Cross-over chapter with Hawaii 5-0.
Was anybody else annoyed with the way this happened? Steve may be in the reserves, but he's still a Navy SEAL.
Phone calls
"DiNozzo." Tony said absently, picking up the phone. It had been a slow day of cold cases and paperwork, he was half hoping this would be a body or something, but at the same time that wouldn't be good.
"Tony. It's Danny." He heard.
"Danny! Hey, it's been a while. I heard you were in Hawaii now, how's that going?" He asked, sitting up attentively. He hadn't seen Danny since his ex-wife took their daughter and moved, leaving him to follow just so he could stay a part of his little girls life. Grace was a very lucky little girl.
"Uh, not the best right now. My partner has just been accused of murdering the governor, so..." Danny said quickly.
"What?" Tony demanded. His outburst got the attention of the rest of his team, who looked concerned. Gibbs even stood up and walked over to stand in front of him, Tony punched the speakerphone button.
"Yeah, I highly doubt he pulled the trigger. We had evidence that she was dirty, Governor Jameson caught wind and put out a warrant for his arrest. He went there to confront her, against my advice might I add, and next thing I know she's dead and he's in prison awaiting trial." Danny sighed, and Tony could hear the frustration.
"This is your Navy SEAL partner, right?" Tony asked to clarify, and glanced at Gibbs, who pulled out his phone and called the director to find out what was going on here. Tim turned to his computer and started pulling up the files. The death of a state governor was big news, after all. They were surprised this was the first they were hearing about it, to be honest.
"Yeah. Listen, I haven't heard anything about NCIS or even the FBI coming in. This is all being handled by IA, and you know how they get."
"Yes I do." Tony said quietly. He'd run afoul of them several times before coming to NCIS. There were some good people there, but for the most part they seemed to see everybody as a dirty cop and were just waiting to pounce.
"Yeah, well. They're going after Kono, too. Which they can't do because everything they're going after her for was part of an official 5-0 investigation, which means she's protected under our means and immunity contract. But I don't know what I can do for her until we get Steve back and 5-0 reinstated." Danny said bitterly.
"Guys, there is no NCIS investigation into the death of the governor. It's not even on our radar." Tim said, typing furiously.
"That's not right. NCIS should have been called as soon as they knew he was in the Navy." Ziva said, moving to read over his shoulder.
"The entire island knows he's Navy." Danny said dryly. Steve's father hadn't been quiet about how proud he was of his Navy son, so only the rookies wouldn't have known. And Steve hadn't exactly been quiet about it, either.
"Then NCIS should have been called. There is an office in Pearl Harbor." Tony said in dread. He'd seen this happen before, a good cop was railroaded for doing his job and doing it well.
"That's now your job." Vance said behind him. "Gibbs, your team is officially assigned to Hawaii for the course of this investigation. Balboa's team is going with you as well to provide back-up and find out why our Pearl Harbor office is so out of the loop." He didn't know if McGarrett was guilty or not, all he knew was that proper procedure was not being followed and both the man's partner and training officer thought he was being framed for it.
Detective Williams was a highly regarded, highly decorated detective in New Jersey, and Commander White was a highly decorated, highly respected SEAL, before he became the main training instructor for the whole program, which brought him more respect since most of the SEAL's in service today were trained by him. He had a lot of pull within Washington.
"Meet me at the airport in an hour." Gibbs ordered.
"I'll have drivers take you. SecNav wants this dealt with, he's offered his private jet." Vance supplied. Commander White had heard what was going on (through the Navy SEAL grapevine) and had called his old friend to find out why NCIS wasn't handling it as Steve was a highly decorated SEAL, and still in the reserves. Tony's friend had just called before he could come explain the situation to them.
"Danny, I'll see you in a while." Tony said.
"I'll meet you at the airport." Danny said and cut the call.
"Before we land, guys." Tony said, turning to Tim and Ziva. "IA is going to not be happy with us stepping in, even though it's our jurisdiction. They seem to have made up their minds about what happened, and they don't change their minds easily, no matter how much evidence we ram down their throats. I've known a few to plant evidence to get good cops fired or worse." The two of them hadn't really had much interaction with anybody from IA, Gibbs kept them pretty sheltered for the most part.
"Let us handle it." Gibbs cut in. This was going to be a politically charged case. The death of a governor was never good, especially when there were allegations that she was dirty. Politicians didn't like those kinds of accusations being thrown around, even when it was other people they were being thrown at. "You just do your jobs. I want everything by the book, let's make our case so airtight that none of the politicians can poke a hole or find a loophole." He hated cases like these.
There was a reason why they had a federal judge on call for their warrants and such. With the politics of this case, they couldn't be sure that a local judge wouldn't refuse for fear of their job or something. That, and it was such a small island that they wanted to keep as many people's noses out of it as they could, which they wouldn't be able to do if they relied on a local for their warrants.
"Yes, Boss." Tim nodded his agreement and turned back to his computer where he was monitoring what was happening in Hawaii.
"Understood." Ziva nodded and went back to cleaning her gun. Balboa's team was in various stages of getting ready to land or relaxing before they had to hit the ground running.
"Tony!" He heard, and turned around to find Danny walking towards them quickly. He got pulled into a quick hug, and he could feel a lot of the tension leave Danny's body. "I've never been so happy to see a fed." Danny mumbled before pulling away. He'd been pleased, and touched when Tony hadn't even tried to argue that Steve might have done it. He told Tony that Steve didn't do it, and that was that. Tony knew Steve didn't do it, because Danny knew Steve didn't do it. Tony's team clearly followed his lead, and didn't question it, either.
Tony barked a quick laugh before turning around to introduce his team. "This is my boss, Agent Gibbs, this is Agent Timothy McGee, he's our computer guy. And this is Agent Ziva David, our resident ninja chick." He smirked at Ziva, who punched him on the arm.
Danny smirked. "Ignore him. Thanks for coming out." He said, shaking hands. "My car is this way, I managed to get an SUV for you guys to use while here." He said to Balboa's team, who quickly introduced themselves. He'd had to 'rent' the cars from Kamekona though, because they weren't all going to fit in his Camaro.
