"So who do we hit first?" Olivia asked as they made their way down the elevator.
"Rayna," Steve answered. "We're gonna play 'Good Cop, Bad Cop' ".
"Which one of us is going to be the bad cop?"
Steve gave her a sideways glance. "Me, of course," He answered before grinning. In spite of the circumstances, the smile he gave her made her weak in the knees. It held a mischievous glint that was reminiscent of the boy she'd known so long ago.
Get a grip, girl. You have a case to work! Her subconscious seemed to scold.
"Okay fine," she agreed. "Which one of us is going to go at her first?"
"I will. We're running out of time, so there's no more time for dancing around. If I can't intimidate the truth out of her, then you take a crack at her. Sound good?"
Olivia crossed her arms in front of her and frowned, "Are you saying I can't be intimidating?"
Steve answered by crossing his arms and frowning back. The two engaged in a 'stare down' of sorts until Olivia gave in.
"You win," she admitted causing him to break into a big grin.
"Yeah? What do I win?"
"The contest over who is the most intimidating. Obviously, you're better at it than me."
"Only because you have such a good heart," he answered to Olivia's surprise before leaning over and giving a quick kiss to her forehead. There was no time for her to react before Steve opened the door and motioned for her go in ahead of him.
Olivia and Steve moved to stand right in front of Rayna and 'study' her for a minute. Being a psychologist and profiler, she wasn't difficult for Olivia to read. Her body language told the entire story even though her hands were cuffed to the chair she was sitting on: She was terrified but trying like hell to give off an air of confidence. Her chin was lifted defiantly as she glared at them, but Olivia saw the fear in her eyes.
The message was clear: She wanted out.
Maybe this wouldn't be as difficult as they thought.
"Rayna Phillips" Steve began as he crossed his arms again and stood tall.
Damn but he was sexy when he was in full-on 'bad ass mode'.
Rayna shifted in her seat. "What is it, Commander?" she spat. "You've had me sitting here for three damn hours!"
"Well, I'm sorry to inconvenience you," he said sarcastically. "But I'd say you're doing a hell of a lot better than the girls you've abducted and held for days."
"I don't know what you're talking about!"
He took a step towards her and leaned down to look her in the eyes. "Look at me." He demanded.
When she didn't obey, he said it more firmly. "LOOK AT ME!"
This time the venom in his voice hit its mark and she obeyed.
"I've got the deal of a lifetime for you," Steve began before glancing at his watch. "But it expires in about 2 minutes. You either tell us what you know or we walk out of this room. The next time you'll see me is in a courtroom when they put you away for LIFE. Do you understand me?"
She swallowed nervously and shifted again.
"So this is what we know. You and Victor Salvatore are responsible, at least in part, for abducting several girls and keeping them drugged while you figured out your next move. Or maybe you already knew the next move and needed to get a certain number of girls before you could make a deal. At any rate, we have evidence that your plans were to sell them to the highest bidder; Probably on the international market. Ms. Phillips, human trafficking of minors is the first of many charges we have on you."
She opened her mouth to speak but Steve put up a finger to stop her, "Shut up. I'm not finished."
Her mouth clamped shut as her eyes grew bigger.
Steve continued. "You kidnapped and drugged innocent girls. We know that for a fact…because not only have we talked to one of your victims, but you were stupid enough to do it to both myself and Agent White. That's one allegation you can't talk your way out of."
Rayna turned her gaze downward but Steve saw the tell-tale sign of a tremble in her chin…so he pushed on.
"We also have information that the girls are being transported from a motel to a boat named the 'Foxy Lady'. We are assuming this is how you'd planned to get them off the island."
Steve moved even closer and his voice lowered to a growl. "Now….you either tell me what I want to know right now, or you're going away for the rest of your life. Understand?"
Rayna looked back with unshed tears in her eyes. "What do you want to know?"
Steve glanced at Olivia who took it as her cue to step in. Rayna was ready to talk, so it was time for 'Good Cop' to step in.
"Rayna, if those girls get off the island and into international waters, the charges against you are going to be even more serious. You understand that right? So, if we're going to be able to help you, you HAVE to help us rescue those girls."
"What do you want to know?" her voice cracked.
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Twenty minutes later, Steve and Olivia exited the interrogation room with everything they needed. Faced with life behind bars, Rayna Phillips had spilled her guts when she was promised a lighter sentence in exchange for her cooperation. She'd still be going away for awhile, but not as long as the alternative.
Steve picked up his vibrating phone.
"Tani, what's up."
"Just got a call from Eric. He's been reviewing surveillance footage at the marina. Looks like four containers have been moved onto the boat in as many days. And here's the thing, there are two men moving the containers on to the boat…Neither appears to be Victor."
Steve exchanged a look with Olivia. "So we've got one girl left….and we can assume they'll be bringing her on tonight."
"Right….because according to Rayna, they were scheduled to take the boat out tomorrow morning and meet another boat about 50 miles offshore. She also gave up the names of their accomplices which is probably who your guy has seen on the video." Olivia relayed to Tani.
"We're on our way back up," Steve told her. "Get everyone together so we can come up with a plan to get the girls off that boat."
