A/N: Wow, I've been inspired. I've also got a slew of new(er) fics in the works too. Strange! But, here is the next one, without further ado…
Part Nine
Nihi Street
Steve and Danny walked up to the front door of an apartment that had seen better days. Danny knocked and after a few moments, the door cracked open, security chain in place.
"Can I help you?" a voice asked.
"Mrs. Ka'uhane? Hello, I'm Detective Williams and this is Commander McGarrett. We're with Five-0. We'd like to talk to you about the report you made to HPD the other day," the blond introduced. There was a small pause, but then the door closed and the security chain was audibly disengaged. The door opened again to reveal a short, kind-looking Hawaiian lady with graying hair.
"This is about Jonny," she said, shrewd eyes catching on their badges and guns before giving them her attention. "It's not good news." Danny handed her a picture of the man in their morgue. There was a hitch in her breath as she covered her mouth with her hand.
"This is Jonathan Nivens, correct?" he asked gently. It took a moment, but the lady nodded her head slowly.
"It is," she said softly. "I'm so sorry for him…"
"Mrs. Ka'uhane, can you please tell us the last time you saw Mr. Nivens?" Danny asked after taking the picture of him back. She paused to think about it for a moment.
"It was 5 days ago. I saw him taking out his garbage. We said hello to each other. He was such a polite, quiet man. He'd mentioned he had a friend coming to stay with him a few days later, he didn't want us worrying about a new face in the neighborhood. I hadn't thought a thing about it until I'd seen someone knocking at his door the other day. The man had seemed troubled. I asked if everything was alright and he just mentioned he was having trouble getting a hold of Jonny," she said with a frown.
"Was it out of character for Jonny to tell you his plans?" Steve asked. Mrs. Ka'uhane shook her head.
"Not really. We may not have much here, sir, but what we do have is community. We look out for each other. I'd always suspected Jonny was involved in some… not good things with the hours he kept. But he was a good boy, despite it. He looked out for us here and I'd never seen anything bad happen here," she told them earnestly. Then she looked off into the distance, remembering. "I'd asked him about it one day, subtly, of course. He just smiled at me and told me not to worry so much…"
"Did you speak to his friend at length?" Danny asked. Mrs. Ka'uhane shook her head.
"No, I didn't. But he was from the mainland, I think. No accent or anything. He had a small, dark carry-on bag. Nothing else. After he said he couldn't get ahold of Jonny, he left. I never saw him again. I've been watching for Jonny to get back ever since. But he never did," she said. Danny let out a breath before sharing a look with Steve.
"Alright. Thank you so much for your help," he said with a small smile. She nodded.
"I hope you find whoever did that to him. He didn't deserve that," she said before going back into her apartment. The two men stood there for a second, thinking over the information.
"So we've got a guy living here under a fake name. His neighbor has been suspicious of some sort of criminal behavior. He has a 'friend' stop by from the mainland. And then he's offed while working something in the docks," Steve summarized as he nudged Danny to start back to the truck.
"Trafficking?" Danny asked.
"Well, I can't say no to that," Steve said with a shrug as they got into the vehicle. "The question is… how sophisticated? With Fryer involved and our resources coming up empty, this has already spread wider than a small-time operation."
"Especially if Delano is in any way involved. It took Fryer three years to get one guy… that speaks to bigger things," Danny noted, remembering the dirty cop's arrogance when meeting him. Steve nodded as he took out his phone.
"Shit, Kono called. Kamekona too," he said with a frown as he quickly listened to Kono's message asking for a call back.
"Yeah, Kono called me too," Danny noted. Steve tried her over the truck's Bluetooth but it went to voicemail after a few rings. He frowned.
"Well, let's see what Kamekona needs today." He dialed the number and waited. Their friend picked up after the first ring.
"Took your time, brah," Kamekona's voice filled the truck. There was a sense of urgency to it.
"Yeah, we were interviewing a witness," Steve told him, looking over to Danny.
"What's wrong, Kamekona?" Danny asked.
"You need to get here quick. Your girl's in a bad way, but she won't let me call anyone else," he said, his voice lowering slightly.
"What?" Steve asked.
