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Chapter Thirty – A Family Affair
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
~ Edmund Burke
Akaka Falls State Park, two hours later...
"This place gives me the creeps," Jenna Kaye remarked as the team of Chicago police detectives and Hawaii Five-0 agents spread out and continued searching the area from Kono's map. "What are we doing here again?"
"This is where she jumped," Danny informed the ex-CIA agent as he passed by, barely acknowledging the woman's existence.
Looking down the steep embankment, Jenna stopped and asked in awe, "Into the river?"
"It was either that or go back," Tommy James added, following Danny along the property line of the Kaikilani Estate, "and my kid sister wasn't going back into Hell voluntarily."
The section of Akaka Falls State Park that was once the Kaikilani Estate was particularly eerie and otherworldly, creepy as hell. There was almost no visible evidence that anyone human had ever lived there. The team could feel the blood and bones of the Polynesian natives as they stood before the disturbing ruins of the old farm. Sassafras trees, arrowwood shrubs, honeysuckle, and poison ivy has grown up to the level of an average man's chin. Red and white oaks, sycamores, and a few sweet gum trees stood tall and mature where a prosperous estate had once been. But the estate itself had disappeared.
They had worked their way north, and then east. They weren't too far from the state highway and, according to rough calculations, couldn't be more than two or three miles from the state road.
"Search parties for Wo Fat never came all the way back here," Kono informed them as she prowled around, "Undergrowth's real thick and nasty. Not trampled down anywhere I can see."
"We're probably looking for a very old trap door," Chin pronounced, "There isn't anything specific marked on Kaikilani map. The cellar is supposed to be forty to fifty feet west of those sycamores. I think those are the right trees, and we should be right over the cellar now."
"So where the hell is the door?" Mickey James grumped, never once taking his eyes off his daughter.
"Probably where nobody would walk on it by mistake," Harper figured, making a path into the thicker, wilder undergrowth. Beyond the tangle of vines there was an open field or meadow, where Hawaiian desert-thorn has once been planted and grown. Beyond that was more thick woods. The air was hot and still. Harper was getting impatient and she knocked down some honeysuckle with a vengeance. She was stamping her feet, trying to locate the hidden door as she listened for a hollow sound, some kind of wood or metal under the tall grass and thickly tangled weeds. But all the while, she was shaking her head in defiance as she said, "I remember this. The smell…it was sweet. Honeysuckle."
As he trudged through the foreboding woods close behind Harper, the towering oaks and pines began to shut out all the light and Steve could imagine her running through these same dark green woods only a week earlier. With a madman hot on her heels. Just the thought of it hurt his heart. He had no idea how she was able to stand it now.
"Harper!"
Harper's head swung around to face her brother just as the shot rang out into the darkness of the woods. She watched in horror as Frankie clutched his shoulder and fell to the ground. But out of the corner of her eye, she saw something else. Another man. Not a cop. Not Five-0.
Running away. Into the thick tangle of woods.
Wo Fat.
Without a moment's hesitation, the red headed detective grabbed her Glock out of her shoulder holster and started to run. Faster and faster as her legs began to work as they once did, as they remembered how to run fast.
Running through these woods. Once again. But this time, she was the cat chasing the mouse and not the other way around.
Harper heard the bullets whiz past her in Wo Fat's direction and knew that Steve, her father, and the rest were hot on her trail. There was no hesitation. Vines and thorny bushes tore at her arms and legs as she moved through the densely overgrown thicket. The leafy branches whipped across her face and the detective didn't even care.
They ran for what must have been a mile, or seemed like it anyway. Harper had lost sight of Wo Fat, but she ran on anyway. For all she knew, she was putting even more distance between them. Or maybe he was right behind her. Circled around? Following the team?
Harper looked for signs of blood or torn clothing, some sign that he had been through here. Her lungs were on fire now, and she was soaked with perspiration. Her legs ached, but on she ran. Steve had caught up to her and probably could have surpassed her, but instead he ran along by her side.
This was their case now.
Her partner. His parents.
Their scumbag.
"Up ahead," Steve breathed heavily, nodding to where they saw their target running and holding his shoulder. The wounded monster showed no signs of slowing down. But he knew that they were bearing down on him so he unleashed a bloodcurdling scream, reminding everyone that they were dealing with an unpredictable madman.
The sudden sound of gunfire caught Harper off guard. A chip flew off the bark of a nearby tree and whipped past her head. It came an inch or two away from cutting her down and killing her on the spot when suddenly someone tackled her to the ground. Steve's strong body was suddenly on top of hers and shielding her behind another nearby tree. The pair crouched behind the tree and peered through the leafy branches.
