Chapter 3: Makaha
I know Higgins is angry with me. She's laughing and smiling now, but only because she won that bet and got me out of the driver's seat. Still: at least that gave me time to think. There's no way she would have volunteered that information had she been dating anyone else. I get it: if she's not with me on the job, she's with him, and because I'm being such a jackass, I'm making her feel like she has to choose between us every time there isn't a case on the go. And all because I'm blaming him. I know she chooses him, every time, and I guess I know she always will now, but I get the feeling she hates that she has to, and that there's this rift between Rick and me. I'm making this difficult for her. I'm not trying to, but I am. I know now what he was asking, with that phone call after the bus thing. I guess I never really got just how deep things went for either of them before… Well, just before.
There are things she doesn't know, though. Things I've been keeping from her, and from Rick and TC. Things I can't risk bringing them into. These guys – the collective – they haven't just given up. Between HPD, Five-O and us, we completely messed up their plans two months back. Sure, they managed to do tragic and horrendous damage with the bomb we missed, but something's been bugging me about that blast. Why pick that tower? I mean: if you wanted to do maximum damage, and had enough explosives to break into one of those things, which isn't easy for obvious reasons, then why pick the one tower blocked off from the rest by an empty one? It's like trying to set up a domino chain and starting it at the end with a domino missing. If they'd set the charge at the other end, they'd have started a chain of explosions that would have taken out the bridge to Sand Island, and probably half the island itself along with it. It might not have reached as much of the harbour, but the damage would have been much, much more.
It also might not have reached La Mariana. If there had been a little more fuel in the tower that did go up though…
I can't risk bringing the guys into this any further than they already are.
The only things I know about this group, really, are that they are good at planning things, and they're patient. That bomb didn't fit with that pattern. That worries me. Now they've gone quiet again and I know – I just know – they're planning something. I just wish I knew what.
XXXX
TC cast a glance over to Rick. He was his usual cheery self to his customers, dealing with whatever request should come his way. Only TC knew the smile was a mask. They all had them. It was how they dealt with the things they had lived through. Thomas had the know-it-all, devil-may-care smile that convinced everyone, even Higgy to begin with, that he was a cheerful Casanova without a care in the world. Rick had the smile of the court jester, always ready with a joke, as if the cares of the world stuck to him like a drop of water sticks to a flame. Problem was: that drop was beginning to become a downpour!
He had his own smile, he knew: the smile of the unmoving stone within the stream. Where his brothers sought to fight off the darkness in their lives, he sought to balance it. To accept it. Nuzo had been the same. He had introduced TC to a few things that had helped him, but they both agreed Rick and Thomas had taken a different route.
It really shouldn't have surprised him so much that they had both fallen for the same woman.
Rick buzzed about the bar like a fly on a corpse. He was certainly focussed, TC thought. That meant he was avoiding something. Higgy or Thomas? TC turned his attention to the beer he was uncapping and did the job that was in front of him. That was something they had always done, in the service and out. You did the job that was in front of you, whether that was pulling a pint, flying a chopper, or catching a criminal. Only once the necessary was done did you get to think about the unnecessary. He rung up the sale and charged the customer's phone. Life was so much easier with contactless! His eyes flitted to Rick again, chatting with a customer. Laughing.
Laughter was both a shield and a pressure valve to his brother. TC wondered which it was this time.
XXXX
Rick chuckled as his customer turned away, but then the mask fell. It didn't drop completely: other customers may be watching. Besides: he had spent most of his life hiding behind a laugh. It was almost second nature by now! The fact that every customer was a necessary distraction from the fact that Jules was out there, right now, with a guy who had apparently just painted a target on his back and refused to ask for help, was surely just a secondary benefit, right? If something happened to her because Tommy had decided now was a good time to shut them out, he would never forgive him. He would never forgive himself either.
XXXX
There were times when Hawaii reminded Juliet of the south of France, and this was one of them. The streets of Makaha were laden with dust, trees, and pickup trucks, once one was off the main road. The street they had been directed to was nothing less, even if one of said trees arced over the road like the entrance to Narnia in summer!
She pulled up in the shade of the tree in question and got out of the car. "Well?"
"Don't look at me: I thought they'd be at the last place!" Magnum shot back with a shrug. He exited the car and joined her by the low wall of the property. "Your move, sister: what now?"