"She was here asking me some questions. But she had a visitor. He was not nice. Had a gun… called her by name," the big man informed them. Both Danny and Steve frowned. She was just supposed to be meeting with Max. What had happened in between there?
"We're on our way, Kamekona. Have you talked to Chin?" Steve asked, looking out for traffic and then swinging the truck around into the opposite direction.
"He didn't answer either. I didn't have your blonde girl's number," he said.
"Alright, alright. Sit tight," Steve said, pushing down on the accelerator. Danny gripped the door handle just a little harder than he normally did when riding with Steve.
"We're not going anywhere, brah," Kamekona said.
Wailoa Shave Ice
Steve and Danny were out of the truck and running towards the table that Kono and Kamekona are sitting at. Kono's head lay on the table and there was an ice pack against her throat.
"What the hell happened?" Steve asked, gently sitting next to her and laying a hand on her back. It took her a second, but she finally raised her head to look at her newly arrived colleagues.
"Delano," she scraped out. Steve cursed. "He's escaped Halawa."
"Kono, babe," Danny started as he eyed her red and rapidly bruising throat. It looked a bit more menacing in the fading evening light. "What'd he do?"
"He found me here, I think he was waiting for me," she said. Kamekona nodded in agreement.
"He bought a shave ice a few minutes before her. Sat at that table," he said, pointing. "Then after she asked her questions, he pulled a gun and took her to the side." He pointed again to the side of the building, out of view from most pedestrians.
"He took my phone," she said, laying her forehead in her palm. There was a screech of tires as Chin's vehicle pulled up to the curb a few yards away.
"Kono!" he cried, Lori following on his heels. Steve stood to give the cousins room to embrace. Chin gently touched Kono's neck, tilting her face up slightly to get a good look.
"I'm fine, cuz," she said. "Nothing a little ice and aspirin won't fix." Chin looked up to the others.
"Delano," Danny answered the unasked question. It took a lot to surprise Chin, or at least visibly surprise the usually calm man. But his eyes were wide as he looked between Steve and Danny.
"Seriously? How'd he get out? Especially without us knowing about it?" he asked. Steve crossed his arms across his chest, his usual game face on.
"That's what I'd like to know," he said.
"So, Delano's out. Threatening Kono…" Chin sighed.
"He does have a bit of a beef with her. With all of us, really," Danny pointed out. Chin looked to his cousin.
"What did he say to you?" he asked. Kono shook her head.
"Nothing more than the normal threats. We're out of our league, we'll pay, he'sin control, he's watching us, et cetera, et cetera, cue bad movie villain. I don't care about that right now. Or this," she said, indicating her throat where he'd held her to make a point. "We've got some bigger problems.
"You tried to call earlier," Steve prompted. She met his eyes and nodded.
"Yeah. I met with Max. He confirmed sniper kills for both our docks John Doe and Reyes. The ballistics match," she said. Lori sighed.
"Well, there's our connection on that end," she said. Chin nodded.
"That's not all," Kono said. "Delano showed up here with the tattoo we've been looking at. The same tattoo on our B&E John Doe."
"So Fryer's been right this whole time. Delano may have been locked up, but he was still running things," Danny said with a curse. Kono shook her head.
"I think it's bigger than that," she told them.
"What makes you say that?" Steve asked, sitting down on the picnic table again. Her eyes met his and held.
"I'd seen our other John Doe before. I hadn't realized it until I'd had Max show me again and I got a good look," she said. Steve frowned.
"Where?"
"When I'd gone out to dinner with Adam Noshimuri," she said. There was silence as Steve processed that. Chin's jaw tightened, but he didn't say anything. Danny's eyes went wide as he rocked on his feet, crossing his arms.
"Excuse me?" he asked. "What, exactly, are you doing going out to dinner with Adam Noshimuri?"
"He asked?" Kono tried to keep it light. Danny snorted.
"Gotta do better than that, babe." Kono looked to Steve, who looked to have made a decision.
"I asked her to keep tabs on Noshimuri," he admitted. This time Danny directed his surprise at his partner.
"Excuse me? You asked her?" There was definite anger in his voice. "When?"
