The Beginning
By
Landon Richardson
Official Disclaimer
The characters of Lieutenant Commander Steven 'Steve' McGarrett, Chin Ho Kelly, Kono Kalakaua, Victor Hesse, Anton Hesse, Former Detective John 'Johnny / Jack' McGarrett, Mary McGarrett, Kamekona Tupuola, Lieutenant Catherine 'Cath' Rollins, Frederick 'Fred' Doran, Detective Meka Hanamoa, Amy Hanamoa, Billy Hanamoa and Sang Min do not belong to me in any shape or form. I am merely using them for my own entertainment purposes.
The character of Detective Sergeant Danielle 'Danni' Williams probably can be considered to be mine by now. Although she was originally based on male Danny, she soon evolved becoming her own person. She has her own background, her own family, her own history and her own distinct personality. This isn't to say that the Danny Williams we all know and love is completely gone, he still emerges through her at times. I like to think of female Danni as what Danny could have been if everything in his life had gone his way. As in full custody of Grace and a decent relationship with his ex.
The character of Grace has also changed slightly due to the change in Danni. Her surname is Taylor as this is her father's surname and was Danni's married name (Danni reverted back to her maiden name when she was divorced). Her parents also are amicable which has also impacted Grace but never fear, she's still the sweetheart we know and love, if anything she's more a sweetheart now.
The character of Duncan Taylor, Detective Rory Clements, Supervisory Special Agent in charge Ryan Moore, Special Agent Kale Meade, Special Agent Alexis Moss, Jeanine Landon, William 'Will' McGarrett, Noah Landon, Anna Michaels nee Landon, Theresa Law nee Landon, Deborah 'Debs' Landon and Michael Landon also belongs to me as does any other character who you do not recognise from the show. Please do not use them, or my version of Danni and Grace without first asking for my permission to do so.
Thank you.
Author Note
Here's the next chapter for you all.
Finally, all four of the team are together! Writing all four of them together is one of my favourite things to write!
I hope you're all enjoying reading this as much as I've been enjoying writing it.
Please enjoy
Official Summary
When Danni Williams moves to Hawaii, all she wants to do is keep her head down and survive the time she had to stay there. The last thing she expected was to meet Steve McGarrett, a man who seems more intent on getting her blown up and finding out everything about her life than he is about following proper procedure. Danni has a job to do though and one way or another she is going to do it.
Chapter Summary
Danni bit down on her lower lip, her face falling into a frown as she tried to figure out what it could be that Ryan wanted to show them in his lab. She couldn't get the tone he had used while on the phone with her out of her head. He had sounded cautiously excited but there had been something under that excitement, a note of concern which made it sound as though he wasn't quite sure what they had found in the trailer or what it would mean for their actual investigation.
Overall Romances
Hints of Steve McGarrett / Danni Williams (McDanni)
Hints of Steve McGarrett / Catherine Rollins (McRollins)
Mentions of past Duncan Taylor / Danni Williams (Dunni)
Hints of Ryan Moore / Danni Williams (Rynni)
Meka Hanamoa / Amy Hanamoa (Mekmy)
Mentions of past John McGarrett / Doris McGarrett (Joris)
Michael Landon / Karen Landon (Micren)
Chapter Romances
Hints of Steve McGarrett / Danni Williams (McDanni)
Warning
This story features a female Danni Williams in place of a male Danny Williams. Although in some stories I write, Danny does exist, he does not exist in this one.
If this is not your cup of tea then please hit the back button.
Another note
I do not have a Beta so please forgive any mistakes which may creep in, I always do my best to edit the story and check it but sometimes mistakes do creep in.
The places I've mentioned in Hawaii are ones which come from google, including the addresses. I've never been to Hawaii myself in person so I apologise for any mistakes which I may make, these are not intentional.
Chapter Fifteen
Can you decipher this?
Thursday 23rd September 2010
On route to the HPD Forensic lab
Honolulu
Oahu
Danni bit down on her lower lip, her face falling into a frown as she tried to figure out what it could be that Ryan wanted to show them in his lab. She couldn't get the tone he had used while on the phone with her out of her head. He had sounded cautiously excited but there had been something under that excitement, a note of concern which made it sound as though he wasn't quite sure what they had found in the trailer or what it would mean for their actual investigation.
The whole situation didn't make sense to her.
She knew Ryan better than anyone else who she knew on the island other than Grace, Duncan, Meka and Amy. She knew just how dedicated he was to his work. He was a man who actually enjoyed going to work every day because he liked the challenge and the knowledge that he never quite knew what he would be faced with which was a feeling which Danni was well acquainted with herself. As far as she knew the people who worked underneath him respected him and more importantly in her eyes actually liked him as boss and a person. Ryan was the kind of man who once he had his teeth sank into something, he would see it through to the bitter end. Wherever the evidence took him and his team, they would go regardless of whether it placed them at risk or not. It was something which constantly worried her though he had always assured her that he and the others knew what they were doing and would be fine as a result.
All of which begged the question to her of what it was exactly which had concerned him enough to break out of his usual routine of the way he ran things to call her directly. Whatever it was, it was clearly something which he had wanted her to know about straight away. Something which must have been directly related to their current case.