Higgins rolled her eyes. They were doing that, were they? Fine. "The lot on this side seems empty, they have the ocean behind them," she summarised. "I'll take the front door; you head round the back via the far side. If they're going to bolt, they'll bolt that way."
Magnum nodded. "Okay," he agreed. "Shout if you need me."
"I may look like a damsel in distress, Magnum, but that does not immediately mean that I am one," Higgins retorted. She cast her eyes over the extensive villa they were now heading towards. "Nevertheless, you may assume that I know my own limits. If I need you, I'll call."
Instead of knocking, this time, Higgins picked the lock. The door opened into a hallway with a dining room on one side and a living room on the other. From the dining room, a kitchen opened up. In front of her she saw the hallway extend to the far side of the house. Waves crashed against the shore at the far end of their back garden. At the far end of the hallway, Higgins looked from the study or library on one side to the small cache of bedrooms on the other. Casting a cursory glance into the former, she unlocked the back door. "Come on, Magnum: no sign so far."
A corridor with enough windows to class as a porch led her towards the bedrooms. A door just the far side of the kitchen opened on to a set of stairs down into a basement. With Magnum at her back, she left him to check or guard it, and continued on to the bedrooms. As Higgins turned, she spotted him hovering in the junction of the front hallway. From there he could see both exits at once. It was, she had to admit, a sensible position to occupy.
The master bedroom was untouched. The other looked like that of a professional teenager! Laundry was strewn where it fell. Dirt too, no doubt! She had checked the en suite of the first bedroom, she may as well check the one in here too. There was quite the layer of grime that had built up over the preceding weeks. This was a summer house between summers. One of those ancient relics from a time when one only had to make an unchecked comment to have all eyes turn on you.
Higgins returned to the hallway, shaking her head at Magnum when his eyes turned to her. He tipped his head to the left and she nodded. The only room left to check now was the basement. She reached it first and opened the door. The bright light of the full moon and a myriad of shining stars cascaded through the floor to ceiling windows behind her, illuminating the top of the staircase, but not much beyond that. A switch sat innocently by the side of the door, offering the option of more light. Higgins peered into the gloom, letting her eyes adjust. How many times had she seen a film character do this? Of course, in real life there was no sudden rush of air, nor eerie music to warn the viewer this was a trap. If people in horror movies could hear their soundtrack, she thought, would any of them ever go down into a basement again?
A small landing half-way down the stairs faded into view. Great: not only was it a dark and creepy staircase, on Halloween, it was also one that she couldn't see the end of. Higgins sighed. They were only a pair of rebellious teenagers, not some hockey mask wearing or machete wielding psychopath with homicidal tendencies. She flicked on the light. Was that a shuffle she heard below? Lifting the hem of her costume in a genteel parody of delicacy, she stepped onto the stairs. They creaked.
Of course they did!
By the time she'd reached the landing, she had a clear view of them both, now awake and huddled on the sofa-bed that had been pulled out for them. One glance was enough to fill in the missing detail.
"Got them, Magnum!" Higgins called up. She turned back to the teens, who were blinking in the light. "Right, you two: get your things. Your parents are worried sick!"
"We can't go back!" Maria protested. "They won't understand!"
"Oh, I think they will," sighed Higgy. "I think they will, if you give them a chance. I'm sure we can help."
"Help with what?" Magnum called down. He was at the top of the stairs now, a shadow in the moonlight filled doorway, above the level of the basement lights.
"It appears our Claudio and Isabella are more like Romeo and Juliet," Higgy called up. "They don't seem to think their parents would approve."
"To them we're brother and sister," Anthony insisted. "They won't let us be anything else!"
"We can't go back to that!" Maria continued. "We won't."
Higgins sighed. She couldn't exactly say she was unfamiliar with the feeling. "I get that, believe me. More than you know. And because of that, I will help you explain things to your parents. They need to know, though. I'm sure, once they get used to the idea, they'll be okay with it. They know you're not really siblings by blood. Come on. I'm not leaving without you. Either you come with us willingly or my partner will call your parents to come and collect you. Then we can all have that discussion right here if you like. You won't be able to get past both of us. Your call."
