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AvalonReeseFanFics
A/N: Happy New Year my wonderful readers! Are you excited for the upcoming New Year! I am. I'm planning to be more active along all of my stories both on here and on Wattpad. Not to mention I've also started posting to Dreame. Check me out if you get a chance. Everything will be under Avalon Reese (for those who are interested in reading some of my original works) Any and all support is greatly appreciated and welcomed. Don't forget to leave me a review, please enjoy all the Steve and the insight from the rest of the team and I'll see you on Friday!
Chapter 233
Steve brought Danny's Camaro to a stop right behind the ambulance. They heard from Duke that a secondary ambulance had taken Goro, who was unstable at the moment, to the hospital. Cops had shown up to the scene, had secured the area but had not questioned anyone yet.
There was no sign of Gabriel and no sign of the NA either.
Steve hopped out to Duke coming towards them. "What do we have?" Steve asked him.
"Black Escalade cut off the ambulance, Gabriel got out and shot the driver. The only reason he didn't shoot the two EMTs and Shioma is because the bodyguard pulled out a gun and shot him."
"Shot Gabriel?" Danny asked. Why were they surprised? If Rowan was sending people to go for Gabriel sooner or later the goal would be to kill him. "If he got shot where is the body?"
"That's the problem. The Escalade got left behind, but Gabriel's not here. We're getting footage from the security cameras at the moment to see if we can piece together what happened. We left the EMTs for you."
Steve nodded, Danny thanked him for his time and then the two went straight to the two EMTs standing by wayside waiting for them.
Steve and Danny introduced themselves and then quickly had the two men talk them through what they had witnessed.
"Everything was fine, the two of them were arguing. And then the ambulance stopped, and the gunshots went off and… he put on that mask," one said to him.
"He wasn't even surprised. When the ambulance stopped, when we heard the gun shots. He wasn't surprised, he wasn't even afraid. It was like he knew it was going to happen. He was so… calm."
"Yeah, he just sort of… sighed… like this was all just annoying him," the other agreed.
Course he was going to act like that, he was getting insider information from a psychic. He wondered how Rowan was explaining it to him, he wondered if Wo Fat told him that she was psychic. He wondered how she got NA to go along with her plans so quickly.
"Did he say anything?" Steve asked them. Both men paused for a moment as they thought it over.
"Yeah, told the guy that he should have run."
Goddamn. Well that sure as hell proved that whoever they sent, even if it didn't turn out to be NA, was definitely sent by Rowan. Yeah, well he should have run. Rowan had been telling Gabriel to runaway for months, prior to her even leaving Hawaii.
"And how many times did he shoot him?" Steve asked him, because he knew NA wasn't going to be nice about this. He wanted the man to suffer. Though to be fair, they all wanted him to suffer for what he did to Rowan.
"Four. Point blank in the chest. Then he got out and walked off into the night."
Danny swore. "Gabriel got shot four times and he walked away?"
The main EMT shook his head. "No, it was the body guard who walked away. The other guy… well we were stopped anyway, had to call in another ambulance. While Bill was up front trying to see if we could save our driver and get help, I went to check on the other guy. He was breathing, but barely. While I was trying to stabilize him, another car drove up. Uh… a black Honda I think. These guys with heavy guns came out and grabbed him. They drove off with him."
Fuck. Fuck him. So Gabriel was in the wind and probably dying and he had no idea where NA was going to go next. The only thing he could think to do was go to the hospital and hope that Goro was awake enough to tell him where NA was going to go now.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
By the time they got to the hospital, Goro was in surgery and they weren't saying positive things about his progress. A weak heart they were saying, might not make it through surgery.
Great, just great. He didn't need this right now. He didn't need a new Oyabun on Hawaii. He didn't need the only guy who knew where NA would probably go next dying.
