Sasha Holmstrom smiled maniacally. Everything was back on track. Those fools with Five-0; governor's special task force. Please! Bumbling idiots is more like it. Exactly as she'd anticipated, they'd missed the one clue she'd left for them. Turning off the bedside light, she sank back into the mound of pillows. The Ahi Hale Resort really knew their luxury role. Sighing with contentment, she smiled at the thought of returning to the real world tomorrow, refreshed from her vacation.
Steve woke earlier than normal. His sleep had been plagued with flashbacks, but he hadn't woken from any of them. He knew he looked as bad as he felt. A trip to the bathroom with a quick glance in the mirror confirmed his diagnosis. Changing into his boardies, he picked up a towel and headed for the water. He swam until his muscles screamed for a reprieve. Turning to float on his back, he started going through the case, piece by piece from the start. Not sure how long he'd been floating, he looked up to find he was closer to the beach than he expected despite being further down the shoreline. He started his swim back, puzzling over the feeling he had that they were missing something.
Steve swam until he could touch bottom. As he pushed his feet down, he noticed Danny standing by the chairs, holding two to-go cups. "Hey, partner. To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Your daughter called to tell me she wouldn't be able to pick up Grace today because the belt on her car broke on her way home last night. So, being the pragmatic, generous, uncle that I am, I volunteered us to retrieve said vehicle for her and volunteered your truck for the day," Danny gloated. Clapping his hands, he continued, "Now get your ass in gear, Super SEAL! We have a damsel in distress to rescue."
All Steve could do was follow his orders. "Don't let Arianna hear you call her that," he warned.
"As if," Danny chuckled. "I have a great interest in my head staying attached to my shoulders and my whole body in general."
Steve followed Danny to where Arianna's car sat about a block and a half from her house. He found her spare key up under the rear tire and popped the hood. Sure enough, the belt had broken in two places. He mentally chewed himself out for not getting it fixed sooner.
"We'll have to tow it," he announced before he noticed his partner already holding the tow cable from the truck.
Danny secured the Camaro while Steve maneuvered the Silverado into position so he could hook on. With Steve in the truck and Danny steering the Aveo, the pair carefully got the car to their destination. Parking the vehicles in front of the house, Steve got out to unhook. Catching Danny looking at the garage door, Steve swore, "Son of a bitch! I completely forgot about coordinating the painting!"
Pulling out his phone, Danny said, "I'll set a reminder to remind you while you go get Arianna."
Arianna was ready and waiting for him when he rang the bell. It didn't take long to get back to the Camaro or for them to be on their way to their jobs.
Steve waited until they were on the move again before he brought up his concerns. "I can't help feeling like we've overlooked something with these cases."
Danny nodded. "I know what you mean. I spent half the night going back over the evidence and the other half dreaming about it."
Looking at his watch, Steve was surprised to find it was only a little after six. "I didn't realize it was still so early. What time did Arianna call?"
"She actually called last night and left a message on my cell. Must have been while it was still charging."
"She was okay with getting up this early?" Steve questioned.
"Yeah, said she had a staff meeting at seven," Danny shrugged.
"How do you do it, Danny?"
"How do I do what, Steve?"
Steve struggled for words. "How do you balance your life?"
"Still need a bit more information, buddy." Danny waited patiently.
"Between work and family," Steve said as if that would clear things up.
Fortunately Danny was skilled at reading between Steve-lines. "You do it like you do everything else, with your whole heart. Sometimes one side gains a little over the other but I find it right's itself if you work on it and give it time. You're new to this, so cut yourself some slack. Oh and notes, copious notes because no matter how good you think your retention power is, it isn't good enough."
Steve relaxed a little behind the wheel. "Thanks, buddy."
"Any time, babe. If it helps some more, a couple of months ago, I forgot to sign a permission slip so Grace spent a field trip in the library. She didn't speak to me for two days."
Proving their dedication to the job, the entire team was at the Palace by six-thirty. To gain a different perspective, they congregated around the tech table and started from the true first victim, Monica, scrutinizing each piece of evidence again. About three hours in, Danny caught Kono scribbling on her note pad.
