care," Kono decided. "I think he'd want to know."

She began to run after Steve, calling out to him. "Hey, boss."

Steve who'd just used his remote to unlock the car door turned around. He'd taken no more than two or three steps towards her, when suddenly, his truck exploded. Chin immediately hit the ground and dove for cover behind a parked car, but despite its protection, he could tell by the shock wave that swept over him that the explosion had been a powerful one, intended to kill. Driven by fear for Kono and Steve, he darted out from behind the car and, ignoring the searing heat that he could feel even at the distance and ran toward the spot where Steve's truck had once been.

"Kono! Steve!" he yelled, or at least tried to, his ears were ringing so hard that he could barely hear his own voice, much less any reply. Not that any was likely to be forthcoming. Kono and Steve were both on the ground, neither of them moving.

In a few quick strides, he'd reached the still form of his cousin.

"Kono!" Chin gently shook her by the shoulder, careful not to jar her too much in case she was injured.

To his great relief, she immediately responded to his touch and attempted to sit up. Even as he was helping her, she began talking agitatedly, though Chin was unable to make out what she was saying over the ringing in his ears. Somewhat reassured that Kono was in no immediate danger, Chin left her sitting on the tarmac and went to check on Steve who was face-down and unmoving, his body half-covered by what had been a car door at one point.

Getting no response to a gently shake of Steve's shoulder, Chin checked for a pulse and was relieved when he found a steady, if somewhat fast, beat beneath his fingers. He didn't dare to try and move Steve in any way, not even to get him out of the heat emitted by the flames that were consuming the remnants of his truck. Instead, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed 911.

oOo

"Well, Mr McGarrett, it appears you are a very lucky man indeed," the ER physician declared after reviewing Steve's X-rays. "No fractures whatsoever, just some deep bruising. We're going to keep you overnight for observation, but barring complications, you should be free to go tomorrow morning."

Steve nodded. He had no intention of letting himself be cooped up in hospital, but he had neither the heart nor the energy to argue with the annoyingly cheerful physician. He could always find a nurse later and ask her for whatever papers he needed to sign in order to leave.

"Your colleagues are quite anxious to talk to you. They can see you now, if you feel up to it that is."

"It's fine," Steve answered tonelessly. Talking to Chin and Kono was the last thing he wanted to do right now when all he really wanted to do was forget the last twenty-four hours had ever happened. However, since that wasn't an option on today's menu, he might as well get it over with. At least the cousins had remained fairly unharmed, no thanks to him though. The car bomb had been planted in his truck. It was obvious that he had been the intended target. If it hadn't been for Kono calling after him, it would probably have gotten him, too.

Dr. Cheerful nodded and left Steve alone in the small cubicle. Steve took a deep breath, wincing when he felt every one of his bruised ribs and tried to steady himself. His hands had started trembling ever since he'd gotten to the hospital and it was starting to get worse. He recognized the signs, having seen them before in the field. It was the shock and adrenaline rush that came from nearly being blown up. The events of the previous day, the short night that had followed and the obvious threat to him and his team didn't exactly help either. It took considerable willpower and all of his experience and training not to let himself be swept away by the emotions that threatened to come to the surface with overwhelming strength. This was neither the time nor do place to give in, he reminded himself. Right now, he needed to keep his team safe and figure out who was behind it all.

Startled by a sound, he looked up to find Chin and Kono suddenly standing next to where he was sitting on an exam table. They both looked somewhat shaken, but still calm and professional. Kono sported a butterfly bandage over a cut on her forehead and looked rather disheveled, but managed a tentative smile as he looked up at her and Chin.

"You okay, boss?" she asked.

"I'm fine," Steve replied almost automatically.

Before he could ask any questions, Chin began to speak. "Good, because that means I can ask what the hell you were thinking, keeping this to yourself?" His voice was calm enough, on the surface at least, but Steve had known him long enough to know that he was furious. What he did not know though was why Chin's anger seemed to be directed at him.

"What do you mean?" he asked lamely when he realized that Chin was waiting for an answer.

Chin whipped out on object from his pocket. It was Steve's cell phone. He handed it to Steve.

The display showed a text message. It read:

You have been warned. Next time you won't be so lucky.

It was time-stamped 8.36 a.m.. Steve had left the office just before half past eight, so the message had probably arrived within minutes of the explosion. Probably as soon as whoever was watching them had realized that their plan had failed.

"I take it this isn't the first threat you've received," Chin commented after a few moments, breaking the tense silence between them.

"No, it isn't." Steve confirmed. "I got an email this morning that told me to back off the case or else they'd come after us."

The disapproval was plain on Chin's and Kono's faces. Yet they said nothing, prompting Steve to continue.

"There was also an envelope with some photographs, showing that they had us under surveillance the whole time we were investigating the quadruple murder."

"And what? You decided that they weren't serious?" Kono fairly spat as her temper was starting to get the better of her. "Do you not realize that Danny is dead? Or do you just not care?"

She would have gone on, but Chin stopped her with a faint shake of the head.

Kono fell silent and, after visibly collecting herself, she said: "I'm sorry, boss, I know that I was out of line, but I just don't understand how you can move on like nothing happened."

"I'm not," Steve finally said in a quiet voice. "When I got the email, I knew I couldn't let you stay on the case without putting your lives danger. The governor assigned us a new case, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to have you work that investigation, while I followed up leads in Danny's murder."

Steve fairly had to force out the last two words. Rationally he knew that Danny was dead, yet speaking the words seemed wrong in a way that he could neither understand nor put into words.

"Still, you should have told us," Chin said sternly, then his voice softened. "What I don't understand is how they could know that we didn't really back off the case?"

"We?" Steve asked.

"Yes, boss. We thought you were just going to leave it all to the Feds, so Chin made some calls," Kono explained.

Chin nodded. "I managed to get my hands on the crime scene report through an old buddy of mine who works for the crime lab. Turns out the explosive used at the marina was Semtex. It was probably part of a batch that disappeared from a shipping yard the day before yesterday during a break-in. HPD has an eyewitness' description of the two robbers. We were planning to run that description against photos of everyone who was interviewed at the marina and if that got us nowhere, re-interview the witnesses ourselves."

Steve nodded, realizing that he had underestimated both his team's determination and their resourcefulness. Nothing he could do or say would stop them from tracking down Danny's killer. They might have failed Danny before – Steve because he hadn't taken Danny seriously enough and Kono because she'd let him go alone, but Danny had still been a valuable member of their team and a good friend. They would bring his killer to justice, together, with or without the governor's approval.

"You do that, but stay together and watch your backs. I'm going to talk to the bomb squad and see if the bomb's design gives any clue as to who planted it."

"No, you're not, brah," Chin said calmly. "We talked to your doctor and according to him, you're concussed. You're staying right here until the doc says you're good to go." Anticipating Steve's protest, he added, "Governor's orders."

"You talked to Jameson?"

"Yes, she called your phone earlier. Seems like she heard about the explosion and since it happened right in front of our door, naturally she was concerned."

"How much did you tell her?" Steve asked, suppressing a groan.

"Enough for her to insist that you are not to return to work until cleared to do so by a medical professional."

Sensing that it would be futile to argue further, Steve just nodded. The weariness that he'd felt earlier was returning with a vengeance and suddenly, he had to fight just to keep his eyes open.

Chin and Kono seemed to pick up on his exhaustion. "Take care of yourself, boss," Kono said, squeezing his leg.

"We'll keep you posted," Chin added and then they were gone.

Steve finally gave in to his body's demands and allowed his eyes to drift shut.

TBC