No One Mourns the Wicked Part 3

Steve glanced at his ringing phone and huffed with frustration. He was waiting for a call from Duke with info on a current undercover operation to try and identify local traffickers and this wasn't it. He swiped to answer the call. "McGarrett."

"Hi. Yeah. This is Mark Leland from LAPD. I'm calling because I hear you guys found the body of Milo Raines. He was one of my informants. Helping me break up a multi-state trafficking ring."

"Thanks for calling back," Steve said. "We've been trying to get any information you have on who he was working with here on the island but so far we're not getting a lot of cooperation."

"That's LAPD bureaucracy for you. Hopefully I can help with that. I've gotten the go ahead to head over there and help you with your investigation. I'll bring everything we have on what Raines has been up to."

"That's really not necessary," Steve said. "You can just send the records."

"It's no problem at all. I'll be on the next flight. I'll call you when I land."

The call disconnected and Steve grumbled as he slipped his phone back into his pocket. "The last thing I need is to have to babysit some out of town cop."

Steve paced the bullpen and glanced at the time for the tenth time in the last hour. Why did everything seem to be moving in slow motion? He knew that every person involved in the investigation was giving it 100% and yet they still didn't seem to be making any progress.

Every second counts when it comes to finding out if there are victims out there, waiting for rescue.

Catherine stood at his side, her expression serious. "Lea wants me to reiterate to you that if there's anything you need, any red tape that needs cutting, all you have to do is let her know. She's available by phone 24/7. And if you need an extra pair of hands she's authorized me to work on this case with you until we find the women and girls."

Danny leaned against the smart table. "Thanks, Cath. Every angle we try leads to a dead end. These people are either too smart to leave tracks or people are too scared to say what they know. Hopefully this guy LAPD is sending will have some information that will help get things going."

"Yeah, let's hope he knows something," Chin added. "His flight landed 30 minutes ago. He should be here any minute."

Just then, the door swung open, and a man was escorted in wearing a suit that seemed just a little too polished for someone arriving after the flight from California. He had dark hair and a grin that didn't quite reach his eyes. He was pulling a rolling suitcase that looked as though it had been purchased just for the trip. The tags still hung off the handle.

"Detective Mark Leland," he announced, extending a hand toward Steve. "I'm here to help. Just tell me what you need. I know our two departments got off to a bit of a rocky start but I'm here to get things back on track."

'And he talks very fast,' Catherine thought to herself.

"Thanks for coming all this way," Steve said with a nod, though he didn't exactly match Leland's enthusiasm. "This is Lieutenant Catherine Rollins who is liaising with us from the governor's office. And this is the rest of the team. Danny Williams. Chin Ho Kelly. Kono Kalakaua."

Leland nodded. "Nice to meet you all."

"I'm not sure it was necessary for you to come all this way," Steve said. "We really just need a rundown on Raines' most recent known associates and anything you have on why he was on the island and who might have wanted him dead."

"There are probably a lot of people who wanted him dead," Leland said. "He's been mixed up in trafficking for years. Mostly as a low level grunt. We busted him a few times but he was never willing to turn on his bosses and we were never able to put him away for more than a year or two at a stretch. It was all lather/rinse/repeat until a few months ago."

"What happened a few months ago?" Danny asked.

"We got word that he was trying to start his own crew," Leland said. "The people he had worked for previously weren't very pleased for obvious reasons. Felt like he was muscling in on their turf. We got some information from an informant that he was holding half a dozen women at a warehouse in downtown LA. We were able to move in and save the women and this time we were gonna be able to make it stick."

"So he decided to turn on his old associates to save his own ass?" Danny asked.

"We couldn't prove it because the tip was anonymous but we had good reason to believe that information about the warehouse where he was keeping the girls came from an old associate of his." Leland shrugged. "No honor among thieves, I guess. He felt like someone set him up so he was willing to spill everything he knew about them in return."

"So where's the file?" Steve asked. "Who are the people he was ready to turn on? And are any of them here on the island?"

"All the info is right up here," Leland tapped his head. "Well, mostly. I also made a few notes on the way over on the plane." He pulled out an old school notepad, his eyes moving quickly over the page. "We hadn't been working with Raines for very long so unfortunately we hadn't been able to get the full read on him."

"And yet you let him loose to work a deal with people here on the island?" Danny asked skeptically. "How does that work? How did LAPD think they were gonna make a bust here on the island without either HPD or the task force being notified?"

"I admit it wasn't an ideal situation," Leland said. "We were flying by the seat of our pants. We didn't even know Raines had left LA, let alone flown here to make a deal. We were still waiting for him to let us know the details and he slipped the net."

"And now he's dead and we have no idea where the victims are," Catherine said, not even attempting to hide the anger in her voice. "If Five-0 and HPD had been given a heads up all of this could have been avoided and those women would be safe."

"I don't disagree," Leland said defensively. "But those decisions are above my pay grade. "I made a list of some of the names he gave us before he disappeared. From what he said, these guys are a special brand of ruthless. They'll kill anyone who gets in their way without a second thought. Including cops. Or maybe especially cops. We need a full tactical response to go after them."

"Let's see the list," Steve said, motioning for the notebook. He glanced at it, then at Leland. "A few of these names are familiar." He passed the notebook to Chin. "Get with Duke and see what he has on these people."

"I think we need to make sure we go after them with force," Leland said. "If they have found the woman we need to take them down before they move them out of the country."

"Our SWAT team is second to none," Kono said. "They can handle it."

"I hope so," Leland said.

"Just remember we wouldn't be in this position if your department had followed proper procedure," Catherine said. "We're just cleaning up your mess."

"Hey, I'm not the enemy, Lieutenant Rollins," Leland interrupted, "I'm here to help, remember?"

To be continued…