"What is on your mind Danni?" Steve asked, breaking the silence between them in the car. "If you carry on thinking so hard like you're doing then you're going to end up with a headache."
Danni blinked, coming out of her thoughts as she turned her head so she could see Steve's face. He was staring out of the window screen, a thoughtful look on his face hiding what he was thinking from her. The only sign of agitation he showed was by tapping his fingertips against his thigh in a random beat only he could hear.
"I was just thinking about Ryan" She told him quietly, her hands tightening on the steering wheel as she quickly spared a glance at the road before focusing on him again, surprised to see him stiffen slightly at her words.
"What about him exactly?" He asked in a neutral tone.
"His voice sounded different when we were speaking on the phone like he was torn between excitement and concern. It's not like him to show emotions like that. He's normally extremely professional and if anything, he's rather chilled out most of the time, not letting things at the lab get to him if he can help it. It makes me wonder what exactly he has found that he wants to show me." She explained, frowning slightly before she sighed and hit the indicator taking one of the short cuts towards the forensic labs which Meka had shown her within her first week on the job.
"Well we'll soon find out Danni" Steve responded, continuing to speak as he glanced over his shoulder at the busy road they had just left. "Where are we heading to? This isn't the route to take to get back to Doran's trailer."
"No, Ryan has finished there and was on his way back to the forensic labs where CSU are based, I thought I had mentioned that to you when we were still at the North Shore?" She remarked in surprise, casting her mind back to the conversations they had, had about it.
"No, you didn't mention anything about where we were heading, just that we needed to see Moore" Steve replied, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh, right sorry about that Steve, I genuinely thought I had mentioned it to you. Whatever he wants to show us, he has clearly brought back with him from the trailer." She remarked.
"And you've got no idea what it could be? He didn't give you any idea about it when you were speaking to each other?" Steve probed, frowning when Danni shook her head at him.
"Nothing at all, I would have told you if he had given me any details about it Steve" She replied, feeling slightly annoyed. "I don't tend to hide any information I get from my partner when we're working a case together."
"Of course not" Steve commented absently, waving a hand in her direction for a moment. He remained still before speaking again. "It must have something to do with Hesse then" He stated, turning to look at her, a hard look coming to his eyes at the mention of his father's murderer. Danni bit down on her lower lip, before she nodded.
"That's what I thought as well though we won't know for certain until we're there" She told him cautiously. "Ryan was in charge of your dad's investigation. He didn't process the evidence himself which had been taken from your Dad's house because that would have been done by the team working the case but he would have double checked all the reports and made sure everything could stand up in court. He knew that I was interested in finding out everything I could about Hesse because we had talked about it. Meka and I had nothing to go by apart from the name which you had provided in your interview which your Commanding Officer sent to us. Until I met you earlier we knew nothing about the guy, every lead we tried to follow came up as a blank. No one knew about him and if they did know something then they weren't willing to talk to us. It was like trying to chase a ghost and that's never happened to me before. There has always been some information to go by or a lead to follow except with this case. Ry knew how frustrated I was with the case so he promised he would contact me directly if he found anything which connected to Hesse. I had just assumed that he would email me like he normally does but clearly not. Clearly this was important enough that he needed to speak to me about it." She said, her eyes flickering between Steve and the road.
"So, Moore was the lead agent who headed up my father's case then" Steve growled at her, his hand closing into fists on his thighs. "Maybe it's time we requested a new head CSU agent to work on the case since he's clearly not that good at his job. If he was then he wouldn't have missed the palm print which I found straight away on my father's writing desk."
"Did you not listen to a word I said when I said that Ryan didn't process the crime scene or the evidence brought back from the crime scene? If the team sent missed something then it's not Ryan's fault so don't you dare try and make trouble for him by ringing your buddy the Governor or you and I will have a very large problem Commander" Danni retorted angrily, twisting her head to the side as they came to a stop at a red light so she could fix him with a furious look.
"Danni" Steve began to say, stopping when she spoke over him.
"Let me explain it to you once again since it hasn't penetrated your head the first-time round. Ryan has not been at your father's house and he most likely won't be because he is the head of CSU McGarrett which means that unless they are severely short staffed or overwhelmed with cases then he stays in the lab and sends out team which are led by his senior field agents to the crime scene. He then will process the evidence and signed off reports about it and he will make sure that everything is done by the book and processed correctly because he takes pride in his work and he cares about it. Ryan Moore is damn good at his job because you don't become head of a unit at Thirty-four if you aren't brilliant at what you do. If you're determined to blame someone for the palm print being overlooked then blame the person on the team who was allocated that space to process. Don't blame the people who merely work with what they are given." She stated, pushing her foot down on the acceleration pedal when the light in front of them turned green again. "And for the record if you start accusing CSU of sloppy work than you will soon find all your cases at the bottom of the pile because that unit is incredibly tight under Ryan's leadership and an attack on one of them is considered to be an attack on all of them and CSU do not like being attacked in any fashion. I've seen it happen before with the other Detectives, don't get me wrong, the work always gets done to a high standard, the results are by the book and perfect but they are slow coming and we don't have time on this team to be punished because of you."