Danny and Steve had gotten on the phone as soon as the doctor finished briefing them. Kono and Chin had been combing the footage from security camera's around the area where the shooting happened at the ambulance. They found NA a couple of blocks away. He threw out the mask, pocketed his a gun and then hopped into a cab.
They were tracing the cab's plates and they'd have a location of where he dropped off NA as soon as they could track that cab and its driver down.
It wasn't what Steve wanted to hear. Even now NA could be leaving, could be going back to Rowan. If Steve knew where he was, he could be following him, could have a direct line to Rowan again.
Yes she had left him, yes she had broken his heart and ruined his life, and he wasn't 100% certain what he'd do with her location, but he still wanted it. Maybe he wanted to just see her, just once, just to make sure that her wounds had healed and she was happy. Maybe he wanted to drop to his knees in front of her and cry and beg until she agreed to come back to him. Maybe he just wanted her to come back to Hawaii to get Nahele back. Maybe he just wanted to shoot Wo Fat dead and leave it at that.
Danny had been suspiciously quiet. Steve had been pacing trying to think of a good cover lie for why he cared so much about whether or not they'd get NA. Obviously Danny knew the truth. He could see it in Danny's eyes but that didn't matter at that moment.
"Steve," Danny started but Steve shook his head.
"I know how this looks okay?" he said. "It has nothing to do with Rowan."
Lies vicious lies and he knew his best friend knew that. Danny however, just nodded. "Uh-huh, good to know," he said patronizingly. "So you won't care if I tell you there's someone suspiciously familiar down that hallway?"
Steve turned in time to see that familiar black suit clad figure exiting the room that Goro would soon be put into, if he made it out of surgery that was. Two bodyguards were there at the door, but the man in the suit was leaving. Steve immediately gave chase.
"Go around the other side, make sure he doesn't make a run for it," he ordered and Danny splintered off as Steve approached him.
"NA!" he shouted his gun drawn. Luckily, he didn't have to shoot in that hospital hallway as NA froze, and then, slowly, his hands raised.
"Where is she NA," Steve asked. "I know you know, so where is she, where is Rowan?"
The man half turned. He only saw part of his face, just a silver of the profile but he could read the confusion on the man's face.
"What do you care about Rowan Pierce?" he asked. "You gave her up."
Okay, he gave up, but he gave up because she insisted that he do so. "That's not true."
"Sixth months playing boyfriend to that ex-bitch of yours and you want Rowan now? What's the problem McGarrett did Catherine leave you?"
Steve balked. What the fuck was he talking about? "Catherine? Catherine's been gone for…"
NA cut him off with sarcastic laughter. "Okay. Yeah, I didn't sit through that girl crying over you and Catherine for you to decide you want her the second Catherine left your dumbass," NA growled. "You lost a good thing, you should have appreciated her while you had her, asshole. Too late to turn back now."
Steve was shaking he was so angry. NA was right, he should have appreciated Rowan when he had her, but having her crying over him, when he wasn't with Catherine, when he wanted her more than anything made him angry. Because she had told him to leave.
He opened his mouth, to tell NA the truth, that Rowan told him to stop looking for her when all of sudden the man whirled around. Steve had to duck the oncoming knife, one that had been slipped out of NA's sleeve pocket, like he was some videogame character, like a scene straight out of a movie.
By the time Steve was back up on his feet NA was gone and though Steve tried to give chase, though Danny had gone the other way to cut him off, they still lost him. But he wasn't going to let him get off this island, not without setting everything straight first.
Not without finding out about Rowan first.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
Steve returned to the Palace, a war mask on his face. Ready to hunt NA down with extreme prejudice. Something was wrong with what he had told Steve. That Rowan had cried over him. Well why should she have? She left him. But then… NA also thought Catherine was still around. Why would he think that? Did Rowan think that too?
