Thank you so much for all your nice reviews :-)
Are you ready for a little bit of island-hopping? First we'll go to Maui...

Chapter 11:

Danny was still grinning brightly when he approached the young woman who was shyly waiting in front of one of the hangars, nervously taking a pull on her cigarette. About ten minutes ago he had smoothly landed the small aircraft at the Kahului Airport on Maui. Ever since Danny had successfully got his pilot's license a few months ago, he took every opportunity to handle the controls whenever he and Steve had to get into a helicopter. McGarrett still had a lot more experience when it came to flying but Danny obviously had a natural talent and with some occasional tips from the former SEAL, Williams was on his way to becoming an excellent pilot.

Only with some effort Danny managed to change his dopey grin into a genuine smile as he showed her his badge. "I'm Detective Danny Williams, Five-0," Danny introduced himself. "Are you Jenny Gordon?"

Since the woman had made it clear that she absolutely wouldn't talk to Commander McGarrett, Danny had convinced Steve to stay out of sight while he tried to figure out what the waitress knew about the case. Steve only reluctantly gave in when Danny swore solemnly that he would call out for his partner if anything unusual came up.

Inconspicuously eyeballing the young woman, Danny barely could hide the roll of his eyes when he thought back to Steve's concern. That girl in front of him was surely no threat. She was barely Danny's height, her short auburn hair curled around her head, her heavily painted eyes concealed her true age, but Danny assumed that she was not older than twenty at most. She fidgeted nervously, picking at her cigarette and tucking a strand of her short hair behind her ear every few seconds. All in all she seemed to be really scared of something or someone.

"Yes, I'm Jenny," she finally whispered in reply, her eyes wide open as she had a close look at the badge that Danny had just clipped back on his belt. Her eyes flickered to meet Danny's gaze, immediately returning to an invisible spot on the ground, avoiding any further eye contact.

"Hi Jenny, nice to meet you," Williams replied in a friendly manner, keeping his voice low and reassuring to not scare her any further. Pointing at a nearby bench he added, "Why don't we sit down and you tell me what you know about the four dead police officers?"

Gently nudging her to sit down, Danny made himself comfortable next to her, waiting patiently for the girl to end her cigarette and find the courage to start speaking. He had the gut feeling that pressing her to talk would only cause her to retreat further into her cocoon, so Danny leaned back, watching her out of the corner of his eye and soon enough his patience was rewarded.

"May… may I see your badge again?" Jenny asked hesitantly after a few moments, knotting her fingers after she dropped the cigarette stub to the ground.

Danny blinked bewilderedly, that was the last thing he'd expected her to say, but nevertheless he nodded slightly, removing his badge and handing it to her, "Sure, here it is."

Hesitantly, Jenny took the badge, examining it closely before she said huskily, "It looks exactly the same as the one he showed me."

"Excuse me?" Danny asked confused. "I'm not sure I understand what you're talking about. Who showed you what?"

"The badge… he showed me his badge," the woman answered timidly. After a few seconds she raised her head, for the first time actually looking Danny in the eye, "He said his name was Commander McGarrett."

Danny's eyebrows shot up as he stared at her in disbelief. Clearing his throat, he replied slowly, "So, you're telling me that Commander McGarrett was here on Maui talking to you?"

Jenny nodded once, her gaze was back to the floor, her fingers nervously intertwined in her lap.

"And that was when exactly?" Danny asked, trying to find out what was going on. He briefly looked back to the helicopter where Steve sat in the pilot's seat, busy searching for information on the small tablet PC they brought with them.

Williams shook his head slightly, really doubting that his partner had been on Maui recently without telling him, but with Steve one could never be sure.

"It was Saturday afternoon, shortly after 3 o'clock," Jenny answered Danny's question, her voice trembling a little bit. "I remember exactly because my shift had just started."

Narrowing his eyes, Danny pensively sucked on his lower lip; there was definitely something wrong in the timeline. Steve's badge had been stolen Friday evening, no way he could have been on Maui one day later, showing said badge to the young waitress.

"How did you know it was Commander McGarrett who spoke to you?" Danny wanted to know, curiously eyeing the woman next to him.

"He told me his name," Jenny said, obviously surprised about that question. "And he showed me his badge."

Well, that seemed to be fair enough, if Danny thought about it. They always showed their badges and told their names without further photo ID to identify themselves. With enough self-confidence it would be easy to pose as a police officer – or the head of Five-0 – if you were just in possession of the appropriate badge.

Danny pondered for a moment on the situation; they knew that Paul Baines was the one behind the stealing of Steve's badge, and regarding the unknown substance Charlie Fong found in the blood samples there was every indication that Baines had a hand in the deaths of the four policemen.

