Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has read this story, alerted it, or reviewed it. I am beginning to catch up on replying to reviews now that I am home again.
Catherine woke-up to the sound of footsteps below her, on the first floor. She listened as someone moved very deliberately through the living room.
Catherine rolled silently out of bed, grabbing the gun (one of Steve's from his weapons locker) on the nightstand. She padded out into the hallway. Standing at the top of the stairs, she tracked the intruder as he moved towards the back of the house.
She moved soundlessly down the first several steps until she reached the beginning of the open railing. Taking a deep breath, she raced down the remaining stairs.
"Freeze or I will shoot –"Cat cut herself off abruptly, "Christ Danny! I could have shot you! What the hell are you doing here?"
"What am I doing here? I am bringing you breakfast," Danny's reply was indignant, "Most people would say 'Thank you, Danny, for the tasty malasadas.' Most people would not point a gun at the bringer of said malasadas."
"I'm sorry." Catherine laid the gun down on the coffee table, "Do you always let yourself in without knocking?"
"You going to live here with Steve?" Danny countered.
Catherine shrugged. Steve hadn't exactly asked her to move in but she wasn't going to explain that to Danny. "We're going to give it a try."
"Then get used to it."
She headed to the kitchen to make coffee, remembering too late that she was wearing only a pair of panties and one of Steve's 50 or so t-shirts. Screw it, she decided. Williams had shown up uninvited, the t-shirt came to her knees, and she really needed coffee.
Danny followed her with the malasadas, "How did you make out with the finger prints?"
Catherine recognized Danny's attempt at a truce for what it was and decided to accept. "As you already know, dozens of Steve's prints were found all over Hills's house. HPD matched got a match on the print from Steve's naval intelligence file."
"Did you find out anything I didn't already know?" Danny asked.
Cat gave him the same look that she used to keep rowdy navy sailors in line.
Danny raised his hands in mock surrender, "Sorry, please go on. I'll behave."
"The prints in Steve's file were taken more than 5 years ago when he first joined naval intelligence." Catherine poured two cups when the pot finished brewing, "Did Steve ever tell you about the President's trip to Israel?"
"No, I don't believe that we've ever discussed presidential travel," Danny took a malasada and offered the bag to Catherine.
"Well it classified," Cat smiled at Danny's expression. He had obviously heard that before. "Let's pretend that there was attempt on the president's life during the trip. Maybe while preventing that attempt, Steve's hands got a little cut-up."
Danny was so busy imagining Steve saving the president that it took a few minutes for him to realize what Catherine was saying, "Did the cuts alter his fingerprints?"
"Three of his fingers – right index, right middle, and left ring – all have small scars that now show up on his fingerprints. So guess what I found when I studied the fingerprints?" Catherine looked at Danny expectantly.
"Fingerprints without scars?" he guessed.
"No," Catherine took a minute to enjoy Danny's annoyed expression, "I didn't find scars because there are no prints from those three fingers."
"That's good enough," Danny shouted triumphantly, "What are the odds he would touch things over and over, leaving prints from every finger but those three?"
They toasted each other with their coffee mugs.
"I have everything in a file for you to take to the DA," Catherine gestured to a file on the dining room table.
"You want to come with me to see Toast?" Danny asked, finishing his masada.
"I didn't get finished until well after midnight. Then I came back here and crashed." She rinsed the coffee cups and left them in the sink, "I'd like to go see Steve. You can let me know what Toast says."
"Sounds good," Danny grabbed the folder and headed for the door, "If we spring Steve from the hospital and he finds dirty dishes in his sink, it'll put him right back there."
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Chin entered Max Bergman's lab and waited patiently until Max was ready to talk to him.
After a few minutes, Max appeared to notice him, "Ah, Lt. Chin. Congratulations, I heard about your promotion."
"Thank you, Max. Did you call me down here just to congratulate me?"
"Of course not. That would not be an efficient use of time for either of us." He moved towards a table with a covered body laid out on it. "This is the man you found at the warehouse yesterday. He died from smoke inhalation."
Chin nodded, "I thought as much. Were you able to ID him?"
