Chapter 10
Catherine wakes up when her cell phone beeps. Tired, she first has to get her bearings. Then everything comes back to her. Steve. He is lying there unchanged. It is terrible to see him like this. Her heart grows heavy; instead of putting him off until tomorrow, she should have just stayed with him. Maybe then none of this would have happened at all. Will she ever be able to tell him how much she actually loves him? Hastily, she wipes the tear from her face. Her eyes fall on Danny. Steve and he have a love-hate relationship, they fight all the time, but when the going gets tough, they stand up for each other. Danny has also dozed off in his visitor's chair. She gets the impression that he still blames himself, but it's not his fault. Then she remembers what woke her up. She has a text message on her cell phone.
'You are right. He is a ghost. His identity cannot be reconstructed. Probably foreign legion. We suspect further crimes and request transfer.'
'Client?'
'Unknown. Keep searching.'
Damn. Catherine had hoped that the Agency would at least be able to identify the client. Again, a cell phone beeps. This time it's Danny's.
"Danny?"
"Yeah?"
"Your phone."
"Hmmmm."
Half asleep, Danny pulls out his cell phone. Then he is awake in one fell swoop.
"Forensics recovered the cell phone. Come on."
Before they leave Steve, Catherine gives him a kiss on the forehead.
"See you later, Sailor."
Then they hurry to the car, leaving the guard outside Steve's room to watch.
Chin and Kono are also already at HQ.
"Weren't you guys home at all?"
Danny and Catherine look down at themselves. They are still wearing the same clothes as yesterday. Catherine just mumbles 'Steve' and brings Kono and Chin up to date on the ghost down in the cell. Kono brings up the contents of the cell phone on the monitor. Four different cell phone numbers, text messages, and content from the other apps. Among the photos, they only find pictures of Steve from different perspectives and his car.
The number that received the text message is not currently logged into the network. Kono opens the bank app.
"WOW, that's what I call an account balance."
"Take a look at the last transaction."
Kono opens it. The amount came from a numbered account in Switzerland.
"Great, and how are we supposed to find out the owner? The Swiss always shut down right away."
"Wait, I think Adam has contacts there."
Kono immediately dials Adam's number. Unfortunately, it only lands on the mobile box and leaves him a message.
"Hmm, can we do anything with the numbers?"
"Look at the numbers, they're all prepaid phones, you don't need to query them at all."
Shortly after, Kono receives a text message. 'Send me the number, I'll check with Switzerland. Need about twenty minutes.' Kono texts it to him. Catherine looks at her watch. 'Twenty minutes.' I'll just freshen up then."
Danny has also used the time and comes back in the door with fresh clothes. Shortly after him, Catherine reappears in the HQ. Kono stares impatiently at her cell phone. In the meantime, half an hour has passed. Then her cell phone signals that she has received a text message.
She stares at her cell phone in disbelief. Texts back again, but the answer remains the same.
"Kono, what is it?" She gulps, then puts her phone on the table and the text message appears on the monitor.
"No, I don't think so now." The others' eyes grow wide.
"Are you sure?" Kono nods.
They are about to leave when the computer beeps and one of the cell phone numbers appears on the monitor. The number has just connected to the cell tower just outside Honolulu. Then the connection jumps to the tower near the Tripler.
"Oh, my God, she's on her way to Steve."
As fast as they can, the friends head toward Tripler. During the drive, Danny tries to reach the officer outside Steve's door or Greg. He can't reach either of them. Danny continues to step on the gas pedal and drives as if the devil were after him.
She quietly opens the door. Done, my ass. The guy had done nothing. Well, the commander's life was hanging by a thread, but even that was too much. The order is different. She doesn't know why the order was changed. When she thinks of all the effort she went through to make eyes at the commander. Pff, and now she is supposed to eliminate him. She could have saved herself all that trouble.
She approaches the bed, the syringe already at the ready. She pauses briefly and looks down at the comatose Steve. It's a bit of a shame, he was a nice pastime. Stop it, she scolds herself, you have a job to do. Then she takes the IV bag and injects the drug.
"Have a good trip, Steve."
Then she makes to get out of the room and says a friendly goodbye to the police officer.