"Vitor Kolentov." Danny spat out the name. "Can't believe I didn't think of him before. I shook him down once back in Jersey. He ran an illegal poker game or two. Small time crook looking for make a name for himself. Money went missing. He thought I took it."

"Shook him down, D?"

"Yea, unofficial police business." Danny's face itched with the beginnings of a grin. "A favor for a friend."

"Did you take the money?" Steve cocked an eyebrow at his partner, only half serious.

"No-wait – who do you think I am? Some kind of crook?" Danny could barely muster a glare. He was taken aback by Steve's question. "You think cos I'm from Jersey I'm one step away from the mob?"

"Geez Danny. No. I just had to ask. Procedure, remember?"

"Well, go ask someone else some questions with your procedure. I'm done for right now. I have some calls to make. I gotta check on something." Danny left the room.

Figuring it was best not to follow, Steve watched his partner march off down the hall. Eric fidgeted again, mindlessly picking at the corner of the chair.

Steve eyed him carefully. "What? You know Vitor?"

"No, not exactly." Eric sighed. "Uncle Danny's not gonna like what he finds out."

"What?" Steve was getting really tired of half answers.

"The friend Danny helped out. You know, where those games are concerned."

"You know about this?"

"Sure, everyone back in Jersey knows." Eric laughed and nodded. "Yea, it was legendary."

Rubbing his eyes, Steve shook his head and then brought his attention back to the nephew. "Go on. There's more to this story."

"Uncle Danny intervened for a friend in the neighborhood. He shut down a poker game and a protection ring. Someone with connections blames him for money going missing. Thinks he stole it."

"And?"

"Well, the friend turned up dead in one of the dumpsters behind his eating establishment. Best pizza in Jersey." The boy looked off toward the corner of the room for a second, lost in a memory of good pizza.

"Dead?" Steve's question brought him back.

"Yea, took a few shots to the back." Eric shook his head. "Police said it was a robbery gone bad."

"Great." Steve left the room. His mind was whirling. This kid was way too casual about death. Maybe he was into more than Danny realized.

He walked up the hallway to find Danny leaning against the wall, hands in his pockets, staring into space. Before he could say anything, Danny slid to the floor.

"He's dead, Steve. He's dead and it's because of me. Me and my stupid rookie move."

/././

"Not your fault, D." Steve crouched beside his friend. He knew words were of no consolation but he said them anyway. Buy some time, cool Danny off even just a bit.

"Not my fault? You're really gonna throw that live one at me right now?"

Steve backed off a bit, crossing his arms. "You meant well, Danny. You helped out a friend. What, was the guy shaking down the whole neighborhood?"

"Protection money. The usual racket. And he was using the back room at the restaurant for games."

Steve nodded. Danny had cost a very bad guy his livelihood. But the question lingered. Why come back now, years later?

Straightening himself, hands on his hips, Steve got his head back in the game. His tone was softer, more receptive. "Alright, so run me through it. So I have a better picture."

Danny closed his eyes and squeezed the bridge of his nose. He was running very close to empty with this one. Anything he'd gained from his catnap was slowly fading.

"People in the neighborhood came to me." He didn't make eye contact with Steve. "I felt a responsibility. I did some digging. Discovered who was behind the thugs. Interrupted one of his games. Made a scene. Flashed my badge."

Danny shook his head and half laughed. "Rookie move. No backup."

"No backup, huh?" Steve grinned.

Danny glared. "Don't push it."

"Brash move, taking them down on your own."

"Told you, rookie move. And there ya go again with the big words. Someone buy you a dictionary for your birthday?" Danny chuckled with an uncomfortable edge, remembering. "I got outta there by the skin of my teeth. There was nothing brash about it. Just plain stupid is more like it."

"Why did the games stop?"

"Beats me, seriously. I thought I could walk on water for a few days." Danny stood, taking a deep breath. His head still ached and he groaned before continuing. "What I did gave everyone courage. The whole neighborhood responded."

"So how does all this lead back to Eric?"

"I'm guessing he got in too deep with a bookie. Someone further up the chain figured out who he was. His connection to me. Decided to use him for something."

"You didn't take anything?" Again with the question, but this time Danny didn't react.

He simply shook his head. "Not even a scrap of paper."

Then, he stopped, hand to his mouth. This conversation stirred up his memory a little.

"You got something?" Steve leaned in closer.

Danny held up a hand. "Wait a minute. Let me think."

"That doesn't sound good, D. What do you remember?"

"I knocked over a table on my way out. To cover myself, I might have made an even bigger mess. Made it look like I meant to do it rather than just trying to get the heck outta there alive. Didn't realize til I was on my way out the door. I tossed what I thought was trash in the garbage."

"What was it?" They were standing side by side now. Both men had lowered their voices.

"Fuck if I know. Certainly not money. Seriously. I thought it was all over that night. The games stopped. The shakedowns too. The neighborhood woulda thrown me a parade if I had let'em."

"They thought you took the money or something else, and it scared them enough to lay low all this time?"