When he got back he had walked through what he knew, and Kono and Chin could confirm that NA was seen leaving the hospital. He had stolen a car out of the underground parking and drove off lot with it, even paid for parking. They had tracked the car but they had found it abandoned two blocks away with no sign of NA. Damn this guy was good. Of course he was, he was an international assassin that Wo Fat himself entrusted with Rowan's safety on more than one of occasion. Wo Fat only got the best of the best where Rowan was involved.
And there was no way in hell he'd let the man come all the way back to Hawaii where it was possible for Steve to catch him and interrogate him if he thought Steve would actually succeed in doing so.
The team had been at a loss at what to tell him as he seemed very distressed over this, more so than usual. But it was Grover who said: "Maybe you should call your personal connection to Rowan Pierce and her app."
It made sense. That if Rowan had sent someone down on official business she would have done so through the app. And though he didn't want to, he pulled out his phone and called Kong. The man picked up on the third ring.
"McGarrett, great timing. Settle a debate for me, does the worrying about the kid ever go away? Cause like, I know he's 14 but uh… we worry you know? Well Brandi worries, I don't. Okay I do. Good kid or not, what if he makes a stupid decision? What if one of his friends makes a stupid decision…"
"No the worry doesn't go away," Steve answered immediately, which he knew from experience because Nahele wasn't his anymore and the worry was still there, every day, and he had no choice but to ignore it.
"Damn, I was hoping that it does," Kong said. "Don't really wanna tell Brandi she was right… again…"
Steve shook his head. "Kay, as cute as this is, I'm calling for a reason."
"Oh. Okay, fine, what's up?" Kong asked.
"I need to know what orders have come through on Rowan's app this week."
"Uh let me check," Kong said and then he went quiet for a bit, though Steve could hear him humming, probably checking up on what was running through the app. "Okay. Uh… I got nothing. McGarrett. It's been awfully quiet on her end. Why did you guys get into shit and have one of her peeps come through to clean it up?"
"No, but we have a turf war going down and I need to know who she sent."
"Uh… well… I have nothing to tell you. Nothing came through on the app."
Course not, she had all these criminals within arm's reach now. All she had to do is ask one of them in person and send them down.
"Well someone's here to finish off the war with Gabriel," Steve growled. "And I need a location on him."
"Now you know I can't do that, McGarrett," Kong said, almost like he was scolding a disobedient child. Oh so the order didn't come through on the app but Kong knew exactly what it was that he was talking about?
"Look, that man who's here, he's got information on Rowan. I need to find him, talk to him. Now," Steve snapped.
"Do you even know who that man is?" Kong cried.
"Yes, I know NA is some big terrible assassin and everyone is afraid of him…" "NA? That's Rowan's code for him, you don't you know his real name, do you?" "… but I can protect you from him."
For a moment both men paused. "Wait, did you say real name?" Steve asked just as Kong asked: "Protect me from him? Nothing can protect me from him if he decides he wants to put a bullet in me. Not even you."
Steve shook his head. "You said something about a real name? Is NA not his name?"
Kong sighed. "I'm going to catch hell for this," he muttered. "Okay look, have you actually looked up NA's particulars?" Kong asked him and Steve froze.
"Uh… no…"
"Yeah we'll I suggest you put that white rabbit mask through that computer of yours and see what comes up."
And like that the phone call ended. Steve stared at the phone in his hand completely in shock. That was the most ominous order he had ever gotten.
Still he walked over to their smart table and typed into the search bar, White Rabbit Mask.
Immediately the returns began to come back at him. All about a crazed Assassin, one with no file, no picture of his real face, and no name. Sin Nombre, had appeared on the scene just shy of six years ago. He was credited with taking out the head of a giant Cartel in Colombia. He had massacred the whole family, all the way down to the dog. After that he became an assassin for hire with a perfect kill record. He was cold and ruthless, and he never, ever failed a job. He was famous for his white Rabbit mask, and the fact that no one knew what the man looked like or what his real name was.
This was the man that Rowan lovingly called NA? What… what the fuck? But what got him was the name… that was the same name as the man who was heading up Rowan's security detail.
