Chapter 29

Chin hung up the phone and shouted out in triumph. His uncharacteristically loud outburst immediately got the full attention of the rest of the team. Kono was first to ask, "Whatcha got, Cuz?" The older man let a full-blown beaming smile light up his face as he repeated what he had just been told,

"That was my contact on Moloka'i. He thinks he recognizes our mystery man and that's not all . . . he's also convinced that the owner of the private airfield is in cahoots with this crew as well." Chin took a breath before continuing, "He can't be sure as the quality of the photo is not great but he said it could be a pilot called Henry Normanton. He's a freelance pilot who has flown private jets into the airfield on a number of occasions. He remembers him because they got chatting once and this Normanton guy told him all about his time as a stunt pilot in Hollywood. He bragged about the famous actors he had met and what they got up to on set. There's a Gulfstream G650 on standby for when he arrives by helicopter with his clients," The lieutenant leaned forward as his divulged the most interesting information yet, "only they were a no-show. He checked the flight logs and the owner of the airstrip falsified the records to show another plane belonging to one of their regulars leaving late last night. He assures me that there were no flights in or out since 8 p.m. the previous evening and the jet chartered by Mr. Normanton is still there but there is no sign of the chopper."

Steve pondered on this new information. He absently flexed his biceps as he crossed his arms and leant back on the wall behind him. With a frown he considered all possible reasons for the no-show, "Well, we know why two of the crew didn't make it - they are currently guests of Max in the morgue . . . but, presumably the remaining members of the gang behind all this had no problem getting off the island while we were preoccupied with Kane. There's no reason why he shouldn't have arrived at the airfield on Moloka'i right on schedule." He shot a glance at Chin, "If what your man says is correct then we know they were coming in by helo. It was pretty late by this point so there would've been minimal air traffic around the islands." He moved purposefully towards his office and threw out an explanation to his teammates, "I'll give Joe a call, see if there's anything of interest on any of the Navy's military satellites. it's possible one of them captured something."

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Takashi Hirono, the hapless ringleader of the failed heist crew, was hunched miserably in the hard metal chair in the interrogation room; dubbed 'The Blue Room' by Kono because of the ethereal blue glow given off by the lighting in the dank windowless cell. She rather liked it, it not only did it put their suspects on edge but it had the added side benefit of making them all look awesome - she had to admit that blue lighting was very flattering. She was brought from her musing as Chin punched in the access code and opened up the door to let his cousin pass by before letting the heavy metal door slam shut behind them. The nervy man in the chair visibly startled at the loud bang and Kono suppressed the urge to smirk. It wouldn't take much to get this low-level thief talking . . .

And it didn't. Hirono had not long been released from Halawa after serving 18 months for a string of robberies and he was very keen to do all that he could to reduce the inevitable prison sentence that was coming his way. Unfortunately the sum total of his desperate confession did not add up to much. He had been 'sub-contracted' to hold up the armored transport and was starting to see now why the man had not wanted to use his own crew for the job. He had obviously been concerned that it might be a set-up and so had passed on the job to an 'expendable' low-level crew, just in case it all went pear-shaped.

After a bit of persuading, Hirono gave them a name but vehemently declared that there was no way that he would ever testify to anything in court. Chin completely understood, the dim-witted thief would be facing a very miserable time in prison if he was publicly seen to be naming names. They agreed between them that their story would be that they had traced a number of calls from the cell seized from Takashi when he had been arrested. It would be enough to pay the higher-level criminal a little visit without him knowing that his lackey had ratted him out . . .

After handing over the man to their HPD colleagues, the cousins were back in Five-0 HQ and were busy pulling up everything they had on one Katsu Mori. He was a person of interest in the HPD investigation into the outwardly respectable businessman, Hiro Noshimuri. The successful entrepreneur and close friend of Pat Jameson had been exposed as the long-serving Yakuza oyabun on the islands (see 'A Different Path' for the story of what happens to Hiro and the Yakuza in my new AU version of events - summary in Chapter 43).

While there was the strong suspicion that Mori was involved in a number of criminal activities, they hadn't actually been able to uncover definitive evidence that would hold up in court. The man was now working for Adam Noshimuri, the oldest son of Hiro. It was clear that Daddy-dearest hadn't wanted his first-born to follow him into the less-savory side of the family business and had done all that he could to ensure that Adam had received the best education in preparation for running the legitimate parts of the Noshimuri empire. That desire evidently hadn't extended to his younger son, Michael, who was currently serving out a 10 year prison sentence for manslaughter.

