Not only am I back, but our feisty red headed Detective is back as well...
Chapter Twenty Nine – The Men Who Love Her, Part IV
"Never allow a person to tell you No who doesn't have the power to say Yes."
~Eleanor Roosevelt
Five-0 Headquarters, a few hours later…
"I've got something!"
The unmistakably feminine voice of Officer Kono Kalakaua rang out loud and true through the bullpen of the Hawaii Five-0 Headquarters as her fingers ran expertly and efficiently over the computer screen in the middle of it all. Without fail, doors started opening up all around the offices as the men from both Hawaii and Chicago began to gather around her.
"Hit us with it, cuz." Chin Ho Kelly prompted, but his usually charismatic grin was replaced by a look of stone cold seriousness…matching it to every face in the room.
"Well after Superintendent James had me look up blueprints and old maps from Akaka Falls State Park, I also did a little digging on my own." Hitting a few keystrokes on the tabletop screen, she brought her findings up on the big screen in the middle of the room so that everyone could all see what she had seen, "And I found some newspaper articles from about twenty years ago detailing a murder investigation that involved a 'disappearing house'. A body was found in the thickness of the park near an abandoned estate where native Polynesians had once settled and the main house was unusual because it contained large underground cellars…"
"I remember that case," Chin interrupted, squinting his tired eyes to look at the newspaper articles that flashed on the screen before him, "It was the Tierney murders…a couple from rural Virginia who went missing during their vacation here in Hawaii. The HPD originally thought that they had wandered off the trails and fallen from one of the steep cliffs until some hikers found a bodies. The wife was found out in the middle of the woods, but the husband was trapped in this cellar-like dwelling. The cops only found it by accident…there was some sort of secret entrance and the cellar was like a bunch of small houses hidden under the earth, with dozens of floors and rooms and secret compartments."
"A house hidden in the trees...just like Harper said." Chicago Police Detective Tommy James breathed, scanning the articles on the screen and repeating his sister's words from the previous morning. Glancing over at Steve, he mused, "Maybe she's not talking nonsense after all."
As Steve tried to ignore his former brother-in-law's unsettling and pointed comments, Kono changed the screen again as she continued, "And here we have a map of Akaka Falls State Park from 1605...before it was ever Akaka Falls State Park, it was the home of the 17th Alii Aimoku of Hawaiʻi Island named Kaikilani. She ruled as the sovereign Queen or Chiefess of the island of Hawaii and one of her historians was kind enough to draw us a map of the Royal property." Highlighting an area on the map, Kono finished, "And now if we look right here, you can clearly see where the property had an expanded cellar and underground living quarters that were built for Kaikilani's family to hide in case of a revolt. The rest of the estate is gone now and there is nothing to see from aerial surveillance photos, but I'd bet you anything that the cellars are still there..."
"And that is where Wo Fat was holding Harper," Danny surmised, "Brilliant. It's smack dab in the middle of hiking trails in one of the busiest state parks on the islands and he could hide her there without anyone suspecting."
"And how far is it from where the tourists pulled Harper out of the river?" Steve asked, his eyes scanning the new information with dark eyes.
"I knew you were going to ask that, boss," Kono responded quickly, her fingers flying over the keyboard, "and so in anticipation of your query, I made a few calculations." The map moved south on the screen momentarily as the young police officer explained, "This is the point where the young knights in shining armor pulled our fair red headed maiden out of the river. But after checking into the Park Service records, we find that the tidal current was running especially high that day. The paramedics at the scene estimated that she was in the water for approximately two hours, so we do a little calculating and a little backtracking and…voila!"
The bright pink highlighting line that Kono was using to backtrack Harper's trip down the river suddenly stopped on the screen. And two miles to the west of that hideous, pink line was the marker for the Kaikilani Estate.
"Even in her drug induced condition, Harper could have easily made it from the underground cellar to the cliffs just above this point in the river," Harper's brother, Detective Bobby James, pointed out as he touched the screen to make his point. "And since the next closest structure of any kind is about ten miles west of there, this has to be where she was held."
"And where we are going to find Wo Fat." McGarrett agreed, already pulling on his vest and checking his gun.
"And your father."
Everyone had been so engrossed in Kono's demonstration on the screen that no one had seen Detective Harper James herself standing in the doorway of the Five-0 bullpen.
"What are you doing here?" Mickey James, his three sons, and Steve all asked at the same time.
"Well it's nice to see all of you again, too." Harper quipped, but then in all seriousness she added, "I'm going with you."
"The Hell you are," her father roared. He was the first to respond, but his sentiments were echoed by most of the people in the room, "Why aren't you at the hospital?"
"Because I was released."
"By who?"
"By Dr. D'Angelo, daddy," the red headed detective informed him coolly as she strolled into the middle of the room, "You know, the woman who saved my life? She even gave me a note for my teacher and a lollipop for being such a good patien-…"
"This is not a joke, Harper Elizabeth," Mickey interrupted in a stern voice, "You were in a drug induced coma not even 24 hours ago…"
"Well, I'm out now. And feeling fine. It's amazing what a hot shower, a clean gown, a few painkillers, and a good night's sleep will do for an aching body." And as she said the words, Harper tried her hardest not to grin in her ex-husband's direction, but her gaze found his in spite of her best efforts. Tearing her eyes away from the handsome face she had woken up next to, she added, "Dr. D'Angelo sutured up my ankle and gave me a cortisone shot for the pain, so I'm good to go. But the pain killer may wear off soon, so we'd better get going…"
"You're not going anywhere," Detective Frankie James interrupted, glaring at his kid sister, "but back to your hotel room to rest."