Silence reigned in the car for a short time while Steve clearly digested what she said. She could feel him looking at her, probably surprised by how quickly and aggressively she came to the CSU unit's defence but she ignored it, focusing her full attention on driving. The CSU unit were some of the first friends she had made on the island and she would be damned if she allowed Steve to cause them any issues.
"I won't say anything to them Danni. As you said, we ned to get our results as quickly as possible and isolating the unit who are responsible for that on our first day of being active isn't a sensible move." Steve said finally. Danni made a sound of acknowledgement at the back of her throat at the comment, breathing out a silent sigh of relief as she realised that as pig headed and stubborn as the Commander was, he was still reachable and able to change his mind over something if it came to it. She stored that small bit of knowledge about him away in her mind and focused back on him as he continued to speak. "I just don't see why Moore didn't go down to my dad's house himself to check it out there, especially if he was aware through talking to you just how much you and Hanamoa were desperate for any information you could get."
Danni blinked at the comment, glancing towards Steve, her gaze locking on his for a moment as she searched his eyes before she looked away again, surprised to see that he was deadly serious about his question.
"There are two reasons why he wouldn't have gone down there himself." She remarked calmly, taking her hand off of the wheel briefly and holding up one finger at him. "Reason number one is that Ryan is simply too busy to do that, something you'll find out soon enough since you're now also the head of an active unit. A small unit for now but still an active unit. Your job Steve will be so much more than simply working on cases. There's a hell of a lot of behind the scene stuff which you will need to do. Things you probably aren't even aware of yet but it all adds up to the simple fact that you will soon have no time to do anything extra which you may want to do."
"What sort of behind the scene stuff are you talking about Danni?" Steve questioned, sounding curious.
Danni shrugged, remaining quiet for a moment before she spoke.
"You will need to sign off every report for every case which we have worked on, even the cases where we are just providing backup to another unit. You'll have to go to face to face meeting with the Governor on a regular basis giving her updates on all our cases, including the cases which we have already solved. You'll be responsible for three members of staff at all times which means that you will need to deal with any HR issues which might arise. You'll have to figure out how you're going to handle the media because they will be all over us once they hear about us because you Commander, are considered newsworthy to them which means they'll be expecting you to give interviews and then on top of that you'll be expected to lead each and every case we get. Any mistakes we make and the blame will fall directly on your shoulders." She explained to him softly.
"That's why I have you as my second in Command Danni, to do half of those things for me." Steve responded calmly.
Danni's eyes narrowed slightly as she hit the indicator again, pulling into another side road which would take her directly to the forensic labs, however instead of driving down it, she pulled the car to a stop next to the kerb and placed her hazard lights on before she shifted in her seat so she was facing Steve directly, she ignored his look of confusion and spoke.
"No Steven, I will not be doing half of the things on that list because I am already going to be swamped with my own work. Those jobs are your responsibility to take care of yourself. I should make something extremely clear to you now though." She said, meeting his eyes steadily. "I will never ever willingly go in front of a television camera. I do not under any circumstances do interviews so if you're thinking even for a second of making me some kind of spokesperson for the team then I suggest you rethink it because I will not do it under any circumstances."
"Why not? You would be perfect to do it. You're clearly intelligent, you're well-spoken with a pleasant voice which is easy to understand and you're also easy on the eyes to look at so people would listen to anything you had to tell them happily." Steve said, his eyes roaming over her face thoughtfully. She ignored the feeling of warmth his words evoked and instead shook her head at him.
"No" She stated clearly. "I have a young daughter Steve, I do not want my face splashed across the island so that every criminal out there knows exactly what I look like, once they know that, it would be very easy to find out information about me and all that information leads back to my seven-year-old child. I'll be the first to admit that Gracie is my Achilles heel, there is nothing I wouldn't do to keep her safe from harm so the last thing I want to do is broadcast myself to people. Grace is aware that I am a Detective but that is all she knows. I keep that side of my life and myself away from her as much as possible to keep her safe. From the minute she wakes up to the minute she goes to bed I am simply Mamma and that is the way I want it to remain so no Steve, thank you for thinking of me but I won't be doing it."
"Okay" Steve said softly with a nod. "I'll keep you away from all interview and screen time as much as I can."
Danni nodded, breathing out slowly as she turned off her hazes lights and pulled away from the kerb, resuming their journey to the lab.
"Thank you" She replied, equally as quietly.
"You said that there were two reasons when it came to Moore so what was the second reason?" Steve asked, changing the topic and steering it into more neutral ground, something which she was extremely grateful for.
"The second reason is that he trusts his teams and his senior agents" She stated simply. "Let me ask you something since you were in charge of your SEAL team and the lead on several different missions. If you sent in some of them to do a job, would you then go and check it out yourself as soon as they were back to make sure that they had done what you had instructed them to? You wouldn't, not if you wanted to be a good leader who they could respect. If you go and check out their work then they are going to think that you have no trust in them or in their skills and that leads to bad morale and morale is so, so important when it comes to teams and you know that." She said, watching Steve from the corner of her eyes, her mouth tilting up when he made a small huffing sound and crossed his arms over his chest. "Exactly Steven, you wouldn't do that and neither would Ryan. His job as head of CSU is extremely hard since they are responsible for every case which happens on the island. He isn't going to be stupid and make unnecessary problems for himself if he can help it."
