Gabriel greeted Masuda at the door of the warehouse. The head of the organization had only given an hour notice before his arrival. He wanted to evaluate the arriving shipment for himself.

He had been pleased with Gabriel's productivity the past couple of weeks. As expected, Gabriel had not given him a reason to doubt his loyalty. This trip was more to check on the latest arms shipment than it was to check on Gabriel. After Gabriel showed him to the containers full of crates, he had stepped back out of the way but stayed in close proximity to be available if needed. He watched as Masuda finished his inspection and made his way to the warehouse office to have a few words with one of his tech guys.

Gabriel looked to one of the wide-open warehouse doors when he heard a car pull up. He knew there was security monitoring the location all around, so he didn't feel any sense of threat from unwanted visitors.

Rain was still coming down and the driver got out and hustled inside, hunching his shoulders as he went. He was pleased to see he would not have to waste precious time searching for the one he'd come to find.

The driver was Simon, one of Gabriel's most loyal employees from years ago and also one of his closest confidants. Simon began his employ with Mr. Masuda soon after the collapse of Gabriel's organization. Gabriel had taken a risk, to himself and to Simon, when he had asked him to continue to follow up on the Chin Ho Kelly situation as time would allow between duties assigned by Masuda. Simon had agreed without hesitation. He would be loyal to Masuda up to the point of conflicting with his loyalty to Gabriel. Gabriel had given him opportunities he would never have had otherwise and he wasn't about to forget it.

The day Masuda had put the kibosh on his side project, Gabriel had superficially intended to heed the boss's command, having personally administered and witnessed the consequences cast upon other disloyal and even unintentionally substandard performing employees. However, as much as his head understood the seriousness of the command, internally he could not let it go. His boldness grew slowly in those few days after their meeting, until the point he had finally asked Simon to help him without Masuda's knowledge.

Simon glanced over to the thick, sound muffling windows of the warehouse office. He could see Masuda, arms folded across his chest, standing behind a man seated at a computer, watching the contents of the screen as the man typed on the keyboard. He felt comfortable enough with Masuda's distraction to divulge some information to Gabriel.

Gabriel likewise checked the office and their general vicinity for himself to see if they had enough privacy to proceed. When he felt satisfied, he looked out from his lowered eyes and asked for an update.

"Sorry about the timing." Simon's eyes shot to the office and back. "There's been a development," Simon whispered.

"Well, out with it," Gabriel growled impatiently.

"She's here… on the island. I saw her, but I don't know for how much longer."

Gabriel pushed Simon up against one of the crates. "What did you say?"

Simon was taken aback by the physical manhandling, but he continued, "I saw her, your daughter, with Kelly."

Gabriel took his hand off of Simon and feigned dusting off an unseen speck on Simon's jacket. He then rubbed the back of his neck to calm down. "Where?"

"That's the thing, boss. They were at the airport. I think they're leaving the island."

"Like hell!" He had spoken a little too loudly for Simon's preference and was again straining to see Masuda's whereabouts. Gabriel seemed to be unconcerned and oblivious to Masuda now, fully enthralled with what he was hearing. "Tell me more. Are you sure she wasn't arriving? Was anyone else with her?"

"I saw them after they arrived at the airport. He was turning in his rental and yes, there was a blond lady with him."

"That would be the illustrious Inspector Dunn. Wonder if she goes by Kelly now?"

"Do you think he had intended on meeting with you and gave up when he didn't hear from you?"

"I thought I'd have a bigger fight. The thing with his cousin must have gotten to him. And the child? Are you sure it was her? Did you see her?"

"Well, I didn't see her face, but it was a little girl. She was wearing a hooded rain jacket and was holding a toy in one hand and Kelly's hand with the other. The lady was following beside them."

Gabriel perked up at hearing about the 'toy'. "What kind of toy was she carrying?"

"A stuffed animal."

"Newton," Gabriel breathed out.

"Who?"

"A rabbit. The toy was a rabbit," Gabriel said as a statement more than a question.

"Well, yeah, I think it was. How did you know?"

Gabriel didn't answer. His eyes narrowed in thought. Finally, Gabriel patted the back of his friend's shoulder. "Simon, this is good. You did a good job. I won't forget this. You'll be rewarded."

Simon smiled with pride, pleased that he had made Gabriel happy. The smile turned down when he watched Gabriel sternly head for the door. He did not tell anyone he was leaving or where he was going and he did not look back to see if Masuda witnessed it either. Once again, Simon shot a glance in Masuda's direction before following after Gabriel.

He stood back and watched as Gabriel looked around at his surroundings. There were many warehouses of all sizes, ages, and activity levels situated around the port. Several were Yakuza properties owned under the veil of unassuming shell companies. Gabriel headed for one of those that was nearby and a bit larger than the one they had just left. Simon was not trying to conceal his presence and continued to keep him in sight. He did not interrupt when Gabriel pulled out his phone to make a call.

Gabriel had found the privacy he was looking for here. Though being used as storage for various crates and containers, there were no workers present in this building today. As the phone was ringing on the other end, he gave an indifferent sideways look toward Simon, whom he knew had followed him. He then looked up and turned, scrutinizing the building he was standing in as he waited impatiently for Chin to answer. He made use of the time, filing away details of the building, access points, doors, interior rooms, open spaces, and the arrangement of the stored contents. The unexpected amount of waiting time brought him back to his current task.

"Damn it," he said when the call ended without an answer. He pressed the button again and held the phone to his ear as he listened for an answer. While he waited, he instructed Simon, "Watch the door. Let me know if anyone's coming." He thought he may have to try a third time and started to wonder if he was too late. He considered the possibility that Chin had actually brought his daughter back to Hawaii and because he had not made the promised connection, he was about to lose out on his chance to get her back. Just as he was about to give up on this attempt and try one more time, he heard the familiar click of an answer. He stopped his analyzation of the warehouse and focused on the call. After a couple of seconds and no answer, he spoke first. "Hello?"

~~~~~H50~~~~~

Chin was on his laptop at the gate's waiting area when the airline called out the announcement for the boarding of his flight. He shut down his computer and packed it into his carryon then slung the bag onto his back. As he was getting ready to present his pass to the attendant, he felt the buzz in his pocket. For a moment, he considered ignoring the call. He was about to get on the flight and would be of no use to anyone for the next five to six hours anyway. Then he realized that Abby may be calling him, he apologetically smiled at the airline attendant and stepped out of the line, displaying his phone as the reason. Stepping aside and away from the impatient travelers, he finally checked the identity of the caller and knitted his brow. He hesitated to answer, but decided he needed to.

"Hey. You almost missed me. I was just about to board the plane."

"Well then, I'm glad I caught you. You may want to postpone your trip."

"What are you talking about, Steve? What's happened?"

"We've heard from Gabriel."

~to be continued~

\,,,/ BronsonL