See chapter one for disclaimer and summary

Chapter 10

Danny's hunch had been right, at least in the sense that he wasn't using buses and taxis. At Steve's insistence, they had stopped at the main buildings for the different taxi companies as well as the city bus depot. They started at about three hours before the fire as a baseline for when the man would have been traveling. They had talked to all of the drivers who worked during that time, but all agreed that the man did not look familiar at all. While it was possible he was under disguise as well, they decided to check stolen vehicles before they started to Photoshop the photo for different hair colors and styles.

The list of stolen vehicles for the last week totaled out at twenty five cars that had been reported. Steve had shaken his head in bewilderment, "Twenty five stolen cars. Let's hope that Chin and Kono find something on their end, because looking for these cars will take forever and that's even if he stole a car in the first place."

A few seconds after Steve stopped talking and before Danny could formulate a response or think up another idea or angle, Steve's phone started ringing, "Speak of the devil."

"We found him. We used the time stamp and followed him out of the airport. He used an airport shuttle that goes downtown. It was kind of grainy but his hair was darker and he was wearing a baseball cap and glasses. We wouldn't have gotten him at all if we hadn't used the facial recognition software."

"All right. Get me a copy of what he looked like and try to get the number off of the shuttle. We'll take a trip out to the airport."

"On its way, boss."

Steve relayed the message to Danny on the way out to the car. Danny thanked God that their teammates had found something for them to work with. It took twenty minutes to get across town and during the drive, Chin had relayed the information to Danny's phone. Steve had scowled at that, but Danny pointed out that Steve was driving and Danny certainly did not trust him enough to look at email while going down the highway at fifty miles an hour.

At the airport, it took almost another twenty minutes to get the name of the driver for the particular shuttle that had carried their suspect downtown that day. Given that it had been a week and that drivers switched to different shuttles every shift, the manager had had to dig through piles of loose papers looking for the particular driver log needed.

Of course, the way their luck was going, the driver they were looking for was off shift which meant getting an address and phone number as well. Danny called the man as they were walking out and, thankfully, the guy was home and was willing to talk to them.

"Yeah, yeah, I remember him. He was a cocky asshole, wanting me to stop where there was no shuttle stops on the route. I think he started around Seaside Ave and kept at it till we passed it. Kept saying he would pay a big tip if I did," The guy said, handing Danny his phone back.

"Do you remember where he got off?" Steve asked.

The guy's face twisted up in thought, "Holiday Inn stop another street up. Thought that was kinda weird, ya know, given that he kept offering me that big tip. I guess he could've back tracked to wherever it was he wanted to go."

Danny nodded, "He could've, but you gave us a starting point. Thank you for your help."

They started down the steps and just as they hit the bottom, Steve turned back around, "One more thing. Do you have a map of your route from that day?"

"Sure, sure, hang on a sec."

Map in hand, Steve called Chin as they started to the hotel, "I got the route from the airport to the hotel for the shuttle. See if you can use the traffic cams and back track from the Holiday Inn along Kalakaua Ave. The driver remembered him because he kept trying to get off by Seaside which isn't a stop on the route."

"You think he backtracked somewhere?"

"Seems likely. We're going to check at the Holiday Inn just in case, but I'm not expecting anything," Steve replied.

"All right, I'll see what I can find. I'll call you back."

Steve hung up the phone and turned onto Kalakaua Avenue. Danny looked at Steve with a frown. They were actually getting further on this case faster than they did with their normal cases, which was understandable, but Steve was clenching his teeth like he did for a case that ran longer than a week. It was actually kind of worrisome but Danny couldn't think of anything to say to relax him. Nor did he want to say the wrong thing and start a fight. While he actually enjoyed their bantered arguments that seemed to accompany almost every car ride, he knew if he tried that now, it wouldn't be bantering. Not with the way Steve's veins were trying to crawl out of his skin.

The hotel didn't help. It was a bust, just like they thought it would be, but Danny had actually had a small bit of hope when they had walked into the Holiday Inn. As they walked back out, Danny felt somewhat wrung out. If he felt that way, he couldn't imagine what Steve was going through.

"We need to take a break, Steve."

Steve grimaced but nodded with a sigh, "Yeah. We can't do anything until Chin calls anyway."

"Chinese? We can take it back to Rachel's, see the kids."

Steve just nodded again and started the truck. Steve agreeing was actually something of a shock to Danny because, not only were they actually taking a break, but the only Chinese place they really enjoyed was at the shopping lot across from Steve's. That would mean heading out to the house and then back tracking again to Rachel's. It really showed how worried Steve was about the case that he did agree without thinking about it.

Steve pulled out of the lot and turned left to make his way to the nearest street that would take them up to the highway. He barely made it the equivalent of a block before Danny saw a familiar face, "Steve, stop the truck."

"What?"

"Pull over!"

Steve barely had the truck pulled into one of the thankfully empty parking spots along the side of the road when Danny threw open the door, "I think I just saw Wells."

Danny slid out of the truck and pulled his gun from his holster. After he checked to make sure Steve was behind him, Danny started jogging down the sidewalk, looking for the red t-shirt and white baseball hat combination that he had spotted on the man that looked like Wells.

After a minute or so, Danny found him again outside of one of the streets many stores. He glanced over his shoulder, "Steve?"

"Got him," Steve dodged around Danny and ran towards their suspect, "Roger Wells!"

Wells looked right at Steve, swore loud enough for Danny to hear, before he turned and took off running down the street with Steve on his tail. Wells ducked into a shop that had its door open and Steve followed him in. Danny, on the spur of the moment, went past the store and around the corner, finding the back door to the store.

When the backdoor opened, Danny made a quick glance to make sure it was a red shirt and not Steve's customary black before sticking his foot out and tripping the man. Wells fell to the ground with a grunt, Steve nearly tripping over him as he barreled out the back door.

Steve dropped to his knees and pressed one of them into Wells' back, long enough for him to stow away his gun and pull out his cuffs. Steve told him he was under arrest and gave him the Miranda, which had Danny puffing up with pride. It seemed like his man was finally learning. When he was certain Steve had Wells in control, Danny fished out his phone to call in for a cruiser.

However, before he could press a button, a quick glimpse of a sign had him doing a double take, "Steve, get him up. We don't need to wait for a cruiser."

"What?" Steve looked up and followed Danny's finger when the man pointed over his shoulder, "Honolulu P.D…that's convenient."

TBC…