Chapter – 5
25-Year-old Officer Damien Forrester yawned as stepped out of Philz Coffee with 5 cups of their best brew. It was 7:15 AM and Damien did not appreciate the early call of duty. He took a sip from his cup before making his way next door to the small shop full of rainbow paintings.
"Hey Damien!"
Damien blushed as Tracy, the cute shop keeper for whom he had the hots for, waved at him.
"Hey Tracy." He said as he brushed a hand over his hair. "Can I have the usual?"
Tracy laughed softly. "Coffee Duty?"
"You know it." Damien chuckled nervously. "My boss doesn't like them from anywhere else."
"Well, you're in luck today. I just made a fresh batch." Tracy said as she disappeared behind the counter and re-appeared a minute later with a medium sized paper bag.
Damien took it from her before putting the owed money on the counter.
"I put an extra one for you. On the house." Tracy said as she winked. Damien turned bright red before nodding at her.
"See you around, Trace." He said and quickly left. Phew.
His office was right around the corner. It was a run-down building which was in dire need of re-construction, but his boss didn't mind, and frankly, nor did he or his team. He was the newest addition, and hence, bringing coffee every morning was currently the team's way of giving the rookie a rough time.
He juggled the coffee and the bag in one hand as he pushed open the door to the office of Special Crimes Unit, San Francisco.
The office was empty. He kept the warm goodies on the common table they had in the office and looked at his watch.
7:25 AM. At any time now his team would-
"Morning Damien."
Damien whipped around as his boss' calm voice reached his ears. "Hey boss. Good morning"
The man stood in front of him with a soft smile.
"Is one of those for me?" He asked with a raised eyebrow and looked at the coffee cups.
"Ahh…yes." Damien said and handed him a cup. "I also got you your favorite. They are from Kailani's."
He handed his Boss the bag he had gotten. The older man opened it and smelled the contents and a small grin took over his face.
"You trying to butter me, Forrester? Because everyone knows, the way to my heart is to bring me Kailani's fresh Malasadas."
Damien laughed as his boss, Lieutenant Chin Ho Kelly reached for a donut and took a huge bite.
"How can you even eat those? They are deep fried tickets to increased cholesterol." He spoke with a grimace.
"You know, one of my very close friends in Hawaii used to say the same thing." Chin said as he handed Damien the bag.
"I'm pretty sure he must be from the mainland." Damien said.
"Yes." Chin chuckled. "He was a haole. My favorite haole."
"Was?" Damien turned serious. "I'm sorry is he…."
"What, dead? God, no! He's been on the islands for more than 10 years now. He's not a haole anymore. He's kama'aina." Chin said with a smile.
"Kama'aina? As in local, right?"
"You're learning, rookie." Chin said and gave him a small clap on his shoulder.
"Hasn't it been like 3 years since you've gone home?" Damien asked. He knew it was none of his business, but his boss seemed cool while talking about his past job. Everyone knew he was a part of the Governor's Elite Task Force Five-0 in Hawaii.
That task force was a legend. Everyone knew their work in Hawaii was what had inspired many other states to establish similar task forces. His boss sometimes recounted his favorite stories from his time in Five-0 and Damien loved listening to them all.
He had also met another member of the Five-0 task force, Officer Kono Kalakaua. She was his boss' cousin and often helped them out with a case or two whenever she was in town. Damien was a huge fan of her badass personality and always made sure to learn as much as he could in the short span of time when she stayed with them.
The other two members of Five-0 which his boss talked about and missed the most were the two partners; Steve McGarrett and Danny Williams. Whenever Chin talked about them, a fond look took over his face. Damien knew how much his boss missed his old team and Hawaii.
"Yes." Chin smiled at him. "3 years since I've had a decent malasada…or pizza for that matter." He said teasingly.
"Okay now…look." Damien threw his hands up. "I know you're my boss and all, but pizza? Oh hell no. No pineapple on pizza. Ever!"
Chin laughed as his phone rang.
"Hold that thought." He said before answering. "Kelly."
For a second, he thought it was a wrong dial as no one spoke from the other end.
"Hello?" Chin furrowed his brow.
"Hey Chin."
Chin's eyes widened and he quickly put down his cup of coffee.
"Lou?" He asked, surprised. Sure, he called his old team from time to time, but it was always on some or the other occasion. Birthdays or stuff. Never out of the blue…like this. Something was wrong.
"Can you talk?"
"Everything alright?" Damien asked as Chin gave him a troubled expression.
"Yeah, give me a sec." Chin said to him before walking towards his office and closing the door. "Lou? Is everything okay?"
A sigh came from the other end.
"Hey Chin, Adam here."
"Hey brah! How are you?" Chin asked. "It's what, almost 4 in the morning there? What are you guys doing up?"
"Chin, listen to me." Lou's voice came. "We need your help."
Chin's ears perked up. "What do you need brah? Is everything okay?"
