Pressure Makes Diamonds
Chapter 8
Chin examined the Governor's office. Having taken the promotion, he was afforded access and options to the crime scene that he never would have had as a member of Five-0 because of Steve being the prime suspect and Five-0 being under a cloud of suspicion as well as disbanded. It should have made him happy, but of all the emotions he was feeling at that moment, happy wasn't one of them. He felt guilty for accepting the promotion even if it had been with good intentions. What was it they said? The road to Hell was paved with good intentions? He wondered if by making that choice it would exact a price he would have no choice but to pay? He had missed the comradeship of being a member of Five-0. He knew he could depend on Steve, Danny and Kono to have his back and though he knew that he still could on the more important levels, he was on his own now with the exception of Danny when it came to the investigation. He felt the weight of taking that promotion as he perused the Governor's office, trying to find anything that the crime scene techs might have missed.
All they had found were the obvious clues that had led straight to Steve. He had to think outside of all that evidence and had hoped that he would find something that would clear Steve or at least leave enough doubt about his guilt. He put on gloves as he scanned the room for hidden cameras or recesses that might point to a hiding place that only the Governor knew about. He had to believe that when Steve had reported to her about Hiro Noshimuri, she had suspected that they were zeroing in on her and that maybe Wo Fat might betray her. He had to hope that she had kept "insurance"somewhere.
He spotted a hole in a picture that he knew shouldn't be there. From a distance it would have gone unnoticed. He walked over closer and leaned in. There was definitely a hole. He lifted the picture off and found the recess in the wall behind it. The camera was tucked snugly within it. He pulled it out and found the play button. He pressed it and documented on it was Wo Fat shooting the Governor. Chin couldn't help but smile at his discovery. Maybe what he had done had been worth it all after all. He placed the camera on the table while he opened an evidence bag, put it into it to preserve any evidence on it then sealed it.
Buoyed by finding the camera, he continued to look around hoping to find more evidence. He opened the drawers in the desk where Steve had found the pictures of Laura Hills placing evidence for Steve to find, like on his truck. He hoped that if the Governor had hidden those pictures there, other evidence might have been kept there as well. Chin felt a twinge of loss. Steve had teased him about the fact that Laura had been flirting with him and that he had been clueless. He felt a little guilt about that as well. He had found her attractive, but ever since his break up with Malia, he hadn't thought about dating or having another relationship. Laura getting killed had hammered home how fleeting second chances could be, that life was fragile and momentary.
As Chin rummaged, he had noticed that one of the smaller drawers wouldn't open. He yanked on the drawer pull a little harder and found that it was a false front. Behind it, was what looked like a disguised panel. He pressed it and it ejected open to reveal a flash drive hidden within it. He pulled it out and also bagged it. He pulled out his phone and pressed a number.
"Danny, meet me at your place. I've found something."
505050
Danny met Chin at his place and Chin, laptop in hand as well as Kono with him, turned on the computer to show them both what he had found. All of them knew that they couldn't go back to Five-0. Not only were things locked down here, but anything they put on those computers would be scrutinized and confiscated as evidence against them.
"I went back to the Governor's to see if I could find anything that maybe the crime scene techs might have missed or didn't think to look for. I figured that when Steve confronted her with the intel on Hiro Noshimuri and the fact that both of you found her with him, she might have gotten worried that we were closing in on her connection to Wo Fat so she started to put things in place to make sure that she had leverage over Wo Fat."
"Good call," Danny encouraged. "It makes sense that we probably did tip her off. Gotta say though she played us pretty convincingly. I bet that she was even counting on us finding more evidence to nail Wo Fat so that we'd put him away before he got to her."
"So, what'd you find?" Kono asked anxiously.
"She was taping everything from a hidden camera. She got Wo Fat tasing Steve and killing her."
Chin played the footage.
"Whoa, now THAT'S what I call a smoking gun! This is great. We got her and Wo Fat dead to rights. It should be enough to get Steve, at least out of prison and into protective custody," Danny said his voice excited by the first break they had gotten.
"Not only that –"
"What? More? Seriously? Promotion agrees with you, babe," Danny said with a smile on his face. "What else could possibly make this moment any better?"
Chin smiled as well. It made him feel at home again in the company of his ohana, the family that had welcomed him so openly without suspicion.
"I scrounged around the desk that Steve had found the pictures of Laura, figuring that if the Governor trusted those there, there might be other things hidden there and I found a flash drive."
Chin typed onto his laptop and opened up several windows on this screen.
"These are all of the documents she kept in relation to every dealing she had with Hiro, his brother and Wo Fat. She was deep in Wo Fat's pocket. He helped her get elected using his 'influence'."
Danny perused the documents and his eyes stopped on one of them. It was communications she had with the DA.
"So, looks like the DA is involved after all. No surprise there. Immunity and means had to involve him looking away when asked," Danny said, not surprised then another look on his face revealed a mix of revelation and determination.
"How are we going to present the evidence? The DA is just going to destroy it," Kono said, dismay and frustration in her voice.
"We can use it to draw Wo Fat out in the open. Chin can make sure the chain of evidence is processed by-the-book so that no one gets their hands on it who shouldn't. I'll shake down the DA, telling him that we have all the evidence we need to clear Steve, asking him to let Steve out of prison and to put him into protective custody. No doubt, he'll go running to Wo Fat to warn him. Once he does, we'll take him out of the equation. Chin can then follow up with someone in his office we can trust, who's not on Wo Fat's payroll, and really get the process going to get Steve out."
Kono's expression became concerned and confused. Chin knew where Danny was going and though he didn't like the idea, he knew that it was the only way.
"I don't understand. Why not just round everyone up?"
"If we do that, without getting Wo Fat first, he'll just go underground and we'll never get him. None of this will end until we end Wo Fat. We'll always be looking over our shoulders because he won't rest until every one of us is dead," Danny said. "I also have to protect Rachel and Grace."
Kono looked at Danny, saw that he had made up his mind and wasn't going to be swayed.
"You need back up. You can't do this alone."
"I can't risk bringing you two down with me –"
"Okay, now you're really sounding like Steve. We're a team. 'We're all in this together', remember you said that to him, to all of us? Practice what you preach, brah," Kono said half joking and half seriously, her expression softening with worry. "You have to let us help you."
Danny could only laugh at having his procedures and words thrown back at him. It was nice to know that some of his wisdom was rubbing off on the rookie and that not all of Steve's act-first-ask-procedural-questions-later mantra was being absorbed.
"Thank you, by the way, for throwing my words back in my face and making me regret it right now. While I appreciate what you're saying and as much as it pains me to admit it, this time, it has to be this way," Danny teased. "If things go down badly, you and Chin have to be here to finish things."
Kono looked at Danny then to her cousin and realized that they were in agreement on the plan. Perhaps being a rookie and having the good fortune of seeing how good cops worked, she was being naïve and had hoped that in some superhero way, good would prevail over evil as simply as it did in the movies. She now realized that it took courage of conviction to make things happen. That and sacrifice. All she could do was smile and pledge her support to them with a nod of her head.
TBC