A/N: Happy First Friday Of March! I'm so happy it's March. The sun is shining, the snow is melting. It's a good day! And because it's a good day, here is an update for all of you! Enjoy.
Chapter 24: Bonds, Beauties and Botanicals.
Vladimir stood, with Steve and Danny, as his two companions were brought into the office of Five-O and they were showed into the rooms where they came face to face with their families. The emotions ran high, relief and fear took their places, and sobbing was replaced with joyfulness all in a matter of moments. It was touching and heartwarming to behold, after the days of suffering to be had, but almost everyone knew that it would not last long. There was still work to be done.
"Toast, Vladimir has some very interesting insight that he'd like to share with you." Steve stated, interrupting the moment that was ongoing and passed the new man off to his brilliant tekkie. "Ladies, and Mother, I'm going to need you for an errand." Steve added and motioned for Kono, Lori, and Catherine to leave what they were doing and to follow him back into his office.
"You trust these men enough to leave them with your team?" Doris hissed before passing into her son's office.
"Trust is earned, and Vladimir is working toward that. I believe what he told me and I believe his good deed should change whatever resistance Ward and Vale may have been harbouring." Steve answered his mother's censure with a rebuttal and then continued. "For now, I need to see if I can trust you. Can you earn that?"
"I'm your mother."
"That means nothing at this point." Steve countered, ushered her into his office and shut the door behind him, effectively silencing his mother's protest for the time being.
"I have a feeling something is going to get very sexist, very fast." Lori stated teasingly when the door had closed behind Steve.
"Unfortunately, yes," Steve smiled. "We have a few names to look into and some possible locations where our suspects may be hiding in plain sight. I need you four to play a role for me and check out a photography studio. Lori, you will play the bride. Mother, you will be her mother, while Catherine will be the maid of honour and Kono will be a second bride's maid. You will go looking to solicit one Dahlia Fillee to take photos at your wedding." Steve explained.
"I've heard of her. She's apparently very good." Kono stated.
"She's also one of Gladys's aliases." Steve said and watched the shock register.
"No!" The girls cried.
"According to Vladimir, yes," Danny said as the girls looked to him for confirmation.
"I need you heavily armed and looking like tourists. Can you do that for me?" Steve asked, "and if Gladys is actually in the studio, be prepared to take her in because she is bound to recognize you."
"So you don't expect her to be there?" Doris asked.
"No, we expect that she's going about her business, but we need to shut down the businesses to lure her out into the open. Maybe we'll get lucky and she will be there and this will end, once and for all, with you four, or maybe you'll be able to get information into her whereabouts. Either way, Dahlia Fillee is a person of interest and we need to break down that alias as soon as possible. Can you do this for me, or is this too much under the circumstances?"
"Are you kidding, boss man? This is just what I've been waiting for. Throw me into the thick of it. I'm ready." Lori stated almost excitedly.
"We've got this. You won't have to worry." Doris added with a nod.
"You'll have under cover officers to cover you. Toast will likely have found the address by now. Go to it. Doris, I'm trusting you to take the lead on this." Steve ordered.
The women agreed to some of the finer details of the operation and then left Steve's office to prepare and get moving.
"You're going to put Chin, Duke and Lou on the landscaping business and leave us uncovered with the candy shop and bond office, aren't you?" Danny accused.
"We will all have back up, but I think it is very important that we hit these locations at once and shut them down as quickly as possible. If you don't want to go into that candy shop, we will send HPD undercover officers into it, and you and I can take the bond office."
"And what if Vladimir is lying to us and you are jumping to conclusions based on the fact that you seem to have gone soft for these people?" Danny asked playing devil's advocate, and by devil's advocate, I mean, sharing in the arguments that Doris was bound to reiterate to her son.
"If Vladimir is lying, then we still have the construction site and the cabin." Steve answered. "But I think we need to take this chance."
Danny sighed heavily but agreed. "All right, but let's try and get to Mack first, before she does, and yes, send in undercovers to that Candy Shop. I don't think I am ready for that."
"Okay, that is fine, but are you going to be all right with this?" Steve asked.
"I hope so. You'll understand when, and if, you walk into that candy shop. I know what I would see if I did, and it's the stuff of nightmares." Danny answered with another sigh. "But then again, you weren't there in Jersey when we turned a relatively happy place into a horror show."
