Rick headed out of La Mariana at a jog. He'd locked his office, then pulled Noah aside for a moment, telling him that he and TC needed to take care of some business urgently. He'd asked the young veteran to pass the message on to the bartender as soon as he could. But still, quick as he'd been, TC was hovering next to his Island Hoppers van with his keys in hand, ready to move out.

Anyone who didn't know TC would have thought he was totally at ease, yellow Island Hoppers shirt flapping gently in the breeze, long legs in dark trousers, feet encased in dark sneakers. But Rick knew better, the tapping of TC's right foot a dead giveaway of his friend's eagerness to get moving.

"Both vehicles?" TC's question was almost a statement, and Rick nodded.

"Safer that way." Rick nodded immediately. "If we think he's spotted either of us, we can just swap off the tail for a bit."

TC swung into his vehicle and started up, waiting for Rick to slip into his silver Porsche and do the same. Then he pulled out into the early afternoon traffic, heading for the garden centre Magnum's target was visiting.

Rick pulled out behind him, making sure to stay where TC could see him in the rear-view mirror. He checked his phone again when they were stopped at a red light, seeing that Magnum had now sent a photo of Nick Stevens and details of the car the man was driving.

Stevens was tall with blonde hair and a lanky build. And he was driving a black Mercedes, with custom plates. Rick snorted in amusement when he read that fact.

Who did this guy think he was? Robin Masters?

An average guy with custom plates was just trying too hard. Sometimes it was enough to just survive what life threw at you, and know that you'd made it out the other side. Trying to look more important than that was just dumb.

Not to mention, custom plates always attracted the wrong sort of attention. Kawika had told him more than once that custom plates were like catnip for thieves; those plates implied you had money to burn, and any self-respecting thief was going to take you up on the offer.

His phone chimed and he looked down at the screen again. A single line message from TC flashed up: 'Custom plates' followed by a laughing face.

He laughed out loud at that, looking up to see TC glance back at him and share the humour. Then the light changed and they started off again.

Five minutes later, they pulled up outside the garden centre, Rick parking alongside TC's van. The black Mercedes was still parked near the entrance and he stared at it in silence for a long moment.

"You want to take the lead first?" Rick tossed the question to TC, who nodded back.

"Sure." He glanced around the neighbourhood, which was close to one of the market areas in Honolulu. "He won't think twice about seeing the van around here. Lots of tourists."

"I'll hang back a bit, maybe a block behind you." Rick confirmed with a smile. "But for now, I'm just going to wander in and see what our guy is doing."

"You think that's a good idea?"

"Can't hurt to see what he's doing." Rick shrugged one shoulder. "Maybe I'll see something Thomas can use."

Rick headed into the garden centre, relishing the cool of the air conditioning as he stepped through the doors. His dark shirt, patterned with red and yellow leaves, was stuck to his back by the day's heat, while his dark trousers and dress shoes added to that heat. For a second, he wished he could dress as casually as TC did.

Rick wandered slowly around the first few sections, spotting Nick Stevens in an area that seemed to be dedicated to ground covers. Rick was no gardening expert, but even he knew that Irish moss wasn't good for anything other than filling gaps between flagstones.

The man was talking to one of the garden centre employees, pointing at various plants as he did so. Rick wandered a bit closer, and heard enough to know that the discussion was a technical one about growing conditions and shade requirements for specific types of plants. Not much use to Thomas, he was sure.

He headed back towards the exit, detouring to the small coffee bar situated just before the doors. He picked up two bottles of water, then browsed the selection of fruit juices and picked out two bottles of juice as well. He'd just paid for the drinks when he saw Stevens heading for the exit, so he picked up the pace and reached TC's van just as Stevens came out the door.

"Here." He passed TC one bottle of juice and one of water. "Don't know how long this is going to take, but it's going to get hot."

"Thanks." TC smiled and took the two bottles.

"You'd better get ready." Rick glanced towards the Mercedes. "Looks like he's about to head out."

