…..

Welcome back to another chapter! I hate how close we are to the conclusion of the story, but it must go on. Thank you all so much for your support in the form of reads, reviews, favorites, follows, and private messages. I appreciate each and every show of support so much.

Also, really quickly… does anyone have any good book recommendations? Feel free to private message or leave them in reviews, but I need more books to read. Also accepting children's book titles, because I feel like my son has read every children's book ever (haha). Even all of the Usborne books that we have, which is a lot (and if you haven't read Usborne books to any kids in your life, you should. They're so engaging).

I told you all that I'd have something up for a vote over the next few chapters, so here it is… I have already been working on the plots for several other stories, and since all of you have been so incredibly amazing, I wanted to give you the opportunity to choose which one you read first. Here are your options:

1. Steve McGarrett was married once, many years ago. He thought that maybe living and working in his home state of Hawaii would give him the distance that he needed to try to put the heartbreak far behind him once and for all. But when his ex-wife moves to the island with her family, he realizes that there is a very real possibility that moving on is never going to happen.

2. Kaya Romano belongs to an ancient society of assassins – The Silent Death. Her father, the leader of the assassins, asks her to go to Hawaii to oversee the group that is stationed there. When she meets Steve McGarrett, she tries her hardest not to fall for him, knowing that it would never work between them. And when she is tasked with killing the man that could be her redemption, can she break centuries worth of tradition to protect him? Or will she succumb and take her place as the new leader of The Silent Death?

3. Steve McGarrett finally feels settled in, having solved the mysteries that his father left behind. But he's quickly unsettled once more when there's a knock on his door late at night and the visitor is covered in bruises and stitches.

Cora Grant knew that there was only one place where she would feel completely protected from her abusive husband. But would Steve McGarrett take her in? Would he take a stance against a man that he had served beside? She would just have to take the chance.

So… you can leave your vote in the form of a review or a PM (or both, if you want extra votes). You can vote after each chapter up until chapter twenty-seven (which will give you five chapters to vote). Yes, you can vote as many times as you want, so if there's one that you're really crazy about, make sure that you're voting on it. As I said, I already have outlines for all of these stories, so I'm pretty confident in each of them.

Thanks to everyone that has voted so far, and thanks in advance for those of you that are planning to vote!

(I also would like to say that I use some artistic license in this chapter to fudge some science and get things done. Please don't hate, because I'm warning you in advance. I consulted with an engineer friend of mine to still try and make it as realistic as possible.)

Disclaimer: I only use the characters from the show, not the timeline of events. And all of the OCs are of my own creation. I know that you guys get it, but still…

Happy Reading!

…..

Chapter Twenty-Four: Switch It Up

Allie

Roger's voice seemed to echo in my ear, a ticking bomb. "Ten… Nine… Eight…"

I swung my leg and then bent over backwards, feeling the pull in my abdomen, as I spun the upper half of my body between the last set of lines. Confidence was key in getting past motion sensors… but so was caution.

"Seven… Six…"

I got my legs through, made it to the pad, and set the contraption on top, praying that it would work.

"Five… Four…"

Through my goggles, I saw the lines blur and then disappear. The device was working to interrupt the signal.

I let out a sigh of relief as I rushed to the cart and pulled it up to the vault door as I hooked the stick onto the cell phone and pulled up the camera.

"Three… Two…"

"Allie, you aren't going to make it!" Kol said at the same time.

"Such confidence," I uttered and took a picture with the cell phone in my hand.

"Allie!"

"One," Roger said. "They're out of the system and I can't hold it, Allie."

"You don't have to." I whipped the selfie stick out to its full length and used it to hold the camera in place over the security camera.

"That doesn't have the full range of motion that their cameras normally do," Roger told me.

"Here's hoping that they don't notice," I responded. "At least, not for thirty seconds."

"No one is reporting anything yet," he told me. "It might work."

"It was the best plan that I could possibly have right now."

"It just has to work for twenty more seconds," Kol said. "Just be very, very still."

"You mean I shouldn't shake my hand wildly?"

"I hate you sometimes."

