CHAPTER 8

Steve stared at the paper that Danny had just handed him like it was a bomb ready to detonate in his very hands. He felt his gut clench in fear, wondering what part of his past had come back to haunt him this time. However, looking at the documents in his hands, he had no clue what they were pertaining to. Steve looked up at Danny and took in his concerned, yet serious face.

Steve cleared his throat. "Whose names was this was found in relation to?"

Danny looked at Steve. He wasn't sure if Steve was asking because he genuinely didn't know, or if he wanted confirmation of the conclusion he had probably already come to.

"Trevor Singleton and Marcus Bennington," Danny responded carefully.

Surprise flashed briefly across Steve's features, only to be replaced with the perpetual stoic mask that Danny hated so much.

"Do you know these guys?" Danny asked his friend.

"Mind your own business, McGarrett."

"Walk away while you still can."

"Do what is right, not what is easy."

"We will make you pay for this…You will never forget."

"Steve?" Danny almost yelled.

Steve jumped at the sudden change in the volume of Danny's voice. "Huh?" he responded ever-so eloquently.

"Are you okay? I called your name three times," Danny said, concern lacing his voice.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry. What did you say?" Steve said, trying to mask the shakiness in his voice.

"I asked you if you know these guys?" Danny said, pointing to the papers in Steve's hands.

Steve shook himself. "Yeah, I do…or I did. I went through boot camp in the Navy with them and then…" he petered off.

"Then?" Danny said, elongating the word while waiting for Steve to explain.

"I haven't seen them for eight years, Danny!" Steve stated defensively.

Danny held up his hands. "Okay, sorry."

Steve sighed. "No, I'm sorry, Danny. It's just…last time I saw them…well, it didn't end too well."

"Care to elaborate on that?" Danny asked quietly.

Steve shook his head. "No, I really don't."

"Look, Steve…"

Steve pinned Danny with a hard glare. "Danny, I am only going to tell you this once…Leave. It. Alone."

Danny leaned back in the chair, his mouth open at Steve's suddenly icy tone. The angry expression on Steve's face told Danny all he needed to know - back off now. With that Danny stood and left the office without looking back at his partner.

Sighing, Danny pushed his own door open and sat down behind his desk with a dejected thud. Danny knew getting any information out of his partner, particularly that of the classified variety, was like pulling teeth. However, he hadn't been expecting Steve to react the way he did.

Danny recalled Steve's look of surprise when he mentioned those two names. It was obvious there was some bad blood between Steve and these two men. Danny just hoped he hadn't brought up bad memories by intervening.

No matter how hard Danny tried, he couldn't get it out of his head. Even if they weren't relevant to the current case, just mentioning their names had made Steve upset and…angry? Danny was determined to find out why.

Looking at his empty coffee cup, he decided he would need some more caffeine before he began his new self-assigned task. Entering the break room, he was surprised to find Chin and Kono already there, waiting for him.

"What's up with the boss?" Kono asked, bypassing formalities completely.

Danny had to hand it to the team that Steve had hand-picked. Nothing got by them. Absolutely nothing.

"What do you mean?" Danny replied, trying to play it off casually.

"Come on Danny. We all saw what happened in his office. What did you find?" Chin asked.

Danny sighed. He knew he wouldn't be able to fend them off. He may as well just tell them.

"Honestly, I'm not sure," Danny answered truthfully.

Chin just raised an eyebrow at Danny, waiting for him to elaborate.

"That's the truth! I found something in the file, something that connects Steve to the case. I confronted him about it. Honestly, he was surprised at first, but when I dug a little further, he cut me off completely," Danny said.

"That's not it, Danny. What aren't you telling us?" Kono asked.

Danny's shoulders slumped. "I think this is starting to get personal for him. Whatever happened in the past is stirring up some feelings. Not that he would tell us that."

Danny was really wondering whether this could damage his friend's already fragile mental state.

"He knows he can come to us with anything, right?" Kono reiterated, concerned about her boss' state of mind.