"Thanks. We'll see what's going on at Pearl, and call us if you need us." Balboa reminded Gibbs as his team made for the SUV before driving off.
"Do you have somewhere for us to work?" Gibbs asked.
"Yeah, it's technically closed off, but the 5-0 offices have all the stuff you'll need. And there's not really much anybody can do about it if a group of feds needs to use the space." He grinned.
"We'll head there first. Then you take Ziva and DiNozzo to collect the Commander, he's in our custody now. If he gets convicted, then he will be transported to Fort Leavenworth, but until then he's with us." Gibbs instructed. That was the only facility really equipped to hold somebody with the commander's training, anyway.
"Gladly." Danny said. "I have to warn you now, though, I was suspended from the police force when 5-0 was disbanded, I uh- I told them where they could shove their badge. They tried to make me come back despite what they were doing." He revealed. "So, I have no authority anymore beyond driving you where you need to go or telling you who people are."
"We can work with that." Tony said after a moment, feeling a bit of sorrow for his friend. Danny was like him. He was a cop, it wasn't just a job. It was what and who he was.
"We get this cleared up, I'm sure you'll get your job back." Tim tried to assure the man, who quirked a grin, but focused back on the road.
"Yeah... We'll see what the new governor has to say. He may have a different agenda that doesn't involve us being around." Danny shook his head. "Let's focus on Steve and Kono for now. Well, Steve. I don't know what to do about Kono." Hopefully the NCIS team could get that cleared up, too.
"While they go get the Commander, we're going to HPD and getting everything they have for this case." Gibbs glanced at Tim, who nodded his acceptance of the plan.
"Good luck." Danny muttered as they arrived at the palace.
Tony smirked. "I wouldn't worry about the Boss." He advised his friend. "It's HPD you should be worried about." Gibbs smirked minutely while following the former Jersey detective into the offices for his task-force.
Tim whistled. "Hey, Boss-"
"Talk to Vance." Gibbs said, cutting off the coming pleas for a new computer. Tim visibly deflated.
Danny glanced at Tony and snorted. Tony nodded with a grin. Ziva, meanwhile, was drawn to the weapons cabinet. They had yet to be removed by IA or anybody else.
"Oh, this is Commander Joe White. He trained Steve." Danny introduced the man who exited his office. He'd also been the one to call the Secretary of the Navy about this mess while he called Tony, hoping for a familiar face and not some fed that wouldn't care either way.
"Commander." Gibbs nodded in greeting. The rest of the team echoed him and shook hands all around.
"Well, I'm glad they sent the best. The best is what we will need." Joe said, relieved to have backup.
"Ziva, DiNozzo. Go." Gibbs ordered, and waved them off with the file giving them the authority to remove Steve McGarrett from prison.
"He doesn't talk much." Danny snorted as they left.
"He's talkative today." Tony joked with a grin. Ziva rolled her eyes. Danny raised his eyes.
"Is it a military thing? Because Steve can be the same way." He complained. Tony laughed all the way to the car.
"Sir, I can not let you take the prisoner." The warden said, putting the paperwork down.
"That paperwork in your hands releasing him into NCIS custody says otherwise." Tony said, pointing at it. "Signed by a federal judge, and the Secretary of the Navy. Now. Go get me my prisoner." He said slowly, as if to a small child.
"I would do it. We have had a long flight, and we have a long investigation ahead of us." Ziva advised the man, fingering her knife. Danny stood behind them, quietly watching. He was eyeing the knife suspiciously, wondering if she wasn't as insane as his partner.
The warden pursed his lips and studied them before signaling to a nearby guard. "Bring Steve McGarrett. Now." He ordered. The guard hesitated briefly before doing as he was told. "You, bring his personal effects." He ordered another one.
"Here." He fished around in his desk and pulled out copies of the paperwork to release Steve into their custody. "Sign." By the time they were done with the paperwork, Steve had been brought out and was standing beside them, while Danny had already collected his stuff.
"Commander McGarrett, I am Agent Tony DiNozzo and this is Agent Ziva David, NCIS. We are taking over this investigation, which puts you in our custody." Tony introduced himself and Ziva, then motioned to Ziva, who almost yanked Steve's arm out of the prison guard's grip.
"Gentlemen." Danny nodded on their way out. He decided to wait until they were back at the Palace before saying what he wanted to say... or at least until they got out of sight of the prison. He cleared his throat before the agents could put Steve in the car. "Stephen." He said evenly.
Steve turned to him. "Wha-" WHAM!
Tony and Ziva merely raised an eyebrow at the right hook Danny delivered to his partner's face. "Nice punch." Was all Ziva had to say about it.
"What did I tell you?! Huh?" Danny demanded, hands already waving. "I told you to WAIT! I told you NOT to go over there! I told you I would be back soon and we could handle it TOGETHER! Do you listen? NO! You have to go off and play Rambo!" He glared.
"I had to know, Danny!" Steve tried to protest.
"Did I give you permission to speak?" Danny glared. Steve's mouth closed with a click and he somehow managed to look like a kicked puppy, despite still being handcuffed, his prison uniform, and his general military bearing. "Get in the car." Danny said, and pushed him in that general direction. Tony and Ziva got in after them, amused.
"Sorry." Steve said quietly after a few minutes of driving.
Danny glanced at him in the mirror and sighed. "Apology noted, approval pending." He said when they were almost at the Palace, after almost an hour of complete silence. Steve grinned, knowing that meant he was forgiven.
"Are Grace and Rachel alright?" Steve asked then, knowing he wouldn't be yelled at for it this time.
"They are still in Jersey, they're fine." Danny sighed, wishing he could have gone with them like planned, but now knew that he could never leave Steve behind. The man had grown on him, despite all his complaints, he was the brother that Matt hadn't been in many ways. Besides, Steve would probably destroy the island within hours of him leaving, he couldn't even leave him for a half hour without something (the governor being killed) happening.
"That's good." Steve nodded, satisfied that his niece was safe, although he wasn't sure about Rachel. He honestly liked the woman, and he knew Danny still had feelings for his ex-wife, and he knew that they had gotten back together, but he also knew that she had left Danny once before when it got rough. He couldn't be sure that she wouldn't do it again, and Danny would only get hurt again. "It'll probably be safer for them to stay away until we get this figured out." He suggested.
