No Stranger to Hell

Chapter 26

Once again underestimated how long it would take to finish a chapter. Guess it's possible to be at once over-confident and lacking in confidence all together. I apologize for not being able to live up to my own PR.

The case is perking along at a steady clip and Steve's at the edge of experiencing the heavy-duty side effects of the drug. Thank you for all of your comments, follows and favorites. Thanks again to SPNGran whose unenviable task it was to turn my ramblings into something a bit more coherent.

Disclaimer: If I got paid for writing I'd fly to Hawaii so that I could, in person, express my feelings for a tall guy and a not so tall guy. You all have bail money, right?

*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0* Hawaii 5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*

Crumbs

"So, what's happening with Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum?" asked Lou Grover as he took a gulp of what had to be only lukewarm coffee. He and Lori had arrived a few minutes ago to find Danny, Kono, Chin, and Lori holding a congratulatory celebration of sodas and whatever they found in the vending machines downstairs. There were several empty packets of various kinds of snacks in the middle of the breakroom table. The only thing left uneaten appeared to be a bag of gummy bears.

"They're in a holding cell at HPD." answered Danny, "Duke's having someone keep a special eye on them as well as the guy they were chasing when we almost literally ran into him."

"Talk about dumb luck." nodded the ex-SWAT captain.

"For who?" asked Kono; a bit of indignation in her tone, "Him or us?"

"Well, both." smiled Grover, "Not that you and Williams are slouches in the detecting department, but it was kind of a 'right place, right time' thing. With that kinda luck, you guys outta go halfsies on a lotto ticket."

"I guess you've got a point." she smiled, deciding not to take offense. "I tried to get Steve to go in with me on a bunch of tickets last time the jackpot was really big but he didn't want to."

"He'd of lost his wallet anyway." snorted Danny before washing down a bite of a Snickers bar with a gulp of Diet Pepsi.

"Did they give up any information yet?" asked Lori frowning at her temporary boss's dichotomous choice of food and drink.

"What?" asked Danny as he noticed her look, "My daughter wants me to eat healthier."

"Oh, uh huh." nodded Lori in a powerful display of self-discipline. She didn't even crack a smile.

Said Chin, "The two gunmen don't seem to speak English and, despite the 'vast' linguistic skills gathered here in this room, none of us is fluent in Japanese."

"HPD has a couple of official translators we can use. They'll be here within a few minutes if we contact Duke." said Kono.

"I don't want anyone else in on this yet." responded Danny as his team looked at him quizzically. "Because, with interpreters around they're gonna clam-up even tighter and that would force us to use Rambo's interrogation techniques and, if we do, there's a chance that any case we might have will be thrown out."

"McGarrett's not even here." reminded Grover.

Chin added with a smirk, "I think Steve's ways have finally rubbed off on you, brah."

"Next thing we know, you're gonna start putting butter in your coffee and going all OCD over a mess like this." said Kono waving a hand at the table covered with the debris of their celebration.

Ignoring the comments, Danny continued, "Anyway, I doubt any Yakuza thugs are gonna crumble under questioning. They'd be killed by their own organization if they did."

"You're right." concurred Grover, leaning forward to pick a gummy bear from the packet on the table. The rubbery confection didn't go all that well with coffee but they were the only things left and he was hungry. "If they talk, these guys are gonna be like my mother-in-law's meatloaf . . . toast."

"I think we can solve a couple problems at once." said Danny

"A couple? As in more than one?" asked Lori, now eying the gummy bears as well. As evidenced by the empty wrapper in the middle of the table she was too late to score any Oreos. It was way past lunch and her stomach was growling fiercely. She assumed people would get the wrong idea if she licked the telltale chocolate crumbs off of Kono's tank top.

"We have the miracles of modern technology at our fingertips." answered Danny, popping the last of the candy bar into his mouth. It had probably been in the vending machine since the last ice age but hey, chocolate.

Chin nodded but said, "How does that help us if they're not going to talk anyway and, even if they did, no one speaks the language?"

"We're gonna to put the two into a room with the object of their murderous intent and let them stew for awhile." answered Danny, looking from one to the other of his teammates.

His brow wrinkling like a Sharpei's, Grover weighed-in, "Okay, I guess that would solve the traffic congestion at the blue room but where are you going with this?"

