nā ʻaumākua: Hawaiian spiritual ancestors.
As usual, this is un-beta'ed so any and all mistakes are my own.
The next day.
Room 203, Geography block. Sacred Heart Academy.
1429 hours.
Keanu jumps when the final bell rings, even though he's spent the last hour watching the minute hand on the clock above Miss Ramsay's desk and, pushing his chair back from the table, he hurriedly shoves his books and pencil case into his bag and then heads out into the corridor to grab his calculus textbook from his locker. He's meeting Grace on the steps out front in a couple of minutes and then they're going to her uncle's – McGarrett's – house to 'study', and he nervously fingers the torn-off bit of paper in his jeans pocket as he makes his way along the hall to the main doors; Worm gave him a list of things to look out for while he's there and now the onus is on Keanu to try to snoop without getting caught. Which is probably going to be harder than it sounds given that Grace's uncle is ex-military and probably has eyes in the back of his head.
Grace waves when she spots him and then slides down off the wall she's been sitting on. Pointing towards a blue Chevy pick-up across the street, she tells him, "That's my uncle's truck over there," as the two of them make their way down the steps towards the parking lot and Keanu's smile falters when he spots the ex-Navy SEAL lounging against the driver's side door, waiting for them. Grace greets her uncle with a chipper 'Hi, Uncle Steve' and a hug, and then grabs Keanu's wrist to pull him forwards from where he's been hovering awkwardly at her heels. "This is my friend, Keanu," she tells her uncle before turning back to smile at him encouragingly. "Keanu, this is my Uncle Steve."
The way McGarrett is eyeing him causes a lump to form in Keanu's throat and he's forced to swallow hard before opening his mouth to speak. "Nice to meet you, sir," he mumbles, fighting the urge to drop his eyes to his shoes. The ex-SEAL's gaze is cold and distrustful and, for a moment, Keanu seriously considers turning on his heel and making a run for it; McGarrett hasn't even opened his mouth yet and Keanu's already so intimidated that he can't even think straight. He has no idea how, or even if, he's going to be able to go through with this once they get to the guy's house. If it weren't for Gram being involved, he would never have agreed to be part of Worm's little scheme. But the thought of some lowlife coming after his grandmother because of his cousin's stupidity is just too much to bear so, instead of running away with his tail between his legs and telling Worm to keep his stupid incentive money, Keanu musters up a polite, "Thank you for letting me come over today," and then allows Grace to pull him into the back seat of the blue truck's cab.
The commander's poker face doesn't falter at all on the twenty-five minute drive to his house and Keanu wonders if it's possible that the man is actually part human, part robot as he stares out of the window and tries to remember the route they're taking. Grace is her usual bubbly self and chatters away, updating her uncle on everything from her weekend plans with someone called 'Danno' to the round-off back tuck she's been working on at cheerleading practice. Keanu grins as she uses her hands to emphasize just how awesome it felt to finally nail the trick after weeks of bruised knees and several twisted ankles and it's only when they pull into the driveway, and he glances up at the rearview mirror, that he notices McGarrett's stoney expression softening into a small, fond smile as he watches Grace gesture emphatically in her seat.
Inside, Grace leads the way through the open-plan living room to a large dining table, where she dumps her bag on the tabletop before sinking into the chair next to it. Keanu hesitates, the heavy thud of McGarrett's boots on the hardwood floor somewhere behind him making him wonder whether he'll be bodily removed from the premises if he dares to sit too close to Grace, and then sets his own bag down at the head of the table; it's close enough that they'll still be able to compare notes but far enough away to discourage any prolonged physical contact. Plus, Keanu has a pretty good view of the living room – or more specifically, McGarrett and the alarm panel by the front door - from here.
After about forty minutes, he figures that it's safe to do some snooping. McGarrett is sitting at the mahogany desk across from him, his brow furrowed as he works his way through a mountain of paperwork, so the likelihood of Keanu being interrupted right now is probably somewhere between slim and none. Slipping his pen into his pocket, he pushes his chair back from the table, causing Grace to look up from the equation she's working on. Feigning embarrassment, he quietly asks her where the bathroom is, hoping that she'll point him upstairs and out of earshot and then hurries through the living room towards the staircase when she does just that. Once in the bathroom, Keanu all but collapses against the locked door and fumbles in his pocket for the crumpled slip of paper Worm had chucked at his head at Sal's yesterday; running his finger down the list, he mentally ticks off one of the points and reminds himself of the others before shoving it back in his pocket and wandering across the room to flush the toilet.