"Ten more seconds and you should be good," Roger told me. "Hang in there."

"Will do," I said, though the stretching had made me uncomfortable. "Then, I just have to get through this vault."

"The software on that circuit board should be able to do it," Roger said.

"I have faith in you, Roger."

I could hear the smile in his voice. "The cameras are frozen again. You're good to go."

I pulled the camera down with relief. "No one said anything?"

"I doubt they're paying all that much attention to the archives hallway," Roger said. "They're probably pretty busy watching all of the hallways around the party. How's it looking?"

With deft fingers, I unscrewed the top of the control panel and took Roger's circuit board out of the pocket of my jacket. "Good so far. So, which wire do I hook this up to?"

"The group of wires in the back. It'll have a bunch of different colors."

I bent slightly to get a better angle and clicked my flashlight on. At first, I couldn't see it, but then I did and cursed. "It's behind some metal. And I can't get a blowtorch in there without damaging wires."

"You brought a freaking blow torch?" Kol asked me.

"Focus!" I snapped, adrenaline rushing through my body as the panic set in. "I don't know what to do. Can I override their system somehow?"

"Not in four minutes. Not without hacker experience." Roger's voice also held a touch of fear. "Umm…"

"Hold on, hold on!" Max said, and then I heard his voice more clearly, as if he'd moved closer to the microphone. "How much metal is there?"

"About an inch across and…" I reached in to feel. "Not very thick. Maybe one sixteenth of an inch. It looks like aluminum. I can't see the screws, though, so I can't take it out."

"You don't need to take it out," he said, and I could practically see the wheels turning in his head. "You just need to get Roger's wire through to the others. You need to bend it."

"In three minutes," Roger added.

"You still have the screwdriver?" Max asked me.

"Can't you see it in my hand?" I held it up to the box. "What do you want me to do?"

"Start hammering," he said. "Hard. You need to try to puncture it."

"Are you serious?" I demanded. "That's going to take forever!"

"Not if you can find a hammer in the janitor's cart that could help."

I rushed to the cart and thankfully found a hammer that I could use. "Okay. Here it goes." I held the screwdriver steady with one hand and used the other to hammer. It took a bit, but I finally felt the metal giving way. "It's working!"

"Of course it is," Max said, slightly affronted. "I'm an engineer, you know."

"In three different fields!" Kol said before Max could, because that's always how Max followed up that statement.

"Shut up," Max replied. "Do you have pliers? If you can get the pliers through there, then you can spread it enough to get Roger's wire in."

"Yeah, there's some pliers." I ran to grab them and returned to the box. "Okay. Here it goes."

Roger gave the time. "You have one minute and twenty seconds to finish this."

"How long will your device take?" I asked, slightly out of breath due to the exertion.

"Twenty seconds max," he answered. "Likely more like ten or fifteen."

"Let's hope so." I gave one more pull of the plier handles and then pulled them out. "Okay. I think that's wide enough." It turned out to be exactly wide enough, and I felt like rejoicing as I hooked up Roger's device. "It's connected. How much time do I have?"

"Forty seconds," Roger answered.

I watched the tiny screen on the device anxiously. "How will I know that it's done?"

"It'll flash green."

"Of course," I replied. "How typical."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

The screen flashed green and I excitedly unclipped it from the wires as I heard a loud click from the vault door. "I'm in."

There was cheering from their side as I slipped the device into my pocket.

"Hurry and get in," Roger told me. "You only have twenty seconds."

"I'm aware." I put the panel back on and slipped the screws into the holes, but I didn't have the time to actually screw them in yet. That would have to wait.

"Ten seconds," Roger informed me.

"I'm beginning to hate you, Roger," I said as I rushed to the cart and began to pull it towards the door.

"You know, they say don't shoot the messenger."

"I hate them, too." With much effort, I was able to open the vault door and push the cart inside.

"Five seconds," Kol and Roger said at the same time.

"Shut up," I ground out as I closed the heavy vault door behind me with a click.

Edward's voice was the next one I heard in the darkness. "You're clear."

"And blind," I complained and began to feel around in my pockets for my flashlight. "Can someone check in on the party and tell me how everything is going?"

