This case could have been easily featured in one of Turk's greatest dreams, minus the dead guy in the trunk of course, but damn man! All these classic cars! He almost begged to go with Chin and Kono to the HPD garage, but Danny didn't give a crap about cars. Right! Okay, so today his cover story sucked twenty different ways.
Danny couldn't help himself. He started to fidget the minute Steve brought up the idea of trapping Ken Makoa by playing the car thief's game. When Kono brought up the fact they didn't have any bait, he almost ran to the men's room to rid himself of his lunch. Shit!
"What the hell is the matter with you, Danny? You look like someone just stole your most favorite Christmas gift or you're gonna hurl," Steve grilled him.
"Must have been lunch. I know where we can get a car," Danny mumbled.
"Wanna say that loud enough for the rest of the class to hear, Danno," Steve pushed.
"My buddy has a car that I can convince him to let us use as bait," Danny raised his voice, speaking clearly.
"You sure about that, brah? We might be lucky to find one at the impound lot," Chin suggested hoping he's idea would wipe the sick look off of his friend's face.
"Yeah, I'm sure. We don't have the time to search impound," Danny replied. "Give me a couple of minutes. I'll call him to be sure and get the specs for our shopping list."
Danny went into his office and pulled out a pen and paper while he pretended to make a call to his 'buddy'. He walked back to the bullpen a few minutes later, handing the paper to Chin. "Here, go set up the sting."
Chin whistled at what was written in Danny's precise scrawl. "A '66 Mustang, fully restored. Man, your friend must be crazy."
"Yeah, he must be," Danny agreed ruefully. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go pick up our shopping list. It'll take me about an hour and half or so."
The team watched Danny as walked out of the offices, minus his usual swagger. "Is it just me or does Danny seem extremely upset over this?" Kono asked to the room at large.
"Maybe he doesn't want to be indebted to his friend. This is a pretty big favor," Lori offered.
"Yeah, maybe," Kono nodded. Steve and Chin thought differently, but neither voiced their opinions. Danny'd tell them in time.
Danny took his time once he got to his garage. The 'Stang was his favorite. His first restoration and it'd cost him a mint to have it shipped from the mainland. He had to rely on Virgil to coordinate the move of his cars, which was, well it was Virgil. He still wonders how he had any fingernails left by the time they'd arrived. Danny/Turk lovingly wiped down every inch of the car, removing the minuscule amount of dust that had accumulated since he'd driven her last, check all the fluids and gave the engine a decent polish, wondering the whole time what the hell had possessed him to speak up.
Danny called Chin when he was ready to leave and arranged to meet the older man at HPD garage. They'd store the car there until it was time for the op. Chin filled him in on the plan they'd laid out in his absence. Danny almost turned around when he heard they were going to let the thief drive his car. He swallowed the bile that threatened to choke him and managed some kind of response. At least, it was Lori driving at first and not Steve or Kono. Lori drove like his maiden Aunt Rose, slow and steady.
His teammates met him as he pulled in. All three had stunned looks on their faces. Danny got out and carefully closed the door, unconsciously wiping the prints off with his sleeve.
"Man, Danny! That is one sweet ride," Chin whistled in appreciation.
"Wow, brah, your friend is one generous guy," Kono exclaimed as she circled the car.
"Hope I can drive it in six in heels," Lori added just be a part of the conversation.
Danny stared at her for a second then said, "It has custom pedals. As long as you use the ball of your foot, you shouldn't have an issue." Leaning through the window on the passenger side, he pulled out a five by eight remote control box and handed it to Chin. The older man tentatively took the box from Danny. He could practically feel the anxiety Danny was trying to hide, but he didn't say anything to his friend.
"Okay, here's how it works. The locks are controlled by the toggle switch, simple lock, unlock. The red button is the kill switch for the engine. Once it's pushed, the car will probably make it maybe about twenty feet on a flat surface, depending on how fast he's going at the time. Just watch where he is when you hit it. The power steering won't last long so it'll make it more difficult for him to get out of the middle of the road."
Chin listened intently, still getting an uneasy vibe from his teammate. "Gotta, brah. I'll make sure we take good care of it."
The women had continued to inspect the car while the guys talked. Lori opened the driver's door and slid into the seat. "Uh, Danny, this is a stick."
His sigh was audible. "Please, for all that's holy, please, please, tell me you can drive a manual," he squeaked out.
Lori gave him a quirky smile. "It's been a while, but yes, I can drive a stick."
Danny's face said he didn't believe her, but he tried to hide it behind his hand as he rubbed his lower jaw. "Maybe you should drive it around the parking lot some to get back into the feel before you try taking it downtown." Mentally he was resigning himself to replacing the clutch and transmission when this whole fiasco was over. What in the hell had he been thinking?