Danny pursed his lips. "Yeah, maybe." He muttered. Who knew what Wo-Fat knew, after all. He probably knew everything about his baby girl simply because she was part of Steve's life. That being said, he wasn't about to hurt both Grace and Steve by taking her out of his life. As safe as he wanted her to be, he also wanted her to be happy. (Which was the only reason he had yet to wrap her in bubble-wrap and lock her away, despite how much Steve teased him sometimes.) Being with her Uncle Steve made her happy.
(Tony and Ziva exchanged a look and silently agreed that they would look into getting a protective detail for the woman and her daughter, they seemed like potential leverage to be used against the two 5-0 members).
"Hey, Boss, how did it go?" Tony called, getting out of the car. Ziva shared his obvious amusement, especially when they saw Tim cowering slightly behind their boss.
"Idiots." Was all Gibbs said.
"That bad?" Ziva inquired, looking at Tim, who nodded. The man who had arrived with them grinned.
"Agent Gibbs, NCIS. I need all the case files and evidence pertaining to the Governor's murder." Gibbs introduced himself and flashed his badge at the front desk of the precinct. Tim rolled his eyes behind his bosses back and passed over the paperwork informing them that they were taking over this investigation.
The sergeant looked at him, raised an eyebrow, and shook his head. "That information is not available." He said, and turned back to his work.
"NCIS, we are taking over the investigation, as we should have had it from the beginning. Hand over all files and evidence pertaining to the case." Gibbs leaned over the desk, glowering as he spelled it out as simply as he could for the moron in front of him.
"You don't have the authority. IA is handling it. The information you want is not available." The man said again, not showing how much this fed intimidated him.
"This federal court order says otherwise. Commander McGarrett is a Navy SEAL, that makes this case our jurisdiction, not yours." Tim spoke up, hoping to diffuse the situation before Gibbs got the local police against them, which would put a halt to any local cooperation they might have had. Another officer came over warily.
"Sergeant. Gentlemen. What's the problem?" Duke asked, hiding how hopeful he was that everything would work out. He knew that Steve didn't do it, he knew Steve too well to begin to believe this of him. He could see Chin-Ho out of the corner of his eye watching everything quietly. He knew Chin was doing everything he could for Steve, but it wasn't much. Their close association with the Commander meant that their judgment wasn't exactly trusted by the higher-ups right now, especially where this case was concerned. He picked up the court order and studied it.
"Everything seems to be in order." He said, glancing at the sergeant. "What's the problem?" He asked again, raising an eyebrow.
"Come on Duke. You know IA put a gag order." The sergeant said, looking at the feds.
"You let me handle IA." Gibbs promised darkly, staring him down.
"I'll help get what you need." Chin said, coming forward. The sergeant sighed, but put the right information into the computer while the group walked past them to get their evidence.
"We're going to need to go over the governor's office again, too." Tim commented to Chin and Duke, who nodded their acceptance.
"I can take you there. I was first on the scene." Chin offered.
"I thought you were Five-O." Gibbs said, recognizing him from the pictures the team had been provided of the task force so they knew who to look for.
"I am." Chin said with a sigh. "I lost my badge a few years ago, the whole... thing was recently cleared up and they offered me my badge back. I refused, but when they put out the warrant for Steve, I knew that I could be more help to him with a badge and not unemployed, like Danny is right now." He explained grimly. Danny had always been hotheaded like that, reacting first instead of completely thinking it through. Chin would be the first person to say that wearing an HPD badge instead of his Five-O one felt wrong.
Especially after everything he went through with HPD when he first lost his badge. Steve and 5-0 were the ones to give him his dignity, and his life, back. They were his O'hana, not HPD. He would do whatever he could to keep his O'hana together, even if it meant wearing the wrong badge in a time like this.
"Here we are." Duke cut in, opening the door to the evidence room.
"Gentlemen. Sorry, but I cannot let you have what you are asking for." The man in charge of the room said, looking up from his computer. It wasn't that he wanted to get in the middle of a federal jurisdictional battle, but IA and Gage would have his head, if not his career. He'd seen it happen time and time again, he had no intention of being next.
"Excuse me?" Gibbs demanded, losing patience quickly.
"IA would-"
"I don't care about IA. I care about my investigation. If IA really gives you trouble, you send them to me. I'll be at Five-O headquarters." Gibbs loomed over the man, who gulped and looked at Duke for help.
"Give them what they need." Duke said. "I won't let them touch you." He promised, knowing what he was worried about.
Gibbs narrowed his eyes, thinking. A good healthy fear of IA was normal in a police department. Whether you had actually done anything wrong or not. It meant that IA was doing something right. But this was far beyond the normal hesitance that he'd seen in the past. They were terrified of going against IA, even to the point of ignoring a federal warrant.
"The IA in charge of Steve's case is Gage. He's a headhunter with a reputation." Chin supplied to Tim quietly while the evidence boxes were finally put in Gibbs' hands.
"A reputation for what?"
"Destroying careers." Duke said grimly. "He's known to plant fake evidence." He'd hounded Chin so much despite having no actual evidence, and Chin wasn't the first either. Those that came after Chin was forced out didn't know any better. Some of those that did know Chin knew the truth of the matter, and still distanced themselves so as to not draw IA's attention. Others that knew Chin actually believed that he was guilty.
"If he's known for it then-"
"Why hasn't anybody done anything about it?" Chin finished with a wry twist to his lips. "Because he's IA. People around here know better then to do anything other then keep their heads down around them. We would try to get an investigation onto him, but..." IA investigated the police. Nobody investigated IA, because they were IA.
"Come on, we have an investigation to run." Gibbs grunted after a moment, handing the cart with the boxes on it over to McGee. He made a mental note for all of it to be sent to Abby, clearly they couldn't trust anything about the local system, not with everyone so cowed by IA. He doubted that IA would be quiet about his team's stepping in.