"If I showed you some photos, would you be able to identify the man who spoke to you?" Williams asked, finding the only way to make sure whether Baines was involved or not.

"Yes, I think so," Jenny confirmed timidly.

"Okay, that's great, Jenny. We'll do this later," Danny replied with a friendly smile. "But first of all, tell me what McGarrett wanted from you."

Furrowing his brow, Steve closely watched the young woman from his place inside the helicopter. He was pretty sure that he'd never seen her before and also the name Jenny Gordon didn't ring a bell, he had absolutely no clue why she absolutely refused to talk to him.

Looking over at his partner who just was about to lead Jenny to a bench, inviting her to sit down, McGarrett sighed slightly, returning his attention back to the tablet PC in his lap. He definitely wasn't as good as Chin or Kono with all those nice pieces of equipment but he knew enough to find most of the things he was looking for and right now he was searching through all available police and Five-0 databases for all information about the two woman who used to team up with the four dead policemen.

Steve's eyes flickered back to the two people in front of the hangar while he waited for the files to download, every fiber of his body itched to jump out of the aircraft to join his partner, even if he knew that Danny was an excellent cop and more than capable of handling the situation on his own. A beeping told him that the download was finally complete, shaking his head to clear his mind, Steve tried to ban everything around him from his thoughts as he scrolled through the information on the screen.

The first file Steve opened was the accident report of the car crash that killed not only the policewoman on maternity leave but also her newborn baby. According to the report the story happened exactly as Danny told him earlier that day in the car. The horrible and tragic accident left a third victim, the drunken driver who caused the crash died on the way to the hospital. McGarrett was just about to close the file when he noticed something, frowning he swept his fingers over the display to take a closer look at the autopsy report.

The blood alcohol level of the driver was only slightly increased, certainly not to a level that would necessarily cause him to lose control over his vehicle. But what bothered Steve the most was the little unremarkable note at the end of the report, saying that the blood sample was contaminated with an unknown substance.

Steve felt his heart start beating faster when he read those two words. Unknown substance? What the hell was going on here? Was it really possible that this was the same 'unknown substance' that Charlie told them about only a few hours ago? Licking his dry lips, McGarrett feverishly scrolled through the report, but he found nothing else that gave any further explanation, obviously the lab technicians at that time didn't find it important enough to investigate.

Throwing a quick glance out the window Steve noticed that Danny had managed to make the young woman talk. He watched a few seconds how she nervously wrung her hands in her lap when she spoke before he looked back at his computer. Searching through the database he quickly found the name of the second woman that worked on the team of police officers. At first sight her file didn't show any abnormalities, just like Danny said, she had moved to the mainland almost a year ago, leaving the police, the woman had married a business man from Texas, settling down with him in Fort Worth. But the last item on the file made Steve's blood run cold, it was a missing person report filled in from Honolulu Police Department, the former police officer and her husband disappeared without a trace on a holiday back to Hawaii while on a hiking tour. HPD called off the search after almost a week, pronouncing the two people dead when all that was found were the abandoned tent, a backpack and a few other pieces of equipment belonging to the couple.

Shaking his head in disbelief, Steve activated some other files, finding it hard to believe that all these deaths should be nothing more than coincidence. Only a few clicks later a list popped up on the display, all operations the team of six police officers had worked on since its formation three and a half years ago. He wasn't completely sure what he was looking for, most of the cases told him nothing at all, but he just relied on his gut feeling that anything important would catch his eye.

And there it was, right at the end of the list, apparently the last mission before the two policewomen left the team.

Wide-eyed Steve looked at the date that screamed at him from the display, a date he wouldn't forget anytime soon, because what else would be to remembered if not the day one survived a helicopter crash. A year ago almost to the day, Steve and Danny had been on a helicopter ride to Molokai to interrogate Mrs. Kalili, who used to be Paul Baines' foster mother a long time ago. Baines had been accused of murdering two of his employees in cold blood, Five-0 as well as HPD had been looking for him for days without success. Unfortunately visiting the old lady on Molokai had not been the brightest idea, because Steve and Danny had run straight into a trap, ambushed by Baines and his accomplices.

McGarrett pinched the bridge of his nose as he thought back to that day, he didn't remember much of the flight back to Oahu, because he had sustained a gunshot wound to the arm which to top it all had nicked an artery. Passing out from the blood loss and leaving his partner – who at that time had no idea how to land a helicopter – the task to bring them down safely, was certainly nothing Steve was eager to experience again.