Steve ran a hand over his face as everyone stared at him. "Chin and Malia's wedding."
Danny started to pace in order to keep from punching his partner. "Chin and Malia's wedding… and you didn't think to read us in on this? You sent her undercover and…"
"I did no such thing," Steve growled. Kono let out a breath.
"That was my doing… I… may have taken a few creative liberties with the request," she confessed, studiously avoiding Steve's gaze. Danny's eyes darted between the two of them. Lori watched this interaction with interest, and it did not go unobserved by Chin.
"Okay, everyone calm down," he said. Danny looked to the other man.
"Well then, you knew, didn't you?" he asked as he connected the dots. "It all makes sense now. The timing, your pissy moods…"
"I knew about Noshimuri for a while. The part about Steve asking, I did not now about until recently," he told them.
"Anyway!" Kono cut in, trying to keep things from getting out of hand. "We're getting away from the point…" Danny looked at her with a frown.
"We're not done with this subject," he told her, the father voice he employed with Grace apparent. She leveled him a glare.
"For now, we are, because there's more important information than who I'm going to dinner with," she growled. "For instance… I saw our John Doe at a restaurant we were at. What caught my eye… was a strange tattoo."
"Let me guess, the same tattoo on Reyes' girlfriend, on our docks guy, and now on Delano," Lori chimed in. Kono nodded.
"I noticed it when he delivered a message to Adam at our table," she said, looking around at her teammates. "Adam told me it was a business update." Danny threw his hands up into the air.
"Holy shit…" he cried to no one. "We've already got Delano up to his knees in this, and now you're telling me there's a Yakuza connection?"
"We did say it was likely sophisticated, Danny," Steve noted. Danny shook his head.
"No, no, no, no… I get to rant about this. I deserve to rant about this," he told them all. "You realize that this is now probably international. And makes our job just that much harder…"
The group's silence confirmed his thought.
"And now the head of the beast just got all the more mysterious," he added for effect.
"You've got that right," a voice said off to their side. Danny groaned as she saw who it was.
"And now, we've got this. I don't get paid enough to do this job," he complained. Joe White stood watching them, hands in his pockets.
Five-0 HQ
As the group walked back into the building, Chin grabbed Lori's elbow and guided her to the side, out of earshot of the rest of the team.
"I hope you're not going to upset the dynamic of this team by tattling to the governor on what you heard today," he said. Lori gave him a hard look.
"You mean about Kono making a love connection with an international cartel boss's son?" she asked, a bit of a bite in her tone. "Besides, it looked like you were all upsetting the dynamic enough without my help…" Chin let out a breath.
"You need to understand. We work well together. We get results. And yes… emotions get in the way sometimes. But they always have. That's not only human nature, but it's also the personalities on this team. Does it affect how we work? No, I don't think so. Not in the big picture. In fact, I think it makes us a better team," he said. Lori watched him closely.
"So, the unprofessional emotions I've been observing these past few weeks… they make you a better team when you can barely speak to each other, or cover up pertinent information to an investigation?" she asked. Chin held up his hands as a gesture of surrender.
"I'm not saying what has been done is right or wrong. But as I've also observed, you have also been a part of unprofessional emotions that you seem to think engulf the place," he said, eyebrow raised. Lori looked away with a slight blush.
"So basically you're saying if I keep your secret, you'll keep mine?" she asked. Chin thought back to a moment during Kono's undercover operation, back when emotions were running very high. Something Fryer had said.
"It's absolutely no secret, Lori, that Five-0 runs fast and loose. So whatever you have to say on that won't be news to anyone. The governor included. And frankly, you're broadcasting your own emotions enough that it's not a secret to anyone who is looking. So, no. I'm not saying anything of the sort," he told her. "I'm just telling you that you don't have a group like Five-0 and there not be some unique aspect to the dynamic."
Lori watched him for a minute as she thought through his words. Chin calmly watched her back.
"Duly noted, Lieutenant," she said finally before turning and going to join the others. Chin let out a breath as he, too, went to join the others.
To be continued…
A/N: Whew, that was a quick one. Hope you enjoyed it and apologies for any mistakes. If you see one, give me a heads up!