"What is this?" A slightly overweight man came blustering into the evidence room, glaring at everyone. The officer in charge of the evidence room quickly disappeared into the shelves, not wanting to get involved. "You have no right to that, that is my case!" Gage blocked the door, not letting anybody past.
"Last I checked, you were not NCIS." Gibbs snorted, and moved to go around him. The federal warrant and all the paperwork had already been shown at the front desk and appropriately filed, if this guy wanted to ignore that, it wasn't his problem.
"You are not going anywhere with my evidence!" Gage actually put a hand on Gibbs, shoving him back. McGee winced and backed up a few steps.
"It's not your evidence. It's mine." Gibbs glared, no longer in the mood to be polite. "Touch me again." He quietly dared, and went to move past again, intending to get this man out of the doorway so his junior agent could move past and to the elevator.
Gage didn't listen, and put out a hand to shove Gibbs back again, his hand had barely touched Gibbs chest before it was grabbed. He was slammed roughly against the wall, arm twisted painfully behind him, while his other hand was grabbed.
"You are under arrest for impeding a federal investigation, and assault on a federal agent." Gibbs growled in his ear, cuffed him, and started marching him out of the room before he could protest.
"What th- you can't do this! I'm Internal Affairs! That is my case, you have no authority here!" Gage tried to protest.
"The federal government says otherwise." Gibbs informed him. "You have the right to remain silent, and I suggest you take it!" He snarled when Gage went to protest again, coming out of the elevator on the main level.
Every cops eyes turned to them, some blinking in shock at the sight of the most feared IA officer on the island in cuffs.
"McGee, call Fornell! Find out who on this island we can pass him off to." He glanced at McGee, tossing him his phone. "Speed dial three."
"Yes, boss."
"Who is Fornell?" Chin asked curiously.
"FBI agent. He seems to be the agency's go-to for anything to do with Gibbs." McGee shrugged and handed off the cart to Chin while he called the one FBI agent that his team could actually stand half the time.
Danny's jaw dropped. "You arrested Sergeant Gage of IA?" He asked, shocked.
Chin was still grinning. "It was glorious." He crowed. Under Fornell's instructions, they'd driven straight to the local FBI field office and left Gage in their care while Fornell arranged for the man to be investigated for corruption and for a quieter investigation to happen with HPD and IA in general.
"McGee, DiNozzo, go to the crime scene, make sure the locals didn't miss anything." He ordered, and Chin immediately volunteered to take them. "You will tell us everything you know about the governor, and everything about the night she died." He rounded on Steve, who straightened and nodded quickly.
"Hey, what's going on?" A woman suddenly came into the main room, going straight to the computer.
"I'm sorry, who are you?"
"That's Kono, she's Chin's cousin and our fourth teammate." Danny said quickly, not wanting to see her kicked out. "She's also suspended, still." He reminded the girl with a raised eyebrow.
"So are you." She pointed.
"I'm not under the microscope." Danny deadpanned.
"That investigation is bogus, and you know it!" She snapped. She still couldn't believe it was happening. She knew that she'd done nothing wrong, and she knew that she wouldn't change anything she did that day, except maybe put the bullet through Hesse's forehead instead of his arm. It wasn't even her that took the money! It was Steve! But she was the only one that nosy old aunty had seen, so she was the one getting in trouble for it.
She was sure that the only reason it was all coming out now was because Steve was no longer there to protect her.
"Yes, I do. But you still can't be here." He said patiently. "I'm not here as a cop, I'm here as a friend of Steve's, and as their official chauffeur." He pointed at the agents.
"Uh-huh, do chauffeurs usually help with investigations?" Kono challenged, narrowing her eyes.
Danny sighed in frustration, he was trying to protect her from any more trouble here! But Gibbs stopped him before he could say anything else. "She's fine. I'll work it out with Vance so you two can have authority to act in an official capacity." He said, and walked off, flipping his phone out and pressing a number as he went.
He liked her, she had fire. And she wasn't willing to leave anybody behind.
"Well, HPD did a good job of trampling all over the scene." Tony said, coming in, visibly annoyed. "But we got plenty to send to Abby. Hello, Kono, right?" He thought he remembered her from his brief investigation into the 5-0 team.
"Yes." She confirmed.
"One of Balboa's team will be by soon to hand you federal badges, they will be temporary for this investigation." Gibbs came back from his short conversation. "What were you suspended for?" He asked bluntly.
She looked at Danny for help, not sure how much she should reveal. "Chin was taken hostage by an arms dealer we thought we'd already killed. Steve chased him and his brother across the world for years, they were known to supply weapons to terrorists. This one killed Steve's dad, that's what brought Steve back to the islands. He took Chin, strapped a bomb around his neck, and put him out front of the Palace for us to find." He gestured in the vague direction of the building's main entrance.
"Then he demanded ten million dollars. The governor refused to supply it, because America doesn't negotiate with terrorists." Kono said, a little bitterly.
"No, but they do sting operations all the time." Tony pointed out.
The three 5-0 members shrugged, almost in unison.
"We knew where we could get the money, there was a large stash in the HPD Asset Forfeiture Locker, still sitting there from a drug bust that was never closed. And we never had any intention of letting Hesse leave with the money, either. We got it, went to the location he gave us, I hid with my rifle," She nodded at where her sniper rifle was in the locker, "Steve gave him the money, and he burned it."
"We still took Hesse into custody and saved Chin, but now we had no money to return." Danny said with a sigh.
"A couple of months later, a Coast Guard captain rigged a fake tsunami warning so that he could steal the money from the locker, he hid it all in the sand bags piled up in front of the police department, because who would question the Coast Guard taking the bags to empty or store them somewhere else when it was all over?" Chin shrugged.
"We caught him, found the money. And we were expecting to at least be questioned about the missing ten million, because that was the amount we needed to save Chin, and we were told 'no'."
"But when the Governor called Steve to talk to him about the fake warning, she told him that all the money was there, and accounted for. None of it was missing." Danny said darkly.
"Somebody knew you had taken it, and they didn't want you disbanded." Tony realized.
"We think it was the Governor herself, now that we know everything we do about her." She was in league with the Yakuza, Wo Fat, and who knew who else. "She probably wanted to keep Steve where she could keep an eye on him."