"I'm ready." TC started the engine and offered Rick one more grin. "Try to keep up, Orville."

"Fighting words, TC!" Rick laughed. "As if there's any chance you could ever lose me."

"Not when it matters, brother." TC shot back, eyes suddenly deadly serious.

Rick caught the undertone and looked up, eyes equally serious.

"You know it." He confirmed, silent for a moment. Then he shook off the sentiment and waved a hand towards the Mercedes. "But I was talking about tailing Stevens, big guy."

"Sure you were." TC agreed easily, and Rick knew his friend had seen right through him.

Just as TC always had been able to, and probably would always be able to do. Well, there were worse things to cope with in life than friends who always had your back and sometimes knew you better than you knew yourself.

So he just smiled as he piled into his car, stowed his bottles and started the engine.

The first hour of tailing Stevens was painfully dull. He gone from that garden centre to another one, then a third; the last one had been far enough from Honolulu that Rick had taken the lead. The area was simply too far off the tourist routes for TC's van to seem inconspicuous.

Then Stevens had headed back towards the city and Rick had indicated that TC should head past his car again. This time, the trip had ended at a small construction business. The small office on the far side of the lot seemed to be surrounded by piles of cement slabs and beams. An actual concrete jungle.

Rick parked at the far edge of the parking lot, just two spots away from TC's van. He headed over to the van, seeing TC get out to meet him behind the vehicle.

"Is Thomas sure this guy's up to something?" TC sounded as confused as Rick felt.

"You have to wonder." Rick nodded, staring at the small office building on the other side of the lot. "Then again, what's he doing here?"

"See over there?" TC pointed to the one section of concrete.

"Yeah, it's concrete. Just like everything else here." Rick shot back, unimpressed.

"Nah. Look closer." TC pointed out a few things. "See, there's some benches, and some of those big decorative pot things – you know, urns – that people use in their gardens."

Rick looked at TC for a moment, stunned into silence. Then he shook his head and laughed.

"Seriously? Who are you? And what have you done with TC?"

"I'm just saying." TC laughed too. "This is where you'd expect a landscaper to come."

"And when did you become such an expert on landscaping? Hang on," Rick laughed, "is this something else you didn't tell us? Like dance classes?"

"No, it's not." TC was laughing now. "It's just, you get all sorts of people taking my tours. Some of them have more money than sense, and one couple were talking about doing their garden. Trying to one-up their neighbours, it sounded like, and they wanted concrete urns and benches."

"Who knew?" Rick marvelled, shaking his head.

"Takes all sorts." TC agreed sagely. "Here comes our man."

Rick headed back to his car, indicating that he'd take point this time and seeing TC's nod before he started his engine. Moments later, they were back on the road.

Ten minutes later, it was clear that the Mercedes was now heading for the docks. Rick couldn't help but find that odd. He'd been willing to go along with TC's reasoning at the construction business, but he couldn't think of a single reason for a landscaper to visit the docks. Especially these docks.

When the Mercedes turned into the dock road and headed out towards Pier 30, Rick was sure something peculiar was going on. As he drove past Pier 21, a chill ran down his spine. It didn't matter that he'd spoken to Thomas a few hours earlier; all that mattered was that Pier 21 was where they'd found Thomas when Hannah reappeared that first time.

Senses on high alert now, he slowed to a crawl as he watched the Mercedes stop at Pier 28. It had to be a coincidence that Stevens had come here. But it did make their job a bit easier, as they now had a perfect reason to be at the docks.

Rick drove slowly past the Mercedes, seeing how Stevens stared hard at him for a moment. Then Rick turned into Pier 29 and parked near the one car already at the pier. He killed the engine and slid out of the car, watching as TC's van rolled up moments later. Soon the big man was standing next to him.

"See how he's watching us?" Rick murmured the question, seeing TC nod. "Not something an innocent man would do, is it?"

Rick turned away and headed for the ship docked at the pier, seeing a familiar face on the deck.