The team were just discussing how best to approach Katsu Mori when Joe called Steve back with some very compelling intel. A small aircraft, most probably a helicopter, had been heading on a direct trajectory towards Moloka'i when it had disappeared from the radar. They didn't have continuous tracking, as the island wasn't a high-value target, but from what they could see it had been nearly at its destination one minute and then at the next sweep of the satellite it simply was no longer there. The most obvious conclusion was that it had gone down, either into the ocean or on the far north side of the island.

Kono brought up a detailed map of the area on the surface table and Steve pointed to where the helo had last been visible on the satellite images. Assuming it more or less maintained its speed and trajectory, he circled the possible area where it could have gone down. He turned to Danny, "This whole area is Oloku'i Natural Area Reserve and it's pretty remote-" The detective interrupted him at that point,

"Oh that's just great . . . a bloody jungle in the middle of nowhere. What could possibly go wrong?" Chin corrected the other man,

"No, not a jungle - it's technically an area of rain forest. It probably wouldn't seem like it when you are wandering through the terrain, but it's really not that large. The problem is that it is isolated, so it's gonna be a slow job to drive in from the nearest accessible road." Kono chipped in,

"Yeah, and there's nowhere to easily land a chopper either. The nearest airfield is miles away." McGarrett couldn't help the smirk that quirked up his lips,

"I have an idea." Danny peered at his partner through suspicious eyes,

"I'm not gonna like it, am I?" Steve clapped him on the shoulder while doing his best to keep his tone encouraging,

"It'll be fun . . . I promise."

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Danny was hunched up in the light aircraft mentally recapping all the ways he was going to exact revenge on his partner. He vehemently swore to make McGarrett's life a misery at the very next opportunity. He had drawn the short straw and was parachuting into the most inaccessible zone of the potential crash site with the SEAL. They would aim to land at the edge of their target search area, where the lush green land abruptly ended and turned to rock.

The towering cliffs rose majestically out of the churning sea far below and provided a natural barrier - no one would be getting off the island that way. If they were still alive then their perps would be trying to reach civilization by trekking through the rain forest.

Once they had landed, Steve and Danny would methodically search the surrounding forest for any evidence of the helicopter or its occupants. Coming from the other way and aiming to cut off any survivors from the crash would be Kono and Chin. The team had discussed making use of the experienced Park Rangers on Moloka'i, but there was no way that Steve was having them put at risk. This crew had weaponry loaded with armor-piercing rounds and had already shown that they weren't afraid to use them. Still reeling from how easily Kane had been cut down in the museum vault, McGarrett had duly got his hands on prototype sheets of a composite metal foam (CMF) material developed by researchers at North Carolina State University. The US Military was trialling the material and a contact he had in Navy Logistics had lent him enough of the CMF material to share out between them. Early tests suggested that the lightweight sheets were just as effective as conventional heavy steel armor at stopping ball and armor-piercing large caliber rounds.

After organising transport to the closest airfield, Kono and Chin had coordinated with Maui County Police Department. The local cops provided law enforcement for the whole of Maui County, which included the islands of Moloka'i and Lanai. They had rugged jeeps ready to go and would drive as far into the rain forest as they could. From there, they would continue on foot. The Chief was keen to help Five-0 apprehend the dangerous criminals on his island and had given them access to anything that would help in the search. It hadn't taken long to establish if anyone was in the general area - Oloku'i was home to many fragile ecosystems and endangered species, therefore access to the whole area was tightly-controlled. The Park Rangers had already made contact with the only group currently in the Park and the conservationists had immediately packed up their gear and were well on their way to the nearest road, where waiting Rangers would transport them back to safety of their HQ.

Steve was methodically going through his pre-jump checks while keeping an eye on the indicator light in the main body of the plane. When it turned from red to green, he gestured to Danny and securely fastened his clip onto the other man's harness. One of the highlights of the SEAL's training had been learning how to parachute, especially the HALO jumps. The adrenaline junkie in him craved the rush he got as he stepped out from the safety of the aircraft and into the unknown. Those first few moments of freefall never failed to bewitch him with the only noise being the whoosh of the air as he descended at terminal velocity.

He was fairly certain that this particular drop would not be quite so peaceful . . . this one was going to be a non-stop assault on his eardrums . . .