***************H50******************H50*****************H50
2 hours later….
Five-0 had the marina surrounded with eyes on the boat. After watching for nearly thirty minutes, it was obvious no other perpetrators were on board. The sun hadn't set so they knew they still had several hours before someone would probably show up with the last girl.
The plan was to get the other girls off the boat before they showed up. Then, the team would be waiting on board to rescue the last girl and take the other two men into custody.
Steve and Danny had just boarded the boat and were making their way to the lower cabin where they assumed the girls were being hidden when they heard Tani's voice over their earpieces.
"Guys, we've got trouble. A man is making his way down the dock and it looks like he's headed in your direction. He also looks a lot like one of the guys on surveillance. "
"Sit tight," Steve said. "Let him get on board and we'll take him."
"You can't do that, Steve!" Olivia's voice came across loud and clear. "If we take him into custody we may never find the last girl! Do not…I repeat DO NOT take him into custody."
"Are you giving me orders?" Steve asked "Because I'm not…."
"Would you listen to me!" Olivia interrupted. "We can't risk it! Now stand down, Commander! Now you sit tight…..I have a plan."
As Steve tried to process the fact that Olivia was trying to give him orders, Danny couldn't help but chuckle. There was some rustling over their earpieces but it gave nothing away as to what Olivia was doing.
"Well what do you propose?" Danny asked her.
The next thing they heard was a voice sounding suspiciously like Olivia's except with a strong Southern accent that was 'spot on'. "Hey sugar, I'm so sorry to bother you, but could you help me with somethin'."
"Oh this is good…" They heard Tani's smile over their earpieces before she chuckled.
"What is she doing?" Steve whispered.
"She took her clothes off and…"
"She did WHAT?" Steve asked a little more loudly than he'd anticipated.
"Not everything…Just down to the bathing suit she had on underneath. I think she's trying to seduce him." Tani answered.
"What the hell?!" Steve said.
"Well, maybe seduce is the wrong word…but she's definitely distracting him and buying us some time." Lou piped in. "And looking like that, she's gonna buy us all the time we need."
"Damn girl! Seriously loving that sarong. You're gonna have to tell me where you go it! You look hot." Tani whispered.
"Would you guys stay focused! What is she doing?" Steve demanded. It was clear his team was enjoying his discomfort though he failed to see the amusement in any of it.
Besides, if anyone was going to see her looking hot, it should be him.
Hearing the argument over her own earpiece, Olivia couldn't help but smile.
"Well, hello beautiful. What do you need?" The man's voice sounded flirty which didn't settle well with Steve.
"I'm havin' some trouble getting' my rental car started. Do you think you could take a look? I mean, I've already been waitin' on the car company for dang near half an hour."
"I'll be happy to take a look." He said before following Olivia to her car. He'd apparently bought the story because he didn't even ask her to crank the engine before opening the hood and tinkering a little underneath. Then, he told her to try to start it up…..which it obviously did.
"Oh thank you, sugar. I just don't know what I would've done if you didn't show up. I was fixin' to call the car company back and give them 'what for'. You just saved the day!"
"Oh please," Steve said disgusted as Danny laughed beside him.
"I like her…" Danny said. "I like her a lot!"
"Is there any way I can repay you, darlin'?" Olivia asked her 'rescuer'.
"That won't be necessary," he replied.
Good, because if he took her up on it, I was going to break every one of his fingers, Steve fumed.
"Well, thanks again," Olivia's voice was dripping sugar. "You really are a lifesaver. I just knew as soon as I saw you walkin' this way that you'd be able to help. So what boat is yours?"
"Don't spook him, Olivia!" She heard Steve say.
"Um…..none of them. I uh…I was actually looking for one that was supposed to be for sale, but I don't see it here. I must be at the wrong marina."
"Oh I understand. This is my first time to Hawaii and I swear I feel like a fish outta water tryin' to find my way around," she giggled and everyone laughed along with her…except for Steve who was displaying his well-known 'aneurysm face'.
"I just love boats," she continued. "My daddy used to have one when I was growing up and taught me a lot about 'em. But Lord in heaven, to hear some people talk, you'd think I was just a simple minded little Southern girl who doesn't have the brains of a tick." She giggled again and Steve grimaced.
Everyone listening knew that was her way of telling Steve to back off and they all stayed quiet to see how the whole scene played out.
"Anyway, I'm very grateful for your help. Lucky for me that you came to the wrong marina! Thank you again."
"No problem. It was my pleasure."
And with that, they watched as he seemed to make a quick retreat to his vehicle to leave the marina.
Steve's voice came over again, "Junior, follow him….See where he goes. He may be going back to our other girl!"
"On it!"
"You and I are gonna have a serious talk, Liv!" he barked.
"Now don't get yer feathers all rustled, Commander. Just simmer down. Everything's fine now," Olivia replied continuing in the sweet Southern drawl.
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Gotta say…..I'm loving this 'slow burn' between Steve and Olivia. When they get some alone time together, something tells me it's going to be amazing!
Love to hear your reviews! So what do you think so far? Any ideas about what happens next?