"You got something," he asked nudging her arm.
"Not sure what it means, but look at this," she answered typing into the tech table.
Three names appeared on the screen with the first letter of each underlined: Susan Harris, Sara Hinds, Sasha Holstrom. "Susan Harris is our missing guest. Sara Hinds is a guest at the Ahi Hale Resort. Sasha Holstrom is the name on the gate registry at Kawela Bay," Kono explained. "Pulling up the DMV photos for the three women she continued. "As Chin says, coincidences take a lot of work."
Stating the obvious, Danny said, "You'd have to be blind not to see that these are pictures of the same woman."
"These are all the same person, but I don't think it's a woman," Catherine claimed. At the four inquiring looks she added, "I think these high collars and turtle neck are to cover an Adam's apple. I think our suspect is a guy."
Chin sat up straight. "Kono, run all three footages for cars checking in."
"Where are you going with this, Chin?" Steve wondered.
"You remember last night Arianna pointed out the high end rental care? Well, it struck me as unusual. There's not too many places that rent those. Sasha was driving it. With what Kono and Catherine said, I wouldn't be surprised if we found the same car at the other two locations."
Kono had been busy programing in the search parameters. Three more images were added to the screens. The silver BMW 760 appeared in every one. Unfortunately the license plate showed in none of them.
Danny was already dialing as Steve said, "Get the Outrigger on the line. They register the plates of all the guests." Danny wiggling the phone at him stopped him from making a fool of himself.
Danny repeated the plate number as it was told to him. Chin, on the line with the rental company, fed the number. He hip checked Kono aside so he could use the super computer. Ending the call, he spoke to the others," The care is registered to Sara Hinds, but the credit card on hold for incidentals is under Shane Huntsburger."
The man's photo popped up followed by three copies. Chin manipulated the copies by changing hair color and length. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have our killer."
"Okay, let's get TSA, all the ports notified. I want this guy's picture everywhere," Steve demanded looking at Cath. "Post the female versions as well. Make a mockup of him with the hair color from our unmatched sample."
"Steve, Sasha Holstrom hasn't checked out of the Ahi Hale yet. She/he ordered room service," Kono announced.
"Gear up!" Steve shouted. "Cath, alert HPD. See if there's a unit close to check if the car is still on the property. Post the BOLO's and keep tabs on them in case this guy pulled another stunt like he did at the Outrigger. Let's go gang."
Catherine called in route to confirm the car was still in the parking structure. A squad car was parked out of sight from the elevator and the officers were hidden close by monitoring it. Another unit blocked the exit to the structure.
Shane Huntsburger saw the flashing lights on the Camaro and Traverse that pulled up to the front of the resort. He weighed his options carefully. He decided his best chance was to keep it casual, not draw attention to himself. He maintained his unhurried gait, crossing the lobby to the breezeway that connected the main hotel to the parking garage. He reached out to activate the automatic door. As he did so, he heard his name being yelled along with instructions to halt. He dodged through the doors and ran into the garage.
Being a lawyer, he was skilled at quickly assimilating new data and then twisting it to achieve his goals. Stairs and elevator, out. He was positive his rental and the exit was being monitored. Best bet, get to the skywalk on the fifth floor, get back into the hotel and disappear. He made for the motor ramp. It was a standard two-way ramp, not circular, easier to run and he could gain speed on the flats. Shane took off not noticing the foursome had split up. He didn't make the rookie mistake of looking over his shoulder, he kept running which would ironically be his downfall.
Chin and Kono pursued Huntsburger while Steve and Danny veered off to the stairs adjacent to the elevators. With Kono calling out updates, the partners made it to the fifth floor while Huntsburger was on the third.
Danny watched as Steve pulled a flash bang from one of the myriad of pockets on his person. "Steven, what pray tell, are you going to do with that?"
Steve smirked, "You're gonna love this, Danno!"