"Makes sense." Ziva muttered.
"We thought that was the end of it." Chin carried on. "But a few weeks after that, a sugar cane farmer called HPD, he'd found a very large pile of burned money in his fields."
"The ten million."
Danny nodded unhappily. "Enough of the serial numbers were still intact that they realized that the burned bills should have been in the locker, not burned in a field somewhere, and then they started asking questions."
"When we were taking the money, I was on lookout while Steve did the actual theft." Kono took up the rest of the tale. "An old woman saw me and questioned what I was doing outside her building. I told her we were doing some stuff with the water lines, but I don't think she fully believed me. She came forward to HPD and told them about seeing me that day."
"She didn't see Steve, did she?"
"No. He was in the tunnels before she came, and she left literally seconds before he got back." She shook her head.
"So you got the full blame for that money." Gibbs muttered, thinking. Then he shook his head, reminding himself to focus on one thing at a time. Besides, he'd already gotten the FBI onto the local IA, they would deal with it if there was something else going on. Especially since at the time of that theft, 5-0 was under full means and immunity, so she literally could not be investigated for that incident.
"We'll worry about that later, but you will still work with us in an official capacity." He turned to his second. "What did you find." He commanded.
"A trampled crime scene and a lot of fingerprints. We also picked up the Commander's medical report and the call from dispatch, etc., and found that the officer in charge ignored the fact that the Commander had an electrical burn consistent with a taser on his neck." Tony handed over the report. "And not a single report of any of HPD using a taser during his arrest."
"Could have been from when he broke in." Tim suggested, looking around at his teammates.
"No, if one of the guards managed to get him like this, they would have taken him into custody then and there." Ziva disagreed, followed by everybody else.
"I was first in the room, Steve was on his hands and knees, shaking his head like he was disorientated." Chin said. "It was in my report..." He trailed off as he searched through the files for his report to show them. "Here it is... what the- where's my... I swear I put it in my report!" He exclaimed, eyes wide as he looked up at the group. "Somebody removed my observations of the scene upon entry."
"What you saw was further evidence that put Steve's guilt in further question, or at least put a third party in the room. Somebody wants Steve out of the way." Danny realized. "It could have been Gage, or somebody else on Wo Fat's payroll."
"Ziva, you're on guard duty. Nobody gets near the Commander except those of us in this room." Gibbs ordered. She nodded and turned to guard Steve's office, where they had put him instead of the interrogation room. In the words of Danny, he did not trust Steve not to escape and run off crazy-like the moment he was out of their sight. Chin and Kono agreed that he probably would run off to solve this and prove his own innocence.
It wasn't that he didn't trust his team, he did.
It was that he didn't want to drag them into something he saw as his fight, nor did he want them to get in trouble for him.
Gibbs sighed when he heard that, head-slapped Steve, and practically ordered him to 'sit and stay' in his office.
"Because somebody had to have been there to taze McGarrett, which means that there's another witness at least. But nobody has come forward." Tim muttered to himself, looking at the pictures Tony had brought back with him.
"What about the reports from dispatch?" Gibbs asked after a moment of frowning at the wall.
"The call came in roughly two minutes after the Commander made his entrance, based on the time-stamp of the security cameras going off-line. With his training, he would have ensured that there was nobody left awake who could have made that call. Or hid evidence of his presence so that anybody awake didn't see anything out of the ordinary until he was ready to leave. And by the time HPD arrived, he should have been long gone, which is explained by the taser burns." Tony said, handing it over to Gibbs to see for himself.
"Unbelievable." Danny muttered, scowling at all the evidence HPD was sitting on that proved Steve's innocence in the actual murder of the governor, but apparently was perfectly willing to ignore for some reason. He knew that was unfair, that there was something bigger at play here, but he wasn't in the mood to be fair right now.
"Max, what are you doing here?" Chin asked suddenly, looking towards the doors to the offices.
"I came to see how the investigation was progressing." The ME said. "And to offer my assistance if needed."
"Uh-huh. Well, I hope that we don't end up actually needing you." Danny admitted with a wry grin. Max acknowledged this was a short nod and glanced at the NCIS agents. "Oh, Max, this is the NCIS team I told you about. Special Agent Gibbs, Senior Field Agent DiNozzo, Agent McGee, and Agent David. NCIS, this is Dr. Max Bergman, he's our team's medical examiner." He introduced everyone.
"Hello." Max said simply.
"Was there something else, Max?" Danny asked, curious.
"Yes. I was taking a look at the images from the crime scene, and I noticed something odd. Stand here." He instructed Danny, who raised an eyebrow, but did as he was told, knowing that the doctor was onto something and it was best to just go with it. "Officer Kalakaua, stand... here." He pointed at a spot on the floor, roughly where Chin had seen Steve in relation to where the Governor's body was. "The governor was shot standing up, and fell backwards into her chair." The ME started explaining. "Commander McGarrett was standing here." He pointed at Kono. This was guessed based on Chin's report of where Steve was in the room and where his gun was found on the floor. "The bullet wounds on the Governor indicate that she was shot from back here, and GSR testing on the clothes the Commander was wearing that night indicate that he was already on the floor when the gun was fired."
There was residue on the back of his clothes, not his front. And while there was residue on his hands, likely from it being placed immediately after being fired, there was none on his sleeves. Which indicated that Steve was not the one to fire the weapon, and was in fact already lying down on his side and front.
Gibbs nodded in appreciation when he heard Max's concise report. At least there was one local it seemed like they could trust. "Thank you, Dr. We'll have our lab verify for the official report, but I have no doubt she'll find the same thing." He smirked wryly. Max nodded his understanding.
"That matches up with what the Commander said in his statement." Tony added, having been reading through the written statement Gibbs had taken down while Max gave his findings. He was quite impressed with Max's findings, especially since he didn't actually have access to the clothes the commander was wearing that night, or the lab equipment to test it. And he'd discovered the positioning from looking at the crime scene images.
"Did you already get the physical evidence to Abby?" Gibbs asked, glancing at his second.
"Overnight express via fighter pilot, priority delivery." Tony reported. The Hawaiian team blinked in surprise that they commandeered a fighter jet to deliver evidence to a lab.
