CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Title: "Salvation: Forever and Always: Our Love, Our Legacy"
Author: Michelle Heath
Rating: MA for adult situations and language
Summary: Story #8 in the Salvation series. The Five-0 family face challenges that make them all re-evaluate their lives.
Disclaimer: I so do not own Hawaii Five-0; unfortunately! All original characters are the property of the author!
Date Written: September 23, 2011
(Sam's heartfelt, somewhat tearful plea apparently touches something in the man because he looks up at her with tortured eyes and takes her hand in both of his.)
"Cmdr. McGarrett, you must believe me when I tell you that I had no idea what Capt. Sims was doing. I had no idea he was involved with the Kasavich family. I didn't know, I. Didn't. Know!"
"Then help us, Admiral! Why did you go to Munich and Istanbul six weeks ago?"
"I . . . I suspected something was going on with my aide. Sims had been acting strangely for a few weeks; he was making and receiving a lot of calls on his cellular phone and would hang up if anyone walked into the room. My secretary overheard his end of one of those conversations, and she reported it to me because she heard him discussing a large sum of money. He asked for a day or two of leave, here and there; I granted it because he had it on the books, but he would never tell me where he was going or what he was doing. Part of his job is to review the daily intelligence reports to 'weed out' the cranks from the real threats and he showed a particular interest in anything related to the Kasavich family. I . . . I had begun to suspect that he was involved in something he shouldn't be, so I pulled his phone records; there were no suspicious calls and certainly not any outside the continental United States."
(Chin, Tony, and Mike all say, "burn phone", at the same time, and Sam and Danny exchange glances that say they, too, know Sims was using a "burn" phone.)
"A year ago, Capt. Sims was sent to Munich to make a presentation at a European Armed Forces conference, so I was able to access the records for that trip. I went to Munich, stayed at the same hotel where he'd stayed, ate at the same restaurants he did, but no one approached me. I then went to Istanbul because, after he left the conference, Sims spent three days there. Again, I stayed in the same hotel and ate at the same restaurants. This time, I kept seeing the same young woman; she was the Asst. Manager at the hotel, and she dined in the same restaurants. I took a picture of her with my cellular phone but didn't find anything when I ran it, so that was a dead end. . . . Capt. Sims behaved perfectly normally when I returned, so I just thought I was making a mountain out of a mole hill. In my job, you tend to get a bit paranoid. . .Then we received the intel about the threat to Honolulu, and, yes, when the information first came to me that Alexei Kasavich had asked al Qaeda to develop a biological weapon to be used in an attack on the United States, Sims immediately suggested that I recall Lt. Cmdr. McGarrett and put him in command of the SEAL team going after Alexei."
"A mountain out of a molehill, Admiral? You were concerned enough to take thirty days' leave and check up on Sims; surely you realized that you should have reported this to someone?"
"You must understand, Det. Williams, I hand-picked Sims for the position as my personal aide, I simply could not believe that he would be involved with anything illegal, let alone people like the Kasavich brothers!"
"Do you still have the picture of the woman in Istanbul on your phone?"
"I . .Yes, I believe so."
(Adm. Harte fiddles with his phone for a moment before finding the picture. As soon as he does, he hands to phone to Danny who walks toward the door, but Chin, already knowing what Danny wants him to do, opens the door to the interview room and Danny hands him the phone before turning back to the Admiral.)
"Det. Kelly is going to run a more thorough search for the woman in that picture. In the meantime, Admiral, while you may not be guilty of collusion, you are, at the very least, guilty of bad judgment."
(But, again, Sam sends a warning frown in Danny's direction and her tone is gentle when she speaks to the Admiral.)
Sir, do you have any idea where Capt. Sims could have gone? Does he have a vacation home, a lake or beach house somewhere? Where is he from? Where is his family?"
"He has no living family and he had a house in Virginia Beach; said it's where he liked to go to get away from everything. Other than that, Commander, I have no idea."
(Sam turns toward the mirror and addresses the others in that room.)
"We need to get people out to that beach house ASAP! He's probably not there, but they may able to find something we can use."
(Tony, however, is way ahead of her and is already on the phone. Sam turns back toward the Admiral and he looks up at her with an apologetic expression on his face.)
"Cmdr. McGarrett, I truly am sorry. I would have never put your husband in danger if I had known. . . "
"The important thing is that we know what Alexei had planned. I'm sure you'll understand why I won't disclose what we're planning to do, Admiral, but we can't afford to take any more risks of anything leaking."
"Yes, Commander, I understand. I am no longer trustworthy."
(He turns and looks at the mirror knowing that Mike and Adm. Henderson are on the other side.)
"If you will permit me to use a non-networked computer, I will submit my resignation to the Defense Secretary immediately."