Higgins folded her arms and waited. There was a moment of silent debate between the teens, then, Maria first, they began gathering their belongings. Higgins shifted into the corner of the landing as the two mounted the stairs. The boards below her creaked with the additional weight. She glanced up at Magnum, awaiting the runaways at the top of the staircase. Silhouetted against the night sky beyond, it was impossible to tell if he'd heard the noise. He made no obvious move or sign that he had, but perhaps he didn't realise just how little she could see of his expression.
The teens were onto the upper part of the stairs now. Higgy began following a step or two behind. The creaks and groans of the wood were louder now. She paused. Perhaps best to let the additional weight get off the longer, unsupported part of the old staircase.
The step below her groaned again. Higgins froze. Gently, her hands floated out to the bannister on either side, her long cuffs fanning out across the intervening space. She waited.
Above her, she heard Magnum bark out an order. "Come on, kids, let's hustle here!"
So, he had spotted it then. The wood around her creaked and groaned again as first Maria, then Anthony, left it.
"Come on, Higgy, make a run for it," Magnum suggested, proving, as if he needed to do so, that he had no idea what difficulties long skirts and dainty slippers posed when running.
"I vote next year, you can wear the ridiculous costume," Higgy called back.
"So grab your skirts and run for it," Magnum laughed. "Nobody here is gonna care if they see your ankles, or whatever was deemed inappropriate in tenth century England!"
"Twelfth century!" Higgy shot back, aware that removing her hands from the bannisters would put more of her weight on the creaking plank below her, as would stepping off it.
"Whatever!" Magnum chuckled. "Come on!"
Gingerly testing the next plank with one slippered foot, Higgins shifted her weight forward. The next plank groaned a warning too. She sighed out a long breath. There was nothing for it. She would have to run.
Everything moved at once. Hands flew from bannisters to skirts, hiking them up out of the way of the back foot that was already flying forwards, pushing down on the next plank and letting what had been her front foot do likewise.
She almost made it.
The last step, shaken by her movement over the others, split below her. With a cry of alarm, she was dropping almost straight downwards, her momentum doing little to drive her forwards. Higgins flung out her arms in vain hope of some support. Another arm grabbed her and hauled her up, swinging her out into the moonlit corridor and landing both of them heavily against the wall.
"Definitely not a damsel in distress," quipped Magnum, meeting her eye with the barest hint of a smug grin. Not that Higgins could see much of it: they were nose to nose. It was there in his voice though.
"That could just as easily have been you in there," she retorted, disentangling herself and her sleeves from his arms.
"Maybe, but I wouldn't be wearing this encumbrance," he chuckled, waving his hands at the gently shimmering dress.
"Neither would I, normally, as you well know!" Higgy shot back. She turned to the teens. "Right, let's get you two home."
XXXX
The band was packing up, the bar was emptying. All in all, it had been a good night. TC waved goodbye to the last of their patrons as Rick helped the drummer carry the last of his kit out the back.
The band had a van, not entirely dissimilar to TC's, that they used to haul their gear around in. It had been moved up to the back door of the bar when they began disassembling their kit. Rick and the drummer heaved the largest and heaviest of the items into the waiting rear of the van, the drummer hopping up beside it.
"Thanks, man," he called to Rick, raising a hand to wave before closing the double doors.
Rick waved goodbye to the group, watching the van trundle off into the darkness. It was only once the van had all but vanished from sight that he felt the hairs on the back of his neck start to rise. Silently, he swore.
Hands grabbed him before he could turn, throwing him backwards against the wall of the bar. A fist slammed into his jaw, another into his solar plexus. His knees were knocked from under him. A foot connected with his shoulder. Something hard hit the small of his back. Another fist hit his temple, his head ricocheting off the hard ground beneath him. After that the hits, punches, kicks, whatever, all began to blur into one. Whatever. He'd had worse.
XXXX
Once again, Magnum was in the driving seat. On the plus side, Juliet thought, this meant they might actually get back to La Mariana before Rick and the others had given up on them entirely. Not that she wouldn't mind making it up to him, of course. She looked down at her mobile phone. She had called their clients and updated them, at least partially. They knew their offspring were safe and on their way home, they just didn't know why they had left in the first place. She may as well let the others know that they were on their way back, triumphant, right? She selected Rick's number from the list of favourites and pressed dial.
No answer.
"Magnum?" Higgins murmured, barely audible over the sound of the Ferrari.
"Yeah, Higgy?"
"Can this thing go any faster?"
The Ferrari accelerated. To his credit, he didn't even ask her why.