After staring at the screen for almost a full minute, Steve carelessly dumped the tablet PC onto the empty seat next to him. He leaned his head back against the head rest, squeezing his eyes shut in an attempt to put together all the pieces of information he had gathered in the last few moments.

Those six police officers from MDP – five of them dead, the sixth one missing and probably also dead – had been the ones who stormed Mrs. Kalili's house in the search for Baines after Steve and Danny had got into that ambush. At least one of them eventually was responsible for the death of the old lady who had opened fire on the policemen and unfortunately had been killed in the following shoot-out.

Pressing his palms against his closed eyes, Steve breathed out a long sigh before he tiredly scrubbed his hands across his face. He still didn't manage to put together all the pieces in the puzzle; it looked like Baines was taking revenge for the death of his foster mother, killing the police officers who had taken part in the raid that day. And Kekoa, or 'your little rollerblades friend' as Danny liked to call him, had without any doubt identified Paul Baines as the one who gave him the order to steal Steve's badge.

But how on earth did these two events fit together?

Despite the disturbing news he'd learned from Jenny Gordon, Danny couldn't help playing a little prank on his partner, yanking open the helicopter door, he grinned smugly when he saw McGarrett start in surprise. It wasn't often that Steve dropped his guard allowing Danny to sneak up on the former SEAL. He enjoyed these rare opportunities immensely but this time his grin quickly disappeared when he noticed the expression on Steve's face.

"What did you find?" Williams asked, leaning against the open door, holding his own news back for the moment. With growing unease he listened to what Steve told him about the two policewomen, the assumption that Paul Baines was involved in their deaths added to Danny's own findings.

After Steve had finished, both men kept silent for a moment before Danny said with a little sigh, "Okay, now it's my turn." Looking Steve in the eye, he pursed his lips, asking slowly, "Where were you Saturday afternoon?"

"Saturday afternoon?" Steve replied astonished, smiling wryly about the tone in Danny's voice. "Is this an interrogation, Detective?"

Danny rolled his eyes as he repeated, "Just tell me where you were, okay?"

"I was at home," McGarrett answered, the smile on his face gradually changed into a frown. "Why do you ask?"

"Because," Danny said, heaving a sigh, "Jenny told me that one Commander McGarrett visited her Saturday afternoon." Raising his hand to stop Steve from interrupting him, Danny continued, "And that's not all. Obviously he showed her his badge to identify himself… well, or rather your badge, to be precise."

Steve stared at his partner for a few seconds until he processed the meaning of Danny's words. "Baines has been here?" he exclaimed, his eyes wide in astonishment.

"That's what I'm trying to find out," Danny said, slightly cocking his head as he pointed at the tablet PC on the seat next to Steve. "Would you just hand me your little toy? I'm going to show Jenny a photo of Baines."

Nodding a thank-you as he took the computer from Steve's hand, Danny continued warily, "But I'm pretty sure we're talking about Baines here, because more disturbing than your stolen badge is what our fake Commander asked her to do..." Danny's voice trailed off as he shoved his right hand into his pocket.

"And what would that be?" McGarrett asked, shifting his gaze to his partner's hand just in time to see Danny pull something out of his pocket.

Raising his right arm, Williams opened his hand, presenting a small item on his flat palm. He watched how Steve slowly dismounted the aircraft, the expression on the other man's face changing from confusion to bewilderment when he finally recognized the item – a small glass vial, wrapped in a black disposable glove to avoid any unwanted fingerprints, glistening faintly in the warm sunlight.

"He ordered her to put this into the drinks of four policemen," Danny explained while Steve carefully took the glove and the empty vial from his hand, anxious not to touch the glass directly. "Those four policemen who killed each other barely a few hours later."

Steve's head shot up, he looked at his partner, his eyes wide open, "Tell me, she didn't do it."

"Well, unfortunately, she did do it," Williams answered sadly, slightly shaking his head. "She's young and she was scared to death, I think Baines – if it really was Baines who visited her – was pretty intimidating. He told her some weird story about misuse of drugs and that he needed evidence to prove that the police officers were involved, or some crap like that." Danny changed his grip on the small tablet PC he was holding as he waved his hand through the air. "But at least we have the vial. Even if Jenny probably smeared most of the fingerprints, I hope Fong will be able to find something useful."

Raising the vial in front of his eyes, Steve gingerly shook the small the bottle, noticing a tiny rest of a clear liquid in it. "What was in there?"

"What was in there?" Danny puffed out, throwing Steve an exasperated look. "Do I look like a pharmacist to you? I have no idea what was in there, Steven. But if I had a guess, I'd say that Charlie will probably find the same unknown substance he found in the blood samples."

