No one Mourns the Wicked chapter 4

"The suspect we're after is a man named Kon Ieyasu," Steve told the officers from HPD and SWAT that had assembled at the staging area a few hundred yards away from the residence where they believed Milo Raines' trafficking partner lived. He held up his phone and displayed a picture. "This is what he looks like."

"According to our information his wife and children also live in this house," Lou said. "So it goes without saying we need to be extremely careful about getting into any exchange of fire."

"He has a record of violent offenses as long as your arm," Danny added. "So let's definitely be extremely careful."

"This guy may very well have killed one of my informants and then set him on fire … not necessarily in that order," Leland said. "So if we need to use a little extra force to take him down …" He shrugged. "I'm not gonna shed any tears."

"That's not the way we do things around here," Steve said.

"And let's remember we need him to lead us to the hostages," Catherine said. "Our team works together like a well-oiled machine," she told Leland. "It might be better for you to hang back and let us handle this."

"No way." Leland shook his head. "I'm the one who brought you the lead. I want a piece of this bust."

Catherine and Steve shared a look.

"Fine then." She adjusted her tac vest. "You're with me."

Once everyone was in position, Lou banged on the front door and identified himself. When there was no answer from inside after 15 seconds he gave the signal and every door was breached simultaneously.

The officers moved quickly from one room to the next, methodically checking for any signs of life. In less than a minute it was obvious no one was home.

"Let's search every inch of this place for any clue about where he might have gone and where the hostages are being held," Lou instructed his men.

Catherine looked around the living room. Steve could tell she was trying to work something out in her head.

"I'll be right back," she said, then headed up the stairs.

Leland walked over to the dining room table and began looking through various file folders that were strewn across the top.

"Looks like the scumbag left in a hurry," he said. "He didn't even have time to cover his tracks. Look at this." He held up a slip of paper. "Times. Dates. Ship names. Docking info. This is a gold mine."

Danny looked at some of the papers then looked warily at Steve. Before either one of them could say anything Leland's phone rang.

"I gotta take this. It's my boss. I'll fill him in on what we found and see if he has anything more for us," he said as he stepped outside and connected the call.

"Is it just me or does it seem pretty convenient that all this evidence was just left laying out on the table," Danny said. "Something doesn't feel right about this."

"I agree," Catherine said as she came back down the steps. "I just checked the kids' rooms. There's no sign they took any clothes or toys or stuffed animals. There are still little personalized suitcases in the closet. Criminal or not, no mother just grabs up her kids and goes without a few things to keep them occupied."

"Leland has been pushing us towards Ieyasu pretty hard," Steve said. "I think it's time to take the gloves off. Cath, can you arrange a zoom call with somebody high enough up at LAPD to give us some answers and ask Lea if she can be there to do a little leaning if necessary?"

Catherine pulled her phone from her pocket. "I'm on it."

"Lou," Steve said. "Can you supervise the evidence gathering here and talk to Duke about getting alerts out for Ieyasu and his family. We need to find them before they get off the island." He lowered his voice. "And babysit Leland for a while. We're gonna talk to LAPD and find out why this guy is really here."

"On it," Lou said. "Let me know what you find out."

Mark Leland held the phone to his ear and moved further into the shadows away from the house. No one was paying any particular attention to him but he still needed to be sure he wasn't overheard.

He re-focused on the voice on the other end of the line.

"Did they buy it?"

"I think so." Leland looked back at the house. "It might have been better if you had at least made it look like you tried to hide some of the evidence instead of leaving it laying on the dining room table."

"You didn't give me much time. By the time we grabbed Kon and his wife and kids you'd already sent the heads up you were on your way."

"I want you to keep in mind," Leland growled, "that I'm only here because you couldn't handle business. If you had fed Raines to the sharks like I told you to, we would have been free and clear."

"That was the plan. But the stupid sonofabitch wouldn't tell me where the thumb drive with all the proof he planned to use to bring us down was. I thought a little fire might persuade him to start talking. And it worked. So you're welcome."

