It didn't take much to convince Danny to crash at Steve's again. Honestly, he hated his empty apartment, and he'd rather take his chances with the assorted McGarretts and their nightmares. But it was a peaceful night, and Sunday found them all sleeping soundly, until Steve and Danny's phones started going off at the ungodly hour of five am.
Riley heard their phones and tumbled out of bed and into her clothes. She was pouring coffee by the time Steve and Danny sorted themselves and came into the kitchen.
"Do we have a case?" Riley asked, as Danny grabbed his coffee before she could put butter in it.
"We have a bomb threat," Steve said, grabbing the coffee thermos.
"Oh my God," Danny groused, "you're smiling. You're both smiling. This does not bode well for me, not one bit."
"Do I need to sign a paper or something, before I go to work?" Riley asked, hopping on one foot as she shoved her other foot into a boot.
"I'll call the governor on the way to the office," Steve said casually.
"Sure, on the way to the office, standing in the middle of the garage, wherever it's convenient," Danny grumbled. "Then you shove into people's apartments and bulldoze them into joining your taskforce."
"Into being my partner," Steve reminded him, as they climbed into the Silverado. "And he loves it, don't let him fool you, Riley."
"I do," Danny sighed. "So help me, I do."
Steve shot him a shit-eating grin and turned on the lights.
#*#*#*#*#
Steve pulled the Silverado next to Grover's huge black SUV, parked, along with dozens of other law enforcement vehicles, in front of the Bishop Museum.
"It's beautiful," Riley breathed, her eyes wide, completely entranced by the stone facade and carefully groomed landscaping of the historical and cultural museum. "Why would anyone threaten to damage it?"
"Because of the reaction you just had," Steve said. "This is one of Hawaii's absolutely priceless collections. Someone thinks they can strike a bargain; hold the museum for ransom."
"Not just the museum," Grover said, handing Steve and Danny each a SWAT radio. "We've got twenty-five terrified employees inside: guides, scientists, curators . . . the guy who takes care of the fish. Thankfully, one of the curators noticed that several of the exhibits had been disturbed, and found wiring where it didn't belong. He called it in, and sure enough, the K9 unit reacted to explosive."
"Any word from our bomber?" Danny asked. "Demands?"
"Not yet, but here's the thing," Grover said, rubbing his hand over his face in frustration. "Every time someone opens a door or window, a small explosive charge goes off, somewhere on the premises. So far we're five for five of attempts to enter or exit the facility ending in an explosion of some sort - usually in another wing, or even out here, on the grounds." Grover pointed to a beautiful flowering shrub which had been severely damaged, its deep yellow blooms scattered in a wide radius. "But the last attempt, the door that we tried to go in blew; a small charge, but still enough to send our guy to Tripler. The employees are understandably terrified to try anything else."
"Brilliantly executed," Riley muttered. Steve nodded in begrudging appreciation of the bomber's tactics.
"Our first priority is to get those people out of there," Steve said. "Let's look at the building schematics."
Grover nodded and motioned them over to the large communications truck. He put a hand on Steve's shoulder, holding him back for a moment as Danny and Riley entered the truck ahead of them.
"Did I miss the memo that it's bring-your-sister-to-work day?" he asked Steve.
Steve sighed. "Captain, I've been given approval by the governor to officially add her to the task force."
"This your way to try to protect her, Steve?"
"I won't bother to deny that's part of it, yes. WoFat captured and tortured her, Lou - twice. So yeah, forgive me for not wanting her out of my sight. But this is more than that. The things she can do with a computer . . . even Jerry has never seen anything like it. The plan was to set her up in the tech lab on Monday; let her report to Charlie. But she can hold her own in the field. I'll explain later, but trust me. She's more than capable."
Grover studied Steve for a long moment. "Okay then. You know I like your sister, Steve. This isn't personal. But making her part of Five-O? I don't like it. That said, I obviously can't pull rank on the governor, and Five-O already has a history of mixing business and family."
"It's the way we do it on the island," Chin said mildly, as he and Kono joined them.
Grover grunted and headed into the huge truck that housed the mobile communications equipment.