XXXX
TC's phone sang out Higgy's ringtone. He chuckled a little before answering it. "Fallen out with lover-boy already?"
"Rick's not answering his phone," replied Juliet, before TC had finished speaking.
TC froze, frowned, and looked around him. Only Higgy kept her phone on silent, though, and Kumu when she had a tour to lead. If Rick or his phone had been nearby, he would have heard something, and he should have been back from helping the band by now. "I'm on my way."
XXXX
Costume or no costume, Juliet found out just how fast she could run when they reached the hospital. Behind her, she vaguely registered the Ferrari roar off to deliver the two teens to their parents. Kumu was waiting for her by the doors.
"He's okay," Kumu soothed. "Slow down. He'll be fine. Just a few bruises and a couple of cracked ribs."
"Kumu," Juliet warned, her voice shaking. "Don't sugar coat this."
"Fine," Kumu shrugged, taking her arm, "there's more than a few bruises. That's all they are though. It looks worse than it is."
"Now I'm really worried!"
Kumu stopped then and shook her. Actually shook her! It was enough of a shock in itself to make Juliet turn her full attention upon her. "He will be fine," Kumu enunciated. "Nothing is damaged that time and care won't fix. You were closer to death's door with one bullet than he was tonight!"
Juliet nodded. "That damage took a fraction of a second though. This…"
"Will heal," Kumu insisted.
Juliet opened her mouth to argue, but hesitated. It wasn't the physical damage that worried her. Not now that she knew it was superficial. It would hurt, but it would heal. It was the things that might bring up along the way that she was worried about. Things Kumu knew nothing about, and it was not Juliet's place to tell her. TC might know, and Magnum, but even then…
"Where is he?" Juliet asked, eventually, pushing all her worries to one side to make way for the need to see him, alive. They both had their demons. Hers was easier to satisfy right now than his.
"Come on," Kumu nodded, leading the way.
TC rose as soon as the door opened. Not that he needed to: Juliet ran straight past both him and the chair. Kumu tugged on TC's arm and tipped her head at the door. Unseen and unheard, they made their way out of the room.
"Oh, my love," Juliet whispered, running gentle fingers through his hair.
Whether at her touch or voice, Rick stirred, opening his one unblackened eye with a wince and a frown. "Hey," he breathed.
"Hey," Jules murmured back.
"Guess now I know what Indy felt like," Rick joked.
Juliet rolled her eyes. "You know I haven't seen them."
A corner of Rick's mouth curled in a smile. "In one of the films, Indy gets beat up and his lady takes care of him afterwards. She tries to kiss him but everywhere hurts, so he tells her where it doesn't, if that makes sense."
Juliet smiled. "Just about. So where doesn't it hurt?"
"See that's where I think they got it wrong," Rick grinned.
"Oh?" Juliet frowned. "How so?"
"I don't give a damn if it hurts," he replied. "Just kiss me."
XXXX
June and Kyle met Magnum at the door. Anthony and Maria stayed in the Ferrari.
"What's going on?" June asked, frowning at her son and stepdaughter's reticence.
"Uh," Magnum floundered. He'd been trying to work out what to say since dropping Higgy off at the hospital. She was so much better than him at these things he hadn't planned on saying anything at all before then. When the news about Rick came through, he had leapt at the chance to face the awkward conversation. He certainly couldn't face Rick. Not if his interference was what put him in hospital in the first place. He took a breath. "This is probably gonna be awkward," he sighed. "Look, I know you raised your kids as brother and sister, and that's how you see them, but apparently that's not how they see each other."
"What do you mean?" Kyle frowned.
"And that's why they ran away?" June retorted, her eyebrows shooting upwards. She looked past Magnum to the car. "You two, inside, now! You have school tomorrow. We'll talk about this later. There will be ground rules!"
Kyle folded his arms and looked from his wife to his kids, to Magnum, then back to June. She sighed.
"They may be our kids, but they're not brother and sister, and they're teenagers," she told him. "Teenagers who apparently take after their parents!"
The penny dropped when she kissed his cheek. "Oh," said Kyle, blankly watching his daughter and stepson approach. When Anthony drew near, Kyle turned a still slightly stunned expression on him. "Keeping my daughter out past curfew on your first date is not a great start, Tony."
