I am aware that last week was screwy for reviews. My bad.

Thank you Phoebe Miller for beta reading!


Fact #152: Relying on others can be frustrating.

Season: 5th Season

He took Kono with him instead of Steve. Partly because Tiffany had explicitly told him she felt safer with Steve around, and he figured he owed his partner one after all the years of giving him crap. Plus, Super SEAL as the guard dog gave him a certain reassurance. And partly because he felt bad for having left Kono alone with his parents and Eric all day yesterday.

"So, did you really make any contacts in New York when you were looking for Adam or was that just your excuse to come and catch a glimpse of my life before Five-0?" Danny asked.

Kono pulled a face and put her hand to her chest. "I'm wounded, brah. Do you think I would make up something just to come out here to see what shaped Danny Williams into the man he is today?"

"Well, have you heard anything from any of your contacts?" he prompted.

"No."

Danny snorted.

The pair of them strolled down the busy sidewalk to the coffee shop in the middle of the block. Unlike the café that had been blown up, this was in a lower class part of town. Danny knew that it was more in line with a cop's budget than wherever Shamrock would frequent.

The place was fairly packed when they walked in. Danny didn't bother scanning the line and instead looked at the tables. He spotted his ex-partner parked at one with cups of coffee in front of her.

"Same spot as always, huh?" he said as he sat.

Mags pushed a cup towards him and one towards Kono. "You're the one that chose it."

"Nine years ago," he said.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Mags shrugged. She looked at Kono. "Sorry, kid. Didn't know what you like, so I just sorta guessed."

"This is fine," Kono said.

Danny sat forward and folded his hands on the table. "The underworld have anything interesting to say or is it quiet on that front, too?"

Mags flicked her fingers before curling them back around her paper cup. "Xander always hears stuff. There was a hiring call that went out two weeks ago, but it was apparently very sketchy."

"Are you serious? A hiring call for criminals was sketchy?" Kono raised a brow.

"That's what I thought. But, since the source couldn't be identified, the more professional criminals didn't touch it. Don't want to do a job and get snitched on or even worse, not paid," Mags said.

"That would explain the thugs," Danny said. "Those kinds of guys don't really care and may not be too interested in looking into it. Did X-Files have any idea how many people had responded to the offer?"

"He didn't exactly say, you know how he is, but I think he vaguely hinted that between you and Shamrock, people are giving it some more thought instead of blindly replying," Mags said.

Danny rubbed his thumb over the familiar logo on the paper cup, brows furrowing in thought. His hand fluttered out and swept crumbs off the worn tabletop. The criminals were probably more scared of Shamrock than they were of him or Five-0. It wasn't like every criminal knew her by name or who she was or what she did, but there were always rumors.

"So," Kono said. "What kinds of cases do you work as a PI?"

Mags rolled her neck as well as her eyes. "Mostly cheating husband/wife cases. It sucks. But I get good ones now and again."

"Like?"

"Had a married couple who own a club downtown hire me to look into someone that was trying to kill them and dismantle their club. The police didn't take them too seriously. They had been in and out of trouble in their younger years and their club doesn't always attract the most upstanding crowd."

"What happened?"

Mags drained the rest of her coffee. She tossed the cup at the nearest trashcan. "Well, they were right. Someone was trying to kill them. Let's just say it involved drugs, guns, alcohol, envy, a high speed car chase, and some legal documents. Eventually the police got involved and so did the lawyers."

Lawyers. Danny looked up at her. "What was she doing?"

"Who? The club owner and her husband?" Mags asked.

"No, Shamrock. At the café. What was she doing there? She said that one of her bodyguards caught some shrapnel, a barista she knows is on a ventilator, and her lawyer has a concussion and a broken clavicle. Which lawyer?"

Mags nodded, catching his drift. "It was Harvey."

"Why was she talking to Harvey?"

"Okay, new girl who wasn't on the force with you two here in Jersey," Kono said. "Who's Harvey?"

"Harvey Specter. Big corporate lawyer. He's taken shots at Mags and I when we first started looking into Shamrock almost eight years ago," Danny explained. "Since we had nothing conclusive, we had to back off or risk getting our hides chewed by the higher ups because of a civil suit."

"Started investigating a little quieter, a little more off the radar," Mags added. She tapped her fingers on the table. "We're not going to get any information from his firm."

"Can't you just go talk to him in the hospital?" Kono asked.

Mags and Danny stared at her.

"Harvey won't talk. And if Pearson finds out we're snooping around, a PI and three cops way out of their jurisdiction, we definitely won't get an answer," Mags said.

"I can go in," Kono said.

Mags gave her a questioning look, but Danny held up his hands, having completely understood her.

"Babe, while I appreciate the willingness, I don't want you getting in trouble," he said.

"Come on, Danny. They don't know who I am. I might be able to get some intel that you two wouldn't get since they know you guys."

Danny glanced across at Mags.

Mags grinned. "I like her."

Danny pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm going to go gray between you and Steve."


Steve had finally managed to peel himself away from Tiffany. Or at least Eric had seen his discomfort and had redirected Tiffany's attention in order to give him a bit of a breather. He owed the kid one. Danny, on the other hand, was low on his list since he had left him at the house and taken Kono instead.

In the absence of any Williams, Steve finally felt able to make a call. He stood watch at the guest bedroom window on the second floor while he did. Just in case.

He grinned as his friend answered.

"Hey, man. It's McGarrett," he said.

He and Nash had become friends some years ago during a joint operation. They had kept in touch afterwards. Of course, Steve hadn't counted on having to turn to him for a favor, but since Catherine had gotten out of the Navy, he didn't have anyone else with a reach like Nash did.

