'Trust me. Today's your lucky day.' Danny could have sworn his heart stopped. Those words… he had just heard them. It couldn't be. It was just a coincidence, a laughable coincidence. Danny tried to urge his facial muscles to obey and smile at the man. He believed he did, but he wasn't sure.
"'kay, then," was all he managed to get out. He slapped the car twice as if patting the driver on the back to go and do what he was told now. He turned and began his walk toward the building. After about ten yards he turned back. The car was still there. It hadn't left.
Danny had given him the okay to leave. Why was he still there? He yelled out, "Look, you probably need to get out of here. It's not safe. If you didn't get paid, it wasn't…"
The car door opened and Mike stepped out and sauntered to the front of the vehicle. He folded his arms and propped his right foot behind him on the bumper.
Danny went numb. He stood facing the car and he couldn't move. A strange paralysis cemented him to the ground. A slowly rotating millstone formed in his stomach at the same time his brain tried to organize his thoughts into something useful. Realization hit him like a Pipeline wave.
He knew this man.
The man that stood before him was the same he had seen before. He had seen him standing by his truck that night, arms crossed over his chest, foot propped, shoulder dropped. That time he'd been wearing a mask. But he knew. It was him. The next time he saw him, he wasn't wearing a mask. He had barely got a glimpse of his face but he had been standing there, in the hallway at the school, Grace's school, arms folded, knee bent with his foot on the wall, shoulder dropped. He had run from him. He had only gotten a good look at the back of his head that night. But he knew. It was him. The last time was less than an hour ago, not in person like before, but on the screen at the palace. The long hair was gone, or hidden under the ballcap he was now wearing, and also the sunglasses he was now sporting concealed his eyes. But he knew. It was him.
The man was in his early fifties, or possibly late forties if time had taken its toll as it appeared. Danny couldn't recall if Kono had provided his actual age with the other information earlier that day. Graying stubble covered his unshaven face and deep crow's feet peeked out from behind the sunglasses. He stood a respectable six feet or so and, unexpectedly, had a formidable, buff physique for his age and appearance.
"You look pale, Larry… I mean, Detective. Are you going to be okay?"
Danny's paralysis included his speech. His jaw dropped to reply but nothing came out. The note. His mind recalled the note he had given the man standing before him. The one he had asked this man to deliver to Steve. He came back to himself and composed his resolve.
"Hollis… Killian?"
Killian dropped his foot to the ground and took a step forward. Danny believed his knowledge of his identity truly threw him for a loop. "Very good, Detective." He emphasized the title and simultaneously the explanation for the exposed knowledge.
"Where is my daughter?" Danny turned to look around at the building and his surroundings.
"You'll see her. I said it was your lucky day, didn't I?"
~~~~~H50~~~~~
The task force, minus their second-in-command, had been working diligently to get a lead, a crumb, anything that could lead them to Grace before it was too late. Kono was in her office when she finished her phone call. She quickly hung up and went to inform her team what she had found out.
"Hey, guys, I've got something." Steve, Chin, and Lou joined her in the bullpen area.
"What did you find?" Steve spoke eagerly, hoping she would have something they could work with.
"First of all, I was able to confirm that Derrick Parker, our former John Doe, did have a theater connection after all, a strong one, in fact. Before he fell on hard times when he lost his full-time job, he had been a recurring lead actor at the Honolulu Children's Theatre."
"Not surprised," Lou commented.
"That may also explain the bag of food we found at the motel, if he had, in fact, been squatting there because he was down and out. Maybe Derrick's how Killian came upon that place to begin with," Chin surmised.
Kono nodded and added, "But listen to this, I've also been working the angle on Killian's truck. First, I checked on purchases since spring of last year, when Killian should have arrived in Hawaii. We started with the narrowed pool of dark gray Chevy Colorado trucks. The buyers all checked out, including the four that were cash transactions. The dealerships had no problems getting IDs for those customers. There were also none of that make and model transported in from the mainland by individuals during that period time. Then we checked for any that could have been stolen and again, there were none. Next, we checked with body shops and we got a hit. There had been a 2013 white Colorado brought in around the end of April that had been part of a pest control company fleet. The company sold it as a private party transaction to a man who paid cash. The company had it painted to remove their logos and taken out of their name for liability reasons. Guess what color the new owner chose… graphite metallic… dark gray. According to the DMV, the vin was never registered under anyone else's name."
"So, how's this going to help us, if we don't know who purchased it?" Lou asked.
"We do, sort of. The arrangement was for the purchaser of the vehicle to pick it up directly from the body shop after the paint job was complete. The company selling the vehicle got the buyer's name to let the body shop know who was picking it up and the body shop has a policy of getting more info than that. So now we have a name and an address."
"No way he used Hollis Killian?" Lou was sarcastically skeptical.
"Mike… Beckett."
"Beckett? Son of a… he used his brother's name." Steve had the realization that maybe they were close now.
"And Michael was his father's name, Michael Killian," Kono added.
"Okay, so, you say you have an address?"
"Yep, up in Kailua again."
