A/N: Happy Friday!
Chapter 12: Paired Partners
Steve, Jerry and Toast walked into the bullpen to find Chin and Danny busy at the smart table. Files were scattered everywhere, loose paper was piled high on the chairs against the wall, the office printer spit out more paper and the fax machine could be heard connecting and reconnecting. They were so preoccupied that the two hardly even noticed the three as they arrived, they were so consumed with the mystery before them.
"How's it going?" Steve asked to get their attention.
"Oh good, you're here. Toast is here, Kono," Danny said as he looked from Toast to the monitor in front of him.
"Toast I need you," Kono's voice was heard over the connection.
"What do you need?" Toast jumped and rushed to Danny's side.
"Jerry, do I have a mass of stuff for you to sift through and make sense of," Chin said as Toast and Kono started conversing in tech talk and he rushed to Jerry with the files he'd scooped up. "That is if your up for it and not too swamped with school work," he added as Danny caught his eye.
"No, I'm good, fill me in," Jerry said as they rushed off.
"You're just going to ignore me then?" Steve asked when no one acknowledged him.
"Just give me one second," Danny said and rushed off to his office.
Steve followed as Danny snatched more papers off the fax machine and his face scrunched up in confusion.
"Talk to me Daniel," Steve ordered.
"You're not supposed to be working while in class," Danny said in protest.
"And yet, the team has pulled in Jerry and Toast, and Lou is nowhere to be found."
"Lou is at the dive shop that's not actually, nor do I think was ever supposed to be a dive shop. And the order for you to stay outta this came from the governor, she failed to mention Toast and Jerry in the conversation so..." Danny's voice trailed off as he read another page.
"What have you found?" Steve asked.
"Maybe nothing," Danny answered and snapped up the receiver of his office phone. "Yeah, me again, I need Steve and the others on this while they are out of class time. Is that possible?" He asked into the phone and a grin crept onto Steve face. "Only for interrogations."
Steve's face fell again.
"I can't promise that either," Danny said and there was an unmovable quality in his tone. "Thank you," he finished without another demand and hung up. "I have an idea," he said as he looked to Steve.
"Tell me all about it," Steve said and took a seat.
Fifteen minutes later and dressed more as his usual self, Steve and Danny walked into the interrogation room where Danny and Kono had dropped the realtor.
"Stanton industries was shut down for ties to terrorism and money laundering in 2002," Danny said as he looked up from the file folder he was buried in while Steve took a place in a corner. "You and your brother, Joe, were partners in that business and were imprisoned for it. Now you're out and living in Hawaii, and where is Joe?" Danny asked.
"I want my Lawyer," Gus said calmly.
"No," Danny said and watched the fire flash in Gus' eyes. "Not used to no, are you Gus?" He asked slyly. "Always gotta get your way."
"I ain't saying anything to you without my lawyer present."
"See, you being here in Hawaii is a breach of your probation, so no lawyer is going to help you, not if they're smart anyway," Steve said calmly.
"So let's negotiate. How about a Navy SEAL, I can give you that, but no lawyer. Will you talk with one of those present? One of those who was deployed to deal with the terrorist cells that your business funded after the events of nine eleven?" Danny asked and motioned to Steve.
"He ain't a SEAL no more," Gus huffed.
"He's in the regulars, and I'm pretty sure that training never leaves you, neither do the torture techniques or the secrets, and if he wanted to go back, I'm pretty sure they'd take him in a heart beat. Isn't that right buddy?" Danny asked his partner.
"I'm unable to divulge that information at this time as it is, and remains, classified, and he is a convicted terrorist," Steve answered robotically.
"I'm not a terrorist," Gus spat. "My charges revolved around a collection of businesses that used mine to launder their money and to fund their people. I didn't know they were terrorists. I spent 27 months, plus time served, in prison and the family business was seized and shut down by the government but I never had anything to do with the terrorists directly; here or abroad."
"You just paid for it," Danny accused.
"I put the money back into circulation," the man said with a shake of his head. "I didn't know where it came from."
"You turned a legitimate business that your immigrant great grandfather build from the ground up into an illegitimate business that laundered money and funded terroristic acts. You are a terrorist by proxy," Danny said.
"It's all here in the file that I was give access too because of the nature of this investigation and your involvement with terrorists. Lucky for you, you're too proud and didn't change your name. Lucky for me, I have access because I have a Navy SEAL on staff. Technically, I'm his staff," Danny corrected with a look from Steve. "I mean, identity theft is another charge to tack onto murder, but you didn't do that so I was able to pull up all of your records. Where's your baby brother hiding out? Did he change his name?"
"I didn't kill anyone," Gus said defiantly.
"Sure, maybe not directly, but the driver of that truck is dead, and he had your keychain on him, and you had to know that even with reinforcements the impact would kill him, or knock him unconscious. The scuba gear wouldn't have saved him and so you sent a man to die in a box truck. That sounds like murder to me," Danny said.
"He's dead?" Gus asked as there was genuine shock in his tone, or so it seemed for a split second.
"Yes, Gus, your baby brother Joe died in that truck today. So what else would you like to tell me?" Danny asked.
"I want my lawyer," Gus said in tears now, but they were fake, faker than any that Danny had ever seen.
"That's not going to happen," Danny said and exited the interrogation room.
"So now what?" Steve asked once they were outside again. "I did nothing, why did you tell the governor that you needed me?"
"For intimidation and authority," Danny said. "And now that he knows we identified the driver and that he's dead, we're going to leave him down here for the night to stew in it, and mark my words, those tears are fake tears. He knew what he was doing from the very start, and that BS about not being a terrorist; all lies. Not a word that came out of that mans mouth was truthful."
"I could have told you that," Steve said and crossed his arms.
"He thinks he's so good that this display has me worried. It was just so easy to tell that he was lying. There has to be something else," Danny said and began to pace.
"All right, I can get behind that, and I agree with you completely, but what's next?"
"We take a break, clear our heads and you go back to class tomorrow morning," Danny answered.
"Where we put your plan into motion, but what about the others?"
"The six from the dive shop?" Danny asked with a shrug. "Hopefully we'll get what we need from Gus and the girl and won't need the lackeys to roll over on their bosses."
"And what about the missing cargo?" Steve asked.
"We've black listed all gas cylinders on the island. Anyone transporting anything of the kind has to have everything checked by police or boarder security, homeland, whomever. Every ship, fire house, and recreation shop will be checked or fully shut down if they do not cooperate with this police investigation. It's a pain in the ass but it give us time to keep looking."
"Okay, but how do you feel about it?" Steve asked. "Be honest."
"This one is a weird one, but our team is the best. I wasn't expecting to wrap it in one day but I feel like we've made good progress and deserve the rest."
"Why don't I believe you?" Steve asked.
"Because you don't have full control as you usually do and haven't seen this from the very beginning, so you're suspicious of everything."
"Is this how you feel when I go all crazy on you?"
"Yes, exactly, that's how I know."
"And yet, you still follow your intuition."
"Yes."
"Well I don't feel good about this. That's my intuition for you."
"Role reversal, I don't care for it much but I will take your warning to heart. Everything will go back to normal when you're done with training."