Max smiled and brought up information on one of his computer screens, "His name is Duke Taro. He was 48 years old. He has a record, but you can look that up back at your office."
Chin waited. Max hadn't called him down here just for this. There was something more.
Max pulled back the sheet to reveal the cadaver's chest. There was a strange red 3 prong mark. Chin had seen a mark like that before.
"Is that a taser burn?"
Max smiled like Chin was a particularly gifted student, "I am impressed Lieutenant. I had never seen a 3 prong taser before. All tasers that I was familiar with have only 2 prongs."
"I've never seen a taser like that either," Chin told him, "But I have seen burns like that twice before. Once on McGarrett after his house was broken into. Then again on McGarrett after Jameson was shot."
Max nodded, "I would be very interested in learning more about this weapon."
"You and me both." Chin gave Max a speculative look, "Do Crosby and his men know about this burn?"
Max shrugged, "It is, of course, in my report. Captain Crosby declined to send anyone to listen to my report in person, so I sent it to him. I cannot say if he noted the taser burn."
"Well Max, I'm going to include this in my presentation to the DA this afternoon. They may ask you to verify this.
"I will be happy to assist Commander McGarrett," Max turned away, done with this conversation and already focusing on other work."
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Danny found Toast with a joint, watching cartoons, and groaned inwardly. He needed Toast sober enough to tell him about the flash drive.
"Hey Toast!" Danny snapped his fingers in front of the hackers face several times to get his attention.
"Jersey," Toast blinked several times to bring Danny into focus, "You're in my house."
"Yes I am," Danny agreed, taking the joint away while Toast was distracted, "Did you get anything from that flash drive I left yesterday?"
"The encryption was a bitch. It was high level military. I haven't hacked anything military in forever. 'Cause the stuff you learn – it's too hard to sell. You end up dealing with seriously bad people."
"So you couldn't break the encryption?" Danny guessed.
"I am extremely offended, Jersey. Of course I broke it. Now I'm celebrating with . . ." Toast stared at his empty hand, obviously trying to remember what he had done with his joint, "Jersey, did you see . . ."
"Toast, what was on the flash drive?"
"On, it's all right here," Toast handed the flash drive back to Danny. "It's not encrypted anymore."
Danny took a deep breath, knowing that patience was required for dealing with Toast, "What is right here? Toast, I need to know what is on this drive."
Toast gestured to an open laptop, "Help yourself. I broke the encryption, doesn't mean I understand what I found."
Danny pulled the joint out from behind Toast and gave it back to him. Once Toast was engrossed in his celebration again, Danny turned to the computer.
He inserted the flash drive and swore with great creativity as he watched the information flow across the screen. Spreadsheet after spreadsheet with dollars and Euros and several other currencies. At this rate, he was going to be blind before this case was over.
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"Governor, your limo is here."
Page nodded to his aid and finished with the paperwork in front of him. He was due at Pat Jameson's funeral. It wouldn't do to be late.
Outside, another aid opened the car door for him. Page nodded his thanks without really seeing the man as he climbed into the long black car.
"We don't have much time. The ride to the church is not very long."
Page whipped his head around in shock. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the dimness of the car. Once they did, Page saw a well-dressed, handsome Chinese man sitting near the front of the car. The privacy shield that separated them from the driver was in place. They were effectively alone.
"Who are you?" Page demanded, "How did you get into my car?"
The man smiled calmly, "My name is Wo Fat. I was an associate of the late Governor Jameson's. Our relationship was extremely beneficial to us both."
"My God," Page whispered, "McGarrett was working for you."
Wo Fat gave a brief but genuine laugh, "It is tempting to let you believe that, but you would find out differently this afternoon when the District Attorney drops the charges against McGarrett."
Wo Fat waved his hand dismissively, "I'll deal with McGarrett soon enough. Right now, I'd like to discuss the two of us."
"Unless you're turning yourself in, we have nothing to discuss," Page inched his hand towards the panic button on his cell phone. He cursed himself for being so defenseless. Protocol be damned, from now on he was carrying a gun.
