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Disclaimer: I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any of its characters.
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Chapter Fourteen
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Two hours had gone by and Danny had yet to return. Steve and Kono spent time going over the files again, occasionally pointing something interesting out to one another and bouncing theories back and forth.
"Look at this," Kono pointed out, handing Steve a file from HPD and also a page from Chin's notes. "According to Danny's records, thirty other crates have popped up all over the island. All empty. Very similar to what we found two years ago. And look at where they were found."
Steve looked from Danny's paperwork over to Chin's logs.
"The crates were all found in properties owned by Keystone."
"Right."
Steve shook his head. "What does this company have to do with Wo Fat? I mean, it's clear they are into something illegal here, but I'm not seeing the connection. We don't even know what was in those crates to begin with!" The frustration was beginning to mount, and Steve rubbed his tired eyes, sighing.
"Well, it has to mean something. Danny's hunches are usually good ones," Kono added.
Steve nodded. "He'd be the first to tell you that, too."
A ghost of a smile appeared on Kono's face before it disappeared altogether. She sat silently for a moment, her fingers playing with a frayed piece of paper.
"Chin was killed while investigating one of Keystone's offices," Kono added, thoughtfully. "Do you think he found some crates there too?"
Steve thought a moment. "Maybe. It's possible he stumbled upon something. The bombs that Wo Fat set off afterward pretty much obliterated any evidence that might have been there…" He trailed off, seeing the look on Kono's face.
Steve marveled at her poise. He knew she was hurting, but she hid it rather well. She was like Chin that way… strong, silent and composed. He felt his chest constrict as he thought of Chin. While he had lost a friend, Kono had lost so much more. An apology wasn't enough. Steve owed her an explanation.
"I sent him there alone," Steve admitted suddenly.
"What?"
"Chin. He called me, said he had a lead. He was just going to drive by and check it out… I let him go alone. And now he's dead."
Steve looked away from Kono, unable to look her in the eyes. The guilt he had carried over Chin's death was weighing on him heavily. He hadn't felt like himself in years and had even gotten used to the dark cloud that constantly hung over him, forcing himself to adjust to the new Steve he had become. One that didn't have as much confidence as before. One that second-guessed a lot of his own decisions. And one that could not let go of the past.
"Is that why you left?" Kono asked, her hand finding his on the table and squeezing it slightly. "Because of Chin?"
Steve sighed, staring at her hand as it lay gently on top of his.
"No, Kono. I didn't leave because of Chin. It was Wo Fat. He…" Steve trailed off and stood up, beginning to pace around the small kitchen. "He left me a package right before Chin's funeral. It had two pictures in it. One of you and one of Danny. He was sending me a message. I had to leave to protect the both of you. Chin had already died. I couldn't risk the two of you getting hurt. So I left."
Kono stood up, wrapping her arms around her chest. "Why didn't you just tell us? Or contact us after?"
"I thought I would be able to! But every month that I was gone, I got another package from Wo Fat with two new pictures of you and Danny. I couldn't come back. And I couldn't risk contacting you. Even though I thought about it every single day."
He recalled getting that first package. He'd been away from Hawaii for only three weeks at the time. He'd returned from an early morning meeting to find a manila envelope on his desk, not unlike the ones he used to receive with belongings from his father's Champ box. This one, however, had two photos in it. There was no letter. No threat or demand. But Steve got the message loud and clear. Stay away.
Immediately after, he'd contacted Kamekona. He made his friend promise not ask any questions, and not to tell anyone they were in touch, but he needed to know if Danny and Kono were okay. Steve worried that he could be putting Kamekona in danger as well, but he felt it was worth the risk. With his contacts and background, it was unlikely Wo Fat would connect Kamekona to Steve. Kamekona promised him regular reports of their well-being. And he had come through. Once a month he'd send Steve a text message: They are okay. It was all Steve needed to get through it all.
One month at a time.
"So why come back now?"
Steve looked away again and out into his backyard. The sun was beginning to set, giving everything an orange-like glow. Kono's question was one that nagged at the back of his mind ever since he had left Vice Admiral Maguire's office.
"Because two years was long enough," Steve said, his voice faltering slightly. "I had been tracking Wo Fat the best I could while with the NCTC. I had found him in Singapore, Los Angeles and Hong Kong. When I found out that the lead investigator into the case wanted my help, I knew I had to come back. That it had to mean that Wo Fat was here, in Hawaii. I couldn't keep living in fear that something bad was going to happen. And I thought maybe, just maybe, I could get to him before he would even know I was here. Before anyone else could get hurt."
"I'm sorry, Kono." He looked into her eyes and saw a hint of understanding behind them. She nodded slightly and then moved back to her seat at the table.
After the lone discovery on the case and Steve's admission of why he left, he and Kono were left filling the long silences with what little small talk they could offer one another. The more time they sat together and talked, the more at ease Kono appeared to become, even laughing a little bit while telling some stories about Danny or Grace.
"He told you about the Camaro, right?"
"Oh yeah," Steve said, smiling.
"He was so worked up about losing that car. He refused to even talk to me about it for the longest time! I finally was forced to butter him up with some coffee and malasadas to get him to fess up." She paused to laugh. "You should have seen the look on his face when he told me about it. It was like a member of his family had died."