"No, that can't be right," Steve said shaking his head.
"Sin Nombre," Danny read. "That means no name in Spanish."
No name. Nameless Assassin. NA. Rowan and her fucking nicknames. Sin Nombre and NA were the same person. But if NA was her body guard, was supposed to be watching Rowan, why the fuck was he in Hawaii? Was it really just to get Gabriel?
"But he's the head of her security," he said breathlessly. "Why the hell would the head of Rowan's security be here without her?"
They all seemed to come to the same conclusion at the same time. "Good god, she's on the island. She has to be."
"Now babe, that's a little… a little unrealistic don't you think?"
"Wait… wait… if NA is Sin Nombre… then… then…" Steve stuttered and then came to a stop. "We have someone who's talked to him recently."
"We do?" Danny asked. But Steve was already rushing towards the elevator to head down to their interrogation rooms in the basement with Danny following him. They both entered Juru Katsu's interrogation room and then stared down at him. He looked confused but Steve was already talking and fishing out his phone.
"You said someone came down to end the war, right?" Steve asked, he flashed Sin Nombre's picture, the blurred out rabbit mask. "This him?" Juru nodded and Steve felt his heart harden. "How do you know?"
"He's the only one who wears that stupid mask," Juru said. "As silly as it is, but that mask strikes fear into anyone's heart, especially since he's kinda something like the boogey-man."
Great. Just great, cause that's all he needed right? "What did he say to you?" Steve asked.
"Look… after Gabriel grabbed me, I went home. He was waiting for me. Said, because we were friends, he'd give me the chance to talk. Tell him what I know. But he already knew about the tickets. He wasn't surprised that he warned into the fight. He asked if Gabriel got them, asked how many men he had, particulars stuff like that. Within six hours, that little club house Gabriel met me at went up in flames, bunch of his peeps got taken out. Message went out after that."
"What message?"
"That anyone with Gabriel, partners, underlings, friends, anyone standing with Gabriel as gonna die with him too."
That was a heavy-handed message. "What did you tell Gabriel?'
"Nothing, man," he said staring at Steve. "You gotta understand. When War got declared we thought they'd hit right away but they went quiet. Then Sin Nombre came back to the island. We all thought we were safe, he had gone and made himself a personal bodyguard. But he came back and he's out for blood and I'm involved as is. We were friends. He gave me a choice. Talk or die. It'd be easier to die by Gabriel's hand. Sin Nombre would have made me suffer first."
Sin Nombre was that bad? Steve knew he was that bad, there were hundreds of files with confirmed Sin Nombre hits, and ones that just mimicked his MO and could have been him but easily couldn't have been.
"Why did he come back?"
"For Gabriel. No games he said. He wasn't leaving until one of them was dead," Juru said. "And when he says it, he means it. You think Gabiel's bad, this guy… he makes Gabriel look like a kitten."
Steve pulled up another picture. He hated looking at pictures of her, but he couldn't bear to delete her off of his phone. He kept telling his friends that it didn't mean anything that he had kept her pictures on his phone. It definitely didn't mean that he was still in love with her. He quickly turned that beautiful smiling face away from him and onto Juru.
Juru winced and looked away. "You know who this is?"
"Everyone knows Rowan Pierce."
Steve nodded. "They're saying this guy, your Sin Nombre, he's heading up her security detail…" "—yeah what of it?" "… if he's heading up her security detail then where is she, huh? Is she here?"
"Course not. Fat's not gonna bring her back to the island," Juru practically spat. "Fat's not gonna let her anywhere near you."
It was the way he said it. like it was absolutely ludicrous that Rowan would ever be allowed back on Hawaii. Like it was Steve's fault she was gone. It made him angry. It brought back the rage and the grief.
"Then why is he here?" Steve snapped.
"Cause of the war!" Juru repeated. "Your Rowan declared war. Death to Gabriel. Death to those that work for him. And she sent her angel of death to do it."