"You know you were pretty quick to jump to Moore's defence Danielle. I have to ask, is there anything I should know about the two of you before we arrive at the forensic labs?" He asked, a flat tone to his voice which made little sense to her. He sounded almost angry at her though she couldn't see why he would be. As far as she could see the only thing she had just done was save him from making a stupid mistake which would have been costly to them all.
"What's between me and Ryan is none of your business Commander" She said slowly, her hands tightening on the wheel again.
"It is my business if there is something which will affect the job" Steve countered quickly.
"I know you love your home." She said, ignoring the frown which came to his face at her words. "And I respect that, Hawaii is a beautiful place and I can see why the locals are so proud of it but it's not perfect especially if you're an outsider who comes to work here. I won't go into details but my life here hasn't been easy though I've tried for Grace's sake to make the best of a bad situation. I defend Ryan because Ryan was one of the first people who I met on this island who looked passed my gender and where I came from originally and would actually treat me as a human being whose opinions actually mattered. He made me come out of my shell and dragged me out with the other CSU agents when they went out. It's because of his kindness that I now have some of the people in my life who I call friend. Without him I wouldn't have them so you're right Steve, I am very protective of him and I will come to his defence when someone tries to bad mouth him to me, even if that someone is you. You'll soon find out that I'm like that with anyone who I decide is a friend." She said.
A heavy silence followed and she was once again aware of Steve watching her closely but she remained quiet, focusing on the journey, mentally kicking herself for saying too much. She didn't understand it but there was something about the man next to her which made him easy to talk to. She just didn't know what it was.
"Fair enough Danni" Steve said. "You'll soon find out that Hawaii isn't all that bad.
"When you take me sightseeing you mean?" Danni answered, glancing at him, surprised to see him nodding at her.
"I'll show you the real Hawaii" he promised her before he changed the subject again. "So, if Ryan has contacted you now then it's likely that he found something in Doran's trailer which links him directly to Hesse? If he has something like that then we could use it as leverage against Doran. He knows more than he's letting on to us."
"That's what I'm thinking as well" Danni agreed. "We may even get lucky and find some link between Doran and Sang Min as well. The islands aren't that big and if Sang Min's trafficking business is as large as we think then it would make sense that he would know most criminals on the island. I bet they have all had to use his services at one time or another."
Steve considered her comment before he nodded slowly.
"We may find a link between Sang Min and Doran but it's unlikely. A man like Hesse is always careful about everything he does. Having two contacts who could be connected to each other in some fashion would be careless and that is simply not his style of doing things. He'll be aiming to use people on the island who have nothing in common together. It's more likely that Doran and Sang Min won't even know the others name. That is how Hesse likes things to be run, how could you give out evidence against someone who you know nothing about?" He pointed out.
Danni shook her head.
"That may be the case if Hesse was often in Hawaii and had established a proper base of operations here but he hasn't. Business goes on without him unless you truly think that both Doran and Sang Min just sit around doing nothing while waiting for Hesse to give them something to do. I can almost guarantee that they don't because Sang Min at least is a business man and his business is always moving. Which means that there is a chance in this situation that they do know each other. You know Hesse like the back of your hand but you do not know the people here, not anymore." She pointed out before she sighed. "Saying that though, Hesse does seem incredibly intelligent, it's not a surprise that no one has been able to captured him."
"He hasn't been captured yet Danni but it's only going to be a matter of time that we get him. His time is running out whether he knows it or not." Steve replied, an undercurrent of confidence to his voice which caused her to smile slightly.
"Oh, I think he knows Steve, especially if news has reached him that you are now on the island." She remarked in amusement, her smile widening when she caught sight of the half smile which came to his face.
"If he's learnt anything about me over the past few years then he'll know that I won't stop until we have him." Steve agreed before he turned to look at her. "What are your opinions of Kono?" he asked her suddenly, surprising her for a moment before she shrugged in response.
"I don't have one at the moment Steve" Danni answered him.
"This is you we are talking about Danni, I don't believe that you don't have an opinion on her. You are a people's person which means that you can read people instantly. You have already read Kono and formed a first impression, I know you have." He responded.
Danni raised an eyebrow at the comment as she turned into the car park for the forensic building.
"Kono seems friendly enough to me. She's clearly someone who knows how to take care of themselves in a situation which is always a good quality to have especially if you're training to be a cop. If you're concerned about tomorrow then I don't think you need to be. I think that Kono will be able to deal with most things which comes up in that room with Sang Min and his men. In fact, Chin may be right when he said that she would be perfect to go undercover in the op. If you're asking me whether I think we should hire her to join the taskforce than I can't answer that yet. I suggest you wait until tomorrow's op is over and the case concluded before making a decision on it."
"Why do you think she'll be able to handle tomorrow?" He questioned as Danni pulled the car into a parking space and killed the engine. "She's not even out of the academy at the moment, she has little real experiences when it comes to things like this and that may cause her to freeze which in turn may mean that the operation as a whole fail."
