CHAPTER 8

Friday afternoon, Five-0 Headquarters:

Chin leaned his arms against the smart table and bowed his head. He let out a rush of air before refocusing the anger inside him on the task at hand. He knew the advantages of compartmentalising, especially in stressful times like these. Steve didn't have time for them to feel guilty or angry. He needed them to get to work and find him.

"Did you get a trace, Kono?" Chin asked, his voice calm and measured.

Kono shook her head. "No, I'm sorry. The call was too short. I couldn't even get a general area. He could have been anywhere on the island."

"What the hell does all this have to do with Steve's father?" Danny asked the most important question.

Chin shrugged. "I honestly don't know. I worked with John on many cases. He would have told me if he stole from the head of a crime family. It doesn't make any sense."

"How does he expect us to find whatever it is if we don't know what to look for?" Kono asked impatiently.

"Maybe his friend will know?" Danny suggested.

"Oh, you mean Jimmy Russo?" Kono said with a sly grin, bringing his photo up on screen.

"That was quick," Danny was astounded. "He was only just processed."

"Well," Kono shrugged. "Being on the Governor's taskforce has its privileges."

"Indeed it does," a feral look came over Danny's face.

"What was he in the system for?" Chin asked, wanting to get all the facts.

"Assault, breaking and entering, more assault, drug dealing…the list goes on," Kono replied. "He's an enforcer for the Galinto family. The FBI has been keeping tabs on him."

"Let's go talk to him," Chin said, motioning for Danny to follow him. "Maybe he can tell us where they took McGarrett."

Danny walked with Chin to the elevators for the second time that day. This time, however, both men were riled up and ready to release their anger. And both men knew they couldn't do that, at least, not yet. They needed information. In order to get that information, the source of said information needed to be alive to give it. Which was ironic, given Danny had to give that speech to Steve at least once a week.

Danny glanced over at Chin as he punched the button for the second time, this time with a little more force than necessary.

"It's not you fault, you know?" Danny commented.

"How is this not my fault?" Chin demanded, turning to face Danny.

The only sign that Chin was distressed was the way his eyes glowed with anger and his clenched fists. The normally calm man was definitely upset. Understandably so.

"Oh. Maybe because you didn't kidnap McGarrett? Maybe because you don't know anything about what John did or did not do? Maybe because Vivaldi wants you unhinged, to make mistakes?" Danny said sarcastically.

Chin frowned at Danny before taking a deep, calming breath. "You're right. This isn't going to help Steve."

"Exactly," Danny said.

"So, how do you want to play this? You know he's not just going to give Vivaldi up," Chin asked.

Danny grinned. "You know, after spending half a year yelling at Steve for the ridiculous stunts he pulls, I see the use of them from time to time."

Chin thought for a moment before he also grinned. "It sounds like you have an idea?"

"A McGarrett idea," Danny said, winking at Chin as the elevator doors opened.

Friday afternoon, Five-0 Rendition Room:

Chin stood in front of Jimmy Russo, hands crossed over his chest, glaring down at the man cuffed to the metal chair in the otherwise empty room. The blue light accentuated Chin's prominent cheekbones, making him look scarier than normal. Danny stood next to Chin with a similar posture, but he was grinning down at their suspect.

"Jimmy Russo," Chin announced suddenly.

The man in the chair jumped at the way Chin's voice echoed through the room. Russo's reaction made Danny's grin broader. Russo scowled at Danny before looking back at Chin defiantly.

"Mr Russo," Chin continued calmly. "You are in quite the pickle here."

Russo didn't say anything. Smart. Except Five-0 was smarter.

"Assault, drugs, breaking and entering…need I go on?" Chin said casually.

"Don't forget kidnapping," Danny added.

"Right. Kidnapping," Chin said with a smile.

Both Chin and Danny glared at Jimmy Russo until he began to squirm under their scrutinising expressions.

"I don't know what you are talking about," Russo muttered.

"Oh, he speaks!" Danny announced cheerfully.

"Let's jog your memory, Russo," Chin said, grabbing his phone and showing Russo a picture of Steve McGarrett. "You and your boss kidnapped this man Wednesday evening."