"He knows. In this case, however, I don't think he can share. I believe the word he would use is classified," Danny said, using air quotes to emphasise the word 'classified'.

"He'll tell us if it's related to the case," Chin said confidently.

"Yeah, but I'm worried. This is obviously going to be a sore point for him. I don't want this case bringing up any bad memories. He's still recovering from what the Fuentes thing did to him," Danny said almost pleadingly, as though the others didn't understand the horrors his partner was still mending from. Steve's own past was his worst nightmare.

"We'll keep an eye on him. That's what Ohana does, Danny. Besides, you won't let him do anything stupid," Chin said with conviction.

Danny barked out a laugh. "That requires him actually listening to me."

"Aww, Danny. He does listen…Whether he takes on your advice is another question all together," Kono said, smirking at Danny.

Danny waved his hand at her. "Yeah, yeah, whatever…Have you guys finished with your sections yet?"

"Yeah, all done. We were just waiting on the two of you," Chin replied.

"We should probably get back to work before he notices we're gone," Kono said.

They left the break room and returned to their own offices. Danny glanced into Steve's office, only to see him on the phone, with his head down and one hand on his hip. Danny settled down to continue his research, trying not to think too much about what all of this could mean. The dread he felt in the pit of his stomach told him it was nothing good.

Steve watched Danny leave his office. He knew he shouldn't have snapped at his partner like that. It wasn't Danny's fault, none of it. But he was just shocked, surprised, caught off guard. Of all the things from his past, he hadn't expected that to come back to haunt him. Steve looked down at the papers that Danny had handed him. He knew exactly what was written under the blacked-out parts. He was there, he knew what had happened and had even assisted in writing the report. But why did Perry have it?

Placing the papers on the desk, he reached into the drawer in his desk and pulled out a burner phone. He knew what he had to do. It shouldn't be so hard to hard to press some buttons. He sighed, deciding to get it over with. Reluctantly, he dialled a number he never thought he would need to again. He ran his thumb over the call button before finally pressing it and listening to the ringing on the other end before hearing the automated message.

"The person you are calling is not available. Please leave a message after the tone."

Steve hung up the phone with a frustrated sigh. He decided to try one more time. When he received the same result, he decided to leave a message.

"Hey man. It's Smooth Dog. I need some information. Remember 2004? Yeah, it's about that. Can you get me some intel on the players? They have come up in connection to a case here in Oahu. Hope to hear from you soon. Tell Marcie I said hi."

Steve placed the phone on his desk and stared at it, waiting for it to ring. He knew it probably wouldn't, at least not for a few days. He jumped slightly when there was a knock at his door. Chin was motioning him towards the smart table where Danny and Kono were already waiting. He quickly shoved the burner phone back into the drawer and followed Chin outside and over to the computer.

"What have we got?" he asked, getting straight to the point.

"Not a lot, to be honest. We've gone through the file and found a few names, but nothing that would warrant Perry getting tortured and killed," Chin answered.

"What about what he was working on before he went on leave? Did you find anything relating to that?" Steve asked.

"His last case before going on leave was breaking up a small drug ring operating out of an MMA gym in California. It was a pretty open and shut case. All known members are currently incarcerated," Kono replied.

Steve ran a hand down his face in frustration. "Hmm. Run all those names against military records. Maybe someone from his past identified him when he was working undercover there."

"Wouldn't that alert the mole to what we were investigating?" Danny pointed out.

Steve hung his head. "Yeah, you're right. We need to do this under the radar."

"And how exactly are we supposed to do that? Does Walker really understand what he's asking us to do?" Chin asked.

"He understands exactly what he's asking of us. He knows it won't be easy, but he doesn't want to risk anything," Steve answered.

There was a moment of silence before Danny's eyes lit up enthusiastically.

"What?" Steve asked, suspicious of Danny's sudden good mood.

Steve looked around at the cousins, noticing their eyes were also bright with anticipation.

"Are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?" Danny asked the cousins.

"Yep," Chin replied and Kono nodded.

"No…" Steve said, unsure what they were talking about.