Gibbs grunted and left to find coffee, trusting his team to know what to do next, and to direct the 5-0 team as needed.
Tony turned back to the locals. "SecNav wants this dealt with, ASAP." He explained the reason behind the fighter jet, then he handed out assignments to the three while his own teammates had already scattered to start their own work.
Two hours later, Chin disappeared, only to reappear twenty minutes later with food for everybody, which was happily accepted and devoured. The NCIS team was amused when the entire Five-O team disappeared into the Commanders office to eat with him, instead of in the main room with the rest of them.
Finally, Gibbs called everyone back to the main computer area to share their findings, which wasn't much.
"There somewhere in this place we can put him for the night?" Gibbs jerked his head at Steve, who had alternated between sitting at his desk (which had been cleared of paperwork and his laptop by HPD), pacing his office, or sitting on his couch and writing something.
"Here? No. He can either stay in his office, his couch is more comfortable than it looks, or go back to HPD for the night." Danny shrugged. "Unless one of us wants to take him home with us and put up with him possibly escaping because he had an idea."
"What about Pearl Harbor, Boss? Shouldn't there be holding cells there somewhere?" Tony suggested.
Gibbs shook his head. "I haven't heard back from Balboa yet, which means that they're too busy to deal with him, too." And he wasn't about to take him to the local FBI office, knowing them they would try to use that to claim the case for themselves even though it was out of their jurisdiction and they'd had their chance before NCIS got involved, they missed it. They had a week to come in and start doing their jobs, they failed. Gibbs wasn't going to deal with their whining now.
"I'll find one of our blankets, and a pillow." Kono said with a small smile, knowing her boss was going to have to deal with sleeping on his office couch for the time being. Somehow she highly doubted that Gibbs was going to let HPD anywhere near him for a long while.
"Tony, you're on first watch. I'll come back to relieve you at 0200 so you can get some sleep." Gibbs said quietly. Ziva had been in charge of watching Steve all day, so she could have the night off, and if what they were saying about this Wo Fat was true, he didn't want to risk it with Tim, he was still very green in some areas. Tony nodded and moved to relieve Ziva while Kono came back with the promised blanket and pillow.
"Let's pack it up for the night." He told the rest of them.
"We're not going to get much further until Abby's had a chance to work her magic." Tony added from his spot by Steve's office. The NCIS team nodded their agreement.
"Oh, boy." Danny said, looking out the glass door, where a well-dressed gentleman had just appeared. He looked annoyed, and was being followed by aids. Before he opened the door, he glared inside the offices at everybody still clustered around the computer table. "That is Lieutenant Governor Sam Denning." He informed the agents, who glanced at him before turning to face the coming battle, Gibbs in the center and flanked by his two junior agents while his senior agent stayed at his post.
Finally, the governor came in. "Just what is going on here?" He demanded. He would have gotten here sooner, but he'd only just learned that anything was going on, much to his annoyance. If he was going to keep the state of Hawaii afloat in these troubled times, he needed to be kept informed of things like this. His eyes fell on Steve McGarrett in his office. "What is he doing here, and not in prison?" He asked, pointing a finger in the head of Five-O's direction.
"What is going on is that we're doing our jobs." Gibbs said evenly. "And he's in our custody, so he stays wherever we put him."
"And just who are you?" Denning asked, making Danny bristle at how condescending he sounded.
"Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS." Gibbs flashed his badge. "These are Agents David and McGee, and that is Senior Field Agent DiNozzo." He pointed at Tony, still by the office door. "As the Lieutenant-Commander is still in the Navy, the Pearl Harbor office should have been investigating this from the beginning, not HPD." He said lowly, dangerously.
Denning pursed his lips and studied the agents in front of him before deciding that his position wasn't strong enough to throw his weight around with a federal agency, not when he was just the fill-in until elections could be arranged and held. "Alright. But you can't be in here, this area is still..." He started.
"This space was offered to us, as a location to work out of. Frankly, I don't care what you think this area is right now." Gibbs cut him off. "While we are using it, this space is considered a federal office."
Denning was quiet before he tried again. "What about the offices at Pearl Harbor?" He countered.
"Under investigation for gross incompetence and negligence in the course of doing their duties." Gibbs shrugged. "The team handling that has other things to worry about without us getting in their way. And this office is more central."
"Fine. But they can't be helping." He pointed at Kono and Danny. "And he shouldn't be helping." He narrowed his eyes at Chin. He ignored the man in naval uniform, figuring that he was there because of McGarrett being in the navy.
"Why can't they be helping?" Gibbs inquired mildly.
"He quit, and she's suspended while under an investigation." Denning was starting to get frustrated now.
Gibbs hummed. "I heard about that. I also heard that everything she is accused of, she's protected from under the means and immunity given to the Five-O task-force by Governor Jameson. Therefore, the investigation against her is illegal. I already have somebody on that, though." He waved off. Well, technically not, but the FBI's investigation into the local IA would handle it as part of their investigation.
"Not if I revoke that means and immunity clause."
"Not how that works." Gibbs shook his head.
"And Williams?" Denning decided to leave that for the time being. He would look into it, but he had a feeling he was missing something here.
"He's been brought in as a special consultant, with authorization to act as he sees fit as an officer of the law. So has she."
Denning clenched his teeth, pursed his lips, stared at Gibbs for a moment and turned to leave. Before he reached the doors, he turned around. "I want to be kept posted on everything to do with your investigation." He said.
"Nah-uh." Gibbs shook his head.
"Excuse me?" Denning asked, starting to stalk back.
"Our investigation has already revealed corruption on the part of Pat Jameson. Until we can be sure that you were not part of that, I'm afraid that we'll keep the results of our investigation to ourselves." Gibbs said calmly.
"You're investigating me, now?" Denning demanded.
Gibbs nodded and hummed again. "In fact, why don't you and Agent David sit down, we were going to come ask you some questions tomorrow, might as well while you're here." He leveled the stand-in governor with a look that quite clearly told him that his refusal wasn't really an option.
Ziva stepped forward and showed him into Danny's office, closing the door behind her and giving Gibbs a dark look for volunteering her to do this.