"I didn't do anything," Russo said confidently.

"Oh really?" Danny said, mocking Russo before turning to Chin. "He said he didn't do anything."

Chin smirked. "Why don't I believe him?"

"Maybe it's because he was found at the crime scene. Maybe because of that ugly bruise around his neck. How'd you get the bruise, Russo? You pick on someone you shouldn't have?" Danny asked.

Russo smirked. "I got that from your mum last night. She didn't like the dirty talk."

Chin cringed at Russo's comment. It was so bad, so unnecessary, that he almost felt sorry for the man and what he was about to face. Danny's rants, after all, had become legend around the law enforcement community of Hawaii.

"Oh, my mum gave you that?" Danny said, the smile now gone from his face. "Well, if I had to look at your face, I would want to pop it off too. I mean, you think you are a lady's man, but in reality, you're just a lowlife that follows the orders of other lowlives. You use their influence to inflate your ego. You might as well just tell us. You got your ass kicked by a pissed off Navy SEAL. I mean, the man is certifiably insane, after all. You'd know that if you worked with him every day. But one thing I know about Steve McGarrett, is that he is like a dog with a bone. He won't let go. Your boss is going to regret ever having met him. Did you know that once he hung a guy off a roof by his ankles? That was just because he wouldn't tell him his name. Now, for someone like you, he would resort to shark cage. Since we know your name, and who you work for, maybe we will be a little bit more lenient than he would be. If you tell us where you were taking McGarrett, we'll reconsider your punishment."

Russo just glared at Danny. Danny turned to Chin and shrugged. "You know, I've always wanted to try something. I think now is the time."

Danny left the rendition room, leaving Chin and Russo behind. Russo's facial expression morphed from indifference to barely contained panic.

"Where's he going?" Russo asked fearfully.

Chin shrugged indifferently. "Hell if I know. I sometimes think he's just as insane as McGarrett. I can't stop either of them. Once they get an idea into their heads, all bets are off. You're on your own."

"Wait! You can't do this, you're cops!" Russo yelled.

"No, we're Five-0. We play by a different rule book," Chin said calmly as Danny entered the room again.

Danny had a large bucket of water and what looked like a car battery. Chin raised his eyebrows at Danny and Danny ignored him as he dragged the items into the small room.

"What are you doing?" Russo yelled as he jerked at the cuffs securing him to the chair.

"You know, we have had a lot of bad people in this room. The worst of the worst. You know?" Danny asked casually as he hefted the bucket of water.

Russo shook his head and Danny grinned.

"You know what I hate more than murderers, pedophiles, arsonists and terrorists?" Danny continued.

Russo was now visibly shaking with fright.

"No? It's people who think it's okay to mess with other people's lives. To manipulate others to get what they want. They are the worst kind of scum."

Russo's eyes flicked to the bucket in Danny's hands, then to the car battery. "No, you can't!"

"Of course I can. Why do you think we have a drain there? It's not for ventilation purposes, I can assure you," Danny commented casually.

Russo inspected the drain by his feet before snapping his head up to Danny's amused face.

"What do you want?" Russo yelled frantically.

"You know what we want," Danny replied.

Russo didn't respond except to shake with fear. Danny threw the bucket of water over Russo, who coughed and spluttered through the deluge.

"No! I can't tell you. He'll kill me!" Russo pleaded.

"We don't really care," Danny said, stepping forward menacingly.

Chin held up his hand to halt Danny. "If you kill him, we can't get the information we need."

"I'm sure we can find someone else to tell us what we want to know," Danny said, side-stepping Chin.

"Or we could save ourselves some time and paperwork by not killing him," Chin suggested.

Danny thought it over for a moment before nodding. Chin appeared to sag with relief as Danny backed off.

"Okay, Russo. Tell us everything from the start and in return, we will let you live. Depending on the information, we can provide you with protection from Vivaldi."

Russo was shaking so much, the cuffs were rattling against the chair legs. It was not from the cold.

"Okay! Okay. I'll tell you what you want to know," Russo said, defeated.