XXXX
I don't know if I can do this. I know I'm driving to the hospital, but I'm on autopilot. Just because the Ferrari is going there, doesn't mean I'm gonna have the guts to go inside!
This is my fault: it has to be. One of my best friends – my brother – is lying in a hospital bed, maybe fighting for his life, I don't know, and it's my fault. I hoped that I could keep them safe by keeping them out of it; that by taking on the collective myself, I would be the only one they'd come for. Guess I was wrong about that. I was wrong and Rick is paying for it. And I know that means Higgy's paying for it too. They all are, I guess.
What if he dies?
What if I never get the chance to make things right with him?
I'd never forgive myself.
Neither would Higgins.
Please let him be alright. God, if you're listening, I could really use a favour right about now.
XXXX
TC had been on the lookout for the Ferrari for the past hour. When he finally spotted it pull up in a parking spot from the window of the ward, he turned and headed for the entrance. He expected to meet Thomas halfway, or even in the entrance itself, trying to find out where to go next. Instead, there was no one there. With midnight approaching, the lobby was all but abandoned, with one receptionist reading a book behind her desk and Halloween decorations bobbing gently in the breeze from the doors.
Frowning, TC stalked out and round to where he had seen the unmistakeable car pull up. It was there. Thomas was still inside. His eyes were closed, and TC recognised a look he had seen on only rare occasions. Quietly, picking his way through the nigh deserted parking lot like a penitent through the pews of a cathedral, TC approached the car.
"He's okay, Tommy," he murmured, resting a hand on the top of the car door. "He'll be okay."
Thomas opened his eyes then and looked up at his friend. "I gotta tell you something. And you're not gonna like it."
XXXX
Kumu was dozing in a chair outside the little room when the rattle of wheels woke her. She saw the hospital bed disappear past her with Rick on it. Juliet hung back in the doorway.
"What's happening? Is he alright?" Kumu cried, hurrying over to Juliet's side.
This time, it was Juliet's turn to sooth Kumu. "Just a CAT scan. It's standard practice with head injuries. He should have been before now, but apparently Halloween brings out the crazy in some people, especially with a full moon, and they've been busy."
"Ah," Kumu sighed, relief flooding through her. "Of course."
"Where's TC?" Higgy asked, looking round.
"Hmm?" Kumu looked up. "Oh! I don't know. He was here before, but…"
The doors to the ward opened and TC led Magnum through. "Look who I found," he grinned. Then he caught sight of the empty room. "Where's our boy?"
"Having his head examined," smiled Higgy, trying to look less worried than she felt. What if the scan showed up something they hadn't seen? A bleed on the brain? An aneurysm ready to pop? A tumour? She swallowed down the all-consuming terror that was beginning to rear its ugly head again.
"'Bout time too," chuckled TC. "They say how long they're gonna be?"
Juliet shook her head. "Only that they shouldn't be long."
TC nodded. "Tommy here has something to share. Something we all oughta hear."
"When you say all…" Juliet frowned.
"We can tell Rick and Shammy later," Magnum shrugged, then paused. "Where is Shammy? I thought he was with you?"
"He went with Katsumoto to look at mugshots," Kumu supplied. "He thinks he might have seen some of them running away."
"What about Katsumoto?" Higgins asked, watching her partner. "Are we telling him whatever it is?"
"Oh, he already knows," replied TC, folding his arms. "It's just the rest of us Tommy's been keeping in the dark."
Higgins' face hardened. She held open the door to the empty hospital room and waved the others inside. "Whatever it is, I want to hear all of it, and I want to hear it now!"
XXXX
Rick woke up in Juliet's bed at Robin's Nest. It had been two days. Two days of boredom and hospital food. When they finally allowed him to leave, it was on the condition that he had someone around constantly. At least until the doc cleared him. That had meant Robin's Nest. Waking up there was still a rarity. For the most part they had spent their nights in his apartment. For all that there were neighbours on all sides, and comparatively thin walls, it still felt more private than here. Perhaps that was because he didn't risk bumping into Thomas at breakfast!
How many of them would be there at breakfast today?
Juliet stirred in her sleep, an arm's length away on the other side of the bed. That had been another reason, she had claimed: the bed in his apartment was so small that she would have been too close to him however they slept. Rick didn't dare point out that she could sleep in an entirely separate bed. He knew there was no way he would get her to leave his side. Especially not at night time.
