Thank you to everyone who is still with me. There is one more chapter after this and I really want to have it done before the end of the month. I've learned a lot about writing a story this long, mostly that I should have much, much more of it done before I start posting. Again, I appreciate everyone who has read, reviewed, and stayed with me this long.
Steve stood on the lanai, looking out at the ocean. He ignored the commotion going on behind him in his house. The rigid set of his shoulders made it obvious that the sea was not bringing him the peace it normally did.
"It's not your fault," Danny remarked as he joined his partner, two bottles of water in his hands, "Even you couldn't have known that Wo Fat's men would be able t take down the SWAT snipers on the roof and fire off dozens of smoke grenades to create the perfect escape cover."
"Water, huh? Don't we usually sit out here and drink longboards?" Steve didn't directly acknowledge Danny's point, but the blond detective did notice the taller man's posture start to relax.
Danny shrugged, "I figured that since the Governor, the Chief of Police, and the Five-0 taskforce - who seem a little more by the books than the last group – are all inside waiting for us, we should stick to water."
"Why didn't you say they were waiting?" Steve took one of the bottles of water as he headed inside, "We won't catch Wo Fat standing out here."
Inside, Steve's living room had been turned into a temporary command center. All of his furniture had been carried out by the Governor's people. It had been replaced by several small tables, each surrounded by chairs. The walls were lined with white boards. At one end of the room sat Chin's beloved computer table, which had miraculously survived the shoot out in the office.
Crosby and his team had made some noise about holding this gathering at McGarrett's house but, in the end, they hadn't been able to suggest anywhere more suitable. The Five-0 offices had been destroyed. The rest of the Palace was in disarray. Wo Fat had been able to walk into the Governor's mansion without a problem. There were still too many leaks in HPD for anyone to seriously argue for setting up there.
So everyone came to Steve's house. In addition to the VIP's Danny had listed earlier, Kono, Chin, Catherine, Rachel, Charlie, and a few members of HPD – all of whom had been handpicked by the Chief – were also settling in.
After everyone had found a seat, Page addressed the room, "I want to thank everyone for coming. I know that we have not always been able to see eye-to-eye. There are many diverse views here today. We have a common enemy in Wo Fat. To bring him to justice, we will have to set aside our own egos and work together."
Page took a seat at the front of the room while Crosby distributed painfully thin copies of the case file. The taskforce leader was quickly able to summarize the accumulated knowledge of Five-0 and HPD. He ended with: "We know that Wo Fat was anxious to get the Governor's support for something that his happening very soon – so our timeline is very short. We have several leads to investigate. I've given all of you assignments. Does anyone have anything to add before I hand out those assignments?"
"I do," Steve smiled pleasantly, moving to the front of the room to address the gathering.
Crosby frowned at this turn of events, but moved off to the side just a little. Steve's people watched the two men with various degrees of amusement and anticipation. While the Governor had been moving furniture and Crosby had been creating the case file, they had been preparing their game plan.
Steve became very serious as he spoke to the room, "My team has come up with quite a bit of information in the last few days. Events have unfolded very fast so we haven't had time to coordinate all of our information. We need to lay out what we know and see if we can find some answers."
"That's a good idea," Crosby agreed, "but with time being so important, why don't you collect all the information one-on-one. That way other people can work on their own assignments. You can present your findings to the group later." He took a step forward, obviously expecting Steve to fall back, leaving him in charge again.
Steve, of course, held his ground. He straightened to his full height (a good 3 or 4 inches taller than Crosby) and turned what Danny had once called his hundred yard death glare on the new Five-0 captain. The former Marine also held his ground. The tension between the two men became palpable. Everyone held their breath, waiting to see what would happen next.
"I think a brain storming session is just what we need," Page didn't step between the two men (there wasn't room) but he did meet and hold each man's eyes until they both backed down. Only then did the Governor retake his seat.
"Chin, will you work the table?" Steve nodded towards the computer table and its screens. "Danny, Rachel, start with what we've dug up on the financials."
Danny and his ex-wife joined Steve at the front of the room. Four people were too much for the space. Crosby was crowded off to the side and forced to take a seat.