"Frankie, my hotel room is a crime scene and the last time I was there…things didn't work out so well for me," Harper shot back with a teasing grin before saying, "So if it's all the same to you, I'm sticking around this time. And since Kono has done an excellent job of finding the cellars where I was held, we'd better get…"
"We?" Tommy repeated, raising his eyebrow at her and echoing the sentiments of every male with the last name of James in the room, "You aren't going anywhere. Tell her, dad…"
"There is no way that you are…"
"Look, as much as I'd like to stand around here and argue with all of you…we've got to get out to Wo Fat's hideout and find Jack," Harper hissed, gearing up for a fight with anyone who dared stand in her way, "The longer we stand here, the more time he is spending with that monster who has hatched some sort of evil plan for every living McGarrett male still in Hawaii…"
"Harper…" all three James brothers warned at the same time, but they didn't get to say much more because their kid sister turned on them with her eyes suddenly flashing fire.
"Don't you dare 'Harper' me!" she hollered at them, showing more signs of life than she had in the last week, "I am so damn sick and tired of everyone trying to protect me. Wo Fat killed Sammy! Have you forgotten that?" Harper demanded, and to the Five-0 team's amazement each of her brothers glanced away from her uneasily. "Well, I haven't forgotten. And his wife and son haven't forgotten. I came here to get justice for them and I am not going to sit on the sidelines when we are this close." Turning to her father, she marched up to him and reminded everyone, "I am the only person in the room who has been to that part of the park and knows how to find the entrance to that cellar. Not to mention the fact that I am also the only one to have had the most recent interactions with Wo Fat and lived to tell about it. I may not have seen much of his face, but I know his size, his voice, and I know the way he moves…"
"But the Bromazepam in your system has played games with your memory and…"
Danny had barely gotten the words out of his mouth before she turned on the New Jersey detective and told him hotly, "I remember the exact moment when my father's partner showed up on our doorstep and told my family that my mother was dead. I remember every little detail from the day when some Navy lawyer served me with divorce papers and told me that my marriage was over. And I damn well remember the place where I was taken the night two thugs dragged me from my hotel room and locked me in a cage!"
Her emotional outburst stunned the room into silence for a moment and no one was sure how to respond. It was the Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department who recovered his voice first.
"Harper, I know how you feel. Honestly…"
"Daddy, would you please stop treating me like I'm a victim?" Realizing that she was yelling, Harper lowered her voice as she explained, "Every time I try to rest...I hear Jack's voice. And I wonder what's being done to him…because of me. Because I left him there." The detective then drove her point home by saying, "I was in those woods. If you get me to the right area, I can help you find that cellar. I have to do this."
"Harper, it's not that we don't understand what you've been through," Tommy James reasoned quietly, "It's because of that trauma that I don't think you should…"
"Trauma?"
And finally it was her brother Frankie who gave words to the thoughts going on in everyone's minds by saying, "You are planning a rescue mission to save a man who has been dead for over a year."
If Bobby James, who happened to be standing closest to Harper at that moment, hadn't immediately snaked his arm around his sister's waist, she would have charged Frankie and caused him some immense pain. Fighting against the strength of her brother's grip, the redhead flashed a look of pure anger at Frankie James and shouted stubbornly, "Jack McGarrett is alive!"
"His own son doesn't even believe that!" Frankie shouted back as he gestured toward Steve, who was staying uncharacteristically silent throughout this family drama unfolding in his bullpen. But Frankie's obvious fear for his sister's mental stability would not be pushed to the back burner as he continued angrily, "How the hell do you expect us to let you lead us to Wo Fat when you've been rambling on about talking to a dead man for that last 24 hours? Are we going to find Mom and Vinnie and Sammy in those cellars, too?"
"That's enough!" Mickey suddenly roared, glaring at his son with a look that matched Harper's. Frankie finally had sense enough to shut his mouth as he crossed his arms over his chest and marched over to a corner of the room to calm down. Watching his sister fall apart was more than the intense detective could take and he couldn't face it for a minute longer.
"Fine," Harper said stubbornly, purposely avoiding any eye contact with Frankie, "Nobody believes me about Jack? Fine. Because this isn't about me. It never was. It's about Sammy and the son of bitch who ordered his murder. And no matter how nuts you think I am right now, I am still a good cop who just wants justice for my partner. I can take you to that cellar." Squaring her shoulders and casting a defiant look around the room, she added "This is my case. And I'm going to see it through to the end. With or without your help."
Steve watched silently as Mickey James and his sons exchanged knowing glances before turning to look at him. And in that instant the Commander knew what he had to do.
"We're wasting time," McGarrett said suddenly into the quiet room as he reached down to gather up the hand-drawn map that Kono had printed out for them. "Jimmy is a cop who has been cleared for duty. We need all the manpower we can get to find Wo Fat and his hidden torture chamber." Heading for his office, he called out over his shoulder, "Get her badge and gun and let's go find this son of a bitch."
Mickey James stared into his only daughter's eyes for what seemed like an eternity as the cop in him and the overprotective father in him wrestled for dominance. Finally, seeing the fire in her eyes, he conceded and nodded his head. But out loud he said, "I don't like this."
"I know," Harper quipped as relief and a slow grin spread across her face, "but when has that ever stopped me before?"