Rick tried to sit up and winced. He eased himself back down again. Of course, bumping into people at breakfast was less of a problem when you couldn't even get out of bed! He grabbed his phone and looked at the time. It was later than either he or Juliet usually awoke. He looked over at her again. This time her eyes were opening.
"Morning, my love," Jules yawned. "How are you feeling?"
"Like I got used as a punching bag several times over," Rick quipped, rolling his eyes. "Which is funny, 'cause that's pretty much what happened!"
"What do you need?" Jules murmured, reaching out to run her fingers through his hair.
"Maybe, you should let TC or Tommy…"
"Rick, I'm not going anywhere," Juliet cut in. "Let me help. You looked after me after that farmhouse blew up. Let me look after you now."
Words ran through Rick's head. Words he had dreamt about saying to her even before she turned up at his bar in that dress. Those words went both ways. He hated being weak. He hated feeling helpless: who didn't? But if he couldn't let her in now, how could he promise to do the same for her later? Rick's eyes turned back to her and saw Juliet watching him as if she could read his mind. Could she?
"I'm here, Rick," she whispered. "I'm not going anywhere."
"Just help me sit up," he relented. "Once I'm on my feet, we'll see."
XXXX
TC was making pancakes when Rick and Juliet reached the kitchen. If he'd been able to move quickly enough, Rick would have done a double take. As it was, he just half frowned, half smiled in his friend's direction.
"What are you doing here?" Rick asked, easing himself onto one of the stools around the kitchen island.
TC grinned. "We all got some talking to do," he replied. "The kind that goes better with food. Kumu's gone to find Tommy. Gordy should be here any minute. Shammy's on his way in right now."
Rick's eyebrows went up. This sounded like an intervention, but for whom?
The door opened and Kumu entered, leading what looked like a miniature procession. Shammy wheeled himself in with a grin on his face that made Rick look suspiciously at the door. Thomas was next, but backwards, hands up in a placating gesture at the two growling dogs that followed. Behind him, Rick heard Juliet chuckle.
"Good boys, come here," she cooed, deserting Rick for her beloved dogs. Zeus and Apollo stopped their growling and made a beeline for their mistress. "Well done, boys. Well done."
Magnum spun on his heel to face the group. Immediately, his eyes fell on Rick, taking in his yellowing bruises and stiff carriage that betrayed the hidden support for his ribs. It became abundantly clear to Rick then that he hadn't just missed his friend's visits in hospital: there hadn't been any. This was the first time Thomas had seen him since Halloween.
"Tommy," he said, carefully, watching his friend like he might watch a suspect in one of Tommy's own cases.
Thomas took a breath before answering. "Rick."
"Sit down," Kumu ordered. Magnum, Zeus and Apollo all found a place to sit.
"Pancakes are ready," added TC, transferring a plate to the island. There were plates and cutlery, and a variety of other breakfast accoutrements, all sitting ready for them. Kumu and TC had clearly planned this out. "Coffee's ready too. Anyone?"
Five hands and one pair of ears went up. Juliet chuckled and scratched Zeus behind the ears. "Not for you, silly," she laughed.
As those in need of sustenance proceeded to fill their plates with pancakes or cereal, TC passed around the coffees. When he finally sat down it was at the end of the island, facing Magnum.
"While you were off gettin' your brain scanned," TC began, "Tommy here let us in on somethin' of a secret he's been keepin'. Somethin' we agreed we all needed to be in on."
"Is this the big meeting I missed at the hospital on Sunday night?" Shammy asked, lowering his mug of coffee.
"Shouldn't we wait for Gordy," Magnum tried.
"He can catch up," TC decided. "Yeah, Shammy, this is about that."
"What's goin' on here?" Rick asked, looking from TC to Thomas and back.
The door opened again, and Katsumoto walked in. "What did I miss?"
"Nothing, Gordon," replied Juliet, glaring at Thomas. "Magnum was just going to tell everyone what he told us on Sunday night."
Magnum stared at the centre of the kitchen island. Even it felt as if it was staring back at him expectantly! He closed his eyes and took a breath. "I've been investigating the collective," he said, the words tumbling out one after the other like apples from an overfilled barrel. "I think they might have been behind what happened at La Mariana."
Ah. That was it. Rick let his eyes drop to the remnants of breakfast before him. "I thought that was payback for the drug dealer we caught."