Danny just grinned at Steve before making his way to his office. "I'm going to make a call."

Steve turned his bewildered eyes on the cousins. "Who is he calling?"

Kono shrugged her shoulders before answering. "Toast."

"Toast?" Steve repeated.

"Yep," Chin confirmed.

Steve ran his hands through his hair. "No."

Without giving the cousins a second glance, Steve bolted towards Danny's office and made a gesture to indicate Danny needed to end the phone call.

Danny turned to Steve. "Too late man. Toast is coming in as we speak."

Steve growled in frustration. "No, Danny. We can't use him, not for this."

"What do you mean?" Danny asked, frowning. "He helped us when Fuentes had you."

"That was different, Danny. He was hacking a drug lord's system. This…this will get him in major trouble if he's caught. Come on, Danny. I know Toast is good, but hacking the United States military? We will all be court marshalled if he gets caught."

"How else are we going to get the information we need, huh?" Danny countered.

"Danny…" Steve pleaded. "Trying to help me was one thing. This is something else. We can find the information another way. I can't in good conscience allow Toast to do this. It's too dangerous and not just for him."

"Come on, Steve. The kid thinks this is a good challenge. He wants to do it," Danny said.

"If he realised how much trouble he could get into, he wouldn't want to," Steve replied.

"Ah, but he does. Besides, immunity and means…"

Steve looked at Danny like he had grown two heads. "Since when have you embraced immunity and means?"

Danny grinned. "Since it works in my favour."

Steve shook his head, smiling slightly. Danny's grin grew wider, knowing he had won over his partner.

"You're buying the lollipops," Steve said as he left Danny's office.

Four hours later, the sun had descended on Oahu and the moonlight illuminated the nearly empty car park of the Iolani Palace. The Five-0 team were ensconced in the break room, each nursing a lukewarm cup of coffee, trying desperately to keep their eyes open. It was approaching the early hours of the morning and they had yet to go home and get some sleep. The only person that appeared to be actually awake was Toast (A.K.A. Adam Charles).

Currently, Toast was in McGarrett's office, working the keyboard furiously to find as much information as possible on their deceased victim and any military acquaintances he might have had. As soon as Toast had begun to work his magic, he had tuned out the team completely. Assuming he would find them once he found something, the team had retreated to the break room to consume some much needed caffeine.

They hadn't expected results instantly. Unlike other platforms they had gained access to by utilising Toast's skills, military security was a whole different ballgame. Steve paced the break room nervously. Unlike the rest of the team, Steve still had reservations about using Toast to get access to Perry's files and other military records. He knew Toast could do it; he had great faith in Toast's abilities.

That wasn't the problem.

The problem was what happened if the mole found out. That is, if there was a mole. There were still so many unknowns about the case that it was impossible to determine if they were making the right move. They had no way of knowing how dangerous it was. At the moment, they had more questions than answers. And that worried Steve. Given the presence of redacted files in Perry's case files, Steve suspected there was so much more to the case than they originally thought. Whoever killed Perry wanted something important. The question was, did they get it?

"Steve, please sit down. You're making me dizzy," Danny's voice invaded Steve's thoughts.

With a sigh, Steve sat down on the couch next to his partner. Chin was sitting across from them, his head tipped back against the wall and his eyes closed. Kono was sitting cross-legged on the chair next to Chin, reading Perry's file with her chin on her fist. Her head kept sliding down as her eyes gave in to the exhaustion.

"Sorry," Steve muttered.

"It's okay. I know you don't exactly agree with this, but you know it's our best option," Danny whispered.

Steve nodded reluctantly. "Yeah."

Silence descended over the group again as they waited for Toast. Danny side-eyed his partner, watching the way his leg was jumping up and down. He had never seen his partner so anxious before. Something was clearly on his mind and it had to do with more than Toast hacking into a military database.

"Steve?"

Steve turned his head to face Danny. "Yeah?"

"What's going on in your brain? I've never seen you this…agitated."

"I don't like this," Steve replied.

"I know you don't. We've discussed this and agreed it was the only way to get the information we needed," Danny reasoned.

