Rubbing the kink out of the back of his neck as he stared at the white boards Steve had set up in the corner of Dany's cubicle, Ben frowned as he rechecked the list of names and their alibis printed neatly in Steve's handwriting beside them. Eight or nine names had an asterisk placed beside them, an indication that something had caught the boss's attention and that McGarrett wanted the suspect or the suspect's alibi investigated a little deeper. He sighed as he turned back to the pile of files on the desk and began to sort through them searching for the file of the fourth suspect on the list who had caught Steve's attention, hoping to discover just what had sparked McGarrett suspicions.
Sighing at being in the office going through files rather than being out on the street, hounding his snitches and keeping his ear close to the coconut wireless for any chatter about who was responsible for either Danny's shooting or Steve's accident, Ben jumped as a mug of coffee, followed by two sets of chopsticks that went with the two delicious smelling cartons of Chinese from Uncle Lee's Chinese restaurant that made his stomach rumble were placed on the only clear spot on the desk in front of him. "Thanks, Bruddah," he breathed as he dropped the file back down on the desk and reached for the mug of coffee, lifting it to his lips before taking a small, grateful sip of the strong brew as Chin settled on the chair beside him.
"Find anything?" Chin asked as he nudged one of the cartons of Chinese towards him before reaching for one of the cartons and one of the set of chopsticks.
Placing the mug back down on the desk and reaching for the second carton of food, Ben sighed again, shaking his head as he opened the carton before grabbing the chopsticks. "No, I've started going through the files and alibis of the suspects that Steve wanted us to delve deeper into." He told the older detective as he dug his chopsticks into the steaming carton of combination Chow Mein and withdrew a mouthful of food as he frowned, "But the three that I have checked so far all have solid alibis, and they have all made threats against just Danny, not Danny and Steve or just Steve."
"The boss is in full protective mode, Bruddah, he's going to make sure that there really aren't any threats against Danny, especially when Danny is so vulnerable in hospital, before he's going to worry about any threats against himself." Chin told the younger man before he took a mouthful of his Moo Shu Pork.
Ben nodded unhappily, silently agreeing with Chin about their boss's behaviour, slowly chewing a mouthful of his dinner before he asked, "How did the meeting with the Governor go?"
Chin shrugged, "About as well as can be expected. He wants to be kept up to date with the investigation and with Danny's and Steve's conditions. He's going to bench Steve for a couple of days with full protection after he's released from the hospital."
"Steve's not going to like that," Ben chuckled, acutely aware that he was going to be in for his own skin blistering from McGarrett's famous volcanic temper, for ignoring McGarrett's orders about providing him with protection when he saw McGarrett. It was an order that he would disobey again if the boss's life were endangered. Growing serious again, his eyes drifted back to the two whiteboards propped up on chairs. Studying the photos of the Uzi and Steve's bullet riddled office, mentally pushing away the image of Danny bleeding to death, lying on the floor that flashed through his mind, he swallowed and frowned. "I just don't get it, Chin."
"Get what?" Chin asked as he dug his chopsticks back into the carton.
"Why did they use an Uzi?" Ben asked, his frown deepening, "I mean an Uzi's not your normal, run of the mill, Saturday night special that you can pick up on any street corner in Honolulu."
Pausing with his chopsticks halfway to his mouth, Chin stared at the photo of the small Israeli sub-machine gun as he said thoughtfully. "No, you're right. It's something that is more likely to be used by Government agencies like the Secret Service or the CIA or…"
"Maybe someone connected somehow to Navy Intelligence?" Ben asked quietly as he continued to stare at the photo before he turned and looked at Chin. "It could also be the reason why no one knows anything about the hit and why the coconut wireless is so quiet."
"Because this has got nothing to do with either Danny or Steve and Five-O," Chin nodded, remembering Steve had been the target of a hit by Joseph Trinian four years before on a beach because he had been the lead investigator in a Navy Intelligence case that had resulted in Trinian's prosecution and subsequent fifteen-year incarceration in Portsmouth Naval Prison.*
"Maybe we've been looking for the wrong motives," Ben murmured as he turned and stared at the photo again. "Maybe this has got something to do with Steve's past as a Navy Intelligence officer."
Chin nodded again as he placed his carton of Chinese back down on the desk and reached for the phone. "Let's put a call through to Washington and see if we can find out who threatened Steve when he was working in Navy Intelligence, why, and if Washington knows where they are now." He told Ben as he picked the phone before he added, "It's been a couple of hours since Steve was admitted to the hospital, so after we finish our lunches, let's go to the hospital and see what Steve can remember about what happened this morning."
H5O H5O H5O
*Season one episode- "Yesterday Died and Tomorrow Won't Be Born."