Wo Fat smiled again. Page got the feeling that this whole conversation greatly entertained him. "Your phone and its alarm will do you no good. No signal can transmit out of this car."
Page considered the distance between himself and the other man. He was tempted to launch himself at Wo Fat, but they were too far apart and the crime boss could easily be armed.
"What do you want?" Page bit out.
"I was hoping that you would consider entering into the same agreements with me that Jameson did. I assure you that you will find our business more lucrative than you can imagine."
"Not interested," Page hated being this vulnerable.
"You may want to reconsider." The limo came to a stop and Page heard the door unlock. "My first warning was relatively painless. Next time, it will be . . . bloodier."
The door opened and the chauffer gestured for Page to climb out of the car. He was at the rear of the church instead of the front.
"Sorry, sir. There seems to have been a mistake. We're at the wrong door." The chauffer climbed back into the car and pulled away.
Page pulled out his phone, dialing Crosby as he walked around the building. When he heard the call connect, he didn't give his taskforce leader the chance to speak, "Be in my office after the funeral."
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District Attorney Renee Viloria sat back in her chair and studied the two men sitting on the other side of her desk. "Gentlemen, tell me why I should drop the charges against Steven McGarrett when he was found with the murder weapon – his own gun – standing over the murdered Governor."
"McGarrett wasn't the person who fired that gun that night," Chin pulled several sheets of paper from the folders he and Danny had brought with them, "These are lab results from test that were run on both McGarrett's gloves and his hands. They found no gun powder residue."
The D.A. accepted the report, glancing at it before she turned her attention back to her visitors, "Why did McGarrett tear Hills's house apart if he didn't kill her?"
"Why are those two things necessarily connected?" Danny wanted to know. "Not that it matters," he added hastily, "because the fingerprints were planted." He passed more reports to Viloria as he explained what Catherine had told him that morning.
"These tests were run by Navy Intelligence," she noted.
Danny had been expecting that, "HPD is running independent tests of their own right now. They obtained new finger prints from McGarrett today to compare."
"I'll take these as fact for now, pending our verification." Viloria looked at Danny with a raised eyebrow, "Didn't you just point out that the break-in and the car bomb don't have to be related?"
Chin pulled out yet more reports, "Laura Hills's care was blown up with a claymore that was jury-rigged into a car bomb. The same kind of car bomb was used in 1993 to kill Jack McGarrett's wife. That same kind of car bomb was used again 2 days ago to blow-up a car at HPD, killing 3 police officers."
"And you believe that all three of the bombs are connected?" the D.A. asked.
"Claymore's aren't very common," Danny pointed out, "Three bombs like that here in Hawaii, that's not a coincidence."
"We have a lead on the bomb at HPD," Chin added, "There is a witness that confirms that Sean Turner was paid to deliver McGarrett somewhere other than the prison. It was obviously a ruse but we may be able to track the money."
"Well McGarrett certainly didn't kill his own mother back in '93," Viloria agreed, "And I also don't think 3 claymore car bombs are a coincidence."
Viloria made sure to meet each man's eyes, "I don't believe that McGarrett was involved in Laura Hills's murder. The only evidence against him in that case were the fingerprints, and I'll accept that those were faked."
Danny's heart was pounding, "What about the charges stemming from the Jameson's murder?"
"The lack of gun powder residue does make it difficult to explain how he can be the shooter, but," she raised both hands to cut off Danny's triumphant smile, "in this case, McGarrett had motive and was found at the crime scene. Give me another alternative, gentlemen."
Chin laid several photographs on the desk, "This is the taser burn found on McGarrett when he was arrested at the Governor's office. We feel that there was a third person in the room. That person tasered McGarrett, took his weapon, shot the Governor, and left the building before the police arrived."
"We have a lead on the taser," Danny told her, "The burn pattern is very distinctive. We have a dead gang member in the morgue with that same burn pattern. We're hoping to follow that lead back to the taser."
Viloria nodded, "Fine. Right now there's no way my office can make a case in court against McGarrett. We're dropping all charges. He'll be free to go – for now."