Moments later, just as I was clicking on the flashlight, Roger gave me an answer. "The party is fine. I don't think that anyone has noticed that you're gone."

"Excellent." Sweeping the flashlight back and forth, up and down, I began to feel discouraged. "There are hundreds of things in here. How the hell am I supposed to find one box?"

My father spoke. "Your mother said that she put it inside of a Lombardo sculpture."

"Whoa!" Kol said.

Max gasped.

Even I was shocked. "She ruined a Lombardo?"

"Oh, calm down!" my father said. "It was for a good cause."

"I, too, am appalled by this," my uncle said.

"Jesus," my dad muttered. "Just find the sculpture, open up the back, and get the box."

The archives seemed to be organized by type of art, so I moved over to the sculpture section with my cart. "So, not only did she ruin a sculpture, but she wants me to ruin it all over again to get the box?"

"You won't be ruining it again," he assured me. "She said that she slapped it back together with some cement that was on hand that day."

Everyone but him gasped in shock and disgust.

"My God, people," he said, aggravated. "This box has codes that can destroy the world."

"So an original Lombardo had to suffer?" Kol asked. "It's just sad."

"It is what it is, Kol. Let it go."

Before Kol could respond, I said, "I think I found it." Reaching out, I turned the sculpture slightly so that I could look behind it. The back had been broken out in one part and very poorly replaced. I felt sad looking at it. "This is so sad."

My dad sighed in a longsuffering way. "Just break the sculpture, Allie."

"Yeah, yeah. I will." I found the hammer and walked back to the sculpture. "It's just a damned shame." After one big breath, I swung the hammer and winced at the crack that it made. "Please forgive me, Mr. Lombardo. Your works are magnificent."

"Break the damn sculpture, Allie."

"I am!" I snapped back at him. "Give me a minute. Geez." I swung the hammer several more times until, finally, the cement began to fall away. "I think I got it."

After brushing away some of the bigger pieces that had fallen inside, I reached in and my hand closed over something textured and hard. Further exploration revealed that it was the same size as the music box.

Bingo.

I pulled it out and took a minute to study this box that had caused so much drama in my life.

It was golden, glinting in the light from my flashlight. The designs on it were so intricate that I could have spent half an hour studying them. It truly was a work of art, and it was such a shame that it had been used for such a sinister purpose.

"Allie?"

I realized that I had been silent for too long and shook myself out of the stupor. "Yeah, sorry. I have the box."

There was cheering from the van.

"Get packed up and ready to go," Roger told me. "The sweep will happen in one minute and twenty-four seconds and then Medici's men will have the freeze frame up again. You'll be able to slip out then."

"Right." I hid the box on the janitor's cart and spoke aloud, mostly to myself. "I have to make sure that I put the control panel back together. We don't want anyone getting suspicious. Then, I just have to leave the same way that I came in."

"What about the motion sensors?" Kol asked me. "What are you going to do about that? Go through them all over again?"

"Hell no." That had been a workout to last me for a while. "The device should keep them disrupted for just long enough for me to get through them."

"Forty seconds," Roger said.

"I'm going to be really glad when you stop barking times into my ear," I grumbled.

He grumbled something unintelligible back at me.

"I'm at the door," I informed them all as I reached it. "Just waiting on my cue."

"You sure you want me to give it to you?"

"Sarcasm doesn't suit you, Roger."

He snorted. "Twenty seconds."

I grabbed the screwdriver so that I would be ready to get to work as soon as I walked out. "I'm ready."

"Ten seconds."

Soon, it would all be over.

I couldn't be readier.

"Sweep is happening." And about thirty seconds later, "Okay, you're good to go."

My watch confirmed it and I pushed open the vault door with great effort, so glad to be shutting it behind me for the last time. I made quick work of the control panel, screwing it all back into place and then heading down the hall with the device.

"No sensors were tripped," said Roger once I was officially out of the hallway. "Nice job. I'm watching all of the other cameras for guards, but you're clear. Most of them are still at the party."

"Most?" I asked. It only took one person to screw up a plan.

