Well, this is the penultimate chapter! Two very different reunions happen in this latest instalment - I think you can guess who features in the first one! And for all you Numb3rs fans out there, there's a quick reference to a couple more of my favourite episodes – Jack Of All Trades and Breaking Point.
Enjoy!
Allies And Enemies – Chapter Eleven
Promises Made, Promises Kept
Against all odds, they had him. Against even greater odds, they had the legal right to charge him. Enough evidence, in a stack of notebooks and painstakingly collated photographs, to take him down, and keep him down. For life.
Of course, Wo Fat didn't know that yet. Even if he had, it really wouldn't have troubled him. After all, he'd walked away from such charges so many times. Why would now be any different? But then the door to the interrogation room opened, and he saw the face of his interrogator – and the smirk that Nikki Betancourt had wanted, so badly, to punch down his throat, finally vanished.
In fact, it changed places, magically transferring itself onto the face of Steve McGarrett. Striding over to his incredulous quarry, he then loomed over him, silently daring him to object – leaving a generous share of this priceless moment to Danny, for him to make it complete.
"Hey! Fancy seeing you here!"
"Yeah, what are the odds of that?" Steve agreed, darting a covert wink towards the adjoining room, sending a ripple of laughter through it as Charlie accepted this compliment with an equally broad grin.
Colby smiled too, happily speaking for everyone who now stood in a strangely crowded observation room.
"Oh, this is gonna be good."
"Hey, c'mon, Idaho, this is gonna be fantastic," Nikki corrected him, lightly bumping his shoulder - her next words making him so grateful that he'd stayed on her good side, and brought back the plumeria bracelet that already hung around her wrist. God knew, there'd have been hell to pay if he hadn't.
"I just wish I had the chance to get in there, and kick that smartass to a smear on my shoe."
"Hey, believe me, Steve'll do that. This guy's caused him a lot of grief," Colby assured her, nodding to where Danny now stood at Steve's side, glowering at their still dumbstruck quarry. "He didn't just kill Governor Jameson, he was also behind the murder of both his parents. And if he brings any if that up on Steve… well, he'll just set Danny on him. Then you'll see kickass."
It was an appealing prospect, to all of them. But his new, still sceptical partner still had her doubts.
"We will? Jeez, Colby, he's shorter than I am!"
Colby grinned too. Most of that extra height came from piles of curly hair, of course, but - hell, not even he was brave enough to say that.
"Hey, don't let him hear you say that," he said instead, gently reproaching her instinctive misassumption. "If you do, you'll end up as a smear on his shoe. Trust me, when he has to, Danny can kick ass with the best of us."
Still rather doubtful on that, Nikki turned back to watch the interrogation in front of them – her attention focussing on the ex SEAL who, it had to be said, seemed more the kickass type.
She already knew how personal this case was for him, and had to admire his astonishing restraint. His voice was quiet and calm, yet still conveyed the contempt that he felt for what Wo Fat had done to him
"I know you were involved with my mother's murder, and what Victor Hesse did to my father. I know you think you're untouchable. That you have enough friends in high places to protect you."
Turning briefly away from the table, Steve suddenly turned back, slamming his hand into its centre – so unexpectedly, and with such force that Wo Fat wasn't the only one who jumped with surprise. And when he spoke again, the deadly fury in his voice was unmistakeable.
"Well, think again. Those friends are either in custody themselves, or for some strange reason, they're denying all connections to you. You're on your own this time, and you're up against us now. And we have all the evidence the DA here needs to bury you, if not for my parents' murders, then sure as hell for the hit on Governor Jameson."
"Yeah, you really should have heeded that advice about smoking being bad for you," Danny agreed, restricting the usual rant on such an unhealthy practice to just the gentlest sarcasm as he tossed several photos onto the table. "It's not just the most disgusting habit, but… well, all that nicotine clearly clogs up your brain."
"Yeah, it makes you careless. More likely to make mistakes," Steve continued, retaking the lead – pushing one of the photos forward, and fighting down the urge to ram it up this smug SOB's nose. "Like leaving one of your stubs at a crime scene, and failing to police your brass. Leaving a shell casing behind at a murder scene. See, even for you, that's a big no no."
"Yeah, you just gotta love what we can do with forensics and trace evidence," Danny went on, his turn now to give Charlie a subtly admiring grin as he lined up the next photograph. "Same goes for math geniuses, and the wonders they can do these days with forensic imaging."
"Oh, they work wonders alright," Steve explained, smoothly continuing where Danny had left off – noting, in quiet satisfaction, that these tactical switches in questioning were working like a charm.
Forced to follow its constant changes, and their movement around him, Wo Fat was clearly unsettled – staring at the photos in front of him, and needing his nemesis to explain the difference between them.
"See, this first photo here? That shows a reflection, your reflection, from a street light onto the side of this car. Now, sure, it's distorted. Unrecognizable as it stands. But there's still all kinds of neat ways to prove you were there, at the Governor's mansion, at the time she was killed."
"Yeah, it's called non linear warping," Danny explained with a maddeningly nonchalant grin, graciously accepting his partner's pat on the back as he delivered a beautifully deadpan coup de grace. "Maybe if you'd paid more attention in school. You know, listened to your math teachers, instead of conning them out of their life's savings."