"Lara! Hello."

"Rick, TC." Lara headed towards them at once, quickly climbing back onto the pier and wrapping her arms around each of them in turn. A sudden gust of wind blew her long dark hair across her face, and she tucked the wayward strands behind her ears. "It's so nice to see you both."

'We were running an errand for Thomas …" Rick started.

"And we were in the neighbourhood, so we had to stop by." TC finished.

"An errand for Thomas?" Lara looked at both of them for a long moment, eyes dancing in amusement. "Do I want to know what he's up to this time? Or am I better off not knowing?"

"You know Thomas." Rick laughed when Lara nodded.

"Then probably better off not knowing." Lara laughed, her brown eyes sparking with humour.

Rick smiled back, something inside him relaxing a little at seeing Lara happy. He flicked a quick glance at TC, getting a smile and a nod in return. TC had noticed the change as well.

Nuzo's death had hit all of them hard, and for a while, he'd worried that it was too much for Lara to bounce back from, even for Jake. The anger and sadness had blanketed her for months, worrying all of the guys.

They'd mourned their fallen brother together, spending hours every night talking about everything they done together. The stories covered everything from pranks on base, to their months in captivity, and over the weeks following the funeral, they'd managed to find ways to live with Nuzo's absence.

Although, even now, Rick could see that Magnum still blamed himself for Nuzo's death. Logically, Magnum knew that Nuzo's death wasn't his fault, but the guilt had nothing to do with logic. Talking never helped when Magnum let the guilt drag him down again, so he and TC had just taken to showing up at the estate and sticking close to Magnum until he managed to get his balance back.

And now it looked as though Lara had finally managed to do the same.

When she'd helped them salvage the rest of the gold from the Roselita, after Hannah had showed up the first time, Rick had wondered if knowing the reason for Nuzo's death would help her at all. Greed wasn't a great reason to kill a good man, but knowing that there was more than just simple greed involved had to be better than thinking that her Sebastian had died for nothing.

It had been a long and painful fourteen months, but it looked as though Lara had finally turned a corner. Thomas would be thrilled to know that Lara looked happy again.

None of them had been able to catch up with Lara in person over the last two months, although she'd assured them in calls and texts that she was fine. Seeing her so relaxed and happy, though, was an unexpected gift. One that Rick was more thankful for than he could find words to express.

"How's the business going?" Rick asked with a smile.

"We're doing okay." Lara nodded. "Maybe even a little better than okay. Sebastian was always careful with the money side of things, and I had enough of a cushion to make it through that first couple of months."

"Make it through?" TC questioned, puzzled. "Was there a problem you didn't tell us about?"

"Yes. Sort of." Lara shrugged one shoulder. "Some people think a woman can't run a salvage operation as well as a man."

"Oh, boy." Rick laughed out loud at that. "I'll bet you showed them."

"That I did." Lara confirmed smugly.

"That's my girl." TC pulled Lara in for a quick one-armed hug, smiling broadly.

Raised voices at the next dock caught their attention. Rick and TC both turned to see what was going on, and spotted Nick Stevens yelling at another man.

"Poor Ted." Lara shook her head, sighing. "That guy has been showing up here and giving him grief for months."

"Really?" Rick turned to look at Lara again, while TC moved closer to the other dock.

"Yes. Ted had a bad run for a while. About a year ago, his biggest customer shut his business down and relocated to the mainland. Ted was struggling to make payment on his docking fees, he had to lay off two of his guys, he couldn't get his engine overhauled even though it needed work."

"You said 'was'?" Rick offered.

"I did." Lara nodded. "Then about six – maybe seven – months ago, Ted suddenly had enough money to sort everything out. He even managed to hire back one of the two guys he'd had to lay off."

"Interesting." TC had strolled closer and caught the end of what Lara was saying.

"But since then, this sort of thing happens a lot." Lara waved her hand towards the argument. "I can never hear what the arguments are about, but one of my crew told me that he thinks something odd is going on."