"I know that!" Steve snapped.

"Woah, okay," Danny said, coming more awake at the change in his partner's mood.

"Sorry, I…"

"It's okay. You're tired. I get it."

"It's not that."

Danny sighed. "Then what is it?"

"I don't know. There's something about this case that is nagging at me," Steve answered quietly.

"Why don't we wait and see what Toast finds? Maybe he will find something useful and solve your insecurities," Danny said soothingly.

Steve sighed. "Yeah, okay."

The partners became silent once again. The cousins' deep breathing was the only sound in the room as Steve and Danny sat lost in their own thoughts.

"About before, I'm sorry. It's just…never mind," Steve said.

Danny opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted when Toast came rushing into the break room.

"There you all are. I have been looking for you guys for the last ten minutes," Toast's loud voice woke the two team members from their slumber.

"Woah, Toast. Take a breath, man," Danny said to the hyped-up man.

"We have a problem," Toast whispered.

"Why are you whispering?" Kono asked sleepily.

"You never know who might be listening in," Toast announced.

Danny rolled his eyes. "Right. Just tell us what you found."

Toast sighed loudly. "That's just it, dude. There was nothing to find!"

Steve sat up straight. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I couldn't dig into Perry's profile because it wasn't there," Toast said.

Chin coughed slightly. "How is that possible?"

"What I found was basically a skeleton profile, with basic information on Owen Perry. Just things like name and date of birth. But other than that, there is nothing. It's like he didn't even exist."

"Everybody has a profile, Toast. At the very least, there is some record of them," Kono insisted.

Toast shook his head. "Normally, I would agree with you, but it's like he was erased from existence completely. There is no digital record of him, anywhere."

"Are you saying someone purposefully deleted everything to do with Owen Perry?" Chin asked.

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Toast replied.

"Can you trace the hack?" Danny asked.

Toast's eyes widened. "Maybe. But, whoever did this, they are beyond my level of expertise. I mean, they knew exactly what they were doing. To access a heavily guarded system like that and erase information without anyone noticing is very difficult. It's beyond my capabilities."

"Yeah, but every hack leaves a trace, no matter how good the hacker may be," Kono said.

"That is true, but I can't find a single trace of anything. It's like the information never existed in the first place," Toast explained.

"So, basically you are saying that you have hit a dead end?" Danny said, slightly disappointed.

"Yeah. I mean, I'm good. But I'm not that good. I don't know what you guys are on to, but it's pretty serious," Toast reminded them.

The reality of their situation dawned on them. Danny's hopes of finally having a lead and bringing this case to an end was shattered at Toast's revelation. This was beyond them. Someone was blocking every move they made and they had no clue how to find them.

Steve, who had been quiet for the last few minutes of the conversation, spoke up. "You did the best you could, Toast. Thank you for your help."

Steve shook Toast's hand before making to leave the break room.

"Oh, McGarrett?" Toast said.

"Yeah?"

"Your phone has been ringing like crazy, dude."

Steve frowned as he took his phone out of his pocket. His frown deepened when he saw there were no missed calls or texts.

"Not that phone, dude," Toast said.

Steve's eyes widened and he left the break room hurriedly without another word. Danny looked after his partner quizzically before turning to the cousins, both of whom just shrugged their shoulders before following their boss out. Toast was about to follow suit before Danny called him back.

"Toast, you got a minute?" Danny asked.

Toast frowned. "Yeah?"

"I need another favour from you," Danny said.

"Is it illegal in nature? Because one felony is enough for me today," Toast said.

Danny snorted. "No, it's not. I need you to find some information for me, under the radar."

Toast was intrigued. "What kind of information?"

"I need information about two people; Trevor Singleton and Marcus Bennington."

"Why?"

"I think it's related to the case, but I'm not sure yet," Danny answered.

"Why can't you do the search?"

"Because the only information I have on them is a redacted file with their names on it."

Toast nodded. "I see. Consider it done."

"And Toast…Don't tell anyone about this, especially McGarrett."