Danny whistled. "I have never seen a politician be shut down so fast before." He said in awe.
Tony snorted. "The boss has turned it into an art form." He informed the detective with a smirk. Gibbs shrugged, not deigning that with a response. That was one of the disadvantages of being one of the top investigators in politician-central, they often had politicians trying to nose their way into his investigations. Like that assistant director woman during the Jeffrey White case. He'd had to learn quickly how to deal with them, or be walked all over.
"Hey, ah, you guys got a place to sleep while you're here?" Danny asked, frowning. He'd secured them a car, but he hadn't thought to ask about that, although he supposed that NCIS should have made those arrangements, especially with how accommodating the Secretary of the Navy was being over all this. First the man provides them with a private jet, then gives them leave to use a fighter jet as a delivery service, surely he would spring for beds for them all?
"Yeah, we were given a house to use." Tony assured his old friend. Of course, they had to share with Balboa's team, but they had been assured that the house would be large enough, even a few of them would need to double up on rooms.
"Cool, do you know where to go to get there?" Chin asked.
"Yeah, we have the address, I can put it in my GPS." Tim assured him.
Suddenly, the door to Danny's office opened and the temporary governor left, nodding at the agents as he did. Ziva followed him out, scowling at Gibbs. "He is clean." She announced. Gibbs nodded. "And if you ever do that to me again without advanced warning..." She warned her boss, knowing that if he really wanted to do it again, he would and they all knew there wasn't a thing she could or actually would do about it.
Gibbs smirked. "Come on. Let's go. Be back here at 0700." He instructed the task force members as he led his junior agents out, nodding to Tony as he did and reminding him that he would be back around 0200. Tony just nodded and settled in to guard duty. He'd already made sure the Commander wouldn't want or need anything during the night, because once his team was gone, he wasn't getting up to get anything.
True to his word, Gibbs returned at two in the morning, coffee in hand, to find Tony playing with his phone to keep awake. Peeking in the office revealed the Commander to be camped out on his couch, but he couldn't tell from here if the Seal was actually sleeping or not.
"Well?" He asked quietly, handing one of the coffees to Tony, something to keep him awake on the drive to the house.
"All quiet." Tony reported. "I was thinking, boss. You remember how Ziva told us that her father wanted her to bug various offices when she first arrived at NCIS? Well, what are the odds that somebody managed to bug the governor's office?"
Gibbs hummed. "Possible. We'll talk to Abs, she should have everything by then, and hopefully she'll have something to share, then go back over the office." He said.
"Sounds like a plan, boss. I also want to talk to this Hesse guy." Tony admitted.
"Hesse? The guy that killed John McGarrett?" Gibbs questioned.
Tony nodded. "If he was killed because he was starting to get close, and not because Steve had captured Hesse's brother, then Hesse can tell us who he was working for. He's also a loose end."
Gibbs nodded. "You and Ziva can do that tomorrow, then." He said, and shooed his senior agent out to go get some sleep. When he glanced into the office, he wasn't surprised to find that McGarrett wasn't sleeping, and had most likely heard the entire conversation.
When they arrived in the morning, they delivered the Marines much needed coffee and food, and then gathered around.
Just in time for Abby to call.
"Hello, everybody!" She greeted. "How is Hawaii?" She asked with a grin.
"Warm. Do you have something, Abbs?" Gibbs asked, amused.
"Yes. I ran all the fingerprints found, there were a lot of them, by the way." She added, shaking her head. "Don't they ever clean in there?" Gibbs cleared his throat to get her back on track. "Right, sorry. So, as expected most of them belonged to the late Governor Jameson. There was a Laura Hill, Sam Denning, various other officials, police, security, what you would expect in a public officials office, and a lot more unknowns. But, I also found John McGarrett's fingerprint." She announced.
"What?" Danny asked. "That doesn't make any sense, John McGarrett has been dead for over a year." He said, confused.
"I know, that's why I want to know if they ever clean that place." Abby snorted.
"Where was the print found?" Gibbs asked, curious.
"Uh-" Abby consulted her notes. "On a clock." She said, and typed on a computer for a moment before the relevant images were pulled up of the clock in question.
"Why would they be on a random clock?" Chin wondered, curious.
"What if John McGarrett was starting to get suspicious of the governor? Or somebody close to her?" Tony asked. "Boss-" He turned to Gibbs, thinking about what he thought of the night before.
"Go get that clock." He instructed Tony, and nodded for Tim to go with him. Two seconds later they were gone.
"While they do that, you and me are going to go have a chat with Victor Hesse." He instructed Danny, and walked out, leaving the detective to stare after him in shock.
"I would follow, yes? He does not wait around." Ziva advised.
Danny scrambled after the Marine, muttering about military men and shooting a glare at a confused Steve McGarrett for good measure.
"Navy cops, huh?" Hesse questioned when he was brought into the interrogation room. "I was wondering why you hadn't gotten involved sooner." He snorted. He vaguely noted that they'd set up a camera for this interview, which told him just how important their visit was.
"That's being looked into." Gibbs said simply, then settled in to watch Hesse for a moment while Danny stood in the corner.
Hesse's gaze shifted to watch Danny for a few moments. "Detective. It has been a while." He greeted, with only a hint of condensation. "Oh, wait, you're not a detective anymore, you're unemployed."
"I wish it had been longer." Danny glared, ignoring the last comment for favor of not smashing the guys face in. Hesse smirked, guessing what he was thinking.
"How can I help the navy cops?" He finally asked, turning his attention back to Gibbs.
"I want to know who you work for." Gibbs said simply. "Because we both know that you killing John McGarrett had nothing to do with your brother's capture."
Hesse snorted. "What makes you think that I'm going to tell you anything about that?" He asked, amused.
Gibbs got up and moved behind him, leaning forward to whisper in his ear. "Because you know what your employer is capable of. And because you know that you are a loose end." He straightened up and moved back into Hesse's line of sight. "We all know what men like that do to loose ends." He gave a condescending smirk of his own.