"Turns out they may be the same," sighed Katsumoto, walking over to the group, a mug of coffee now in his hands. "That new player in town that I warned you about? Seems like they turned up about the same time The Collective went underground."
"So, what?" Rick frowned. "Blowing stuff up was too hard so they decided to take over the local narcotics business instead? What's their plan? Bulk buy drugs then sell them at a discount? Undercut the local players?"
"Actually, two of the suspected "players" were recently found with their throats slit," Katsumoto supplied. "We're still trying to locate some of the others. It may be The Collective have got to them, or they may have just got wind of what's happened to their competitors and gone to ground."
"Guess I got off lightly then!" Rick joked, but he felt Juliet's hand tighten on his arm.
"Don't, man," murmured Thomas, looking directly at him for the first time since he walked in. "If anything happened to you… to any of you because of my interference with these guys…"
"The dude was dealing drugs behind my bar," snapped Rick. He gestured at himself and TC. "Our bar! There's no way I'm letting him do that!"
"Nevertheless," murmured Juliet, "it does rather raise the stakes here. Do we know if it was just a coincidence that the dealer picked La Mariana?"
"He's not talking," replied Katsumoto with a shake of his head. "New dealers have been popping up all over town according to our CIs, but always out of sight of the cameras."
"So, it might be nothing to do with Magnum's inquiries?" Juliet confirmed.
Katsumoto just shrugged.
"Either way, we gotta decide where we go from here," announced TC. "Tommy's gonna keep investigating with or without our help, no matter what we say, so I say the more the merrier."
"I'm in," nodded Rick.
"You can barely walk, love," Juliet chided.
"He's doin' better than me then!" Shammy laughed. "I'm in, Magnum."
"I'm in," nodded Kumu.
"I'm in too, and I think you should let Five-O know your plans," added Katsumoto. "HPD will help where it can, but they've got more firepower and fancier toys."
"Yeah, but they'll also want to take over," sighed Magnum, shaking his head. "Look what happened last time."
"What makes you so sure you can do better, Magnum?" Juliet snapped. "This isn't some missing cat or cheating husband!"
"Jules," murmured Rick, slipping his hand into hers. "Come on: you know he's right!"
"Name one thing he's got that Five-O hasn't," she retorted. She knew she was being unreasonable, but there were some things she was not yet willing to risk.
"You," he smiled.
Juliet knew she had lost then. There was no argument she could concoct that would make it past that smile.
"I got a question," said Shammy, breaking the uneasy silence that had settled on the room. "What about your buddy Jin?"
"Well, I'd hardly say buddy," Thomas shrugged.
"He's not exactly the first person that springs to mind when the word covert is mentioned!" TC added.
"He's a liability!" Juliet scoffed.
"He could come in handy," shrugged Katsumoto. "He has connections."
"I thought I was the connections guy!" Rick protested.
"He has different connections," said Katsumoto, shrugging again. "He's also a good con artist, for all his bluster."
"Yeah, I gotta agree with that," nodded TC.
"Yeah, but he can't protect himself," Magnum pointed out. "If they can do that to Rick…"
"He's wily though, and fast," countered Rick. "He might have gotten away."
"Or he might have ended up in a ditch with a bullet in his back!" Thomas pointed out. "And you know as soon as he finds out, he'll want to be involved!"
"Okay, so we don't tell him yet," offered Katsumoto. "If we have something that needs his skills, then we involve him, but not before."
"Speaking of having things," Shammy enquired. "What exactly do we have on these guys anyway?"
Both Katsumoto and Magnum shook their heads.
"Not a lot," sighed the latter.
"Nothing concrete," added the former. "We have some items that can be traced back to shell corporations or sites on the dark web, but since the farmhouse incident they've redoubled their efforts to cover their tracks. Our cyber experts can't even pin down what country they're in right now!"
"You mean these bad guys we're after might not even be in Hawaii?" Kumu cut in, aghast.
"They might, they might not," shrugged the cop. "We have no evidence either way. We can't afford to follow our gut like Magnum can."
"Which is why you need me, and my gut, to help track them down," nodded Magnum. "And which is why it would really help, Higgy, if you were on board here."
Higgins looked from the pleading eyes of her partner to those of her lover, shining with absolute trust and belief in her. One would have been enough to drag her into this. Both together were irresistible.
"Fine," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "I'm in."
~Fin~
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