While Chin brought up the spreadsheets they had given him before the meeting, Danny began to explain the digging he had begun into Hiro Noshimuri's financial records and how Rachel, with her background in finance, had been able to accomplish even more.
"Where did all this information come from?" Chief Makaha asked, looking at the many spreadsheets displayed on various screens, "This wasn't all available to HPD."
"Some of it was provided by Naval Intelligence," Steve replied smoothly, "Since I am still in the Reserves, the Navy was interested when I was arrested. That's why Lt. Rollins is here as a representative for Admiral Talkon."
Page frowned, "I wasn't aware the Navy was actively part of this investigation."
Steve was silently thankful he had taken the time the night before to call Sam Talkon. The two men went back a long way – Sam had been the one to recruit Steve into Intelligence work. Sam would make sure that Catherine's involvement had official backing. In fact, Steve suspected that Sam might have had something to do with Catherine's visitor in Greece.
"I apologize," Catherine said, "With the tragic and sudden changes at the Governor's office, I believe there was some confusion about who should be contacted."
"We'll be happy to have assistance from Naval Intelligence," Crosby assured her, "Why don't we sit down after this briefing to establish the ground rules for our cooperation?"
Cat pointedly ignored the offer, "Rachel, I think there's a connection between the transactions on your spreadsheets and the arms sales I've been looking into." She passed Chin a flash drive. A moment later, the screens split to show the new information side-by-side with the previous.
"Every one of Wo Fat's transactions happens just 2 or 3 days before one of these arms deals goes down," Danny observed.
"There are several transactions without a following sale," Cat pointed out, "but that could just mean that law enforcement wasn't aware of the sale."
"So how does this work?" Kono asked, "It starts with a greedy General stealing from the Chinese military. What happens next?"
"He works with someone outside of China who takes possession and then arranges a sale," Cat answered.
"Only a very large number of those sales seem to go badly and the buyers end up in jail," Steve pointed out, "While the broker always gets away."
"How does he stay in business if his buyers keep getting busted?" Chin wondered, "Who would be willing to do business with him?"
"He seems to operate a very large network. It's likely that the buyers don't realize who they're really dealing with," Cat replied.
"Could he be tipping off the authorities?" Danny suggested, "Currying favor with different governments, making it likely that they would overlook some of activities?"
Steve nodded, "Very possible. Don't forget – he's also skimming off part of the shipments. Maybe by having the buyers end up in jail, he's covering the fact that some of the merchandise is vanishing."
"This is a very interesting theory," Crosby told them, "but how does it relate to Wo Fat and what's happening right here, right now?"
"Wo Fat said that he's out of time," Kono began to tick off points on her fingers, "According to Rachel's analysis, another mystery transaction is scheduled for tomorrow. Cat's Intelligence group is part of a raid on another arms deal in the Philippians in 3 days. The timing all fits."
"It does," Page agreed, "but it's hardly conclusive."
"Hey, everyone should take a look at this," Chin had been using the table surface to sort through the data on Catherine's flash drive. With one press of the touch screen, he replaced all the financial spreadsheets with a single photograph.
Reaction was immediate from most of the room. Kono gasped. McGarrett's eyes went hard and flinty. Williams, Page, and Crosby all swore – with great creativity.
Cat was confused, "That's Hong Ping. He sells the weapons once General Renchu gets them out of China. I was hoping that Steve might know something about him from the years he spent on the Hess investigation."
"Oh I do," Steve's voice was as cold as his eyes, "You know him as Hong Ping, but we know him as Wo Fat."
"That proves the connection!" Danny pumped his fist triumphantly, "Wo Fat is brokering the sale of stolen Chinese weapons. He's skimming from the shipments and tipping off international authorities so the buyers are arrested. No one realizes anything is missing."
Catherine nodded, "He spread the tips over a bunch of agencies in different countries. That made it almost impossible to connect them."
"And he used his position with the Yakuza to hide the connection from potential buyers," Kono added, "He let different Yakuza lieutenants front the sales for him."
"If we're right, then tomorrow Wo Fat is going to be bringing his entire weapons cache together," Steve pointed out urgently, "We need to find a way to get those weapons and put and whatever plan Wo Fat has in motion."
