Being on the governor's task force left its members with very little down time. It seems like all the stupid master criminals decided Hawaii's penal system was the ideal retirement package. The latest dimwit (a serial killer) offed himself, which meant less paperwork to wrap up the case. Danny was home at a decent hour which made him really happy. He'd be there and be able to take his time with Grace's nightly call and down a beer or two before heading to bed where he'd get a good night's sleep and be all prepared for his weekend with Grace.
That was the plan, but true to form, the night didn't go according to plan. He was out of beer, having taken his six pack over to Steve's the other day. Of course he didn't remember this until he'd changed into a ratty T-shirt and threadbare sweats, not dressed for going out. Rachel called, telling him he'd have to pick up Grace at a friend's house tomorrow as she was at a sleepover. Sooo, no phone call from his monkey. Danny was left with the TV and reheated take out, which he managed to eat before he started to doze off.
Every time he closed his eyes though, he was back in the borrowed SUV, holding tight to the oh-shit bar and trying not to break his streak by throwing-up. He'd managed not to, but just barely. He often wondered how his partner had made it to thirty-five without having some type of serious vehicular accident. The man was a menace behind the wheel. Maybe it was time to stop letting the goof drive. Danny really did want to live long enough to meet his grandchildren.
There have been many times since he became a cop Danny considered giving up and going back to being Turk for personal safety; the time he had to chase the meth addict through downtown Newark in negative ten degree weather, Halloween 2002 when he got stunned with a Taser, September 11, 2001, the first day he met Steve McGarrett and today, Christmas Eve 2010.
Standing next to Chin, who had a bomb encircling his neck, Danny couldn't help but think that this would never have happened in Jersey and sure as hell not in Provo. He couldn't leave his friend there alone even if it meant ultimately leaving Grace without a father. They were waiting for McGarrett and Kono to get the money from the asset forfeiture locker and pay off Victor Hesse. Danny could have gotten the $10 million for Chin's life, but they weren't given enough time for him to gather it, hence breaking into the locker. Danny measured the level of insanity and then made a quick phone call to his Danny. The money would get replaced if he and Chin survived this. That worry taken care of, he tried to shove aside the worry for Steve and Kono because right now he needed to distract Chin, as much as one could distract a guy wearing a bomb.
"Hey, Chin, you ever hear about the Faberge Imperial Coronation Egg?"
Chin gives him an incredulous look even though he welcomes the change of topic and the obvious distraction attempt. "I've heard some. What about the Egg, Danny?"
"Well, it was made it 1897 to commemorate the Coronation of Czar Nicholas II. It's current estimated value is a little over $24 million. Viktor Vekselberg thinks he is the proud owner, but all he's got is a good replica worth about $4000."
"How do you know all this?" Chin asked, intrigued by the story.
"I had to do a case study for the academy and I chose the heist of the Faberge Egg."
"Danny, are you talking about the theft from the museum in Rome? You know that failed right?"
"Yeah, I know about the museum. I'm talking about the theft of the Egg before it made it to the museum."
Chin raised a disbelieving eyebrow, but kept quiet waiting for his friend to continue.
"See there was this international thief, the Night Fox, who got his nose out of joint when his mentor implied there was a group who were better thieves than him, so he challenged the group. Whoever stole the egg first would obviously be the best."
"But wasn't the group caught? No one ended up getting the egg," Chin strove to recall the details of the event.
"Yeah, well, that's what the world thought. I discovered differently in my research," Danny bragged.
"Don't leave me hanging, brah. Tell me the rest."
"You see the museum part was a ruse. The group, Ocean's Eleven as they were called, deliberately got caught. They wanted the Night Fox to think they'd failed so he would try to steal it. Now this is where it gets complicated. The Night Fox had already made his attempt the night before. He was successful in getting an egg."
"So he was the better thief," Chin stated.
Danny chuckled, "Now, Chin, I thought you were a better listener. I said he got an egg. He stole a replica."
"You mean, the museum put a fake on display?"
"Well, to be fair, they didn't know it was a fake. It'd been delivered by the formal couriers who'd been assigned to transport it from its home in St. Petersburg. They had no reason to believe it wasn't real."
"So what happened to the real egg?" Chin demanded, really into the story now.
Danny couldn't help the grin that spread across his face as he replied, "Ocean's Eleven nabbed the original in transit. They took it from the couriers while they were on the train. They staged a fight over baseball teams and one of other passengers took advantage of the melee to switch out the backpack the Egg was in with a duplicate. Next stop, the fighters were made to disembark and their cohort got off as well."
"How did they know the travel itinerary? It's not like that would be public information."
"They had a confidential source. The guy had stolen the Egg once, but had returned it for personal reasons. Never sat well with him, so he contracted Danny Ocean to get it back. The guy had contacts up the whazoo. He supplied the route," Danny explained.
"Who'd have those kind of contacts?" Chin questioned.
Danny held his reply long enough to make it dramatic, "Why LeMarc of course."
Chin stared at Danny in amazement, too stunned to respond at first. "The LeMarc?" he finally uttered.
"The one and only," Danny confirmed.
"But, LeMarc is a myth. A compilation of many good thieves, to create a legend," Chin reasoned.
"Yeah, nah, not so much," Danny replied with a shrug.
"How the hell, did you find all this out? You must have had an inside source, someone from Ocean's group," Chin reasoned.
Danny's donkey laugh caught Chin off guard. "Nah, man. I made it all up, but the instructor bought it hook, line and sinker. Got full marks. Now, babe, let's get this thing off. It's all over, man."
As he hugged Chin, Danny thanked everyone and every being in his life. That night, hugging Grace while dressed in his oversized Santa costume, surrounded by his friends, he silently thanked them again.
Four days later, Danny's burner phone rang at two a.m. He'd been expecting the call, so still half asleep, Danny answered, "Detective Williams."
"Detective Williams is it now. Here I thought I was calling my friend Turk."
"Jesus, Rusty, give a guy a break, it's the middle of the freakin' night. Not all the brain cells are functioning."
"It could be said, Turk, that not all of your brain cells worked to begin with, but that's a conversation for another time. We've got a dilemma of sorts."
The statement brought full consciousness. "What kind of dilemma?"
There was a long pause before Rusty responded, "Well, exactly how much money did you say there needed to be in the locker?"
Danny started to feel uneasy. "$28 million. Why? Is there more missing than that? That's why I had you bring a little extra in case McGarrett screwed up in his count."
"No, that's not the problem. The thing is, there's already $28 million here," Rusty stated, confusion lacing his tone.
This time, Danny couldn't respond immediately. When he finally did all he could say was, "Say that again."
This time he heard Basher's cockney voice reply, "The notes are all here, Turk."
Danny's trouble radar started screaming. "Get outta there. Both of you. Get on the first flight home and I'll call you when I get this figured out."
"What you want us to do with your pounds, man?" Basher asked.
"Take what you need to cover your expenses and leave the rest in a locker at the airport. Have Rusty mail the key when he gets to the mainland."
"Roger, that. Keep your knickers dry, Turk." Basher cut the connection.
Danny knew he wouldn't get back to sleep anytime soon, so he sat in front of the muted TV and tried to come up with a scenario that would explain how $10 million dollars magically appeared in the asset forfeiture locker. Before he knew it, it was time to get ready for work and he hadn't even come close to figuring it out. The only thing he knew for sure was that he was never going to share this information with Steve or the rest of the team. This was a need to know and they didn't need to know.