"Some are in the break room," he answered. "And… there's one patrolling on the top floor. You should be good."

"Just keep a close eye out." The last thing that I needed was to be caught in the home stretch.

I was on high alert the whole way back, but I didn't run into any problems whatsoever. Finally, I had made it to the women's bathroom where it had all started.

"I'm leaving the cart here," I murmured as I left the cart just outside the door. "And it should be gone when I get back, courtesy of Medici." He was the one that had gotten the woman to sign on with the catering company and work this event. It was the most of an insider that we could possibly have.

"Great job, Allie," Kol congratulated me.

I grabbed the bag with the box and slipped into the bathroom. "It's not over yet."

"Close enough."

"Let her know that I'm ready," I said and went into my stall.

"Will do."

Changing back into the dress was a little complicated by myself, but I managed. The hat hadn't messed up my hair too much, thankfully, and my makeup hadn't smudged at all. Satisfied, I slipped the uniform and badge into the waterproof bag that I'd had Imran stash in the tank of the toilet. My family had left it for him, and he'd found a way inside.

Teamwork.

I finally came out of the stall to find my mother waiting by the sinks. She had used her skills of disguise to make herself look different… I hardly recognized her, which was good. That meant that Medici wouldn't, either. She certainly looked like she belonged there, though. Her dress had to have been worth at least as much as mine and she wore it with confidence.

When she saw me, she smiled. "You look beautiful, sweetheart."

"Please don't call me that." So that I didn't have to look her in the eyes much longer, I walked over to the counter and leaned down, feeling beneath. Finally, my hand found the large clutch that the caterer had stashed there for me. It was just the right size to hold the music box.

Or its forged twin.

"Do you have the forgery that Jason made?" I asked.

My mother grabbed the museum gift bag at her feet and held it out to me. "I'm so proud of you. That couldn't have been easy."

"It wasn't." I handed her the real box and put the fake one into my clutch. "You're going outside to give that to Dad and the others, right?"

Her blue eyes widened in surprise. "You think that I intend to steal it?"

I didn't, but I shrugged as if I did. "You did once, remember? That's why we're here today."

"Sweetheart…" She stepped forward and reached out as if to touch me.

I jerked away and headed for the door. "I already told you not to call me that."

"I'm sorry." When I turned to face her, I saw tears in her eyes. "Steve is with Michael and the team. They're ready to extract Trent as soon as you give us Medici's location."

"I get to determine the exchange location," I told her and gave her the hotel name and room number. "Just wait outside for me." I handed her a flash drive that I'd kept taped to my leg. "This has a receiver in it. I'll be wearing a camera."

She took the drive and nodded. "We'll be watching, then. And waiting."

I just nodded and left, headed back for the party.

I was almost there when I was spotted by a guard, who called out, "Hey, you!" in French.

I froze, every nerve in my body standing on end. Flee! Fight! Do something!

"Me?" I asked, buying myself some time.

"Yes, you!" he said, and his stern expression said that not much was going to get to him. "What are you doing all the way over here?"

"I…"

"Well?" he barked when I paused for two seconds.

"I…"

"And another thing!" a voice practically shouted and Imran rounded a corner, looking furious. But, when he saw the guard, he straightened and looked surprised. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry. We… my fiancé and I were having a bit of an argument and she stormed away."

I jumped on it. "Because you were being an ass."

"An ass?" he exclaimed. "I said that I didn't appreciate you dancing so much with the investment banker! You know that he likes you! Why would you flaunt that in my face?"

"It's not like you weren't dancing with anyone else!"

The guard pinched the bridge of his nose as if we'd given him a headache. "I've heard enough, okay? Just… go back to the party. Or leave and fight it out in your car on the way home. But this area is off limits."

"Sorry," I apologized and made a show of storming past Imran.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Sorry." And then he caught up to me and we both somehow managed to keep straight faces.

"Did you get it?" he asked me.

"I did," I responded. "Did you?"

"I did." He slipped me the hotel key. "I took care of Interpol, too."

"Then let's take down a sick bastard."

He shot me a grin and offered his arm, and we walked back into the party together.