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Chapter eleven
Steve sighed and finished off his coffee as he tried to stay awake. It was two am and he and Chin had been working for hours. They had scanned through CCTV footage, taken note of everyone who came into contact with Gabriel in the weeks leading up to the crash.
"Steve this is ridiculous, there's no trace of Gabriel"
"Chin we haven't even contacted all these people, everyone on the list was in contact with him, one of them might know where he went"
"It was months ago no one will remember a thing and anyone who does is probably involved so they won't say anything!" Chin snapped as he through the file onto his desk with a bang."
Steve gave Chin a minute before speaking.
"You need to stop blaming yourself" He stated firmly.
"I can't"
"Chin you had no idea he would do this"
"But I could have told you all what I knew…Steve even Kono blames me, she's my cousin she stands by me no matter what and today she held me responsible and walked out"
"She's hormonal"
"NO! I know my cousin…she's honest"
"Okay"
"I'm sorry, I'm just…"
"Man its okay…I don't blame you and hopefully you will stop blaming yourself but for now we need to gather the facts. An explosive device was placed within both engines of the plane, when they went off the engines exploded and the plane came down. Gabriel purchased devices, the pilot was surprised to see you and the explosives were placed on the plane we were set to travel home on. We need to find Gabriel, we need to talk to all these people and we need to work out why. Why did Gabriel want to kill us and not you?"
"Because losing my ohana would be worse than being killed myself"
"What would it achieve though?"
"I don't know Steve"
"Chin will figure this out and we will find Gabriel"
Kono and Danny walked into HQ at seven thirty am. Danny had picked Kono up for a change since she called him in tears scared to come into work and see Chin. As they walked in they noticed Chin and Steve in the office putting things away. Both looked tired and drained and Kono wanted to go see Chin but the other side wanted to crawl into a hole.
"Should I go talk to him?" Kono asked.
"He's probably tired; I reckon they've been awake all night."
"I didn't mean it"
"I know babe"
Steve exited the office with a cluster of files in his arms before dropping them on the smart table.
"We made some progress" He stated.
"Okay…"
"We have a list of names, people who came in contact with Gabriel leading up to the crash. We're hoping someone knows something. We still have no idea why Gabriel wanted to kill us and not Chin"
"Okay so what are we going to take half each?"
"Yeah why don't you both go together" Steve suggested knowing the tension between Chin and Kono.
Danny was happy to go with Kono but he also knew if Chin and Kono were forced to work together they might talk.
"Err why don't we go together" Danny said with a glare to Steve.
"Oh yeah okay"
Kono looked to Danny but agreed. She watched Steve and Danny leave and waited awkwardly for Chin to come out of his office. Eventually he did and he looked to her with guilt across his face.
"Let's go" Was all he muttered as she followed after him.
The car journey was awkward and silent as they drove to each destination. The only time they spoke was when they talked to one of the people on the list. They hadn't had much luck and Chin just hoped Steve and Danny had everyone who may know something. They jumped back in the car and headed towards HQ. Kono couldn't stand the silence any longer she just had to speak.
"Chin I didn't mean what I said" Kono mumbled emotionally she hoped Chin would forgive her.
Chin tensed at Kono spoke. He felt awkward around her and was consumed with guilt. He just couldn't stop thinking of we could have done differently.
"You were being honest" Was all Chin offered to the tense conversation.
"I was just angry and emotional"
"Kono you were right, it was my fault"
"NO CUZ!" Kono snapped startling Chin and causing him to lose control of the car for a moment.
He quickly straightened out the car and pulled over to one side and turning off the engine. At first Kono thought she was going to be kicked out the car but quickly realised her beloved cousin would never do that.
"I'm sorry" Chin sighed.
"Don't Chin, the crash was not your fault"
"But…"
"Don't"
"Kono I could have lost you"
"You didn't, we all survived there was nothing you could have done to prevent the crash, even if you had given us more details on what Gabriel had been doing. If I'm honest I am mad that you kept everything to yourself, I get you didn't want to worry me on my wedding day but you could have told us after. I don't like it when you try and deal with things on your own but you certainly are not to blame"
"I don't know what he wants cuz"
"He wants' to hurt you"
"Well he's doing a good job"
"Cuz don't let him get to you, will figure this out"
"No one we spoke to knew anything all they could say was they recognised him"
"We just have to hope Steve and Danny got more"
"I know"
"Let's go cuz"
Steve and Danny walked back into HQ after their outing. Fortunately they had more luck than the cousins but it still made little sense. Steve noticed Danny limping slightly as they walked along, frowning as he watched each step.
"You alright?"
"What?" Danny grunted.
"Your ankle?"
"I wish you would form proper sentences, I could save time trying to understand everything you wish to say from the few words you offer"
"Quit moaning Danno I was being concerned"
"I'm shocked you know what that means"
"Ankle?"
"Yes at the end of my leg and connected to my foot, what about it?"
"You're limping!"
"It's spending time with you"
"How do I affect your ankle?"