"Can Naval Intelligence help?" Page asked Catherine.
She shook her head, "My group left for the Philippians this morning to get ready for the raid."
"I bet Wo Fat planned that sale and then leaked it to the Navy in order to draw away as much military presence as he could," Danny speculated.
"I can have my men fan out across the island," Makaha volunteered, "We'll pull at every contact and informant we have until we find something."
"Have them report everything directly to us," Crosby told him, "We know that they had inside help to get the jump on SWAT like that at the Palace."
Steve at moved to the back of the room and was studying the computer table thoughtfully.
"You got something?" Danny asked him.
"Maybe. Rachel, am I looking at this correctly? Did Hiro Noshimuri buy a fruit growing operation on Kauai last year?"
"He did," Rachel confirmed. She joined Steve and began quickly flipping through the information.
"That would be an excellent cover," Chin remarked, "Kauai only as a population of about 58,000. It's much quieter than Oahu or even the Big Island. There's a lot of agriculture there so nothing would look out of place."
"I think we're onto something," Rachel smiled, "Noshimuri does own a sugarcane plantation. He also owns several large warehouses, which he uses to ship the sugarcane back to the mainland. There are records of the shipments leaving Kauai. There are also matching records of the shipments arriving in Las Angeles."
"That sounds pretty legitimate," Kono frowned.
"It does," Rachel agreed, "Except that that there is never any payment for the sugarcane or record of where it goes after it reaches port in LA. I think that they're shipping empty boxes, just for show."
"This is great work," Steve was energized, practically bouncing in his eagerness for action, "Now we know where to look for Wo Fat."
"Kauai is pretty remote," Makaha sounded doubtful, "If we're wrong then he'll get away clean before we can get back. I think that we should send a small group to check it out while the rest of us search for Wo Fat here. This island is a much better target for whatever he's planning."
"I like that idea," Crosby agreed, "Let Inouye take Kelly and a couple of SWAT guys over to take a look. If they find something, they can observe until we can get there. There's not much out there of any significant value, so we'll have a little time to react. If Wo Fat turns out to be here on Oahu, the danger will be much greater."
"That's crazy!" Danny shouted, "Kauai is our best lead. Why would we waste –"
"If you want to concentrate on Oahu, that's fine," Steve calmly interrupted his partner, "Chin, Danny, Kono, and I will check out Kauai. We'll let you know what we find."
"Of course we would be happy to take down the super criminal by ourselves, without back-up," Danny ranted.
Crosby glared at McGarrett, "Unfortunately, you have no legal standing to be part of any investigation. You'll stay here and coordinate things while the actual law enforcement officers arrest the criminals."
"If you want me to stay here, then you'll have to arrest me again," Steve took a threatening step towards Crosby.
"I'll charge you with tampering with an investigation," Crosby reached for his handcuffs.
"Enough of this!" Page yelled. "You two are going to have to get along." The Governor looked down at his phone, "My office has received the confirmation from Naval Intelligence that both Lt. Rollins and Lt. Cmd. McGarrett are assigned to this investigation. That gives him official standing."
"We're wasting time, Governor. Would you like me to get my men out on the streets?" Makaha asked.
"No, have the uniforms step up patrols at the docks. Wo Fat is going to need a lot of space and some privacy for whatever he's planning. If anyone sees anything unusual, they should report it at once. SWAT is going with Five-0 and Commander McGarrett's team to Kauai."
Makaha didn't seem very happy with the answer but he could tell that the Governor's mind was made up.
Crosby nodded, "I think that we should go over tonight, after it gets dark. We can try to get in position around the warehouses before sunrise."
"That's a good idea," Steve agreed, "I also think that if we involve local law enforcement, we need to keep a very close watch on them. Wo Fat has been able to plant any number of moles in HPD. I'm sure he's cultivated some on Kauai."
"That's a good point," Page told him, "I want Crosby and McGarrett to coordinate our raid. Then everyone needs to get some rest before you head out." He took a moment to make eye contact with everyone in the room. "Good luck and good hunting tomorrow."
Next comes the action packed final chapter.