"We have no proof that she will freeze Steve and to be honest I severely doubt that she will" She responded.
"But why do you think that Danni?" Steve pressed.
Danni turned and looked at him, searching his eyes carefully while her mind tried to figure out why this line of questioning was so important to him. The man beside her was a Navy SEAL and would have some talent in sizing people up when it came to the job. He had probably already formed his own opinion on Kono. Danni shrugged decide to play along with him.
"Because I'm a Detective Steve so this is what I do for a living. I make decisions about people in seconds because half of the time I don't have the luxury of time when it comes to making conclusions. In this job you have to go by your gut instincts and my instincts are telling me that Kono is going to shine. I've always been talented at reading people, for example right now I can tell that you are questioning me about Kono because you're actually testing me.
"Am I? Why would I do that?" Steve asked blandly, raising a dark eyebrow at her and smirking when she nodded at him.
"You're doing it because you're trying to determine what my weaknesses as a Detective and a person are. You're not doing it because you're trying to see if I belong on the taskforce because you have already told me that I do. I think you're trying to find out what they are so you can compensate for those weakness when we are in the field. Perhaps you're doing it because you're trying to protect me, like protecting me by agreeing that I won't be in TV, or maybe you're doing it because you're trying to keep me alive and safe or perhaps it just something which is burned into your psyche and DNA when you became a SEAL. I don't know the reason only that you're doing it for reasons only you know right now." She told him, meeting his eyes directly, frustrated that she couldn't read the expression in his eyes.
"So Kono then?" Steve pressed causing her to sigh.
"Fine, you win." She said with a shake of her head, resting her hands in her lap as she began speaking. "Chin told us that Kono was a surfer which means that she's naturally brave. The ocean is not something that you disrespect, it something that you respect because the ocean doesn't care who you are, if you don't know exactly what you're doing out there then you will die" She stated. "Kono wasn't just a casual surfer, she was a pro surfer which means that she went out onto the ocean daily. She would have had to make life saving decisions constantly and think on her feet and that is why she will be fine tomorrow if she agrees to do this since she hasn't actually said yes yet. You still need to brief her on what the missions actually is." She pointed out. "Now are we finished here because we've still got to speak to Ryan and we're running out of time to do it."
Steve nodded slowly, the half-smile coming to his face again.
"We're finished for now Danni" He replied as he pushed his door opened and stepped out of the car. Danni breathed out, shaking her head as she picked up her bad and exited the car, pushing the door closed behind her and locking it. She glanced around her for a moment before she began walking towards the stone steps, her eyes drifting to the building in front of her. It was an attractive, modern looking building with plenty of windows. It was only two storeys high but Danni liked it.
"Ryan is probably working in lab one today, that tends to the one he favours." She told Steve as she ran lightly up the stairs and stepped through the main door into the cool foyer. She moved towards the security booth, flashing her badge at them before she came to stop next to a locked door, waiting until Steve was next to her before she pulled her purse out of the bag and flipped it open, pulling out a key card from it which she swiped on the panel beside the doorway. She waited until she heard the loud clicking sound before she reached out and grasped the handle, pulling the door open and stepped in. Her eyes landing on the guard who was watching them closely.
"Hello Marty" Danni said politely, flashing her badge at him out of habit. "How are Sheila and Sarah doing?" She queried speaking of Marty's wife and young daughter.
"Both are doing well thanks Danni-girl. Sarah will be starting elementary school next year. Times going too fast." Marty remarked, the comment causing Danni to laugh softly.
"I know how you feel, Grace will turn eight in March and she's growing up so much" Danni said, her heart twisting in her chest as she thought about it.
"Sarah is the same, we've just got to treasure every moment." He commented before his face hardened as he turned his focus on Steve. "ID please" He demanded. Steve pulled his ID out of his pocket, flipping it open and showing it to Marty who studied it for a moment. "That's a military ID and not valid here" Marty stated firmly, waving a hand towards the ID as though dismissing it.
"Marty, this is my new partner Lieutenant Commander McGarrett. He's just been made the head of the Governor's new taskforce and he is with me. I would really appreciate it if you would let his ID pass this one time." Danni explained, reaching out and placing her hand on Steve's forearm. Marty glanced between the two of them with a slight frown before he nodded at her.
"I guess since he's with you Detective Williams then I can let him through this one time but this is a one off. If he doesn't have the necessary ID next time he comes here then he won't be getting in." Marty stated seriously, a look in his dark eyes which told her that he meant every word of what he had just said.
"I understand that, thank you for this" She said with a smile before she continued to speak. "Ryan is expecting us."
Marty nodded, turning his attention back to Danni, his stern expression relaxing into a smile.
"Agent Moor did mention that he was expecting you to arrive though he didn't mention that you would have someone with you. He's working in the usual lab at the moment." He stated.
"When is he not?" She replied with a smile. "We'll head down there now."
"Not a problem Danni, I just need the two of you to sign the book and then I'll buzz you through the main doors" Marty remarked with a nod at her as he picked up a pen from the surface of the counter and held it out to her. Danni took it with a smile and quickly filled in her details and signed the book before passing the pen to Steve who did the same. She moved towards the door, waiting until it buzzed and pushed it open, allowing it to close once Steve had moved passed her. She headed down the long corridor, stopping by one of the doors and knocked on it, waiting for a second before pushing it open and stepping into the room.