Right, then the man knew nothing. He wasn't going to know where Sin Nombre was going next. Steve shook his head and began to walk away.
"He did say one thing though," Juru said causing Steve to pause at the door. "Said he had a package to deliver. Said if you were to show up after the fight I was to keep you talking."
Steve blinked his eyes. Good god this was a distraction. The distraction could be for only two reasons. One, to help Sin Nombre escape. Two, to allow him to hit something else. But there was nothing left for Sin Nombre to go after. But he could have been there to pick something up. But there was only one thing on this island he figured Rowan would send anyone back for… you know other than Waincroft.
He quickly left the interrogation room, putting his phone to his ear as he called Kong back. That time Kong picked up on the second ring. But before Kong could talk or tell him off Steve was talking.
"Is the kid with you?" he asked.
Kong paused, clearly surprised. "Uh… no, he's at Makani's house for a sleep over, why?"
"Because Rowan wouldn't have sent Sin Nombre back for nothing. It can't have just been about Gabriel, I think he went for Nahele…"
"That doesn't sound right. Why would Rowan want Nahele dead?" he asked with a scoff.
"Not dead, back, she wants him back. I think she sent NA to get Nahele," he explained. Kong swore as Steve headed back to the library. He called up to Grover and the other to tell them to send HPD to Makani's house to intercept. To either grab the kid or take down Sin Nombre before he got away with Nahele.
He was not… not… losing Nahele too. He just wasn't.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
Nahele had left the Halo party with his friends to get some fresh air and take a break. It was exhausting always pretending that everything was fine. He had lit up a cigarette because he found that they calmed his nerves. He only ever did it when the twitch in his fingers wouldn't go away, when everything got too overwhelming. Kong hadn't even been asking where the extra money was going, he just kept giving him the extra money when he asked for it.
"That habit will kill you, you know," a voice said and Nahele startled the cigarette slipping from his grasp. He hadn't even heard the man show up, but there he was, standing just outside the shadows.
The man standing across from him was in a nice suit, but he was also carrying a gun, he could see the holster peeking out of the jacket. But it was the white rabbit mask on his face that scared him. All he could wonder was if Steve had a case today? He itched for his phone. Wondered if he could scream for help before the man put a bullet in him, or drugged him to get to take him hostage to get Steve to back off.
Would Steve even do that for him now?
"Got something for you," he said indicating to a box he had in his hands. Nahele just stared at it and then turned his eyes back up to him.
"Who are you?"
"Friend of your mom's," he said with a smile. Did he mean Rowan? "Your real mom."
"My mom's dead." And she didn't have a friend who liked black suits and white plastic rabbit masks.
"Ro's not dead," the man said his confusion clearly readable through the mask. Ah so he did know Rowan. "Did Steve tell you she was dead?"
"No… no… I meant… my birth mom…Ro's my foster mom…"
"Oh…" he said as if he understood. "Real mom, foster mom. Makes much more sense actually. You're awfully old you know? Compared to her. I just don't think she's old enough to have a teenage kid, you know?"
Damn this guy was chatty. He paused for a second and then looked down to the box in his hand. "You uh… you want it or not kid?"
A box from Ro? Of course he wanted it! "Yeah," he said reaching out for it. It was bigger than he expected but he took it. "It's uh… it's not going to explode is it?"
"Why the hell would she give you something that would explode?" he asked. He then shook his head. "I haven't tampered with it either, if that's what you're thinking."
Nahele nodded. "Look, she misses you kid. She told me to tell you that when she settles down, she's gonna pull you, okay?"
But what did that mean? Nahele turned his eyes up to the man, the confusion clear on his face. "It means, don't get attached to Catherine. When we're settled she's gonna send me back to the island and I'm going to bring you back to her, okay?"