"Steve's got nothing but time right now. I know he's bored out of his skull and, like a hyperactive kid, he needs something to do before he gets into trouble. We've got a job for him. After Chin works his magic, Rambo can watch them from his hospital room. I didn't know until he went off to Japan looking for Wo Fat that the goof even spoke Japanese in addition to Mandarin and whatever else he's hiding from us.

"He can surprise one at times." agreed Grover.

"Yeah, sometimes even in a good way." said Danny, "By using his freaky linguistic skills he can interpret anything that slips out between the two goons when they meet up with Shaftbottom. Since they won't know we're watching and are able to understand what they're saying, they may let something slip."

"That actually sounds like it could work." said the profiler, "Surely they'll have something to say if we put Shaftbottom in the room with them like a sacrificial goat used to lure predators."

"Yeah. The two didn't seem like rocket scientists. If we leave them in there long enough we may learn something." agreed Kono.

"Could work." said Grover thoughtfully as he pursed his lips; unpursing them to pop a yellow gummy bear into his mouth. His entire face immediately puckered in reaction to the sourness he wasn't expecting.

"In any case, it'll give Rambo something to do while he's convalescing." replied Danny.

"He did seem a bit down when Lou and I went to visit him this morning." said Lori, "This could make him feel like he's contributing and maybe cheer him up a little."

"Sounds like a good plan in several ways." agreed Kono.

"Chin, go set up the feed so that we can get Steve in on this." said Danny. The Hawaiian silently nodded and left the room. He needed to gather the equipment necessary to set up a surveillance system invisible to their suspects. They'd never set one up in the interrogation room in the basement, aka 'the blue room'. A record of what went on in there could be problematic if viewed by anyone outside of Five-0. If the seriousness of the case warranted, the task force could sometimes tiptoe on the boundary of legality or have even been known to run roughshod over it. Out of necessity they'd employed the 'What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas' sort of concept for the blue room - there were no cameras.

"Okay, Lou, go fetch Thing Number One and Thing Number Two and stash them in that empty office. Try to look menacing while you're watching them so they don't try anything while we're waiting for everything to be set up. We're gonna let 'em marinate for a while before we spring the other guy on them."

"Try to look menacing?" said Grover with a dismissive snort. At six-foot-five, he'd looked menacing since he was thirteen. Now that he'd perfected his scowl, he knew for a certainty that he is positively terrifying.

"Kono, after we're set-up, you go fetch our Mr. Shaftbottom from his holding cell. We don't want the other two to see him until we're ready. On this end, you're gonna get first watch with Steve. Despite my doubts the goof can stay still long enough to do this, he's got no choice right now so this may actually work."

"You got it, temporary boss. I won't even tell Steve what you said." With a dimpled smile, the Hawaiian woman strode off to check how long it would be until her cousin was done with his set-up. She walked out the door while brushing cookie crumbs from her chest.

Lori, without an assigned task, said, "I'll just, um, clean-up the breakroom." She wasn't sure if Danny trusted her as much as Steve had. Her feelings were a bit hurt to be left out of the loop.

"After that's done," said Danny as he stood to leave the room, "You get to keep Steve company for a while to see if he's really up to this. I know he's gonna say yes but you know he'd say that even if he's in the middle of having a limb hacked off. If you think what we're doing is going to interfere with his health, let me know and I'll pull the plug then we'll go with plan B."

"What's plan B?" she asked as she retrieved a plastic trash can and began to sweep everything left on the table and into it.

"Haven't the slightest friggin' idea." he responded. With that, Danny strode off to give Steve a call. Since he hadn't seen him since before his treatment, he needed to ask how he's doing as well as set-up the surveillance/translation op. He had no doubt Steve would be itching to be in on the action somehow. He wasn't kidding about keeping the guy busy to make sure he stays out of trouble. They'd been partners far too long for him not to know that a bored McGarrett is calamity waiting to happen.

…..

Martin glanced around the holding cell. There wasn't even a window in here. First he's homeless, now he's in the local bastille. Still, it might be a step up. At least he doesn't have to share his cell with a bunch of snotty kids and a guy who desperately needs a bath and the services of a dentist.

Another good thing, the most important thing in fact, is that he's still alive. He was beginning to have his doubts of remaining so considering that, at least twice now, he'd been at the business end of guns held by Yakuza assassins.

Though he was thankful to have been rescued, he still wasn't going to incriminate himself in any wrongdoing. He'd learned there had been fatalities involved in the crime. If convicted, he could be sent up for many, many, more years than was warranted for grand theft, no matter how valuable the stolen goods.

