Chapter 40
Five-0 had plenty of time to prepare for Daiyu Mei's arrival on their island. It was a long flight, made even longer by the need for the private jet to make additional stops for refuelling, as even the superior range of the Gulfstream could not cover the distance from Shanghai to Honolulu in a single journey. Agent Greer was going to encourage the worried woman to reach out to the local Yakuza on the island to help them extract Wo Fat from Navy custody. Hiro Noshimuri was out on bail and they wanted to be able to implicate him in enough crimes to ensure that he spent the rest of his life behind bars. If they could also reel in a number of high-ranking Yakuza members, then so much the better.
With access to satellite imaging provided by the Navy, Five-0 had eyes on the plane from the minute it touched down at Dillingham airfield. The lawyer had obviously been busy during the flight, as the jet was met by two large black SUVs containing Yakuza lieutenants. Hiro was not present, but they guessed that the occupants of the plane would be taken to meet him now. Greer went with Mei, but Miller and Hennessy stayed behind and got into a car that had been dropped off at the airstrip by a local rental company. The bugs in Ms. Mei's electronic equipment could also be used for covert recording and Kono was ready to activate them to record the conversation between the Yakuza and Daiyu Mei. There was only pleasant chit-chat for the duration of the car journey, the men were obviously leaving the important conversation to their boss.
The cars pulled up outside the heavy gates of Hiro's opulent property in Diamond Head. The gates slowly swung open and the vehicles disappeared from view. Kono was following progress purely from the live recording and it was soon apparent that Daiyu and Gabrielle were being greeted by Hiro and his most trusted associates. Hiro gave a warm welcome to Wo Fat's fiancée, he obviously had been aware of their relationship but had never met the woman before now or been privy to her real name. Wo Fat had used an alias for Ms. Mei when he had informed Hiro of his impending wedding. The team at Five-0 HQ listened intently to the conversation. Hiro immediately offered the use of his considerable resources to help free Wo Fat and Greer chipped in with the location of the man, together with the security measures that would be in place.
She explained that it was very fortunate for them that he was not being held on the base, as that would have been too risky to breach. Instead the Navy were using an off-site facility that was remote with very low-key defenses, so as not to draw attention to its existence. She explained that her associates were in the process of securing specialist surveillance equipment and the floor plan for the facility and would meet them ahead of the raid. Hiro had been delighted to hear about the 'demise' of Steve, declaring it good for business – the unafraid and relentless man had scared him, he did not follow the same rules as HPD and that made him very dangerous. His brother Kouji had already paid the ultimate price for the man's dogged interference in their business.
Mr. Noshimuri agreed to provide all the necessary men and fire power for the ambush, very pleased that the formidable Wo Fat would now be in his debt and that was something that could be called in at a later date. His guests were offered drinks while he continued to make arrangements and bark orders – all captured for posterity via the covert listening device unwittingly brought into the house by Daiyu. It was getting late by this point and so the Yakuza boss made the decision to carry out the ambush at first light and offered the use of his guest rooms to the two ladies.
Miller and Hennessy drove directly to Five-0 HQ, Steve very pleased to see his CIA friend again. They came up with a game plan between them, Steve having already selected a suitable location for the 'fake' imprisonment of Wo Fat. He had copies of the facility's blueprints and aerial photos that showed plenty of activity around the site. They had staged these using Navy special operators on a training exercise for authenticity. Miller and Hennessy would take these back to Hiro that night and offer their services as expert snipers and demolition specialists, on Greer's recommendation. The two men would 'take out' the visible guards who would be posted outside the disused military installation. They would coordinate via comms so that the guards dropped at the right time and played dead. This would lure in the Yakuza ambush team, who would then be flanked by SWAT and Five-0. Greer would take responsibility for Daiyu Mei, using the ruse of keeping her away from the action 'for her own safety' and then take her into CIA custody. The CIA had a plane on standby to transfer the woman to one of their Black Sites, where she would be interrogated and then charged. The information on her devices had been extremely incriminating, directly implicating her in controlling the financial aspects of the organization - not to mention her actions since Greer made contact.