Nahele smiled. Damn he would love that. Hope soared up into his chest, a guilty kind of hope. He shouldn't want to leave the Liangs, they had been so nice to him after all, and he wasn't sure that Steve could handle losing him too, but Nahele couldn't let that hold him back from where he really wanted to be… right?
The wail of sirens hit the night air, and then the front door got kicked in. Followed by a primal scream of Nahele's name.
The man stumbled back into the shadows. "Damn how did he find me so quickly? Stall kid," he said and then he vaulted over the porch railing and disappeared into the night just as Steve, with his gun drawn found his way to Nahele.
Steve had always been clear, when he was in position, when he was on point and ready to chase bad guys Nahele was to leave him alone, let him do his thing. But all he could remember was a man who his mom had trusted to send a package and a message with asking him to stall for him. So when Steve got close he grabbed onto him, right around his chest and held on tightly.
"I was so scared," he said and then buried his face into Steve's arm. Steve was tense, Nahele could feel it. He was a man on a mission but with Nahele holding onto him he softened. He let Danny take his gun from him so he could wrap Nahele up in a hug.
"Don't worry, I wasn't about to let that man take you off the island," he said. Wow that's what Steve thought was going to happen? That was why he came in there gun blazing? Fuck that guilt was hitting him painfully hard now, poor Steve he was ready to take down anyone who came for Nahele now. How was he going to handle it if Nahele left… willingly… just like Rowan had?
"What uh… what do you go there?" he asked.
"It was a box. Stuff to prove that he was you know… with mom… Ro…" he said quickly. "I uh… I didn't get a chance to open it though."
"Maybe we should wait… make sure it doesn't…"
"Do you really think Ro would send me something that could hurt me?" Nahele asked dryly and Steve sighed but relented. But he hovered behind him as he carefully opened the box. All that was inside were souvenirs. The things she had said she had been picking up for him.
She had told him that she was going to get these souvenirs to him and he hadn't known what to say to her, cause she thought that he was living with Steven. He had told Kong and he had just said to ask when she had sent it and he'd intercept it, just write a bit of code to redirect anything with the McGarrett address to his place, but then that wouldn't work cause they'd get all his mail.
Nahele had just figured he'd ask her when she sent it, have Kong track it and then get it from Steve's house before he showed up. But he never thought he'd have to open her package in front of Steve, because how would he explain how he knew it was coming? How would he explain how he knew where she had been? How could he keep up the lies Kong said Wo Fat wanted him to keep up while under the dark scrutinizing glare of Steven McGarrett in interrogation mode?
Nahele took out the first of the frames. The one she got from the Disney in Paris. A picture of the three of them on the beach that made up Steve's backyard in a Lilo and Stitch frame, the words ohana means family scrawled on the lower edge of the frame. Nahele near burst into tears right then and there.
Ohana. His ohana. The ohana he wanted, the ohana that Rowan and Steve both wanted. He could do it, he could just tell Steve then and there what was going on, Kong wasn't there he wouldn't know. But Nahele didn't know where Rowan was. He knew she touched down in Colombia earlier that week but he didn't know where. If Steve didn't find her, and Wo Fat found out that Steve knew the truth because Nahele told him… he'd never let Nahele talk to Rowan again.
Steve took the frame from him, looking to over with pain in his eyes. He had two more frames in there as well, one from Venice and one from Berlin, each with a picture of them in it. Then there was a little Lilo and Stich snow globe. A little glass Gondola. An art print signed by the artist. And then a CD, one that had been hand made.
The cover a single line in her writing that said "Baby Mine, for my baby. Miss you."
He had mentioned he was having trouble sleeping. That he had hit a patch of food poisoning and hadn't been able to sleep that night. And now her lullaby was in his hands. He could take this off the CD, put that audio file onto his phone and have it with him for always.
"Souvenirs," Steve whispered. "She had him drop off…" he suddenly trailed off, he turned back to the house where his Five-0 team was watching him, pity shining in their eyes. HPD had circled around the house and had no sign of the man they were looking for, except a car had been stolen three blocks over.