Steve joined in her laughter, imagining Danny's reaction. "To think of all the times he yelled at me for reckless driving while chasing a suspect. And there he goes, doing the same thing!"
Kono's laughter died momentarily and a look of confusion washed over her face. It was brief, but Steve caught it.
"What?"
"Hmm?" Kono asked, quickly looking away from Steve.
"What was that look?"
Kono casually waved her hand. "Oh, nothing… It's just…." She paused, looking back again at Steve. "Danny went to your house once a week after you left… made sure everything was okay and all that." She paused, looking contemplative and somewhat sad. "I think he hoped that one day he'd find you back home, or something…. I don't know."
She shrugged then, looking away briefly before meeting Steve's gaze once more.
"I just thought you should know. He never gave up on you."
Steve smiled fondly. "Thanks, Kono."
Steve felt that there was more Kono wasn't telling him, recognizing her attempt at changing the subject, but he didn't want to push her. Especially now that she had finally started opening up to him. Before he could dwell on it further, the front door to Steve's house opened and Danny's familiar stride could be heard entering the kitchen. Steve looked up to see Danny beaming, holding out a flash drive in one hand and a pizza box in another.
"I've got something!" he exclaimed. "You got a laptop?"
"Yeah," Steve replied, getting up and heading quickly over to the desk in the living room. Snatching up his laptop, he carried it back to the kitchen where Danny promptly inserted the drive.
"Okay, here we go," Danny said as he expertly loaded some files and brought them up on the monitor. "Something in Chin's files jumped out at me. It had to do with the financials of that Keystone company. He noted, here," he paused, pulling out the paper he'd left with and handing it over to Steve, "that in 2012, a large contribution was made on behalf of the corporation, though it looks like he never got around to seeing where the money went."
"But you found out?" Steve asked, already knowing Danny's response.
"That I did, Steven," Danny replied with a smirk. "The amount he indicated is what jumped out at me. Sixty-eight thousand, five hundred dollars. I remember seeing that exact number in something else I was investigating awhile back. Look at this here."
Danny pulled up a document on his screen with a listing of what looked like financial records. He pointed midway down the document, where there was a $68,500 deposit. Steve looked up to the top of the document to see the State Seal of Hawaii, followed by the name Governor George Akina. Steve bent over to get a better look, and then stood up slowly.
"Danny," he started slowly, his voice soft. "What is this?"
Danny shifted in his chair slightly so he was looking up at Steve. "It's a copy of Governor Akina's campaign contributions."
"I can see that. You said you remembered this from something you were investigating awhile back."
"Yes, so?" Danny raised his eyebrows.
"Investigating? You were investigating the Governor awhile back?"
Danny shrugged, his eyes twinkling.
"Well, after Jameson, can you blame me? Don't give me that look, Steven," Danny said in what was a reaction to the scowl Steve knew he had on his face. "Relax, okay? I was just checking the guy out. I didn't find anything then, okay? But now," he announced, sweeping his hand toward the monitor, "now I found something."
"Are corporations allowed to donate like that to a campaign?" Kono asked, moving in to stand next to Steve.
"Not as a corporation, no," Danny explained. "This was a result of Keystone Properties forming a PAC."
"PAC?"
"A Political Action Committee. It's where all the employees of a company donate together. That's what Keystone did. And it was Governor Akina's highest campaign contribution."
"So the Governor is somehow tied to this company. The one that supposedly is hiding all the missing crates?"
"What do you mean all the missing crates?" Danny asked.
Steve stood by while Kono explained the new piece of information they had found while Danny was gone, but Steve didn't pay much attention. He was trying to wrap his mind around everything they had learned. Keystone not only was housing illegally obtained crates, transporting who knows what, but they were also campaign donors to the current Governor. That wasn't rock-solid evidence to tie Akina to anything illegal, but it was certainly fishy.
Steve disagreed with Danny about one thing. Chin probably knew about the connection between Keystone Properties and Governor Akina. That's what he was investigating on his own. And he didn't want to bring the rest of Five-0 in on it until he was sure.
Steve put his fingers to his temple. He wasn't sure he was up to accusing another Governor of corruption.
This was getting complicated. They still had yet to find a link to Wo Fat, which was the entire reason Steve had come back to Hawaii in the first place. Sure, Wo Fat had all but confessed to Chin's murder, which occurred while investigating one of Keystone's properties, but what was Wo Fat's connection to this company?
"…Jameson's campaign as well."
Danny's voice brought him out of his thoughts.
"Wait, what?"
"I said that Keystone was the largest campaign contributor to Governor Jameson's campaign."
Steve didn't know what to say. Kono looked from Steve to Danny, the implication of what this could mean sinking in.
"But," Danny continued, "that's not even the kicker. After finding this piece of information, I pulled up the list of Keystone Property employees. And look who's on the Board of Directors."
Steve bent over again, looking at new document Danny had loaded on the screen. Right at the top was a name Steve hadn't thought about in a long time. But it was also a name that linked this entire case to Wo Fat.
Hiro Noshimuri.