They stared at each other for a long moment, neither speaking nor moving. Steve, Malia and Chin looked on with very confused looks on their faces. Steve was the first to speak up.
"Danny, it looks like you two know each other. Do you want to introduce us?" Steve asked trying to interject some humor into the situation and break the ice but the comment only got him an icy glare from Danny.
"Come to my office?" he asked Madeline and she nodded. He placed his hand on the small of her back and led her past the three onlookers and into his office.
"What was that all about?" Malia asked no one in particular.
"I don't know but I'm going to find out," Steve said and made a beeline for his office.
Chin Ho looked at Malia and cupped her cheek with his hand. He gave her a quick smile and kissed her forehead. "When something comes up, I'll let you know," he said. She smiled and threw a glance at Amanda, or whom she thought was Amanda, talking to Danny in his office. She shrugged her shoulders and walked out of the room without another word.
Danny made sure the door was firmly closed before he turned and offered her a chair. She took it and he sat on the edge of his desk facing her. He also had given himself a view of the bullpen so he could see if anyone approached his office.
"You're not supposed to be here," Danny said, giving her a comfortable smile that she remembered gave her much comfort two years ago.
"I know but I didn't have anywhere else to go. You told me that if I ever needed anything…I don't know who I can trust anymore Danny. I think my life might be in danger," Madeline said quickly, playing with a loose thread on the corner of her purse.
"What makes you say that? The last time I saw you, the Marshalls were setting you up with a whole new identity," Danny said with a slight tone of sarcasm in his voice.
"This is serious. You know that in witness protection you're not allowed to contact anyone from your former life and you were definitely part of my former life," Madeline said suddenly getting very defensive. Danny furrows his brow because defensiveness is not like Madeline. In all the time he knew her she was always a cool customer.
Danny glanced around his office and then through the window to Steve's office and found Steve to be staring right at them. Danny became annoyed and decided to do something about it.
"Uh, Maddie, can I get you some water or something?" he asked while still staring at Steve.
"Sure, water would be nice," she said and followed his gaze to also see Steve staring at them.
"I'll be right back," Danny stated and left his office. He went straight to Steve's office and walked right in.
"What? Don't you knock?" Steve asked with mock offense.
"Knock? Shouldn't you be a little more discrete when trying to lip read a person's private conversation?" Danny asked, his annoyance escalating a bit.
"Well, you are being a little shady in there. You didn't even introduce us to your friend. Speaking of her, she's pretty. How do you know her?" he said leaning back in his chair and placing his hands behind his head.
"My friend is someone I know from Jersey. My friend, is someone who needs my help and my friend is none of your business…for now," Danny said ignoring his question. Steve put his hands up in mock surrender. "Hand me a bottle of water."
Steve reached over to the mini-fridge, pulled out a bottle and chucked it at Danny. He caught it with one hand, lifted his eyebrows in a challenge and walked out of the room.
"What makes you think you're in danger?" Danny asked when he re-entered the room and took his seat on the desk.
"In each of my relocation sites, after awhile I started noticing suspicious cars hanging around my house and things were moved. You know me, Danny. I'm a clean freak. I always put things back where they go and when I come home and something is not where it goes, you know what that means," Maddie explained almost getting frantic.
"Okay, I get it. So, you've been using the skills I taught you about how to watch your back and check for irregularities in your surroundings?" Danny asked and handed her the bottle of water.
"Yes, I've been practicing. That's how I found that someone was following me at my first site. I told the Marshalls right away and they relocated me," Madeline said looking him right back in the eye.
"They relocated you. Did they do any kind of investigation?" Danny asked.
"I don't know. I wasn't privy to that information. I just told them that I thought someone was watching me and that they might have been in my house so they moved me right away," she explained.
"What about your second site?"
"It was similar but started more quickly. I was only there two months before I started noticing strange things happening," she said.
"What did the Marshalls do?"
"They said I was being paranoid. As soon as they started round-the-clock surveillance, the cars and the moving possessions stopped. Who ever this is, they're clever and they know the Marshall's game plan," Mattie said and Danny nodded.
"You said you've seen a strange car around your home here in Hawaii?" Danny asked. He'd started pacing the office and Madeline could nearly see the wheels churning in his mind.
"Yes, I wrote down a description of the car and the license plate number but I never saw the person sitting in it. The windows were heavily tinted," she said pulling out a piece of paper from her purse and handing it to him. Danny grinned from ear to ear.
"Did I ever tell you, you're my favorite witness?" he asked and chuckled. She smiled for real for the first time since setting foot in the building. Danny crossed the room to crouch down in front of her. He placed a hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eye. "We're going to find out who is frightening you okay? I'm going to give this information to Chin so he and Kono can start tracking the car and then you and I are going to talk to Steve."
Madeline nodded but she didn't look convinced. Danny could tell she was tense.
"What's wrong?" he asked. She waved her hand like it was no big deal but he just kept the eye contact.
"It's really nothing. I'm just nervous about too many people knowing about me. I mean I already put away the bad guys but there are other people out there that want retribution and the more people who know is more danger for me," Madeline said. Danny nodded and thought before speaking.
"Let's go talk to Steve. He used to be Special Forces so he probably has a few ideas for hiding you. Three heads are better than two and it may be that this could stay between the three of us okay?" Danny asked trying to reassure her that everything was going to be all right. She looked up at him and finally nodded.