Hesse was quiet for a moment, and the look on his face proved to Gibbs that Hesse was well aware of his current life expectancy. "If I say anything," He started slowly. "You have to get me out of here, and into somewhere on the mainland. He has people everywhere on these islands, even within the prison." He said quietly.
"I can have a squad of MP's here in twenty minutes to transfer you to a secure military holding facility until arrangements are made for an official transfer to a federal prison." Gibbs said after a few moments.
Hesse pursed his lips. "I'll wait." He leaned back in his chair, not willing to tell them, only to be double-crossed.
Gibbs smirked minutely, but stepped away for a moment to make his call. Once he was done, Hesse refused to say anything more until the MP's were there, with transfer paperwork signed and sealed.
Twenty minutes later, he sighed after he was shown the paperwork. "Wo Fat ordered the hit on John McGarrett. He leaked my brother's location, knowing that Steve would be sent to handle the capture, and then called when my brother was taken into custody. He chose me to carry out the hit because Steve had been chasing us for so long, it was just another layer of deception. I didn't agree with it. We'd done our homework on Steve McGarrett, we knew how protective he was of those he cared about. I knew that killing his father would just make him more determined to catch us, but his father was getting too close. My brother dying in that ambush... wasn't part of the plan."
"Too close to what?"
"Wo Fat. The Yakuza here on the island. The governor's connections to organized crime. The murder of his wife and who ordered it." Hesse shrugged. "Part of Wo Fat's... power, if you will, is from his anonymity. Nobody knows about him. John McGarrett was getting close to forcing him into the open."
"So Wo Fat ordered him killed." Danny said, knowing that this confirmed that, at least.
"Yes."
"You can confirm that Governor Pat Jameson was in bed with Yakuza and Wo Fat?" Danny asked.
"Yes. And just like me, she'd become a loose end." Hesse said. "In fact, Steve is lucky you got him out when you did."
"What do you mean?"
"I was ordered to kill him tomorrow." Hesse revealed, lying slightly. He did not reveal his plans to help Steve escape so he could try and catch Wo Fat before Wo Fat had a chance to come and eliminate him. Wo Fat hadn't said anything about killing Steve, Steve was the fall guy for Jameson's murder. But he was under orders to make Steve's time here very... painful.
Danny and Gibbs glanced at each other. "What do you know about Wo Fat's moles within HPD, or the CIA, or wherever he has them hidden." Danny asked after a moment.
"I'm not sure about the CIA. I suspect he does have someone in there, but I wouldn't know who." Hesse admitted. "There is somebody in HPD, a captain. I don't know his name, but it was his job to delay HPD long enough to allow us to finish up in the McGarrett home and get out after killing him. We hadn't counted on Steve having somebody in his convoy call HPD while he was on the phone with me." He freely admitted that he'd miscalculated somewhat there. "I can pick him out of a photo line-up." He offered.
"Good enough." Danny muttered.
"What about Wo Fat's hideouts?" Gibbs asked next. "Businesses? Associates?"
"My brother was captured in North Korea, while he was making a business deal with some local rebel forces." He smirked slightly. "As far as I know, my brother finished his business before Steve got him, and Wo Fat moved the majority of operations in Asia to an old compound in the area."
For the next two hours, Hesse told them everything he could, wanting to get out of this place before Wo Fat finally got around to killing him. He still had yet to finish what he and his brother started, he couldn't do that dead, now could he?
"Hey, Boss. How'd it go?" Tony glanced up from what Tim was doing on the computer.
"Good. Question, why was Victor Hesse never turned over to the CIA or Naval Intelligence for proper interrogation?" He turned on White, who blinked, then frowned.
"That is a good question." He muttered. Why was Hesse sitting in a state prison instead of a federal or military facility? Even Gitmo would be more appropriate.
Gibbs snorted then dropped his notepad onto the table, although the tape of his interview stayed in his pocket. He would turn that over to Vance himself, the Director could decide what to do with the information from there. "Hesse confirmed that Jameson was corrupt and had become a loose end."
"He's also said that Wo Fat has somebody in the CIA, and he knows of several others within HPD. He doesn't know names, but Gibbs has somebody going over with a photo array of every officer on the island." Danny said.
"If anybody wants to talk to him some more, he's already on his way to Fort Shafter." Gibbs said before turning to his agents. "What's this?"
"There was a camera in the clock. We're pretty sure John McGarrett put it there." Tony informed his boss, who raised an eyebrow and hummed. "Surprisingly, it has a pretty good memory and battery life. I mean, there's a year's worth of video on it, and only the older stuff has started to become corrupted with age and stuff."
"Here we go." Tim finally said. "The night the governor was killed." He pressed the 'play' button on the touchscreen, and they all watched in silence.
"I'll call Denning, he can handle clearing Steve's name." Chin finally said after a few minutes. Gibbs turned and motioned for Steve to be let out of his office, as soon as the door was open, Steve practically bolted out.
Apparently sitting around in his office with very little to do for over a day was even more boring and confining than sitting in a prison cell for a week. At least for Steve. Who knew?
"Now what?" He asked eagerly, wanting to get after Wo Fat before he had a chance to escape.
Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "Now, you leave it to us. You have not been officially cleared yet, and Five-O has yet to be reinstated."
"Bu-"
"I never said you couldn't join our investigation. But you are too close." Gibbs stared him down while Tony handed out assignments to the junior agents behind him.
Steve was silent for a few moments. "I can live with that." He finally said.
"Alright. Denning will be down in a little bit to make it official, but he is reinstating Five-O. He said that he has some conditions for us, but he'll talk about it with all of us." Danny said, returning to the group from his phone call. He didn't mention the press conference after their little talk to make sure the citizens knew the good news.
"Excellent. Let's get back to work, then, yeah?" Steve asked his team with a grin. "Thank you for everything." He said, turning to the NCIS team.
"Thank us after we catch the one behind all this." Tony said with an easy grin.
"Shall we?" Kono asked, gesturing to the giant computer screen.
Joe White stood back and watched in satisfaction as the two teams put their heads together to try and find the man he'd been unofficially chasing for so many years. He knew they would do it. Gibbs' team was the best NCIS had to offer, and Steve had put together an excellent team of his own. They could do it.