Steve was chomping at the bit now. "Let's go."
"Hey, don't you think we need to give Danny a call?" Chin remembered their promise to him.
Steve glanced at his watch to see how much time had passed since Danny had left. He hated to cut his time short with Rachel and Charlie if he were needed, but he also knew Danny would feel this would take priority if it could lead to getting Grace back safely. "Yeah, let's call on the way. He can meet us there."
"What about your injuries? Why don't you stay here and get a hold of Danny, and Kono, Lou, and I will go check it out."
"No way. I'm going. You're driving." Chin got a snippet of the hardline attitude Danny deals with daily and felt a bit of empathy for his friend.
"Okay, but let me take point on this one… at least until Danny can get there," Chin compromised.
"Okay… alright, let's just go," Steve conceded. The unfamiliar position made him uncomfortable but he understood it was necessary.
~~~~~H50~~~~~
Hollis Killian had still not revealed a weapon. Danny boldly took a step closer to him.
"Okay, so take me to her." He took a couple more steps and closed the gap further.
"You can stop right there. I told you you'll see her, and you will, but today's luck may have run out after this." Killian pulled the note Danny had given him, out of his pocket. "Shall we see what it says?"
Danny was standing in the open, on this massive slab of concrete, with nothing around… no walls, no barriers, and yet he felt cornered. Flashes of recent memories fluttered in his head, memories of collapsed building rubble coming between him and his freedom and future, of a torturous Colombian prison, of being stuck on a rooftop in Chinatown with the only out being a jump from one building to another, and of hiding out in a stranger's house, protecting an innocent witness while outnumbered and surrounded by heavily armed men who were about to storm in to kill the witness and anyone else who got in their way. Each of those times, he had been trapped, stuck in a dire situation with little to no hope of escape. Here in the open, under a magnificent, unending, bright blue Hawaiian sky, breathing abundant fresh, though humid, air, he once again felt trapped.
The grinding in Danny's stomach intensified and he shifted his weight on his feet. "Look, I wasn't thinking. Okay? That was just in case this thing went sideways. You get it. Don't you?"
While Danny was talking, Killian watched him while unfolding the paper. He scanned over the note before reading it aloud, constantly glancing at Danny.
"Was contacted. Taking me to Grace. Get 10-20 from driver. – D"
Danny stopped talking as his own words were thrown back in his face. His on-the-fly plan had now proven to be foolish. He realized his usual recourse of verbal rambling would do him no good this time. He had to think of another approach.
"Do you think I'm stupid, Detective… eh, D?"
"No, of course not. Not at all. In fact, you must be pretty smart to have done what you've done and not get caught." Still sticking with imbecile, you bastard. Just telling you what you want to hear.
"What all do you think I have done? Eh, you know, just save it. We'll have plenty of time to finish this. Let's get out of this heat, shall we?" Killian raised his open hand in the direction of the hangar.
Danny still did not see a weapon and he knew he would have to make a choice now. He held his hands up to show submission.
"Okay. Alright."
He stole a quick look over his shoulder at the building behind them. He didn't know what kind of chance he would have later. At that moment, a loud rhythmic banging noise came from behind him. Grace. His decision was made.
With adrenaline and determination propelling him forward, Danny lowered his shoulder as he accelerated and went for the man's hips, full-on offensive line tackle style. At impact, he wrapped his arms around and lifted Killian and threw his full body weight into him. Although he was on the plus side of Danny's years and was startled by the unexpected attack, Killian was lithe and athletic and reacted immediately. He twisted in the fall to keep Danny from landing on top of him on the pavement. Both men landed forcefully on their sides with subsequent grunts of pain and temporary loss of air.
Each man then went for weapons; Danny had gambled and brought a concealed subcompact nine-millimeter attached to his ankle, and from his back pocket, Killian pulled out his yet unrevealed and unintended weapon. A pair of vise grip pliers had been quickly deposited there earlier in the day, and had proven to be less awkward to get to than Danny's ankle holster. Danny's fingers were grazing the grip of the small gun, when a shower of broken light exploded in his vision from the impact of the large, heavy tool to his temple.
While he was dazed, Killian took advantage and appropriated Danny's intended means of attack. Killian crab walked back a few feet from the fray, carrying the unwieldy gun with him. At a perceived safer distance, he slowly regained his footing as he pointed Danny's own weapon at him.
Danny had rolled onto his back with his knees pulled up, feet flat on the ground. When the flashes of light behind his closed eyelids subsided, he opened his eyes but had to shield them with the shadow of his forearm to help block out the obtrusive sun that was now effectually blinding him due to his supine position.
He knew his gun had been taken from him. The missing weight around his ankle was his validation. Now he was resigned to the reality that he had taken what was probably his one and only shot and failed… miserably.
The muffled banging noise coming from the building had ceased, but she had been there, in his head, constantly. Now, however, his thoughts of Grace intensified. He may have just expedited both of their death warrants.
"I'm so sorry, Grace." The father's defeated whisper was unheard in the ears of the killer.
~to be continued~
\,,,/BronsonL