Kono took the opportunity to add her two cents. "No worries, brah. If she strips the clutch, the HPD garage can fix it."
"That's not exactly what I'm worried about," Danny muttered.
"What's that, Danny?" Lori asked.
Danny squared his shoulders, took a deep breath and said, "Come on, prove to me you can drive this so we can get on with the plan." He got in the passenger side and shut the door, while trying to give Lori a look that said he trusted her. He must have succeeded because she closed her door and started the engine. He was grateful that Lori's learning curve was very short. After only a couple of stalls, she got the hang of it though Danny did suggest that she drove slow enough to not have to shift beyond third.
The sting, for once, went as planned. They had Makoa and with that, they got enough information to arrest their killer. Paperwork took up the rest of the afternoon. Danny could really use a beer, but he declined Steve's invite. He had something more important to do; his baby was sitting in the HPD garage waiting for him to take her home. He asked Chin for a lift and waited just a little impatiently for the man to finish up.
Chin kept shooting him glances as they made the short drive, making Danny more than a little paranoid. "What, I got something on my face?" he asked trying to break the awkwardness.
"Nah, brah, just wonderin'... Well, it's none of my business and you can tell me so, but you seem just a little over anxious about your buddies' car."
Danny did his best to be nonchalant. "Yeah, maybe. It's just I wouldn't forgive myself if anything happened to his pride and joy, like your bike is to you. You know what I mean?"
Chin nodded, "Yeah, I do. I have to say, you looked mighty comfortable sitting behind the wheel. Kinda like when we were playing chicken with the jet and when we were racing to Max's for Steve. Also, from what I heard, there were some impressive skills displayed when a certain drug dealer was strapped to the hood of a certain silver Camaro. It's almost as if someone has had a bit of practice beyond the basics at the police academy."
Danny blanched. They didn't make Chin a detective for no reason. God! Why did he have to work with such perceptive people. Chin waited out Danny's silence.
"Okay, but if you breathe a word of this to Steve, I'll make sure no one ever finds your body." Danny promised. Chin gave him a Zen smile.
"I might have done a little driving in my past, pre academy days. Nothing professional or anything like that, but there wasn't much for a bunch of wanna be hoodlums to do without really getting into trouble, we drag raced, a lot," Danny gushed, relieved to not really be lying to his teammate.
They were stopped at a light, so Chin took a moment to stare at the Jersey native. "Why wouldn't you want Steve to know about this?"
Danny turned to his friend and shrugged. "You know how he gets when he isn't the best at something. I really can't stand his kicked puppy look."
"Yeah, that one is hard to deal with," Chin laughed. "So how much do you really know about cars and engines?"
"Wow, cut to the chase why don't you?" Danny deflected. It didn't work. "I know enough to make sure Steve got that land yacht of his running."
It wasn't really an answer, but Chin knew better than to push the younger man. Giving Danny an appraising look, he changed the topic, "So do you think your 'buddy' would mind if I drove his baby?"
Danny chose to ignore the air quotes when he responded, "Nah, I don't think he'd have a problem with that," pausing for a second then added, "You do know how to drive a stick, right?"
Chin just laughed.
Danny grinned. "Tell you what, why don't you drive me out to his garage to pick up the Camaro and then I'll drop you back off here?"
There was no doubt as to Chin's answer. When they got to the HPD lot, the older man got behind the wheel looking like Christmas had come early. Danny was glad he'd offered. Other than a few directions and suggesting Chin 'open it up', they were quiet, enjoying the smooth ride. They arrived at the garage too quickly for Chin, but he knew that Danny was about to reveal something, so he squished his disappointment.
Danny directed him to an end unit of what appeared to be several expensive storage units. When the blonde got out to punch in the security code, Chin held his breath. The big door opened and Chin's jaw almost dropped. He barely caught Danny's instructions on where to park. Chin was more than curious, but he waited for Danny to speak.
"So," Danny started, gesturing to the other cars, "these are the rest of his babies. Pretty sweet, huh?"
Chin admired all the power machines sitting there like eye candy, but the Corvette kept drawing him back. "This a '68?"
"It's a '69," Danny chuckled.
Chin whistled. "The brother's got good taste."
Danny made a show of throwing the car cover over the Mustang, making as much noise as possible, but not enough for Chin to miss the whispered, "thank you."
Car sufficiently protected, Danny clapped his hands. "Well, should we call it a night? I can hear a sofa bed calling my name."
Chin reluctantly pulled himself away from the 'Vette and climbed into the passenger seat of Danny's Camaro. He knew there was more to Danny's story, but he kept his council. If their haole wanted to keep some personal secrets, let him. It's not like the rest of team were open books. Besides, he didn't want to ruin any chance he had of getting drive the Stingray in the future.