He wasn't willing to garner any extra time in prison because of the elimination of those two twits; neither had impressed him. The man at the convention center had been an uncouth lout who'd sneered at him when he'd declined to kneel down to inspect the closing mechanism of the door in the passageway between the two buildings. The floor of the tunnel hadn't been swept yet! Of course he wasn't going to ruin a new pair of Armani linen slacks! The man had nerve!

As far as Atwell the museum director: he'd seen the man in action and he must have been absolutely horrid to work for. It's a wonder his own employees didn't do him in.

So, no. There's no way he's going to do any extra time on their account. He'd find a way to get out of this somehow. As long as they didn't have the art or Nozaki himself, the authorities didn't have much of a case.

…

He picked up the ringing cell from the metal table in front of him. Tina had finally forked the device over. Before now, he'd been reliant on the hospital's land line. Having his own phone at least made it seem as though he had a piece of his life back.

"Hey D, howzit?" he greeted after seeing the goofy face on the screen. It was a photo forwarded to him by Gracie who'd snapped it when Danny had tried to make her laugh by making a face. She'd known it would become his cell's ID image for her dad. That kid's alright.

"How you doin' buddy?" asked Danny, not just to be polite. He really did want to know how Steve is feeling today.

"Not too bad. I heard they're giving us lime jello for dinner today; I've got something to live for." he said sourly.

"Well, maybe I've got something else that will cheer you up."

"What's that?" asked Steve.

"A job."

"Huh?"

"We need an invisible interpreter for the two Yakuza bozos we've got in custody. So far as we know, they speak only Japanese and we need you to watch them covertly so that you can translate whatever they might inadvertently spill."

"Why aren't you using HPD's people?" asked Steve feeling a strong spark of interest in the proposed op. He may actually be able to make himself useful.

"Well, I figure they'll pretty much clam-up and won't be cooperative in the least with official interpreters and, since you're not around to hang anyone off roofs or throw them in shark cages, we've got to be a little more creative."

"So, if I'm 'interpreting' your request correctly," said Steve using invisible quotes as Danny rolled his eyes on the other end of the conversation, "You think they're going to let something slip if they think they're not being watched?"

"Yup. And we're going to up the ante by putting them in the blue room with that Shaftbottom guy they were trying to kill and see what comes of it."

"Sounds like a solid plan, D." said Steve with a smile his partner couldn't see, "Let's get this show on the road."

"Thought you'd like it." said Danny with his own smile at his partner's enthusiasm.

…..

Steve sat sipping his apple juice as he stared at his laptop, watching the three men glare at each other from where they'd been shackled to their chairs. So far, this was like the most boring reality show ever.

Danny had fastened the tall blonde guy to the chair. He'd seen that as soon as the door had closed when the detective walked out of the room, Shaftbottom realized he'd been abandoned and had frozen like a deer in the headlights. Eyes wide with fright, he sat staring back at the two Yakuza gunmen who leered menacingly back at him. So far, no one had uttered a word.

Today was actually a good day for this op. He'd had his first infusion this morning and after a couple of hours wasn't feeling all that bad. He knew that soon, the cumulative side-effects of the drug would increase. In what would be an unrelenting cycle, he'd have only one day out of every four when he didn't feel like total crap.

Like today, within an hour after the infusion, he could expect aching muscles and painful joints. His head would pound and his stomach would try to turn itself inside out at even the thought of food.

The next day wouldn't be as bad but exhaustion would leave him completely inert and he'd sleep through most of it.

By the third day he should be able to watch a little TV and maybe converse with whichever member of his ohana had shown up to visit.

By the fourth day, most of the leftover soreness would be gone and he could attempt to eat. On that day, he could probably actually appreciate his visitors.

Anyway, today is a good day for a couple of reasons: he had a job to do, he'd so far managed to keep down a cup of ice cream and a few sips of apple juice, and Lori was here to keep him company while he worked. Things are good.

…

"I told you we should have just gone back home!" hissed Hisao to Junichi who sat staring daggers at the gaijin sitting only a few feet before them.

"And I told you that if we did, our employer would have us killed. He doesn't like people who fail him." answered Junichi, disdain in his voice for the one who'd been a major pain in his ass from the moment they'd been paired together.