"No, I'm fairly certain I'm not," Danny muttered as Steve tossed the grenade between the openings in the ramp and yelled, "Fire in the hole!"
Danny instinctively ducked and covered his ears, but it wasn't enough. The echo through the parking garage was astounding, setting off several over sensitive car alarms. "What the hell, Steven!" Danny screamed, hands clamped tightly to his head.
To give him credit, Steve appeared slightly stunned. "Wow," was all he managed before running down the ramp towards their suspect. Danny of course, followed him.
Shane Huntsburger was cuffed and on his knees. Chin was busily rubbing his ear with his index finger. Kono grinned, "Nice one, boss."
"I hope you know any and all hearing aides required after your little stunt are going to come directly out of your pocket, you crazy Neanderthal," Danny exclaimed. "Oh and don't even think about saying it. He's already cuffed."
"Ah, D., don't be such a buzz kill. You know you love it. Besides, it just wouldn't feel right if I didn't," Steve pouted.
"Fine. Go ahead, just quit with the wounded puppy act," Danny sighed.
"Book 'em, Danno."
"You happy now?"
"Yes, yes I am," Steve admitted.
They let Shane Huntsburger stew in the interrogation room while they had his luggage and contents processed. The idiot chose to represent himself despite the fact that his background was family law. Steve and Danny went in armed with evidence; hair samples from one of his four wigs matched up to their unidentified sample, a bottle of wine already laced with GHB and dossiers on the three victims. They had a solid case, but Steve wanted to know why.
"What did these women do to you?" the commander snarled.
"You're not going to get me to talk," Huntsburger declared with bravado.
"We don't need you to. We've got enough on you to put you away for the rest of your natural life," Danny informed him.
"Then by all means, proceed. I wouldn't want to waste your time or the tax payer's money," Huntsburger snarked with confidence.
They traded barbs for a few minutes until Steve got tired of the man. "Danny, take him to processing. We're done here."
The partners had underestimated their suspect. As Danny walked beside him to undo the handcuffs, he found himself in an unexpected predicament. With a move belying his slight stature, Huntsburger, having slipped the cuffs, put the detective in a chokehold and pulled his service weapon. He called out to Steve, whose back was to the pair, "Not so fast there, Commander, unless you want your partner to get a bullet to the head."
Steve froze, his blood turning cold at the words. He slowly pivoted to face them. "Don't do anything stupid, man. You won't make it out of this room alive."
The psychotic man stood his ground when the SEAL advanced a few steps. He did tighten his hold around Danny's neck. "That is the first statement you've made since I've been in here that I agree with," Huntsburger sneered.
In a split second, two things happened. Steve had an armful of his best friend and a gunshot reverberated in the room. It was pure luck the two men didn't end up on their asses.
"Danny! You shot?!"
"No. No, don't think so. You?"
"No."
Both men regained their balance and turned to their suspect. Shane Huntsburger lay on the floor, Danny's H&K P30 still in his hand, moaning.
"This guy's still alive," Steve shouted, running towards the downed man. Kicking the gun out of reach, Steve kneeled down to assess the situation. He can hear Danny on the phone, calling for an ambulance. Huntsburger missed in what the commander assumes was a suicide attempt. The bullet's trajectory took it up through the jaw and out through the left side orbital socket. Danny must have also called upstairs because Catherine and Chin arrived with the first aid kit from the office. The team did what they could until the EMT's arrived. With strict instructions to put the wounded man on suicide watch, the paramedics loaded him on a gurney for transport to HMC.
Danny ran his hand across his jaw. "That schmuck! I'm gonna have to get a new gun."
Taking the statement as what it was meant to be, a tension release, his teammates chuckled and offered their sympathies.
With clean up and paperwork, it was late afternoon before anyone had time to breathe. Kono's suggestion of Side Streets was met with resounding enthusiasm by all except Danny.
"I've go to pick up Grace from Arianna's and it's a school night," the practical father explained.
"Tell you what. I'll call my kid and see if she and your kid want to meet us there and we'll make sure it's an early night," Steve offered.
"Deal," Danny replied.