5-0
As Danny had anticipated, Lou, now in plain cloths, and Chin headed for the address of Vladimir's brother's landscaping business. Duke followed with a contingent of officers and shut down the area as best as he could to get business people and civilians out of the way of what may happen.
Chin and Lou walked up to the store front, noticed a young man in the show room gallery and walked in. Outside, the business seemed large with display items like gazeboes and shrubberies gathered in a fully finished and fenced off garden. There were plenty of places to hide, and the garden looked deceptively calm. As far as they could tell, there were two workers in the garden centre, and the young man inside the show room.
"Good Day, gentlemen, how can I help you?" the young man asked cheerfully.
"My friend here is new to the island and bough himself a real fixer-upper." Chin stated and motioned to Lou.
"The house is the least of my problems," Lou stated grumpily. "It's the damn neighbours that need fixing."
"A friend of mind said that Mike Walker was the man for the job, if you want to spruce up your yard or shut out the neighbours." Chin added with a laugh.
"It's true. Fences, decks, patios, dividers, shrubs, you name it, Mike can fix you up. You'll have your very own piece of paradise right in your back yard, and peace and quiet to go with it." The young man said optimistically. "Theses are some of his photos." he added as he moved away and came back with a portfolio full of examples of the work that Mike had completed.
"Is it true that a fence can't be more than eight feet high here?" Lou asked as he flipped through the booklet.
"I'm afraid so, sir, but there are other ways to shut out the neighbours." The young man answered.
"Is Mike in today?" Chin asked nonchalantly as he moved around the show room.
"He's on a big job this week. He's not taking appointments until next week, mid week, at the earliest, but if you are interested, he does check his messages and will call back right away." The young man explained and handed Lou a business card.
Lou took the card gratefully and pocketed it, "Will he put in a moat if I really want to keep the damn neighbours dog out of my yard?"
"A moat might not be your best bet. Dog's can swim, for the most part, and I'm pretty sure a moat isn't part of the city bylaws. I think a good fence might be your best bet." The sales man answered with a laugh.
"They can dig too, dogs." Lou grumbled. "And instead of calling it a moat, we'll call it a waiting pool that surrounds my whole property."
"Maybe you should get a bigger dog," Chin offered, "to scare away the neighbour dog."
"Or maybe I just shoot the damn thing." Lou countered.
"I guess you're a cat person." Chin laughed,
"Don't get me started on cats!"
"I suggest the fence before you break any laws, sir. Call Mike, maybe he'll have some ideas for plants that would deter the dogs. Who knows, he's the expert and he does great work." the young man said trying to end the tit-for-tat between Chin and Lou.
"I'll do that. Thank you." Lou said, and he and Chin walked out of the show room and back out to their awaiting vehicle.
5-0
Dressed to the nines with big floppy hats, sun dresses and expensive looking jewellery, and with their weapons well stacked, packed, and taped for concealment, Doris McGarrett ushered her hens into the photography boutique. Down the street runners ran, cyclists cycled, sunbathers bathed, and each and every one of them were armed to the gills and on the alert.
Oohs and Ahs filled the air as the ladies looked around the shop, until finally a woman in her late to mid forties came out into the show room.
"Aloha, welcome to Dahlia's," the woman stated. "How can I help you?" she asked.
"Dahlia?" Doris asked and Lori rushed forward.
"No ma'am, I'm sorry, I'm her assistant Karen, and one of her photography technicians. Dahlia is on location this afternoon, but I'm sure I can help you."
"I'm sure," Doris said shortly and straightened herself up to her full height.
"Mummy Stop!" Lori scolded and pushed past Doris. "Hello, so nice to meet you. I've been told by the hotel staff that Dahlia Fillee is the very best wedding photographer on the island, and I want the very best. Spare no expense, Daddy said!"
"You've heard correctly, Miss." Karen said with a smile.
"Oh look at this! Sunset on the beach, just you and Jeremy! Can you just see it, imagine it? Brittany, you have to get this photographer." Catherine played along. "Look, oh just look!"
"Kitty, you know just what I like!" Lori squealed.
"It all looks very expensive. I though the whole point of Hawaii was to avoid the big budget New York weddings." Kono said in a hushed voice to Doris but loud enough that the sales lady heard her.