"What's crawled up Lou's ass?" Kono asked.
"I've been given approval by the governor to officially add Riley to Five-O," Steve said. "Grover, however, does not approve. If he sees what she's capable of, he'll understand. Hell, when we figure out what she's capable of, he'll try to poach her away to SWAT. Come on, let's get you guys up to speed. We've got bigger problems than personnel."
#*#*#*#*#
"This is a bad, bad, idea," Danny groused. He was squinting up at Steve, feeding the slack rope behind him into a neat coil. For all of his complaining, Steve had learned early on that Danny was a competent climber, and a dependable belay.
Steve was halfway up the wall, and he wasn't sure that he would beat Riley to the top. "Come on, Danny," he said, reaching for a better grip. "If it were an underwater approach, I'd be diving with Kono. Going over a wall, I'm climbing with Riley."
"Who is beating you, by the way," Chin pointed out, from his position as Riley's belay.
They had identified one, and only one, point of access into the museum: a wall with no windows or doors. It was the only spot that the dogs had not alerted for explosives, so it was the only spot that Steve dared try to make entry. Schematics seemed sound; according to the building plans, it was a simple wall, built between two buildings to enhance the appearance of the facade and create a courtyard effect. The objection from the team was the exposure - if the bomber was watching; and the way the place was rigged, it certainly seemed likely - Steve and Riley would be targets. Moving targets, to be sure, and of course SWAT was covering them from the ground, but the higher they got, the more Danny worried and mother-henned.
"Frank said you were a good climber," Steve said, glancing over at Riley. She'd paused to find a foothold in the stone facade.
"I don't know if I'm placing the cams correctly," Riley said. "Though I don't plan to fall, so it shouldn't matter."
"Joe didn't teach you to use cams, I take it," Steve said.
"Nope. Said not to fall," Riley answered, grinning at him. "So I didn't fall. Well, once."
"What happened?" Steve asked, wedging his foot firmly between two stones.
"I'm really not sure. I was climbing, and then I was laying at the bottom, and Frank was yelling at Joe."
"Yeah, I can imagine," Steve said. "Hey, be careful with that hand; don't pull your stitches."
"Oh, that reminds me; can you take these out tonight? They're bugging me," Riley said, wrinkling her nose in frustration.
"They can't possibly be ready to come out," Steve said. "If they're hurting, we need to get Malia to take a look. Okay, can you hold there? Let me look over the wall." He pushed himself easily up onto the thick stone wall, drawing his SIG, and cautiously looking over the side.
"Okay, it's clear as far as I can tell," he said, pulling the rope all the way up and tying it off securely. "You good with rappelling down?"
"Yeah, I'm good with that," Riley said, grinning at him.
"Great. They're both grinning like idiots." Danny's voice came floating up to them.
"Okay. Stay here, there's at least some cover in this corner of the wall, with the tree. Let me get to the bottom, clear it, and then you come down," Steve instructed.
Riley nodded, perching where Steve had indicated and pulling up her length of rope. She rolled her eyes as Steve tied it off.
"I do know how to tie a knot, sailor," she said dryly.
Steve smiled apologetically and disappeared over the side of the wall. Riley couldn't help but be impressed with the speed of his descent; not so much a rappel as a free fall, expertly halted before hitting the bottom. He cleared the immediate area, and then pulled his socks and boots out of his backpack and put them back on, as Riley rappelled down and landed quietly next to him. Her boots were in his pack as well, and he handed them to her.
"Thanks," she said, pulling them on quickly. "Now what?"
"Now, we find a way to get Danny, Chin, and Kono in here," he said, "and we get these employees out safely."
#*#*#*#*#
"He's made an interesting decision, making the girl part of the task force. It will be harder to separate her from him."
"True; however, if this morning is any indication, we'll have the data we'd hoped to collect in no time. You say this wasn't arranged?"
"No, it wasn't our work. Excellent field test, though. I'd like to thank whoever did set it up. It's a brilliant piece of work."
"Keep me posted. And remember our agreement: I want complete data. Bide your time. This can't be rushed."
"Understood."
#*#*#*#*#