Danny waited with his hands in his pockets. "Well? Go on."

"Matteo came to me a week ago. Said he had a job for me and a couple of the other guys. We agreed. He said we were to conduct surveillance on the guy you showed us. Matteo said if we got the job done, I would get promoted. I wanted that job. So, we watched him. He's so boring. All he does is work out, go to work, work at home and go to bed. Anyway, we waited until he was alone and somewhere secluded. We followed him to the supermarket. The parking lot was empty, so we knew it would be easy to take him. We didn't mean to shoot him, one of my guys is just trigger happy…"

"We know all of this. Where did they take McGarrett?" Danny interrupted, moving towards the car battery.

"Hang on! I'm getting there."

"Well, hurry up. I don't have all day," Danny commented, his hand twitching towards the car battery.

"We were driving until suddenly the trunk popped open. We stopped the car and saw him running into the bush. How he escaped, I have no idea. Anyway, Matteo sent us out to find him. We followed his trail. The trail was really obvious, but I had a feeling it was too obvious, you know? So, I doubled-back and found him. I had him, but then, I don't know, he turned into a ninja. Somehow, he got me in a chokehold. The next thing I remember is waking up, covered in dirt and walking out of the bush before being told to get on the ground."

"Okay. Fascinating. Again, where were they taking McGarrett?" Danny asked.

"I don't really know," Russo admitted.

"You don't know?"

"We were supposed to switch cars and split up the groups. To create a diversion. There were a number of final locations. I don't know which one they ended up in," Russo said.

"Wait. You're saying there are multiple locations and you don't know the real one?" Danny said.

"Yes. That is what I'm saying," Russo said sarcastically.

Chin moved forward and threw a piece of paper and pen on the suspect's leg before unlocking one of the handcuffs. "Write down all the locations. If we find McGarrett at one of these locations, we will consider helping you."

Russo nodded and quickly did what was asked. Chin grabbed the piece of paper and stormed out of the room, leaving Danny behind with the suspect.

"Just so you know, my mother prefers real men. Men that don't get frightened by a little bit of water," Danny smirked at Russo before leaving.

Danny could almost feel the burn of the smouldering glare shot at his back. Danny couldn't care less, as long as this information got them what they needed.

Danny met Chin in the hallway. As soon as the door closed behind Danny, they burst out laughing.

Chin caught his breath and wiped the tears from his eyes. "Did you see his reaction?"

Danny shrugged. "He bought it, didn't he?"

"You channelled McGarrett so well. I was wondering if you were really going to use the battery," Chin said, clutching his stomach.

"We had to get the information from him. In order to do that, we had to take the rulebook and set it on fire," Danny said.

"More like drown it," Chin muttered to himself as they waited for the elevator to take them back up to headquarters.

Friday afternoon, Five-0 Headquarters:

Chin and Danny returned to headquarters where Kono was hard at work running through all of John McGarrett's previous cases. She looked up when she heard the glass doors opening.

"Hey. Did he give up the location?" she asked.

"Not so much. He said there were a few locations. Seems Vivaldi has backup plans for his backup plans. Russo gave us a list of the ones he did know. I'm guessing that none of them will pan out, though," Chin replied.

"Why not?" Kono asked, confused.

"Vivaldi is careful. He's going to know that one of his men is missing and will eventually talk. He can't take the chance of us finding Steve before he wants us to. So, Steve won't be at any of these locations," Danny answered.

"So, we have nothing?" Kono asked, her voice quiet.

"Not exactly. We know Steve can't have been hurt too badly, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to take out that idiot. Plus, Russo's scared of Vivaldi. We can use that," Chin said.

"How?" Danny asked.

"He'll give us everything. Meaning we could get evidence to finally put him away. For good," Chin said.

"That's good. But how does that help us find Steve?" Danny said.

"It doesn't," Chin said. "But when we do find Steve, he will be happy to know we can put the man away for a really, really long time."

Danny and Kono both noted Chin's use of the word 'when' and not 'if'. It gave them the reassurance they needed to get back to work and find their boss, wherever he was.