Nahele watched as Steve drew that emotional armour up around himself and began barking orders. Starting with Danny getting in his Camaro and driving out to a little airstrip out in Waimanalo, one he was certain ferried criminals like the man who had just been in his backyard. The same airstrip Rowan's GTO had been abandoned in front of.
Steve had hugged Nahele goodbye, had pressed a kiss to the top of his head and ruffled his hair, much like he used to. He left Nahele to his sleep over and his friend's parents angry over the interruption and the broken down door, and the gifts Rowan had sent him.
He didn't know that Steve tried to stop a plane from taking off by driving the Camaro at it. He didn't know that someone opened up the door and shot at him, and if he hadn't taken out the wheel, the plane would have hit the Camaro and killed both Steve and Danny. He didn't know that Steve raged into the warm Hawaii air for a good ten minute, furious that he had let this chance to find Rowan slip out of his fingers.
He didn't know that that the Five-0's all got similar packages with things that Rowan had picked up for them on her various travels. He didn't know that Steve cried alone on his couch when there wasn't a single thing for him. He didn't know that across the world, Rowan was just waking up, wishing for her life back in Hawaii before faking a smile and forcing her replacement bodyguard to help her decorate the mansion for Christmas.
All Nahele knew was that for the first time in a long time, with that CD playing and Rowan's voice crooning softly in the night air, he got a very deep and untroubled sleep.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
In the seventeen hours it took Conejo to fly back from Hawaii to Colombia, add in another day of driving all the way from Bogota to Cartagena, switching cars three time and taking the back roads to avoid being tailed, Conejo had a lot of free time. Free time in his own head. Wondering what the hell had just happened to him.
After getting away from the kid, Conejo had thought himself in the clear. He figured Steve would be distracted by potential threat to his child, adopted or not. But the distraction didn't last long, and Steve was hot on his tail in a matter of minutes. The man was so fucking determined to stop Conejo from leaving the island that he charged at the little private plane Armando had sent him down in a Camaro. The pilot almost stopped, might have stopped or run McGarrett right over, had Con not opened up the hatch and shot the tires out.
But it made him wonder. What in the hell could Steven McGarrett want with him? He had done his job for him. Granted Goro didn't make it through surgery, weak heart took him out in the end, but that wasn't Conejo's fault. He had told the man to stay home after all. Yeah he had killed the sniper, but the man was a hired gun for a Cartel, he got what he deserved.
He replayed the interaction in the hallway over and over in his head. He really wished he had seen McGarrett's face in full. Could read the expressions. Because that man had asked him for Rowan. Specifically information on Rowan. As if he were looking for her. Though, why would he be? He left her right? If he left her, and he was with Catherine, then why the hell was he looking for Rowan?
And where was Catherine? Cause she hadn't been with the Five-0 team, nor had she been at their base in Iolani Palace, nor had she been at the McGarrett household. AND McGarrett had said she left. So what in the fuck was happening?
He was starting to think that someone… meaning Wo Fat… was lying. The easiest thing to do would be to tell Rowan. Tell Rowan that McGarrett was looking for her, and Catherine wasn't around anymore. If she knew that she'd want to go home and she'd make Wo Fat take her, and then all his lies would unravel.
But that was the problem. Rowan would want to go home. Home to McGarrett. Who never liked having Wo Fat in his life, so he sure as hell wasn't going to let Conejo stick around. And then… what if he was wrong? What if he just misunderstood? What if McGarrett had some other reason for wanting to find Rowan? What if he told her that McGarrett was looking for her and he was wrong? He couldn't be the reason that her heart broke again. He could barely stomach her tears as it was.
So by the time that he got back to that house in Cartagena, Conejo had a plan of attack. Question Wo Fat, figure out the truth.