"Hey Boston" She said, automatically catching the pair of adhesive gloves which were thrown at her.
"Hey Jersey, you know the rules of the labs so get those on." Ryan remarked, his voice sounding distracted as he peered through the microscope in front of him. He glanced up, raising an eyebrow when Steve entered behind her before he twisted round and grabbed another pair of gloves which he threw at Steve. "You as well Commander, gloves always have to be on while in the lab, especially when there is evidence out."
"So, what have you got for us then which was so important that it couldn't wait until later on Ryan?" Danni asked curiously as she pulled the gloves on and joined Ryan at the table he was working at.
"I think I've found something for you to do with your Hesse case" Ryan stated, standing straight and looking at Danni. "You remember when I told you over the phone that Doran had several hidey holes in his trailer? Hidey holes which he really shouldn't have had considering the fact that he lived in a trailer."
"I remember" Danni said slowly. "It was in one of those hidey holes that you found the snuff DVDs, right?" She asked, frowning slightly when Ryan shook her head.
"The snuff DVDs were in the closet space; the drugs and some weapons were in hidey holes. When we pulled one of the boxes of weapons out we emptied it and went to put it back in when we noticed that there was something behind it. A little pulling showed that somehow there was a second area hidden behind the first area. I'm telling you Danni, it's like Doran actually built the rest of the trailer around the secret area rather than starting with the trailer."
"So, what did you find there exactly?" Steve demanded attracting their attention to him. He had an unreadable look on his face, the same one which darkened his eyes and made them look cold and deadly. It was a look which sent a shiver down Danni's spine when she caught sight of it.
"What we found was a notebook" Ryan said, turning and heading across the room to a nearby desk. He picked something up from it and moved back to Danni, holding out a black notebook to her. Danni felt her eyes widen for a moment before she leaned across and took it from him, looking down at it. It looked well-worn as though it had been looked at constantly. She opened it, her face falling into a confused frown as she looked at the page. It was covered in symbols which she didn't recognised and instead looked as though a beetle had fallen into a pot of ink and had scrambled frantically across the page.
"I've never seen anything quite like this before" She admitted, twisting on the spot and holding the book out towards Steve. "Was this what you were looking for Steve?" She asked him. He glanced away from Ryan, his gaze meeting hers as he reached out and took the book from her, looking down at the page.
"This is it" He said with a nod of his head. "I've seen this used before several times."
"By Hesse?" Danni questioned. "Was this the code you were talking about earlier?"
"Yeah Danni" He said, turning the page.
"So, you should be able to decipher it then Steve?" She asked, smiling slightly when he nodded at her.
"I should be able to" He confirmed. "I cracked it before, if he's using the exact same code or one which is similar to it then I should still be able to use the notes which I made on them." He told her before he focused on Ryan who was still standing next to Danni watching Steve quietly. "Did you find anything else like it when you were searching?" He asked, frowning when Ryan shook his head at him.
"This was it" He stated. "I only knew about the importance of it to the case because of the description which you gave me outside the trailer. There is still one or two hidey holes which the team down there are still clearing out and logging so if they find anything then I'll let you know and bring it down to you at your offices when I give Jersey the gun numbers." He said, his blue eyes flickering towards the clock on the wall.
"Thanks for calling me about this Boston, I really appreciate it" Danni said, placing her hand on his bicep and squeezing down at it, giving him a warm smile. "Was that all you needed from us right now?"
"That's it for the moment" he told her. "The team will be here late into the night today getting everything we've found processed. I'm hoping that we should be able to get the first of the reports for the case to you by tomorrow afternoon."
"That's good to know" She said. "We have to go but I'll see you soon okay?" She said, smiling when Ryan nodded at her.
"I'll text you when the reports are coming" He said, moving away from her back to the microscope which he had been looking through when they had entered the room.
"Bye Boston" Danni said as she pulled off the gloves and gave him a quick wave before leaving the room and followed Steve down the hallway since her partner had already left without saying goodbye or thank you to Ryan for the help. She caught up with him quickly, glancing at his face before she frowned slightly. "Why are you wearing that expression on your face? I would have thought that you would have been happy that the CSU team had found the link which you had been looking for."
"Thar depends on what is in this notebook Danni" Steve said to her. They signed out of the book, Danni taking a moment to say goodbye to Marty before they headed to the door. Danni swiped her card following Steve out of it.
"What do you mean?" Danni asked him, sighing in frustration when he ignored her, moving away from her quickly towards the exit, his longer legs easily eating up the ground. To catch up with him she would have to run and she wasn't willing to do that. Danni stepped out of the entrance into the heat, squinting in the bright sunlight. She found her sunglasses in her bag and slipped them on, shaking her head when she saw that Steve was already at the car, his attention fixed intently on the notebook. She glanced over at Steve as he got in, opening her mouth to speak to him before she stopped herself. Somehow, she doubted that she was going to get any conversation out of him.