Wo Fat must have reacted this time, too quietly for the mikes to pick up, since Danny reacted too – grabbing his right arm, and wrenching it high up his back, while growling out a heartfelt promise.
"If you come within a continent of my family, I will rip off your head, and use it as a football."
He'd made his point painfully clear. The arrogance on Wo Fat's face had turned into a wince of genuine discomfort. But Danny Williams had never done anything by halves, especially when a sleazeball like this one threatened his daughter. Giving Wo Fat's arm a final twist, just to make sure, he finally released it, and glared into his face – holding his ground, their eyes locked together until, at last, Wo Fat's slid away in pained submission.
A few seconds later, defeat came completely in two whispered, deadly serious words.
"You're toast."
Ignoring Colby's 'told-you-so' glance, Nikki conceded its point with an approving grin instead.
"Okay, Idaho, I'll give you that one. Yeah, that counts as kickass to me."
Even as he nodded agreement with the others, though, Colby still felt a ripple of unease run through him as he watched Danny storm out of the room. He'd already guessed what Wo Fat had said to provoke such a sudden and physical reaction. And when he glanced through the interrogation room's window, and saw the same concern on Steve's face too – hell, with or without the anxious plea he saw there, Colby knew what he had to do.
When he'd needed to talk, Danny had been there. Now it was time for him to return the favour. And it was a measure of how close they'd become, that he could predict where Danny had gone.
Back in Hawaii, he'd admitted how much he missed his home, his real home, back in New Jersey. How much he missed its skyline. LA had some pretty impressive 'scrapers too, of couse. And their best view came from the footbridge outside.
That's where he found his friend. Leaning over the handrail, breathing deeply. Regaining control.
Another measure of the closeness between them came in the slightly awkward smile that greeted him – a silent assurance that, despite the fury that still rippled through him, Danny was glad he was there.
He needed a friend he could trust, who understood the fears that he couldn't let show in front of the enemy. In Steve McGarrett's absence, or that of his team, he really couldn't ask for a better substitute than Colby Granger.
As the adrenalin rush left him now, he felt a strong hand squeeze his shoulder, in silent support – a quiet voice saying the words that he needed so badly to hear.
"We've got him, Danny. We have everything we need to put him away for a long, long time. And Robin's the best there is. I've seen her go up against the best defence attorneys in the state, and she's ripped them to shreds. Hell, even Perry Mason would face a real fight against her."
That won him a faint smile as Danny sighed, releasing more of the fury and fear inside him while staring out across LA's comforting skyline.
"Yeah, I know. But as soon as he mentioned Rachel, and Gracie, I just… damn, Colby, it's like a switch goes off in my head. Just the thought of anything happening to them, that he can still reach them somehow…"
"Hey, nothing is going to happen to your family," Colby cut in, giving both of Danny's shoulders a firmly rallying shake. "Danny, he's going to our top level federal complex. Ian Edgerton will be running escort, and believe me, this guy can hit an ant on the moon. He'll be watched, twenty four seven, and the only visitor he'll get will be his attorney, after we've screened them. There's no way that he'll be allowed to pose any threat to your family, you have my word on that."
Watching the need for belief fight against the doubt on Danny's face, Colby then smiled – inspired by the last time he'd seen such fear on a friend's face to gently steer another towards the parking lot. As Charlie had needed to regain his focus then, so Danny needed to find his again now.
"Come on, we've got five federal agents, and one crazy ex SEAL, to handle that creep. I think we can spare a little time out."
Thrown completely by this change in tack, and the guiding hand on his shoulder, Danny really didn't have much choice in the matter. He trusted Colby completely now, every bit as much as he trusted Steve, and Chin, and Kono.
Besides, he'd already guessed where Colby was taking him. That thought alone brought an infinitely happier smile back to his face. And when his guess was proven right, it made everything they'd just been through together more than worthwhile.
He barely had time to get out of the car, and admire the gorgeous house in front of him, before a pigtailed thunderbolt exploded through its front door and ran, at full tilt, into his already outstretched arms.
"Danno!"
Staggering slightly, Danny hugged her back with just as much delight, and twice as much relief – keeping his face buried in her neck, until he'd regained enough composure to meet those beautifully innocent eyes.
"Hey, monkey, look at you! I swear, in just this week, I swear you've gotten bigger!"
Hugging his giggling daughter back again, Danny then glanced to where Colby stood quietly beside him – mouthing two words to him that, however grateful they were, still didn't seem enough.
'Thank you.'
Grinning back at him, Colby shrugged, happy just to watch this joyous reunion. So much, in fact, that an unexpected honour almost passed him by.
"Hey, Gracie, you know how much you love your uncles? Your real ones, like Uncle Mattie, and special ones, like Steve, and Chin? Well, this is your uncle Colby."
Faced with bright brown eyes that could melt both the Poles, Colby then realized why Danny had reacted, so furiously, against Wo Fat's threat towards her. God knew, if anyone threatened his family like that, he'd have reacted in just the same way. So as his new niece smiled shyly back at him and, with some gentle encouragement, clambered into her new uncle's arms, it felt the most natural thing in the world to hug her back.
Beyond his delighted grin, Colby also made them both the same, silent promise. Come hell, high water, and everything else he could think of, he'd do everything he had to, by all means necessary, to keep them safe.