"You are right, Lynn, but Brittany got her father all buttered up and now it's going to be a big budget Hawaiian wedding." Doris said with a roll of her eyes.
"How rude we've been!" Lori cried as she came back to the sales woman. "I'm Brittany Leanne Vanderbilt of the Rhode Island Vanderbilts and this is my mother Georgina Elizabeth Hathoway-Vanderbuilt. This is my Maid of Honour, Catherine Elizabeth Sandberg and my best friend from college, Lynn-May Nobu. And we are ever so happy to make your acquaintance."
"It is a very great pleasure to meet you," Karen said politely.
"I'm getting married!" Lori cried again. "To the most amazing and handsome man. Jeremy Carlton Von Booth the third."
"It's the social engagement of the century!" Catherine piped in. "The Von Booth family are media tycoons. Big money and connections. The Vanderbilts, as you may know, are old money and a veritable legacy in New York. They are social royalty, and so Brittany must be a princess on her wedding day, no matter where she gets married."
"Very understandable, Miss." Karen said with a smile and a nod.
"So when might we meet Miss. Dahlia to discuss the logistics. If I'm going to part with my money, I simply must know that the very best are taking care of us." Doris piped in.
"Oh Mummy, if she's the best I want the best!" Lori whined.
"And the best you shall have, my darling." Doris said soothingly.
"Dahlia is working this afternoon, and so, she is not available today, but if you would like, I can make you an appointment for tomorrow." Karen explained.
"Yes, we'll take it!" Lori stated without another thought.
"We have a meeting with the caterers at ten in the morning, is the afternoon suitable for Miss. Dahlia?" Doris asked and scrolled through something on her phone.
"How is one o-clock?" Karen asked with a daybook before her on the counter.
"As good a time as any, I suppose. You may expect the Vanderbilt party at one. Thank you." Doris stated, set a voice message into her phone and then ushered the ladies out again with talk of cakes.
5-0
"Two down and nothing yet!" Danny sighed as the confirmation of the undercover operations came through to him. Chin, Lou and Duke, along with all of their back up, were en route to meet up with Danny and Steve, as Steve pulled the Camaro to a stop at the end of the block known to house the bond office of Mach McMillan and the candy shop. The two Five-Os waited momentarily as they watched several undercover vehicles move into place, before they got out of the car. They then watched as two assigned SWAT officers, in plain cloths, walked into the candy shop and they heard the whole conversation with the store clerk over the radio connection. Several children came and went from the candy shop and the mere idea of the thing, and the danger, made Danny shudder.
When it was clear that neither John, nor Mary, as they were known to their employees, were slated to be in the shop for the next week, as they were vacationing on maui, the undercover officers exited the shop and headed back to their car to wait.
"They aren't vacationing." Danny grumbled impatiently.
"Who knows now many secret lives these people actually have." Steve said in response to his partners grumbling.
With one last location, of their knowledge, to check out, Steve and Danny headed down the street toward the bond office. They found the place unlocked and open, but empty desks and work stations filled the room as they walked in. Along one wall was a collection of extra large filing cabinets and in front of the shop windows were chairs and a coffee table covered in broachers - mostly about self help, rehab clinics and how to get on in society after having been incarcerated, and a large stack of home and garden magazines.
Between two of the main work stations was a door, which stood partially open to the office and to the back room, and to one side, the side nearest to the candy shop, was another closed door. From the outside of the building, Danny had noticed that the bond office seemed to take up two store fronts, with a sign that read 'please use other entrance' and the blinds in the second shop were closed and looked dusty - like they were rarely raised to let in the light.
"Well, this is awfully suspicious." Danny whispered as he moved toward one of the desks where he'd spied a brass bell, and with one hand on his weapon and a nod from his partner, Danny slapped his free hand down onto the bell, sending a piercing ring through the whole office space.
The closed door between the two rooms opened.
"Misha Prokovia?" Steve asked as both men raised their weapons.
A smirk crossed the face of the man who had just emerged from the door between the two spaces. Something like amusement passed beyond his eyes as he nodded at the men before him.
"How can I help you, Gentlemen?" he asked with a shadiness spread across his face.
With one quick movement, and before Steve or Danny could respond to his question, the man slammed what was in his hands down onto the ground, and with a loud bang and a billow of smoke he bolted for the back of the office and dashed out the open door.