"Chasing people, jumping over things…"
"All we did was walk into people's homes or business today"
"It's just sore"
"You should get it checked out"
"I do not need it checked out"
"Whatever, I won't be concerned again"
"Good"
The two stopped arguing and walked through to their offices seeing the cousins hovering around the smart table. From there close contact Steve and Danny assumed they had sorted things.
"Hey, you guys okay?" Danny asked as he stepped up next to Kono.
"Yes, but we didn't get much from our list"
"We did" Steve grinned as he plugged a USB into the smart table.
"What did you find out?" Chin asked eagerly, desperate to uncover something.
Steve typed something in and brought up three faces onto the screen.
"The first is Ron Parker; he owned the weapons shop connected to the shooting range. Everything appeared legit nothing out of the ordinary had a full licence to sell weapons for military purposes, shooting practice, cops ect. He remembers Gabriel and said he appeared suspicious, asked a lot of questions about weapons and bombs. Ron asked him why he wanted to know so much and said Gabriel become defensive but eventually claimed his girlfriend was a cop and he worried and wanted to find out more. Gabriel apparently gushed about the girlfriend before showing Ron a picture. We took the CCTV footage for you to see but we checked it out while we were there. The picture Gabriel had was of you Kono"
Kono froze in fear and Chin rested his hand on her arm gently.
"W…what?"
"Gabriel has a picture on his phone of you and him"
"Together?" Chin questioned.
"Yes but it looks as though it was taken years ago, Ron claimed Gabriel said it was an old picture"
Kono become silent and looked to her hands as her legs shook slightly.
"When would you and Gabriel have taken a picture together?" Chin asked.
"Let's get it up" Danny suggested as Steve fiddled with the computer and brought up the moment, zooming in to a picture of Kono and Gabriel in swimwear on the beach.
The guys could tell from the picture that Kono looked uncomfortable in it, she was probably only sixteen.
"Kono?"
"It was probably a day that we went surfing; loads of us would go out"
"Why would he have it now still?"
"I don't know" Kono muttered.
Chin frowned at the picture noting the bikini Kono wore. It wasn't anything special but Chin remembered being at her house when she arrived home wearing that bikini, if his memory served him correctly she had been upset and clearly shaken but she brushed it off as an argument with her friends.
"Kono…"
"What else did you find?" Kono asked trying to move on.
Steve and Danny looked to each other, knowing there was more to the picture but they had to inform the cousins of everything else they discovered.
"Ron told us of another guy, Rick May. Apparently he had come in asking similar questions to Gabriel and was later spotted together one night. We looked into Rick and he was arrested following possession of explosives intended to harm. We spoke to him at Halawa, he said Gabriel was a snitch who got him busted. From what we gather, Gabriel used Rick to get hold of the explosives and paid him to put them on the plane. Rick said a guy named Ford met him and Gabriel and told them what plane. Ford gave Rick work clothes and smuggled him into the plane hangar so he could plant the bombs. We looked further and realised Ford was the pilot of the plane and specially trained in landing planes in dangerous circumstances for example certain airports."
"So what your saying is Gabriel paid Rick to plant the explosives and had Ford find out when we would be flying and what plane then get him to fly it?" Chin asked.
"Yes, and we believe with Ford's training it was never the intention for him or maybe anyone on board to die"
"I'm so confused, what's the point?"
"Our last face is a park ranger; he climbs the mountains we crashed into and brings people up there. Gabriel had requested a tour and from what he said was very persistent on exploring the whole expanse and asked where the tour usually went and what areas were avoided. He paid triple for the tour and asked when they took place, times, days. Our plane crashed in the afternoon, the tours usually begin in the morning due to the length of time they take. We would have crashed when the tour had headed back down. Those mountains are so big and high that no one would have seen it unless they were near the top. To add to that, apparently Gabriel joined the tour the day we crashed but disappeared halfway through. Rick had been with him and he told the ranger that Gabriel left ages ago because he felt ill. When we spoke to Rick, he confirmed this and said Gabriel was going to wait at the top of the mountains off the tour track"
"Gabriel was up there?"
"We believe so"
"But Cath went to find help, would he not have taken the opportunity to get to her"
"I think he tried to" Cath pipped up as she entered HQ.
"Hey"
"I thought for sure someone was following me, but I was so dehydrated that I blamed that and assumed I was making It up but it think he was there"
"So Gabriel had Rick plant the bombs, Ford fly the plane, the ranger show him the area and he was there, plus he's using Kono as his girlfriend"
"Adding to that, Ford said Gabriel was bragging about a girl named Kono" Steve informed.
Kono paled hearing everything Steve was saying, it made her feel sick.
"So what he's after Kono?" Cath asked with worry.
"I don't know but I'm having a unit outside your house Kono and tailing you"
"I can look after…"
"You're pregnant and vulnerable, if Gabriel is after you for whatever reason we need you protected, and I will be informing Adam"
Kono wanted to grumble but she was scared deep down.
"Kono do you know any more about that picture?" Danny asked calmly sensing she did.
"No" was all Kono said.
"So we have this information but we have no idea where Gabriel actually is?" Chin stated.
"He's gone dark but I think he's going to pounce again. I'm going to have a unit on you Chin as well just to be safe. Gabriel wants something and I think he's going to use Kono to get it"