Right on cue, his vocal partner let it be known in no uncertain terms just what he thought of plummeting towards the earth with alarming speed. Steve tried to reason with him, pointing out the incredible view, but Danny would not be so easily pacified. With a resigned shrug, the SEAL checked their current altitude on his skydiving altimeter and a few seconds later firmly yanked the rip cord to release their parachute. The silky material gracefully unfurled from its packing. As it caught the wind it opened up fully and immediately slowed their descent. Steve expertly steered them towards a small clearing and scanned the surrounding area for any signs of a crash but couldn't make out anything that looked to be out of the ordinary. As the two men came into land, the SEAL pulled down on the chute cords to check their speed, allowing him to touchdown with minimal impact. There was always a risk of injury on landing, especially when it was uneven ground like this. Thankfully, they slid to a controlled halt just shy of a tree stump that projected out from the grassy carpet. Danny had clenched his eyes tightly shut and lay there for a moment before launching into another furious tirade, "Never, ever ask me to do that again. Get one of the cousins to be your fall guy. Kono would probably pay you to get to do this, she's only one notch down from you on the crazy scale."

Steve chuckled, "Hey, we're both still intact. It was a complete success . . . talking of fall guys, I used to love that show with Lee Majors. It was right up there with the A-Team and CHiPs." Danny let go of some of his pent-up anxiety as he was forced to agree,

"Yeah, I'm with you on that one. I used to drive my Mom crazy when I used my bed mattress as a crash mat to replicate the stunts in The Fall Guy." He smiled at the distant memory, "Oh, she'd get so mad with all the banging as I launched myself off my bedroom closet. I got pretty good until my Dad threatened to stop all my allowance if I did it again."

Steve smiled as he unclipped their chute and stepped out of the harness before bringing them back on point, "Right, back to business. I didn't see any evidence of a crash site from the air. Did you spot anything?" Danny let out an incredulous snort as he shook his head,

"Are you kidding me right now? My eyes were shut the whole way down." McGarrett shrugged,

"Your loss - the view was awesome. This is a beautiful island, especially where we are now." His partner wrinkled up his nose to show how much he disagreed with the last statement,

"Nope. It's a vast wilderness with cop killers most probably laying in wait for us around the next tree. And all I've got between an armor-piercing round and my vital organs is this thin sheet of weird-looking material. It doesn't fill me with confidence that it's up to the job."

"It'll work if we need it, I've seen the test results. The composite foam formulation is nothing short of ingenious," Steve paused with a little frown that creased up his forehead, "but it won't do a shit of good if they decide to go for a head shot." With a sniff Danny retorted,

"Thanks for that cheery thought. That makes me feel so much better . . ."

His partner capitulated a little, "They're not gonna get the chance. Look sharp and follow my lead, they won't hear us coming if you watch your step and stop talking." The detective looked offended,

"Hey, Mr. Survivalist. I can do stealthy. I was a Boy Scout too, ya know."

"I thought you were kicked out of the Scouts?"

Danny conceded the point, "Well, yeah. But not before I picked up some mad ninja skills. I was the undisputed king of sneaking up on the other kids and scaring the bejeezus outta them when he were camping in the wild . . . well, as wild as it gets within a hour's drive of Jersey" Steve smirked,

"Those skills are going to be needed right now, and for a much more important purpose than making your friends shit their pants . . . channel your inner Bruce Lee and follow me, Oh Great Warrior."

The two men painstakingly covered as much ground between them as they could, taking great care to avoid snapping the dry twigs that lay on the forest floor. After a few hundred yards Steve spotted the first signs of impact. He urgently motioned to Danny to stop and they listened intently for any noise. They were met with almost total silence, the only noise to be heard was the gentle rustling of the leaves in the breeze coming in off the sea. Steve gingerly edged forwards, scanning the area for more clues. He soon noticed the deep gouges in the earth and followed their trajectory until the first pieces of debris could be seen. Danny silently pointed ahead at the severed tree, which still had most of the rotor blade embedded into the thick trunk. A huge branch had been sliced off and was obscuring their view of what lay beneath. They inched ahead until they could make out the body of the aircraft, which was partially crushed from the impact of the crash and then the weight of the tree branch.

Both men swiftly un-holstered their weapons and carefully advanced on the twisted hulk of metal with practised ease. Steve didn't have to look to know that his partner had his back and was confident enough to swing himself under the fallen log and peer into the helo cabin.

He let out the breath which he had been holding. It was empty. Whoever had been strapped into the dangling harnesses were long gone . . .