It was eerie and quiet again. No screams. No gunshots. No one seemed to be there. What the hell was he up to?
Harper looked around and saw the cops and agents taking cover behind surrounding trees. Everyone was ready for whatever was about to come.
The last thing they expected was to hear was his voice…
"Detective James! Commander McGarrett!" came the eerily familiar shout. Her ex-husband's hand tightened around her arm as Harper lurched forward in surprise. "I know you are there! I knew you would come back for me."
"She's not here for you!"
Mickey James' voice rang out in the silence. Harper recognized fear mixed with hatred in the voice of her greatest mentor as he continued, "She's here for Detective Samuel Norval. And Jack and Anna McGarrett. We're all here for them. You're outnumbered, you son of a bitch!"
The evil laugh that had haunted her dreams was heard once again before Wo Fat answered, "Daddy? Is that Daddy James come to protect his little girl from the big, bad Hawaiian? Who else is here, daddy? How many of Harper's men are here to protect her now? Brothers? Ex-husband? Show yourselves…all of you!"
He knew it was over. Wo Fat knew he was trapped and would not be getting out of this alive. But he wasn't going to go down without bringing a few more people down with him…
"Steven? I know you are here now, McGarrett! But where were you that night?" Wo Fat taunted, a tinge of pride in his voice. "Where were you that night when I stole your beautiful bride from her fancy hotel room? Where were you the night I put a bullet in your daddy's brain?"
In the eerie silence of the forest they heard the cock of a gun. Steve's gun. She could feel the anger radiating off of him as Wo Fat laughed again and mocked, "Go ahead, McGarrett. Reach for the Glock and take me down...but not before I tell you about the biggest secret of all. Your little Jimmy is not crazy…your father is nearby. And still drawing breath. Or at least he was an hour ago…"
A gun fired twice from Harper's left side and she felt her ex-husband emerge from his hiding place next to her, "Where is he?" Steve hollered into the darkness. "Where is my father?"
It was at that moment that Wo Fat stepped into view and the rest of the team surrounded him.
"Did you really think I was going to tell you that?" Wo Fat proclaimed spitefully, "I really expected more from Jack McGarrett's son. But then again, it never even crossed your mind that he was still alive. Not until your little red headed vixen fell into my trap. Everyone that you love, McGarrett…I've stolen them all. Mommy dearest, daddy, and the little woman…"
"Harper escaped," Steve reminded him, as Harper stood shoulder to shoulder with her ex-husband, "She beat you. You got beat by a woman, Wo Fat." Pointing his gun at Wo Fat's chest, he demanded, "Now tell me where he is!"
"It's over," Mickey added from somewhere behind Harper's left shoulder. "You know it and we know it. Tell us what happened to Anna and Jack McGarrett and Detective Norval..."
"Over?" Wo Fat remarked mockingly. "No, no, no, no…it's just begun."
With one swift motion, the evil man raised his own gun and pointed it toward Harper. But then suddenly, he shifted and fired a shot in Mickey James' direction.
Without hesitation, Steve and Harper fired simultaneously. Shots from all around followed theirs, but none of them mattered. The first bullet caught Wo Fat high in the chest, just below the throat. He dropped as if his legs had been pulled out from under him, sending the bullet meant for Mickey's heart into the trunk of a nearby tree.
Harper and Steve sprinted as fast as they could toward the last place she had seen Wo Fat standing. He lay spread eagle on the forest floor, a death mask now covering his face. Harper didn't see his gun anywhere around him. He wasn't moving, but she knew that he was badly hurt. Crouching on his knees over him, Steve grabbed the monster's face in his hands.
Harper didn't know what she was expecting to see, but she was surprised and relieved to see that he was simply…ordinary. Dark hair matted down with perspiration, blue-gray eyes that were glazing over. A sopping puddle of arterial blood had already collected under him.
"You're not a god," Harper whispered through clenched teeth. "You bleed like the rest of us, you son of a bitch."
Steve lifted his head as the men who loved Harper most gathered around, guns still at the ready. Wo Fat couldn't believe that someone had actually shot him, he couldn't accept it even as he lay dying. His darting, cold eyes told them that much.
"Where is he?" Steve demanded again, wanting to shake the truth out of him. "Tell me where my father is."
Wo Fat struggled to focus his eyes on his prized victim, to see the Navy S.E.A.L. clearly once more. Or maybe just to see the world one last time. A bloody bubble formed on his lips and then popped with a soft spray.
His words came slowly, but they penetrated the air like a knife.
"You'll never find him now."
A slow smile spread across his thin lips as a raspy howl rose from Wo Fat's throat. Harper recognized the death rattle as he whispered with his final breath, "I win."