"Well, no – about a month later, Vitor ended up going down in a bust. Drugs, guns, girls. Totally unrelated to me. I only saw his ugly mug on the news in the precinct. It was a big deal. No one ever knew what I'd done. Not officially anyway. My captain would have kicked my ass for being so stupid."

"Sounds like I'd probably like the guy." Steve smiled at his friend.

"Nah, he's a little too soft for your taste, babe. Doesn't have the whole Navy Seal death stare in his back pocket. And don't lecture me about going in without backup."

Leaning against the wall, Danny scoured his mind for anything that might help. Only problem was he came up empty. And a whole lotta nothing wasn't going to help. He decided to let Steve hash it out. Hell, let the whole team in on it if it would help this crazy situation. He had to make sure his nephew was safe, especially from a dumbass move he'd made as a rookie cop. But first he had a few more questions.

/././

The two men walked back into the room together, ready for one more round with Eric. They wanted to keep it short and simple so they could all take a break. But of course Danny's nephew didn't make it easy on them.

"Say unc – when do you think I can get outta here?" Eric rubbed his eyes.

"What? Are you stupid right now or do you have a hot date?"

"I just want to – ya know – get outta here." Eric shrugged.

"Sure, go ahead. Do what ever you want. See if I care. Run off now, get yourself killed." Danny threw his hands up.

Steve remained calm as he eyed Eric. The kid seemed suddenly antsy. "You have some place to be, Eric?"

This straight forward question caught Eric off guard just a little. He was used to the bluster and flare of his Uncle Danny. Steve had a way of throwing him off guard.

"Come on. Be straight. Is there something – anything – you aren't telling us?"

"On the flight here." Eric paused and looked to see if Danny was listening. "They were talking about taking me to meet people. Said if my feet were already wet I may as well enjoy myself. I could help them out and erase my debt. I don't know what they were talking about. Honest."

Steve dipped his toes in the conversation. "You lost their money gambling?"

Danny wanted more than a simple yes or no answer. "Where?"

"Back door games. The back room at Jimmy's."

"Wait a minute. The games started up again?" Danny ran his hands through his hair. He annunciated every word, trying hard to keep his cool. Steve shot him a look which might be classified as a stay calm face. This time it was Danny who was about to have an aneurysm. "How do you even know how to find a bookie?"

Too many questions swirled in his head. Just too many. He could not believe he was having this conversation with his nephew. He feared there was no going back.

It slowly started to dawn on Danny. His rookie mistake. His nephew now. His friend's death. Why now? It was all tied up with a bow for the Russians. He set these thoughts aside and tried to listen to what Eric was saying.

"Oh, it's easy, Uncle Danny. You talk to Jimmy, like ordering a pizza, and he hooks you up."

"Hooks you up?" Danny rolled his head stretching his neck and taking deep breaths which came out as exasperated sighs.

Eric was clueless or stupid and a little too enthusiastic. "Yea, they give you a ticket with the date and time. All in code though – see?"

He dug into his pockets. "Oh yea, they made me empty my pockets when they dragged me in here."

"Dragged you in here?" Danny was up and in Eric's face again. "You, my sorry excuse for flesh and blood are lucky to be breathing."

Now Steve did shoot Danny his most famous face, but Danny didn't back off. He simply lowered his voice a little. "You could barely pass high school and you're speaking in code now?"

"It's not really that hard." Eric really wasn't aware of just how close he was to getting his ass kicked by his uncle. "It's just a rainbow stamp. All you need is a black light to see it."

Steve realized he needed to steer the conversation back to the here and now.

"So what does this have to do with Hawaii? Why did they bring you here?"

Eric was eager to be helpful suddenly. "The games here are run by a kid. A prodigy they said. Close to my age. They thought I could negotiate for them. Gather some intel or something. They're all a bunch of geez-"

Danny stopped him. "Choose your words carefully."

"Well, they're all your age or older and they'd stick out in that crowd. That's why they needed me." Eric shrugged.

Steve remained the calm force in the room. He was doing his best to get some answers while keeping Danny's ranting in check. "So they wanted you to do their dirty work? To help pay off your debt?"

Eric nodded. He wasn't given time to say anything before his uncle leapt back into the conversation. Danny could not believe this was circling back to their recent case.

"Yea, help them out and get you killed!" Danny yelled. "For your information, the kid running that ring you're talking about is right now lying in a hospital bed nursing a bullet wound. Possibly dying or dead already. Do you know how close you came to that being you?" Danny poked him in the chest. "I can't even believe I am hearing this. How did my nephew end up part of my case?"

Steve waited a breath or two but Danny didn't say anything more. He was still stuck on one thing. Something didn't sit well with him.

"So the detour to your house, Danny, must have been to settle the old grudge?" Steve turned to his partner.

Eric had the answer. "Gravy – that's what they called it."

"So, I'm gravy now? I'm somebody's frickin gravy?" Danny shook his head. "That's great. That's just fucking great. Wonderful."

Steve took control of the room. "Alright. I think we all need some space. I'll have someone watch Eric here and check in with Kono and Chin."

He locked eyes with Danny until he was sure his partner was with him.

"Yea okay." Danny sighed and rolled his neck. "I have another call to make anyway."