He found the man in the study. It was late at night and he was still awake. There were fresh burns on his arms and a huge scab running down the side of his face. Damn shit had gone down while he was gone. Rowan hadn't been involved had she?
Wo Fat stood to greet him once he came through the door. They shared a stiff sort of hug that surprised him but he let it happen out of respect. He cleared his throat and then pointed at Wo Fat's face. "What happened there?"
"Debris from an explosion," he answered. "I was standing too close when it went off."
What was with that guy and explosives? "If you set the explosion…"
"Not me, I didn't set anything. Rowan did."
Conejo blinked his eyes. "Excuse me?"
"Rowan got her hands on some chemicals and made a flash bang that was more bang then flash," he said. "It was an experiment, if she had got it right it would have been your Christmas gift. As it stands now, she's not allowed to do any more mad scientist experiments."
Conejo scowled he was never, ever, leaving that girl alone with JC again. He was fucking useless. "I thought Rowan failed chemistry," he whispered and Wo Fat half scoffed at him.
"Yeah she says she failed math too, now I'm starting to think she's lying to me about how smart she is. Make her self seem less threatening or something," he said with a sigh and then looked Conejo up and down. "How was your business trip?"
"Eventful. I uh… I got Gabriel, but Goro died on the operating table," he said with a shrug. "Ro won't be happy, but at least Gabriel's gone."
Wo Fat nodded. "Good, good. Next time you leave her with someone who isn't you, maybe tell me so I'm not blindsided by it."
Conejo tried not to smirk, he wondered how long it took him to notice. "She was supposed to tell you."
"Mmm, she said something similar, except it was you who was supposed to tell me," he said. Conejo opened his mouth to argue, but Wo Fat shook his head. "I don't care who tells me just keep me informed."
Conejo nodded that was fair, but he had had enough of the small talk. "So uh… when I was in Hawaii… I uh… swung by the McGarrett house," he said and Wo Fat stiffened. "Place was a ghost town."
"Oh yeah?" he asked, though he didn't sound surprised. He purposely turned away and back to the desk where he picked up the whiskey he had been drinking to pour over the maps Armando had spread across the desk.
"Yeah kid was off at a sleep over, but I didn't see the new girl around," he said.
"She was probably out."
"Thought she was working with Five-0."
Wo Fat turned to him. "Last I heard she was."
"Yeah except she didn't show up at the boxing match. All the others did but her."
"Then maybe she stayed behind at the Palace."
"Naw, they have some nerd for that now."
Wo Fat turned away from him once again. "Then I don't know where she was. Contrary to popular belief the only one who gives a rat's ass about Catherine Rollins, is Steve."
"Yeah I don't think that's true either, because he said she left him…"
Wo Fat whirled around. "What do you want me to say? Hmm? What? I'm not in Hawaii, I don't know what Steve's doing. Am I surprised that Catherine's probably gone? No. She was always leaving him for extra special spy missions, and that man has been obsessed with Ro since the day he met her in a very, very unhealthy way. But I'll tell you this. Catherine always comes back, so just cause she's gone now doesn't mean she's going to stay gone. He made his choice, now he's going to have to deal with it."
Conejo glared at him, something was wrong with this. Something was off. "Speaking of Steve, I don't quite like his reaction either," he said which just made Wo Fat let out an exasperated groan. "That man came at me like a man driven by the devil himself trying to get information on Rowan. You need to tell me why? Why? He gave Rowan up, why the hell would he come after me like that if he gave her up?"
"He's not after you for her, he wants me," Wo Fat growled. "He's a sore loser and he had I have always had bad blood. He's out to get me, and he'll use her or you to do it."
It sounded like a good excuse, it sounded right, all the right words in the right order. The problem was the look in his eyes. Still Sin Nombre took the words, let Wo Fat use them and decided not to argue. Because he didn't know why Wo Fat would lie, he just knew that he was. And he needed more than that before he told Rowan his theories and potentially opened her up to more heartache.