Just as Danny and Chin were about to leave the office, the D.A. added, "Remember, just because McGarrett is no longer facing charges, he still has no standing as a member of the law enforcement community. He is NOT part of this investigation."
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After the meeting with the D.A., Chin left to update the Chief of Police on the investigation. Danny went immediately to the hospital to tell Steve the good news. He found Catherine reading a magazine while Steve napped.
"How'd it go?" she asked quietly when she looked up and saw Danny in the doorway.
The beaming smile on his face gave away the answer even before Danny announced, "All charges dropped. Steve is free to go."
"Good," Steve replied from the bed, "Let's get out of here."
"Whoa! What do you think you're doing?" Danny demanded as both he and Catherine rushed to stop Steve from pulling out the IV and getting out of bed.
"Free to go means the D.A. is dropping the charges. The doctor has to release you from the hospital," Danny hadn't missed the way Steve winced as his many cuts and bruises made themselves known.
"Then get the doctor so I can get out of here," Steve instructed.
Catherine tried to reason with him, "You were making them think the concussion was worse than it really is, you're not going to be able to get them to release you early."
"I'll sign myself out AMA," Steve reasoned, "Since I'm not really as injured as they think, it won't really be a problem."
Danny sighed loudly. Steve looked pleased with himself.
"What if Wo Fat tries to kill you again?" Catherine asked.
"We'll be ready for him," Steve said with absolute certainty.
"Not tonight we won't," Danny told him. Steve tried to protest but Danny cut him off, "I have to go pick Rachel up at the airport and get her settled at my apartment tonight."
Danny couldn't figure out why Steve looked confused until he realized that, in the craziness of the last three days, he hadn't been able to tell his best friend anything about the developments between himself and Rachel.
"Rachel and Stan are over. She took Grace back to New Jersey to stay with my parents for a couple of weeks," Danny decided that his was not the time, or the place, to mention that he had planned to leave for New Jersey, too.
"That's smart," Steve agreed, "It would probably be safer for Rachel to stay there with her."
Catherine saw the thoughtful look Steve threw her way. "Don't even think about it," she warned him, "I'm not going anywhere."
Danny smiled, "That's Rachel's attitude, too. Plus, she's already landed a fantastic job as Director of Finance with a company here in Honolulu."
"Good for her." Steve felt a tightness he had refused to acknowledge loosen in his chest. If Rachel and Stan divorced, Steve hadn't thought there was any reason for Danny to stay in Hawaii.
"Since I'm sharing good news, I should probably also tell you that Rachel's pregnant," he said it quietly because there was a part of him that would never be entirely comfortable with the way things had worked out.
Steve gave him a hard look but decided not to ask any questions. "Congratulations! Grace will love being a big sister."
"That's wonderful," Catherine added, hugging him. Steve clasped his hand.
"Wait a minute," Steve had a thought, "You aren't going to make a pregnant Rachel live in your condemned, shoe box sized apartment?"
"Well not for long," Danny answered indignantly, "but I'm a little busy right now to go house hunting."
"Stay at my place for a few days," Steve invited, "Mary's old room has a full sized bed. It's better than your sofa pull-out."
Danny looked over at Catherine, wondering how she would feel about house guests. Steve saw the look and swore silently. He wasn't used to the idea that it wasn't just his space anymore.
Catherine wanted to say something but she had no idea what.
Steve rescued her from her embarrassment, "I'm sorry, Cat. Is it alright with you?"
"Of course it is," she answered sincerely.
"Then its settled. Danny, you pick-up Rachel and take her to my house. Cat will stay and make sure I'm a good little patient. Tomorrow, I'll get out of here and we'll find Wo Fat."
Danny sighed again. There were a lot of things wrong with that order. He hadn't actually agreed to stay at Steve's. He also hadn't told him what the D.A. had said about his future involvement in the case. Still, the SEAL had agreed to another night in the hospital. Danny would take victories where he could get them.
TEASER: Chin finds more claymores. Governor Page offers Steve witness protection. Wo Fat's next strike against the new Governor is indeed bloodier.