"He tell you anything else?" Rick was storing away all the random facts, and wondering just what Magnum's latest case had got him and TC involved in.

"Only that the second guy that Ted laid off wouldn't come back when Ted called him. He said that there's a lot of night work now, and he'd rather be home – his wife's pregnant with their first. And that Ted's going out sometimes with the running lights off. But mostly, he says Ted always seems tense now, worried."

"Definitely sounds odd." Rick agreed, then made a show of checking his watch as he heard the engine of the Mercedes turn over.

"We've got to get going on that errand, TC."

"Yeah, brother." TC pulled Lara into another quick hug. "You free this weekend?"

"I am." Lara nodded.

"Swing on by the estate." TC smiled. "We'll have a barbecue. Take Jake out surfing with us."

"We'll be there." Lara agreed without hesitation. "He loves going out in the water with his uncles."

"Can't wait." Rick wrapped Lara in a gentle hug as well, smiling happily at seeing the joy back in her eyes.

He'd drop Thomas a message later about the barbecue, although he already knew that Thomas would have no problem with him making plans on his behalf for the weekend. They were all family, after all.

TC was already back at his van, engine idling. Rick waved and indicated that he would follow, and watched as TC drove slowly away from the dock, trailing not far behind the Mercedes.

Once they'd left the dock area, Stevens weaved through traffic for a while as he made his way through the centre of Honolulu, and then headed out of the city. TC remained a block or so behind the Mercedes, keeping a few cars between him and the black car.

Rick followed just a few car lengths behind TC, waiting for his friend to signal a change in their order.

Half an hour outside Honolulu, their target had turned onto an almost-deserted road leading past what looked like pineapple farms. Aside from the Mercedes, there was only one other car on the road, a red hatchback. After another ten minutes, that car turned off the main road and headed down a track which was signposted as the start of a hiking trail.

Moments later, Rick's phone chimed with a message from TC.

'Dropping back. Tracking you by your phone.'

Rick didn't answer, simply accelerating so that he could overtake TC's van, which had slowed and pulled to the side of the road. He glanced across at TC as he passed, nodding and flashing a quick wave, before settling in behind the black car again.

The black Mercedes sped up slightly, widening the gap between Rick and his target. He pressed a bit harder on the gas, trying to keep that following distance constant, but the other car increased its speed again.

Rick held back, waiting until the black car disappeared around the curve about half a mile down the road. The embankment on the right hid the vehicle from his sight for the time it took him to round the curve himself.

Only to find that the road stretched out empty and deserted in front of him.

Rick swore as he pulled over onto the hard shoulder. He shot out of the car and spun around in a circle, trying to spot any sign of the Mercedes but coming up empty.

A minute later, TC's van rolled around the curve as well, slowing sharply when Rick waved. TC immediately pulled over behind Rick and piled out of the van.

"And?"

"He was right there in front of me, then he went around this curve. When I got here, he was just … gone." Rick shook his head, bemused.

"Damn." TC muttered quietly. "Where'd he go?"

"No idea, TC." Rick stared around again, as if sheer willpower would make the car appear. He pulled out his phone and marked the location on the map he pulled up on the screen.

"I'll let Jules know." Rick stared down at the screen as he tapped out a quick message to their friend, and attached the location pin for where he'd lost the car.

"Now what?" TC wondered, looking around. "Lots of vegetation here."

"Aerial view, maybe?" Rick suggested.

"Not maybe, Orville." TC grinned. "Definitely."

"So we'll head straight for your place and come back in the chopper." Rick sighed, annoyed that he'd lost the guy Thomas asked them to follow. "How could I lose a guy in a car that obvious?"

"Don't worry, brother. TM won't be mad at you." TC offered, and Rick realised again just how well his friends knew him. More than anything else, his biggest worries always involved letting his friends down when they depended on him.

"He should be." Rick muttered angrily. "What if the guy I just lost does something really bad?"

MPI-MPI-MPI