Steve was humming with nervous energy as he waited for word that the Yakuza soldiers were on their way. There was only one road suitable for vehicles in and out, and they had this covered by HPD officers hidden in the trees. Anyone who stayed with- or made it back to the vehicles would not get away. Suddenly the comms crackled into life and Steve signalled to the others, "Everyone look sharp. Convoy is 10 minutes out."
Shortly afterwards four SUVs sped down the track in close formation, skidding to a halt out of sight of the old military building. The men poured out of the cars, grabbed their weapons and started to fan out. The two undercover CIA agents shouldered their rifles and made quick time through the trees and set up their sniper positions so that between them they covered all of the guards on duty in front of the building. They stealthily put in the comms earpieces that Steve had provided and quietly confirmed that they were in position. Hennessey took point, "On my signal, guard number 1 down in 3, 2, 1 . . ."
Between the two 'snipers' all the guards were dropped in less than 20 seconds. Hennessy switched to his other comms and confirmed the kills and gave the all clear to the Yakuza soldiers. All of Hiro's men started to move in and had converged on the building when Steve gave the order. The SWAT officers and Five-0 Task Force moved swiftly into position, shouting at the Yakuza men to drop their weapons. They froze like deer in car headlights and then one of the men panicked and lifted his rifle to fire. The closest SWAT officer shot him once in the leg and the man immediately dropped to the ground, clutching his bleeding limb in agony. That seemed to focus the attention of the remaining men and they dropped their weapons and surrendered. Steve jogged back to the SUVs and found that the two drivers who had stayed back with the vehicles had already been placed under arrest by the HPD officers without a single shot fired. He pulled out the rest of the Five-0 team, leaving HPD and SWAT to secure the prisoners and arrange transportation back to the station.
Steve had coordinated with Duke Lukela to carry out a concurrent raid of Hiro Noshimuri's residence to arrest the man and anyone else on the property. The audio recording from the previous evening had been enough to persuade a judge to sign off on a search warrant and the house was being thoroughly searched by a team of Duke's best officers. Steve hoped that Hiro's arrogant over-confidence would result in them finding more incriminating evidence to use against him.
Danny sensed Steve's edgy mood and moved closer to the man, "What's up? Your spidey senses tingling, huh?" Steve frowned, not able to properly explain what he was feeling,
"I dunno, I can't help but feel we've overlooked something." At that, his comms crackled and Joe White's voice came over the radio,
"Commander McGarrett, I've just been advised by the CIA that Jonathan Kray is no longer in their custody. He overpowered the agents bringing him in and is in the wind." Steve swore under his breath before answering his CO,
"Copy that, Sir. How long ago was this and where were they at the time?" Joe continued,
"Over 6 hours ago now. He was on Maui when the agency got a lead on his location and sent in a Grab Team. The initial op went smoothly enough and he had two large suitcases in his possession with what they estimated to be about $12 million in cash. From what they can tell, it looks like Kray managed to convince one of the agents to help him and the other two agents were shot trying to prevent them both from escaping. The agents are both alive, in serious but stable condition. Kray spent a lot of time on the Hawaiian islands earlier in his career – he's got contacts and a whole load of cash to buy his way out of trouble. If he gets off the islands then we may never catch him."
Steve rubbed his forehead and scrunched up his face in frustration, "Commander White, is there any chance he knows about the situation with Wo Fat and Daiyu Mei?" Joe scowled,
"It's certainly possible. We read the Company into the op a couple of days ago and passed over the data we recovered from Wo Fat's bunker. Kray could still have backdoor access to intel or someone on the inside may be feeding him information."
Steve made a snap decision, "Sir, I'm taking the Five-0 team to the extraction point at Dillingham airstrip – I've got a really bad feeling about this." Joe had learnt to trust Steve's instincts, which were some of the best he had ever seen,
"Roger that, Commander. Watch your six."