The journey back to the Ali'iolani Hale was made in silence. Steve's attention never wavering from the notebook he was looking at, Danni merely focused on the drive back and everything which they had come across that day. There was a good chance that the notebook might hold the key in their case but somehow, she doubted it, the notebook was more likely going to open up a can of worms which they probably didn't want to touch.
Danni parked up the car and got out, heading towards the building without waiting for Steve. She held the keys over her shoulder and pressed the lock button when she heard Steve closed his own door. She made her way up to their office, shooting Steve glances from the corner of her eyes before they entered the main room.
"Hey you're back" Chin said, looking up at them, a smile coming to his face which caused Danni to smile back at him, wondering even as she did when the last time someone at work other than Meka has given her a smile of welcome like that.
"Hey yourself" She replied as she moved towards them.
"Did he have anything to show you?" Chin asked them curiously.
"They found a notebook in Doran's trailer which is filled with the same code which Steve says that Hesse's uses. He's cracked the code before so hopefully we'll be able to know what it says soon." She told the older man before she turned to Kono who was sitting on the wooden table swinging her legs back and forth. "Sorry we kept you waiting for us Kono" She apologised.
"There's no need to apologise for it I've got no plans and besides it's always good to be able to catch up with Cuz" Kono replied with an elegant shrug and a wide smile. Danni noticed that she had pulled on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt over her bikini. Danni glanced towards Steve, rolling her eyes when she saw he was still engrossed in the notebook.
"Excuse me" She said to Kono, moving round the table so she was standing next to Steve. She reached out, wrapping her hand round his wrist and squeezed down lightly on it waiting until he turned to her before she spoke. "Kono is waiting for you to brief her on tomorrow operation Steve" She said pointedly, letting go of his wrist and instead grabbing the notebook from him and threw it on the table. Steve frowned at her for a moment before he turned his attention to Kono and Chin, both of whom were watching him with waiting expressions.
"Have you ever done any form of undercover work before Kono?" Steve asked, leaning his hands on the table with his gaze fixed on the younger woman. Danni saw Kono glance between her and Steve for a moment with a thoughtful look in her dark eyes before she shook her heads, focusing her full attention on Steve.
"No" She replied simply, going on to explain when she saw the look which came to Steve's face. "We did do a month's worth of training on the subject at the Academy. They taught most of the skills that they thought we would need to do to survive it but I've never been out in the field yet. I'm assuming that this operation you're talking about isn't going to be deep undercover is it?" She asked, a hint on nervousness coming to her voice. Danni shook her head at the same time Steve did.
"It would be a day's worth of undercover work at the most though I doubt it would take even that long" Steve answered her, straightening his body to his full height as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"It's more likely that you'll be undercover for an hour or two Kono" Danni added with a reassuring smile at him when Kono's eyes flickered over to her, some of the tension easing out of her shoulders at Danni's remark.
"Okay then" Kono said, hooking some stray hair behind her ear. "So, what is it that you need me to do for you on this op then?"
"We're after a man called Victor Hesse who is currently hiding out somewhere on the island" Steve answered her bluntly "We believe that he has a connection to a man called Sang Min who is currently in the business of trafficking people and items onto the island for a costly fee."
"Right" Kono said slowly, an interested tone coming to her voice.
"We want you to meet with Sang Min tomorrow and get him to implicate himself. We need something from him which would allow us to legally detain him and once detained then we can question him about anything which we want." Steve told her, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"Implicate himself in what way exactly?" Kono questioned, tilting her head to one side with a curious expression on her face. Danni glanced to the side towards Steve surprised to see him looking at her. He nodded towards her, a look in his eyes which told her that he wanted her to take over the explanation.
"We're ninety percent positive that Sang Min is how Victor Hesse managed to get on the island in the first place. You see Victor Hesse is currently flagged with several agencies and with the military, he wouldn't be able to enter Hawaii via the normal routes."
"So, you think he came in via Sang Min's open trafficking routes?" Kono asked thoughtfully.
"Exactly" Danni confirmed with a nod and a quick smile at her before she became serious again. "But for us to make Sang Min talk and admit that he was the person who made the arrangements to bring Hesse into Hawaii, we need to get him talking and to get that conversation on tape so it can be used as evidence against him which is where you would come into the scenario Kono"
"I get it" Kono said slowly as she jumped off the table and leaned back against it instead, resting the palm of her hands against the surface of it. "Why do you want Victor Hesse so much though? I'm assuming that he is the main target who we are after and that Sang Min is merely a means to an end to achieve that. What has he done exactly?"
There was a moment of silence before Steve spoke, his voice coming across as flat and emotionless.
"Victor Hesse executed my father three days ago in his home after torturing him for at least two hours."
Danni moved closer to Steve, reaching out without thinking and placed her hand on Steve's shoulder blade, rubbing her palm against his t-shirt in circles trying to comfort him. Images of John McGarrett's dead body in her head as though she was watching a movie which she couldn't turn off regardless of how much she wanted to.
"As you can imagine Kono finding Victor Hesse and bringing him in for what he did is extremely high on our list of things we need done." Danni remarked calmly, directing her comment to the younger woman who was staring at Steve with wide startled eyes.
"I can imagine it would be." Kono said quietly, focusing on Danni with a look in her eyes which Danni couldn't read.