"We're fine. Got into a snafu yesterday, but that's normal," Steve said. He squinted at a car going slow down the street. It only turned into another house's drive. "Yeah. We heard about that. Have you heard any chatter?"

A nondescript rental car cruised the other way down the street. It pulled into the Williams' drive. His hand reflexively went to his gun holstered on his hip and he thumbed the safety off. He sighed and relaxed once he recognized his two teammates exiting the vehicle, and flicked the safety back on.

His brow furrowed once what Nash had relayed caught up in his head. "Wait. Who's going after the Japanese side of her business? You don't have any names? Yeah. No, that helps some. Keep me updated. And Nash, you should take a night off and have a beer."

Steve chuckled at the response.

"Okay, I'll buy you a beer next time. First round only," he said.

He heard the front door open and shut downstairs.

"Later, Nash."

He slid his phone back in his pocket and headed down to see if his partner had gotten any information that could prove useful. He didn't like having to wait on someone else to provide intel, never mind that the someone else they were waiting on was a criminal mastermind whose good will towards them may have run out. He would rather dig up his own and hit the ground running.

"The Williams Fort is all good, Uncle D," Eric was saying when he stepped into the living room. "Steve's been walking around here like Rambo. I think Aunt Tiffany is about to swoon."

"Swoon? Really, Eric?" Danny questioned.

"I know words! I graduated high school, you know," Eric said.

Steve crossed his arms across his chest. "What did Mags have to say?"

Danny gestured to the kitchen.

Steve followed him while Kono hung out on one of the barstools and kept nosy eavesdroppers out of earshot. Between Clara, Eddie, Stella, Eric, and Tiffany, it was no easy task.

Danny told him about the hiring call and low level thugs. Steve nodded. Sometimes amateurs were easier to deal with because they didn't cover their tracks or mask their approach as well, and yet at the same time, they could be wild cards. But by the sounds of it, they may have gotten a break.

Then he told him about the lawyer and Kono's plan.

"I don't like it," Danny said.

"How long would it take to request those records?" Steve asked.

"You better start looking for an apartment here if you want to wait that long," Danny said. "We'd have to sludge through a lot of legal BS."

"That answers that. It's a good plan, buddy, and Kono can handle herself," Steve said.

"She takes after you, you know that, right?" Danny said and pointed a finger at him.

"I've heard. You got a better plan?"

"Besides calling Shamrock and hoping she isn't picking out flowers for my funeral?" Danny asked.

Steve shrugged. "You said it yourself. She usually knows what's going on before we do."

"But that doesn't mean I like having to rely on a criminal for information."

"We get info from Kamekona and Sang Min all the time. And Mags has that one guy, Jerry's pen pal," Steve said. "I'm sure the intel my SEAL team got for our missions weren't always from the cleanest sources."

"I doubt she'll take my call. She usually calls people, not the other way around," Danny said and combed his fingers through his hair.

"Hey, I called Nash just before you got back," Steve said.

Danny held his hands out. "And?"

"He said there's been some chatter about part of Shamrock's newly formed operation in Japan coming under assault. No names or specific details."

Danny stared at the floor and began to pace. "Legal or illegal operation?"

"Legal. Sounds like it's part of the shipping company she's working on with Uchibayashi."

Danny stopped. He vigorously scrubbed the sides of his head. "Okay, okay. One problem at a time. We'll find out what's going on with her shipping operation after we find out why she was talking to her lawyer."

Steve hid a grin. "Did you just convince yourself that Kono going undercover was a good plan?"

Danny glared at him. "Shut up."


Shamrock winced. She hated wearing slings or bandages, but she would suffer them for a time while she healed. At least her mind was undamaged despite the mildly irritating headache that had persisted all yesterday into this morning.

"Achutebe, what does this look like to you?" she asked.

Achutebe leaned down and read the line she had highlighted on her air gapped laptop.

"That looks like a problem," he said.

"Remind me to make dinner reservations for Louis," she said. She stood up from the table slowly. "How are things progressing in Japan?"

"One warehouse was attacked and two shipping containers were destroyed," Achutebe said, following her out of the sunroom into the interior of the house. "Nothing of note was inside either one. Uchibayashi already has the authorities pointed in the right direction."

"Good," she said.

A grand staircase led to the upper story of the house. Its well maintained wooden steps barely made a squeak as the small framed Shamrock and mountain of a bodyguard climbed upwards.

"I feel that our mysterious gamemaster expended most of their resources here rather than over there," she said.

"And even then they did not spring for a professional to take out Williams or his family," Achutebe grumbled.

Shamrock paused at the top of the stairs.

"Ma'am?"

"Williams will be trying to get out ahead of me on this," she said. She narrowed her eyes and brushed her long ginger locks off her shoulders. "He'll start with Harvey."

"What would you like to do?" Achutebe asked.

She hummed lowly. "We're going to the hospital to visit Joey and Harvey. Send Noah to check in on my wayward employee."

Achutebe dipped his head. "Yes, ma'am."


Next week on "Dragons", the pieces all start coming together.

I promise, I'll actually get to the end of this arc soon. Another two weeks, three tops. I've just been struggling.

And yes, it was totally my fault that people couldn't post reviews last week. I didn't realize you can only post one review per chapter, so when I replaced my notice of delay with the chapter, it wouldn't allow people to leave another review. Sorry about that.

Thank all you lovely people for reading, reviewing (and PMing when you couldn't review), faving, and following!