"I've been going through John McGarrett's old case files. So far, the only case potentially linked to the Gilanto family is the Webster's case," Kono explained.

"Could it have been something that was not case-related?" Danny asked.

Chin thought for a moment. "It's possible. But I knew John. He wouldn't have done anything to jeopardise the case."

"Chin, you said John thought the Websters were involved in drugs. Did he say why?" Danny asked.

Chin shook his head. "No. He never mentioned it again after the case went cold. Not long after that, well…that was when…"

"HPD accused you of taking payoffs," Kono continued for her cousin.

"Okay. Hear me out for a second," Danny said. "What if Charlene and Gavin Webster were working for Vivaldi and then got in over their heads? They took something from Vivaldi and brought it here. Vivaldi found out and chased them here, found out John McGarrett worked the case and figured he knew what had happened and had whatever the Webster's had taken?"

"It's possible. Except for one thing," Chin said.

"Which is?" Danny asked.

"If the Webster's ran from Vivaldi four years ago, why is he only hunting them down now? We know the Webster's were killed four years ago, with a gun that is being using to kill people today," Chin pointed out.

"Maybe someone else was working with the Webster's to go against Vivaldi?" Kono suggested.

"That's possible," Chin said.

"So what is it that Vivaldi is after?" Danny asked.

"Whatever it is, he's willing to abduct the head of the Governor's taskforce to get it, regardless of the consequences," Chin said angrily.

"Maybe it's not really about Steve," Kono said quietly. Both men turned to face Kono with identical expressions of confusion.

"What do you mean?" Danny asked her.

"What if kidnapping Steve was for another purpose?"

"Like?"

Kono shrugged. "I don't know. To keep us busy and distracted while Vivaldi is conducting business elsewhere?"

Chin and Danny were silent as they thought about Kono's theory.

"If you think about it, taking Steve, a Navy SEAL and head of the Governor's taskforce is a risky move. Vivaldi would have the entire Navy and Hawaiian law enforcement community looking for him. If John McGarrett really did take something from him, then he would have told Chin what it was. He wants us distracted and looking in the wrong place," Kono explained.

"If you're right, that's one hell of a distraction," Danny said.

"It still doesn't help us find Steve," Chin reminded them.

"No, it doesn't. But we know Vivaldi's game. If we make it look like we are following his every command, we can get him with stealth. He won't see us coming," Danny explained.

"Except we have essentially nothing. Where do we even start?" Kono asked.

"We start with him," Chin said, bringing up Matteo Vivaldi's profile.

As the son of the head of the crime family, Matteo would provide them with a lot of information. He had connections and led McGarrett's kidnapping. With any luck, he wouldn't be anywhere near as careful as his father. He would slip up and the Five-0 team would be there to catch him.

"What…" Danny trailed off when he noticed the FBI agents entering the office.

"Good afternoon everyone," Agent Weir said. He paused when he saw the image on the screen. "Why is Matteo Vivaldi on the screen?"

"Uh…Agent Weir," Danny replied, suddenly lost for words.

Agent Malcolm Weir looked around at the stressed Five-0 team members. They had identical looks of surprise mixed with guilt on their faces.

Danny cleared his throat. "I take it you are here because you found something?"

"Yeah. We did. Where's McGarrett? He's going to want to hear this too," Weir said, looking around the office for the team leader.

"McGarrett's not here right now," Danny said.

Weir frowned. "Where is he?"

Chin's phone vibrated in his pocket. Taking it out, he opened the incoming message and closed his eyes when he saw the photo he had just received.

"We don't know," Chin answered the FBI agent.

Weir narrowed his eyes at Chin. Chin handed the agent his phone. "We don't know where he is because Vivaldi has him."

Weir glanced down at the phone and frowned at the picture. There, tied to a chair, was Steve, with a sack over his head. The tattoos peeking out from under his shirt sleeves gave away their boss' identity. On his lap was a newspaper with the current day's date. The message was titled 'proof of life'. Weir looked up at the Five-0 team with a shocked expression.

They certainly weren't expecting that.