"It's Danny, Chin." Adam said.
"Danny? What happened? Is he okay?" Chin said, a little more loudly than he had intended.
"He was taken." Lou said.
"Taken? By whom?" Chin demanded.
"Jared Rivaldi."
Chin nostrils flared as he heard the name.
"When?"
"It's been 25 hours."
Chin's stomach did a double take. "25 hours?! You guys should have called me sooner!"
"Chin…please, you must understand. We know about this guy. We didn't want to drag you or Kono unless and until we absolutely had to."
"That's insane, Lou! You know how much history Rivaldi and Danny have. 25 hours…that's…" Chin shuddered as even the thought of anything happening to Danny left his hands cold.
"We need you, Chin." Adam said.
"Steve?" Chin asked hopefully.
"His phone's off and he can't be traced." Adam informed him.
Chin rubbed his eyes. God, he had forgotten about Rivaldi. Chin knew the kind of impact that case had had on Danny. And now, if Rivaldi had taken him, Danny was in serious trouble. Without Steve, himself or Kono, the whole team could be in serious trouble.
"Hello? Chin, you there?" Lou asked.
Chin took a steadying breath.
"Yeah, yeah I'm here." He spoke. "And I'm on the next flight home, brah."
/
At exactly 9:07 AM Lou entered the Five-0 offices to find the whole team already there.
"I take it none of us had a peaceful sleep." Lou said gravely and the team nodded.
"Lou, I think we found something." Tani said as she tapped away on the computer. Everyone gathered around her as she brought up some documents on the screen.
"This is a sale deed for a house in Kaimuki from 15 years ago in the name of Vivian Rivaldi. Guess whom it was transferred to a few months ago."
"Who?" Junior asked.
"Our very own side-kick, Terry Gerard." Tani said.
"This is where they could be holding Danny." Quinn said.
"Alright, Quinn call in HPD backup and SWAT. Tani send us the address. Let's move, people!" Lou said as they all rushed out of the offices.
They reached the scene in about 15 minutes. The house was situated on the corner of the neighborhood, away from the prying eyes of the other people residing there.
"Quinn, Junior, take one team with you from back. Tani, Adam, you're with me." Lou gestured.
The teams moved in swiftly, searching every corner of the house as well as the basement. It was only when all the 'Clears' rang out that Lou put down his gun.
"They are not here." Adam said in frustration.
Tani's eyes caught Junior moving towards a couch. "What is it?" She asked.
Junior shushed her before kneeling down and looking beneath the couch. His eyes widened before he scrambled to get up.
"BOMB! RUN!" He yelled.
The teams quickly ran outside and just as they were getting beyond the front lawn, the house exploded, leaving nothing but a pile of debris all over the place.
/
The team stumbled inside the office with a worn look on their faces. They had lost a SWAT agent that morning in the blast. The other team was banged up too, but nothing serious.
Quinn looked around the room and saw nothing but defeat on her teammates' faces. Their spirits had dampened considerably. There was no lead in the case at all which they could pursue.
They had no idea whether Danny was on the island, or mainland or where in the world. Heck, Quinn wasn't even sure if he was alive anymore. They desperately needed a breakthrough. She knew Rachel and Grace called Lou every other hour to get updates and wasn't sure how long the man could hold them off.
"Alright, let's go over what we have." Lou started tiredly.
"Seriously?!" Tani exploded loudly. "We have nothing, Lou, nothing! Nada! Zilch!" Her eyes held unshed tears. "It's been almost 40 hours, Lou, 40 hours! And there's still no Danny! He's probably-"
"Mouthing off and chewing Rivaldi and his goons' head off with his incessant talking."
All 5 heads whipped back to look at the newest voice which had spoken.
Exactly on the Five-0 sigil stood 2 people whom Tani, Junior and Quinn had never met but had just heard about and seen photos of.
"Ladies and gentleman…" Lou spoke, his voice holding a new relief and calmness which was missing since the last 2 days. "Meet Lieutenant Chin Ho Kelly, and Officer Kono Kalakaua."
Kono and Chin looked around the team before their eyes moved towards the offices and took in each and every detail. They had stepped foot in the headquarters after almost 3 years. Nothing had changed. Except the occupants.
Lou stepped forward before engulfing Kono in a big hug. "Girl, saying I missed you is such an understatement." He breathed as Kono hugged him back.
"It's good to see you, brah." She said and smiled at him.
"Ahhh Chin, buddy." Lou next hugged Chin. "Man, it's been a while."
"It has." Chin said as he patted the older man's back.
Adam gulped as he stood in front of Kono. He wasn't sure what he was feeling seeing his ex-fiancé standing in front of him.
"Hey." He smiled awkwardly.
"It's good to see you, Adam." Kono smiled at him before making the first move and hugged the man gently before moving away.
"Hey Adam." Chin said. "You look good, brah."