"You're sure there are no other copies, right?" Leland asked.

"Positive. Everything is back on track. You just make sure Five-0 and HPD put all the blame on Ieyasu. You and me both walk away clean. We lay low for a couple of weeks then we'll be back in business."

"What about the girls?"

"You let me worry about the merchandise. You just keep your ear to the ground and keep running interference on your end and I'll make sure you keep getting those bundles of untraceable cash you love so much."

"I'm afraid there's been some kind of misunderstanding," Superintendent Simmons said from a box on the left hand side of the screen. "Detective Leland is not in Hawaii as any kind of official representative of LAPD."

"He is an employee of your department isn't he?" Lea asked, frustration clear in her tone.

"I'm not at liberty to release any details …" Simmons started.

"Alright." Catherine snapped. "I'm done. You're playing games while there are a group of hostages out there whose time might well be running out. So either you tell us what's really going on or I am going to call a press conference and explain how you are stonewalling our efforts to find these women and shut down these traffickers. Luckily there are a handful of reporters from the LA outlets here covering our economic forum."

"As I said, I'm not at liberty to share …"

"Make sure you get a good night's sleep," Catherine growled. "You're gonna want to be sharp for all the questions in the morning."

She pulled out her phone and dialed a familiar number while Simmons looked torn on what to do next.

"Hi, it's Catherine. I need a full presser at the statue outside of the palace in 30 minutes. Make sure you give the LA reporters a heads up. I think they'll be interested in this too," Catherine said into the phone.

"Wait." Simmons exhaled loudly. "I can't give you all the details but I can give you a broad outline."

"We're listening," Steve said.

"Not a word of this can leak to the press," Simmons insisted.

"Then you better tell us what we need to know so I don't have to turn up the pressure," Catherine shot back.

Simmons' eyes widened and Danny hid his laugh behind a cough.

"Jack Leland is a member of our trafficking task force. He has been for several years. About six weeks ago we had a bust go south. Several of our officers were shot. We got word from an undercover operative that the gang we were going after was tipped off by a leak in our department. I won't go into details about exactly what we know, but we have reason to believe Leland is the leak. He was placed on leave last week pending investigation."

"So what's he doing here?" Danny asked.

"He claims he's being set up," Simmons said. "That someone is trying to frame him. It's possible he took it upon himself to try to clear his name."

"Or he's here trying to clean up a mess and cover his tracks," Kono suggested.

"I'll call Grover and ask him to bring Leland back here," Chin said.

"Until you called tonight I had no idea he was in Hawaii," Simmons said. "If I had I would have let you know he's on his own and not acting as a member of LAPD. I hope you understand why this matter has to be kept under wraps for now. We can't tip our hand. But you have my word, if Leland is dirty we won't sweep it under the carpet. We just can't afford the press getting involved before we have all the facts."

"We'll find him and get him on the next plane back to LA," Lea promised. "And in the meantime, I'd consider it a personal favor if you could send over the file on the bust that went bad. There might be something in there to help us find the traffickers on this end and, more importantly, the hostages."

"I'll have it emailed over immediately," Simmons said.

"Thanks, we'll keep you updated," Steve said, then pushed the button to exit the call.

"Do you need to call off the press conference?" Danny asked.

"No." Catherine grinned. "I was talking to dead air. There's no press conference. The entire press team covering the economic forum are on Maui visiting a new sustainable coffee harvesting operation. They couldn't have been here in 30 minutes if they tried."

"We have a problem," Chin said as he hung up the phone. "Grover said Leland has disappeared. And his rental car is gone, too."

Catherine pulled out her phone and glanced at the screen. "No worries. I texted him the address of Ieyasu's house earlier. When he clicked on the link he enabled location sharing. We know exactly where he is."

"Is that legal?" Chin asked.

"It was right there in the terms and conditions," Catherine said. "It's not my fault people just accept those without reading them."

Danny barked a laugh. "This is why I always say you never mess with Catherine."

To be continued ...