Nodding in agreement, Steve turned the glove inside out to enwrap the vial, carefully placing the piece of evidence onto the seat. He thought about everything they learned from Max and Charlie earlier that day, frowning deeply when he suddenly remembered their other ongoing case.

"Danny…" he said slowly, looking pensively at his partner.

"What?" Narrowing his eyes as he noticed Steve's expression, Danny asked suspiciously, "What's that look?"

"I just thought that this might not be the first vial we're talking about today," Steve replied, pointing at the small bundle on the seat behind him. "Remember what Charlie told us about the shards that were found in Andrew Creek's apartment?"

He fell silent, intently observing the flood of emotions that flushed across his partner's face, Danny's jaw dropped when the pieces finally clicked in place.

"Steve, what the hell is going on here?" he asked, his voice laced with hidden anger, but Steve could see a hint of fear in his friend's eyes. "Let's presume that the shards in Creek's apartment belonged to the same kind of vial – why… why would Baines drug one of Gabby's neighbors?"

"I really don't know, Danny," Steve said with an awkward shrug of his shoulders, immediately offering the only solution that sprang to his mind. "If it's really Baines who is behind all this, then I think he might be out for revenge."

"But why target Gabby? She has nothing to do with all this," Danny exclaimed, the agitated movement of his hands spoke volumes about his emotional condition.

"You know, I'm not sure if Gabby really was the target," Steve answered cautiously, throwing Danny a quick look as he tried to weigh the level of agitation his friend was in.

"Don't look at me like this, I'm not gonna freak out. Unfortunately I'm somewhat accustomed to having some crazy felons out there to kill me, even more so since I've met you." Grinning wryly, he pinched the bridge of his nose as he continued, "But what does freak me out is the fact that nobody knew I would be at Gabby's last night. For heaven's sake, Steve, even I didn't know that we'd spent the night there."

Looking up to meet Steve's gaze, the fear now much more prominent in his blue eyes, Danny asked quietly, "But what if Gabby was the target after all? What if she's still in danger?"

"Hey, everything will be alright, partner," Steve answered quickly, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket as he went on, "I'll call Duke and make sure Gabby's under police protection twenty-four-seven, okay?" Looking at his watch, McGarrett said, "I'll send a black-and-white to the museum to pick her up, they will be there right before closing time."

Taking a deep breath, Danny nodded a silent thank-you. "I'll call her later and explain what's going on." Nodding toward Jenny Gordon who still waited nervously on the small bench in front of the hangar, Williams said, "I'll just show Jenny a photo of Baines, I wonder if she'll be able to identify him. And then let's fly back to Honolulu, the sooner we have Charlie examine the vial the better."

"Wait a second until I'm done calling HPD," Steve replied swiftly, searching through the contact list for Sergeant Lukela's number. "I'm coming with you."

"I don't think that's such a good idea right now. She's really scared, Steve," Danny said, holding Steve back by placing a hand on his arm. He threw a short glance at the young waitress who had just lit up another cigarette, nervously looking around while she waited for Danny's return. "Just give me another five minutes, okay? I'll give you a sign when I think she's ready to face another person."

Steve hesitated for a moment, he wanted nothing more than talk to the woman in person, but ultimately he trusted Danny's judgment, flicking his hand as he agreed, "I'll wait here. Call me when she's ready."

With a short slap on Steve's arm, Danny turned around and headed back to the bench, swiping his fingers over the display of the tablet PC in search of a photo of Paul Baines when Steve's phone rang.

"Hey Kono, what's up?" McGarrett asked cheerfully, shoving all the unpleasant findings of the last few hours to the back of his mind for a moment. "How are you and Gracie? Still enjoying your vacation?"

A smile appeared on Danny's face when he perceived his daughter's name, but he didn't turn around. Later there would be enough time to talk to her or at least hear some news from Kono about her, at the moment he just wanted to get the conversation with Jenny over and done with. He was only listening with half an ear to Steve's words while he finally found the mug shot of Baines he wanted to show Jenny. Danny had almost reached the young woman when he noticed that the blitheful tone of Steve's voice had suddenly changed.

Feeling a chill run down his spine and goose bumps spread up his arms, Danny slowly came to a halt, whirling around when he heard Steve's whispered, "Oh my God!"

Danny stared wide-eyed at the other man, his heart literally stopped and then restarted beating much too fast when he saw Steve's gaze flicker toward him and he took in his partner's chalk-white expression.

(tbc)

Island-hopping... next stop Molokai? ;-)