"Sang Min is our best link of being able to find him. If we can bring him in and make him reveal what he knows then not only will he be ours but Victor Hesse will be ours as well and that is what we want but we can't do it without your help Kono." Danni stated. "At the same time if you don't want to get involved in this then we completely understand, it's a lot we're asking of you after all."
"I'll help you" Kono answered without hesitation. "What story are we using as my cover?" She asked.
"Nothing which will be too hard for you to remember under pressure Cuz" Chin said, speaking for the first time in a few minutes. "We need to make it believable, make it too complicated and the flaws will begin to appear."
"That makes sense" Kono agreed, turning to face her cousin who nodded at her.
"You're going to be an immigrant who has lived in Hawaii for three years. You need to get your family over from China to join you and you've heard from the friend of a friend that Sang Min is the person to go and speak to about getting it down quietly without any questions asked. You need to bring them over quickly and quietly without the authorities knowing about it." Chin stated.
"How are you going to arrange the meeting with Sang Min? Do we have to set it up or does this guy have some sort of walk in session which I would attend?" Kono queried.
"There is no walk-in session as far as we know." Steve answered, looking towards Danni when she finally dropped her hand from his back and took a step away from him. He frowned slightly as though the action upset him before he focused back on Kono who was waiting patiently for him to continue, "Chin is going to arrange it for you. He has a contact in play who can get us a meeting with Sang Min some time tomorrow."
"We're going to be with you the whole time from inside the surveillance van listening to everything which happens while you're in there" Danni assured Kono. "If anything happens then we'll be with you within seconds providing you with backup."
"How are you going to be able to listen into what's happening? With a wire?" Kono asked with a raised eyebrow at them. "I mean no offence but won't that be the very first thing which Sang Min will look for when I enter the room?" She asked them, her eyes flickering between the three of them.
"It will be but you don't have to worry Kono because we won't be using traditional wires" Chin answered her. "There's equipment at the police station which is high tech enough that it will pick up an entire conversation as long as we're in close enough range to you which we will be. As long as you can get him talking Cuz than we will hear it and record it. The minute he admits that he's in charge then we have him and can arrest him."
"How are you going to get the equipment from HPD?" She questioned her attention still on Chin. "No offence Cuz but they aren't exactly going to let you just stroll into their headquarters and take their expensive equipment from them."
"You're completely right, they won't let me touch their equipment" Chin agreed with a small shrug at him. "But they will let Danni take it without asking her any questions." He told Kono before he nodded towards Danni who shook her head, placing her hands on her hips as she stared at Chin.
"Tell me Chin Ho Kelly, did it not occur to you to call me earlier since I had to pass the police station to come here from the CSU building and ask me to pick it up then?" She asked, her eyes narrowing slightly when Chin grinned at her, the smile causing her mouth to twitch up into an answering smile.
"I figured that it would help you to get to know the island better" He told her casually with a wink.
"Danni" Steve said interrupting Danni before she could answer Chin's comment. "I need you to head over to the police station and get the surveillance equipment for us now, if it's possible see if you can locate Sang Min's file at the same time. Chin" He continued, turning to look at the native. "A CSU agent will be arriving before six to drop off a list of gun numbers which we need to check for permits in regards to the Doran case. Go through them and check them against any current of cold cases going back ten years. If nothing flags up with them then try extending the search parameters to twenty years. For all we know some of the gun he has may be ones which he inherited form elsewhere. Kono feel free to stay here and help Chin out if that is what you want to do. I suggest you arrive here tomorrow at around about eight so we can run through everything before the operation officially starts.
"What are you going to do while we do that Steve?" Chin asked, heading towards the office which he had clearly taken as his own.
"I'm going to head back to my father's house to start decoding the notebook." Steve said as he leaned up and picked it back up from the table surface. "Danni, drop me off there and then come back to me after you've finished what you need to get done at the Police station. We'll store the equipment there with me until tomorrow morning. If you've got any issues Chin then call me on my cell phone. If you can't get through to me for some reason then call Danni. I'll probably be with her anyway minus that short time period when she's at HPD." Steve instructed Chin who nodded at him.
"You got it" He answered.
"I'll drop you back at your father's place this time Steven but this is not going to be a regular thing. I'm not your personal chauffeur who will drive you to all the places that you want to go." She told her new partner sternly, ignoring the sudden grins which came to both Chin's and Kono's faces at her words.
"Well this is what happens when you don't allow me to drive your car Danni." Steve responded calmly as he placed his hand on her lower back and pushed her towards the door leading towards the elevator.
"Then I suggest you head out this weekend and go and buy or rent yourself a car or truck or whatever it is that you like driving so you can actually have a way of getting yourself into work on Monday because I severely doubt that I'll be picking you up and driving you in." She stated.
Danni glanced to the side at him, catching the smile which came to his face at her words. It was small and barely there but considering everything he had been through since they had met she would take it. He met her eyes and nodded once at her to show that he had been listen before speaking.
"If you say so Danni" He replied, patting her on the back. "Now let's get moving."
Author Note
Thanks for taking the time to read. An especially big thank you if you have left me a review, favourite the story or decided to follow it.
I really appreciate it