"I can't tell you how glad I am to see you, Chin." Adam said as he greeted the man.
"Come, let me introduce you to the team." Lou said as he guided the two of them towards the rest of the team. Before he could start though, Tani held up her hand.
"Holy shit." She breathed. "I've heard so much about you, you are a legend in the Academy, I mean-"
"Tani." Lou warned.
"Tani Rey." She cleared her throat as she introduced herself.
"It's good to meet you, Tani." Kono grinned at her. She could see a younger Kono in this woman.
After all the greetings were exchanged, Chin asked Lou to brief them on everything that had been done so far.
"To be honest, you guys have covered almost everything." Kono sighed.
"Almost?" Junior asked confusedly.
"Not everything is put on file, brah." Chin smirked. Kono looked at him before grinning.
"Come on, the sexual tension is killing us, cuz!" She said and pointed to the table. "You ready to get back to your mistress?"
Lou and Adam laughed as others looked at them without a clue of what was happening.
Chin rolled his eyes before putting his hands on the table carefully. "My baby." He said and his hands started moving on the table just as they did 3 years ago. He put in numerous passwords and did 100 other things which left the new team frowning in confusion.
"God, he's good." Quinn muttered.
"8 year ago, when this case had come up and Rivaldi had fled, we hadn't mentioned a few things in the official files." Chin said.
"Rivaldi was not like every other criminal you know." Kono said. "He killed some of these girls and had a trafficking ring too. It was as if the ring was a cover for all the heinous crimes he committed. When we found out about this, we found out that he somehow…got off on killing these girls."
"You mean, like a serial killer?" Tani asked softly.
Chin nodded. "We knew we needed help when the trail went cold after Hila's body turned up."
"Fortunately, Danny knew someone." Kono said as Chin brought up a document. "The then unit chief of FBI's BAU unit somehow owed Danny a favor. These BAU guys usually profile killers. It helps us in catching them."
"We already knew what he looked like and other trivial details, what we didn't know was his behavior." Chin said. "Danny sent the case file to them and after studying that, they sent in a profile for the guy."
"It's a long report, give us the short version." Lou said impatiently.
"His behavioral tendencies obviously referred to an abused childhood." Kono said. "His mother died when he was young, probably killed by his father. His father died soon after, leaving Rivaldi siblings to fend for themselves."
"He was close to his sister Vivian to an extent that it could almost be considered obsessional." Chin said. "He knew she was his responsibility. As they grew up, Vivian started getting independent but also started seeing Jared as her sole moral compass. He brought her up, conditioned her to his own lifestyle. When she found out about the child trafficking ring, she didn't object. According to her, her brother could do no wrong."
"She joined with him in this whole game. She brought him kids. He kept whom he liked for himself and others, he just sold. Although, we believe she didn't know about how he kept some girls for himself. She wasn't aware about him raping and killing them" Kono said, disgust creeping into her voice. "As they were pretty close, when she died, Rivaldi broke. We naturally expected more killings and disappearances, but nothing came."
"The profile led us to believe that he did most of this for his sister." Chin said. "To make sure she got all the luxuries and lived happily ever after. But the raping and killing, that was for himself. After her death, when he disappeared, we believed that he must have stopped or killed himself. But when Danny got that letter on Grace's birthday, we knew the monster was alive."
"The BAU told us that even if he stopped the trafficking ring, he won't be able to stop the killings. He needed them to survive. We circulated his photo and file to each and every agency out there, hoping someone will recognize the pattern and maybe one day he will be caught." Kono said sadly. "We worked the case sometimes when we had time, but soon it just sat eating dust."
"How come he had such an interest in Danny?" Quinn asked them.
"Well, it was terrible back then. The case shattered us." Chin said. "Mostly Danny. The public was in panic, Governor was on our ass to get this son of a bitch. We hadn't slept peacefully or eaten properly for almost a month. We were exhausted trying to find this guy. One day, the media started hounding us outside the palace with updates. Danny lost it when one of the reporters asked him if he was worried for his own daughter. He punched the guy. The video went viral, and obviously catered to Rivaldi's interests. He started sending letters to Danny about Grace, then it turned into pictures and that's when Danny sent her off the island."
"God, I hate this guy." Tani said.
"What else did the profile say?" Adam asked.
"A very interesting theory came up." Chin said. "Apparently, the BAU believed that Rivaldi's pedophilia came from when he was a teenager. His sexual preferences never matured. He had sexually molested little girls since childhood. But Vivian was out of question, he was too protective of her for that to happen. They also believed that this all pointed to something else too."
"What?" Tani asked. Before Chin could answer, another voice came from behind them.
"A third sibling."
There was no need for introduction to this voice.
Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett stood as tall as ever in the door of the Five-0 HQ. His eyes hardened and his fists tightened as he looked straight ahead at the photo of the man whom he despised with all his might.