He waits a few minutes before unlocking the door and then peers over the handrail into the living room below to make sure the coast is clear before heading out onto the landing. Worm wants to know if the upper floor is alarmed so Keanu keeps his gaze high when he pokes his head around the first door on his left and sure enough, there's a motion sensor up in the far corner; it's live, too - the blue light at the bottom of little square box flashes warning when it detects him waving at it from the doorway. Gently easing the door shut again, he double checks that there's no one in the living room before continuing along the hall to the next door. This time, the sensor is up and to his right, facing both the en-suite and the doors leading out onto the lanaii. He gives it a wave as well - just to be sure - before moving into the room to check the locks on the French doors; they're both basic cylindrical locks which Keanu knows are easily picked with the right tools and he files the information away along with the make, model and color of McGarrett's truck and address to give to Worm later on.
He's barely out of the room when he hears the telltale thud of Magnum boots on the wooden staircase below and, panicking slightly, he quickly tries to put as much distance between himself and the room he suspects is the commander's bedroom before the man appears around the corner. Hurriedly schooling his features into a neutral expression, Keanu manages to time it so that he's just stepping down off the upstairs landing as McGarrett reaches the halfway point of the final block of steps and he keeps his gaze low as he presses himself against the wall to let the ex-SEAL by. Thankfully, the man doesn't appear to suspect a thing and Keanu lets out the breath he wasn't even aware he was holding when McGarrett disappears into the room he's just vacated without so much as a backwards glance.
Tipping his head back against the wall, he murmurs a quiet thank you to his nā ʻaumākua before continuing down the stairs and rejoining Grace at the table in the dining room. He'll give it another ten minutes or so before making his excuses, he tells himself as he slides into the chair on Grace's left and returns her tentative smile. The piece of paper sporting his cousin's chicken-scratch instructions is starting to burn a hole in his pocket and Keanu chews on his bottom lip before quickly scribbling down the make, model and color of McGarrett's truck and the first two characters on the license plate on a fresh page in his notebook. Worm should be back from Sal's by the time he walks the three miles from here to his Grandmother's house and Keanu grins, imagining the look on his cousins face when he's presented with all of the information he asked for.
Onakea-Hamakua residence. Ahuwale Street, Kuliouou-Kalani Iki.
1712 hours.
"How do I know this is legit?" Worm demands, sending the sheet of paper Keanu handed him skidding across the top of the worn vinyl table with a dismissive wave of his hand. "For all I know, you could have just made all of this stuff up. You gotta go back and get me some proof."
Across the table, Keanu's hopeful smile fades and he slumps back in his chair, fuming silently as his cousin lights up a cigarette and blows the resulting smoke out of the side of his mouth. He was expecting Worm to whoop with joy and pat him on the back, all the while making flippant remarks about how it was about time his little cousin grew a pair; instead he was met with a barrage of snide comments about how the intel he put his neck on the line to get isn't good enough. It's enough to make him feel like telling Worm where to stuff his stupid promised paycheck.
"Are you freaking kidding me?" Keanu glares at his cousin and then ducks down to fumble for the piece of paper Worm sent flying. He slaps the page down in front of the older boy and jabs his index finger into the tabletop as he continues angrily, "We had a deal. You wanted to know the make and model of the McGarrett's car – I got you it. You wanted to know if the house was alarmed – I got you that too! What more do you want from me, Miguel – to end up in Halawa alongside Martin? 'Cause that's probably where I'm gonna go if McGarrett catches me!"
"Woah. Take it easy, Squirt," Worm says, holding his hands up in mock surrender. Stubbing out his half-smoked cigarette, the older boy's expression sobers as he tells Keanu, "All I'm saying is Crips won't touch this stuff unless they got proof that it's legit." He leaves the implied 'And if they have any reason to suspect that we're trying to get one over on them, my brother's as good as dead' left unsaid. Rubbing a hand up over his face, Worm pushes his chair away from the table and walks over to the fridge, where he reaches for the old coffee can on the top and unscrews the plastic lid. With his back to Keanu, he counts out five hundred dollar bills and puts the can back on top of the fridge before setting the cash down on the table in front of his cousin. Tapping the sheet of paper Keanu had shoved under his nose earlier, Worm tells him, "There's another five hundred bucks in it for you if you bring me back something tying McGarrett to this stuff."