He'd heard rumors of the man's idiocy but now, he'd had to experience it firsthand. If Mr. Nozaki doesn't have them killed it will indeed be a miracle. To add insult to injury here is the thief, only feet from them, and they have no way to complete their assignment. The gunman tested his shackles once again. They were tight and there was no way he could manage to slip out of them. That large black man had fastened them carefully then smiled at them. His smile was as menacing as his frown.

Hisao sighed loudly. There is no way out of this that he could see.. He'd understood some of the questions they'd asked; even if they were in English. If they didn't speak, they'd be here in this room until they died. If they did speak, they'd be dead anyway. Mr. Nozaki would see to it.

"This is your fault!" hissed Junichi to his coworker. "If you hadn't been such an idiot, we wouldn't be here in this room staring back at the man we were sent to kill!"

"It wasn't my fault that he escaped at the ship!" responded Hisao who certainly wasn't going to take sole blame for their fuckup.

"Look at him! He's as scared as a rabbit. I can't believe we failed in our assignment!" said Junichi.

Martin stared back at the two men conversing in Japanese. They certainly weren't happy to be here and, if looks could kill, he wouldn't be here either. He had no idea why they'd been dumped in this stupid room and tied to chairs facing one another. What was the point? His stomach tightened as two sets of dark eyes stared daggers at him. They'd been here for almost two hours. If he wasn't scared shitless, he'd be totally bored.

….

"Anything yet?" asked Lori as she sat sipping her tea while Steve stared at the screen of his laptop.

"Nope, they're just blaming each other for letting Shaftbottom escape. They don't seem to be too happy being partnered."

"Sounds familiar." she smiled

"Like who?" he asked without taking his eyes off the screen.

"Well, you and Danny do a lot of umm, bitching at one another."

Steve looked up surprised, "We don't bitch!" he replied.

"Oh, excuse me. Maybe I should have used the words squabble, quarrel or maybe bicker." she smiled.

"Shhh!" he said as, on the screen, the two gunmen began to berate the man sitting across from them.

"You!," said Junichi in his own language, "If it wasn't for you, I'd be home right now drinking beer and playing Dragon Quest!"

Martin, not speaking a word of Japanese, only stared blankly back at them. The two were certainly annoyed.

"It's your fault that Mr. Nozaki is even angry with us!" said the duller one.

The only word he understood was the name Nozaki. He wondered how this was going to sort itself out. Could the authorities prove that these two guys had anything to do with the deaths of the museum director and the workman? They'd been sitting here staring at each other for nearly two hours without anyone coming into the room to question them. Sooner or later, someone was going to have to pee or whatever. This could get even more uncomfortable.

"Come on." muttered Steve to himself. "You've confirmed the name, just give us the location."

Lori studied her friend as he sat bolt upright in bed, eyes fastened on the screen; both hands pressing against his earpieces. He looked better than he had earlier. Maybe it was just that he had something to occupy him. His eyes seemed brighter and his color was better. She did notice however how thin his hands had gotten. The bones on the backs of them much too visible, radiating out from his wrists like spokes on a wheel.

"We shall be stuck in this horrible country forever!" said Hisao.

"The American justice system won't allow us to remain in custody forever, just be patient . . . and shut up!" responded Junichi.

"No! It's this man's fault we're even locked up!" Hisao gestured toward the thief with his chin.

"You mean because he wouldn't stand still and let us kill him? Don't be an even bigger idiot than you are."

"The ship will leave without us." said Hisao dejectedly.

"Mr. Nozaki has many ships, the Kitakyushu Maru is only one of them. Don't be so negative."

"Bingo!." muttered Steve, "The fuckers finally gave us a name."

"They're going to find the paintings." said Hisao.

"They're hidden too well. No one would even think to look for a false ballast compartment. It's well hidden. Mr. Nozaki himself designed the ship."

"Kono, you there?" asked Steve, not taking his eyes off the screen.

"Yeah, boss." he heard.

"The ship is the Kitakyushu Maru. There's a storage area built into the ballast tank. If the ship's riding low, it's probably under several feet of water right now. The paintings are in there. Our little friends also said that Nozaki is the one who actually designed the ship."

"Did they spill about the murders?" asked Kono.

"Not yet but they're not very good at hiding stuff. It probably won't be long."

*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0* Hawaii 5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*5-0*

Note: To all of the broken hearted the world over who've been left to carry-on, I wish you peace and love.